Vocabulary

Paisley is learning new words all of the time and I'm excited to say that one of her newest words is... Bible - thanks to Jennifer and her toddler class at church. She patted one of her books real sweet on Monday and said it. So cute! Bible is right up there with: up, cookie, plane, please, uh-huh (with emphatic no head shake), none (Danone yogurt here), gada (obrigada), tia (aunt), eye, aubry and of course (mama and daddy). Other new things lately are flooding our kitchen with our drinking water and turning the lights on and off. She loves to climb and she loves to spin. And she loves being held. She also loves healthy food - give her fruits and veggies over processed foods any day. All of her teeth are in now after a long two month battle with the last four. Now, after teething, grandma visits, and starting a new sitter, we are finally starting to retrain her to go to sleep on her own again. It's a tough battle because she has a very head strong personality but she and we are sleeping a little better at night now.

Aubry is growing just as fast. Aubry is learning night time potty training. She did great for a month, got her barbie girl bike, back tracked for a few weeks, and is now doing better (now that we're hopefully getting back our washing machine to keep up with sheet washing). Aubry has a big vocabulary and often cute pronunciations. Yesterday we went to the restrunk (restaurant). We saw a coptivator from the car window (helicopter). And we went to bed trying to melt the scary lobsters (monsters) with our flashlight. Aubry enjoys her ballet, capoeira, computer, and English classes at school. She takes care of all of her friends and prays for all of her school friends at night especially: Ana Julia, Marilu, Ester, and Pedro.

Both girls are blessings from God and continue to make us smile and laugh. May you be blessed as you read this. - Emm Vee

Church At the Mabery House

We started church at the Mabery house at the end of October. We had 36 the first week and 47 the second. It's a good thing we love each other because it was a little tight in our living room. We turned the office into the kids' classroom, the carport into the toddler class, the veranda into the adult class, and the living/dining (and part of the veranda) into the auditorium.

More Halloween

Happy Halloween

CCC

Mary had an amazing time at the Continent Care Conference this year. The Continent Care team raised enough money for all the missionary women to attend the conference for free (you just had to get there). Part of the team was made up of professional counselors who were open to meeting with us during the week. It was good to be able to talk with someone (Becky Holton) in my heart language about all of the transitions in this past year. In the picture is Ali Kaiser (my roommate from ACU)... I got to see old friends (Debora), strengthen the bonds between my other wonderful teammates (Valerie and Jennifer), and make new friends with missionary women who are in similar life phases (Julie and Stacy). I know it was beneficial for all who went. Thank you Georgia, Becky, and all of the team who did their best to make us feel appreciated and cared for. May God continue to bless you as you richly bless others.

Grandma's Visit

Everyone had a great time with Grandma here. Mommy had to go out of town for five days to a conference and Grandma came to help Daddy take care of the girls. Grandma baked Halloween cookies with Aubry and read lots of books with Paisley. After Mommy got back from the CCC in Sao Paulo, Grandma, Mommy and Aubry went to see Peter Pan at the theater downtown. It's a beautiful theater and the modern version of Peter Pan was incredible. Aubry shouted "I believe in faries!" (in Portuguese of course) and the Pirates did a cool version of the Thriller Dance and the lost boys' rap was pretty impressive. All in all we had a great time with Grandma here and we are sure glad she came. Also, she brought lots of goodies we're still enjoying!

Matt Teaching Sunday School

Matt has been in charge of our adult Sunday School class for a while and I thought I would show you a picture of him in action.

Our Monkeys Are Getting Braver

Vitoria!

Our friend Cleiton took us to a Vitoria soccer game one Sunday afternoon. He even got us red and black jerseys to wear. He is a die hard soccer fan as are most Brazilians. In our city you are either for Bahia or Vitoria (kinda like Auburn or Alabama). It was a great afternoon except that we didn't win. Please, be in prayer for Cleiton as he is coming around our church more lately.

Dinasours and Bumper Boats

Daddy and Uncle Randy took Aubry and Kelton to the Dinasour exibit. They had soooo much fun that Mommy was a little jealous she didn't get to go. But Mommy did get to take Aubry a couple of weeks later to the bumper boats inside one of the malls. Outside the mall Aubry had the best time seeing her shadow get bigger and smaller in the spotlight on the huge wall. I think she actually had more fun doing that than riding the boats! It's good to get the girls out to do special things every now and then!

