Brasil Mission Trip 2010

Josh's trip to Brasil was an unforgetable experience. He had such a great time. He met our sisters and brothers in Fortaleza and learned so much about their culture, but most of all, he learned so much about himself. He came back a changed man. It was so amazing to him how much they make of what little they have, and how happy they are! They are just truely content with what God has blessed them with. It really makes us see how much we take for granted EVERYDAY!


Our missionary David was with them the entire trip. They went to several places and visited some of the churches down there. They also took a trip to the school in Jerassati and visited the kids. They had several work days, including some work at the soccer school. He even got to watch the Brasillians play in a World Cup soccer game! We are so blessed that Josh got to go on this trip. Hopefully next time we will both be able to go!

Everyday they have a "naptime" and they sleep in these hammacks. Our guys got to enjoy just one of those before they got to work!

This is the main church building where David attends.

After services they projected the soccer game up on the wall. Josh said that everytime they would score the whole city, including the people in the building, would set off fireworks! CRAZY!

The kids at the school loved getting candy!

The kids at the soccer school playing soccer.

Troy giving his testimony (that's David next to him)

On Josh's last day, David took Josh and Troy to explore the city. They went and had some yummy seafood on the beach and enjoyed fellowship together.

GOD IS GOOD!

No Fear

This is a video of Ethan jumping off the diving board at swim lessons. Josh took the camera to Brasil so I only had the camcorder.

While Daddy Was Away...

Well its been 9 days...9 whole days that Josh has been in Brasil. I'll be honest, I was terrified of being alone with the boys for that long. But I tried to stay positive, stay in prayer with God, who I knew was the only one who could help me through, and fill our days with places to go or activities so the time wouldn't pass so slowly.

Josh left last Wednesday and we spent that night and Thursday at home. Thankfully we had enrolled Ethan in swim lessons that started on Tuesday, so we had somewhere to go every morning Josh was out of town. That helped alot.

Friday was our usual grocery shopping and then we headed off to the Harrison's to spend the night. I was thankful to have somewhere to go and something different to entertain the boys, but I was not looking forward to the night. Past experiences have shown us that us and the boys do not sleep well in the same bed, not even very well in the same room. I gave it a try...started with both on the floor and me in the bed. Isaiah kept tossing and turning so I pulled him in bed with me. Then Ethan started moving around. He got in bed too but it was too crowded on the full size bed, so I moved Isaiah down to the floor again. Almost immediately Isaiah was up and crying. So I moved Ethan back down to the floor and Isaiah back in the bed with me. I think we all finally fell asleep somewhere around 3am, but shortly after Isaiah fell off the bed. Now Ayden's bed is very HIGH off the ground (she uses a step stool, with 2 steps, to get into her bed), so it was a far way down. After I finally got him calm I moved him to the floor, and at this point I think they were both so exosted they didn't get up again....not until our usual wake up time: 6am. So off downstairs we went to turn on some TV so we wouldn't wake the Harrison clan. We went to the pool that morning which was fun and then grabbed a bite to eat and we were on our way back home.

We didn't venture out any more after that night! I was glad to be back to our routine the next couple of days.

We did great for 7 days, I was very surprised! I know that sounds bad but I really did not expect things to go as well as they did. It was a huge relief to Josh too, who didn't have to worry about us and could focus on his time with our brothers and sisters in Forteleza.

Wednesday, on the other hand, was our worst day. I think the boys just really missed their dad and I really missed my husband. He is such a huge help with the boys on a daily basis and I realized that I take that for granted alot of the time.

Thursday was better for all of us, I think we all were looking forward to seeing daddy in the morning that it made the day go a little eaiser. All up until I got the call at 7:30pm from Josh telling me his plane got delayed 12 hours!! I was so disappointed. Mostly because we were all, Josh included, looking forward to having 3 whole days together before he had to return to work. He wasn't scheduled to arrive until 8:30 Friday night. So Friday we finished up Ethan's swim lessons and then after nap we went to the Harrison's to spend the evening until we had to pick up Josh from the airport.

