The Work Part 2

The Salvador women’s conference went well. There were about 170 women present. Valerie, Jennifer and Mary Virginia taught on the spiritual disciplines of prayer, meditation, fasting and Bible study. Today we had 48 at worship and 19 in our new Sunday school class. We had a breakfast this morning together at church to kick off our new class on the Beatitudes. Russ Quirey’s parents are in town and they each got to play a part in church work today: making orange juice, having a part in children’s time, and leading a translated closing prayer. For those of you who have been praying about our church’s rent situation, we have negotiated to stay in our building for at least 6 more months and within that time our rent will be discounted to pay us back our deposit. Our small group is having a game night at the building next week to try and invite more of their friends to be a part of our Bible study. Christmas activities start this coming Sunday. The English class Christmas party at church is this week. The church’s annual Christmas picnic is next Sunday and our youth party is two weeks from Friday. It is hard to believe that we will start our furlough trip three weeks from today. We have much to do to get ready to leave for a month. We are excited to see our families and some of our friends during the holiday season. It will also be good to go home to get things in order again with things like our teeth and our taxes. May God be glorified in all we do even in the little things like running errands and paying early bills!

This is a picture at our team retreat. Aubry’s first time swimming.

The Work

Thank you to all who have written cards, e-mails and given gifts to us and baby Aubry. It has been an adjustment having a new addition to our family, but Aubry is such a blessing we hardly even notice how busy we are. It is hard to say now what we ever did without her and she only just turned 3 months this week! We appreciate all the love and support that you have sent our way.

There has been a lot going on in our church these past few months. This past Sunday we had 55 in attendance with 2 families who were first time visitors. We are beginning a sermon series on worship. Our English classes at the church are well attended and many of the students have begun participating in some of the church activities. Matt enjoys teaching and some of his advanced students are helping out in the beginner’s class now (which is a big help). We are adding a new small group in our church which brings us to four small group meetings per week (6 if you count the youth and young married meetings). The young professionals’ small group that meets in our home has been very encouraging lately. The youth still have weekly Friday night Bible studies where the teens are also planning their monthly evangelistic event at the church building to invite their friends to come. This past month it was a costume party. We had 32 kids and 8 adults present. We are having our regular kids help with the follow-up work from the events to invite these new kids to Bible studies and their families to church. The next event will be a movie night. Matt is studying the Bible regularly with a group of teenagers every Saturday. Mary has an ongoing Bible study with 2 college students eager to learn more about Jesus. Mary will be speaking at a ladies’ conference this week. There are usually about 200 in attendance at this conference and Mary’s a little nervous about her Portuguese. Please, pray about all of these things plus our building situation as our rent contract is up soon.

The team is doing well. We just had a team retreat two weeks ago and it was time well spent. The Sass family is on furlough. The Porter’s and Quirey’s are both expecting their babies to come within the month of March. It was good to see many of you when we came for Spencer’s wedding; but if we didn’t see you because it was such a short whirlwind trip, we will be seeing you soon on our furlough in January. We are thankful for you! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And Happy Anniversary Riverchase Family!

First Day at the Beach!

Aubry had her first beach day. On our day off, we took a short trip to the beach with the Sass family - Travis, Alicia, and baby Ceara. The Sasses are leaving for furlough the day we come back from our vacation time (our trip to Birmingham for Spencer's wedding). They are only taking one furlough in their 5 year time here and are therefore leaving for 3 months so it will be a long time before Bree and Ceara see each other. Ceara will turn one year old this month! Hard to believe it. Here is a picture of Hollywood Aubry as she watches Ceara play with the birthday present she gave her - a toy that shoots bubbles!

Aubry Blabbin'

Aubry wakes up cute

Here is our daughter waking up and stretching.

One Month Old Today

Big Sister Blues

Nalah has been a sad puppy since we came home from the hospital with baby Bree. Nalah has been hiding under chairs and moping around not playing with any of her toys for weeks (even peeing every now and then where she's not supposed to go). Finally, this past week, Nalah (although still more behaved and quiet than usual) has been a much happier dog. Don't know quite what it was that snapped her out of her depression; I guess she finally decided that her little sister was here to stay. Nalah still doesn't have Aubry figured out yet but she's figured out that her place is different now.

Proud Parents and Grandparents

Bree's parents and both sets of grandparents are proud. Rick went home on Thursday (the day after we came home from the hopital after extending his ticket for Aubry's late arrival) and Cindy is leaving us on Monday. She will be sorely missed and has been a great help these first two weeks. Matt's parents are here with us on the webcam every night and are just as excited. They will get to see her for the first time in October when we come home for Spencer's wedding. It was good to finally get home from the hospital. Aubry likes her new room. There are lots of things for her to look at and she has lots of cute things to wear thanks to all of our friends, family and church family from home.

