Brazilian Tempo

February and March 2011

2011-04-11T12:18:00.003-03:00

Wow! Things were just too crazy these last few months to be able to blog even about it until now.

South American Missionary Conference

In January we went to the missionary conference in Belo Horizonte. It was a great conference with the main speakers being Dr. and Mrs. Lowry. Dr. Lowry is the President of Lipscomb and he invited our family to come and see if Nashville would be right for us when we move back to the States. We learned many good things about reconciliation and spiritual formation. And the Hatchers from Santiago Chile brought their two precious boys who were about the same ages as our two girls. The four children became fast friends and had the best time together. Aubry still asks about Caleb.

Youth Back to School Party

January and February and the beginning of March our church continued to meet in our home on Sunday mornings for worship. We also had several meetings there including a back to school party in mid February. We had many more students than what we had planned for and had to scramble to make more food but it was a great problem to have. Including all the adults and a few younger children who came as well we had about 60 total. We gave school supplies as prizes and had a devotional on Jesus being the key to all truth and knowledge. The kids took home key chains with the memory verse inside that they had painted.

The children's ministry also had a back to school party during Sunday school and they asked the whole church to collect school supplies for 4 needy children that we knew.

Church Family Care Plan

When our church transitioned from having a building to meeting in our home, we no longer had a place for our Rice and Beans kitchen - our Free Saturday Friendship Lunches for the community. As our church faced a time of tough transitions, we felt it a good idea for the benevolence ministry to focus, for a time, more on taking care of each other. So two people per month recieve church money in order to bless another brother or sister at ICOS. There are many in need at our church but also all of us needed to get to know each other and get to know one another's needs better. So whether it is buying someone flowers on their birthday or buying beans and rice for someone who has recently lost a loved one or can't find work to support their family, our church is learning to take care of each other. Through this and meeting in our home, our church has become more of a family.

Announcing Our Family's Move To the United States

In February, when the Porter family got back from furlough, we began meeting with church members to tell them of our family's plans. This was and is a big deal for our baby church plant and we knew that with most people, we needed to sit down and talk about it. This took two almost three weeks of intense ministry at the end of February and beginning of March.

A New Temporary Meeting Place for the Church

Also during this time of announcing our family's move, our church was moving from our house to another temporary location - the Porter's apartment's party room. This has worked out well since we needed to put our house back together before furlough in order to begin packing, cleaning out and moving some things stateside during our big 2 month trip. The church met for 5 Sundays and we even had some new visitors from their apartment building! Praise God!

Anniversary Service - Celebrating 5 Years At ICOS

The fourth Sunday at the Porter's Apartment Building, April 3rd was our Anniversary Sunday. We had devotional singing during Sunday school and a wonderful service where members and frequenters wrote down memories at our church and posted them on the wall and the church prayed over our family's trip, our daughter's sicknesses and Matt's MCAT test. We had a great pot-luck lunch with a beautiful cake to celebrate, and to top it all off we had a baptism! Genivalda was baptized into Christ on the 5th anniversary of our church! It was an incredible day to say the least and afterwards the children and teens had pool time.

Pneumonia and Bronchitis

Paisley and Aubry both had bronchitis. Paisley had pneumonia also and Aubry had a UTI as well - all at the same time and four days before our furlough trip. The trip itself was rough with all the extra luggage, ticketing problems, lay-overs and two very sick little girls. In fact, Aubry threw up all over Mom so much at one point that I had to wear the stewardesses pants home. But, after 24 hours of travel, we are here in the States now safe and sound with Matt's family in Missouri. The girls are doing much better, still on antibiotics and recovering. They were very glad to see Grandma and Grandpa as were Matt and I. Thanks for continued prayers for our travels and Matt's big test. Grace and Peace to you!

Brush Brush

2011-01-24T18:49:00.001-02:00

Ear

2011-01-24T18:45:00.001-02:00

Paisley playing

2011-01-24T18:43:00.001-02:00

Vocabulary

2010-12-01T13:09:00.002-02:00

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

2010-11-13T21:06:00.004-02:00

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

2010-11-13T20:52:00.003-02:00

Happy Halloween

2010-11-13T20:48:00.001-02:00

CCC

2010-11-13T20:37:00.003-02:00

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

2010-11-13T20:27:00.003-02:00

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

2010-11-13T20:15:00.003-02:00

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

2010-11-13T20:10:00.002-02:00

Vitoria!

2010-11-13T19:57:00.003-02:00

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

2010-11-13T19:37:00.003-02:00

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

2010-11-13T19:22:00.003-02:00

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

2010-11-13T18:57:00.002-02:00

Team Picture at the Castle

2010-11-13T18:54:00.001-02:00

My Girls!

