Mom and me with Santa Claus

Christmas Day Dinner with The Rodger's

Family Christmas 2007

This is a picture of John's family.

Such a treat to be with them.

My most favorite picture

This is my most favorite picture of me and Reagan.

December 12, 2007

Kay Cothran told me that when we became Grandparents we would be forever changed.  I have to say she is right.  I will never forget the three weeks spent in England with Reagan, Meredith and John.  Reagan will not remember me, but it will forever be etched in my heart.  What a total joy to see the beauty of God's creation in this little bundle of joy.   I know next time will be different because she will be older, stronger and not as dependent on adults.  What a joy it has been to hold her, rock her, talk & sing to her and just be with her.  I am forever changed and I know John is too.

While here we got to tour the base where John is stationed.  One day while there they began playing Taps and the National Anthems for England and the United States of America.  Everything stopped, everyone stopped, and all military stood at attention.  It was a moment when I was very proud to be an American.  John's plane is majestic and we are so proud of him.    We would appreciate your prayers for him at this time.  Meredith and John found out while we were here that the house they are living in is going to be put on the market.  They will began the process of moving to another place this month.  Hopefully it will be a quick and painless move. 

Meredith and John gave us tickets to see Wicked in London for Christmas.  Wicked is a Broadway Musical about how the Wicked Witch of the West became Wicked.  It is a wonderful and comical story and really adds to the story of the Wizard of  Oz.  We both enjoyed it so much.  We spent two days there.  One day dreary and dark and one day sunny and bright.  We saw the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminister Abbey.  It was a packed two days and I was exhausted because I was following John Wells.  Many of you know he doesn't walk around town he runs.  Fortunately for me there is the underground train so that saved me from being hospitalized.  = )  Being in England also allowed us to reconnect with Gary Seithel (A old friend from Clemson).  He graciously gathered John at the airport and brought him to meet us in Cambridge at the Chili's Restaurant.  It was wonderful to see him again, and catch up on his family andfor him to be our first friend to meet Reagan.  I recognized the accent of our Waitress and she was from Brazil.  I am amazed that there are so many connections to Brazil now.  It took me 22 hours to get back to Chattanooga and seriously thought I was going to be sick.  I hopefully will never have to go that long without sleep.

John returned to Brazil and I flew back to Mom.  John greatly appreciated the wonderful sunshine of Brazil after being in England.  It was certainly cold, dreary and gloomy for this Southern Girl.  I prefer lots of sunshine myself.  I have spent three weeks with Mom and return to Brazil hopefully until March.  John is going through many changes at work and he really needs for me to be there for a while.  The plant John works for has merged with Owens Corning so he has been reconnecting with many old friends from when he was employed by Owens Corning for 21 years. 

 

While here in Chattanooga over the last 7 months I have had many experiences.  I deeply appreciate the people at the Nursing Home.  While it isn't a perfect environment, it is the safest for Mom at this moment.  They have put up with me too and I have learned to be much more assertive.  I now realize how very important it is to visit people, write people, and call people who are in nursing homes.  It is a great encouragement to both Mom and me to see a familiar face or hear a familiar voice.  I also attended yet another Gaither Concert at UTC with my friend Susan Miller.  It was wonderful and we both were blessed.  At the concert a young lady from Brazil came up on the stage and sang "Because He Lives" in Portuguese.  It was very moving.  Yet another connection to Brazil.  I even understood a lot of what she sang.  I have worked on five rugs (big mistake).  Now I've got to finish them all.  Hopefully this will happen.  They are all different.  I have also enjoyed my Friday Dinner and a Movie with my friend from childhood, Sandy Barber.  We have seen many good and many not so good movies but they have sure helped to relieve the stresses of the week.

 

Finally, John was in Charlotte for the yearly meeting with Navigator friends from Clemson and elsewhere the first week of December so we arranged a family dinner with his whole family.  What a treat it was to see Jay.  We had not seen him since Meredith's graduation.  Betsy and Alan came from Wagram and Katherine and Jim from Columbia.  It was the first time we had all been together since December 2001.  We were all glad to catch up.

