Nope, not preggo.

So sorry for the mean trick I played on my last post! Sort of. I mean, I'm sorry it wasn't a nice trick but I did manage to get 19 whole readers that day! And that is quite an improvement from what I've been getting the past 5 months. I almost tried to come up with another doozy for this post (sp?) but I figure I need to space those out otherwise I won't be able to accomplish my objective (lure in readers.)

Because I am a gracious person I won't leave all 19 of you on pins and needles as to what my new "news" is (and because I have about 30 pictures to put on this post so I figure 14 of the 19 probably wouldn't make it that far!) The news is....we're heading to the States the end of the summer. For how long? Don't really know. At least 4 months. It seems like everything in our lives could be drastically changing soon! We don't really know. A lot of this began with a new policy the mission passed that (as of now) we do not feel inclined to comply with (after weeks of prayer.) We need to seek out all of our options. Our options to return to Brazil with the same mission, our options to return to Brazil with a different mission, our options to possibly take an assignment with the same mission in the U.S., our options to stay in the U.S. without being a part of a mission at all and our options to possibly join a different mission and go to a different country. That's all.

In some ways it's a scary place to be. In some ways an annoying place to be (I thought life was finally going to get somewhat predictable!) And in some ways it is a very exciting place to be. I have my own dreams and desires yet I am just praying wholeheartedly that the Lord will place on our hearts exactly what and where He would like us to be. Or if there are some options that we can choose from that we will have wisdom and unity in a choice.

We will be traveling towards the end of next week for 3 weeks or so. It will be nice to get away for a little while to reflect on all that has happened the past month! Jonathan will be taking his parents and our brother in law on a village trip to distribute some Old Testament recordings. Karis and I will get to stay with Jonathan's sister, Cristy, and her two little boys during that time! I'm looking forward to it.

So that's the big news.

Now that we have finally been able to download pictures onto the computer that were taken a few weeks ago! Karis experienced her first ever camp fire (I think her first, I am not so good about writing stuff down.) She LOVED it! She's been begging us to do it again. I hope we can before we travel next week...

Prep work. Jonathan hooking up some lights for the campfire. I don't know why. I didn't even think to ask 'til just now as I'm writing this post. Why do we need lights at a camp fire? Ah well, I'm sure there's a reason.

I think that is supposed to be a smile.

Yeah, must have been. This smile is somewhat normal.

I'm sorry this picture is sideways. It takes too long to rotate it, save it and then upload it again.

It really was fun! We used to go camping all the time before we moved here.

It took a while to convince her she could cook her nitrate laden hot-dog over the fire herself!

The child who hardly ever expresses any fear was afraid of the fire. This is a good thing, folks.

Uh oh, doesn't appear to be much fear left.

And this, my friends, is why I try very hard to always keep the camera in MY possession.

Another random note. Chief beat the odds and has conquered distemper! Now if he could survive the wrath of Jonathan as he continues to sneak into the house and destroy Karis' flip-flops. 5 pairs in less than 3 weeks. Good thing they only cost $2.50!

I'm pregnant with triplets!

Ok, just kidding but I couldn't come up with a good title so I thought I'd throw that in there for fun. Sure wish I could see or hear the reaction that title may have caused. I guess I'll just have to enjoy it via my own imagination :-)

I'm losing my readership. Really, I am. Perhaps it has something to do with the sporadic manner in which I've been posting the past 6 months. Twice a week, then once a month, then once every few months, then twice a week again. I'm not sure why but I find security in knowing I write something worth reading. Even if it is just family, the oh-so-obligated ones. The truth is, life has sort of taken over. Bloggy life was naturally put on the back burner as our days filled up with....stuff. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

I only have a few more weeks of Portuguese class. It has been a great blessing and has jump started my language learning in a new way, which I am very grateful for. However, having 3 1/2 hour classes twice a week is something I won't miss too much.