2010-11-13T18:47:00.003-02:00

Aubry's Capoeira Class

2010-11-13T18:43:00.002-02:00

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

2010-11-13T18:28:00.004-02:00

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

2010-11-13T18:19:00.002-02:00

Happy Birthday Aubry

2010-11-13T17:50:00.004-02:00

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!

2010-07-13T15:35:00.003-03:00

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

2010-07-07T17:38:00.002-03:00

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

2010-06-29T08:09:00.003-03:00

Getting Ready for the Brazil - Chile Game!

2010-06-29T08:01:00.002-03:00

Late Picture of Culto Unico - 335

2010-06-28T10:48:00.002-03:00

World Cup 2010

2010-06-28T10:41:00.002-03:00

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

2010-06-28T10:33:00.002-03:00

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

An Afternoon at the Park

2010-06-26T12:56:00.003-03:00

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!

City-Wide Service Today and Going Away Party

2010-06-13T21:28:00.003-03:00

Nothin like 8 hours of church together (including travel time)! We had 335 in attendance for our city-wide service (just outside of the city) and it was great to see so many brothers and sisters from different parts of this huge city. So many faces and friends that I have missed and didn't realize how much. Paisley and Aubry were passed around and everyone ooed and awed at their matching dresses. It was quite the event with a 2 hour fellowship and breakfast before service a 2 and a half hour service and couple hours of lunch, fellowship, and trampolene time for this kids afterwards. The girls sacked out when we got home and we got to rest just long enough to get ready for the next event - Heather's going away party for our church.

Heather will be greatly missed. We (our church) gave her a picture album with everyone writing memories between the pics. Many blessings were given and a nice prayer time finished off a wonderful night together. It will be even harder to say goodbye on Tuesday morning. Heather has not only worked with us for two years but lived with us that whole time. Aubry only knows life with Aunt Heather. Heather, from our family, you will always be welcome. We love you and we are sad, sad, sad for you to leave us. We know you'll do great in whatever you do and we pray you'll come back to visit us as soon as you can. Blessings on your next adventure. Seek God in all you do. Love, The Maberys

Paisley's First Birthday Party

2010-06-11T22:34:00.003-03:00

Space. The Final Frontier. Paisley had a great time "walking" around to all of her friends at her birthday party at the church building. Paisley, I mean Princess Leia, was soooo good on her special night. She was enthralled by all of the decorations and new food and all the people (about 47 attended). Her sister, Queen Amadala, had a blast as well. She kept posing for the camera with Mr. Fantastic (Kelton). Chewbacca (Jackson) and storm trooper (Sammuel) were cute but more camera shy. Daddy was good looking too in his Captain Kirk uniform. Mommy was just an officer on the Voyager.

Decorations and Party Favors. Everything glowed. We had balloons hanging from all over the tall ceiling with little glowing stars at the end of their ribbons. Marcy made a wonderful florescent paint Happy Birthday sign which glowed above the black light place on the food table. There were star headbands and glowing necklaces for all the guests. And the kids made their own creative constellations with glow in the dark stars. The interns did face painting. Mommy got an alien on her cheek and Aubry got a beautiful sun.

Food. The astroids were chicken nuggets and meatballs. The black holes were brigadeiros (Brazilian chocolate balls). The comets were the yellow streamer candies. The half moons were sliced apples. The stars were popcorn and the planets were the big round grapes. The UFOs were the hit of the party - cupcakes. And Princess Leia had her first bite of white confetti cupcake with white icing which she got all over herself and her Mommy.

We love you Paisley! Happy Early Birthday Sweet Heart! (We had to have it early so Tia Heder could come and so we wouldn't run into Sao Joao and World Cup madness next week). We're glad to have such a wonderful, happy go lucky, laid back, beautiful daughter as you! Piedade led a heart warming prayer and blessing over you with the lights out while everything was glowing and I was reminded of how much I have been blessed myself by having you.

Marcy, Candace and Trish

2010-06-11T22:29:00.003-03:00

Our new interns have arrived. Marcy from Harding and Candace from ACU are here on the World Wide Witness program and arrived two weeks ago. Trish from Riverchase Church of Christ just arrived on Wednesday. All three proved to be promising workers and have in fact already been contributing greatly to the work here. Even Trish who just got there has done more and learned more in three days than you could possibley imagine. They are going to be helping start a new English Bible study, do LST studies with non-Christian friends, prepare for VBS and campaign group, help with Toddler class at Sunday school, painting projects, youth lock-in, Marriage Matters seminiar, benevolence lunches and much much more. We're excited about there summer and are very impressed by these three already. Picture to come...

