And we picketh some more...

This week has come and gone. Everyday has been so jam packed full of stuff I don't even know what we've been up to.

I went to the dentist who discovered the problem (that was causing my mouth pain). It's pretty gross what happened so I won't expound here but I'm happy the problem is solved and that a root canal next week should take care of it.

The bummer is that the tooth that is causing the problems is one that I just had worked on in March (by the most expensive dentist in town) and wasn't done properly. It's a bummer to pay an arm and a leg to get a tooth fixed and it's a really big bummer to have to pay twice to have it fixed since it wasn't done right the first time! The good news (in a cheery voice) is that thankfully this time it won't cost an arm and a leg. Hopefully it will get fixed next Thursday when we don't have to pay an arm and a leg to get it worked on.

I am at a complete loss as to what to post about except the same ol' same ol' jabuticaba tree. Here I am about to tell you all again that the fruit is ripe, we're picking the fruit and trying to figure out what to do with it. I think I'm going to make a TON of jelly and just give it away (we're not real jelly kind of people, except for when it comes to the texture of our waste lines).

Before I go off and show 11 pictures of our tree (or rather of the almost-3-year-old who picks the fruit off of the tree) let me interject a random picture that I just love! This is from our other weekend in Brasilia with our friends Mike and Kelli (pictured is their baby girl Emily). I just love little girls:-)



Ok, back to the tree. Here the child picketh the fruit...

And here the child picketh more fruit with a goofy look on her face (that child's father tells her that these faces come from her mother's side of the family)...


Are you worried that this might be the end of the pictures? Don't lose heart!

This is what the fruit looks like on the inside. It's sweet and yummy but has seeds that you have to chew to get the meat off. I think I'd overdose on them if it weren't so much work to eat them...



And here the child helpeth squeeze out the fruit to make juice...

And that same dear child is the only one willing to drink the juice...

And the very same, dear child stood on a wall with a flower in her hand and smiled after she drank the juice that only she would drink...

For those of you who are related to me and check frequently for pictures of your grandchild (or grandniece, or niece, etc) I added a new gadget to the side of my blog that I think (THINK) will email you every time I post. Is that what it does? I wasn't going to add it out of pure vanity because I'm not going to have zillions of "followers" to display on the side and be proud of but I do think it would be rather convenient for the relatives who aren't avid blog followers to know when to come back. If this gadget does nothing of the sort then let me know!

Tidbits of wisdom, A recipe that will fatten you up and send you to the grave and My cute 2-year old sings.

I've learned two things today!

1.) If you have a long forehead you are supposed to have bangs. I was also told that I have a short forehead; therefore, I am allowed to not have bangs. Good thing because I hate having bangs and will never have them again (even if it becomes the fashion again where everybody is curling their bangs and teasing them to see how high they can get them to stay).

2.) When making yogurt if you want it to have live cultures you have to buy yogurt (as a starter) that already has live cultures in it. I guess today's batch will be without live cultures!

I don't know if anybody else will find these tidbits of wisdom helpful but I thought I'd share just in case.

Now I have a recipe to share with (almost) all of my readers. I've been debating on whether or not I should post this recipe or not because...well, I'm pretty embarrassed for you to read it. It should probably be labeled a health-hazard and is most likely one of the foods (non-foods) most detrimental to one's health! Mrs. E, PLEASE don't read this! Skip down to the bottom where there are no more pictures of coffee mugs...PLEASE!!

Ok, so why exactly am I going to post it anyway? Why am I willing to risk the future health of my bloggy-readers? Because it's just awesome to know that you can make chocolate cake in the microwave. And tasty chocolate cake at that!

I'm being totally serious. In 5 minutes from now you can have a coffee mug full of moist chocolate cake (if you own a health-destroying microwave, that is). So here's how you make it...just promise me you'll only make it this once. If you do make it more than once then promise me you'll forget that I'm the one who taught you how to make it...especially if we ever get into a conversation about how destructive things like white sugar, white flour and microwaves are to one's health.

Now that you've promised me the above let's move onto step #1 of making your 5 minute chocolate cake...

Step 1: Find a coffee mug and place on counter.

Step 2: Add 4 Tbls. flour, 4 Tbls. sugar & 2 Tbls. baking cocoa and mix well.

Step 3: Add 1 egg and mix well.

Step 4: Add 3 Tbls. milk, 3 Tbls. Oil and mix well.

Ok, I'm tired of taking pictures.

