Cactus Flower

Somebody's had a birthday yesterday!  Do you little cousins know who it was?  You guessed right!  It was Dalton.  Today I'm going to tell you a little bit about the days leading up your cousin's first birthday... When William was about to be born, Grandaddy and Grandma Beckner decided to come to Brazil after he was born.  Granny Atha came the next year.  Together they all decided that they would alternate and that one or the other would try to come every year  Then when we found out about Dalton's arrival, Grandaddy and Grandma thought it would be nice to come and see him be born.  Uncle Wesley came, too.  It was their turn, so to speak, so that all got ready to come. 2007 Trip Dalton was due around the end of July, so they planned their trip for that time.  There was just one problem with the big plan.  Nobody told the baby!  Grandma and Grandaddy's tickets were good for about two weeks.  Time started running out and ther...

Along Route 29 going north from North Carolina to Altavista near a city called Danville there is a little sign that tells about a Tank Museum. Uncle Byron and I have a church that has supported us since the very beginning of our time as missionaries in Altavista.  Whenever we would go to it from North Carolina we would see the sign, but we never had time on our way to the church for a meeting to stop.  Uncle Byron always kept it in mind that one day he would. Sometime on our second furlough when all the boys were little we decided to try to make a point to stop.  I don't remember all the details but I believe we left early in the afternoon to stop there before an evening meeting at the church in Virginia.  We wouldn't have much time but the museum didn't seem to be very big so we packed every one in the car and off we went.  All along the road the boys were fussing and bickering and fighting in the back seat.  At some point Uncle Byron wondered if we should...

I found this old poem on a card in my box of teacher stuff recently.  Thought you all might enjoy it.    My dad gave me one dollar bill 'Cause I'm his smartest son, And I swapped it for two shiny quarters 'Cause two is more than one! And then I took the quarters And traded them to Lou For three dimes -- I guess he don't know  That three is more than two! Just then, along came old blind Bates And just 'cause he can't see  He gave me four nickels for my three dimes, And four is more than three!   And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs Down at the seed-feed store, And the fool gave me five pennies for them, And five is more than four!   And then I went and showed my dad, And he got red in the cheeks And closed his eyes and shook his head -- Too proud of me to speak!   Shel Silverstein   Where the Sidewalk Ends  Harper Collins, 1974  

Wherever Grandaddy goes, he fixes things:  bikes, boats, boys. His t-shirt says "Just Fix It." When your Daddy, Wesley, and I were little we lived in Baltimore, Maryland.  We had three uncles who were Grandma's brothers - Uncle Duane, Uncle Regene, and Uncle Leon.  Each one had a wife who would have been our aunt.  Here they are in order:  Aunt Needie, Aunt Fran, and Aunt Shirley.    I think you boys have met Uncle Regene.  I don't know about the others.  We had quite a few cousins, too. All the uncles would get Grandad to help with the engines on their boats.  Baltimore is right on the Chesapeake Bay.  All the uncles had boats and would go out fishing and cruising around on the bay.  Grandad knew a lot about boat engines from his time in the Coast Guard as a mechanic.   Once a bunch of us were out on one of the boats and ended up stranded with a engine problem. I don't remember what the problem was, but I rememb...

at Iguatu Camp, 2002 When the boys were all little, we would often go to a camp near a city called Iguatu for missionary conferences.  The boys enjoyed the conferences because they could play all day long with other MK's.  There was a lake for swimming. There was a soccer court for kicking balls all around.  And there were lots of really big toads. During one conference one of the missionaries held a frog jumping contest.  Whoever wanted to participate had to find themselves a frog {toad} and make it jump to the finish line.  They boys had a blast, but found out that most of the toads were not very interested in jumping.   The toads would all gather near the dining area at night.  I suppose they were attracted by the lights and all the free food - bugs.  It was a toad paradise.  The boys would often chase them around and watch them catching bugs. It was great fun. the toad kisser was one of these boys I remember telling the boys that they sho...