We got 2 more calls from him updating us on more delays, but finally by 9:30 we picked him up and went home. 10 days is a long time to be away from your spouse and children. We won't be spending that much time away from each other again for a LONG time!

Pool Fun

Tonight we went to Amy's house for dinner with my aunts and uncles from my mom's side of the family. Rick of course made a delicious meal and we had wonderful conversation! The boys got to swim for a little bit too. After they BOTH fell in the pool (Ethan's floaties popped off when he jumped in and Isaiah doesn't yet know how to stay above the water with his lifevest on) we decided it was time to get out.

But before they got out, my aunt did get this really cute picture of Ethan with these goggles on. We sent it to daddy in an email so he could see what Ethan was up to while he was in Brasil. I knew it would bring smiles to him and grammy and papa, just like it did for me!

Swimming!

Today was Ethan's first swim lesson! He was so excited! Here are a few pictures of today:

First, all the kids would get in the pool by the ladder one by one, and then spread out down the side of the pool.

They kicked their feet to warm up (the water was a little chilly at first).

Then they started with floating.

The first swim technique they did was the "arm crawl", which is your basic arm and leg movements.

Ethan had a hard time at first moving both the arms and the legs at the same time!

This is what Isaiah was up to during Ethan's lesson:

It was a great lesson! And daddy even got to come watch too! This is what we will be up to while he is in Brasil! Can't wait to see how Ethan progresses!

We're Going To See The Dinosaurs!

The Whitte Museum has this cool dinosaur exhibit that Ethan has been wanting to go to for a while now. So we decided to take advantage of the free enterance fee on Tuesday afternoons. It was so cool and the boys loved it!

Sweet protective big brother

The dinosaurs were so lifelike!

I was so proud of the boys for not being scared!

Digging for bones

Isaiah's 20-22 Months

I think its time I give a little update on Isaiah. This one is mostly for me but read if you want!

Over the past two months Isaiah has really been improving in his speech. We've been a little concerned because he really isn't saying much, so I've been working with him alot. This is what he's saying now:
-"yah"= yes, "whoa"= whoa, "dah"= dog, mama, dada, "bahbah"= baby & byebye, "poo"= spoon, "ra-ra"= raggie, "bahboh"= brother, "pl" (with much imphasis on the "l")= please, "wa-wa"= water, "deez"= cheese, "ba"= balloon, "bue"= blue, "ga"= grape

Say and identify: all the parts on his face (when we say "eyes" he blinks, I love it!), feet, hands and feet, hair, fingers and toes, belly button

He loves to dance, especially to Happy Feet, his favorite movie. He also loves Cars the movie and of course playing with them.

Here is a picture of him dancing away to Happy Feet!Here are a few pictures of him over the past couple of months:
This is his "cheese" face Some of the things he likes to do:

-he LOVES to brush his teeth, especially when we let him use our electric toothbrushes -he likes to color and a new favorite, paint (but its short lived because he doesn't like his fingers to be dirty, something he picked up from mommy!) -he absolutely loves to read books; some of his favorites: Go Back To Bed Edwin, I Love You Through and Through, Mess Monsters, Disney's Cars book, Touch and Feel books, ABC or Color books -he loves to play with trains

-he likes to be outside and swing, but we can only do that for a short while because he gets eaten alive by mosquitos and they swell up on him

-some of his favorite songs: "The Wise Man Built His House", "Oh Be Careful Little Eyes..", "Jesus Loves Me", he also loves to move his arms and legs (in his carseat) to "What This World Needs" (as Ethan likes to say, "Rock and Roll!")

-he is identifying his colors; he can point them out but is currently only saying blue (bue) and red (rrr)

-he weighs 24 lbs and is 31" long

He has grown so much. I can't believe my baby boy will be 2 in just 2 months!