Thankful Day

This year was my 4th year in Brazil for Thanksgiving. I’ve celebrated in various strange ways in the past. One year we made an “American” meal of Chili, French Toast, Stuffing, pancakes, and rootbeer milkshakes. This year was a little different with Chili Dogs and Rootbeer on Thursday (due to the fact that I had to work) and a big feast with other Americans on Sunday. More about that later.

My father in law sent me an email on the day in question citing reasons to be thankful. I can say, that this year I think I am more thankful than I have ever been for so many things. Simple things like being able to drive down the street to a Target and pick up anything you can think of make me realize how blessed Americans are. In the end, I have a great job, a savings account, an amazing wife, a beautiful healthy daughter, and the gospel. Comparing myself to those around me I am blessed 10X more than I deserve to be. There is no room for me to ever complain about my situation – ever.

So, Sunday we did celebrate thanksgiving. Complete with a bird, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie! We made a little trip to a small town a few hours from our house and spent the afternoon with another American family (our age). It was a great way to celebrate. They are so sweet and it is SO nice to spend time with people who get my stupid little jokes.



The wife, being an amazing mother, thought it would be fun to make pilgrim hats and Indian headdresses for the kids. We made them for our infants and they looked SO cute!! I love my wife.

Okay- so the other big thing that happened this last week was this: we hired a house cleaner. While there is a part of me that feels a little guilty for paying a woman with stomach cancer only $140 a month to clean my house 3 times a week, I am so glad we did it. She is an amazing woman from our congregation. She can’t legally work, but doesn't want to sit at home and do nothing. She’s a fierce cleaner and is grateful for the opportunity to work. Our daughter LOVES her. There are always smiles and coos when she is around. The wife is also grateful for her. She’s learning Portuguese and now has someone to spend three days a week with. Although I am NOT at all a people person, the wife is. She feeds off of being with other people, so having someone in the house, even if she doesn't speak the same language, is great.

SO MANY things to be thankful for. I feel blessed!

They'd never suspect the baby of making prank calls...

So, while the wife is busy with a challenge of blogging daily on her other blog, this one has been left to yours truly. That’s why you haven’t seen anything new in the last 2 weeks.

Our baby is growing like a little weed. She’s gained all kinds of weight since we brought her home. She’s so cute and is finally learning how to smile. She’s finally figuring out who we are and seems to be to the point where she will actually get upset if she isn’t being held or near us. I was a horrible father last night. She had fallen asleep twice had her diaper changed and was full to the point where she refused to eat more. She was ready for bed, but wouldn’t sleep. I let her cry herself to sleep. It’s probably too early to do something so cruel (at least it seemed cruel). She fell asleep within 5 minutes. We want to get her on a schedule- but we aren’t too good with schedules ourselves…



Today is a holiday. It’s black consciousness day. Basically their MLK day. Our city decided that everyone should take the day off, so I’m at home. Our factory is paying people overtime to work though. We paid people to work overtime all weekend. At the end of the year manufacturing is important because of Christmas.

Summer is kicking in. We have NO A/C. Not in our house. Not even in our car. We are going to start looking for something, anything very soon. It’s too too too hot.

Promise of a new Pic

Today was the first time we saw our little girl smile. Isn't she cute!!



Just out of da shower:



Baby and her gorgeous mommy (can you believe she gave birth just 3 1/2 weeks ago??) Grrrroooowwwwlllll She's HOT!:



Okay on a totally different note; this is the snail attacking our house after some rain this week (that's my hand next to it...):

Pics soon to come

I must say we have been very negligent in not getting a lot. It’s not for lack of excitement, or for lack of time, but rather just that laziness. Our daughter is growing so fast it’s unbelievable. It seems like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. She barely fit into the car seat because she was so small that now she barely fits because she’s so big.

Reva never really had the goal of being a stay at home mom, but in last few weeks she’s become one of the best mothers of that I have ever seen. Whether she’s being spat up on, or nursing at 330 in the morning she never seems to be anything but content in her caring for our little sunshine. She loves our daughter SO much it is amazing. Unfortunately, she takes care of her at the expense of herself sometimes. I often feel so bad leaving her here in a big house in a foreign country all alone all day. She must get so stir crazy, but she never will tell me. She has made so many sacrifices for “us” over the last few months. She is amazing. Her dream has always been to be a “rock star” of sorts, traveling the world playing violin professionally to huge crowds. While we certainly are traveling the world, her audience has ended up being one (with an occasional guitar accompaniment by yours truly). She does accompany the hymns at church (which is a real blessing to everyone at the church).

We’ve tried to make the best of our situation. It’s really really really hot here now. Summer is coming in at full force. We’ve been doing our best to keep our baby and ourselves from literally melting. Since most of our windows are barred getting a window a/c unit is not really even a good option. If I had a whole workshop I could work up something to put into the doorway to the atrium in our bedroom, but I don’t. I have managed to master the art of making guacamole. Avocadoes here are really big and cheap, so we can make a big bowl for about 50 cents worth of ingredients. Doritos sells regular dipping corn chips here. It’s a great mix!! We drink lots of filtered water and juice.

Our entertainment has been reduced to what we can download. I opened an iTunes account and we keep up with some shows we love by downloading them. We also use BYU TV a lot.

Till next time!