Step 5: (without picture) Add 3 Tbls. chocolate chips (or nuts) and a splash of vanilla. Yeah, mix well.

Step 6: (with picture) pour half of batter into 2nd coffee mug (only if you're like us and own regular size coffee mugs. The original recipe called for one large mug but ours are too small so the batter overflows while cooking in the microwave).

Step 7: Place mug (or mugs) in health-destroying device (known as a microwave) and cook on high for 3 minutes.

Step 8: Eat your moist chocolate cake! Some friends have complained that it isn't sweet enough and added more sugar to the recipe or ate it with ice-cream. I prefer it without the extra sugar but to each his own!

Step 9: Forget you learned it from me.

Karis and I have been listening to music this week now that we finally found our cd's and cd-player! It's nice to have some new songs to listen to and sing. I've been trying to teach her some new songs lately but the one she's picked up on is my favorite hymn "Because He Lives". I guess I sing it around the house more than I realize! Anyway, I went to bed at the same time as she did the other night (and she is sleeping in our room on the floor these days because we have a teenager staying with us while his parents are in the village these next 3 weeks!).

I went to bed early with her because I am still getting up at 5:30am every morning to meet and walk with my walking buddy MJ (who is the one who imparted to me all that wisdom about bangs this morning).

And I am still managing to get up in the mornings because I am, believe it or not, losing a bit of weight. Not as much as I would be had microwaveable cake not entered my life, but still. Some progress is better than no progress and I've been living with no progress for quite a while. Therefore, some progress is enough to keep me motivated and waking up at such an ungodly hour in the morning:-)

There was a point to the story. Let me scroll up a minute...

Oh yeah, so as I lay in bed the other night while Karis was talking herself to sleep she began to sing "Because He Lives" as enthusiastically as an almost-3-year-old can. It was so sweet!

I had to bribe her to get her to sing it for the camera today but she managed. She got distracted at the end and didn't sing it nearly as enthusiastically as she did when she knew she should be sleeping but it's still cute.

Discovering more benefits.

There are thousands of benefits to having children.

Benefit # 1,953...

They make GREAT roach-picker-uppers!


Yesterday we had some friends over. We were letting the kids and the men take advantage of the pool (we women aren't crazy enough to get into the freezing water) when things got really noisy...we couldn't even hear each other talk! What IS that???

Oh yes, the elections are today! What better way to promote a candidate than to have miles and miles of trucks and tractors driving around town blaring their horns?



I think #12 is the candidate for us!

Hmmm...can't think of a title. Any ideas?

If I were a complainy-type person I MAY be tempted to complain about the dust during dry season here. Since I'm not (or determined not to be) I won't fill a post with the woes of having to mop my floors every other day, or clean my daughter's feet throughout the day (because I am obsessive compulsive in a few areas). I won't mention what it feels like to breath in clouds of dust when you go outside or create clouds of dust when you walk in the used-to-be-grass (poof...poof...poof). I also won't take the time to mention how dead-looking everything is after months of no rain! As my positive sister-in-law wrote in her latest newsletter there are many positives to dry season...my favorite being that all of your furniture matches, since everything turns a light shade of brown!

Even though I'll refrain from complaining I will take the time to say how glorious the rain was that we received last night! Yesterday was one of the hottest days we've had since moving here (which isn't anything compared to the heat we were accustomed to living in, yet what can I say, it's easy to adjust to the weather when we live in almost perfect temperatures everyday). The smell of rain, the sound of rain...the cool breeze that comes with the rain. Oh I just love it...

Onto other positive happenings in Land of Sunny Days. Tomorrow is the big day! Or the day before the big day, if you will. The house will be unoccupied as of tomorrow morning but it will still be occupied by some miscellaneous pieces of furniture that various individuals will be picking up, hopefully tomorrow (that the previous home-owners sold to them). So most likely we won't get to move our things in until Tuesday. And how does one spend their time the weekend before a big move? Laundry, painting (Karis' bed) and packing 2 boxes. One girl at church said "oh, you must be spending all of your days packing up again!" "Nope, I have about 8 boxes packed" was my reply. "oh" she said "probably because you left a lot of things packed from your last move?" (with a look on her face that said I sure hope that's the case!). Nope, almost everything is unpacked and put away. What can I say, I'm a woman who likes to work under pressure. And because we have a limited amount of boxes to use and because I want to focus on getting my kitchen moved over first I'm waiting 'til last minute so that we can still eat every once-in-a-while (kinda funny how I can rationalize and make myself feel like a better woman by procrastinating). Once tomorrow rolls around I may have a great post to write about procrastination and how it doesn't pay...

