Poliana is out of the hospital!

I found out on Saturday morning that Poliana was allowed to leave the hospital! We are so happy and relieved that she will be with a family in a home for Christmas. The judge had actually sent her to the Indian House, which is not a good place to be if you are a woman or a child. Happily, she only spent about 4 hours there because Patricia was able to get guardianship of her. Patricia has resigned from her mission in order to ask for custody and she told me on Saturday that she is now hoping to adopt Poliana herself. This was hard to hear, but I have feared this all along. Patricia has certainly cared for her as a mother and has made many sacrifices for her. I am not sure, however, what we will do at this point. Although I don't want to take Poliana away from Patricia, I also worry about the fact that Patricia is a single lady who is already in the process of adopting a 2 month old, and she now has no job since she left the mission. Her sending church has told her that they support her in her decision and that they will continue to support her, but I can't help but wonder for how long. So, please pray with us for wisdom.

Poliana's Birthday

These are the newest pictures of Poliana that were taken on her birthday, Dec. 3. As of today, she is still in the hospital waiting for a decision to be made. Happily she is in a private, air conditioned room now. Patricia (the one holding Poli) is the missionary who has been caring for her for these 2 1/2 months in the hospital. They are trying change who has custody of Poliana right now so that she could leave the hospital. Patricia currently has guardianship but the house that she is renting is on the mission's property and it would not be in Poliana's or the mission's best interests to have her on mission property. A nurse from the hospital has offered to ask for guardianship so that Poli could stay at her house. Patricia would continue to spend most of her time caring for Poli, but she would get a needed break and Poliana could be in a home! Poli is not crawling or walking yet because she has not been allowed to be on the floor in the hospital. I am sure she will quickly regain the time she has lost, but it sure is frustrating! Of course, I would rather they just send her on down to me and not mess around with changing guardianship to a nurse! But if it gets Poli out of the hospital, then I am all for it.

Here's a little side note...I just found out today that Steve will be going to the US on Jan.3 and my mom and step-dad go back to the US on Jan.4. Then there is Michael's birthday on Jan. 7. Yep, we will be boardering on depression around Jan.5! So, I just had a thought. Maybe I could find a good rate for going to Boa Vista on the 4th or soon after. Then we could meet Poliana and Michael could be with his bestest friend in the world (Lucas) for his birthday! Like I said, this is just a thought I had in the last 10 minutes. Steve hasn't even heard of my crazy idea yet. And this will all depend on me finding a really cheap rate to Boa Vista! Now I have to decide if I could emotionally handle going to see Poliana and not bring her back with me. Hmmmmmm....

Thad and Wendy Cooper

Here is the lovely couple that came all the way from Louisiana, leaving their 4 kiddos with relatives, in order spent a week at Asas for candidacy. Thad spent his time in the plane or in the maintenance shop while Wendy did some activities with Edna and I. Thad just didn't think it was too fair that I scheduled in a shopping trip and time to get Wendy's nails painted! I figured that is all part of the cultural experience! Unfortunately for us, Thad and Wendy did not feel the peace that they had asked God to give them if Asas was the place for them. So they are back home in Louisiana now waiting for God to tell them what the next step should be.

Project at the dump in Brasilia, Sept.22, 2007

Here is the front of the church which was our "headquarters" for the local Project at the dump in Brasilia. Once again, I need to get more pictures of the neighborhood and of the actual dump. I was told I could get them off the Asas website, but I haven't been able to do that yet. I'll be sure to post them once I get them! Anyway, we were a little worried because the city decided to do a project of their own on the very same day in the same neighborhood. The city was offering legal services, medical attention, vaccinations, and fun things like trampolines for the kids to play on. But God showed us that He had plans for us that day and the city's plans did not hinder it.

There was no room at the church to have a children's program, but we were able to use a daycare that was just a few blocks away. The actual building had just one room and was very hot in the afternoon, but the yard was huge and had two wonderful trees that gave us lots of shade. We had about 75 kids come to the children's program in the morning and 85 in the afternoon. We sang songs, had a magic show (with Biblical applications!), and then divided up into small groups to hear God's plan for humanity. We also used the bracelets with the colors of the wordless book in the small groups.

I was busy telling the story, so I didn't get a picture of the tool we use to teach children God's plan for humanity. It is a white erase board divided into 4 sections. Each section is partially completed and as you tell the story, you complete the section by drawing designs, people, etc. The first section is about heaven. The second is about creation and how sin entered the world. The third section is about Jesus paying the price for our sins. And the fourth section is about the Book of Life and our decision to have Jesus in our heart or outside of our heart. I'll get a picture of it and post it later. We used a slightly different approach for the older kids (9-12 yr olds) that uses paint and poster board instead of the markers and the white erase board.

