Apple Crisp Banana Bread

Hazel's favorite past-time.  She knows all the Brazilian hand-clapping games.  She's told me that I need to practice on the wall to keep up with her....

We get water from the street every morning between 6:30 and 9:30.  Those hours are very approximate.  Sometimes it comes as early as 4:30 am and sometimes as late as noon.  That means we have to turn on a pump in this concrete box when the water arrives, which pumps water to a large 12,000 litre reservoir in the ground at the back of the property.  From there we have to turn on another pump to fill up our 1000 litre water tank high above the ground.  If it is a holiday weekend, we try to fill up our large reservoir as much as possible in advance, because we've had up to five days in a row without water coming from the street at all.  We also make sure our holding tank is full, particularly before we go to bed at night, because if the electricity goes out we can't turn up our pump.  We've been losing our electricity one to two times a week for the past month.  This is due to our house being on a power line that never has enough electricity.  I've heard this is called a brown-out.  Our fan spins oh-so slightly, the light on the a.c. will work but nothing else, and some of the lights will have a little dim light coming from them.  This is very frustrating because most of Peroba has power, but our power line doesn't.  Anyways, we had a different problem this past week with the concrete box pictured above, which generally is a dry empty box in the ground except for a pump.  It flooded due to torrential downpours last week, and apparently there are cracks in the concrete.  We were worried it would wreck the pump, as it is not a submersible pump, and Shaun spent many hours bailing the water out, with it being filled up very shortly after.  Finally the last three days it has been low enough to run the pump, but once it is dried out the box needs to be reinforced or else we can add that to our problems with acquiring water.

Items sent to us from family via Mission Board members who are visiting!  So exciting to open up suitcases full of goodies.

Somehow it feels really good to be so full of dropjes that you feel sick.

I'm working on teaching the neighbour girl how to French braid.  I thought I'd take a picture to prove that I do know how :)

Lyla riding Seth's bike.

The tortoise sisters fighting over a piece of tomato.... even though there are four more pieces under one of them and she had to go over top of them to get to this one.

Check out this Blog :)

If you remember, a while back we got a super-cute dress in the mail for Lyla's birthday, from my talented sister-in-law Tania.  Well, I thought I would take a couple of pictures to do the dress justice, as the lighting and subject (Lyla) did not cooperate to show the true craftmanship that Tania put into the dress.  And while I was taking pictures of that, I realized how many things we had brought along that were made by Tania!  So I got all picture happy and thought I'd show off her work and link to her craft blog.

In case you can't tell by looking at pictures in the blog, Lyla is a very tall and sturdy two-year-old.  I think because of this, Tania and I both assumed she would fit a larger pattern.  The ties over the shoulders are a bit too broad to stay on her properly, so in this picture I tied it halter style around her neck, which looked great.

Here the dress is, tied "normal."  I also tried criss-crossing it in the back, which worked well.

I thought I would try it on Hazel too, and you can see the straps are a good fit for her.  To me, she looks so old here! 

And now for some more of the goodies that Tania has created for our family:

The last few years, Tania has found a crafty project to make the kids for their birthdays.  This is a pencil crayon roll-up case that Hazel got for her fourth birthday with a colouring book.  It is honestly one of the best inventions ever: it keeps the drawing supplies neat, and little kids can see all the colours without dumping the box of crayons out.

Here is the baby blanket that Tania made Hazel. when she was born.  Lyla's using it these days.  I believe this is called a rag quilt?  So cute, and  that backing material that you can see at the top of the picture: didn't every little girl have a nightgown in that material when they were younger?

Tania also made book bags one year for all the school-aged children.  The one with the bikes on it is Seth's.  And one day, after my diaper bag somehow became fermented with spilt applesauce, I randomly asked Tania if she could make me something like a book bag for a few diapers and wipes.  She had the other bag ready for me by the next day.

Okay and now for her blog link: http://maddisworldcrafts.blogspot.com

Enjoy browsing when you get a chance :)  

And thanks Tania, for all the time you spend making cool things for our family!

We've Got Mail!

Thanks to Aunty Tania (and family) for sending Lyla a birthday present!  It took a little over 4 weeks to get here.  I was very sad that Lyla opened it without my journalistic photography (thanks to Seth's encouragement), so you will have to imagine the excitement of having a package by observing the numerous rips.

This is a PO box we are using.   You may also feel free to make use of it :)

And here is the beautiful dress that Tania made with love!  Please look only at the cute dress, as Lyla's facial expression is not doing justice to it.  I think Tania was planning to put up a post with this dress after we got it, and when she does I will link it on the blog, so you can see more of her amazing work.

