Busy times............

Even though we aren't in classes we are still pretty busy! I thought it would slow down a bit....... but that is not the case. Curtis has language sessions a couple times a week, and he found someone that would review his lessons twice a week w/ him. I found someone who would teach me in the mornings everyday except Sunday, and I have language sessions once or twice a week! We are both trying to get the Language as soon as possible so that we can go to Mozambique!!
I have been riding a bike to class every morning......... but it is not very comfortable when your big and pregnant! I have the next couple weeks off which will be nice :)

Natalie & Reuben

Natalie and Reuben are really enjoying being able to stay at home every day! They are best friends and want to do EVERYTHING together :) We have been pretty busy lately and try to explain to Natalie all the stuff that we have to get done. And she comes back w/ "But what are we going to do about fun?" :) Reuben is coming up w/ some pretty funny things too, the other day he went up to Curtis and said "find me a wife!"

Cashew fruit

Here is a picture of a Cashew fruit! Most people around here eat the fruit and discard the nut because the smoke (when you roast it) is poisonious. The fruit makes a pretty good pie too :) There is nothing that compares to this fruit (as far as tast goes) so I won't even try!

Jabuticabas

Here are some pictures of a Jabuticaba tree, the berries are ready to pick! I thought it was really neat the way they grow on the bark of the tree :) Most people make jam out of them, it tasts a little like grape jam.

Our first snake story!

My greatest fear came to life the other night as a stood on the chair taking this picture of a 2 foot coral snake in our neighbor's house. Our door is right next to theirs but fortunately for us our screen door shuts tighter! This snake is probably quite poisonous although its small and not real aggressive. I thought missionaries rarely see snakes? Hopefully this is the last one for a while!

Weekend at the Hot Springs!

There was a Japanese Garden next to our Resort that had beautiful ponds, gardens, and best of all monkeys!

We enjoyed a 3 day get away to Caldas Novas this weekend. We were able to stay in the apartment of a friend of a friend for a very reasonable price. The resort was really nice. There were 5 pools all heated with natural hot water from underground. The kids loved it, and it was a much needed break for all of us!

Hyacinth Macaw.

Curtis has seen 5 pairs of macaws over the past couple of weeks. I have yet to see one, but hopefully I'll get my chance soon :) The Macaw in the picture is a hyacinth Macaw. The largest of the macaws and it is considered endangered. But in this past month several people on the base here have seen pairs flying overhead! Curtis saw 2 pairs of Golden macaws land in a tree behind our house!

Curtis is out picking cashew fruit right now, hopefully when he gets back I will have some more pictures to post!! :)

Flamboyant and boganbilia flowers

Spring is here in Brazil :) so there are lots of flowers every where!

There are many different colored boganbilia.

The Mango trees are starting to produce, but the fruit won't be ripe for a while yet.

This is a closeup of a flamboyant flower.

Natalie loves picking flowers!

Since spring is here that means there is going to be a time change. So this weekend we spring ahead (in Brazil)

Excuse me spider....

Reuben was sent to bed, and Curtis and I hear him saying "excuse me pider" over and over. So we go in to investigate "who" he is talking to. Well It wasn't a spider, it was a big cockroach!:) Reuben was not at all scared of the large bug that was in his room. We called Natalie in so we could show her the bug and the first thing she does is scream :) (such a girl)

Later on when it was time for her to be asleep I her a panicked call from her, so I went in to see what the commotion was about. She had turned on the light in her room and was curled up on her bed peering over the side. "there's a bug" she says "can you take it away?" I couldn't see this "bug" that she was talking about, when I got really close I could see a tiny little ant :) Clearly Reuben's bug had made an impression on her.

Bicho-de-pe

Another week has come and gone, this coming week we are going to be going through phonetics. So hopefully we will be able to read in Portuguese!

Curtis was having a problem w/ his toe and wanted me to take a look at it. It had a huge callus on the end of it and under his toe nail was all black! (He later told me it had been bothering him for about 2 weeks) He said it didn't hurt until I squeezed it. Curtis decided to cut off the callus (w/ a pocket knife!) as soon as he did the a bunch of white junk shot out, and on closer inspection the white junk looked like eggs! We found out he had a bicho-de-pe (bee shoe jee pay) in his foot, it is fondly called a "pet". It's actually a worm that boroughs into your skin (usually under your toenails ) and lays eggs and digs in further and further laying eggs the whole time! All you can see is a small black dot where it went in and then a callus where you skin is dying! So by the time Curtis was done w/ his toe there was a HUGE crater under his toenail! The best way to prevent getting one of these little "pets" is to where shoes, but sooner or later you'll end up getting one :)

Making Pamonha

A week full of fun :)

Natalie and Reuben were so excited to go swimming today!! Some one gave us there old wading pool, and it is really quite big! It has been so hot lately that Curtis and I were thinking about joining them!!

