Happy Birthday Nana!

We hope your day is special. We love you sooooooo much!

Love,

James and Lilah

Back in Brazil

We are happy to be back home in lovely Brazil. James and Lilah did extremely well on both flights and Rick and I were able to get some rest too. We had a welcoming party waiting for us back at our apartment at 11:30pm! Bem-vindo (welcome home) signs were made and placed on our door and our dear friend Rosi made some caldinho for us. This is a type of soup made with beef and yucca which is like a potato. It sounds horrible but it is really tasty, believe me! We were praising the Lord for our safe arrival and for the love and support shown by our Brazilian family!

Lilah had fun "helping" her big brother put together his puzzle.

Lilah met her neighbor and new playmate Vinicius for the first time. He is my best friend Rosi's new baby. Lilah then managed to steal his sock right off his foot and started to eat it!

Double click on this photo to enlarge it and see this mean storm roll in. I took this photo from our kitchen window. We had a few strong storms this week and this one was the worst. We are at the end of summer and it is still quite hot and sticky. We are doing our best to adjust but it's difficult when there is no AC! I mentioned the heat to a lady at church and she suggested that we take a walk through the downtown shopping mall to cool off! (It's air-conditioned.) Funny, huh?

Lilah is back to bathing in a bucket! Just kidding! This is a baby bath but since there are hardly any bath tubs in homes here, this works just fine for James too!

James is old enough to take a shower but he enjoys splashing with his sister.

We had a really rough time this week trying to get the children back on schedule. Lilah was eating dinner at midnight and going to bed at 2:30am the first night back in Brazil! After a whole week of letting them skip naps so they would be exhausted enough to fall asleep a little earlier we are now going to bed between 9-10pm. Lilah loves to sit and play in her room. I recently got all of James' baby toys out of storage and Lilah is having a hay day!

I still have several photos to post from the time we were in the states. My sister-in-law reminded me that I hadn't posted any photos of Christmas. Whoops! Look for them soon!

Buddies

Recently, James had climbed in my bed during the middle of the night and I let him stay as Rick was traveling. Like I normally do when Lilah wakes in the morning, I picked her up and put her in my bed in between James and myself. Lilah rolls over and sees her sleeping brother. She begins to coo and gently start patting his face. And then the sweetest thing happened. James sat up and said in the most sincere voice, " Mommy, I love her.......my sister.......she don't fight me.........she be nice to me......I love her." I thought this was so cute. It makes my heart smile to see a little friendship blossoming between these two.

90% in Height?!

James is doing well and growing taller. He constantly talks about Brazil and can't wait to return and see his friends. He is insisting that we take his Jeep( the motorized car Nana and Papa gave him for Christmas) back to Brazil so he can show it to everyone. We remind him daily that it will not fit on the plane. Christmas really made an impression on him, as he loves to still sing Jingle Bells all the time. He loves putting together puzzles and playing soccer with his daddy.

Lilah just started sitting up. She is still our happy little girl, always smiling. I took her to the doctor last week for a well visit and the doctor reported that she is in the 90% in height. I asked her to repeat herself as I couldn't believe what she just said. What a shock! (Considering James is not even on the charts.) She is in the 30% in weight......................long and lean.
She eats fruits and veggies now and is still nursing. Pears and Sweet Potatoes are her favorite. Yesterday, Lilah took her very first bike ride with daddy. She loves watching and giggling at her brother. And James absolutely adores her, I still have to keep a close eye on him as he thinks he can pick her up.

Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to head back to Brazil on February 27.

Family Cruise Vacation

We recently took a cruise vacation with my mother, sister, and grandma to the Western Caribbean a couple weeks ago and it was fabulous! During the cruise, I turned 30! I cried a little but not because I was leaving my youthful 20's but because of the 30 years the Lord has given me on this earth. Oh, and all the many blessings.......my family, my health, my basic needs (and then some) and also the opportunity to serve Him in Brazil.

We had to participate in a safety lifejacket drill. As you can see, Lilah didn't quite fit in her jacket.

We were so proud of James for climbing up the famous Dunn River falls in Jamaica with Mommy, Daddy, and Nana. As you can see, James was quite proud too!

James and Lilah hanging out in Cozumel, Mexico.


My sister Carol was a HUGE help with the children. Lilah seemed to always take a nap during dinner.

It was so much fun having my mom and grandma with us too. It's not often we get 4 generations together for a whole week. We made some great memories.

Here I am with my sweet Lilah. On the way to dinner a man in the elevator said to me, " Oh she is cute, she looks like a gypsy." He was being totally serious. What?--Was it the leopard print bow? I have no idea where he was coming from. Daddy and James enjoyed the yummy food on board. Costa Fortuna is an Italian ship and the food was fabulous, especially the pasta!

Lilah even participated on Toga Night. We used a napkin for her toga and for James we used a pillowcase. Unfortunately, James didn't keep his on for more than 5 minutes.