A Quick Update

Hello! I have done a horrible job of blogging the last year or so. I miss it but it seems hard to come back when I feel so "far behind" in blogging. But here comes a random post or two and maybe I'll actually post on here more often again. 

     The picture above is my family and I at Christmas time. It was such a blessing to be together. 

     The 3 foster kids that I had for 4.5 months left at the end of November. I still keep in touch with them from time to time but not often.

  I have had a couple of sets of kids for quick emergency placement since. One set of kids were sick and little and we got lots of cuddling in.

My boys both got new apartments. Jonathan in St. Paul and Aaron in Duluth. Megan and I went and helped Jonathan decorate his. I wish they lived closer but am happy with the lives they are living.

I started dating a guy from Wisconsin. His name is Shawn. He loves the Lord and we have a lot of fun together. I have done a lot of studying on divorce and remarriage. I could share my study on it sometime if anyone is interested.

Megan was in Italy for 3 months as a nanny (and I got to visit her there - I will hopefully do a post about that soon). She is home again now. We have done a bit of traveling around MN since she came back. In this picture we were skating with Jonathan and my sister and family in the cities.

I still love being involved at church. The above picture shows a scene from the play that I got to help with in February.

My Sunday school class is going through the book of Revelation and we are having lots of fun with it.

We tapped maple trees at my parents again this year. It hasn't been a very good year for it however. But it is always fun to do.

We boiled down some of the sap over a fire here at our place.

This Spring has brought some good snowfalls. Here are Mara and boys out here at our place.

Ewan on the dock.

Megan, Gracie and I went to Winona, MN so Megan could check out the University there. Lord willing she will be going there this fall.

Luke and Bea are building a house on my parents property. I have enjoyed going out on quite a few Saturdays to help. Peter is pretty much always there too so I enjoy my Saturdays with my brothers. This Saturday however I stayed home to be a nurse to Megan who has chicken pox! I thought I had made it through raising children without that but I guess not. She is pretty miserable - poor girl!

  This was my driveway on Wednesday. We had another gorgeous snowfall! It has been melting ever since but is not all gone yet.

    I hope you all are doing well! May you have a blessed Spring!

My Testimony

 This is my testimony which I wrote out when a friend asked for it to share on her blog in late 2022 or early 2023. She has now taken down her blog and so I thought I would share it here. It is very lengthy - sorry about that! I'm not given to few words.

My family at the Jackpine Retreat 2023

 I was born into a family with Christian parents who love Jesus, study and follow the Bible and are very involved at church. I was blessed with a very happy childhood where I was homeschooled along with my 5 siblings. My parents were careful to train us and for the most part we were an easy going group. Though we certainly messed up from time to time and needed discipline there weren’t any great and obvious mess-ups in our lives. That sort of situation is what we would all hope for our children but it can lead to pride and feelings of being good on our own. I struggled with that as a child (for that matter at times as an adult). Though I knew that Christ had died for my sins I struggled for a while at not feeling like I had done anything truly bad enough to need His sacrifice. From the age of 12 to 14 I was however under conviction of my need to die to my old life and be buried with Christ in baptism, have my sins washed away and rise to walk a new life with the Holy Spirit living inside of me. Finally at 14 I did publicly make that confession of my need and I was baptized. What a feeling of relief!

   God kept working in my life to help me grow in my faith.  There was a life changing moment a couple of years later; I was singing and playing hymns at the piano and as I was singing the song “I’d Rather Have Jesus” and the words “I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause, I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause… I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.” really hit home to me and I started weeping. I’d been one to appreciate the applause of people in my making of music and other areas too, but at this time I decided that no matter what, it was Jesus and following Him that mattered in my life. Other things I did would be to glorify Him. I have not lived that out perfectly. I do get distracted at times but having made that decision early on in my life has been such a blessing to me.

   After graduation from highschool, I went off to Bible college and was super blessed with the things I was able to learn and the friendships that I gained. Many of those friends still encourage me in my walk with Jesus and I am super grateful for that. I also met Ken, the man I would marry in my Junior year of college. He was also going to Bible college. He was very passionate about studying God’s word, praying and seeking to lead others to Jesus. He fit all the criteria that I was looking for in a mate and so after much prayer and seeking God’s leading we were married in December of 1998. A little over 9 months later our daughter Maranatha was born. During this time there was an experience that helped me grow in my faith in prayer and the working of God. One evening Ken and I had been standing in line waiting for a while and we struck up a conversation with another young couple that was waiting near us. We had a great visit and we sensed in them a hunger to know God better. But the waiting in line came to an end and we ended up leaving without even learning their names. I felt that God had directed us all to be there for a purpose and that we hadn’t truly finished the conversation and so I prayed earnestly that we would come in contact with them again. A couple of weeks later I was at work one day (a florist shop)  and out of the blue my boss told me he needed my help that afternoon taking care of the plants at the clinic. This was something I had never known anybody from our shop to do before and I certainly had never helped with it but off we went. I am sure you have already guessed who I ran into there. The man had brought their baby girl in to get her immunizations and it was bothering him so much to see her cry that he was out wandering around. We had a quick visit. I said I wished we could visit with them more. He gave me contact information. Later we got in touch with them, we started having Bible studies and after a while both he and his wife were baptized into Christ. We both left that town shortly thereafter and I haven’t kept in contact but I believe God was at work and I am so grateful to have been a part of it. God has an amazing sense of timing!