It is going to take a while to fill the pool :)

The other night we did popcorn and a movie for Natalie and Reuben, they loved it !:)

Cowboy Reuben

We read lots of books during the day, I think it is the kids favorite time of day because they get one on one time we mommy and daddy :)

Here is a picture of Reuben w/ our ground rod. After about a month of getting shocked every time we touched the computer (in our bare feet), we decided it was time for a ground rod, the first one in our apartment. It stopped the shocks, but now the joke is that we'll be a lightning magnet. I guess our area is real bad for lightning during rainy season, so people usually unplug everything at the first sign of lightning.We try to water the ground rod every now and then :)

In the spotlight!!

This past Sunday, Natalie and Reuben stood up from to say a verse and sing in Portuguese! They didn't actually sing, they just smiled and looked at everyone :) Natalie was pretty excited when she was able to pick daddy out of the crowd! I told them ahead of time that daddy was going to take a picture of them, so they both looked right at the camera! Maybe next time they will know a little Portuguese!

More bird pictures!!

I have no idea what kind of bird this is! But their really pretty :)!

I don't know how to spell what this is, but, in the states this is the kind of tree you see in malls. They get really big here, and they get little red berries (not edible though)

I heard Natalie talking to someone, so I looked out the window to see who she was talking to and no one was there. So I went outside to investigate! She was talking to this baby bird, "whatcha doing ?" It was actually quite large. I took Natalie to visit some one who has a parrot, and the parrot talked . So now she thinks all birds can talk! :)

A time for stories :)

Well this is the first week that the kids were happy about going to nursery! Actually they asked if they could go! I think that Reuben finally realized that we are going to come back for him. They are very excited when we come get them, and we usually read lots of books to get them calmed down for nap time :)
On another note.......... the Doctor is 98% sure that we are going to have a girl!! Natalie is VERY excited about this :)

Churrasco!!!

Last Saturday we went to a churrasco,(shew-haw-skoo) which is a Brazilian barbecue! We all had a lot of fun, there was lots of meat, which made Reuben and Curtis very happy :) Natalie wasn't to happy about trying new food, but she enjoyed ice cream and cake!

During the afternoon the kids took a nap and Curtis played games with the guys :) It was a very relaxing day.

When the kids got up they enjoyed swimming in the pond, it wasn't very deep and the kids enjoyed getting cooled off. No pictures of me :) I guess that's what happens when your the photographer :) Maybe next time.

Interesting new sites :)

Everyday we see these Parrots fly over, they land in a tree that is right out my kitchen window :) Parrots are quite noisy, Natalie has been asking us to get a "pink" one for her :) We are thinking about, but we aren't sure we want to get into that!

We also have seen toucans flying by, I downloaded this picture because I haven't been able to get a picture of one yet! We only see them flying, never just sitting in a tree. We have been told they can be quite a menace, robbing nests and such. When it rains and the trees start blooming and producing fruit the parakeets will come in :) I'll try to post more pictures later!

Getting settled in.

Here are some pictures of our muddy children, they look like this just about every day. Sometimes much dirtier than this:) but they are having fun!

They are both starting to enjoy nursery, everyone is happy about that :) Reuben is feeling much better today and ready to get into anything! Classes are going good, I (Joanna) am struggling remembering words and phrases from day to day. Curtis is picking things up really quickly! Pray that we will be diligent in our studies!

Reuben

Well, this weekend was Reuben's turn to get sick :( Throwing up and Diarrhea. He seems to be a little better this afternoon. Hopefully our bodies will adjust to the food and climate soon :)

Under the weather.

We all seem to have caught the flue! Everyone has a runny nose and sore throat, we are praying that this will go away soon. It's hard to study when you are sick!

Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the sun and a ride on the tire swing :)

I'm not sure what this tree is, but I thought it looked pretty :)

New Apartment!!

Sorry this took so long, we've had a few difficulties w/ the server :) Enjoy!

Classes have started!!

Here are some pictures of us in class doing TPR. Also known as total physical response. Our language helper will give us a command and we will have to do it.
The Girls are in one Class and the guys are in another. We also have little videos to help us remember what we have done in class, so when we get home we are able to review.
We have chapel every morning, one day they do it in Portuguese and the next day it will be in English.

The kids are in Nursery while we are in class. You can pray for Reuben, he is having a hard time adjusting to Nursery and being away from us. That is all for now!! We are still

working on getting the video online. I hope to get it on here real soon!

Life in Brazil!!

With all the mix up that we had at the airport, everybody was pretty tired by the time we flew into the capital. Natalie just couldn't hold out any longer, she finally fell asleep in the airport while we waited for our ride to the base.

Here is a picture of our shower frog, we met him our first night in our new house :) He has only come out a few times since then.

Natalie and Reuben in their new "tub". They get so dirty during the day that they get a shower every night, and sponged off before nap time :) But they have fun!

Here is a picture of our new bike! Both kids are enjoying a ride. Now that we have a bike we are able to go to town and do our shopping, The super markets here will deliver your purchases for free! So if it doesn't fit on the bike, it will be delivered. We have been having some technical difficulties w/ uploading the video of our apartment. Hopefully we can get it on here before the end of the week. Well that is it for now :)