Cactus Flower

Called to Stay + Called Together =  Called to Stay Together  Today marks 28 years of marriage to the man of my life.  Ours has been a missionary marriage since day #1.  When we started dating, while both in Bible college, Byron let me know of his missionary call to the country of Brazil.  It was to let me know - Date me, might marry me, will go to Brazil. I took it seriously as I had felt called to missions at a young age.  In 1985, I traveled to Brazil with Byron to see if it and he were for me.  I remember thinking after the trip that I really liked Brazil, and Byron, too.  We started making plans to marry and to get to Brazil.  We were married in 1987, but it took a few more years to get to the mission field. Our wedding was simple.  We were married at Chamblissburg Baptist Church in front of the parsonage.  Pastor George Law counselled with us before we were married.  He seemed concerned about my "independent sp...

Hey boys!  Today Aunt Michele has a poem for your mother and just some news for you boys.  Tomorrow is me and Uncle Byron's 28th wedding anniversary.  I'm going to dedicate my writing time to making a post about all those many years.  I hope you fellows have had a good week inspite of all the rain in Texas I've been hearing about on the news.  This week in Sobradinho has been cool and breezy as we are entering our cool and breezy season.  You see, where we live there are basically two seasons:  hot and no wind and cool and breezy with slight possibilities of minor rainfall in between the two "seaons." Since I'm being newsy , I'll go ahead and tell you that all the dogs are happy.  Greyson is fine and dandy.  Uncle Byron think he is getting old and fat and has started a rigorous exercise schedule recently.  And, I'm ok.  Ah, I did have a little scare with a stray dog yesterday. The dog looked like a real mutt but had a collar....

Last year.  Wow, has it been a year already.  For ten years my life revolved around retreats and trips to the island... Unsorted emotions right now ... Posted by Michele Beckner Atha on Thursday, May 22, 2014 Since coming back from our furlough, it's seemed like another lifetime ago.  Somehow we have adjusted to a new schedule and different routine.  Thankful for God's blessings along the way.

Baby turtle found on island, 2010 At one missionary family conference, many years back, on the island, the boys learned a song about a cat that came back.  And oh, they would sing it and sing it... here's the chorus: But the cat came back, the cat came back I thought he was a goner but the cat came back 'Cause he wouldn't stay away   Today's story is about the turtle that came back.  Every once and a while our aquarium has been empty for a bit.  Fish would all go belly up, or we would travel off somewhere and have to set them all free.  During one of these dry aquarium spells, the boys found some baby turtles down near the boat {not the same one as pictured on the island above}.  Papa agreed that one could be brought home and be put in the aquarium for a time of observation. Little Mr. Turtle was well cared for and the boys even found a friend to keep him company - a freshwater crab with only one claw!  He grew and seemed happy enough.  For a whil...

Right now in our kitchen if you look in the corner behind the back door, you can probably find a few lizard eggs.  I'm not sure why mother lizard likes that little spot, and I've yet to see her gently placing her future babies on the ground.  Lizards are all around us.  I see at least one a day. They come in all shapes and sizes.  Our old Black dog used to chase them from time to time.  But they are so common that the dogs don't usually even pay them any mind.  My favorite is one that lives behind my big buffet cupboard in the living room.  It must have a good spot back there for catching bugs. I'm not afraid of them, but there are many women in our town who are.  They don't bite.  They are helpful to the environment.  They don't make much of a mess of any sort.  And, they can be quite funny. Once when Uncle Byron was preaching in a church in Fortaleza, a very big lizard caused quite a commotion.  Uncle Byron was just going to ...

The photo above was taken about a year ago as my husband and I arrived in the States weary and worn. My mother was there.  She's been there for me and my family over and over and in many ways. Sometimes in person - like when she and Dad came to be with us for Dalton's birth in Fortaleza in 1997 as well as many other trips to Brazil.   She's been at the airport everytime I've flown in or out and now she's doing the same for the grandsons with our son, William's recent arrival in the States from Brazil. She and I don't agree totally on all things but we are frequently mistaken one for the other and I'm proud to have people say - in any sense - "You're just like your mother!" My mom and my dad have been the best of parents of missionaries - traveling, writing letters, learning about facebook and email and skype to stay in touch.  And now they are reaching out not just across the oceans of distance but across oceans o...

Last week I found some little round eggs in a corner in the kitchen.  I took one to Uncle Byron and asked what he thought it was:  lizard or bird.  He decided it must be lizard. I put it on my "lazy Susan" in the middle of the dining room table to keep an eye on it and see if maybe it would hatch. This week while my private English student was at the house, she spied the egg and asked to touch it.  She promptly dropped it as it was very light and sort of blew right out of her hand.  She apologized and we took the opportunity to see what it looked like inside.  It seems my egg would not have hatched anyway as it was all dried up on the inside with a little black blob like a thick drop of ink. Seems my boys were always smashing something or another over the years.  Once in a grocery store in Fortaleza sometime around Easter, there were little baby chicks in a box.  There was no sign to say that they were for sale.  It seemed there had been s...

After long days of getting into the new "groove" of ESL classes in the big city and the new norm of church planting work with no camp here in town, it was good to put it all aside and take an official "day off" recently.  Colleagues from across the lake had called to ask about seeing a local spot with some "cave drawings."  The spot is way off the main track and the drawings aren't that great (some might not even be "prehistoric"), but it sounded like a good picnic day event and a grand way to spend a national holiday. Spending quality down-time with missionary colleagues is a good way to care for our hearts... We can talk about anything and everything in our mother tongue without fear. (My colleague and I were rattling on in English while the local "cave drawing guide" who stood a little bit off but just close enough, kept interrupting as if he understood it all with random comments that made some sense.  I th...