 

I leave here on December 18 and they are now discussing Mom's future at the Nursing Home.  She has come so far that they feel she is ready to go elsewhere.  I never thought she would be able to leave so this just shows how far she has come since moving in July 21.  Please pray for us as we make decisions as to what she should do.  These are heavy decisions for me especially.

 

Goodbye to Mary & Joe

It is with great sadness that we had a going away party for Mary & Joe.  Mary was the first American I met here so she will ALWAYS be special to me.  We have been through a lot here and have stuck close through thick and thin.  I was blessed to have her here with me especially in the same neighborhood.  These are pictures of the crazy 50's group and their party. 

September 1, 2007

I wanted to write all of you and thank you for your prayers, calls, e-mails, and letters.  It is hard to believe Mom has been sick for three months now.  I keep thinking it will get easier but until her leg strength returns she cannot do anything for herself.  This is very hard for her (and me).  Her cognitive has mostly returned.  Every once in a while we will have a blip but she isn't as confused as she was.  They have cleared up all the infections and now we are just working on strength and eating.  Her appetite is not good and she HATES physical therapy.  So this is just another request for prayer.  Pray for me too that I will have patience and not push too hard.  I just want her to be able to do some things for herself. 

 

I enjoyed my five days with Meredith.  She was a blessing and came at the perfect time.  She was also a good buffer between me and Mom and that was nice.  We ate out a lot and saw three movies:  The Nanny Diaries, Becoming Jane, and No Reservations.  We liked them all but they were all sad in their own way. Meredith's pregnancy is going well.  She enjoyed eating American food and shopping.  It is fun to look at little girl clothes.  My cousin and two friends came by and brought presents.  Mom got to watch her open them and this was fun.  Like I said little girl clothes are fun.  She is due October 30.  Ben continues to work very hard getting the new store ready.  He is also working part-time at an ice cream parlor.  I'm glad I'm not there.  You know how I love ice cream.  I'd be his best customer.

 

I will meet John in Miami to renew our Brazilian Visa on Tuesday, September 4.  It will be wonderful to see him again.  I just hope we have everything ready and it will be smooth sailing through the process.  It will be the first time I have not been with Mom all day in 100 days so it will be an adjustment for both of us. 

 

I am loving my first football Saturday.  I've been listening to the games on ESPN and it is great.  I can't believe Clemson is playing on Labor Day and at 8:00 at night.  There will be a lot of people that drink too much. It isn't fun when they have late games.  Right now Appalachian State isbeating Michigan State 27-14 and the broadcasters are about to swallow their tongues.  We saw lots of cars today flying their Georgia flags on the way to the Atlanta Airport.  We thought of The Bryant Family when we saw them.  There were some Oklahoma State fans at Cracker Barrel.  I hope they got out alive.

 

June 17, 2007

I want to thank all of you for your prayers for my Mom.  She is now in rehab and doing well.  After a month she is still pretty weak but continues to work hard to strengthen her legs especially.  She agrees with me that she can no longer live alone in her home and will be moving to assisted living when she is dismissed. Please pray for her strength, that her house sells for a good price, and that she and I will be able to say good-bye to our home of 52 years.  It will be most difficult.

 

I wanted to tell you that we had a wonderful 30 year Anniversary celebration.  John met me at Mom's and we drove with Mary Beasley to Philadelphia where we dropped her off at her daughter's house.  Kathy & Clinton are good friends from high school.  She was a patient traveler and put up with all our stories.  It was fun.  We visited the Historic Area of Philadelphia and got to see the Liberty Bell and many other wonderful things.  One very sweet moment there was when the officials at the Liberty Bell allowed a young blind boy feel the crack in the bell.  The only bad thing about the day we were there was IT WAS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL and there were thousands of kids on field trips.  We finally just gave up trying to see some things. John and Meredith met us the afternoon of May 15 and took our car to visit his parents in Lebanon, PA.  and we rode the Amtrak to New York City.