Tabernacling

2010-06-11T22:15:00.002-03:00

Our church has recently made the big decision to move again. This was not made lightly. Our landlord raised the rent again and while it was a leap of faith to stay or go, we feel that God is beginning to lead us on a journey of unity and commitment building with our members through this new transition. We will be staying 5 more months in our rented space and then we will be a homeless church for a while in order to save money to hopefully buy our own space in the future. We are forming committees within our church - one to find a temporary place and storage and another committee to come up with a plan for reaching somewhere more permanent. This is also a great opportunity for some leadership training and a reminder that WE are the church and not our building. May God be with you as He is with us. He is leading us on a Great Adventure and we are both scared and excited. Please, pray for protection for our members and our team that God will not allow Satan to use any fears or anxieties in our midst but that He will increase our faith in this process. Thank you for your continued support. God is good and faithful.

The Two Cutest Girls in The World!

2010-05-15T20:48:00.004-03:00

Thanks MyMy and MommaLou and Grandma for all the cute new clothes!

Ever Seen A Turtle Resting on a Gator?

2010-05-15T19:13:00.004-03:00

MyMy's Visit

2010-05-15T18:09:00.004-03:00

We had a great visit with MyMy. MyMy brought lots of presents, nursed us back to health at the beginning of the trip, let Mommy and Daddy go off for a two day anniversary trip, and helped clean out all of our closets. Daddy, Aubry and MyMy went to the Circus. We all five got to go to the Zoo.

Happy 4th Aniversary Church!

2010-04-20T18:06:00.003-03:00

ICOS has it's fourth anniversary last weekend. We had a video slide show, lots of people wanting to hold the girls and we went out to eat with several members afterwards. It was a good day.

Chocolate Easter Eggs

2010-04-20T17:24:00.004-03:00

I can't believe I haven't gotten these Easter pics out yet but at least it's still April. Well, here they are... We had a great Easter weekend. We taught some of our Brazilian neighbors and church kids how to dye eggs, something they'd never seen before. They had a blast painting and finding them. Here the tradition is to give away beautifully wrapped chocolate eggs (sold at all the stores here). Estefani asked Jennifer at church, "Did you get a chocolate egg this morning?" Jennifer said no and Estefani replied, "Me neither. Maybe I'll get one at Virginia's tonight." Thank goodness I had bought extra chocolate eggs at Bom Preco for the Brazilian kids who came. I didn't realize how important they actually were here and our church kids have had very few Easter's when they actually got a chocolate egg. It was a fun and rewarding Easter. Below are the Easter outfits from the real and the pretend Easter (My-My's packages got stuck in the mail and we had our own second Easter at church two weeks later).

Samuel's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-03-13T18:37:00.003-03:00

Yee-haw! We had a great cowboy party at the Porter's today with a lot of church people and some of their neighbors and families from Kelton's school. It was a great time had by all with three-legged races, pin the tail on the horse, chili dogs and lots of American candy. They even had yellow cake and chocolate icing cupcakes (my favorite!). It was a great turn out and there must've been about 60 people (although that's a guess because I didn't count). Happy Birthday Sammy! We had a wonderful time! Aubry especially liked the twizzlers! Her face is still red!

Five Years On The Mission Field

2010-03-13T18:19:00.004-03:00

Wow! We've been on the field for 5 years now today. We had our team banquet Thursday night to celebrate. It was a winter theme with Olympics awards for recognizing accomplishments of team members over the last year. This year instead of going out, we had our banquet at church and cooked ourselves. Well... Matt and Heather cooked. Matt made is famous chilli and Heather her wonderful potato soup. Mary V bought a really chique chocolate strawberry cake. Valerie and Mary V and Randy decorated (Matt and Russ contributed with a few snowflakes). Our thank yous to each other were more personal this year and our kids were a little more wild since it was at church. All in all, it was a fun team banquet and it was good to celebrate this big 5 year marker!

My Cute Little Valentines

2010-03-13T17:43:00.004-03:00

Sometimes packages take a long long time. Here is Aubry and Paisley wearing their valentines outfits that MyMy sent through the mail.

2010-02-28T14:25:00.002-03:00

Today was the last Sunday for the Sass family here in Salvador, Brazil. It was a good day but a very sad day for all. There was lots of crying and prayers and blessings and presents presented. We will miss Travis, Alicia, Ceara, and Calen greatly. (Aubry will especially miss Ceara since these two girls are close in age and best buds). It has been a good five years on the field and it is time for this family to move on. Please keep them in your prayers as well as they head back to Canada.