I guess I've written a bit of sense into myself after posting the above because I'm feeling like I should go work on packing up the kitchen!

I'll leave you with a recent video of Karis. We recently introduced her to the book "Go Dog, Go" and she loves it so much that she has almost half of the book memorized! Here she is "reading" the book by herself...




Oh wait, before I go...you need to watch this dance (which happens to be of the cutest nephew in the world!) (cutest nephew named Dominic, that is).

O.J... Glorious O.J!

I've been trying to post on my blog every few days or so but now I'm deciding to post when something comes up or I get inspired instead of attempting to be on a bloggy-schedule. We've had a nice morning and since I can't get to packin' 'til my hubby returns with packing tape I'll procrastinate and post about our morning.

The best $20 I've ever spent was on a citrus juicer when we first moved here. I wasn't sure if it would end up being one of those extra gadgets that I regret buying and end up tossing as I get older and realize that clutter is so...cluttery. Yet this was not the case...I love my juicer! And I especially love it now that we can buy oranges for less than 25 cents a pound here. Karis and I made 2 1/2 large pitchers full of fresh, naturally-sweet, delightful orange juice (total cost $5!).


Oh, can't you just taste it? I don't know how I managed living 7 months on furlough without fresh OJ. Are you jealous of me? I would be jealous of me, if I were you...



My sticky little helper. She scared me a few times as she thrust her hand holding an orange under the knife as I was cutting another one in half (don't get too frightened, grandmas...it was all under control).

The night that Chicky died (without knowing she had died) I brought home her two brothers to take care of for the next few weeks (the owners are going to live an hour away in a larger town to have their first baby!). It's probably good for me to have some healthy birds around for a few weeks. Wow, they're so healthy! I almost forgot what a healthy bird looked/walked like. They are too sweet and very tame. Karis is really enjoying having birds around that she can hold! (Chicky was a bit too fragile for mommy to let anyone hold but herself). As I was reading over this post with Karis on my lap she asked "Did Chicky die? All by herself?" We miss you, Chicky...

Oh Chicky, My Chicky...

If there is a sick animal in need of a home it will somehow find it's way to my house. If I decide that we need a family pet-rabbit and I have 10 bunnies to choose from, somehow...somehow I will manage to pick out the one that has some rare genetic disorder that requires extra time and money and energy, etc, etc, etc (and yes, I've already tried convincing Jonathan that we need a rabbit as a pet as well). Yet right now I am ready to render myself pet-free for the rest of my life due to the stress/anxiety that our little Chicky is causing me. Soon after we brought Chicky home I noticed that she wasn't really using one of her legs. Kind of odd but not a huge deal, I thought to myself...I'll just keep an eye on it. Then I talked with some friends here who got her two siblings from the same batch of eggs and one of their birds was doing the same thing! Ok, I should try to figure out why this is happening. To make a long story short little Chicky consumed my daily thoughts as her condition worsened each day and as I frantically tried to find some answers around town and on the internet. Nobody seemed to have a clue what her deal was (even the bird guy here in town)and she didn't have any of the symptoms of the more common bird foot illnesses. By Saturday little Chicky was pulling herself around the cage with her wings and beak (her other foot had become almost useless). Oh, if you're not an animal person then you have no idea how truly horrific and draining this is to me! On Saturday I gave one more attempt on the internet to see if I could find something and happened to find a lady posting about her bird who had the same symptoms and had just been diagnosed...so, I think Chicky has a calcium deficiency. The good news is I am fairly certain Chicky is diagnosed...the bad news is that she may be paralyzed for the rest of her birdy life. My dear husband (who I'm probably driving nuts with my bird woes) dutifully ran to town since the bird store was to close 5 minutes after my internet discovery and bought some calcium blocks/drops to put in Chicky's food/water. 3 days later she does seem more chipper but still can't use one foot and hardly can use the other foot. It is so pitiful to watch her hobble around her cage...I just don't know if I can stand it! If anybody has any parakeet wisdom, please, please, for the love of Chicky (and me) please share. Ok, onto more less-depressing happenings in the Kroeker home.

Karis and I ground some wheat berries and made bread this morning! Even though I ended up checking on Chicky in-between tasks (grind berries, check on chicky, heat water, check on chicky, stir ingredients, check on chicky...and so on and so on) the bread turned out decent. It's fun that Karis is old enough to "help" me in the kitchen. Much more interesting that way!

