CJNR Bergman

Hiking

2010-05-11T10:41:00.001-07:00

Hiking is a lot more fun when everyone can walk on their own two feet! Spring is beautiful, we counted 9 different kinds of wild flowers on the way up the mountain...but I lost count of the ticks after 2o!

Easter egg hunt

2010-04-04T15:27:00.001-07:00

It only took Kaylie about 5 seconds to figure out what she was supposed to do, and then she quickly gathered up the most eggs. Three happy little chocolate filled kids!

Birthday 5-6

2010-04-04T15:24:00.001-07:00

Although it seemed like the birthday would never arrive, the day finally came! What fun it was!

Snowman

2010-03-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Feb fun

2010-02-17T09:13:00.001-08:00

Natalie got a new hair cut!

The kids had lots of fun in the snow, but I didn't get any pics so you'll have to imagine it:) They have great imaginations; these two kitties are sleeping in their houses!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-09T13:20:00.001-08:00

Kaylie & Olivia

Kaylie & Ella

Christmas clothes!

Fall Fun!

2009-11-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

This big girl is starting to go on the potty!!!

One day last week was particularly warm for November so Natalie, Reuben & I hiked up Mt. Major!

After a few hours of hiking, we had some pooped-out little hikers!

Apple picking

2009-09-26T09:15:00.001-07:00

We had a fun day picking apples!

Trip to Nova Scotia

2009-09-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

Best friends!

Two cute sisters! (can you tell which one drinks carrot juice?)

We had a good month in Nova Scotia! The kids love Nanny & Pappy!

Hope4cancer in Mexcio!

2009-06-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Hope4cancer clinic late Friday June 5. Its a small clinic, but there is lots of personal care, and the staff are friendly. We've been getting to know the other patients here, and its kind of comforting to go through this together!

We can walk to the border in about 2 minutes. Somehow I imagined it being a little better enforced:)

We try to get out and walk on the beach everyday. It's not only healthy, but it's fun to see whats different in the Pacific ocean. Last night we watch the sun set on the ocean as the dolphins played with the pelicans. Its too bad we had to get cancer to be able to see this.

2009-04-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Joanna is home now, and glad to be with the kids again. She looks a lot better in this picture than she feels!

Pictures in Jan.........

2009-03-20T05:11:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since we have sent pictures, we will try and update soon! It seems like life just gets crazier every day! The kids growing up to fast! Kaylie is walking and Keeping us busy.

I hope to send out some recent pictures In the next couple days. Thank you all for praying for us.

Ice Storm!!

2008-12-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

We had a big ice storm last week, so I decided to take a few pictures :)

The funny thing about this is that now we are having a huge snow storm! It has been snowing for to days and we are supposed to have another storm tomorrow!! Looks like we will have a white Christmas this year!:)

Some cute Pictures of Kaylie

2008-12-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

Such a busy girl!! She is starting to get into everything :)

Kaylie love playing in the tub!

Kaylie is still not walking yet, she has been standing on her own for a few months now. Any day now she should be walking!:)

More pictures of the kids :)

2008-12-20T17:14:00.000-08:00

Natalie and Reuben love their little sister!!

Cracker the horse!

2008-12-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

We were given a pony a few months ago. He is only about 9 months old, but is very sweet and the kids love him. Here are a few pictures of Cracker :)

It has been a while!

2008-12-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

Well It has been a while since we have update here! Things have been just a little crazy here (which most of you know) So it is about time for some pictures!!

Feeling Better!

2008-11-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

It has been quite busy here, lots of people coming and going. We are getting a bit more organized. The kids love it here! They ride bikes every day, and we get to go on walks in the woods, break down beaver dams :) Lots of fun.