Crawling

2010-02-13T19:58:00.003-02:00

Well, I'm sitting here watching my baby girl crawl. She's getting all around Aubry's room. Both are playing on Aubry's pink carpet. Paisley starts out inch worming - a pace or two lunging forward and then back on all fours for another pace or two. She's gotten to where she can do a few paces at a time now with some elephant walks in between. She also rode in the big girl swing for the first time and had a blast.

2010-02-09T14:13:00.002-02:00

Wow! God answers prayer! We had a great Sunday and it seemed like everyone we prayed for by name (together as a team before service) was there. We had a blessing during the worship time for all returning students since school started back this week from the summer months. Tennyson, one of our Brazilian leaders, preached and did a great job. We had 5 youth who all really seemed interested and honest during class time. Matt started a new Sunday school series using 5 evangelistic videos created by Antenor Gonzalves (a famous Church of Christ preacher in the South of Brazil). We had over 20 kids for the back to school party, quite a few people we haven't seen in a while, along with visitors, and almost 60 total for worship. God blessed our day on Sunday and we pray a special prayer of thanksgiving for those that He sent our way. To God be the Glory!

Oh and Paisley got another tooth - that makes 5 now!

Long Hair, No Hair, Yellow Fingernails and Flowers from Our Garden

2010-01-30T16:30:00.002-02:00

Two New Teeth, Headstands, and Sitting Up On Our Own

2010-01-30T15:59:00.002-02:00

Late Pictures from Christmas

2010-01-18T19:58:00.001-02:00

Back from Furlough

2010-01-16T18:15:00.003-02:00

We had a couple of bumpy rides back from furlough but no broken plane this time and God got us back safe and sound. The South American missionary conference we hosted here in Salvador the week after we got back (last week) went really well. It was very uplifting and we strengthened several friendships with other missionaries around the continent. And this past week has been about reconnecting with our team, the Brazilians, and getting readjusted to life and work here. This week we payed bills traveling to many different places to do so (fixing some problems from being gone), got Paisley's vaccines (poor thing has had a fever from them and already had a cough and new teeth coming in), took our do Nalah to the vet (we came home to a skinny balding dog - very sick but now getting better) and visited with several church members as well as held team meetings and some office hours. At the big team meeting at our house we caught up on what's been going on at church while we were gone (a wedding, a baptism, a couple of surgeries, etc.) and then we caught the team up on recruiting and furlough. All in all, it's been a productive, frustrating (with the heat and beaurocracy), and wonderful first week back. Thanks for keeping up with us. We hope everyone had a good New Years and pray God will deepen your faith as you seek after Him.

Nashville Trip

2009-12-04T22:16:00.002-02:00

Aubry in her Christmas Rock skirt.
Awww! This was before the baby fight.

The only one without Aubry picking her nose.

Good lookin Family on the steps of the Opryland Hotel.

This is at Bob Evans after church. The cousins finally meet!

Lourdes' Baptism

2009-12-04T22:12:00.002-02:00

Meet Lourdes. She was baptized this past Sunday in the ocean in front of our church building. She and her two daughters and her husband have been coming to one of our faith groups now for over two years. Please keep this new Christian in your prayers and especially lift up her husband in prayer as he is not yet a Christian and their marriage needs His healing power.

First Week of Furlough

2009-11-26T17:19:00.008-02:00

Grandpa with his two girls.

Reunion with Matt's High School friends.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Our first ceral on Thanksgiving Day.

Aubry in her pigtails posing in the new addition to the Mabery home. The beautiful new dining room and sun room were kept a surprise and were finished just the day before we arrived.

Traveling To The States

2009-11-22T20:15:00.002-02:00

Well... after a long, long trip... we made it! It took us about two full 24 hour days. We were on four different planes, 4 hours in a bus, 1 hour in a van, and a lot of running at 4 different airports. Believe me, this is not the best way to travel with two babies. But we're here. Aubry and Mary got here one with strepp and nasea and one with a smoker's cough and fever. But we got here none the less. God got us here safe and in one peice and we are grateful. Who knows what would have happened if they hadn're realized our plane was broken before we took off in Recife, Brazil. Everyone at Flat River Church of Christ was excited to see Matt but disappointed that "the girls" couldn't be there this morning. We look forward to being well and seeing everyone soon.