Michael and Maira helping out

Here are Michael and Maira doing the motions to the song.


Notice the home behind him.

Do you see the two girls looking at Maira instead of looking towards the front? Maira was quite the attraction with her very white skin, blue eyes, and light colored hair. At one point there were several little girls around her touching her hair and skin. Maira had a look of panic on her face, but held still. I just smiled and told her they were admiring her!

Singing her heart out!

This doesn't really do justice, but it gives you an idea of how dirty the kids got! I had never seen them so dirty. Actually, we were all very dirty and very smelly! It was a hot day and the smell of sweat plus the smell of the dump made an awful combination. We all took two showers that night. I was wearing tennis shoes and socks...and the dirt still got down to my toes!

Passtimes for the kids....

Anyone want to try? They use the box springs from a bed with a piece of plywood on top to cattapult them into the air. Nice. I let out a yelp each time they flipped. I was sure one of them was going to land on their head.


And here is another passtime that the moms all love. Playing in the abundant dirt. Not playing like "squat down and push the dirt around"...I mean roll around in it, kick at it, get it on every inch of your body and clothes! And then do some karate chops at your friends and see if they fall down and crack their heads open on the rocks.

Project at the dump continued........

We had a group from Asas teaching a craft and also giving "facials" to the ladies from the neighborhood. The facial used ingredients that are inexpensive and easy to come by....something like flour and fresh orange juice. I'll have to check that out for sure and try it out myself!

We set up a clinic inside the church with 3 dentists working at the same time, a pharmacy, and behind the curtains was a doctor and nurse. The mobile unit outside the church doors also had one more dentist and one more doctor. Even with all of these doctors working all day, there was not enough daylight hours to attend to all the people who needed medical attention.

Here is a group of guys listening to a lecture on the affect of drugs. Borges, the guy giving the talk, was a drug addict for many years. Actually, he and his wife were both addicts who lived on the streets in Rio. They have 4 children and the youngest has major brain damage, most likely due to their drug usage at the time.

What a party!

Here is most of the gang that went to the Country Festival on Thursday evening. We had a really fun time...mostly laughing at each other during the different games we played! We had grilled meat kabobs, soup, corn on the cob, chocolate coated peanuts, candied applies, and spiced cider. Mmmmmmm. We had booths set up to play those typical fair games like shooting the cans down (with a water gun), fishing (we used the kiddy pool), and horseshoes. Then we had a treasure hunt, played musical chairs, and played a few other games that you'll see pictures of below. Lots of fun and laughed all night long...it was worth all the craziness of geting it organized!

You'd have to see it to believe it!

We had a Mr. and Ms. Country contest...and Michael won the Mr. Country! As we were getting ready to start the competition, I told Michael that everyone would have a turn to "parade" in front of everyone. To my surprise, as soon as the music started he jumped out in the middle and started dancing his heart out! I had NEVER seen him do anything like this before, much less in front of everyone! We were all cheering him on as we doubled-over with laughter...and he just kept dancing! How I wished we had taken the video camera!

Picture taking

A guy in the mission painted this for us from images that I got off the internet. It turned out really great, but what a pain to get it to the party! We rented a truck to take it to the farm where we had the party, along with the bamboo to make the booths for the games, the stove to cook the corn and keep the soup warm, and a few other bigger items that would be hard to fit in a car. I sent two guys on the truck with a list of what they needed to get on the truck. I met them at the farm around 2pm only to find out that they forgot the painting and the stove! We ended up having it brought out by the mobile clinic bus that belongs to Asas. Not exactly what the bus is to be used for, but....

Dice game

This game was pretty funny to watch... You have to unwrap the candy bar, using a fork and knife and be the one to eat the last bite of the chocolate. The chocolate bar was wrapped about 5 times in wrapping paper just to make it a bit more difficult. Those who are playing form a line and take turns rolling the dice. You have to get a 6 to get a turn at the chocolate and your turn is up whenever the next person gets a 6. You can see that having a bigger mouth helps in this game...as Steve proves by cutting off an enormous chunck of chocolate!

Find the ring in the chocolate pudding...

It looked disgusting but they all said the pudding was yummy! The found the rings pretty fast, unfortunately! I wanted to see them work harder at finding it!

My little girl...