Brain Tumor

2008-09-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

After months of very bad headaches that kept getting more and more frequent, we went the the doctor who scheduled Joanna for a CAT scan on Sept 9 to rule out anything in her head. On Sept 11 we found out that Joanna had a brain tumor the size of an orange in the left side of head. This is the part of the brain that controls language and motor function on the right side of the body. That afternoon we checked into the hospital in Halifax. Eight days later, Sept 19, it took the surgeons almost 8 hours to get about 90% of it out. They told us they go slow and don't look at the clock:) The distinction between tumor and brain was not well defined, and the tumor had grown into some of the surrounding brain which is why they couldn't get it all. Fortunately their was no brain function within the tumor, that would have been much worse. She came through surgery very well, with no memory loss, and only slight weakness on the right side. She was awake for most of the surgery so the surgeons could check brain function well they worked. They said she did very well answering questions during and after surgery. The initial result from pathology showed a less aggressive kind of tumor, however, the final results will take a few weeks to come in, so we cannot say for sure that it is all benign.
Since the beginning we have been encouraged and comforted with the knowledge that hundreds of people are praying for us all over the world. Our loving heavenly Father was well aware of Joanna's tumor, and we saw His hand of control on the whole thing. God used this in our lives to help us realize that He holds our lives in His hands, and He has us here for His purpose! We still don't know what tomorrow will bring, but we trust God for today! A big thank you to all of you who prayed, emailed, called, visited, and sent food & gifts it was a big encouragement to us! Continue to pray for Joanna's recovery from the surgery, and pray that the tumor was benign and requires no further treatment.
In His Care
Curtis, Joanna, Natalie, Reuben and Kaylie

Kaylie w/ Grandma and Aunty Leah

2008-08-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Kaylie misses her Grandma and Aunty Leah

Mt. Washington

2008-08-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Mt Washington w/ mom and dad. It was a lot of fun :) We also went shopping in the white mountains:)

Summer in NH

2008-08-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

Alice, Natalie and Reuben hiking, the kids loved being out and running, the were all really tired after!

Swimming at Grandpa and grandmas :)

I thought it was pretty cute the kids playing on the bike

Flowers in moms garden

Grandpa and Grandma had tons of berries at the farm, we had lots of fun playing w/ the puppies, picking berries and hiking!

Summer days.........

2008-07-07T06:43:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since we have taken pictures!! It has been really busy getting settled in, but fun too! The kids have been enjoying the Scottish terrier puppies :) Kaylie isn't quite sure what she thinks about them :)

Natalie has decided that puppies are a lot of fun :)

We took Natalie and Reuben hiking and there were a ton of blue berries at the top :)

It's hard to see all the berries but the kids where eating them hand over fist!

Flying Home!

2008-06-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

A long,

long flight!

Where's gramma?

The Last Supper

2008-06-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

My language teacher, Junior, also hosts a bible study tuesday evenings. My last night there we had one last churrasco, it was pretty special:)

Praying-mantis

2008-06-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is the biggest Praying-mantis I've ever seen! Kinda scary looking :)

Well, it is time to pack up once again! I time in Brazil is coming to an end, we are just about done w/ the packing. Now we have to say goodbye to our friends who we probably won't see again until we meet in Heaven.

Crazy hair!

2008-05-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

So tired :)

Curtis thinks it's funny to mess w/ Kaylies hair because she has so much of it!

Still not sure what color I would call it, but she has a lot of it :)

taking pictures w/kids

2008-05-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Natalie is such a girl, she loves pink, flowers and everything girly! If I let her she would wear all pink everyday!

Reuben dressing up (thanks Nanny!)

Natalie loves to jump!

Reuben telling us how to take the picture :)

This was a fun shot!!

It is so hard getting a picture of everyone! Without a doubt someone will be looking the other way!

Everyone is looking but nobodies smiling!

This is the best one out of 60 pictures!!

Airborne!!

Still running!! Well it is getting into dry season now, so pretty soon everything will be brown (or red like the dirt!) The kids still love playing outside, they just know that they will get a bath every night! :)

fun pictures!

2008-05-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Natalie being silly :)

Reuben and his daddy being silly

New Prayer card

2008-05-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well I think it is about time for a new prayer card! In our last one Reuben is only 1! We were able to get everyone (except Kaylie) looking AND smiling! Let us know what you think!!

Kaylie

2008-04-21T14:02:00.001-07:00

I just thought this pictures was so cute :)

Supplies for Mozambique

2008-04-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

We are getting close to the end here and we are starting to make a list of supplies before we leave for Mozambique! Be watching our Needs list.

Birthday come and gone..

2008-04-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

Kaylie is getting big :) She is such a happy little girl. She is starting to sleep through the night (sort of)

3 Birthdays so we get 3 cakes! Curtis did a really good job planning everything. He even got someone to take care of the cakes :)

Reuben was super excited about having a party :) He shared his new toys w/ the other kids too! His smile couldn't get any bigger!

Natalie was very happy to get a tinker-bell cake, but she still wants her "Nanny" to make a "lamby" cake :) And she made sure everyone knew it was her birthday "week" because birthdays last for a whole week, not just one day :)

Getting big!!

2008-03-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Natalie and Reuben are getting so big!! Reuben seems to be getting bigger faster then she is :)

New Pictures.