"Big" Trip / Little Trip

2009-11-09T19:42:00.002-02:00

I apologize for being late with many of these pictures and blogs. It has been a little crazy at our house this past month. We're still trying to adjust to life with two instead of one I think. These pictures are from Aubry trip to see the Backyardigans (her favorite cartoon) play. Daddy took Aubry and Valerie took Jackson. They had a great time together. Aubry wore her Uniqua (one of the characters) outfit that she got for her birthday. She could not stop talking about the "Big" Pablo when she got home. It was good for Daddy to spend some time with Aubry before going on his big trip to Sao Paulo for a 5 day conference without us. Paisley got pretty sick while he was gone and Daddy came home sick but all are well now and enjoying life. It's nice to finally have a few weeks of us all being well this summer. Speaking of weather changes, we're looking forward to coming home in a couple of weeks. Aubry explains to everyone she knows about her big trip soon on the airplane in the sky.

Late Pic from October Children's Day Event

2009-11-09T19:35:00.003-02:00

This is Jackson on children's day at our church celebration. We had over 60 kids from the community attend the event along with some of their parents. It was a good day. Sorry this picture is so late but I couldn't help but put it up. He's just too cute!

Women's Bible Class

2009-11-09T19:29:00.005-02:00

These are pictures from the end of October of our Ladies class after church. This is the day that Mary Virginia spoke about Mary's Extravagant Love. She taught about Mary's alabaster box representing complete surrender to Christ. It was a good class with about 16 ladies in attendance some of whom were English students who came early to participate. I am grateful for all of the women at our church. Many of them constantly who give of themselves for the benefit of the body of Christ. They are all beautiful!

Late Pics from Halloween

2009-11-09T19:20:00.002-02:00

Saturday Lunches

2009-11-09T18:56:00.011-02:00

We had a good turn-out on Saturday for the Community lunch especially from the service side of things. A lot of the time it falls to my husband and Jaciara, one of the older single women at church, to cook the beans every other Saturday for our free lunch. They usually get to the church building around 6 am to do the cooking for our noon Friendship lunch. This time, however, we had seven Brazilians come early to help cook and prepare everything. Matt, Jaciara, Russell, and Mary Virginia were there of course. Anailson who is a visitor at our church brought his mother, Anna, and both of them helped served our lunch. Genivalda who is a professional cook came early also. Genivalda is thinking hard about becoming baptized and this is a good opportunity for her to get involved. Marcelos is a new Christian who enjoys our English program and lives in the neighborhood. Senhor Messias always comes to serve bless his heart. The next day when our family got to church an hour beforehand, Senhor Messias was already there. And then there was Bruna. Bruna is our 11 year old neighbor who loves to participate in the lunches. She helped serve beans, take care of Aubry and when everyone left she sang on the stage. In serving together many friendships were made and strengthened.

Mabery Pool Day!

2009-11-09T18:28:00.004-02:00

Pool day at the Mabery house! Aubry had a blast. Paisley thought, "It was interesting but I'd have had more fun if those big people would just let me swim by myself. I swam around in water for 9 months. I know how. Also, I don't know about that big sister. She's always trying to kiss on me but she screams when I try to taste her. They don't let me taste much. They don't let me do a lot of things I want to. Just wait till I'm mobile."

Sunday Afternoon Lunches

2009-11-09T18:23:00.004-02:00

We've had several new visitors at church lately. We got to have a few of the visitors over to our house along with a couple of members. They got into such an animated conversation while I was in the kitchen, that I couldn't keep track of it in Portuguese. For a minute I thought they were about to start crying and fighting but when I walked in they were laughing. These ladies really hit it off quick. It's good to get people together like that at our house. Well, God got brought us together, Matt and I did the cooking. Please pray for Paula, Hannah, Maria Jose, and Frederico.

New Beginnings

2009-11-02T13:21:00.002-02:00

Yesterday we kicked off a new 40 day series at church called New Beginnings. Christ is the source of new beginnings. For 40 days during this series our members have signed up for different days to pray and fast and have committed to inviting their friends and family. We had 3 first time visitors yesterday and over 50 in attendance. We started the 40 days with a church family breakfast and had some good fellowship. Afterwards we had a group over for lunch at our house and had some good conversation, fun and food. Please, be in prayer for our 40 days of new beginnings.

2009-11-02T12:53:00.002-02:00

We had a halloween party at the Porter's house this past Saturday night. In Brazil they don't really dress up here and trick-or-treat like they do in the states but they do have parties and dress up as really dark things like witches and goblins. Instead, we had a theme party -the jungle -so people would not come in such scarry costumes. Aubry was a giraffe, Paisley a wild pony, Dad an elephant, and Mom was a Toucan. As we were getting out of the car, Aubry walked over to a group of teenage boys by the pool and started dancing to their music. They all cheered her on and whistled at her. I said, "Come on honey. We're going to the party." So she heads to the elevator with us but after she turns to leave, she turns back around, blows the boys a kiss and then keeps on walking. Boy are we in big trouble! Happy Halloween everyone!

