Cactus Flower

Some people "hit and run," that's an accident with a car where someone hits another vehicle or pedestrian and then leaves the scene.  Once Aunt Michele did a "hit and wait."  When we still lived in Fortaleza, I did my best to avoid driving in rush hour traffic and especially tried to not go into the downtown area.  Fortaleza is a large city of close to two million people.  If I was going to go shopping by myself downtown or to the doctor, it was better to just go by bus.  I would often take all three of the boys from our house to the MK school by bus.  We would take one bus out of our neighborhood to a big terminal and then catch a bus to another big terminal.  From there we would have to catch one more neighborhood bus to get to the school.  Usually the boys were very good and even enjoyed the rides. When William was about 5 and Dalton was around 3 and Greyson was just a wee little thing, one of the little boys at our church got very sick.  ...

In the summer of 2014 while we were in the States on furlough, William decided he would like to go on back to Brazil.  The whole family couldn't go at that time but we had tickets scheduled for July and William wanted to go.  Uncle Byron had wanted to take at least one good camping trip while we were all still together.  So we set to some quick planning for a weekend camping trip and looked for a place where the boys could do some spelunking.  Do you know what that is? Once William had read a book about the man that discovered the Mammoth Cave system and he really wanted to go there.  Sadly Tennessee was just too far away for a weekend trip, so we looked for a cave with spelunking that was closer and came upon the Organ Cave in West Virginia after some web searches.  We found a campground nearby and made reservations and got set to go. The weekend looked to be rainy and things were not going very smoothly.  Dalton wasn't real keen on going on the trip....

  "You Have to Believe in Happiness" “You have to believe in happiness, Or happiness never comes. I know that a bird chirps none the less  When all that he finds is crumbs. You have to believe the buds will blow, Believe in the grass in the days of snow. Ah, that’s the reason a bird can sing, On his darkest day he believes in Spring. You have to believe in happiness— It isn’t an outward thing. The Spring never makes the song, I guess, As much as the song the Spring. Aye, many a heart could find content If it saw the joy on the road it went, The joy ahead when it had to grieve, For the joy is there—but you have to believe.” Douglas Malloch   Where do I find my joy?    In my work?  In my family?  In my collections and hobbies? Scriptures tell us to look to God for our hope and joy... 1 Chronicles 16:10 Find joy in his holy name;  let the hearts of those who keep on seekin...

It seems that after our two dogs passed away in November that all the stray animals in the neighborhood knew!  First, Countess the cat showed up - while the dogs were still alive but on their last legs so to speak.  Then a few days after we'd actually buried the dogs, the little stray that we ended up calling Wishbone appeared. Stray dogs and cats are a big problem in our little city and all over Brazil and many third world countries.  In a place where there isn't even enough money to help people, it's hard to find funding to help animals.  Added to that problem is that many individuals give food to stray animals that roam the streets, but they don't invite them into their homes or take care of them.  People are very hesitant to consider the good of making sure that there are no strays.  They think it's a problem for the government and not their own.  I hope as you boys study more about government and history that you will see the need of the individua...

Wednesday night it rained a lot in Sobradinho.  Rain is unusual where we live.  And when it does rain, it's sort of like snow in Atlanta - nobody knows how to drive or what to do.  Dogs won't go outside and everyone moves real slow.  Sometimes people will go out at first and play in the rain if it's during the day - especially if it's the first rain after a long time without any. And when it rains our Internet usually goes hay-wire!  Electricity frequently goes out and whatever it is that makes the Internet reach our little city by radio waves also goes loony.  The power went off three times at church on Wednesday and sure enough the Internet service we have went offline.  It didn't come back again until today - Saturday - three days later!  And there is nothing to do except wait!  And read books! I hear you've been getting lots of rain there in Texas.  Hope you guys are finding lots of fun, inside sort of things to do.  Maybe your ...

Happy 2016   In November of 2015 we lost our two faithful canine companions - Girl and Tiny.  Girl had survived two furloughs without and the loss of two other dogs who had been her pals.   Both from doggie diseases for which there is no real cure or treatment in our part of Brazil.  Tiny had made it through our year in the States in 2014 with flying colors and was in the prime of life at 3 years old.  Both contracted canine calazar which is transmitted by sand flies.  Both had to be put down as the disease has no real viable treatment except for very expensive shots that must be repeated frequently and dogs remain carriers. Countess the Cat showed up around the time the two dogs were in their last days.  Neither dog cared much because of the weakening effect of the sickness.  One afternoon the cat just walked right in and the dogs just watched and slightly growled.  She stuck around and we decided to keep her. Wishbone showe...