2008-03-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well Hannah is gone now, and the kids sure do miss her (we do too) Got to take some nice pictures of them together before she left.

Reuben has a big grin in just about every picture, I couldn't get him to stop saying "cheese" :)

New Pictures.

2008-03-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Reuben w/ his silly grin :)

Natalie washing her hands (she loves washing her hands)

Kaylie stretching out in the sun

Eating apples on the swing.

I cut about 4 inches off Natalies hair. (she really needed a trim)

A friend from NH came down to watch the kids so Curtis and I could get more study time in. It has been a great help, and we hope it will boost our Portuguese greatly :)

Toucans!!

2008-03-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

Not the best picture (It was at the top of the tree) but we see these guys flying by everyday! They almost look fake :)

Bikes!!

2008-03-03T06:30:00.000-08:00

Someone let us borrow a bike and Natalie has been enjoying riding it. Reuben can reach the peddles better because he is taller. They both are still trying to figure out how to steer, and the hand breaks are a little confusing too. But they really enjoy riding a bigger bike :)

Tiko

2008-02-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

Curtis has been going a little camera happy today. He took over a hundred pictures of Tiko (our parakeet) He narrowed it down to 6 that he really liked :)

Cake!!

2008-02-23T08:52:00.001-08:00

Sleeping peacefully.

Waiting for the cake to come!

So excited for the party to begin! Reuben wanted to make sure everyone had a hat!

One of our neighbors was having a Birthday party for there little girl, and they invited all the little kids around :) Reuben was so funny to watch, he had never been to someones b'day party before. He was just bouncing up and down the whole time, anyone who walked by w/a camera he would grin and yell "cheese"!!

Picking berries.

2008-02-23T08:38:00.001-08:00

We got to go berry picking a little while ago. There are some trees right on the land here, Natalie and Reuben LOVE berry picking. I'm not quite sure what these are called
but they make a mean pie that tastes a lot like blue berry pie!

Cows on the move!

2008-02-23T08:28:00.001-08:00

It is suggested that when you move to a new place you should start taking pictures right away. They say this because after a while everything starts to look normal for you. Here is a picture of some cowboys bringing there cattle right down the main street heading down town! It's like something out of a western movie :)

Churrasco

2008-02-18T06:48:00.000-08:00

With the weather being so hot Curtis has been grilling lot of meat! The kind of grilling that they do here is called a "Churrasco". Brazilians are big on meat, this makes Curtis and Reuben very happy :)

Worm Lizard

2008-02-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a little friend who came to visit us, at first we thought it was a worm snake but after looking it up we found out it was a worm lizard! It still isn't something you would want to find in your backyard!

We think we'll keep her!

2008-02-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

The Boxer

Maybe little sister isn't so bad after all!

Tinker bell

2008-02-03T15:43:00.001-08:00

Some new families have arrived, Natalie is having fun meeting new friends :) Here she is dressing up as tinker bell :)

Baby Kaylie

2008-02-03T14:15:00.001-08:00

Baby Pictures

2008-01-18T14:02:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post some baby pictures :) a lot of people have asked if Kaylie looks more like Reuben or Natalie, It's a hard question to answer. Let us know what you think :)

Kaylie (can you see the blond streaks in her hair?)

Reuben at one week

Natalie at Birth

Our Friends!

2008-01-15T13:07:00.001-08:00

The kids are finally comfortable enough here that they enjoy playing with their Brazilian friends!

Our New Baby!

2008-01-15T13:03:00.001-08:00

Natalie & Reuben are happy to finally be able to see & talk to their new baby sister in real life!

Kaylie Felice

2008-01-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

Kaylie Felice Bergman was born at 11:30pm Friday Jan 11, 2008.
She weighs 8lbs 1oz, is 20" long and is Brasilian!
Both Kaylie & Joanna are doing good, and sleeping lots!

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

2007-12-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-19T07:37:00.001-08:00

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

2007-12-18T13:23:00.001-08:00

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

2007-12-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-24T15:54:00.001-08:00

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!

2007-11-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-10-13T09:28:00.001-07:00

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

2007-10-12T07:09:00.001-07:00

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....

2007-10-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

A week full of fun :)

2007-09-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

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!!

2007-09-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

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!!

2007-09-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2007-09-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2007-09-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2007-09-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-09-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-02T07:56:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-08-24T15:55:00.001-07:00

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!!

2007-08-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

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

Classes have started!!

2007-08-17T15:22:00.001-07:00

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!!