A Lovely Trip, A Big Birthday: a Good Week

We have enjoyed a wonderful week here in Brasil.  We settled down to schoolwork on Monday and Tuesday, and did a little extra Tuesday night, because we had been invited for lunch in Recife on Wednesday by our friends, Chris and Thécia.  They also extended an invitation to stay the night.  This was good news as we were hoping to get up to Recife and do some extra shopping.  Chris and Thécia are here doing mission aid work to support the missionaries in the work in Brasil.  We drove up Wednesday morning, and enjoyed a picnic feast in a park/pool area they have in the community they live in.  It was beautiful, and we were able to enjoy it with the two missionary families as well.  It felt like a church picnic almost, with a treed park, a lake and pools around, paths, picnic tables, people playing bocce, bike-riding, great food and company.  I do have pictures, but they are with other people and their children which I don't like to do, so I will leave the good time to your imagination except for these pictures of my own children :)

On Thursday, we went shopping in Recife.  Brazil is quite expensive, I think pretty much for most items, except for labour.  We constantly ponder how it is possible people afford anything here.  We were in particular looking for some household items, for example, a wardrobe (most homes don't seem to have closets). We discovered most of them are pricey and made of plywood and veneer.  We decided we'd look around closer to home and possibly buy a small one to "make-do" until we bring furniture from home hopefully.  We did buy a small plastic shelving unit for our towels and a shower curtain and rod, which I was really excited about.  The last place we went was Sam's Club, and I was excited to find it was like Costco (it's owned by walmart, but has the same concept of paying for membership and getting things cheaper).  I didn't buy a membership because Shaun was not with me (filling up for gas), the store is in Recife, we currently are only here for two more months, and we had already done most of our shopping.  I am kind of excited we did all our other shopping first, so we could see what a "good deal" it was.  Also Brazilians have not bought into the idea of bulk purchasing and membership fees, so it was incredibly empty!  Their typical store has many many small items, from their baby wipes to their margarine containers, and that is the preferred way to shop.  I am so pumped to go back, which we may this week as we're supposed to go up to another wedding in Recife on Thursday.

Lyla also turned TWO this past Friday.  Shaun went to a meeting in Maceio that morning, so he didn't even see her before he left, and didn't see her until she woke up from her nap at 4:00.  That morning, all the kids enjoyed the singing of Aaron and Tania's kidlets on an emailed video, including Aaron sneaking in behind them and popping his head out to sing like a goof.  We watched it many, many, many times.  Then we had Aunty Tessa's singing on Skype, and Lyla opened her gift when Shaun returned while James and Aunty Lee watched on Skype.  Yes, technology is a beautiful thing.

The next day, we spent the afternoon at Sandro and Djane's terreno.  Sandro and Moizes and a few others had gone fishing in the morning so we ate fried fish all afternoon, with rice and potatoes and chicken sausage.  Then we sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese and English to Lyla and she got to blow out a #2 candle.  I just don't know how a kid can have a birthday without having a picture of them blowing out a candle.  I think it was more for me than her.  I found out the cake mix here works great, and they have this cream in a box you whip and it is delicious for icing.   The Vanspronsen family was down as well, with Rev. Vanspronsen Sr. and his wife too, as they are on the coast for a few days to relax after Rev. Vanspronsen had spent two weeks teaching at the theological seminary.  Rev. Vansponsen was the first Reformed missionary here in Brazil, so it must be so incredible to see how the work has spread.  It was a wonderful relaxing day, complete with slushy caipiroscas.  Delicioso!  (Caipiroscas are generally limes, vodka, sugar and ice.  The actual official drink of Brasil is a Caipirinha, which is made with the sugar cane rum instead).  At the end of the day it was only us and Sandro and Djane left, and Sandro reiterated how we were his family now, and we can call him for anything, etc. etc.  It is special to hear that, especially being so far from our families here.

That night our neighbours also gave Lyla a gift of perfume!  It is very popular to have children's perfume for after they shower, especially since Brazilians love to smell children.  And to tell you the truth, it's kind of contagious.  That baby/child smell is so...delicioso!  Probably because they don't smell like us sweaty adults in the heat!  I am excited to be able to spray my children down with perfume now.  Lyla and Hazel both are in love with it as well.

So that brings us to today...  It was a cool day.  I just looked at the temperature for the day and it says it did get up to 30, but it was cloudy with bouts of rain, so I even wore pants this afternoon!  I wonder what the temperature has actually been if I thought today was cool!  Rev. Vanspronsen preached this morning in our church.  I have to admit, he speaks much slower and clearer than the native Brazilian preachers, so we could follow a little better.  Maybe we understand his Dutch accent!  Then Moizes and Bete invited us for lunch, where the Vanspronsens were again.  We had a feast of octopus (see picture above of man holding many little octopi).  I enjoyed it slightly more than the first time we had it a couple years ago.

So another enjoyable day comes to an end.   We did take a couple pictures today of the tiny lizard that Seth found that was molting, but it's still on my camera.  It's tail did actually fall off as well when Lyla went to pick it up one too many times.  I'll have to include that on another "animal post."  Oh, speaking of animals, we also saw a marmoset outside our house this morning, which was pretty neat.

We thank God for a day of rest, for blessings of fellowship with brothers and sisters throughout the world, for health, for birthdays, for traveling mercies.  May you all experience these blessings as well.

Love Brenda
PS I'm too tired to spellcheck, etc., so don't judge :)  Good Night to All!