Aubry Nicole Mabery

Scariest Moment of Our Live

On Tuesday morning we had quite a scare. The nurse was in the room giving her a bath and Aubry all of a sudden stopped breathing. The nurses reacted quickly and were in our room (as was also the pediatrician) a good 15 minutes working on her while she was having trouble, giving her oxygen and trying to drain her airways with tubes. There were a few seconds where Aubry had turned completely blue and all Matt and I could do was hold hands and cry and watch. This is a picture of Aubry in the critical care baby unit where Mary had to go back and forth to feed her all day. Baby and Mom were both tired and very sore by the end of that day but both were doing fine and allowed to go home the next day. All tests on Bree came out fine. They never figured out the cause of Aubry’s incident but the best guess is that it was from milk coming the wrong way after being upset from the bath. This picture is of baby Bree holding Dad's hand.

Giving birth in Brazil

Mary Virginia was in labor for 19 hours before the doctor decided she needed to have a C-section because the baby was not dropping. In Brazil 94% of babies born are born cesarean. And although Mary Virginia wanted to have the baby normally, Brazil is probably the best place for a cesarean. It seemed like Aubry would come down and then go back up again. Cindy had had the same thing happen with Mary Virginia. Like mother like daughter. At 11:55pm on Sunday night August 12th(Father’s Day in Brazil), Aubry Nicole Mabery was born. Cindy and Rick and Randy Porter (their translator) got to see the whole operation from a window where they took lots of pictures. Cindy’s favorite picture is of the nurse presenting Aubry to Mary Virginia for the first time with Matt watching over them. Aubry, also known as baby “Bree” is beautiful and soooo sweet! Can’t wait for you to meet her!

Mary big and round

As per request here is Mary fat and beaming. We're doing fine. We'll keep you posted. Here, Mary is 40 weeks.

Edit: Click on the title to see more pictures.

No News

Sometimes no news is not good news. I wish I had more to tell you. We are still waiting. 40 1/2 weeks and counting.

4D US of Baby Mabery

4D US of Baby Mabery
Originally uploaded by Brazilian Tempo

We had our final ultrasound on Thursday. Everything looked very good. The baby is in position and is getting ready to head out sometime between now and August 15 according to the ultrasound doctor.

Baby Mabery

Baby Mabery is doing fine. She is still moving a lot. The doctor said Mary Virginia should still be on “rest” but not “complete bedrest.” So after 6 weeks of being confined to the bed, she has now been able to get up more and even go out some. Mary Virginia started her ninth month on June 27th. Thank you for all of your prayers and e-mails during this time.

Three Baptisms In June

The month of June has been packed full of excitement! On June 1st Ana Maria (a Senhora with 3 grown children and a work collegue of one of our members) was baptized. After she and Matt came out of the water of our downstairs pool, she walked over to her husband and said, “Don’t you want to do it too?” He did not appear to be very open to talking to us about her decision or about studying the Bible himself but last week he participated in his first Bible study and even teared up during part of it. Please pray for this couple and their family as Matt continues to study with them.
Kathryn Player, an Auburn student staying with us during the campaign was reading the Bible in English with a 21 year old girl named Clerlhan. Kathryn brought her home for lunch after church and Mary Virginia studied about baptism with her in Portuguese to allow her to make this heart decision in her heart language. God had been preparing Clerlhan for a long time and she was more than ready to be baptized into Christ. Clerlhan cannot swim but she had no fear from all of the excitement (and it helped that Russell assured her he was also a lifeguard)! It was our first nightime baptism in the ocean near our church!
Another first this month was our first Amerian baptism. One of the Auburn students who came, Whitney Jay (from Florida), was baptized last Wednesday afternoon, June 27th. Whitney had been ready for a long time as well and believed all that she was reading with the Brazilians; so we are happy that she made the commitment in the presence of all her readers and our Brazilian youth!

Health

Many of you have been asking and wondering about baby Mabery and Mom. First I want to thank you for your concerns and prayers. Our little girl is doing very well and moving all the time. I had injections last week to speed up the development of her lungs in case she comes early. The doctor says that my amniotic fluid is back up and she thinks that I am out of the woods for now. However, I am still on bed rest at least until my next appointment on June 14th and having occasional pains. Again, thank you for praying for our family. God bless yours as well!

English Conversation Campaign

The two week LST campaign from Auburn (5 Alabama girls and 1 North Carolina girl) was a success. Because of their hard work and advertising, we now have 60 Brazilians reading the Bible with the 6 week team. The 6 week team, a group of 8 guy and girl Auburn students, arrived middle of this week and have already begun their Bible studies today. We miss the two week team but are having fun getting to know the 6 week team as well. Pray that more Brazilians will hear about the program, come and bring their friends this first week as there is still space for at least 40 more Brazilians to read the Bible one-on-one with these hard-working Auburn students. May God open the hearts of those who are coming to our church to open up His word and learn about Him.

Mother’s Day

We had 72 on Mother’s Day for the breakfast and special service. Some of the English students even came and brought their mothers. The members came early to help with the breakfast and many of the visitors came even earlier! I heard my husband did a great job preaching on the love of God. His introduction included a slide show behind him of all different kinds of mothers and their young (a collection of funny mother/ child animal pictures). All the men of the congregation stood up and prayed over all of the women at one point in the service and during children’s time the kids took flowers to the special women in their lives. It was a blessed day! Thank you Lord.