2007-08-13T15:38:00.001-07:00

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 :)

Camping trip!

2007-08-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here is the much awaited video of our camping trip, I will post a video of our new dwelling sometime in the next week.

A trip to Cape Breton!

2007-07-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

Curtis and I were able to get away to go camping in Cape Breton. We went w/ some friends, the guys did a lot of hiking and cliff jumping :) The wives just stayed on the beach! Here are some shots of the guys jumping it the ocean and rivers! I will try to get a video of them jumping in the ocean on here soon. Right now we are doing some crazy packing!! We leave for Brazil in 1 1/2 weeks!!! Our visas came in today! :) So all systems are go :)

Curtis has some pretty funny facial expressions :)

A visitor from Indonesia.

2007-07-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

Curtis did a presentation for our junior church service. He had a guy from Indonesia come along to help show how different another culture could be! The kids were a little nervous at first, but they started to warm up after a while, Curtis showed them a little bit of what it takes to learn a language that has never been heard before.

Now believe it or not........................ this is me (Joanna) in these two pictures :) No one in our church believed it was me, they honestly thought it was a guy from Indonesia!!! I guess I did a pretty good job acting!

Summer days :)

2007-07-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Natalie has been enjoying the many flowers around the house, she know which ones she can pick And know, just about, all the names of the flowers in the garden!

It has been quite hot the last couple of weeks, the kids have enjoyed "swimming" in their little pool.

I've been enjoying having a camera again, So I will try and keep this updated more often :)

Stranded on an Island!!

2007-06-29T06:49:00.001-07:00

At the end of Lobster season, Curtis' family would go out to an Island in the Ocean and have one last "feed". This was the first time I was able to take part of this :) My sisters were also up, And Ruth loves Lobster :) Curtis and I would much rather have something else. Reuben, on the other hand, polished off alot of muscles (spelling??) and some Lobster.

There were 14+ Lobsters there most of which were over 2 lb!

Ruth getting ready to dig into her Lobster :)

Why have seafood when you can have a hot-dog??

We are trying to decide if this will be our new prayer card picture. It's kinda hard to fix your hair when the wind is blowing. But I like the background.

This is what Natalie calls a smile :)

It was a really pretty island w/ lots of berries growing on it. Later on in the summer there will be strawberries, gooseberries, currants, blue berries and black berries.

It was a long day for Reuben, he finally crashed on Uncle Craig's shoulder!

Natalie thought it would be fun to pretend to be asleep like Reuben.

It was a fun day, and the rain held off until the last boat load of us got on shore :)

Rain and mud puddles!

2007-06-27T15:49:00.001-07:00

My sisters came up for a visit along w/ my two nieces, it was a fun week AND a busy one! Friday it rained really hard and started hailing as well. It rained so much that down town was flooded! The water was up to the headlights on the car down town! So by the time the rain stopped there were lots of muddy puddles to play in :)

Little Gwen "scooting" around on the floor.

Reuben obviously found the mud puddles :)

Chloe giving Reuben a kiss.

Here is a nice close-up of the muddy face.

Reuben and Chloe were having a great time looking for bugs under rocks and plants.

In this picture you can see Reuben and Chloe in their search for bugs, Natalie doesn't like bugs of any kind (such a girly girl) so she is picking flowers :)

Natalie letting Chloe sniff her flower :)

A walk in Victoria park.

2007-06-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

Natalie has enjoyed all the flowers, she loves learning the names of the flowers :)

Reuben enjoys picking flowers too.

The kids love throwing little stones into the stream below.

To tired to walk any more, it's fun to get a lift from Daddy

Which way will he go??

Natalie enjoys getting a lift whenever she can :)

Friends from NH.

2007-06-19T06:48:00.001-07:00

Some of my friends from NH Came for a visit. And both of them like Lobster, so we made a trip to the eastern shore to pick some up :)

Neither Curtis or I enjoy Lobster, but his Sister is married to a Lobster fishermen and they gave us two of their catch.

The smell of Lobster cooking.......... I guess if you like Lobster it would be good :)

A visit to auntie Tammy's.

2007-06-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Best friends.... most of the time :)

Watching the boats unload their Lobster.

Aunt Tammy had a bunch of treasure from the sea for the kids to look at. Her husband is a lobster fishermen, and all these other little things were found caught in the trap.

Natalie enjoying the starfish, it was the only thing we could get her to touch. I don't think she knew they were alive :)

I can't remember what these are called, it is a type of crab that doesn't have a hard shell. Something like Velcro grows in it's place and everything on the bottom of the ocean sticks to it. You can see bits of seaweed growing on it's back.

