January 2026

January is always a slower time for us and we are grateful for the slower pace. The Vinde kids are on summer break. This gives us time to focus on family, relationships, meetings, and other miscellaneous administrative tasks on our to-do list.

Part of the relationship process is bonding with these sweet teens. We had Eduardo, Marcella, and Giovana over to the house to hang out. The kids swam, ate, played games, and just chilled. I love this time being with the teens and watching my boys speak Portuguese and just get to be kids. Our boys are usually busy with school and ministry and that can be lonely (even though you are surrounded by kids all day long). We try to give them opportunities to just be kids to spend time with other teens just being teens.

Speaking of these knuckleheads, my boys are, purposely, I think, trying to drive me crazy with their hair. Mason is letting his curls grow and I hate it long. When it’s wet it looks like he has a perm. Tucker decided he hated his flat straight hair and decided to shave his. I hate it this short. I mean, come on, Tucker looks like he is about to join the army. Uuuugggh. I think I would almost like the Mohawks back instead of this. But they’re old enough to make these kind of choices. So here we are.

Giovana has been accepted into the CLD program at Palavra da Vida here in Atibaia. She will start the end of February and live on campus. Things are very strained at home with her family so she has moved out and is staying on property at Vinde until CLD starts. It’s heartbreaking for such a sweet young lady go through these trials. But she’s excited and very nervous about the upcoming changes for this new future she has before her. I know it’s hard for her not to have the support of family right now. So to bring her a little joy and to show her some xsupport, we decided, for her high school graduation present, to take her shopping for clothes and school supplies for CLD. It’s the first time I got to go “back to school shopping” with a girl. (A totally different experience than with boys). We went to Campinas to the big mall and made a whole day out of it; literally, we left at 9am and returned home a little after 11pm. We ate at Outback (which was a treat for all of us) and shopped and shopped. At first she didn’t want to even pick anything out. She was worried she would be taking advantage of us, a thought her family had put in her mind. But after some convincing, she knew that this was our idea and something we wanted to do for her. She is so sweet and was so grateful. We both wish we spoke each other’s languages better but we made it work; walking arm in arm around the mall laughing and smiling. It was a wonderful day.

The following week was also her 18th birthday. The original party, that was planned to be a family event, was no longer possible so she didn’t even want to celebrate but Chris and I convinced her that she only turns 18 once and needed to celebrate in some way.

So we went to the Cavalo Preto Restaurante e Lazer (Black Horse Restuarant and Leisure). Places like this exist throughout Brazil where you pay a fee and it includes food, pool, hammocks for relaxing, bounce houses for kids, etc for the afternoon; kind of like a day pass to a resort. So we ate and celebrated this young lady. In Brazil you can’t drive until you’re 18 and the process is kind of pricey and complicated, so we all pitched in money for her to get her drivers license. Chris, jokingly, said if Giovana didn’t pass the test, she would have to give the money back.

Eduardo spends the night at our house sometimes after Tuesday Bible study. This particular time, the boys woke up and decided they were going to hike Pedra Grande since the weather was cool and not too rainy. I had another appointment about my drivers license (more on that below) so I wasn’t able to go.

They had an amazing day. Even though it was cloudy, they still had a great view from the top. The boys packed a lunch and it was the first time Eduardo had ever eaten a peanut butter sandwich. As I’ve mentioned before, peanut butter isn’t really a thing here, which still baffles me with all the peanut products they have.

The governmental side of Brazil drives me bananas! I went back to the Poupatempo, the Brazilian equivalent to the DMV, multiple times this month. I have been trying to get my license since last January. You read that right; LAST January. Trevor was finally able to get his in August after multiple trips. I am still waiting. First, my documents were officially translated wrong, then they said they needed a document signed (which I had already signed and had the document to show as proof; which didn’t matter as they made me sign it again), then I was told last January that I didn’t need to do the psychological exam only the medical, which I did, and it was never mentioned again at any of the times I visited last year until this visit. Now they’re saying it’s required after telling me before it wasn’t. But the problem is the system won’t let them schedule the psych exam (which they have to do in their system) without scheduling the medical exam but I have already paid for and taken the medial exam. It is so frustrating. A request had been sent to get someone to allow me to schedule the exam. Two weeks later, I am still waiting to hear back. Frustrating is not even the word for it. What makes it more frustrating is I have to have someone go with me ever time to help with translation. I hate not being able to do things by myself. If you ever need to be humbled, move to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language fluently.