   We ended up moving to Kansas to help with a church plant there in 2000. After a while I was pregnant with our second child. Ken had dealt with a bit of depression at times and I think I noticed that he was dealing with that a little in the Spring of 2001 but there wasn’t anything majorly different about him. He still seemed on fire for God. But one day he came home (from a youth rally down in Oklahoma that I hadn’t been able to go to) and told me he didn’t think he was going to heaven, his faith was gone, God wasn’t listening to him and he wasn’t going to pretend any more. I was in shock. I was terrified and very sad for Ken and our family. This was not what I signed up for. I had “done everything right” in looking for a spouse. Our whole marriage was based on serving God together, what would happen now? How was I going to raise our children to love Jesus if their Dad didn’t? Ken was willing to keep going to church with me for my sake and for the kids (and he did off and on for the next few years - the kids were little enough though that none of them remember that) but he didn’t want to go to the small church plant that we had been going to. Thankfully there were a lot of good churches in that area and so at his desire we hopped around from church to church for the next few months. I think God directed us to go to the church of Christ in Derby one Sunday morning where we sat through a class where the teacher shared statistics on the probability of kids loving Jesus and being involved in church when they are older. Those statistics were not good. Even if both parents were christians there are a lot of kids that don’t remain faithful, if it is just the Dad influencing them to follow Jesus it was yet worse and if it was just the Mom the statistics were horrible. I was devastated. How was I going to do this? I wanted children that followed Jesus. We went home and that afternoon I had quite the talk with God. I acknowledged that I couldn’t do this. If our children turned out to love Jesus and follow Him it wasn’t going to be through my power. That afternoon I just gave it all over to God. I realized that He loved my children (the one born, the one in my womb and the ones still to come) far more than I ever would and I trusted that He would work in their lives and He has! God has sent so many other Christians to pour into my childrens lives in powerful ways. I am so incredibly blessed to say that I have 4 children (ages 16 to 23) who love and serve Jesus Christ. God deserves all the praise!

 Shortly after Jonathan was born in August of 2001 at Ken’s suggestion we moved to Minnesota so that we could be near my family. I am so grateful for that. There for many years we lived the American dream - 2 more little ones (Aaron and Megan) were added to our family so we had 2 boys and 2 girls. Ken very successfully ran his own business and I was blessed to homeschool our children, and be very involved at church and in our community. Our marriage wasn’t perfect but through God’s grace we had a happy home and we had good times together even though we didn’t have the same focus in life or the same foundation. One year when I was really struggling with loving Ken the way I should I started spending time each day writing down reasons I was thankful for him. That helped so much with my outlook. There is a reason that God tells us to give thanks in all circumstances.

In 2020 Ken decided that he wanted to sell his business (he had been thinking about it for a couple of years as it was sometimes stressful and very consuming). He decided at that time that selling his business wasn’t the only change he wanted. He started rethinking all of life and decided that since we didn’t have a great marriage (since we had different foundations for life) that he didn’t think he wanted to be married to me at all. There were quite a few months that fall that seemed like life was completely in limbo as we tried marriage counseling and I prayed like crazy for God to heal our marriage. I have never ever realized before this time just how wonderful it was to be part of the body of Christ. The local congregation was incredibly supportive in praying with us  and for us and reaching out to us in so many ways. The same was true of the church worldwide. At this time I started meeting with a couple of different women-individually- to pray every week and we still do that now. We have found it very valuable.  I highly recommend finding some trusted Christian friends to share with, confess your sins to and pray with regularly. People all over this country and beyond (and many that I didn’t even know) were praying for us, sending me notes of encouragement, spending time in fasting along with prayer. And then later after Ken left people even blessed us financially (anonymously and otherwise).  And though those days were hard, God was so very near. The prayers of the saints were heard. They weren’t answered in quite the way I hoped as Ken did decide to go through with divorce (God doesn’t force people to do what is right- we each have free will) but God gave the kids and I overwhelming love and support as we went through this time. I remember well the night in December that Ken told me for sure that he was going to go through with Divorce. He had already moved down to the basement the month before so that night I went up to my lonely bed and I just poured my heart out to God. I was able to go to sleep pretty easily that night but I did wake up many times throughout the night - each time I woke I just felt the overwhelming presence and love of God. He has been so near ever since. I have learned to truly pray through my day. I wake up praying, asking Him to work in me through His Spirit that day and I go to bed praying. Though I would have never chosen to go through this journey willingly I am so thankful that I did. I am thankful for the ways that God has helped me to grow.   

  

  In July of 2021 most of my kids and I went with a group from church out to Nationwide Youth Roundup for the first time. It was a really neat experience for all of us to be with that large of a group praising God and growing in our relationship with Him up on the mountainside. The theme song that year was “The Goodness of God”. I love that song and I completely agreed with the message of it intellectually but at that time I was struggling a bit with believing it in my heart. As I sang it over and over again that week the tears flowed every single time. But saying those words out loud over and over really helped the message get to my heart. I had struggled with the fact that even though I sought God’s guidance as whether to marry Ken or not, He had not stopped me, even though He knew the future. But as I considered it more I realized that had I not married Ken I wouldn’t have had the kids I do and my whole story and how God has worked in me and through me would be different. Even though there have been some rough patches, those are what have brought me the closest to God. God is able to work in my brokenness. He is truly good!

  One of the things I had really struggled with worrying about after Ken left was finances. Ken had always been the main income source in our home while I homeschooled our children. I did teach some music lessons through the years and I had a small home business doing wedding flowers but those did not make nearly enough to provide for our needs. Ken did start paying child support and alimony but that was still a lot less then we were used to and wouldn’t be coming for that long. I did get a part-time job at a local florist shop and God was at work in that too! - the timing of how things worked out and the prayers answered for both my boss and I. The divorce was final in September of 2021.