This is Karis before she knew I was taking her picture.

And this is the absolutely goofy face she makes once she realizes the camera is pointed in her direction.

And here she is-10 pictures later-when she's finally tired of making her goofy face. Much better.

Since the beginning of this post is completely depressing (to me anyway) let's add one more thing to cheer this post up a bit. Another favorite song of Karis'...

I guess I better end this post (and go check on Chicky)...

This-n-that

I'm really enjoying the whole blogging thing. It has been so much fun to get to know other people in a way that I probably never would have with email. It's also been very therapeutic taking the time to sit down and reflect on what is going on in our lives and how the Lord is working (it's also a great motivator knowing that people are reading!). I'm already excited about 10 years down the road when I can look back and be reminded of the smaller day-to-day occurrences that are easily forgotten. So far I've managed to convince Kim to start a blog (check her out at http://my1chronicles2915experience.blogspot.com/ ) and I've almost convinced my sister-in-law Cristy, to start hers (I'm guessing it's only a matter of time). My friend Angie is going to be a tough cookie though, I think. With 4 kiddos, a new town & house, 2 months w/o kitchen cabinets (she just got some!) teaching a music class and a husband who's been traveling constantly since the move I can't figure out why she's not so gung-ho about the idea (I guess some people just have a hard time focusing on more than one thing at a time). What about you, Tiff? You're a faithful comment-leaver...I would love to read your blog! Do you need an email from me as well to convince you to start one up?

Ok, onto subject #2. Karis is getting much better at the whole hiding thing...




Subject #3 I've been trying to paint different pieces of furniture that got pretty banged up in the move. One was a buffet that we bought from the mission when we first moved here. It would have looked great being stripped, sanded, sanded some more, stained and then sealed but since it might be a few years 'til I have the time to do that (or years 'til I convince myself to spend the time doing that) I decided to paint it instead. I couldn't get the idea out of my head to paint it a rusty kind of red color and even though every person I told my plans to couldn't help but gasp, I did it anyway. It's getting easier and easier to just do what I want regardless of what others think in my older age. Some call it being stubborn, others call it being independent...I'd prefer to call it standing firm against peer pressure (maybe I could write a book about that?). So here it is folks, the red buffet (and I do like it, btw). A little shiny but it sure hides the dings.

Speaking of older age...I am feeling it at this stage in my life. Partly because I haven't been consistent at exercising at all since the munchkin has been born, partly because I ate Papa Johns Pizza and Krispy Kreme donuts for 7 months on furlough and partly because I've been playing soccer with the women here on Wednesday and Thursday nights. It is a lot of fun and great exercise...yet Thursday nights are now my official nights to moan/complain about feeling old. I know I'm not old, I'm just feeling old. I realized last night (while attempting to play) what the big problem is. My mind is still 5 years younger. In my head I know just what to do, where to run, where to pass, etc, but the body just isn't cooperating. When I see that I need to be about 20 feet in front of me to receive a pass my mind is there ready to kick the ball only to realize that I'm only halfway there and my body is moving in slow motion! It's the most bizarre feeling. I stick my leg out to take the ball from the opponent only to realize that by the time my leg is out they've passed me and are shooting at the goal (oops, that's embarrassing). So even though I'm becoming stubborn in my older age (I mean, more firm against peer pressure) I'm being humbled in other ways. That's ok though. I may quicken my pace up if I keep playing 2 nights a week...especially if I can convince myself to do some other form of exercise. Oh, and as a side note...you wouldn't believe how much better I'm sleeping now that I'm getting some form of exercise! I am sleeping through the night, every night which is literally a first since the munchkin has been born. Jonathan isn't as thrilled about it as I am since he is the only one who hears if Karis wakes up at night:-)

Last subject here. One of the things I'm really looking forward to at the new house is the courtyard area behind the kitchen/dining room! There is a brick bbq pit thing as well as a fruit tree (jabuticaba is the fruit. Pretty yummy and you can make jam out of it!). Take a look...


Isn't it a cute area? I think we'll be spending lots of time out here! If you look closely in the front left side of the picture you can see our soon-to-be-dog, Moof (his real name is Moose but seems everybody calls him Moof or Moofy). We are getting him from the owners of the house (and we had planned to get him before the whole house thing came up!). One more pet for the Kroeker family.

I guess that'll do it for today, folks!

All about Karis.