As my pictures take 30 minutes to load I'll go off on a slight rabbit trail. A Karis story, to be honest. Several weeks ago when Jonathan was traveling I had a friend offer to watch Karis so that I could go to Bible study (yahoo!). She was watching Karis at another friend's house whose children were already in bed. As I left I told Lita that Karis was probably going to ask for cookies but that she could only have water while I was gone (thinking that the munchkin would take advantage of the situation and do her best to convince Lita she needed lots of cookies in my absense.) However, I didn't think about the fact that Karis didn't eat very much for supper and may need something else before bedtime. So after an hour or so passed Karis began asking Lita for food but Lita wanted to respect my wishes of only giving her water so she kept turning down each and every request that Karis threw her way. After 30 minutes or so Lita saw Karis go out the front door (remember that by now it's 9pm at night and pitch black outside.) "oh, Karis, you need to come inside...don't go outside, it's dark." To which Karis replied in a pathetic & whiney voice "but I have to. I HAVE to find some food!"

My pictures have finally loaded! It is 2pm and I am just now finishing this post that began at 9:15am today....

I love this picture. They were watching soccer. This is what I would be doing myself after about 5 minutes of watching a black and white ball being kicked around a patch of grass. Brazilian soccer players do make it more interesting as they are quite dramatic when somebody so much as looks at them funny on the field. Yes, I'm done now.

Technically speaking dry season should be in full swing. Thankfully, we're still getting some rain!

Karis' new favorite thing to do is to build "airplanes" in her room. This is the most frequently built airplane.

She will crawl in there and spent up to 20 minutes sometimes just hanging out! Unfortunately this doesn't occur when I'm cooking or during a time I'd really like her to hang out underneath a pillow or two, but still, it's nice she can keep herself entertained.

And because I thought I was short on pictures this morning for this post.

Yes, this was part of a dance choreographed by the munchkin herself.

And because we're mean parents :-)



We have many changes taking place in our lives. After next week we'll have more details to share about what the future holds for the Kroeker family!

From the mouth of my 3 year old...

Karis:Mom, can I have a brownie?
Me: Nope, not tonight.
Karis: Ugh, I'm getting sick again. My tummy hurts. I need a brownie to help me feel better.

(this is the first time she has tried to use this type of manipulation:-)

Karis: Hey mom, remember when I was little and I thought I was big? Remember when I was big and I thought I was little? That's a silly catechism!

(I am teaching her a catechism these days, hence, the new vocabulary word)

Let the Sun Shine In....

Isn't Sunshine glorious? I truly never realized how much I was affected by the weather. We went a week or two without good sunshine and it was rough. Really rough. Now the sun has returned and kept us not-so-gloomy on a regular basis. I love the sun!

The sun means....

Laundry gets done! Fresh, grassy smelling sheets. Yum.

Having the sun out also means we have many butterfly friends around. My sister in law has a peculiar fear of butterflies. I love butterflies. I'm mentioning her fear to see if she's still reading my blog.

This has nothing to do with the sun but when I'm mentally prepared for the mess (about once a week) Karis' new favorite thing to do is to "cook"!

We really miss Vovô and Vovó!!

Everybody remember our little Chief (aka Chief-a-doo, Chiefton, etc)??

I have very sad news. Chief-a-doo has distemper. Poor little guy. I am treating him at home but his chances of making it are rather slim. He is acting so much more normal now after a few days of treatment (eating a little bit, playing) but I have to remind myself that that doesn't mean that he has a better chance of making it. He could in the next few months start having convulsions, and then that's it. Does anybody remember Chicky? My poor sickly, paralized parakeet from last year? Anybody seeing a pattern here? For your own good, animals, stay. away. from. us. Please, it is not worth the risk of catching the Kroeker-pet-curse.

On a slightly funny note...

Karis has heard me talk to others about Chief and so she understands that he is probably going to die. I guess she isn't old enough to be affected by this in a negative way but just takes it all in stride, confidently telling people "Chief is going to die". Well, the other day I was visiting with a friend in our living room when Karis came in running and exclaimed "Mommy! Chief isn't sleeping! And he isn't dead either!" Thanks for the great news, munchkin.