The year following that seemed in many ways a year of growing and testing for me in the area of trusting God. That year the hard drive on my computer crashed and much data was not retrievable. This was very challenging for my wedding flower business as all my quotes were on there and they hadn’t been properly backing up. This was overwhelming to me on so many levels as it struck me financially, it required a lot of my time (which seemed very limited right then) and it left me dealing with tech stuff which had always been Ken’s area of expertise - not mine at all! Also that year my washer quit and I had to replace it, my stove had a fire in it (and I thought I needed to replace it - thankfully I didn’t), In November I fell when out biking on slippery roads (not a good idea - I know) and I tore up some stuff in my shoulder and was in pain and fairly restricted for 6 weeks. That fall also brought some septic system issues (the pump went out) which continued on throughout the winter (it froze) and into the spring (the pipe had busted and now needed to be replaced) to the tune of over $6000. There were some times of major overwhelm and tears but I am thankful for the people who would hug me and pray with me and over and over again things would get fixed and it would all work out. By the time the Spring septic problem happened I was getting a little more used to the idea that God truly was taking care of us and providing for us and so when the plumber called to warn me that the new bill was going to be in the thousands I just said okay and realized that it was going to be fine. The cool thing was the timing of that because that evening when I went home from work I had an e-mail from my tax preparer saying that I was getting a much bigger return (a lot more than the plumbing bill) on my taxes than I had anticipated.  There were challenges that year but also in 2021 and 2022 I had the best years ever for Abbi’s Bridal Design (which I started in 2007), My boss gave me a 43% raise when I asked her, and people kept asking and asking if I had room for more music students. Also we were able to start an AirBnB in our basement which has worked out great. I have never had a fuller schedule but it is all stuff I enjoy and I am so thankful for the work that God has blessed me with. So even with all those trials a year after the divorce our bank account was better off than it had been before. God had and continues to amply provide. He is so good and we can always trust Him! He is faithful!! Life is truly beautiful when we walk with Him.

   

Reflecting on 25 years of Motherhood

Mara and her family.

Not very long ago my oldest, Mara, turned 25. That started me thinking about my journey as a Mother. First of all, I know that I am incredibly blessed. I don't ever remember not planning to be a Mom and God graciously allowed me to do that. It is easy to take it for granted but we shouldn't.

    I also realize that I was incredibly blessed to have a wonderful role model in motherhood. My mother is one of the best. So motherhood was presented to me as something desirable and fulfilling. Nevertheless that didn't mean I didn't have struggles or challenges.

At a Rendezvous

   I wanted to be a stay at home Mom so I worked up to the day that Mara was born at a florist shop but after that I stayed home with her. I loved it, but even though I was still attending Bible college (Mara went along) I still struggled a little with feeling completely fulfilled in the role of being a stay-at-home mother. But as I studied and prayed I realized not only is being a helper to my husband and raising children for God's glory quite enough on it's own but if you do have extra energy and desire there are so many ways that you can serve God and reach out to others with children in tow. Children can even help. 

Jonathan when we were out in Colorado at a church camp

   One piece of advice that was given to me when I was just starting out, was to lean into James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who give generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." I remember Aunt Betty (who recently went on to her reward - a wonderful woman who inspired me in so many ways) telling me that when Mara was born. I thought of that so many times through the years. Because there were many times that I lacked wisdom. 

Jonathan doing a Communion talk at church recently

      Motherhood has a way of drawing out all of the emotions. The love that you feel for a baby that came from your own body is just incredible. The joy that those kids can bring (and I think that just keeps better and better). They are so cute and funny when they are little but when you get to see them take their place in this world and there is a joy that is is hard to explain. I didn't think I really struggled a lot with either anger or impatience until I became a mother (after they leave the baby stage that can certainly figure out how to push your buttons!). Fear is something that comes more easily (and something I feel we need to fight against) once you become a mother. Fear that they will get hurt either physically, emotionally and most of all spiritually. And then I feel like I even became more of a fraidy cat (perhaps it is a natural preservation sort of thing so that we can take care of our young). Before children I enjoyed canoeing rapids and such like but while I had young children there was no desire to do anything like that. I will say that some of that enjoyment of danger has come back- perhaps because my kids can handle life on their own should something happen to me. :-)  Anyway, they do bring out the emotions, some are good and some not so much but whatever they are I hope that we just bring those to God. I am still learning that but I hope that I am getting better at doing that. When they make you proud - thank God! When they make you angry, ask God for forgiveness and help.                                     

Aaron and his fiancé, Harper

    I don't know about you but when I became a Mom I kind of thought I had things figured out. I came from a large family with younger siblings that I helped with quite a lot, I had watched my parents who raised kids successfully (at least my siblings and I would like to think so 😊), and I had married a Christian husband and we were trying to do all the right things. Then when we had Mara and I was pregnant with Jonathan, Ken ended up walking away from the Lord. I was devastated and felt like all my plans were messed up. And then one morning I was at church and the Bible study teacher shared statistics about how many kids raised in Christian families stay faithful to God. The statistic wasn't great. Then he shared that it was even worse if just the Dad was a Christian. But if just the Mom was a Christian the statistic was even worse - it was awful. I came home totally depressed but I cried out to God in a realization that I just wasn't going to be able to raise children that loved Jesus Christ. But I knew that He loved my children (the one born and the ones yet to be born) far more than I did. And so I asked Him to work in their lives and to draw them close to Him. And I prayed that over and over again throughout the years. And He has been faithful to do that. 

Aaron's current occupation 

Some things that I wish I would have done differently in raising my kids:

1. Listened to them better and not been so distracted by the busyness of life.
2. Not been so intent on looking and being perfect. I remember many a time as we got ready for company getting all stressed about making our house look perfect and taking that out on my children (as in getting grumpy with them and quite impatient). There were other areas and times that I also was truly more concerned about pleasing men than God and I was focusing more on the outward appearance.
3. Being more compassionate. I could be a pretty strong authority figure who wanted things done right. Also I don't make the greatest nurse - so when kids were sick my hope was always that they would just want to sleep it off (not need me too often). When Mara had a long struggle with health in her teen years, I could have done a lot better at being compassionate.

