a wedding and time with friends

We drove to Sao Jose dos Campos & Jacarei after Thanksgiving. We met Ana Clara in 2008 and now she is living in Ribeirao Preto with Rodrigo's family so we are able to see them more often. We were able to have AC and Rodrigo's family over for dinner a few weeks ago. They are helping us tremendously with language.

Anna Clara and Rodrigo were married Saturday night. It worked out perfectly because we were able to stay at Russ and Diane Dean's house. Diane was traveling but we were blessed by getting to hang out with Russ. He was so gracious to us and we enjoyed laughing together. We also had the opportunity to spend time with the McClures and our extended Brazilian family, Ewerton & Evelyn! I only wish we had more time with everyone cause it all just flew by so fast.

Anna Clara was beautiful as was the wedding!

I feel really old when I see pictures of JohnMark. He is getting so mature and handsome. Sometimes, it feels surreal to have a child THIS big!

The guys hanging out with Ewerton! He'll forever be part of our family!

Me and Elena (getting some "girl time") & Jayden with Nathanael.

We LOVE the McClures!!

with a grateful heart

Today we celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Brazil. We were surrounded by great friends and AMAZING food! God has been so good to us and we have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Jim & Martha

the Whitentons

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade on the internet.

and had lots of tastes from home!!

acai trees

In Belem, we were surrounded by acai. If you're not familiar with these berries, do some research. It's become one of our favorite fruits here in Brazil and it tastes like a combination of blueberry and chocolate.

Belem

We are traveling to north Brazil on Sunday for orality training. There, in Belem, we'll practice new techniques for sharing stories from the Bible in order to teach peoples that are unable to read and write or just prefer the storying method. Excited about seeing a NEW part of Brazil but dreading the laundry & packing that is required before and after.

Belem is considered the entrance gate to the Amazon River. It has a humid and hot (tropical) climate which unlike where we are living now is dry and HOT. It will give us a good idea of what life will be like in Sao Luis. Pray that our flights (with smaller style planes;) will be safe and that we learn all God has for us there.

Also keep JohnMark in your prayers as he's struggling right now with a bad allergic reaction to SOMETHING!?! We think it might be mangos but we're not positive. He looks really red and swollen and no amount of Benedryl seems to clear it up. ALSO, our next Language Interview (LI) is coming up mid-December. We REALLY want to do well on this so that we can begin to make arrangements for our BIG move up north!

Thanks again for all your emails of encouragement and prayer support!

halloween 2010

the pumpkin...

that made these muffins YUMMY!!!

and a shot of the pumpkin cookies we make EVERY YEAR