I know I'm suspect, but she is such a pretty little girl! We were going to a birthday party of a 4 year old boy from church and I thought she looked so "Little Bo Peep" that I had to have a picture! The second picture is of Maira and her "sister", Ana Laura. Ana Laura is the daughter of friends of our from church. She and Maira have decided that they look like sisters and so whenever they are in the same building they act like it!

And here is a shot of the Birthday party! This is actually quite normal...party stores here do it all for you. We have yet to go this route...I have too much fun thinking of how to decorate for the birthday party that I don't want someone else doing it! Not to mention it is a bit cheaper...

Toothless Michael

Michael has lost 3 teeth in less than a month! No corn on the cob for him for a while!

The Bananal Island of the Karajá Indians

Steve got back at the end of the afternoon on Sunday from his 5 day experience with the Karajá Indians. A business man from the US grew up in this tribe and wanted to show the movie "The Passion of Christ" to them. His daughter, mother, and father also went on this trip. Steve had lots of fun and came home with a bad sunburn! (He claims he forgot that I had packed the sunscreen!) The Karajá Indians have the New Testament in their langauge and have missionaries living with them. Steve said that the men speak Portuguese, but the women only speak their native language. The Bananal island is in the Araguaia river and is a very large island. Only the Karajás can live on the island, but there are towns and tourist areas just across the water on the shores of the river.

Their homes and faces

Notice all the dogs sitting around. Steve said there were another 3-4 that he didn't get into the picture!

Their homes are made of a type of dried mud brick.

Capivara

I don't know if they are called capivaras in English, but that is what we call them here in Brazil! They are part of the rodent family and are quite large. When we were camping a few years ago along the Araguaia river, we saw a family of capivaras and the mommy was the size of a very large dog. This one is tame and "belongs" to one of the Karajá indians.

Tropical birds

Steve said that all the Karajás have lots of pets. Aren't these birds just amazing?! Of course Michael and Maira want parrots now. Even though it would be neat, I would never want to keep a bird from flying high in the sky. I think the kiddos understood and are content with the 2 dogs and 3 cats!

Turtle soup anyone?

Apparently, they eat a lot of turtle meat...Steve said it isn't bad. Not that I would really want to know for myself though. I would have to seriously consider becoming a vegetarian if I were to visit their tribe!

Showing the movie...

Steve was responsible for setting up the "screen" and getting the equipment ready for showing the movie. They showed the movie "The Passion of Christ" and "The GodMan".

No living thing is left out...

Oh yes, we even let the stray dogs watch the movie about Jesus! This one payed close attention during most of the film, but kept getting distracted by distant noises that only a dog can hear...or maybe it was a distant smell of something. You never can tell with dogs. Anyway, he didn't make a decision that night, but we are sure that he heard all about Jesus! (Dogs do go to heaven, don't they??)
P.S. Please don't call the mission board...I'm just kidding!

Steve doing what he does...

Steve and I are somewhat different from many couples because he is much more the talker than I am! I especially admire his ability to carry on a conversation when I see him telling others about Jesus. By the time I figure out how to start a conversation, he already knows half of their life-story! There is a lady that called our house a year ago who Steve had shared the truth of Jesus with on the Project in 2005. She was calling to let him know that she was still strong in her faith even though she was having trouble finding a church that accepted her. She had kicked out her live-in boyfriend the day after Steve had talked to her and had changed her ways. Anyway, one of our teams went to this same town this year and Steve told them to find this lady and check up on her. (It was easy to find her because she has a mermaid painted on the wall outside her house!) So they visited with her and she was so excited that she wanted to go door-to-door evangelizing with the team! And she did! Now that is really neat!

Our Favorite Team Members!

Well, we do gotta eat! Here are the ladies who kept us well feed and very happy! The one in the orange vest is Eliane. She is the mom of the girl who watches my kiddos while I am at Asas. She is a dear friend and it was so neat to have her with us this year on the Project. She is a wonerful cook...I did pull some strings to make sure she was on my team! The other ladies are from the local church of Taiobeiras and they were a huge help to Eliane. These ladies served us with all their hearts and they really worked hard.

Children's Program, day 1 and 2

Here are some pictures of the kids who participated in the children's program on the first and second day in the community of Taiobeiras in Minas Gerais. Each day we had clsoe to 200 children attend. The school was quite large and things went smoothly after the first day. It took the first day for my teens on the children's ministry team to get the awakening that they needed as to their need for preparation and organization! I can proudly say that after the first day, my team keep the children extremely organized!