The Rest of September

I pretty much just rested all day on Friday. I gave the boys their small gifts from the trip and chilled. Some of the candy was a hit but a lot was not. It was like playing a game of Bean Boozled. Tucker actually liked the tingly feeling of the jambu. Weirdo. 😉

Saturday I took Mason to the barber to get his hair cut. He was worried I would cut it too short. Unfortunately, the barber actually did. I think I looks fine but he wanted it longer. In his defense, while the guy was cutting his hair all I kept thinking was – he’s not taking enough off, he’ll have to cut it again. Apparently, we both were wrong. He said he’d let me try next time.

Trevor convinced me to get out in the sunshine and we went to the soccer field and threw the frisbee. That was sage advice, as I felt better after the sun and physical activity. On the way back to the house, we gave Tucker a little driving lesson. Little fella did great.

Sunday after church, we went with Sarah, Emily, and the interns to the Strawberry Festival.

The flowers are always beautiful and they make me think of my mom.

Today we were in time to watch a Japanese drum assemble.

While we were there, we got messages from Chris about a large fire nearby; close to some of our Vinde kids’ homes. The fire had damaged many power lines and Vinde and many others were without power. Apparently, there is one fire truck for four towns. As dry as it is here and as many fires as we have, I couldn’t believe it. We prayed for rain. Pastor Jeff used to say if you pray for rain, you better bring your umbrella. Well, that is true. Not long after, it rained and boy did it rain.

It was a blessing for the fire but it rained so much our roof leaked and leaked (again) and it flooded rooms at Vinde.

Without power the Vinde food was in danger of ruining, so Monday morning we loaded up the food from the freezers and took it over to Palavra da Vida to store.

We still had power at our house so the plan was for the interns to stay with us for a few days until the power was restored. Trev and I ran to the grocery store and on the way back, another storm came through with very strong winds, so much so, that trees started falling. And now, our house and Palavra de Vida were without power. Now the food had to go back to Vinde. Around midnight, power was restored; a couple days earlier than planned, thanks to some conversations Roberto and Liandro had with the power company.

Tuesday I went back to the doctor for her to cut more out of my shoulder. She stitched me up and sent me off to the lab. I should know the test results in a couple of weeks. This week was also pretty chill for me as the doctor recommended that I didn’t go to Vinde for fear of pulling a stitch. I used this time, instead, to follow up on my driver’s license. The license was officially retranslated, correctly this time, and it just took two more visits to the DVM equivalent. Now I’m just waiting to receive it in the mail… I think. I also used the time to get caught up on my continuing professional education, which I need to keep my CPA license. I, honestly, hate doing this now that I’m not practicing. But I just feel like, if something happened to Trevor, I at least have something to fall back on.

The teens weren’t able to go to the festival last weekend, as two of them had to work, so we took them this weekend.

We went Friday after school, so it wasn’t crowded like last weekend.

We picked them up from school, ate lunch, and then headed to the festival for dessert.

We knew from last weekend that the frozen calda da cana was the way to go, thanks to Emily. We also knew from last year, that the moti was not the way to go but we got some for the teens to try. From their faces, I think they agreed with us. Despite the moti, the rest of the time we spent with the teens was great.

Saturday, Roberto and Anna came over and had dinner with us. They are such a sweet family. We have enjoyed their friendship. We dropped them off at the airport on Monday for a missions conference they were asked to attend.

Now some really good news (that I don’t have a picture of). I asked Sarah if she could help with my morning teens English class, while I was gone. We are working on writing our testimonies in English. I knew not all would be christians, even though they all said they were, and would, therefore, not have a testimony, but I decided this would be a good way to lead to a gospel opportunity. Sure enough it happened. I had only gotten through the first paragraph with João Vitor before I left, so while Sarah was working with João Vitor on the rest of his testimony, it became evident that he, though he knew the information in his head, had not been saved. After Sarah shared with him and discussed with him, he made a profession of faith. Glory, hallelujah.

Arthur, one of our elementary kids, was also saved after talking with Liandro a few weeks ago. God is good.

Trevor celebrated another trip around the sun before the month ended.

He loves our family so much. He loves the Lord. He loves investing in the lives of the teens here. He has started a Bible study with our boys and Eduardo. I love being married to him and with that, September ends.