Mom and I taking Megan to the airport so she could fly to Italy for 3 months

Some things that I would do again in raising my kids:

1. Spend time in God's word with them- reading and memorizing.
2. Take them to church regularly and have them spend time with others that are seeking to follow Jesus Christ.
3. Have them join me in ministering to the others (whether it be singing at the nursing home, taking a meal to someone, cleaning the church building, etc).
4. Homeschool them.
5. Read together a lot.
6. Go on adventures together and show them that they can push themselves and do hard things.
7. Teach them that both learning and work are fun.

Megan's college graduation this Spring
(associates degree earned at the same time as her highschool diploma)

   Motherhood has gone beyond just my four biological children. The first change was getting a son-in-law(Thomas). In that I have been beyond blessed. I don't think Mara could have picked any better. Before long I will get another child-in-law and I believe Aaron has done well too. I am totally excited to have Harper join our family. Both Thomas and Harper add another layer of interest in our family. They add something that we didn't have before. And it is good.

   

 And then came grandkids. Any of you that are grandparents know how wonderful and fun that is. It adds its own challenges too. How can I be an active, helpful grandmama and still let their parents be ones that call the shots and take the responsibility. That is still a work in progress and I certainly don't always do it perfectly. But I have Grandkids who love me and I love them and their parents are pretty patient with me.

  And then this Spring I added being a foster mom to the list of "Mom" roles. As I was told it would be it has been extremely wonderful, beautiful and good and it is extremely hard. I have 3 little ones (ages 7,8 and 9) who call me Mom (at least some of the time - it totally is not required but I notice that the older 2 stop calling me Mom when they are upset with me, when they are really wanting to be with their Mom or Grandma or I think when they are feeling guilty about calling me Mom- this is a complicated business).

  I had no idea how much I could love children that are not "my own". I also had no idea how overwhelmed I could be by being a mother. My older kids really did not prepare me for this. I also get to try out being a public school mom and though I am going out of my comfort zone there have been many wonderful parts of this experience and challenging ones too! 
 

   An interesting thing about Foster care as I really have very little idea as to whether they will be gone next month or if I might have them for the rest of their lives. And then you wonder - will I always have a place in their lives? Does God just have us together for this moment? I guess even if they are children of our own flesh and blood we should realize that they are a temporary gift. We don't know how long we get to have them. So we should use each moment to the best of our ability. 

   So I try to be Jesus to them now, and I fail over and over again. But God in His grace uses me anyway. I ask for wisdom and strength and forgiveness over and over again. And He gives it, over and over and over again.

    I am so thankful that I don't have to walk this road alone. God is with me every step of the way and I am so thankful for the Body of Christ who pray for me, help me and encourage me. If you are trying to do motherhood without either of those I would strongly recommend that you seek out a Bible believing and following church and seek God with your whole heart!

Going to Brazil

In 2020 our family had the privilege of hosting Debora in our home from March to July as she was a Rotary exchange student here from Brazil. (Here are some links to posts written about that time: Introduction, Simple, Quiet Days, and some music videos we did: Alone Yet Not Alone and Consider the Lilies.)

Debora graduated from college this year and she invited us to come celebrate with her. The kids weren't able to go but I was able to make it work. Wendy, her first host mom in Bemidji also was able to go. So we were able to travel together part of the way and enjoy being there at the same time as well. We had a marvelous time and I am excited to share the experience with you!

Wendy and I in the Fargo airport. It only takes us a couple hours to drive there, the airport is so easy to navigate and it was cheaper than our normal of going to Minneapolis. A win-win! We drove out of Bemidji at 9 am on Thursday, January 25th. From Fargo we flew to Chicago. After that I was supposed to fly to Washington DC and Wendy was going straight to Brazil (Sao Paulo).  I had gotten a text saying my flight to DC was delayed which was a little concerning because there was not a huge layover in DC. United Airlines evidently decided it wasn't going to work either and they automatically switched me (and sent me a text to let me know) to flying straight to Sao Paulo from Chicago on the same flight as Wendy. That was really nice. The flight was quite crowded and I got on to find somebody already in the seat they had assigned to me. The steward was very helpful and the Brazilian family that was in the same space were very friendly too. There was an empty seat in the area that the steward thought was somebody else's but they never showed up so all worked out fine. It was an overnight flight. Not very restful but delicious food was served (Butter Chicken being the supper meal). I visited with the Brazilian family some throughout the flight and tried watching movies in Portuguese to improve my skills. When we landed the man tells me "Be careful!! Don't go out alone at night." Thanks! I had already read a bunch of safety warnings on the US State Department website. This made me feel a tad bit nervous.

We landed at Sao Paulo nice and early in the morning and then had plenty of time to wander around as Wendy's next flight wasn't until around 2 pm and mine wasn't 'til evening.

A new thing that I saw here that I haven't seen at an airport before was buffets. This is a common restaurant style in Brazil but you pay by the weight not just a meal price. We ate lunch at one and it was quite good and very reasonably priced.

That afternoon I had time for some reading and really enjoyed the book "Don't Give Up" by Kyle Idleman. I really appreciated the quote above and it ended up being very timely as later that day I would deal with fear, weakness and loneliness.