My daughter really likes herself. She thinks she's a one-of-a-kind child and won't mind telling you! (it may have something to do with the nice things we as her parents like to say to our only child...who happens to be one-of-a-kind).

Yesterday morning I put a new outfit on her since we were heading to a large city about an hour away for some bulk-buying (it was the town's b-day which also mean HOLIDAY...so we made it our once-a-month outing. What we spent on gas we made up for in buying t.p./diapers in bulk!). After I pulled the pants up around her waist she asked "Am I too cute?!"

Yeah, I guess the phrase "You're too cute" has flown out of my mouth a time or two. However, later on she made a comment in the truck that I don't believe I've ever said...she must have come up with that one on her own. She noticed an airplane flying by (she has been fixated on airplanes since she was just under a year) and brought it to our attention. Jonathan said "oh wow, you have good eyes!" to which she replied "I know. I have beautiful eyes!" That wasn't what he was getting at, however we probably would both agree with her (we're allowed to be biased, aren't we!?).

I must admit that when I was pregnant I wondered if I would know if my child wasn't very cute. I had a sibling who was rather un-cute during the first few years of his/her life and I recognized this as his/her sister (I won't tell which one, no matter how much you beg although if you are well-acquainted with my family you already know which one. It was that obvious, poor thing.) But it's different as a mom...it's your child. I don't know if this is something normal to wonder before your first baby is born but I did think about it every once in a while.

After Karis was born I became aware of two facts...

1. Yes, I'll know if my child is cute or not because I clearly see that my baby is not cute.

2. It makes NO difference whether my child is cute or not. She's mine! She's all mine!

Before you think I'm a terrible mother I better explain a little bit more. After about two months Karis did change quite a bit and became from that point on the world's most adorable munchkin (in my opinion, anyway). It was just at birth and during those first few months that she resembled a swollen, chubby monkey from Asia*

You don't believe me? Continue on!


See what I mean? I tried finding some of the not-so-attractive pictures of Karis when she was a newborn but I think I might have erased them (can't find 'em!). But really, it was more the time of day, lighting, etc that made a big difference. In this picture below she was less than a month old and already looking so much better...

So Karis' comments yesterday made me remember the day when I really thought I was something incredible myself (a LONG time ago). Weren't those days so uncomplicated? Just enjoying the day-to-day bliss thinking that the world revolved around me and that my parents were so blessed to have me as a child.

I was tempted to try to explain to her 2-year old mind that yes, her eyes were beautiful because God made them but that true beauty comes from within. Then I realized that it would be completely pointless to try and get her to understand that concept at this point and that if she's anything like the rest of us she'll realize on her own that she isn't perfect, and that that is ok. For the time being I'll just agree with her self-absorbed comments since I'm her mother and I can do that.

Since this post is completely about Karis and since I just remembered the cutest thing she used to do when she cried I'm going to include a short clip of her crying when she was little (how naive she was to think that crying would make me feel sorry for her. It was so darn cute!). Here's one of her adorable fits...



Thanks for letting today's post be all about my one-of-a-kind daughter. If she ever gets a sibling she is going to experience the rude awakening that life isn't about her very quickly:-)





*I need to clarify that I find those of the Asian descent to be BEAUTIFUL people. I only mentioned it because Karis did not resemble her Polish, Czechoslovakian, Italian and German descendants.

Yay for Husbands!

If my husband knew that I'm sitting in the apartment, taking the time to post on my blog he'd probably have a cow (do people still use that expression?). He took Karis to the city an hour away where half of "the crew" moved to for a luncheon get-together. I declined since there is so much to do and I really want to move into the house tonight! But I have to post before I head over to the house (on my new shiny purple bicycle) because there is so much to post about that if I put if off any longer then I'm going to end up having a 10-page post that nobody would take the time to read in it's entirety. I've also noticed that I'm losing much of my readership, probably due to several posts without pictures of the worlds cutest munchkin (which may be the main reason people come to my blog anyway! No prob, Bob, I love for the world to see how unbelievably she gets cuter and cuter as each day goes by. Ha!). Anyway, I am feeling a bit insecure about my readership now that I know I have less than half the people reading my blog as Meg has reading hers. Thanks Meg, for bringing that to my attention:-)

ahuh, anywho, this post is dedicated to my incredibly handy husband who I don't know how I managed to live without for two weeks. Here is just one reason why it's wonderful to have a very capable, detail-oriented man in the house. Hot showers with decent water pressure! Let me explain in PICTURES (I found two batteries that I stole from DH flashlight to give the camera enough juice to take one picture and put it on the computer!)...

