A sweet surprise came in the mail yesterday!!! A care package arrived from our dear, Florida friends the Millers. It was like Christmas! We received 3 boxes of taco shells, 3 bags of chips, 2 books, and some little things for James. How did you know that James' favorite snack is cheese puffs? Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Now I can make mexican food for Ricky's birthday dinner this week! We definitely feel loved!

James is 21 months old today! I think he is speaking more Portuguese than English too! This is an exaggeration but I am impressed at how quickly he is understanding and saying words. It is true.......Children are little sponges, absorbing everything they see and hear. Before long, James' Portuguese will be better than mine and speaking without an accent! Here are photos we took a couple days ago with some friends. We like to go to this vegetarian restaurant every Sunday after church. It is healthy,delicious and inexpensive too! This restaurant is a kilo restaurant, which is a popular concept here. It's kinda like an all-you-can-eat buffet but after you fill your plate with food, it is weighed and then you pay for that amount of food! Yes, it's all-you-can-eat but you pay for every gram you put on your plate. I think it's brilliant! This way no food gets wasted. Notice in the photo a man standing next to our car in front of the restaurant. He is the "seguranca" that asks to watch the car after you park. Any time, you park at a restaurant or downtown there is always someone wanting to watch your car. Even children as young as 10 ask to be hired. When it is time to leave, the custom is to give them a few coins for their security services. I am still not sure exactly how much security they provide but it is safer to go ahead and pay them then to risk them holding a grudge and damaging the car when you are not looking.

Well, let's see. Where do I begin? World Cup news: Brazil beat Ghana and will move on to the next round! Hooray! Once again, we went to our friend Edivanio's house for the game. It seems to be the party headquarters with plenty of space for the children to play! Edivanio is Fiel's graphic designer and will travel with Rick to the states next week for the CBA Expo in Denver. (Christian Booksellers Assc.) Also, it seems that many of our Fiel friends are having birthdays during this time. So we take advantage of the fact that we are already together for the game and have a birthday party too! Diego, pictured in the Brazilian jersey, turned 20 on Tuesday. He works with us at Fiel and helps Edivanio with editing. Notice the chocolate chip cookies in the foreground. Rick's mother made them and they are always a crowd-pleaser here in Brazil! Saturday at 4pm is our next game against France, with yet another get together and birthday party. Oh what fun!

Here are a couple photos of James at our neighborhood park. It is only about two blocks from our apartment building and we walk there several times a week. James makes friends every time we go!

James playing in daddy's shoes a couple weeks ago. These are big shoes to fill!

Playing in mommy's shoes! Notice the new haircut. We came home last night and Rick pulled out his scissors! I think he did a great job. James seems to like it too!

James has had a full recovery from his high fever and cold. Thank you for your prayers for the little fellow. On the other hand, I have been battling an intestinal virus since Sunday. Early this morning I woke with serious stomach pain, vomiting and the other thing. I was totally weak and doubled over in pain, so Ricky took me to the hospital where they gave me an IV to replenish my fluids and some medicine for the pain. We got home around 6 this morning and I feel sad for Ricky as he had to drive to Sao Paulo around 8am to visit the press that prints Fiel's books. Please pray for him to have the energy to get through this day. World Cup news......................Brazil beat Japan yesterday, or shall I say slaughtered. The score was Brazil 4, Japan 1. So Brazil advances to the next round and will play Ghana on this coming Tuesday. Here are a few photos from the soccer game party at a friend's house. The girls enjoyed playing with James' hair.................I think it is time to cut it!

We had a fun day with Mark yesterday. First we ran to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries. Yes..............we have a Super Wal-Mart here in our little city! We go almost everyday it seems! It's not the same because they only sell Brazilian made products, but at least it is much easier to find everything in one store. There are also several asst.managers that whip around on rollerskates. It is definitely something to see! ( The photo is of my college friend Heather and I when I was 7 months pregnant, hanging out at our favorite place!) A little later, Mark arrived and we had lunch at mom and dad's house. It was a nice treat to have us together again. We then ran to the mall and Sam's club as Uncle Mark wanted to get James the official Nike World cup jersey of Brazil. Yes, we have a Sam's club too! We are spoiled over here. If only the prices were as good as the states! ( There is a 50% duty on imported products.) Mark left around 7pm as he had to work the next day. It was great seeing you Mark, hope you can come to Sao Jose one more time before you go back to the states next week!

This picture was taken yesterday of our sick little fellow. :(

Whoa! The past couple days have been a little crazy:

1. Brazil won it's first game of the world cup against Croatia on Tuesday. Yahoo! During the game, the entire city shut down and the place looked like a ghost town. When the game finished, everyone was in the street with noise makers, fireworks and waving flags. There is nothing in the states like this. It is really amazing to see an entire country with so much pride. Sorry USA, we're cheering for Brazil!!
2. Rick's parents flew in from South Carolina on Tuesday. They had been in the states since December and we hadn't seen them since Christmas. It's just not the same being in Brazil without them. Here is a photo of us having a delicious lunch at their house. Laura, ( in the yellow shirt), lives with denhams and helps translates books for the ministry.

3. James has been sick, really sick the past few days. He has had a fever since Monday night, sometimes as high as 103.7 degrees. We have taken him to the doctor twice and the medicine that was prescribed seems to be working as his fever broke around 3am. Praise the Lord! He still has a nasty cold that he is battling. He is a trooper though.........Still wanting to play, and at times cause mischief. :)

Rick's brother Mark, a lawyer from LA, has just taken a new job for GE Brazil. We are thrilled as we will be seeing him every couple of months when he is down here working. So, he is currently in Sao Paulo today (only an hour away) and will be catching a bus to come see us. Today is a national holiday in Brazil. I'll make sure to take some photos!

Bem-vindo to the Denham Blog! I have so enjoyed reading my friend's blogs these past few months that I wanted to start one for our little family. So now, I want to share with you some of the daily happenings of life here in Brazil on the mission field. So sit back, enjoy, and wait for the posts to come! Please feel free to leave comments. We would love to hear from you and know that there are folks out there reading.

The above photo was taken on Mother's Day last month at one of our favorite spots called Santa Barbara. Located on this property is a delicious restaurant overlooking a big lake filled with ducks and swans. There are also horses available to ride and a nice playground that James thoroughly enjoys. It's a place we love to take our guests when they come to visit.