 

We spent 4 days in NYC and had a great time.  We spent an entire day on the top of a double-decker bus seeing the sights and hearing the commentaries.  We spent time at the Twin Tower Sight and the church where the firefighters rested before they went back to the site to work.  We went to the top of the empire state building, ate at the Battery, ate at Little Italy (best lasagna I've ever had), went to China Town, toured Brooklyn's Guggenheim Museum and ate ice cream at Serendipity 3.  We saw the Broadway  Play The Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  It was a sad story but the music was just wonderful.  When we came out of the theater is was pouring rain.  We had 10 blocks to walk and no umbrella or taxi in sight.  We walked and walked and got more and more wet.  We stopped for a red light and John told me to step back because the cars would splash me.  I looked at him and died laughing.  I was already soaked so what would a splash from a car hurt.  We watched as thousands of little girls were lined up to audition for The American Girl Movie.  The line was totally around a city block.  We were on the front row of David Letterman which was just so special and we got to see the set of The Today Show.  We met some Brazilians in our hotel.  I heard them speaking Portuguese and actually recognized the language.  My teacher, Marina, would be proud. 

 

We rode the Amtrak back to Philadelphia where John and Meredith picked us up.  Ben and his girlfriend, Wendy, met us in Washington, DC and we had a wonderful time touring DC with them and being together.  It had been a long time since we had been together as a family.  We saw as much of DC as we could before they all had to leave two days later.  While at the Lincoln Memorial a group of soldiers started walking up the steps.  Everyone cheered.  It was a very moving moment for me.  Meredith and John went to South Carolina where Ann Bryant and Shirley Reeves had a baby shower for her.  Ben and Wendy flew back to Los Angeles. (I have put some pictures on the blog). 

 

John and I attended the wedding of Amy, daughter of John's Sister, Katherine, and her husband, Jim.  We had such a good time again being with family.  Betsy and Alan (John's other sister and her husband) came too.  The wedding was at the wonderful old Catholic Church and it was beautiful and the reception was at an Officers Club in DC.  We especially loved Amy and Kevin's first dance.  They had practiced and practiced and it was perfect.  I like this new trend of the first dance being choreographed for the bride and groom.  The food was perfect and we got to meet Jim's family and see his other two daughters, Elizabeth and Peggy.  We had never met Peggy's husband or Elizabeth's fiance so this was a real treat for us.  I know Jim feels so blessed to see his daughters so happy.

 

We did get to spend one day in Anderson.  John had a business trip to South Carolina.  What a treat to see old friends and see the ever changing Anderson, South Carolina.  It is booming.  After all of this traveling John has promised not to even look at the Mastercard Bill.  I don't want him to become sick in Brazil. = )  He is back in Brazil and doing well.  He struggles with the cooking but is doing well other than that.  I miss him.  He took care of Mom and me while she was in the hospital.  Thank you for all your calls and cards.  They are encouraging to both Mom and to me too.

Parati, Brazil 4-13-07

We spent this past weekend in Paraty with 8 other couples.  We walked, shopped, ate and enjoyed Saturday on a boat cruising the ocean and bays near Paraty.  It was wonderful swimming in the ocean, seeing the beautiful coastline and visiting with friends.  Paraty, also spelled Parati, is a lovely colonial town, 125 miles from Rio de Janeiro on Ilha Grande Bay, Brazil's southeastern coast. It lies on the border between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states. It's a favorite with Brazilians and visitors who want to get away from it all in an historic town, laze on one of the many beaches, and indulge in a restful vacation. In the 1700's when the mines of Minas Gerais were pouring out gold, the perfect bay of Paraty was a busy port, the second most important in Brazil during the Ciclo de Ouro, or Golden Century. It was a hard overland trip, though, and when a new road was built to another port in Espiritu Santo state, Paraty was all but forgotten. This stage of oblivion or neglect is what kept so many of the colonial buildings pretty much as they were when the last gold-laden ship sailed for Portugal. Old town, the historic center is a national historic monument. Closed to vehicles, the streets and buildings are preserved.