... and sleeping boys? When we moved to Bahia from Fortaleza in 2004, Uncle Byron had a big surprised waiting for the boys - a three boy bunk bed!   I was scared to death.  I was sure that William would fall off of the top and break his neck and that all the other beds could collaspe and squish Greyson on the bottom into a pancake man. But the bunk beds proved their sturdiness time and again over the year.  Today Greyson sleeps on the middle bed and throws his junk on the other two.  Ah, sorry!  He organizes his things on the other two in neat order. As our boys were growing up, they enjoyed many things together.  Brothers should be happy together and love each other always.  William, Dalton and Greyson were like three peas in a pod as the saying goes. Dalton was supposed to be pretending to be sad and caught by the other two! Ah, but often it's good to do something with out the rest as well, right? One night not too long ago, I couldn't find the...

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....

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 ...

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...

So today's story is all about Dalton and the big dam... It's an interesting story a bout what to do in any possible emergency...    not that any one was in any real danger! Before we ever moved to Bahia, Uncle Byron came to visit several times.  On one of the trips, he decided to take the whole family so we could see what the area was like and see the camp and get an overall "feel" for the place. It's a good thing that your Aunt Michele is not easily scared off.  Notice, I didn't say "not easily scared."  Many things scare me to death - but over the years in Brazil, God has helped me learn from my fears. On the trip of this story, we had been to the island on the big boat in really big waves.  I had been scared silly - mostly because I wasn't sure what I would do if we all fell in the water - how would I hold on to all three boys so we wouldn't lose any of the three?  But we had survived the trip inspite of the big waves.  In fact, the boat p...

When William and Dalton were just little things we moved into the only house that Uncle Byron and I ever bought and owned.  We had just gotten back to Brazil after our first furlough.  William was 5 years old and Dalton was 3.  We had a hard time finding a good house.  We knew where we wanted to live in a certain neighborhood close to the congregation we were helping.  To find houses to buy we would drive in increasingly bigger circles from the property for the new church.  One day we were only about three city blocks from the property when Uncle Byron drove down a dead end street of cute houses.  The street was one block long and the house on the dead end looked like it has the biggest yard.  I lamented the fact that it had no For Sale sign and said that we should just tell the person we liked their house and ask to buy it.  Well, Uncle Byron did! And the lady that answered the door said, OK!  She had put the house up for sale earlier t...

Sometime during the Spring of 2014 I almost lost my HOPE .  I was tired of all the chasing our rebellious son all over town.  I was tired of the daily catastrophes to resolve.  I was tired of asking every day - "What do we do now?"  I literally threw my hands up in the air one day while chatting with a friend and said I give up.  All of this mess is out of my hands.  I give it up to God.  I will search for help no more.  I will chase no more.  I will pray.  I will stop asking that question every day.  It's all up to God and my husband. One of our boys had started done the spinning out of control path of school skipping, casual drug use, curfew breaking, brushes with the law, and breaking every family rule you can think of or haven't yet.  We had tried family counseling, pastoral counseling, a big brother mentor, revision of family rules, new school situation, taking away this, taking away that, parenting semi...

  Each of my guys means the world to me. Their smiles make my heart glad. Each one is a little piece of me. Their burdens and sorrows are mine. Their joys and blessings are shared.  I am super proud of each one. I love you, boys!   

"We're going to have a race.  Get ready now, 1, 2, 3!" Aren't they adorable!  This past week I dropped all my work and desire to #juststayhome , to head out to the island {again} to spend the day with some " missionary picnickers ."  Sometimes we have people who come from far away and just want to ride the boat out to the island, walk around, play on the beach a bit, eat lunch, and go back home.  For us that go there all the time, it can be a little tiring to get up at the crack of dawn to get ready and come home late at night.  But, I decided to do it this past week because I wanted to meet these little guys.   These are two of three little brothers who live hours and hours away from where we do here in Brazil.  I had only seen the oldest [front left] once when he was a little bitty thing.  Friday we all spent the whole day together - laughing, playing, bathing, eating and yeah, there was even a little crying on a few's part....