February 17, 2008

It is Sunday Morning at 6:30 and I am wide awake and John is still asleep so I decided to walk to Romana's and have my usual breakfast.  This particular early morning walk was cool with not a soul or car on the street.  I have never gotten there this early so it was a totally different experience.  The shift is changing in waiters so it is really busy.  Finally, I start recognizing "my waiters".  I place "my usual order" but I am there so early "my bread" is not ready.  The smells of bread baking are unbelievable.  At 6:30 Romana's is filled with people having breakfast after leaving wedding receptions from the night before.  They know how to do wedding receptions here!  They are still in their beautiful gowns and suits and sitting around talking and having fun.  I did notice the girls had changed from their extremely high heels to flip-flops for comfort.  I left just as the people were coming in for breakfast before early Mass across the street at the beautiful Catholic Church across from Romana's.

 

We attended our first Brazilian Soccer game this past week.  It turned into quite an experience.  Pierre's favorite team is Ponto Preto which means Black Bridge.  We only saw maybe 5 minutes of soccer before the sky opened forth and released rain that was quickly flooding the streets.  We were with two other families and Marina and Pierre.  We got outside the stadium and Pierre and Chuck went to get the cars.  By the time they got to us water was at mid-calf in the street.  John picked up one of the kids and helped them to the car and we jumped in absolutely soaking wet.  The fans remind me of the Duke basketball fans jumping up and down during the game.  It was quite an experience.  Since we had already had 24 straight days of rain we should have realized we would have rain that day too.  They did not stop the game even with horrible lightning and torrential rain.

 

The United States should do their elections like they do here in Brazil.  You announce your candidacy along with the others.  You have TWO months to campaign.  You are required to vote in Brazil.  If you do not vote you must have and report your reason for not voting.  You can be excused as many times as you need BUT to keep and renew your passport you need proof that you have voted in the last 2 elections.  Each candidate will be able to make a short speech, at no cost to the candidate, one hour on TV and one hour on radio.  The time is divided among the political parties according to their percentage of representatives in the Congress. 

Can you IMAGINE just two months of campaigning???

December 18-February 5

When Eleanor Roosevelt saw Falls Iguassu she exclaimed, "Poor Niagara!"  I would have to agree with her.  Falls Iguassu is second in the world to Victoria Falls in South Africa.  They are just majestic.  Jan Rodgers told me I would definitely feel the presence of the Lord there and she was right.  Standing there you feel very safe in His hands.  If he can create this he can surely take care of me.  We walked for 2 1/2 days and I hope our legs recover.  We rode a boat up the river and into the lower falls and we flew in a helicopter over the falls.  I even went up into the observation deck which about did me in.  The difficult part for both of us was the stairs to everywhere.  I know we climbed 1,000 steps.  My legs are telling me so today.  To our amazement they said the water was very low.  I can't imagine it being more.

 

Our room was nice but not an American hotel room.  We are very spoiled in the U.S. by the way our hotels take care of us.  We had critters in our room the first night and I watched them crawl on the ceiling all night.  I wanted to be ready if one dropped on me.  I fell asleep around 3:30 and one of the critters did not drop until 6:30.  John captured the grasshopper and took him out when he woke up.  They don't kill anything here.  At Ritz Carlton prices you don't expect to have critters in your room.  We had a wonderful taxi driver who took us everywhere and got us across the border to Argentina.  We preferred the Argentina side view of the Falls.  There is a Sheraton there facing the Falls.  If we go back we will stay there.  I am so glad John talked me into going.  He has wanted to go since we moved here.  There was no ESPN in the room either so NO Super Bowl. 

 

Carnival has been going on this weekend.  It concludes tonight.  Everyone is to be to work at Noon Wednesday.  It is definitely a wild time here in Brazil.  I am glad we have been away for most of it.  When I went to the meat market this morning they were drinking beer in the restaurants already at 7:00.  I can't imagine beer at 7:00.

 

We spent Christmas and New Year's with the Rodgers' Family.  It was such fun and their kids are amazing.  Instead of being with their friends they played games with us and watched the fireworks on New Years Eve from our balcony.  If you do not have the game Apples To Apples.  Buy it today.  It is so much fun.  Lauren graduated from high school here on December 4 and Seth did unbelievably well on his testing for the high schools here that he received one of two scholarships.  His courses were Advanced Math, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, History, Geography, Literature, Composition and English – and all of this except the last one – in Portuguese.  We were very proud. 

 

I am working very hard to finish all the rugs I have started.  I finished and presented my South America rug to our Portuguese Teachers, Marina and Pierre.  I just can't stitch fast enough.  I've put many pictures on my blog and will give you the address at the end.  We have two new friends that have moved here.  Shawna and Nectar.  It is neat how the Lord moves people out but he always moves new people in.   

 

I have a new favorite breakfast food.  It is called bolinha de fuba.  It is sort of a cornmeal roll.  It has little sugar in it so it is ok for me.  PLUS, it is hollow in the middle and you can squirt whipped creme in them for desserts.  I can't believe I just said that!  As I sit in Romana's almost every morning I often wonder what all these people do that they are eating breakfast or just sitting around having coffee at 8:30.  Do they have jobs?  They pull up in BMW's and Audi's.  How do they have the money for these cars if they are not working.  It is my interesting question for the day.

 

We lost our air conditioner in our bedroom.  It was removed with a promise it would return the next day.  It did not return the next day and we are still waiting.  Fortunately for us the weather has been heavenly at night and we haven't needed it for the last three weeks.  We had 16 straight days of rain and storms to the point water was pouring down our street.  I have been grateful for many rides home as I would be soaked if I walked.

 

Meredith has many new pictures of our beautiful grand-daughter, Reagan, on her blog and I will attach her address at the end.  They miss John a lot.  Serving our wonderful country means you have to be away sometimes.  I believe they are all glad they moved on base.  Everything is very convenient.  Meredith also has many friends that have helped her out for which John and I are most grateful.  Ben continues to work hard in Santa Ana.  We are grateful for your prayers for both of our children, John, and Reagan.  Please never stop.  Mom is doing great in Chattanooga and wants to either go home or to assisted living when I return in March.  Her e-mails are funny and happy so it has made it easy for me to me here.  Please pray for her too.

 

We lost a dear friend, Dave Hunter, last month.  Dave and Sally were with us in Jackson, Tennessee and moved the same week with us to Anderson.  Dave was one of the most beautiful men on the inside and outside.  They helped us along the way so much and Dave was especially helpful to John at Owens Corning.  We are so blessed in our lifetime to have crossed paths with Dave Hunter.