Nine Happy Faces 4-12-07

I finished all 9 of my snowman pillows and they are so cute!  I wanted you to see them.  I wish I had bought enough ball fringe for all of them but didn't.  9 Happy Faces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good-bye Sue & Happy Birthday Priscila!!! 4/4/07

We said good-bye to Sue and celebrated Priscila's 28th birthday.  It was such a treat to sit down at a beautifully decorated table at Wendy's home and have delicious food and conversation.  Just like being in the South.  Wendy is definitely a Southern Girl.  We have all adopted Priscila as our "Brazilian Daughter".  We all love her so much.  Sue has promised to eat American food for us and think of us every time.

Newest Rug completion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This rug took me the longest to complete plus I did 9 pillows.  It is my favorite so far.  It will also be Cheryl Beer's favorite rug as she likes snowmen as much as me.

My Nativity Scenes from Peru

My friend Maria visited Peru recently and brought me an early birthday present.  There are 3 different and distinct Nativity Scenes in Peru:  The Mountains, The Coast and The Jungle.  She brought me one of each.  Look at the pictures.  They are wonderful.  It has made me very happy.

 

House

February/March 2007

I am sorry it has been a while since I've written.  I've never gone two months but it has been a busy two months.  We have said goodbye to friends (Kathy & Todd to Tennessee and Sue & Dallas to Ohio next week) that are moving back to the states and we've been just trying to stay cool.  When we are choosing a restaurant at this time of year we only choose those that are air conditioned especially for lunch in the middle of the day.  Today John and I spent one hour in Blockbuster just to be in the air conditioning.  Last year on April 1 was the beginning of six months of cool weather.  2007 will NOT be the same.  Last night it was 85 in our apartment at 10:30.  It made me very grateful for the air conditioner in our bedroom.  I doubt I would be sleeping were it not there.  It does come with an electricity bill that did not delight us at all.

 

I have finished 3 rugs and 9 pillows.  The owners of the rug store, Claudete & Sylvana, probably think I am obsessed with Christmas since that is mostly what I have done for 2 years.  My next two rugs will not be for Christmas so this should make them happy.  It has been very hot at the rug store so we haven't been as regular as usual.  They do have a ceiling fan but that just moves the hot air around.  We have many new friends at the rug store:  Mieko a native of Japan but is fluent in English, Monica who is from Argentina and Itsy from Spain.  Itsy will be leaving us soon.  It has been a joy to get to know her.  Monica's Mom is visiting from Argentina and Maria's Mom and Mother-In-Law are visiting from Peru.  This has been a lot of fun for us to get to know them too.  Mary's daughter Julie and PRECIOUS granddaughter Stella were also here for a week.  Kyle's daughter, Joey, will be here this week with her boyfriend, JP.  They are off to Salvador.  If you are planning on coming July and August are perfect months. This is when it is cooling down.  It is fun to have visitors. 

 

John and I are adjusting to the news from Meredith and John that we will be Grandparents in October.  It has made me want to visit the MANY baby stores here in Campinas.  This is very dangerous for our checkbook.

I'm also planning an amazing rug for the baby when we find out what it is.  I should have it finishedby the time Baby Basel is here.  My friends all assure me that being a Grandparent is the very BEST.  Pray for Meredith because she has really been sick.  Ben is doing well and is planning a trip to Wichita Falls to see his friends.  We are very proud of him as he was made Manager of the store.  Beach Bums is a really nice store.  I enjoyed looking at all the merchandise.  Mom continues to struggle with her back & shoulder but is really excellent other than that. 

 

I will be in the states for 30 days beginning April 25.  I will be at Mom's for two weeks and then will travel with Mrs. Beasle to see her daughter, Kathy, in Philadelphia.  Kathy is a very good friend from high school.  John will meet me there to celebrate our 30 year wedding anniversary.  We are going to visit New York City, Philadelphia and culminate in DC for Jim and Katherine's daughter's (Amy) wedding on May 19.  We are very excited because we haven't seen their girls in a long time.  This will be a real treat.  John and Meredith are trying to meet us there for a couple days if he can work it out.