   When I got off the airplane in Sao Paulo I had to collect my checked bag and then had to check it again in the airport. I got to the place way earlier than they want people to come to check into your flight and so they didn't want to take my bag. They (with their very limited English - and I was no help because I didn't know any useful Portuguese other than to ask if they spoke English and tell them I didn't speak Portuguese) kept sending me back and forth between 2 different spots (one upstairs and one down and then down some halls) until finally somebody knew English well enough to tell me that I just needed to wait. Eventually I got my bag checked again and could go find my gate. So I did and sat there happily reading until it was time to board and then I discovered that they had changed the gate at the last minute. So now about 3 of us or so were speed walking down the hallway to find the new gate. We got to the right area and it wasn't there. Then I discovered a stairs and it led to it. Yay! Everybody is waiting including the pilots and flight attendants. And then some big announcement is made which I don't understand a word of. Thankfully a lady nearby has been living in Chicago the last 25 years and so speaks English very well and we had already started chatting and so she translates. The flight was cancelled. Oh boy! What next??? I discover another family of English speakers (they also are Brazilians that live in the US). They said that Latam (the airline we are now flying) always does this sort of thing. They are going to rent a car and go that way instead. They are going to a Graduation party on Sunday in a town 15 minutes from where Debora lives. I wonder if I should try to get a ride with them. Meanwhile Maryannie (the very nice lady from Chicago) tells me to stick with her, we'll get it figured out. So we head to an area where we stand in line, meanwhile she gets a text saying they have put her on a later flight that night. We find out we are in the wrong line. So she takes me to another much longer line and tells me good luck. :-) I have been traveling 30 plus hours by now and I am exhausted. 

   In line I was struggling to keep my composure. I had found very few airline people that spoke much English at all earlier and here we have this big issue to deal with and we have a huge language gap. Then a man just ahead of me in line says in English "Do you need help?" Yes, yes, I think I probably will. We ended up having a great conversation for the hour or so of waiting. He was embarrassed to speak in English because he didn't think he was very good but he did just fine and I was so very, very grateful. His name was Gabriel and I thought that was very fitting as he was my angel of mercy at the moment. He took care of his issues with getting a new flight and then had me come and translated everything for me and had the Airline worker even lead me out to the Taxi (because they gave me a flight the next morning so I had to take a taxi and go to a hotel) and explain things to the taxi driver. And then off I went alone in the night into a big city. Just what I had been told not to do. :-) Thankfully God was with me every step of the way!

    The taxi brought me to a nice looking hotel (a Comfort Inn, I believe) it was right next to a Hampton Inn so it felt like I was back in the states. In the process of taking my bags in the hotel I stuck my voucher for my hotel stay and the voucher for a taxi the next morning in a pocket. I had 4 pockets on my jeans and 5 pockets in my jacket and when I got ready to talk to the person at the hotel I completely forgot which pocket I had put them in. I was completely exhausted and a bit of an emotional mess and so I was frantically looking through my pockets (except not the one I had put them in) and my bags and the poor hotel people didn't know how to help me. Thankfully I did find them after several minutes of searching and most of the hotel people spoke English fairly well. What a huge blessing!!! They told me that the Airline also gave me money for food and that there was a buffet open still (it was around 10 pm) and also I could get breakfast delivered to my door before I left in the morning. How lovely! They helped me to arrange to have a taxi to pick me up at 4:30 the next morning. I questioned needing to go that early for an 8 am flight but the people at the airport told me I should be there by 5 so I did. I ended up having plenty of extra time but better safe than sorry.

    My adventure for the night wasn't quite over. I went up to the room and after getting in the lights didn't turn on. Then I noticed that like the hotel we stayed at in Dublin, Ireland (which had been run by Brazilians) there was a place I could slip my room key in by the light switch. So I did that and Tada! the lights work. So I figured I had it activated. I took the key back out and headed into the bathroom. I closed the sliding door and sat down and the lights went off. So then I am taking care of business in complete darkness, washing my hands and finding the door to get it opened again and then finding my room key in the dark. I get the lights on again but I am not feeling all that bright at this point - it has been a couple of days since I have slept much at all and I have also been pretty emotional - and I take the room key out again. And what do you know after a minute or so the lights go off again. I try to call the front desk with the phone to figure out the problem but I can't get the phone to work either. So I head downstairs again. They figure I have a bad room key so they give me a new one. They also tell me how to use the phone. The new room key of course works the same way and I have the same problem again. So I call them and they figure they better give me a different a room but thankfully as I talk to them it suddenly clicks that I need to leave the room key in the slot and sure enough that works and I don't have any more issues with lights. Thank you, God! 

    I hadn't eaten supper because I was supposed to be flying instead. I wasn't feeling that hungry anyway but decide I had better make the most of this bonus adventure so I head down to arrange breakfast delivery and check out the buffet. Thankfully they said it was fine to bring stuff up to my room as I was still feeling a bit emotional and super tired and didn't feel like being out in public anymore. 

The fresh fruit totally hit the spot. I had to try the Brazilian beef and it was quite good. The Pujim (kind of like flan) was quite good as well and I loved the Coconut Popsicle.

    The room was quite nice and the shower felt so very good! I didn't sleep all that well as I was nervous about not waking up on time (fairly normal problem for me when I have to get up super early for a trip). I did get some sleep and felt much better the next day.

  On Saturday morning Debora and her dad, Alair, picked me up from the airport in Uberlandia. We then had around a 3 hour drive to Debora's town of Legoa Formosa. It was very fun to see the landscape as we drove along. There was quite a lot of hills and then quite a lot of farmland as well. We mostly saw either corn or coffee growing. There were other things too but I don't remember what other than some quick growing trees that are used for lumber.

  We stopped at a very nice truck stop to eat lunch. This was also a buffet and had a very nice looking dining area. The food was very good.

   Upon arriving at Debora's home I got to meet her mom, Helen (pronounced Ellen) and Grandma, Lourdes (pronounced Lou-jus).  Debora speaks English very well but her family only knows a very little bit and Wendy and I only know a very little bit of Portuguese so Debora had to do a lot of translating but that worked out pretty well. 