More New Fun Fotos

2009-09-13T16:36:00.003-03:00

New Fun Fotos

2009-09-13T16:25:00.002-03:00

Lorena's Wedding Trip

2009-09-07T17:12:00.003-03:00

Paisley went on her first plane ride and then her second and then her third...
Paisley and I (we left Daddy and Aubry to fend for themselves a couple of days) were on our way to Ilheus, a city in the south of the state, to go to a wedding for Lorena and Gustavo. Lorena was the second person baptized at our church when it first began 3 years ago and I was the one she studied with - since then we have been very close friends. On the way to the airport Matt, Paisley and I got stuck in traffic for an hour because of flooded streets. Luckily (or actually unfortunately) Paisley and I still made the flight because it was delayed due to wheather in Ilheus. We flew to Ilheus circled the airport and then flew back to Salvador since weather conditions were to bad to land. After sitting in the airplane at the Salvador airport for almost 2 hours, the pilots decided to try again. This time we circled Ilheus couldn't land and they decided to land in Comandatuba, a nearby island! We again waited almost 2 hours at this small airstrip for TAM to come and get us and our bags and take us back to Ilheus by bus. After very bumpy hour bus ride and a 45 minute taxi, we finally made it to the hotel. What should have been a 25 minute airplane ride was over a 10 hour trip. The good thing was that Paisley was perfect the entire time. She didn't cry once the whole 10 hours even after not being able to nurse on an up and down bus or not being able to lay flat for so long. The wedding was beautiful and even though I came back with a fever and terrible body ache, the trip back was less eventful. Pray for this wonderful couple. Pray that God will reach Gustavo with the gospel through his new wife and our church.

Paisley Stretching

2009-09-01T16:46:00.003-03:00

Ceara's Princess Party

2009-09-01T15:26:00.001-03:00

Paisley Cooing

2009-09-01T11:28:00.002-03:00

More Fun Fotos of the Girls

2009-08-29T08:29:00.004-03:00

Are you playing possum already?

Conversing with Ellie the Red Elephant.

Where are you people taking me now?

Playing dress up.

More dress up.

Fun Fotos

2009-08-29T08:18:00.004-03:00

Aubry, what's the tiger say?

We are playing the biggest loser with our team. So the whole family is eatinghealthier and exercising. Here we all are early in the morning walking at the park.

Hold on tight Aubry!

Paisley and her jungle show...

Paisley Is Two Months Old

2009-08-24T20:48:00.001-03:00

Aubry's Puppy Party

2009-08-21T18:29:00.004-03:00

Aubry had a great puppy party! We had 41 people at our house and about 16 of that number were kids. We played a bowling game and pin the tail on the puppy. With Paisley around and Mommy and Daddy still getting very little sleep, we couldn't have pulled it off without the help from the team and Gloria. Heather helped with games, the Sass's made and brought a beautiful cake, the Quirey's came early to help decorate, and the Porters kept Aubry that afternoon before her party. And Gloria and her friend cooked all day while Mommy and Daddy ran party errands, cleaned the aquarium, and blew up balloons. Aubry made her Wow! face all night. She got lots of neat presents - we luuuuve presents - dolls and clothes and books. She's on her way to another birthday party tonight for Jaci's granddaughter, Taisa. Mommy and Paisley are staying home. I told someone on the phone that I was exausted and Aubry said she was "exzawted too!" Here's a look at why...

Marriage Seminar

2009-08-15T17:52:00.002-03:00

This past week we were blessed by Marriage Matters, a seminar by Jerry and Lynn Jones. We had a great seminar and wonderful time with this couple. Thank you Riverchase for sending these incredible ministers here to teach better how to relate to each other and the people we work with and give us some tools to spiritually grow our church and community.

2009-08-15T17:14:00.004-03:00

Aubry had a great 2nd birthday. We took peanut butter hershey kiss cookies to her classroom in the morning along with animal plates, popcorn and candies. Aubry enjoyed having all of the kids clap and sing to her. They even let us take Kelton out of his class to join in the festivities.

After school, Heather went to get Aubry and Kelton and bring them back up to the church where the team and our seminar guest speakers Lynn and Jerry Jones were all having lunch together. We had brownies for all of the kids and guests and honey dew melon for the rest of us who are all playing the biggest looser together. This time we sang in English to Aubry and had a birthday prayer.