 

I've learned many things in two months.  A new stitch in rug making, Jan Rodger's taught me how to make the best apple pie and crust, Robin Durgin taught me the best marinade for chicken & Monica taught us how to make a torte from Argentina (better than quiche) and so easy.  The best contraption I have ever seen was Jan's apple peeler/slicer/corer.  It does it all.  We did 30 apples in 15 minutes.  I will purchase one while in the states.  I've also been going to physical therapy for my foot.  Physical therapy takes on a new meaning with no air conditioning.  I leave that place soaking wet.   The people at physical therapy are so kind.  I wish I could work there.

 

Pierre is planning a trip for 10 couples to a historic little city called Paraty in April.  It is our first adventure and will be fun to share it with others.  Robin & Harry Durgin (with The Navigators) will be moving to Denver in June.  They have been serving in South America for 25 years.  We will miss them so much.  Mary Catherine and her husband Randy will be moving to China in June.  Mary Catherine was one of the first Americans I met here so she is very special to me.  Please pray for these people because any move is hardbut an International move is really hard.

John turns 53

1 concrete house

Across the street from our apartment is an empty lot with a 3 story concrete house. Evidently the property has sold and they needed to clear the lot.  It took 3 men, 3 weeks, with 3 sledge hammers to knock down this house.  It was amazing to watch.  No bull dozer.  No jack hammer.  Just 3 men with sledge hammers.  The pictures tell it all.

February 2007

I have recovered from my seventh trip home.  Since I never sleep on the plane I welcomed the conversation of a young lady who was returning from her honeymoon.  Her husband was sound asleep but she was terrified of flying and couldn't sleep.  She told me all about their 3 week honeymoon to Canada and The United States.  It was wonderful hearing about everything from a Brazilian's perspective.  We think our country is amazing but it is nice to hear others say it is amazing also.  I had such a easy time going through customs and immigration and was at the bus right on time so I got the early bus at 9:00 back here to Campinas.  Jan & Ben Rodger's picked me because John had to be at work.  It was wonderful to see their smiling faces welcoming me home.

 

I had a great time with Mom for over three weeks.  Between the two of us we had 7 doctor visits.  I have an abscessed tooth which was untreatable because it was so infected.  They will deal with it when I return in April.  Mom had a tear in her retina and the doctor says it is healing well on its own.  No surgery.  She is an amazing woman.  I guess the years of vitamins and good eating are paying off.

 

I did get to go to Los Angeles to visit Ben.  It was an action packed two days.  We went to Disneyland and his friend, Wendy, went with us.  We rode everything possible in one day.  The next day we went to Hollywood and this was a real treat.  You hear about it all your life so it was fun to see it.  We ate good food and talked nonstop for two days.  I got to see his new apartment, where he works and experience the HORRIBLE Los Angeles traffic.  I got lost going and coming back to the airport.  I don't see how they do it.

 

Of course, I got to eat at all my favorite restaurants and see good movies with Mom.  I visited with close friends.  I got to meet new grand-daughters.  I got to see snow and experience good old cold weather.  We visited with our good friend in Atlanta, Jim.  He, Daddy and Dad's brother Bill used to go to the races together in Atlanta and Talladega.  I thought the traffic in Atlanta would compare to Los Angeles but it sure doesn't.  I think Atlanta was planned much better. 

 

John has returned from his deployment and he and Meredith celebrated their second anniversary in The Bahamas.  Hard to believe it has been two years since the wedding.  Seems like yesterday to me.  She was so glad to have him home.  I know we enjoyed having her here for 7 weeks. 

 

I am back to working on rugs and staying busy.  We went to a Carnaval parade on Saturday.   John is working harder than ever but I know he is glad to have me here for many reasons but mostly to do the cooking and the cleaning.  = 0  Carnaval starts February 17 so he will have two days off.  I was not here last year for the excitement of Carnaval so this will be a first for me.   When you get a chance let me hear from you.