    I felt very warmly welcomed - I was greeted with hugs and a room all ready for me with a picture of the kids and I framed and in the room and a card and gifts on the bed. It was very sweet.

  We had an afternoon snack which included a really yummy dessert made from the fruit Maracuja, condensed milk and cream and then Lourdes left and we decided to go on a walk around their neighborhood.

Across from their house and also down just a bit there were some empty lots that were almost completely planted in okra.

Their house is near this pretty pond. It is a nature reserve so there is a fence around the pond and surrounding woods so you can't walk in the natural area just look at it.

 We saw a couple of small monkeys on our walk. They were pretty cute.

A Passion Fruit flower. We also saw the fruit.

Debora and I

That evening we had pamonha for supper (they eat suppers late but have a "2nd Breakfast" in the afternoon so we aren't starving) along with a lot of other food. In general they had a lot of variety at all of their meals. The pamonha they ordered and then they were delivered to them. They were made out of corn and had cheese in the middle. There were two varieties one was a little sweet and the other was savory. Before supper Debora's step-dad Roberto (pronounced Ho-bear-toe) came home and I got to meet him. Her step-brother Douglass (pronounced Dough-gliss) came over to join us for supper. It was really fun to get to visit with all of them. Debora had to translate a lot but we had fun trying to learn words in the other language as well.

On Sunday was the graduation party. It started around 11 am. It was right outside the Catholic church which was in a parklike setting. It was across the street from the restaurant that we got food from. Debora and her family had got truffles (or Bonbons) elsewhere and they made a very pretty table. The gift boxes had more bonbons in them that were given to us. The cakes were very good. They reminded me in flavor of strawberry shortcake. They had fruit in them and a filling that was whipped cream like.

Debora, Wendy and I.

Debora with Helen, Roberto, Douglas, Taffarel, Mara and Florence.

Debora with Alair, Rosirene and Estefany.

In the shade under some large trees it was a lovely place to have a party. Helen had decorated the tables with pictures and garlands.

We went to the restaurant across the street to get our food. It was a very large buffet with lots of delicious food. Again it was weighed and then they kept track of everybody from the party so Debora's family could all pay for it at one time. (Sorry, Wendy, for the blurry picture!)

When the restaurant owners found out that Wendy and I from the US were eating at their establishment they wanted to meet us and asked it they could get their picture with us to use on social media. We said, "sure"! The above picture is Debora, her parents, Wendy, the Restaurant owners and I. Here are the restaurant's Facebook site and Instagram but it doesn't look like we are pictured there yet. :-)

Brazilians are into having professional pictures taken so they had a photographer hired for the party. The above picture is Debora and her "moms" (though missing her step-mom). It is her grandma, mom and then her American moms.

A group party picture.

This was a fun group to hang out with at the party. They tried to include us in the conversation (even with the language barrier) as much as possible. We shared many laughs. 

While we were having the graduation party there was another group also there having a birthday party. There is a party service that you can hire in Brazil where this man with his truck that has a loud speaker comes and he will play music (maybe sing sometimes too?), read a message to the guest of honor that has been provided by the person that hires him and then also put off some fireworks. When we saw that truck pull up Debora explained to Wendy and I what it was and she was really hoping it was for the Birthday girl rather than for her. It was, however as soon as they got done hiring the birthday girl then Debora's parents arranged for her to be honored as well. So she is standing up there while the fireworks are going off and while messages were read to her. She was very touched by the messages (I don't know what they said because they were of course in Portuguese).

The candies at the party looked so pretty with their little papers around them. They were very yummy too.

The church building that the party was next to. This is also were we went to church that evening.

Debora and her family are Catholic. The party was on a Sunday, late morning so with getting ready for that we didn't go to church then but Debora, Wendy and I went in the evening. I have only ever been to a Catholic funeral before so it was interesting to attend a regular service. It was very different than the church services that I am used to. 

I was impressed with how many people attended. The building was pretty packed and it wasn't a small building. (the picture above was taken after most people had left). I really enjoyed the music. They had 3 guitars that played and a youth choir that sang but others also sang along. It was really pretty and a very different style than I have heard in the U.S. 

It is always fun to see pretty architecture. 

That evening after we got home from church we had supper. Around that time Roberto got a call from a friend of his saying that they Mayor wanted to meet Wendy and I. Roberto wondered if that would be all right. Of course! They wanted the experience of meeting Americans but we wanted to experience of really seeing Brazil so this was great! 

Some beautiful flowers in Helen's little garden area.

Monday morning we went to city hall. Or I think they called it the Palace of Roses or something like that. One of their family friends works there and is the brother of the Mayor (we had met him at the party) and so he showed us around.

When we got up to the Mayor's office we were a little surprised to find it set up like a press conference with a videographer and everything. Wendy and I sat on either side of the mayor (that is his brother on the other side of Wendy) and then Debora and her parents were there too. Debora had to do a lot of translating but we did have a really fun visit for around an hour. We talked politics and just compared life and laws and government from country to country. 

And of course we took pictures. :-)

That afternoon Debora, Wendy and I went out shopping. I really enjoyed all the little shops. They have quite a selection in Legoa Formosa. I love all the little corner grocery stores. I ended up  buying quite a few snacks to take home as well as various other small gift items. In general things are cheaper there than here (at least considering the value of the dollar to the real).

I had thought it would be fun to go to a florist while we were there. They have quite a few florists. The one we went to had a wonderful plant selection but very few fresh flowers (it took us a bit to get it across that was what I really hoped to see). I am guessing every florist is different.

I thought these braided plants were quite fun.

When we did finally figure out about the fresh flowers they let us come in there back room. There fresh flower selection was in a big chest freezer which they kept cool with frozen water bottles.

