Today is Bernice’s birthday!

She is a wonderful ministry partner, mom, wife and best friend. I think of her when I see this picture. Bernice is solid. Bernice is strong. And Bernice is beautiful. Like this cypress tree is a sign of life sprouting and shooting its way on a barren rock, Bernice finds the light and signs of life no matter what storm comes our way or what rock we may be on. Life is not bad for us. I am just trying to illustrate one of my favorite characteristics of my wife. She has many.

Happy Birthday Bernice and thank you for always being more than enough.

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for and expect You.
  -David the psalmist 25:21

Pastor Rick Howard is wrapping up a series on integrity and character at the Pinda Bible School. His messages have been insightful and refreshing. My family and I have been able to host Pastor Rick for the past week. It has been a blessing.  We drove to a town named Santo Antonio do Pinhal.  It has a great vista point.  Three cities are within view- Pindamonhangaba, Sao Jose dos Campos and Taubate.  There is a statue of Mary at the peak of the vista point.  She is called the protector and helper of our town Pindamonhangaba and overlooks our entire valley.  The view was great and the day was hazey.  I will try to get some better pictures as soon as winter passes and we have a few clear spring days. 

Here is an update for those of you who regularly check in with the blog.  Our dog Starbucks aka Bucky is free to roam once again.  I have posted a picture of our apartment building.  Our apt is the one with the sliding glass door open.  The apt directly below ours is the neighbor who was complaining that our basset hound was walking too loud.  He has placed a sign on his balcony.  “Vende-Se” which means for sale.  These are a few random pics of Bernice and the boys in the park.

Thursday is a big day for our family.  It is a day I look forward to and also one of the longest days of the week for our entire family.  We have designated Thursday as the day of the week that we only speak Portuguese.  It sounded fun at first but it is a real challenge to try to communicate your thoughts in a different language.   Nicky and Tommy usually invite a friend or two over after school and we also invite friends that we have met during our stay here.  These are a few shots of us on a Thursday interacting with our friends.  Nicky is playing video games with his friend Conrado.  The other picture is of our friend Bruno.  His nick name is “Macaco” which means monkey.  He is one of the funniest guys I have ever met.  Thankfully he and his new wife speak some English.  The other picture is of Tiago and Dani.  Tiago plays professional basketball.  He is the tallest Brazilian I have ever seen.  He is probably 6′ 7″ or so.  We are celebrating the signing of Kevin Garnett by the Boston Celtics.

I am switching from blogger to wordpress.  It seems that wordpress is much more reliable.  I know change is hard.

“Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” —John F. Kennedy

Let me know which you think is easier or better.  I took the picture of the lightening storm in Sao Paulo a few months ago.  I like the fact that I can change the photo in the header and switch things up if I want to.

We are still praying for Antonio.

Bernice leads a Bible study with Pastora Silsa here in Pinda at the Pastors house. They have anywhere from 5-10 ladies every Tuesday. I can’t wait till I am advanced in Portuguese like Bernice. She is preaching and translating for others while I still shuffle through my flash cards on using verbs.

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Our seasons are opposite this side of the equator. Tommy and Nicky are on winter break. They have had a month off from school. Their vacation ends next week. We have gone to the zoo and to the movies during their break. Most of their days have been spent playing video games. Here are a few pics of them on break and playing video games with our neighbor Joao Lucas. They have also spent a lot of time with Starbucks (Bucky) their Basset Hound.

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Excellence is not an accomplishment. It is a spirit, a never-ending process.
-Lawrence M. Miller

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We have been in Brazil for 15 months. I often post pictures of Tommy and Nicky. The most common reaction is about how much they have grown since we have moved here. I wish I would have measured and weighed them so I could post before and after figures…oh well. I compare them to bamboo chutes. They are growing nearly as fast and are definetely as strong! I found out that they make baseball bats from bamboo as well. Useless information:

BAMBOO IS:

The fastest growing woody plant on this planet. It grows one third faster than the fastest growing tree. Some species can grow up to 1 meter per day. One can almost “watch it grow”. This growth pattern makes it easily accessible in a minimal amount of time. Size ranges from miniatures to towering culms of 60 meters.

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