Please come see us and help out with our work

2009-08-05T11:13:00.002-03:00

Hello dear friends of Salvador,

Our team is looking at hosting a supporting friends and church campaign nextsummer.

This campaign is for all of our friends, family and supporters whoare interested in serving the church here in Salvador. The idea is tocombine the efforts of individuals, families and smaller groups fromchurches into one larger, more effective campaign. Our team receives lotsof visitors each year who love us and love the church here. We feel that tocombine the efforts of the individual visits would utilize those who come toserve in ways that are most useful to the church here in Salvador. You couldcome and serve with others from the US and Canada in a way that would leavea lasting effect on your Brazilian brothers and sisters.

*Dates*: JULY 5-13, 2010 (not including travel days)

*Costs*: your costs would include your plane tickets, food, lodging, andtransportation

*What will the campaign do*?: This campaign will focus on evangelisticoutreach to our neighborhood, physical labor working on our church buildingand homes of our members, and a special event reaching out to families.

*What we need right now from you: *Right now we need to find out if there isenough interest from our supporters to host this campaign and start workingon the myriad of details.

If you are interested in coming to this week of service next summer we needto know ASAP. Your response is not a commitment but will let us know if weshould go ahead with this campaign. We would also like to know your levelof interest, from "that would be fun, maybe", to "I think we might reallylike to do that", to "Sign me up, I'm coming!" So if this is of interest toyou please respond back to me (porter@missionsalvador.com) or to themissionary family you support.

We know that the Salvador mission team has a great cloud of witnessespraying for us. As a team we would like to thank you for all that you do tokeep us here on field serving the Lord in this way. We would love for youto come and see first hand what God is doing here in this marvelous city andtake part in His work.

In Him,
Jennifer Porter

Recent Aubry Photos

2009-08-03T18:13:00.002-03:00

Meet our new maid and babysitter, Gloria. She is quite a blessing!

Aubry and Ceara in their matching blues. Both girls are always wanting to hold Paisley.

What are you two doing to me now?

Team Retreat

2009-08-03T18:08:00.001-03:00

Recent Paisley Photos

2009-08-03T11:48:00.004-03:00

Mabery Look-alike Meter

2009-07-26T19:44:00.001-03:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

One Month Old Picture

2009-07-21T16:45:00.003-03:00

What are you doing big sister?

Out for our first walk!

So far this is the oldest I've ever been! Valerie found us this shirt. Ain't it great?

We Miss My-Myee

2009-07-18T12:49:00.003-03:00

Aubry's Big Birthday Present from My-Myee and Papa

2009-07-18T12:46:00.000-03:00

Ready? O Tay! Warrrrrrr Eagle! Hey!

2009-07-18T12:25:00.003-03:00

Neighborhood Visitors for Paisley

2009-07-18T12:18:00.002-03:00

We Miss Grandma and Grandpa!!!

2009-07-11T17:35:00.002-03:00

Grandma and Grandpa were here for 3 weeks and were an invaluable part of our team! They took care of Aubry every morning during her winter vacation, cooked breakfast, and bought groceries countless times. Aubry has been missing them since they left on Wednesday. They had a rough and long trip back (because of delayed flights the trip took two full days instead of one). We know they are glad to be home but we still wish they were here. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for making the new baby transition easier.

The First of Many Matching Clothes - Their Shirts Say I'm the Big Sister and I'm the Baby Sister

2009-07-06T17:55:00.001-03:00

Beautiful Paisley

2009-07-03T17:25:00.000-03:00

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-03T16:59:00.003-03:00

Our team had it's 4th of July / Canada Day Celebration on Wednesday. Lots of food, fun, and more food. Here are a few photos.

