Mom and Paisley Sporting Their Matching Dimples

Welcome Home Little Sister

Aubry Driving to Her Secretarial Job With Barney and Bear

More Recent Pics

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

Paisley Diana Mabery

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day at church. We started the Mother's Day weekend with a Family Night for our Youth. The youth served their parents an Italian meal and we played "How well do you know your mother?" Saturday morning Aubry had a party at school for her Mom. It was very interactive and she loved every minute. Sunday, we have a Mother's Day breakfast tradition now at church that is a big hit. Matt made muffins for our part and brought meat and cheese. There were about 60 present for our special Mom's Day Sunday. My present was a night to myself complete with candlelight and bubble bath and also a frame from Aubry and a trip to Outback for lunch with Matt Aubry and the team. Yep! We have an Outback in Salvador now! It's a good place to go for free refills, lots of ice, and big salads with ranch dressing (all things I've missed)! Thanks family for a great Mother's Day! It's hard to believe in just a month I'll be a Mom all over again!

Madelyn Louella Sirmon

Aubry has a new baby cousin!!! She is just gorgeous and we wish we could be there to see and meet her. MadiLu weighed 6lbs and 4 ounces, was 19 and 1/2 inches long and has dark hair and eyes. She was born on Monday morning at 11:06 am. Her proud parents Spencer (Mary's brother) and Laura went home from the hospital today. We can't wait to see pictures of her in her new nursury. We hear it's beautiful but not as beautiful and perfect as MadiLu!

Aubry Nicole's First Day of School

Aubry loves her new yellow school. It's called a time to grow. They say for third culture kids who begin to get frustrated with language, the best thing to do for them is to put them in school early with other native children. So, that's what we're doing. Plus, it will be something all her own when her new little sister comes and it will free Mommy up to rest a little more in her third trimester of pregnancy.

On her first day when we went to register her, she went straight back to her classroom without Matt or I - we think because she heard the other kids clapping and singing. She is such a social bug, school will be a good thing for her. As we were leaving we went to check on her and they had her in the 2 year old classroom - I guess because that's the class she "joined" on her own and she looks 2 years old. The first two days of class they tried her out in both classrooms and decided she would be better suited for the 2 year old class because they thought her advanced for her age as well. Of course!

But also of course, she got sick after her first 2 days of school. Poor Aubry now has a 7 day virus with blisters, fever, congestion and muscle and head aches. We're hoping she'll be well by this coming Wednesday so she can go back to school after Tuesday's national Brazilian holiday - Tiradentes.

Paisley Diana Mabery

Well, as most of you know, I am about 7 and 1/2 months pregnant now. We've decided to name her Paisley Diana Mabery. Paisley is a name that came up on the social security website while we were researching a different name and it also happens to be the last name of very good twin friends of Mary Virginia's. We really liked its meanings: Paisly is a type of design which comes from the town of Paisley, Scottland which is named after the latin word for basilica because of all its churches. Diana is Mary Virginia's Aunt Angie's middle name, as well as Matthew's good friend's name, and a friend of both Matt and Mary here in Salvador.

It is interesting that Aubry's initials are AM and Paisley's are now PM. My brother made the joke that they probably Will be as different as night and day. Paisley is already so much more active than Aubry was in the womb. We watch Mary's belly roll around all the time now. Paisley is due the middle of June and it's closing in fast. It's fun getting Aubry ready for Paisley even though our 1 year and 8 month old has no idea what's coming. Lots of changes coming up for Aubry and her parents. Pray for smooth transitions and a healthy Paisley girl!

Andreia

Well, we've finally done it! We've finally hired a church secretary - something we've been needing to do for a long long time (especially since all of us women on the team started getting pregnant). Andreia is a member of our church. She speaks some English. She is a people person and has been a Christian for some time. She is the single Mom of Alicia age 9. And she has good computer skills. What a blessing she already is and will be. Please, keep her in prayer as she starts this new job. She will make follow-up for visitors, evangelism, and all the ministries of the church run much more smoothly and more organized. The whole team took Andreia to celebrate her new job and her birthday this month. It was a bit of a culture shock for her I think going out to a nice restaurant just her with all of us North Americans but she had a great time and so did we!

Easter Weekend at Church

We had a great Easter weekend at ICOS even though there were many of our members traveling (Easter is a travel holiday here). It started Friday night with a Family Night at the building. We had about 20 including some English students and some new visitors at our church. It was a great time for games and praise and service. Although for or the Brazilians we've decided charades will be a much better game than win, loose, or draw.

Some of the preparation on Friday night was separating care packages of food for needy families to be distributed Saturday morning. Matt (in charge of benevolence at church) headed up a group of 4 Americans and 4 Brazilians who took food to six deserving families that members of our church are connected to - through family or neighbor / friend ties. The group got to pray with each family and give them invitations to things going on with our church family. It was a blessed day for all.

On Sunday we had a special communion service and worship time. We had less than usual attendance because of the travel weekend but the service was special all the same and was based on Philipians 2. Thank you Jesus for your great sacrifice of love - the is the reason we have such a wonderful and diverse family to share You with here in Salvador, Brazil.

Happy Easter

For Easter this year we had our first ever naked Easter Egg hunt. Ceara, Aubry, and Jackson (all between the ages of 1 and 2 and 1/2) had a great time, dieing Easter Eggs, then hunting for them and then dressing up their birthday suits even more with spagetti - (we had three umpa-lumpas at the end). It was a good time. Lots of pretty colored eggs!

Anniversary Video

Here is a video that our church was blessed to watch together on Anniversary Sunday. Enjoy!

3rd Anniversary Sunday and Other News

Our 3rd Anniversary Sunday went spectacularly well! We had right at about 100 in attendance for the worship and 120 for pot-luck lunch afterwards. The year video for the church was great, one of our Brazilian men preached, and everyone loved the special songs from the children! We also are having about 100 for English classes on Sunday afternoons. God is truly blessing our church family. Continue please to pray for those who came yesterday whom we hadn't seen in a while and for those visitors who need and are wanting more of Christ. Pray also that our members grow in maturity and ability to reach out to all the new faces.

On other news... Average attendance in the month of March has been about 64 each Sunday. Our women's class is getting of to a great start studying Mary and Martha. Our youth have an event this Friday before Easter and have invited the neighborhood behind the church building. We have a service project on Saturday to give away care packages of food to needy families that members of our church know. And Easter Sunday we have another Brazilian young man preaching. Last but certainly not least, we have hired a church secretary! Her name is Andreia, she is a member of our church and you will be hearing much more about her in the future. Thanks for the prayers! Keep them coming!