5:30am get up and go jogging
6:00am shower and eat breakfast
6:30am devotions
7:00am prayer and get ready for school to start
7:45am school starts
4:00pm Mon, Wed (i get off early, so go earlier), Fri–Graphica (the place with the internet), Tue–English class (i teach for the seminary) Th–practice with the band
6:00pm eat (Wed–teach English to whoever shows up and then have church)
7:00pm study (i have 4 internet classes)
10:00pm Bible study and go to bed (this normally doesn’t happen until 11…)

just in case you wanted to know. Saturday and Sunday there are lots of opportunities to serve and help out in different ministries…and sleep. supposedly i need to guard my free time zealously. otherwise i get burned out by April. thanks for your prayers

Alyssa did this for me. neato.

sometimes it takes a whole day to live in one moment. a moment that is worth all day.

Have you ever sat in moonlight…pure moonlight and tried to write? do it sometime and tell me why it is impossible.

Happy Birthday to my favoritest brother in the whole wide world. 7 years old! wow.

i saw a horse across the street today, standing there eating. on a leash like thing tied to the tree. i was waiting for a combie but longed to ride the horse to the center instead. bareback. but common sense won again and i got a ride to town.

i love empty spaces. empty places that call out to you to stay in their silences. Hollow, barren corners that you cannot drag your feet away from.

i caught the wrong bus. got a disgusted look from the driver.

you don’t have to worry about the water level being low. we are getting tons of rain. it has cooled everything down–i actually got goosebumps twice! not enough to put on a sweater or anything, but close. everything is three shades brighter green since i got here. the bad side is, rain gives birth to millions of bugs. you think i am exaggerating, but i am not. there were so many bug flying around the pool i thought it was still raining.

I ate dinner for less than a quarter US….a broa (corn cookie thing) and piece of fresh bread with cheese on it. gotta love it.

the maid is amazing. cleaned all my stuff. got those black things out of the shower (i think they were bugs. i pretended they weren’t there), washed my stinky jogging clothes (hey, it is 5:30 and no one is around to see or smell me, so i reuse the outfit a couple times…) and even lined up my sandals. i didn’t even know i had that many sandals.

ok. i love teaching. that’s just all there is to say. and making kids stick out their tongues to prounce “the” makes me laugh. i love having a job that makes me laugh. i asked Mateus to close the door and he started singing that song…i dunno it really…it is popular in the US about “closing the *********door”. Mateus and Mariana had heard it and thought the words were “close the garden door” which a nice version of it. so he was singing away…in his warbled English…that made me laugh too.

it sounds like someone is torturing dogs outside my window. yuck. sounds are so random here…like the donkey that regularly sounds like it is hemorraging. or the cicadas that i am sure wil converge upon us like a plauge of locusts they are so loud. and smells. you never know when you are going to suddenly keel over and realize you just got a wiff of something that never should have happened. and smells like it should be illigal.

the guanana looks really…on fire or something. David got a haircut.

See no evil (Aniha), hear no evil (me), speak no evil (Karine)

So we crashed this wedding…and ate WAY too much food

ok…so we didn’t officially crash it…but i didn’t know anyone, because Aniha and Joelson invited us…they were singing and the band was playing…long story short, we laughed during the serious times, made fun of people, waved and blew kisses to the camera…and i am now a wedding singer. yep. turns out the groom had heard me sing on Joelson’s cell phone and was like “yeah, have her sing in English” so i did, forgot half the words and repeated the rest….but…i sang and it was lovely and wonderful and fun.

we had way too much fun with the veil thingy

i saw some of Carnival. not really on purpose. good thing Diego and Feliphe went with me. they made sure i got COW meat instead of DONKEY meat on a stick. bleh. so it was a bunch of people sitting around until a big van thing with huge speakers and people dancing on top came by. then everyone made a sweaty mess and were throwing around beer on everyone. down the side street, a large group of guys decided to create a public bathroom.

i fail to see the fun of this.

i saw “Glory.” i envy him. because he died for what he believe in. i can’t seem to live for what i believe in. What do i believe in that i would die for? i started a list:

i believe the Bible is true
i believe all life should be fought for–from conception on. and all lives are as valuable as my own
i believe that wrong shouldn’t be ignored, but challenged. but there must be wisdom in how.
i believe the fatherless and the widow and the voiceless should be given love, protection, and a voice
i believe that every day is a gift and must be used wisely
i believe each person was made for a reason and has a part in life that only they can fulfill
i believe that God is all. i am made for His glory alone. that is my purpose and if i accomplish it then i have truely lived.
i believe that God loved me before the world began and sent His Son, who is God, to die for me, which he did gladly, because he loved me like a man whose breath is taken away by his bride’s beauty. He went to hell for me before i knew him.
i believe God has a plan for me. that all that goes on is part and in His plan and control and will come out for his good and glory
i believe i will go to heaven when i die–a place where intimacy with God is closer and real-er than any relationship on earth
i believe that until i die i will struggle with a sin nature–that nothing is past me and “but for the grace of God, there go i”
i believe i have been given a new heart with true, pure desires–but must choose, daily, momently, to not turn to substitutes, but to walk in the communion and presence of the Holy Spirit who was given to me as a seal of my family credentials
i believe it is possible to walk in unbroken fellowship with God and to pray uncessingly through the power of the Holy Spirit and intercession of my High Priest in heaven–and to have intimate conversation as a friend to friend and lover to lover
i believe that Jesus’ death, burial, and ressurection is the only way to heaven and God is just and right in this. i don’t know how He does it, but all people who reject Jesus will die and rightly go to hell, separated forever from God
i believe that parents are not perfect but are to be obeyed by children and respected and honored their whole lives by their kids, no matter how old, and their counsel holds weight in my life
i believe Satan is real and should not be underestimated. i also believe in spiritual warfare and we are called to fight and be intercessors.
i believe that all the fullness of God lives in me through the Holy Spirit and i am the temple of the Holy Spirit
i believe that i am called to die daily, momently, in total surrender as my life is not my own
i believe i am being conformed to the image of Christ and that is my goal
i believe that i will be judged and rewarded for every word, motive, thought, and action i do
i believe that went i confess my sins, i am forgiven and made clean and restored, as God sees not me, but the prefect blood of Christ that covers me
i believe that there is nothing i can do to get out of His hands. i am adopted and my name is written in the book of life. God is just and i will be punished if i disobey, but never disowned
i believe it is vital to have daily time with God, reading the Bible and praying and sharing. without this i will wither and starve spiritually
i believe my clothes, words, music, entertainment, and activities must be pleasing to God and not make anyone else to stumble–or else it is sin

and there i take a moment to breathe and sometime in the middle of the night remember all the other things…

if you are wondering why all the smaller posts with pictures…because i can’t get it to work any other way…that’s why!

a bunch of us waiting to eat-L to R: Ramon, Feliphe, Messinho (with plate), Hugo, George and his girlfriend, me, Stenio, Jorginho (in front–he’s my hero–14 and taught himself to play the guitar, piano, and drums…and can sing only like incredible), Carlos, Lorena, and Alyssa.

Diego got alittle sweaty. we must have been singing, dancing, jumping up and down, and sweating for an hour an a half. Gilson got some sunglasses and played it cool on the drums.

yeah baby.

kids around our two amazing “Paizinhos”: George and Anselmo

Rediculous night. yep, i went like i always do…but this time i brought lipstick and went around drawing kisses on everyone. grin. That is Messinho with me, Ricardo behind me (Messinho’s friend who was amazed at my huge muscles), and part of the head of Hugo. i loved the time with all my brothers…minus Raul who moved to Sao Paulo.

Daniel, who won the rediculous night. i have never once won. i don’t think my team has ever one in all this time either. i must be cursed or something.

other rediculous people. see? it is not just me…

There is no way to have a picture show the amazing time we had worshiping.

the floor. practically white. if i don’t even dare to wear it…why dare to stick it all over EVERYWHERE?

trying to show you Tele’s house is rather…impossible. this is the view after you walk in and look down into the family room. the green glass is the huge sliding doors that open to this amazing view.

the view from upstairs

The most important room (the kitchen, of course!) which will be the home of many wonderful pizza nights

Carnival. vacation for me…

i ate a leaf while playing cannibal. and said “moo, moo, i am a cow.” with my pride swallowed, i gained a point for my team. the youth from the churches of Timbauba and Tracunheam came to the Alcance and we had a camp. what is camp without crazy games late at night? leaves, actually, don’t taste that bad. and someone else had to eat sand.

i love the feeling of fellowship. there is something amazing about these people. they grab instruments and start playing and creating music and singing and just sit there in a circle of praise. this is what they WANT to do. they have chosen to spend their vacation doing this. they have rejected the things of the world. they are at camp and every spare moment i see people heading to the big room, wanting to worship God. wanting to enter into something bigger than themselves. and here i am, sitting in the window, watching the habiscus flowers color the wind with their pink and reds, hearing the sweet sound of surrender, abandon, of harmony, of mistakes, of laughter and second tries. some moments someone gets impatient. other moments, we sit at heaven’s gates.

They are redoing the floor. pshhhhhhhaaahhh. i loved the old floor. but someone was kind enough to buy and pay for all the costs to get some really nice tiles, which apparently in Brasil, are much more professional. to me, they just look “much more likely to get dirty” and i already slipped on it when it was wet. i have spent quite awhile complaining about it, so have decided to only comment a couple more times before i am resigned to the new floor. grrr.

the maid came. ahh. i love it–that means clean rooms and clean floors and i can go around barefoot without all those little pieces of dirt sticking to my feet. Heather is amazing. she grabs random things off the shelf, stirs a couple minutes (NEVER MEASURING–HA!) and suddenly she’s made some mouthwatering pizza. before i become a mom i have decided i must memorize the pizza recipe. yep.

Livia, Karine, and Isana. amazing girls with amazing voices and hearts.

this little man (Christopher–Tele’s youngest son) is getting clean…and reminds me alot of his brother.

we got a pretty wild game of water futebol going with the girls…i have the bruises to prove it…and from regular futebol

where i was told to eat a leaf.