I ride the bus. Everywhere. My mom was apologizing about some problem on the car and I stopped her with “Mom, I don’t have a car. I walk. Everywhere. Or get a bus. ANYTHING sounds good.”

Sometimes I see little things that make me happy. Today on the bus, a woman held a sleeping baby in her arms. The baby’s pacifier fell to the floor. Three seats back and to the left, a man got up—almost jumped up—and picked up the pacifier before it could get any dirtier, and handed it to the woman. It would have been so hard for her to have gotten.
What a gentleman.

What a simple piece of love to see on the bus.

some more pictures:

Cotton Candy

popcorn

trampoline. goodness i miss the one at home.

balloons and hand painting

a DJ person who called out for games

and the jump house

the company that ran the party just loved the kids. they couldn’t believe how well behaved they were, and so full of love. they were so excited about the program, that they are hoping to help with some projects in the future!

I turned the corner to the church and could not believe it.

they had rented a party service. in Brasil…they know how to do parties. And for children, they pull out all the stops. Children in Brasil get a bigger first birthday party than i got in all my parties put together. and they don’t even remember it. The children at Living Stone’s got the real deal–popcorn, cotton candy, trampoline, jump house, ball pit, hotdogs, pop, face painting, balloons, games, cake…

i wasn’t the only one surprised when i turned the corner.

the kids came and had to be ushered in–because they did not think all this could be for them. Everyone was wearing their best clothes and brightest smiles. After shyly coming in and asking things like “can i get more than one popcorn?” they began to enjoy themselves and just be children. it was beautiful.

the ball pit

games 

hot dogs

I was in charge of the trampoline line “oh please Tia, can’t we just cut in front of them?” and then got a chance to do a couple flips for the kids while they cheered me on.

but the most magical moment of all was when they called all the children in–over 100–to the church for cake

Patricia stood in front of them and said “’1,2,3 silence” and they were. not a sound. She said “You know who gave all this to you, right?” (they nodded) “God gave this too you.” and then she proceeded to pray a beatiful prayer about true happiness being in Christ. it was amazing.

We cut the cake and then proceeded to give it out to the children as they sat, waiting patiently. If you have ever worked with kids, you know that a mass of kids, in one corner of a church, all wanting cake equals a mess. As i came with a platter of pieces of cake, NOT ONE CHILD reached out for one or asked for one or said “me first!” or “over here!” Each one of them, from 6-16, waited for me to hand them a piece of cake, which they then gratefully took and quietly ate.

wow

Thank you again, all of those who supported to make this happen:

CARSON’s in Circle Center

HORIZON CENTRAL

the CROSS church in Peoria

*

The children are starting a project, and are going to be working on making jewelry–this time, when i bring back jewelry, it will be from these children themselves. If you are interested in supporting this work, donating, or recieving this jewelry, please e-mail me at amobrasil99@hotmail.com

at first I was horribly dramatic and crying and yelling at the moon. about the whole Anna getting married NOW thing. for a good half an hour, i’d say. shaking and wiggling and spasmatic and everything. it was quite the show.

i was RAVING mad and hurt and feeling like i had nothing. coming to the USA with a married sister…

is going to take some getting used to.

and i was like “AHHH i have nothing to go home too”
(which i know is not true, but i said it anyways)
and “ahhh! i have nothing here!” (again…)
so what should i dooooooo? and it isn’t fairrrrrrrrrr!”

last week was midterms. in portuguese.

Monday at class, the teacher told us we were going to work in pairs, and it was open book test. so that was a no-brainer. what kind of test is in pairs? the woman who had pity on me and chose me as her partner didn’t do much…i answered three of the four questions, and by the time she finished her question, i asked her to please copy over mine, fixing all my grammatical mistakes. she copied my answers word for word. bleh.

Tuesday i taught English until 5:30pm, so got half an hour to study. good thing too–four essay questions, no notes…the questions being:

explain what philosophy is and how it affects our thinking
explain what anti-philosophy is
explain what emperical knowledge is (hmm…is that a word in English? i don’t even know how to translate it from Portuguese right…)
explain the difference between emperical knowledge and scientific knowledge

i answered all the questions in English, then translated them to Portuguese, and then copied them over nicely…trying to fix my grammar kaputzes.

Wednesday was Teacher’s day, so we had the day off and went to this farm place. i called home and Dad said Anna’s talking about apartment, justice of the peace…

so Thursday i walked through classes like a zombie. a crying zombie. my eyes swollen big. until i talked with Anna and she made it all better. for some reason…she does that very well. so she still wants to have the official wedding with me. so i can be maid of honor and all those glorious things. i am already envisioning those little cakes with frosting flowers. green flowers. no, purple flowers with green leaves.

Friday was too busy to think much…it was kill the lice day at Living Stones. Saturday Anna called me and read me her vows. wow they are beautiful.