Kinda off subject, again. But sometimes I wonder if Karis is having vivid dreams at night and then remembering them the next day. Almost every day she says things like "remember when so-and-so climbed the mountain and fell off?" Uh, no. Don't remember that one. Or "do you remember Mrs. Smith? She has a present for me. It's a pretty box and a butterfly" (I'm serious about the butterfly...she really said that, I'm not just trying to stick with a butterfly theme.)

Alrighty-who, time to get this day started!

A short post....I think.

Karis and I are alone, once again. One of the great advantages to being apart from my hubs (got that word from Mamahen...thanks, I like it!) is that it is always so nice to reunite. Especially if his trip is longer than a week. It is still nice to reunite after a week but we're so accustomed to longer amounts of time that one week goes by pretty quickly. Anyway, we are already waiting for his return. And we have about 12 more days!

I took Karis to the little park here for a few minutes this afternoon. I have taught her how we can swing on the swing together and I called it "the spider" (what we used to call it as kids, not sure if that's a common thing to call it or just a Wesolowski thing?) So I put her on my lap facing towards me and we started swinging. Some kids started to approach and she said "hey look guys, we're doing spider fings! (things)"

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that this past month I became involved with a few other girls in a ministry to a poor community on the outskirts of town. We go on Friday mornings to the school to teach a Bible class and then on Sunday afternoon we lead a children's church service in the same neighborhood. I am so blessed by this opportunity! So many of these children have parents who are either drunks, druggies or drug lords.

This is my friend Marcela who is pretty much heading up this ministry. She has such a heart for the children! I've been blessed by her in many ways.

This is the building we use on Sundays to teach.

And since I haven't taken my camera yet here is one obscure picture that happens to have me in it. And it just so happens that I only look 20 lbs overweight in this one as opposed to 50 lbs overweight in the other pictures. This little boy is so cute...he is our most faithful attendee; he sits on the front row and listens so intently!

The reason that I went into all of that is because I spent this afternoon preparing because Tuesday I am going to be teaching the missionary story at the school. Up until now I've only been going, watching and then trying to mingle with the kids. Let me tell ya, telling a detailed story in a second language is going to be much more complicated than I thought! As I read over the story again today I wrote down all of the words I wasn't familiar with. Only about 50 of them...and I only have 1 day left to learn these new words. Oh sheesh. Help. Call Marcela. She came to my rescue and helped me come up with new ways to express what I need to without memorizing 50 new words in 24 hours! For instance, instead of trying to remember the verb for "trip" or "stumble" I'm going to say "he hit his foot and almost fell". Now I am so nervous I don't know what to do with myself but I know this is going to be so good for me. You have to start somewhere! I just hope I don't REALLY mess up because if I say something hilarious I know I won't be able to stop laughing. That's just what I do, laugh uncontrollably at my own expense. It would not be good.

And so, the entire reason I even decided to write a post tonight is this...I watched a video that changed my life. Really. I am a different person, for the good. I looked on Youtube and it is on there in several segments! You really need to make time to watch it. It will leave you in awe, giving you a better concept on who God is, who we are and the amazing things He has created. I feel like watching it again tonight!

Here is the link to the first video (the rest are on youtube as well...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn2dPZDMOWA

You will be very blessed, I know!

Busyness...but the good kind.

Finally, a new post so that people won't see that goofy picture of a bird on my head! I used to have the habit of being so careful not to do anything that may be slightly embarrassing (post teen years, of course) yet now I am finding freedom in just being, yeah being...even if that means a bit of uninhibited silliness (BTW, now that I'm approaching 30 I do find satisfaction in using the word "silly" and am not embarrassed about this fact.) I'm not sure if my perception is changing or if it's really true but I feel like I have fewer embarrassing moments now that I'm not so worried about being labeled as an odd individual. All of that to say...posting a potentially embarrassing picture of a green parrot on my head is the new and improved me!