Reuben showing off his hermit crab, moments later he stuck it in his mouth and we had to go fishing for it :) Such a boy, he loves his seafood!

Down to the eastern shore.

2007-06-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here goes!!

2007-06-07T15:50:00.001-07:00

Well.... Our Camera died the other day, just 4 weeks after the warranty ran out. Isn't that what's supposed to happen?? So these are our last pictures for a while :(

Reuben loves swinging by himself, he likes being a big boy :)

Water the plants

2007-05-20T13:27:00.001-07:00

The kids have been having lots of fun with their watering cans! They have been enjoying the warmer weather, and seeing all the flowers come up. I'll post some flower pictures later!!

A walk in the Park.

2007-05-01T17:39:00.001-07:00

We're going to Brazil!!

2007-04-21T16:43:00.001-07:00

Reuben is excited about flying :)

Snow again!!

2007-04-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

Almost 2 weeks ago now we had a huge snow storm!! Natalie enjoyed "helping" Curtis shovel the snow, and sweep off the car :) Then they dug a tunnel in the snow and made a snow man! It took quite a while for Natalie to crawl through the tunnel, Curtis had to go through (at least) 4 time before she would even try. But she had fun making it!

Finally the Birthday Video is here!

2007-04-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Warmer weather.

2007-04-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

When the weather is nice I have been taking the kids on long walks, it is good exercise. When we went out earlier this weeks three deer ran right out in front of us!! The deer were only 10 feet in front of us! I had my camera with me but didn't think to use it until it was too late. Here is a picture of the kids trying to run after the deer. (they didn't catch them)

Warmer days..........

2007-03-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

It was pretty warm out a couple days ago, so Natalie and I made a snow man! It was Natalie's first snowman, it took her a while to get into it but soon enough she was having fun. She didn't want to go in :) Reuben is not a big fan of the snow, he whined most of the time we were out there. He started playing with a little stick after a while and plopped down in the snow.

Taking a trip!

2007-03-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

We are taking a trip down to NH tomorrow. The kids are excited to see their grandparents. We hope to spend some time with a couple who has been in Mozambique for the past 3+ years. This way will can get some first hand knowledge on Mozambique!

Pictures of Reuben over the last 1+ year.

2007-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

Reuben is almost 2, He is getting so big!

Picture of Natalie over the past 2+ years.

2007-02-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that our little girl is almost 3!!

Ministry blog

2007-02-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

We are just putting last minute touch ups on our ministry site, check it out and let us know what you think!! Click here

Making yogurt.

2007-02-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

First heat 4 cups of milk to 180, then let it cool down to 110.

While you are waiting on the milk, pour hot water into a cooler and into (your soon to be) yogurt container. When your milk is cooled enough, pour some into a separate container and add 1 TB of starter (Plain yogurt) mix and then pour back in with the rest of the milk. Put into the warm container, and put the yogurt container into the cooler, fill the cooler w/ warm water and cover it up. I wrapped it in a towel to make sure it stayed warm. Check it in 8-12 hours and you should have yogurt!

I mixed in some Blackberry jam and the kids loved it.

Still sick.

2007-02-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

Natalie is still not feeling good, she was up during the night throwing up. Poor little girl, she has just been laying around all day, watching movies and reading books. Hopefully she is on the mend.

Reuben miss having his energetic playmate, so I have taken up that position until Natalie is feeling better. :) We are into potty training again, Reuben is not a big fan. He would much rather be playing then sitting there for no apparent reason. He has done quite well, the only time he makes a mistake is when I forget to put him on :)

Under the weather :(

2007-01-31T13:40:00.000-08:00

Natalie had kind of a ruff night last night. It took us forever to get her to sleep, it was about 11:30 when she finally went to sleep. She got up a lot earlier then normal and was really fussy. So we put her back to bed and she slept for about an hour. I went in to get her up and she just started crying, as soon as I picked her up she puked all over me, the floor, the wall and her self! Her food from last nights supper wasn't even digested. On top of that she got the big "D" (is that too much info??) So she has been laying around all day watching movies and drinking juice. Natalie has wanted to "cuddle" most of the day, pray that she gets better and is able to sleep tonight.

2007-01-27T18:16:00.000-08:00

Reuben decided to take a nap on the shelf w/ his monkey. Monkey is about the same size as Reuben, it is funny to see him try to carry it around :)