LoWdOwN on the guys

I called my mom today and as I was sharing a story about life in our house, I found myself calling our dwelling place a frat house. It seemed a fitting title for this home since I live here with 4 guys. As these young men grow and get bigger and louder, at times I find myself feeling like an outsider. It's funny because the opposite is true for Michael. He seems to have an almost permanent grin of pride plastered on his face as they tell their weird jokes and continually find ways to make noises with their bodies that are completely unpleasant. Eww. Such a camaraderie they have at times. sigh.

To totally change the subject...

This week Mike will be joining another team from the states to work in a community about 2 hours from here. They asked him to bring one of our boys with him so Jackson will be joining him this time. He is SO excited. He worked ahead in his school work and got his teacher's permission. ha

They are meeting the team at the airport today and will head out on Monday morning to join up with them. Pray that all goes well for all involved as they work really hard this week in the town of Cascavel. On Friday, JohnMark, Jayden and I are hoping to be able to join up with everyone for a short time. I'll try to keep you posted and will ask Mike to get some photos for me so we can post them on here.

I'm about 2 weeks out on the move and trying to tie up all the loose ends here in the house and with the boys school year. So far...so good.

JohnMark is doing really well and will begin 8th grade as soon as we get to Sao Luis. He is enrolled in an online school with many other kids that live overseas. He's been given the opportunity to co-lead a Bible Study amongst the kids online. He's writing it and setting it all up. I am so proud of all the hard work he's been putting into it. Kids from all over the world will be connecting via skype to study God's Word together! How cool is that!!!

All of Jayden's blonde hair has reappeared, thanks to this strong Fortaleza sun! He turns heads everywhere we go. He is growing tall and eating us out of the house. WAIT...all three of them are doing that. Seriously, our grocery bill is frightening. I can go buy 20-30 tangerines in the morning and attempt to go into the kitchen to partake of "said" tangerines that same afternoon and ALL, I repeat ALL tangerines ARE GONE!!!! FOR REAL! I haven't resorted to hiding food for myself yet but I won't say it will never happen. (I'm recalling life with Matt Lovelace right now....hmmmm.)

Anyhow, the boys are healthy and geared up to move again! They are beyond excited about our Christmas plans. We have tickets to a beautiful destination on December 13 and we foresee some pretty special time with some pretty special people. Granted...the time there will be short BUT we plan on enjoying every single second!

In the photo below the boys are holding some of the goodies that came in with the team!
THANK you so much Ronnie and Carl! The boys will feast on s'mores very soon!