My-Myee, Grandpa and Aubry's First Tea Party

2009-07-03T16:54:00.002-03:00

Mom and Paisley Sporting Their Matching Dimples

2009-06-30T16:49:00.003-03:00

Welcome Home Little Sister

2009-06-24T19:57:00.000-03:00

Aubry Driving to Her Secretarial Job With Barney and Bear

2009-06-24T19:53:00.001-03:00

More Recent Pics

2009-06-22T11:32:00.006-03:00

We came home with our new bundle of joy on Saturday. It has been wonderful having both sets of grandparents here to help out with Paisley and big sister Aubry who was very surprised to hear that we would be bringing paisley home. They have been taking good care of Mommy and Daddy as well. We celebrated Fathers' Day with our dads yesterday, but just briefly.
Daddy has been falling asleep in some strange places lately, like in Aubry's bed. We have had a lot of well wishing emails and phone calls. Right now we are adjusting to having two small ones in the house, but so far it has been great.
Paisley is calm and quiet and Aubry is a super biger sister. She is constantly concerned with making sure little sister always has a paci in and practices a lot with her new nené. Paisley has two dimples when she smiles and is so cute with everything that she does, which is mostly sleep and eat.
Daddy has a lot of work to do now. We need to get her registered and get her Brazilian birth certificate. We then need to get her U.S. citizenship taken care of and apply for a SSN and U.S. passport so we can travel to see the rest of the family.
Since I started this post Aubry has joined us and held her baby sister for the first time (of course with much supervision). Paisley is now in my lap and giving me inspiration as I continue typing. Papa (Rick) just had a great photo shoot and took lots of sister pictures of the two girls. Probably be posting some of those soon.
It is time for lunch and I am hungry. It is also time for Paisley to get some rest. Thanks to all those who have been keeping us in prayer and are excited with us for our new addition to the family. Mary is recovering from the c-section, but she has a cold and is coughing a lot, which seems to make it harder to get over the pain. Keep her held up in prayer that the cold will go away soon.

Paisley day 1

2009-06-19T20:56:00.006-03:00

Paisley Diana Mabery

2009-06-18T18:02:00.002-03:00

She arrived. Born at 11:16 Salvador time. Weighing in at 8 lb. 6.5 oz. She is 19 2/3 inches. Mother and baby are doing great. Paisley has a voracious appetite. We will have pictures to share soon.

Aubry's School Uniform

2009-06-12T09:42:00.003-03:00

Aubry is really getting settled into her new school. Now, when Mom takes her she just prances on back to her classroom without looking back ready to see her friends Eduarda and Pedro and her teacher Pro Maria. Here is Aubry getting ready for school in her new uniform.

Funeral Travel

2009-05-27T19:37:00.002-03:00

I will be traveling to Missouri this weekend to attend my brother's funeral. I have to leave Mary (and Paisley) and Aubry here in Salvador for almost a week. Please lift them up in prayer while I am away from them and especially that Paisley will wait for her daddy to get back to make her appearance in this world. Also keep my parents, sister-in-law, sister, nephews and nieces in your prayers during this difficult time. We have all been blessed to have Jeff as a part of our lives and we miss him terribly.

Let's Start Talking

2009-05-27T12:40:00.002-03:00

Our Let's Start Talking (campaign reading and conversing about the book of Luke with English students) team this year came early. They are a group Canadians: 3 guys and 1 girl in their early 20's. The boys are staying at the church building and Sarah is staying at the Sass' house. Kreston (one of the boys) has been here before with LST with his parents and sister 3 years ago (our first LST team). So for him this is old hat. The LSTers have about 50 Brazilian readers total which means they still have spots for 10 more. We're seeing some new faces this year that we haven't seen before and the parties are going well - trying to connect the students with the church members. Our first party was a Canada party - red and white. This LST group should be here while Paisley is born but will be leaving soon after. Please, be praying that this LST campaign will reach the hearts of those seeking Jesus and cause many to want to begin this journey with Him.

Free Theology Course

2009-05-27T12:33:00.002-03:00

We've had a good turn out for our free theology course at church. This course is advertised in the newspaper and on a banner at the building and we recieved over 30 phone calls of people wanting to sign up for the course. Now, half way through the course we have 9 regular members who will get a certificate of participation at the end. This class is based on our evangelistic Bible studies and offers an overview of who God is and what He wants for our lives. Randy Porter is an excellent teacher and the students are really getting into the lessons. Please, pray specifically for Othon as he is from our church's neighborhood, does not attend church anywhere, and seems to have no Christian background. Othon asks the best questions in class and you can tell that he is really curious about this Christianity thing. We have had 5 great classes so far and still have 3 more to go. Please, keep theology course in your prayers - (especially since the next lesson is our baptism lesson!)!

And the Rains Came Tumbling Down

2009-05-22T10:10:00.002-03:00

There has been flooding here in Salvador these last couple of weeks. It has rained for a solid month now, with few breaks in between. It makes things cooler of course which is very nice. However, it also makes attendance go down at church and mold grow everywhere. Not to mention the roof problems at our new building. One Tuesday afternoon we could not even make it home after picking up Aubry from school because the main roads were impassable. We ended up blocked in traffic for an hour and a half until finally we were able to make it to a nearby mall to go to the bathroom and eat lunch and wait out the flood. Wish I had a picture to show you! It has not been this bad since the week we moved here 4 years ago.