Busily waiting

Here’s just a peek into these last few weeks – what we are busy with these days and why this waiting time is not a bad thing but actually a big help.

Jevon making plans for the electrical set-up of our house.

The breaker box he made with added surge protection.

Three shopping carts full of food.  And my amazingly patient coworker who stayed with me for a few hours, helping, offering advice, inspecting every bag for any tiny sign of bugs or mold, and waiting while I thought things through and made decisions.  Hopefully this will be a lot easier and faster the next time I have to do it.

Packing some of the food in boxes and taping them up.

Washing bottles.  A taxi driver friend of the mission heard we needed bottles for storing dry foods, so he went to the factory for us, and came back with 108 bottles of out-of-date, fizz-less, or spoiled soda in his trunk.  The kids had fun dumping it out, and the adults spent an afternoon and then some washing bottles.  The next day God provided a super hot and sunny sky with no rainy season rain, which was a much needed help in getting all of those bottles perfectly dry.  (sidenote: When we signed up to be missionaries, we didn’t know that washing out a hundred-some pop bottles was part of the assignment.  The moral of that story is: Be ready to do whatever God asks of you!)

They tell us that pop bottles do even better than tupperware for keeping food dry, mold-free, and bug-free for months on end.  Since our tupperware is still on a barge on its way here, and since there isn’t enough of it anyways for that much rice, beans, and flour, we decided to try the bottle advice.  Jevon made a funnel out of another bottle and two bottle caps, and it is a lot more efficient than a typical kitchen funnel.  But it still took all day to finish the job.

Aren’t they so pretty?  I love all the colors.

Jevon looking at the airplane measurements on line and trying to imagine how things are going to fit and how many flights its going to take.

Meanwhile, Cali is continuing with first grade, and Karina is starting My Father’s World kindergarten.  (Last semester we let her just focus on her Brazilian school.  That’s why we are starting American kindergarten in the middle of the year.)

Counting seeds, observing seed arrangements, and recording her findings.

Reading race track – just for fun, to change up the reading practice.  The car involved made Isaiah wish he was in first grade, too.

Climbing the coconut tree.

Drinking coconut water from a straw.  Yes, we really do drink coconut water from a straw.  (When we have lots of coconuts to spare, anyways, which isn’t all the time.)  It’s fun, super hydrating, and tastes good.  The girl in the middle with blond curls and big brown eyes is Ester, our coworkers’ daughter.  She is about Isaiah’s age.  The two of them run around together, playing happily one second and getting in fights the next.  We are glad they have each other.

Enjoying the rainy season puddles.

Trying to make the biggest splash she can.

Sharing a Sunday dinner – roasted chicken that Cris prepared for us, rice, and macaxeira (manioc root, boiled and eaten like potatoes).  Getting to know our coworkers has been one of the special blessings of this time in the guest house.  We didn’t plan to have both our families here together right now, but God knew it would be a valuable time for us, especially since we had not met before we joined their team.  How thankful we are to know that, when our plans A,B,C,D,E, F, and G don’t work out, God is in control and His plans are never frustrated.  HE knows what is best.