So it became Anna Embry on Saturday.

i remember first going to UHBC. Pastor Pabody with an elf hat. Men for Missions. Basketball before and after church. Fazolies. First meeting Donovan and everyone…i have pictures when Donovan’s bangs were too short and he was just a little boy. but still taller than me.

i have even more pictures of Anna.
my little sister.

i am sad to miss the first time things. the wedding. Donovan wearing the cow outfit at the Coombs reunion. Anna’s first apartment. i am thinking ticket prices will be best if i travel over New Years…so…my family’s gonna save some of Christmas for me and we’ll celebrate together in January. Anna is thinking March-ish for the wedding, and i will stay until the end of the semester in May because i got a really good scholarship at Ivy Tech. one that will pay for my plane ticket. and i will still catch a lot of the first time things.

and that is a lot for a week.
twas a good week.

heheh.
so i got official permission to “announce” the wedding on xanga.
don’t i feel special?

and isn’t CARINA an amazing photographer?
go pro! go pro!

and then she spent like four hours e-mailing the pictures to me so i would feel loved and a part of things.
and then i spent like four hours trying to download the pictures in the very very slow internet.

and i bought a cell phone.
me.
after all those comments of not wanting to be a dog on a leash.

so i took it with me to college tonight.
i discovered three games.
and then i discovered how to change the settings from Portuguese to English.

and then my teacher was sick, so i tried to call for someone to pick me up…
and forgot the number.
so had to ride the bus instead.

a lot of good that cell phone did.

i can feel myself becoming addicted already.

it has an alarm clock
a flashlight
a regular clock and date thing. i can never remember the date.
it has a calendar
i can change the background colors
and the ring tone
i can write myself reminders. and then forget i wrote them.
it has a converter

and it was the cheapest one they had.

October 19, 2008

Mr. and Mrs. Donovan Embry

they signed the paper

but are waiting for ME ME ME to come to the US of A to have a big wedding party and all

The location

the Justice of the Peace

the candyman

the kiss

the silly string

the afterwards hot chocolate

CONGRATS! we love you!

any other information…like their new address, how they are doing, and exact plans…
are either unknown or soon to be known.

On Children’s day
we get to play
and sing a song
to get along

all of us
but those over there
we have our day
without a care

but they just watch
and wonder how
it should feel
to be a child now

no presents wait
for them to see
no plans are made
for their party

on Children’s day
we get to play
all those of us
who have enough to pay

*
To all those from CARSON’s, KARIANNE’s church, and HORIZON CENTRAL…
thank you so much for giving, and supporting the children in Brasil. With the donations you gave for Living Stones…

This Thursday we are having a big amazing special wonderful spectacular party for the children in Paudalho–the children too poor to celebrate Children’s day in Brasil. This will truely be their day.

more pictures to come.

Wednesday was teacher’s day.
they take it pretty seriously too.
we got the day off, and all the teachers were taken to a farm where we played cards, soccer, volleyball, swam, and then ate so much we wabbled around after that.

L to R: Manuella, Pricilla, Karol, Wilma, and Fernanda

ze pool

Churrasco…BBQ…FAT FAT FAT…whatever you want to call it.
i, the vegetarian, turned up my nose at it all…
but ate enough beans and salsa to make up for it.

us lovely people

the wonderful couple in eye popping shirts with Alyssa flying through the background

i don’t know how this picture got on my camera. i think when i passed out after eating so much salsa.

this huge thing…not the coke…was growing on the tree. they said it was a lemon…but there was some dispute, and perhaps it is a grapefruit? whatever it is, it is huge and on steroids.

a rainbow from my patio.
promises of tomorrow.

Here are the pictures from the FIRST international school olympics.
it was awesome.
i burnt my nose and forhead to a crisp. tis the season to wear sunscreen.

Fransisco the Pirate MUST be photographed and documented.

the opening cerimonies–olympic torch and all

opening cerimonies–the dance project.

Karate presentation. Davi and Roderigo were amazing. and even cuter when they messed up.

Swimming contests. i really don’t get the whole Brazilian wearing speedos thing.

and they are off

Soccer competitions

Basketball competitions

Track and field

and of course, soccer is the highlight–blue vs. yellow
L to R: back row first–Hugo, Gabriel, Kaio, Lucas–Luiz Mario, Lucas, and Luiz Guilherme

and the yellows: Daniel O., Gulherme, Jonathas, Tiago, Neto, Junior (the teacher) front row: Johnny, Daniel L., and Michael.

passing out the medals–Manuelly and Mariana

Debora and Adrielly

Gulherme refuses to smile and Johnny is placid

i guess it is tradition to stick the medal in your mouth?

It was teachers versus students in Basketball. Teachers got the trophy. i finally used my hoosier basketball skills…in a skirt, of course.

long overdue…this was from the end of September, the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION presentation.

proud parents

they each chose an invention and then talked about it, in English, in front of everyone. for some reason, they made them use these big folder things. hiding their faces. oh well.

another part of the presentation–a dream sequence

the lil kids, with their recycle things.

after the presentation…so happy we remembered our lines…

this is yolanda. isn’t she sweet? she’s the proud nose-picker. i love ‘er.

ze teachers.