These are the sweet ladies that helped us. We bought a sunflower and a rose with some greens and filler to take to Helen.

They shared a Jabuticaba fruit with us. It was good.

Then Debora treated us to locally made icecream. I had a toasted coconut flavor that was delicious!

It was a nice ice-cream shop. I guess they have several in their town.

That afternoon we tried Romeo and Juliette. It is homemade cheese from their farm pared together with a sliceable jelly made from some fruit. It was really good.

This is how you eat it.

Helen did all the cooking and washing of dishes (Wendy and I tried to help at times but were told that we were guests and that wasn't for us to do so we tried to be good). She always made big meals. This evening we decided to watch and take notes - so she gave us a little "cooking show". 

She cooked okra for us quite a few times and the ways she makes it is really delicious.

I can't remember what this is but it was good.

Steak (or Bife) - again, very tasty!

The flowers from the florist after we put them in a vase.

On Tuesday we got up in fairly good time and Roberto took us to a bakery to have some fresh baked goods for breakfast. It is the bakery to whom they sell the cheese they make on their farm.

The things we tried were very good. They use quite a bit of cheese in their bread and I like that.

Pao De Queijo is a cheese bread that Debora introduced to us when she lived with us and I have enjoyed making since. It was fun to get to eat it regularly in Brazil.

Our breakfast

After breakfast Roberto took us to the Recycling (they deal with all of the towns trash and recycling) center which he is in charge of. It didn't smell as bad as the transfer station here. It may be helpful that it wasn't in a building and they also had some vulture sort of birds all over that were probably eating most all of the food scraps.

Roberto called all the workers over to meet us. This is most of them pictured. We had a little Q & A with them which Debora again got to translate for.

After that Debora's dad, Alair, came and picked us up to take us to Patos De Minas a larger town (153,000) 20 minutes away that he lives in. 

  We first stopped at the new airport they had there. So maybe next time if we visit again we can fly to there instead of Uberlandia. I did just check however and it said there were no flights available so at this point I am guessing they don't have much activity there. There was only one person working there (that we could see) when we went to look at it.

   Then we stopped at the Police Station that Alair works at. His wife used to work there as well but is retired. He has also retired but then has gone back.

Here we are with Alair and the team he works with and the commander (if I understood correctly). They were super friendly and showed us all over and enjoyed hearing us speak in English, thinking it sounded really neat.

There were also people dressed in green uniforms which were more like DNR. 

I had thought it would be fun to see if they would let us sit in the back of the police car and get a picture there. When we were looking at the police care I noticed however that they had rifles in the back seat. So I questioned them as to where any prisoners would sit. 

I guess they go back here. They must not use it that often as it had stuff in it. I decided not to ask if I could get a picture in here.

We then went and looked around a bit at a park.

I thought it fitting that we saw a duck there as Patos means ducks.

Debora and Alair

Alair took us to a restaurant in the mall to have lunch. Rosirene and Estefany met us there. It was a again a buffet and was quite good.

Then we went to a different place next to the food court and got some ice-cream. We tried a variety made which a Brazilian fruit. It was very good. After that Alair took us around to different places as we looked for magnets and other gifts to buy to bring back to the states. I found some local coffee and various other things.

Part of the things we saw in Patos De Minas. We went inside the church building in the background of this picture. It was pretty fancy.

I don't know what this flower is but it is beautiful.

Then we went back to Alair and Rosirene's home. This is where Alair makes his Brazilian BBQ. 

They have a courtyard in their home were they do have a little bit of yard and some other plants. Alair was showing us his Mountain Bike which he enjoys riding.

Then they fed us an afternoon snack.

In front of their home. Most houses in Brazil seem to be hooked to the houses next to them.

Then Alair took us back to Legoa Formosa. 

That evening we went to the Rotary Club meeting. This was the club that sponsored (they don't pay for her to come but they organize things) Debora coming as an exchange student. They asked Debora, Wendy and I to say something.

One Rotarian had written a book about his experience with Rotary and he gave Wendy and I each a copy. It is in Portuguese so I haven't read it yet however it is my goal to get good enough at Portuguese that I can read it. In this picture is also the president of this Rotary club and his wife. 

 

We started the meeting at 8 pm, I believe and then after the meeting they had a supper for all of us. It was stroganoff which was quite good. They also had rapadurra which I really liked. I had purchased some to bring home as well but it wasn't soft like what they served here.

When I found out that Roberto and Helen milked cows each day I was excited to get to try the milk. I love to get farm fresh raw milk when I can so this was exciting to me to get to try it in another country. They don't actually often bring it home very often for their own consumption (they make it into cheese and sell it) but when they heard that I wanted to try it they brought it home and Helen pasteurized it on the stove. I am fine with that but explained that I would love to try it raw. I was thinking raw and refrigerated but Roberto was excited that I want to try it like he enjoys it - straight from the cow. 

At Miguel and Lourdes' place

So Wednesday found us going first to Debora's Grandparents for lunch and then out to the farm. Actually before that we went looking to find some pretty tile because Wendy had enjoyed seeing all the fun tile in and out of people's home and thought it would be fun to get some to make coasters from. We found a pretty piece that was too big but Roberto found a friend that did tile work and he cut it up for us.

Lourdes made Pudim which is one of her specialtys. We had it as a snack before lunch and it was delicious! It is a cheese cake of sorts. She gave me a recipe but my first attempt didn't quite turn out. I will try again though I don't have cheese just like theirs to use. She and Helen worked together to make a huge dinner for us which was delicious. At snack time she also made us an avocado smoothie from a huge (like 4 times as big as what I normally find at the store) avocado, milk and sugar. It was lukewarm (as nothing was frozen), thick and creamy and incredibly delicious. That is something Megan and I have been recreating many times since then (though I have been using honey instead of sugar) and we love it.

