Our new (temporary) exotic pet
A couple of days ago, Shannon was sweeping and was surprised to find a dead scorpion in the dustpan. She gave it to the girls to put in their little bug box since we've never seen scorpions before other than on tv and at museums. Well, much to our surprise, the next day we discovered that it wasn't dead at all! Fortunately we weren't crazy enough to handle it (even though it must be just a baby, it's only about an inch long with it's tail curled up.) So now the girls (read: Kilah and Sydney) are having a great time keeping it fed and happy. (This grasshopper was alive only 30 minutes before the picture was taken.) Oh yeah, and Craig found a possum in the garage eating the cat food. Will it become the next pet?
Homeschooling while-u-wait
There's more to do than sit around and watch TV while we'er here in Texas. In addition to the time we each spend learning Portuguese each day (Uma menina esta pulundo.) each of the three girls is busy learning. We spend each morning and sometimes part of the afternoon trying to keep up with what the girls would be learning if they were at PACA. The school sent us an outline of what the girls are supposed to be learning at PACA each month. Fortunately, their parents are both teachers so they get no slack whatsoever as we try to imagine what they would be being taught in Brazil. The girls enjoyed (and are still enjoying) learning about the Greeks and their interesting ways. Summer read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and she said it was the most serious story she ever read. Kilah did not manage to escape Cary's grade nine writing class after all. She's writing an essay on David Livingstone. Although it sounds like hard work, the girls are doing very well and actually look forward to their assignments each day.
One month in Texas
The 15th of October marks one month in Texas. It's been hot and dry almost the entire month. So what have we been doing all this time? One of the things that has kept us busy has been the building of a 48'x36' barn. When we got here, the barn was no more than a concrete slab with the bottom floor framed. This has become our weekend work, and many evenings after Craig comes home, we go out and put a coyuple of hours in until it gets dark. We're glad that the barn is there, because it makes us feel like we're conributing while Craig and Tonya cover our expenses.
Prayer requests for October
We fully expect that sometime during the month of October that our work visa will be approved. News from Brazil is that things seem to be moving along well on these visas. In fact, the school's guidance counselor is in the very same situation we are. She is still waiting to get to Brazil. Her work visa was just released this week and ours was put in just days after hers was.Here is what we would really appreciate your prayers for:
1. Praise that God has taken care of selling our house.
2. Pray that God would get us to Brazil in His perfect time. Our preference is ASAP!
3. Pray that our car would sell so that the Boyds can have this taken care of and we could have the cash.
4. Pray for Shannon's police clearance. Apparently she needs one and so far the only way we can get her one is to have her travel back to a Canadian city in person.
5. Pray that we would be prepared for the flurry of activity that is about to overwhelm us after these weeks of basically waiting.
Thanks for your prayers.
Six Flags over Texas
We have been blessed to have some time for entertainment. This weekend we went to Six Flags in Arlington and rode the many roller coasters and rides they had there. We had a great day. Kilah went on the Titan which is the most incredible rollercoaster any of us have ever been on (sorry Philly frinds - it definitely beats Nitro in NJ.) This was Kilah's first "adult" rollercoaster ride (a big step up from the Vapor Trail at Sesame Place.) We had a great time, of course, and came home exhausted - and a little queasy.
Language training has begun
Rather than wait until we actually get to Brazil, we figured we would use these leisurely days in Texas to get jump-started on our mastery of Portuguese. We ordered Rosetta Stone's computer course, and it arrived on Friday. Since then we've each been doing at least a lesson per day. It's an immersion program that uses pictures and such to get the user familiar with how the language sounds and works, rather than spending lots of time memorizing lists and charts. So far it's going very well.