Gigí's Birthday and Misc. Pics....

These first five pictures are from Giselle's 4th birthday on Wednesday. She is just growing up so fast. We had a fun day with her. We went out for pizza to a fun place that has a little playground where the girls had so much fun while we waited for the food to arrive. Giselle's newest pose for pictures is to give a thumb's up. I'm not sure where exactly she picked that up. The girls are adjusting well. Larissa isn't asking quite as often for our old church and friends and today she was asking when she is going to be able to go to Sunday School again at our new church. So that was a good sign. The pregnancy is going well. I can't believe how big my belly has gotten this time around. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I've had 3 pregnancies in 3 years and my abdominal muscules have just given up! But it is pretty obnoxiously huge! She is breach (seated) and hasn't flipped yet, but since I will be having a planned c-section it doesn't really matter. We haven't scheduled the delivery yet, but it will most likely be the first week of September. I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday and we'll set the date then. Here are a ton of pictures from the past two weeks here in Juazeiro... Playground at the restaurant where we went for Giselle's birthday.
They all liked the merry-go-round!





This is our new gadget - a "mosquito racket". You charge it up in an electric outlet, and then there is a button on the side that when you push it down, it causes an electric current to run through the metal netting. When you hit a mosquito, fly, etc. with it, it makes a zapping sound and kills them instantly. It's basically like those insect zappers we have in the states that hang with a blue light to attract the bugs and then when they get too close they get zapped by the metal mesh around it. The mosquitoes are really bad here. At around 5pm we have to close all the doors and keep the house shut for about 2 hours and then we can open back up and they're pretty well gone. Five to seven is apparently feeding time :)
The girls with their best friend, Molly.
This is my really good friend, Priscila, here in Juazeiro who is also pregnant and due in October.
I found the girls playing one afternoon... Giselle was combing Larissa's hair and 'getting her ready for bed'. A minute later Giselle was coming out of the room, shutting the door and telling Larissa to sleep good. And Larissa was quietly laying in her bed pretending to go to sleep.
One of our first days here Chad went out to the store with the girls in the morning and came home with these beautiful flowers for me!!

This is the new routine after lunch - as I clean the table off, Daddy and the girls do the dishes.
Elysia even pulled up a stool and tried to get in on the action.
This girl loves to climb up and into anything she possibly can.
They sure are 3 buds!!

OK, here is the obnoxiously huge belly I was talking about!! If you need a better look, click on the picture to see a bigger image.


The Incredible Hulk?? No, just a green lollipop :)

The Move

Here are pictures from the move from Fortaleza to Juazeiro do Norte. We moved August 6th - can't believe it's been over a week already!! The girls are adjusting pretty well. Larissa keeps asking to go to Bruce and Lyndell's house and our "old church". I think it's hardest on her. She seems to be the one that likes change the least so far and likes to be in her comfort zone. She's always really shy when meeting new people and being in new places. Please pray for wisdom for us as we deal with her - that we don't push her too hard in new circumstances, but at the same time that we don't "pity" her so much that we end up encouraging her shyness and insecurity. It seems to be a fine line, and knowing how to respond to each situation can be tricky. Giselle, on the other hand, is always ready to meet new people and go to new places. And Elysia is a typical 15-month old so far... we'll see what happens in the next year or so. The girls going up into the attic with Daddy to get boxes for packing.

Vânia was a huge help in packing up clothing and little stuff in our room.
Elysia trying to be a big helper.
The last night sleeping at Bruce & Lyndell's.
All of our stuff packed and stacked in the living-room, waiting for the moving truck the next morning.

Packing the truck.
Now that's packed pretty full!
Giselle during our 6-hour trip to Juazeiro... "are we there yet??"
In our new house, yay!
Elysia is going to miss her "perch" after the baby is born.

Farewell service / party

Here are pictures from our farewell service at church on August 3rd. It was such a neat and honoring service that they put together for us. We had a time of worship, and then they had a couch up front where they asked us to sit as the "guests of honor" for the remainder of the service. They presented us with a photo album that they made for us, they put on a skit about our lives here in Brazil (the funny part was that they accidently made me pregnant 4 times in the skit instead of 3... hopefully that's not prophetic!), several of the young people who have been around since the early days spoke to us and thanked us for all we did in their lives, and Lyndell made an awesome video of pictures from over the years. Then after the service there were lots of hugs and tears and of course, food. Oh, how we will miss those "salgadinhos" in the states!!

Here we are up front being prayed for by the congregation.

Here we are watching the video that Lyndell made for us.

Bruno playing the drums... how he has grown up over the years!!

Marcio & Diego
Lélia & Lisandra
Bruno
Monikelly, Mikaelly & Aline
Victor, Vânia, Chris & Chad

Chris & Lídia
Letícia
This thumb will prove to be interesting to wean Elysia off of!!
The girls and their friends (whom they miss already).

Bruce, Victor & Chad...

Hmmm, did Chad and Bruce plan to wear nearly matching shirts??
These are my two big girls!
Victor, Bruno, Diego & Marcio

Pics

Here are some random pictures from before the move.My belly makes a nice pillow, I guess.
The girls love to wrestle with Daddy in bed.
One last photo-shoot in Bruce & Lyndell's beautiful flower garden.

Settling in

Our move went well, and we are still settling in to our new temporary home. We like it very much here and have great neighbors. Elysia is teething and has been fighting a cold and cough and Giselle & Larissa have also been fighting coughs. But other than that we are doing well. We were able to make the drive here to Juazeiro in 6 hours and the girls did pretty good. Molly (the dog) was actually the best behaved of all. She just slept on the floor in the back the entire time. The drive went well overall for me. There was one stretch where the road had a lot of bumps and that was very uncomfortable for me. I kept imagining my water breaking, and then what would we do?!? We still have a bunch of boxes of stuff to organize and put away, but we're taking our time with it and getting it done as we can. Last night we had a fun time with a visit from some old friends from when we lived here before. Monday morning I have my first visit with my new OB doctor here. I'll post pictures once things are looking a little better here and I have a little more free-time.

Move

We are about all packed and ready to load the truck in the morning as we head to Juazeiro (about 7 hours away) for the next 4 months. We had an awesome church service Sunday night - we were the "guests of honor", and we truly were honored by the church. After we are settled in Juazeiro, I will post some pictures from that service. We covet your prayers during this time!!