Wendy, Lourdes, Miguel and I. The houses in Brazil were quite a bit different than in America. This was an indoor/outdoor section to their home. There were walls and a tile floor (that was slanted and could drain) in this section but no roof so the rain could come in. It was connected to the kitchen and dining area with no walls in between but those areas did have a roof. They had many pretty plants in this area.

This is another picture that kind of shows that area a little better.

This is their well (or cistern???) that is in that area. Though there was a roof over it.

Helen and Lourdes in the kitchen busily preparing our meal.

We had fried pork (I think, it may have been chicken), potato salad, rice and beans and various vegetables.

We got to visiting with Miguel about his growing up and how they made everything then. He showed us this blanket that his mother had woven (possibly with his help). It was very neat.

Then they showed us a ceramic water filter (that was probably made by hand) that they used to use regularly to have pure drinking water. I really loved this experience of being able to learn about another culture and history first hand like this. It was so much fun!

One of the neat plants they have at their place.

Then we headed out to the farm. We rode in their cute "slug" bug. It is a small car so Roberto said that I should sit up front since I am tall and these sweet ladies sat in the back. Roberto went back to pick up Miguel and Helen after dropping us off. I don't really think of myself as tall since compared to my kids and much of my family I am not but I see that I was taller than many women there.

We had a lot of laughs as we traveled.

Lourdges showed us around the garden. They are able to grow lots of fruits and vegetables.

This is Gojaba fruit. It grew very plentifully on their little farm. It was crisp and yummy.

Another garden picture.

Me in front of the cow pen.

Roberto is getting silage that they made for the cows.

They do generally use a milking machine to milk around 5 cows. They tied their back legs and tail together before milking. 

Roberto did milk them by hand to get a glass of milk for me.

I got to try too.

They were all waiting to watch me drink it. That was a first to have it straight from the cow. Warm frothy milk is different but I think I could get used to it.

Roberto likes it with a little coffee (presweetened) in it and so they had brought a thermos full for me to try it that way. I am not into coffee but I did like that. It wasn't heavy coffee but made the milk seem like it should be warm.

They had quite a few cute calves.

After milking we got to help with cheese making. They immediately turn all of the milk into cheese. This special cheese board I think was made out of slate.

They sell their cheese to a local bakery that makes cheese bread and other things with it.

When we took Lourdes and Miguel back I had noticed some crocheted rugs and so they took us over to see a neighbor who did a lot of crocheted. Helen and Debora ended up getting a rug for both Wendy and I. They are a nice, lightweight and washable rug for a bathroom or beside a bed.

Then we went over to Roberto and Helen's farm that belongs to them (earlier it was Miguel and Lourdes' farm but Roberto and Helen have the cows there). Roberto's son Douglas lived at this residence.

There they had a cool table made from a huge slice of wood.

They had pigs at this farm.

And mulberries!

They also had a horse there.

While we were out and about we collected some flowers and leaves and decided to do a flower pounding project.

We had a lot of fun with it!

The finished project.

I don't remember now which day it was but one afternoon Debora was busy for a bit and Wendy, Roberto, Helen and I had an opportunity to visit without having a translator available to us. There really was a bit language gap as two of us really didn't know much Portuguese and two didn't know much English. We had all been trying to learn in our time together but we were still very new at it. But we wanted to visit. So we started off. Roberto was the best at telling a story and as he went Wendy and I would have this dialogue going on trying to figure out what he was saying. We'd recognize a word or two and try to figure out the story from there. He would get dramatic, make sound effects, pantomine a little and Helen would add in an English word now and then if she knew it. We really had a wonderful time together and I think we got the jest of a couple different stories. It really made me want to put myself in other situations like that again (with patient people like that!) as it was super helpful in learning Portuguese and just really fun for stretching my brain as well.

That evening Debora took Wendy and I out to eat for pizza. It was fun!

This is their bonus room where they spend a lot of their time. They have a huge table in this room. 

They also have a big table in this room. They had it made for them and it was beautiful. This was more like the formal dining room (we never actually ate there).

Debora and Helen kept updating this whiteboard while I was there with Bible verses and sayings often in both English and Portuguese. This was Helen's message as I was leaving. "Ate Logo" means "See you later".

Outside their home the morning I left. I was welcomed here so very warmly, it was hard to leave.

We left at 7 am but on our way out of town Roberto stopped to see if their museum and library were open and we got a special tour. 

We also got a picture in front of the lake.

We stopped at a pretty river on our way to the airport in Uberlandia.

This filling station bathroom totally impressed me! It was so big and fancy.

The trip home went pretty well. I was flying into a different airport in Sao Paulo so I was a little nervous about that but Debora talked to somebody at the airport with me and it seemed like there would be a bus (I thought free shuttle but I must have misunderstood) available to go from one to another. On the flight I got acquainted with a German man and his little girl (who was part Brazilian and spoke mostly Portuguese). When we got to Sao Paulo we kind of worked together to find where we needed to go and discovered that there was no free shuttle. A taxi driver convinced us that for three of us he would be just as cheap and much faster. It still took around 2 hours to get across the city. I had pretty much no Brazilian money left and hoped to pay with credit card but the German man also had no reals so he paid with credit card and then was willing to take American dollars from me. I was rethinking me life choices for a bit and wondering what I had gotten myself into but it all ended up working out just fine for which I am very grateful.

All in all it was such a wonderful trip. As I finish writing this many months later I start feeling a little "homesick" for Brazil and Debora and her family. I truly hope I can go back someday. But for now I have other adventures to go on. Megan is currently over in Italy and I am looking forward to going to visit her in November. The ticket has been purchased now we are trying to work out all the details.