Skip to main content

A Gift from Uncle Bill



Uncle Bill K snapped this photo of the family back in February.  Aunt Vicki  passed it my way.  Uncle Tim and Uncle Gary made the conference thing happen for us.  Uncle Danny was even there from the States.

So glad for the missionary family full of aunts and uncles for my boys.  Our trip to Triunfo and the conference of our missionary friends with BMMB was delightful and hence all the smiling faces.  I think the best part was our boys having opportunity to see all their missionary aunts and uncles and fellow MK's again after a few years' hiatus.  One missionary lady even told me about how one of my boys just out of nowhere come up to her and gave her a great hug once during the week.

Calling missionary adults "aunt" and "uncle" is more than just a  term of respect for my boys in a land where the equilivants in Portuguese are well used to refer to adults.  It's a term of endearment and relationship.  I'll never forget one furlough when one of the boys without knowing any different called the mother of a young playmate - "Aunt So-and-So."  The woman just looked at my little feller and said, I'm not your aunt!  Without knowing it, she crushed my babe's little heart as he figured she was an aunt since we spent a good amount of time with their family.  She later relented to the boys constantly callling her aunt and allowed herself to be their aunt after all.

Missionary aunts and uncles are just as REAL, just as loved, and just as important as blood-relatives.  I'm thankful for all my boys' blood-relative aunts and uncles, but so glad for the incredible cloud of missionary witnesses they can claim as friends and examples.


Thanks for the photo, Uncle Bill Kettlewell.  Thanks for wrestling with one of my boys during the conference.  Thanks for sharing in our lives over the years and in the life of Byron when he, too, was an MK boy in need of a few good uncles!  And thanks to all the wonderful Aunts and Uncles my boys have in NE Brazil and all around the world.

Uncle Danny
boys and some more MKs

By the way, I have a "real" Uncle Bill.  I love him very much.  So sad that I can't be nearer to him, but glad for the good memories my boys have of him and a crazy four-wheeler during our last time in the States!

Labels:

Comments

  1. Aunt VickiMarch 16, 2012 at 2:32 AM

    Yep, this is a good thing and I appreciate this very thing in my own children's lives. Being soo far away from blood relatives for soo many years at a time makes it pret' near impossible for kids to know them. I have been ever grateful to and for those dear adults who have loved my children even though they are not by blood. They are related "through the blood of Christ".

    http://www.inafarplace.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for stopping by! Leave me a message if you would.

Popular posts from this blog

The Big Orange Cat

Do you boys remember that big orange cat at the mission house in North Carolina?  That was a special day for me.  I don't have a new story for this Friday.  I've had a long week, but my mind kept going back to that cat this week as I thought about what I would post for you boys today.  Click on the link down below to go back to my big people blog and reread the cat story if you like. Oh, by the way, this morning I made a special trip down to the other end of our town to see the guinea pigs being sold at a grocery store.  This particular store sells medicine and feed for all kinds of animals.  This month they are selling guinea pigs, baby chickens, and dachshund puppies!  Their guinea pigs looked very healthy.  They are selling them for BR$10 each or BR$15 for a pair.  Uncle Byron said that he was glad I didn't bring any home with me! One more thing - this week a mama possum came in our yard.  The dogs chased it and Girl Dog let out a squ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Promise Verse

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take:  when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. This verse has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager. When I was a high school senior at a Christian school in Virginia, Job 23:10 was chosen as our class theme verse. At our graduation commencement, the valedictorian and saludatorian in their addresses that day divided the verse in its two natural parts as a basis for the core of each one's address. I was the salutatorian of my senior class that year.  I chose to speak of how God would one day reward our faithfulness and thus, we should always strive to remain true. For many years though, the first part of the verse haunted me in a way. As a missionary especially when times were lonely or difficult, I assumed it was my "trial" or "test," and as such must be accepted in all humility. As I have grown older, I have begun to look more toward the pearly gates and have reconsidered the thr...
2 comments
Read more

Catching Canoes with Tennis Shoes

This was originally posted on my old Yahoo!360 blog on November 8, 2006.  Today is a good day to re-post it!  For years we have prayed for a man to come along side Byron and help him with the work of the boat and the camp.  Recently it seemed that God had, in a unique way, answered those prayers.  Then suddenly everything was turned upside down this week, and I began to wonder if I would have to start "catching canoes with tennis shoes" again!  But our God is indeed an Awesome God and knows all things.  Read on and a little later I'll tell the rest of the story with our recent test of patience and prayer in the area of the camp and help for our work here in Sobradinho. The photo below was not included in my original post, by the way... Children's Retreat, July 2010 November 8, 2006--- I have no photo today since no one had a camera in hand during this little adventure.  As we were leaving the canal where the boat is usually kept to go ...
2 comments
Read more