Moving on...


Are you one of those people who tends to always say "I'm so busy" even when you aren't THAT busy. I am. I mean, it is such a convenient excuse and even if life isn't chaotic it always feels kind of busy. I am confessing that because I want you to know that I am not kidding when I say life has been busy. Like, really, really busy. Almost whirlwind kind of busy. BUT, a really good kind of busy. Here are a few things going on in the Kroeker home....

April 19th Mom and Dad Kroeker arrived from the U.S.! We've been looking forward to this time for a while. Karis has been soaking in the attention and we've enjoyed spending time visiting around the dinner table, playing cards, etc (hey, playing cards is a part of the busyness, ok?) We've enjoyed the past few weeks, busyness and all. Here is a picture of the munchkin with her vovô and vovó. This picture cracks me up...if you don't know why I'll explain underneath....


Do you see that oh-so-attractive man that Karis is pointing to in the picture?

Yeah, this one....



As Karis was helping make some picture books for the Indians she suddenly exclaimed "hey look, I found a picture of vovô!"

Thankfully dad Kroeker found it as humerous as we did (and let us take a picture...or two...or ten)...


Having in-laws around also means having built in babysitters. The best babysitters. There is nothing like taking off for the day knowing your child is being kept entertained more than when you yourself are home with her.

So here is one way we took advantage of the situation (and yes, this counts as part of the busyness too)....

We went to a water park for the day! Just the two of us. And not just any park but the world's largest naturally heated water park. All of the water is heated underground and then comes out into these natural springs where they channel it into the water park. In fact the water park doesn't even have to use chemicals in the water (at least I don't think they do) because the water is constantly being emptied and refilled. I think they said the entire wave pool has completely new water every three hours.

Anywho, here's a picture from the front of the park....



It really is wild to be driving along a two lane road with nothing in sight then to come upon this water park. It isn't well marked either so you have to know where you're going.

We had the lady at the check-out counter take a picture of us at the end of the day. The waterpark is right behind us...

Besides having built in babysitters we are also blessed that my in-laws like to stay busy and they like to serve. This meant Jonathan and dad getting lots of projects done and this meant mom totally organizing over half of my house! Really, I'm not kidding. It is so nice. I get to go to Portuguese class and then come home only to see one more project done that has been in the "to do" list for quite some time (or shall we say, 6 months, since that's when we moved in?) Not only that but she does a better job than me as I'm a spastic organizer. I don't always organize for the sake of organizing but more to make sure everything is behind cabinets so that I don't have to look at it. It doesn't matter that 50 pieces of tupperware come falling out when I need to retrieve one. Why? Because I know what lies ahead. I simply throw my arm across the cabinet to hold the 50 pieces of plastic in place as I retrieve what I need and then ever so quickly slam the door again. There, I don't have to see the mess and the task at hand is accomplished. My mother in law on the other hand organizes to relax. No really, she does. It took me several years to finally believe her and now that I do I am reaping great benefits. Take a peek....

This is just one of many cabinets. Well, she organized all of the cabinets in my dining room, kitchen and living room. I get a peaceful feeling when I open the doors now that I don't have that surge of adreneline required to keep things behind closed doors while trying to retrieve an item. Aaaaaaaah....I am truly thankful.

I really gotta bring this to an end. Here are a few random pictures...

Chief (also known as Chiefton or Chief-a-doo) has grown a bit...

Karis "cooking" the morning away.

(look at the next few pictures...that white cabinet behind Karis is the tupperare cabinet....can you tell what's going on?)


I've had my hubby home for 3 weeks now but will be losing him again in about 8 hours. This next trip will only be a few weeks long so even though we'll really miss him we can handle that!