I started thinking about this; needing others. It’s kind of crazy to think about how much I hate to depend on others for things, and yet, my Heavenly Father wants me to depend on Him daily; daily bread, new mercies each morning. As a Christian, I know this and I believe this but I realize how often I don’t act that way. I charge on with my plan. I find myself acting like Abraham, forming a plan thinking that I’m helping God with His plan. Sounds foolish, I know and it’s kind of embarrassing typing it out but it’s true so there it is. We all know how Abraham’s plan turned out and often mine do the same. Reading the Bible, I often think about how stubborn or rebellious people can be. Why can’t they see how God’s plan is so much better and then that sweet conviction hits me, “that’s me”. I know God is working on me. I’m so thankful that Jesus is the author and perfecter of my faith. He’s not done with me. What an amazing blessing and gift. (Don’t get me wrong, I totally believe God is a God of order and He wants us to do our part but He wants us to put Him first in the planning.

Along with these same lines, I am acutely aware that I have a tone and face problem. This is not a new revelation, by no means. I’ve known it for most of my life. I’ve always just waved it off as part of my personality. But I’m realizing that is just making an excuse for my lack of self-control. Sin is sin no matter how you look at it. God is showing me more about myself these past two years. Being in ministry has really put a spotlight on this. For years as a Christian, I was growing and learning and teaching. But now as a missionary, what I thought would mean focusing on others and their walk, I’ve realized, means still focusing on my walk. How loving and patient is our wonderful God.

I sort of got off on a tangent. Back on a semi-related bureaucracy topic. We are working on getting or visas renewed. This process is also frustrating and expensive. We decided to go with a different attorney this year, given the errors and delays we dealt with last time. We meet with Carol’s dad, who is an attorney, in October. Immigration is not his specialty but he said he would look into it. Then he got sick, then he researched it and decided that he would find us another attorney that spoke English and specialized in visas. We meet with him again to receive the quote from the new attorney in December, the day before we left for Argentina. So when we got back to Atibaia, we contacted her on the 23rd of December. She was sick and wasn’t able to get back to us until the second week of January. So here we are again at the latter part of the month finally getting the process moving. I tried so hard to start earlier so we wouldn’t be stressed out but no such luck.

My prayer is that the paperwork that was submitted is accepted without any additional requests. The attorney mentioned that some of our documents, birth certificates and background checks, might have to be apostillized. An apostille is a specialized certificate issued by the Dept of State for the background checks, since they were issued by the FBI, and the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority, and the Tennessee Secretary of State for birth certificates. It just tells a foreign government that my certified copies are actually legit documents. Our attorney handed us over to another attorney for this, as it requires going through American government offices. That attorney quoted us $2,700 US dollars to get the six apostille documents. That’s way more than our attorney is charging us to do our visas. I don’t know why they weren’t needed to be this way when we first applied for our visas or when we reapplied for our visas last year. It proves difficult to request such things when you’re in a foreign country. I did some research and it doesn’t sound to difficult to do in the US, so I’m hoping I can make it work myself. If so, then it will only cost around $100-$200 to get the documents we need and mailed to us. The stinky part is it will take a minimum of five weeks to do the process, if I can make it work. We have submitted the documents, as is, for now and hopefully, they will not request the apostilles or at least I can have the ball rolling on getting them while the visa process gets started. Once I get them, they will need to be officially translated and notarized. This is the kind of stuff that drives me crazy but I am trying hard not to worry about it. I am doing what I can and leaving the worry at the feet of Jesus, or at least, that’s what I hope I do. So if you have any extra prayer time, prayers for our visas, my license, and Giovana would be greatly appreciated.

This month is also the time I try to get the bulk of my continuing professional education completed. The longer I’m out of actually practicing, the less and less I enjoy the hours and hundreds of dollars I spend on keeping up my CPA certification. One day I may stop, but it feels like a security blanket that I worked too hard to obtain. But I pushed through and finished it during this slower time so I won’t have to think about it the rest of the year and I can focus on the ministry.

Well, I had another birthday. As far as birthday traditions go, the birthday person gets to pick their birthday meal and activity. I chose 7Ervas. I love their filet there with the caramelized onions and gorgonzola sauce. Delicious. We popped popcorn and played cards. The boys gave me homemade cards, a long standing tradition and this year, the cards made me cry. They were so sweet, I felt them too personal to post here. Their words were a gift just for me. As my boys get older, there’s less and less they need from me. They don’t need me to change them, burp them, feed them, pack their bags; they are growing into men. That’s what I want for them but it leaves a little ache. At the same time, with all the mistakes I’ve made parenting, I was reminded they still love me and need me; just in different ways. It’s so bittersweet. I love my family so much.

As I turned another year older this month, I am feeling it. I thought I would be older before I felt the effects of aging; but no, the hormone changes, the wrinkles, the loss of muscle, the fat gain, the hearing loss, and a more constant need for stronger reading glasses all scream – I’m older. But here’s the thing, as much as I don’t welcome these changes, I am so grateful for my life, for my family, and friends. I’ve started to think of them as signs of living; of being a vessel. So grateful for a life filled with the presence of Jesus Christ; a full and abundant life. All I can say to this aging process is, bring it on. Here’s to another year of a wonderful life.