Our Last Friendship Lunch in Our Boca do Rio Bldg

For our last friendship lunch of the year and the last one in our old building, we fed close to 120 people. It was a great turn-out not only by needy people but a great turn-out of our members and friends to help serve our community. Our friend Cleiton came to help us serve and he whitnessed one of the homeless men telling us, "Now if I can care as much about myself as you people care about me, maybe I can stay sober." We had an entire soccer team (the kids that play near our church) join our lunch that day as well. It was an exciting day but a little sad realizing that our benevolence ministry will have to change when we move.

Working Hard On Sunday School Crafts

Team Picture at the Castle

My Girls!

Aubry's Capoeira Class

Capoeira is a Brazilian fight dance that the kids learn in school starting at an early age - it's like their P.E. class. She loves it and is getting good at it - especially the round kick!

MyMy's Visit

MyMy and Holli had a great visit. We went to the turtle reserve, to the castle, to the beach, and lots of other fun places. It was great having MyMy here.

Paisley Likes Italian

Happy Birthday Aubry

Aubry had a couple of 3rd birthday parties this year. She had one at school on her real birthday and another one, a pool party, with her church and team friends when MyMy could come. Both parties were backyardigans and both had Uniqua, Tasha, Tyrone, and Pablo masks for the kids. Daddy made delicious cupcakes and Aubry got some cool gifts. One of her favorite gifts were polly pocket dolls and accessories. Also, turning three meant that Aubry got to start Ballet Class! She's growing up!

Super Saturday!

Super Saturday (our VBS) this past weekend went really well. With 53 kids in attendance, we had only one light fixture broken and only one kid threw up; so it was a huge success. Best of all were all the volunteers. We had over half of our church members involved in making the day happen and it was truly a team effort. It is great to be a part of a church that works together so well to teach children about Christ and to invite them and their parents into a relationship with God. Have a super week everyone!

Homeless, Stomach Flu, and Campaign

So, What's going on right now? Well, it's been a busy several weeks with new interns, visitors, Heather leaving, birthday parties, deciding to move our church, watching all the World Cup Games at the building and the crazy Sao Joao holiday plus our regular activities. Saturday we had our Benevolence lunch at the building and had several of the usual suspects with us. Everaldo, one of our homeless men, set up to study the Bible with Russ and Geraldo. When Everaldo left he said, "See ya Tuesday." The man beside me, Binho, leaned over and asked, "What's going Tuesday?" I told him that Everaldo was going to come to a Bible study and Binho replied, "I could really use one of those." Pray that he'll come.

Sunday was a good day. We had almost 50 in attendance - our campaign group had arrived. This is and will be a big week for them and us:

Sunday - church & 4th of July dinner w/ English speaking Brazilians
Monday - Work project at a member's house
(repairing walls & concreting the dirt floor)
Tuesday - Morning - prayer walk Afternoon - Work project
Night - Church prayer group
Wednesday - Sightseeing Day Night - English Bible Study
Thursday - Passing out flyers for VBS
Afternoon - Benevolence project at Autism school
Night - Church Game & Family Night
Friday - Getting ready for VBS & house work project
Saturday VBS all day and night!!!

These first few days of the campaign I have had a horrible stomach flu but now that I'm feeling better I hope to be able to make up for it. Aubry and Paisley are doing well. Paisley is growing fast and walking everywhere and into everything. Aubry is singing more in Portuguese now and Mommy is trying to learn the songs to keep up. Matt is taking care of us all, working hard and "trying" to fit in study- an hour a day for the MCAT next Spring. Matt will be joining the medical mission CURA Brazil next week in a small city in Sao Paulo state so he will be traveling. Many of the women at our church will also be traveling next week for a women's conference (including Jennifer and our three interns) so keep them in prayer as well. We pray that all of you are well and that God will send His blessings to rain down on you. And may He give us a break from the rain this week.

Youth Ninja Night At Our House

Getting Ready for the Brazil - Chile Game!

Late Picture of Culto Unico - 335

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010. We have been watching all of the games at church. It is quite an experience to be in Brazil during the world cup. It is unlike anything we have in the States. Everything and I mean everything closes during the game and the streets are empty until Brazil scores and everyone sets off fireworks and runs around screaming! It has been fun to celebrate as a church.

Tea Set

Paisley loves her talking singing tea set she got for her birthday.

An Afternoon at the Park

We didn't get to ride the swan boats but it was good to get the girls out! Trish went with us too. It was a beautiful day!