Just us girlies (with puppies and pigs and a bird)

I never thought I would, but I've been wearing a green hair piece. It's kinda shiny, too but I don't plan on wearing it past Friday! Besides the fact that it's green I don't think this is the kind of hair piece many of you would be willing to wear (and I can hear a hearty amen from my sister, Stacey...especially after she takes a look at the picture below!)

Meet the "Little Guy"...



He (probably a she) is still a baby that I'm caring for as one of my friends is traveling. What is SO fun about Little Guy is that He (probably a she) doesn't have clipped wings so he (she) can fly around in the trees and then come home for some tlc. And he (she) always comes home! That is what I was trying to tell myself when LG spent the night out and did NOT return to me (yesterday was my first day watching him...her) After I tried not to panic that my dear friend would come home to no bird I left for class a little bit early this morning, dedicated to finding him (her...I had already been out early this morning searching all of the nearby trees.) When I walked out our door I heard the oh-so-familiar squawk and when I called him he came right to me! So now LG will not be roaming free past 4pm while the other parrots are out and about until his mommy comes home on Friday. For the time being we're enjoying having him around!

Litte Guy is so tame...he (she) loves to roll on his (her) back so that you can scratch his (her) belly!



She (finally! is what I'm sure half of you are thinking) will do just about anything to get your attention when she is wanting it. Karis isn't too thrilled that she likes crackers so much. As soon as she spots one in Karis' hand she is gone and either on Karis' head trying to climb down or trying desperately to land on the now frantic child. Oh, it is pretty funny. Now when Karis hears her wings starting to flap she just closes her eyes and braces herself, imagining that she may be Little Guy's target.

Onto a few more house decoration projects I completed this week...

Just when you thought there wasn't one more thing I could glue napkins onto in my house! Tada!

And just in case you think that I may be like any other normal human being and should begin to feel embarrassed about how much I blog about my decoupage addiction...well, I have another big picture in the works. It was going to be for Karis' room but it started to look too grown up so now I'm making it for our room (to put on that big empty wall to the side of our bed.) You'll just have to anxiously wait 'til I finish to see a picture of that one.

However another small project I made for our room is this...

Now, I haven't really been to any craft stores in the States since I began my decoupage addiction but here almost every craft store has decoupage supplies. They have tons and tons of stuff made out of this cheap-pressed-wood-stuff that you can buy and then decorate with napkins, etc. That is what the key holder you saw above was made out of and it is what these little shadow boxes are made out of. Everything is really cheap so it's dangerous for a poor decorator like me to get too addicted (ok I'm not poor but I can't put lots of money into decorating.) Those shadow boxes in the above picture total cost around $3 each. Many would say my mom and I are very different but there is one gene she passed onto me that nobody can deny...I get a thrill when it comes to getting a good deal. A THRILL, I tell you. And that is one of the hardest things about living away from the land of garage sales (I'm so not kidding!)

Ok, onto even cuter things (in my opinion, at least). Does anybody enjoy that game "Pass the Pigs?" If so, there is a 3-year old here who could keep you happy for hours on end. Really, she loves this game. And poor mama can't take more than one game at a sitting. It's so interesting to me how much she can enjoy it and still not care who wins or loses. Perhaps it'll take a little more time for her to truly inherit her mom and dad's competitive spirit (she only has a 1 in a trillion chance of NOT inheriting it.)

So here she is with the piggies...

And here she is making a silly face with the piggies...


Since my last post we received the news that the guys were coming out of the village a week early because they ran out of supplies. They did manage to get a lot done on the houses, which is great! However the hope that it also meant they could come home early was officially dashed on Monday. The airline wants to charge an enormous amount (almost the same price as the tickets themselves) for them to change the dates. So my husband and Karis' husband get to spend a week hanging out 'til they can return. I really wanted my hubby back! Karis' hubby is actually pretty sick so maybe it was better for him that way. He may have malaria...or dengue...or typhoid. Hopefully we'll know more tonight. Their tickets are to return the 10th, so in the meantime I'll play Pass the Pigs and glue napkins onto everything in sight!