Cactus Flower

  What's with that foot in the picture?      Thankful for a fairly happy Christmas inspite of being far from one of our boys this holiday season.  We were blessed to open gifts and cards from grandparents and friends that were carefully placed in our luggage before with left NC.  Our gift exchange was simple but fun and good.    In the afternoon we traveled to the home of fellow missionaries in the nearby big city and enjoyed an incredible Christmas banquet.  We were thankful and blessed to have our dear neighbor go along and share in the fun as her family were all far away in another state.   We may have been far from our blood relatives and bittersweetly sad but we can be grateful for all God has done for us over the past weeks.  This afternoon it was great to hear Dalton's voice and just a little of his holiday happenings.  We anxiously await the next Christmas when perhaps we can all be together...

Crazy us... we traveled to Miami from NC by car. We took some byways through Florida in hopes of seeing wildlife in swamps. Saw some neat cars at rest stops along the way. Over 30 years ago now, Byron and I drove to Miami for my first visit to Brazil.  We did it to save a little money.  This time was no different.  Renting a car ended up being cheaper than domestic airfare.  It also allowed for a stop to see Dalton at his new school and to visit a dear lady in a nursing home near Atlanta that might not be around for our next furlough...  A road less traveled, but nonetheless enjoyable.

Our little boy has been on his own for the past five months.  And he's managed to stay fed, fit, and well.  We are so proud.  Any little doubts we had about this time of independent living were quickly dispelled.  He learned to pay bills, make doctor appointments, manage a house, and cook real food.  He's hosted youth meetings and started discipleship lessons with young people and helped at the church in our little town.  We're sorry he's on his own for his big 1-9 birthday, but glad to know that he's okay and doing great, and that we will see him shortly.  And then we will have some cake and ice cream!  Share some stories and tales from his past five months.  And enjoy. Happy Birthday, William Atha!  You've done well and will continue to do more.  Remember who love you for you and not for what you do.  We love you because you were born to us, a product of a loving family.  Nothing you can do will make us love you a...

  Disclaimer:  On this furlough we have had the opportunity to live right beside an incredible church and Christian school.  We wondered how it would go living so close to a church.  Would we be "bothered" all the time to help with this or that.  This post concerns some of our impressions while traveling around on furlough to other cities and church works, as well as what we have seen as a rising trend in Brazilian churches as well.  It's all opinion and not meant to step on toes,  just rambled thoughts of a crazy missionary wife.  Feel free to critique, make your own comments. Ah, the trends!  As missionaries that come and go every four years to the States, we can see the impact of cultural and social trends much more clearly than those that never travel.  Several furloughs back we began to find more and more pastors buying their own homes and leaving parsonages sitting empty beside, sadly, many time, half empty churches....