This is what most shower-heads look like in this country. They're electric and heat the water up as it runs through the shower-head. They definitely help but usually you don't get much water pressure as they are small units to heat the water up as it's running through. On the days that you do get decent water pressure it is because it is so hot that the water is already 100dg, therefore does not need much to heat it up further. On those days you don't really want hot water and just turn the shower-head off.

This is what our shower-head looks like in our new house (hopefully will be installed today by my handy, detail-oriented husband). No real reason why I included this picture...

And this is what the shower looks like in the apartment where Karis and I have been staying for the past 2 weeks. Look at it closely and then continue reading if you're just dying to know how this works....

So the box that you see to the right of the shower is the contraption that heats the water up. It is hooked up to a gas bottle outside the house. You choose either warm or hot, turn the water on, wait for a clicking sound (the water comes on for a second, then goes off, and then returns) and watch as blue flames ignite in the box. Yes, it's a bit disconcerting to see flames in a box next to you while you're taking a shower. I had never seen one of these before so this was all new to me. If you turned it on hot you got a boiling-hot trickle and if you turned it on warm you get a lukewarm trickle. Hence, for two weeks I've been taking lukewarm, trickle showers. And if you remember how cold it is here then you feel my pain when you try to imagine taking a lukewarm, trickle shower on the cold tile (do you feel sorry for me yet? just wait!). This is where the handy, detail-oriented husband comes into play! As he takes note that I am forcing our 2-year old to take a lukewarm, trickle shower he says "turn the temperature knob on hot, then turn the cold water on too to get some water pressure". What? Cold water? Where? Oh, you mean that second faucet/knob thingy next to the hot-water faucet thingy? That's more water? I noticed it before but it looked like something that would turn the gas on/off...and it appeared a little scary. Ok, let's go for it. Let me tell you that Karis had a very enjoyable shower with water-pressure like she has never known in this country. I then got to experience a glorious shower myself. It was hot and there was great water-pressure. How can I tell you how depressing it is to realize I've been taking luke-warm, trickle showers for two weeks for NOTHING?! And here I thought I was being a good missionary by enduring without asking/commenting to anybody:-) It sure is handy to have a detail-oriented, handy husband around. Too bad we're heading to a shower-headless house today (actually I'm very excited!).


For the sake of trying to boost up my readership, I'm going to include a recent picture of the munchkin...

I thought I had a few years 'til I had to worry about being a worry-free mom as I watch my child climb high trees and come close to falling out, breaking limbs or having serious head injuries. I thought wrong. My days of worrying about being a worry-free mom are over...I hafta learn to be a worry-free mom NOW. This child climbed up this tree like a monkey to where she was a good 12-14 feet off the ground. Hold on, let me take a deep breath as I reflect on that moment watching her. Alright, I'll be ok (knowing we don't have trees in our yard helps).

A post for the grandmas.

Yesterday Karis asked me for an orange (tangerine) but I wouldn't let her have one because her face is so chapped from the dry air and the acid really aggravates her skin (perhaps there was a bit of laziness involves as I could have fed individual pieces to her and wiped her mouth as she ate). Anyway, I told her "no, because oranges make your face break-out". I'm in a bad habit of giving her explanations without stopping to think about whether she can understand them or not, although she seemed satisfied with this answer. So this afternoon she came running up to me in the kitchen and asked "mommy, can I have an orange? It won't break my face! It won't break it!".

Have I mentioned that the weather is beautiful here? The sun is going down now and it's in the 70's...we're just hanging out on the porch with our lap-tops (I'm still wondering if I should admit that fact or not), watching the munchkins do silly things. We have a nice breeze which is bringing lots of ashes over the wall from somebody burning (I love the smell of the fires!). Kim and I are wondering how we ever managed to live in the heat in Cuiaba for that amount of time.

Here are a few pictures back from Cuiaba. This was about a week before Karis and I headed over this way. One of J's Brazilian friends wanted to make lunch for us. This is one of many aspects of this culture that I love. They are so people-oriented and love to cook-out while sitting around the fire and visiting, etc. I can't wait to have friends over to our new house and cook-out on the back porch/cement yard:-)

You can tell that men prepared this meal as it consisted of fish, chicken, sausage and garlic bread (a little on the heavy side but very tasty!). Have I mentioned that Karis and I miss our man?