Letter to Family after finishing week 9 in Brazil -
Hello Family -
A great miracle this week - so we've decided we never want to see the Volkwagon Santana again (Corey said Santana sounds a lot like Satan) and so we decided to sell it back and rent a car. After looking up prices though, we hesitated since it would be about $79 a day just for the car, not including gas and other unknown come up expenses. Still we decided to do it, it is better than having to deal with a dealership again or worrying about car repairs. So a friend of Corey's, Marcos, who took the GMAT class 2 years ago, sent Corey an email to say hello and ask if there was anything Corey needed. Corey asked Marcos if he could pick him up from the bus stop in Sao Paulo and take him to a car rental place. Then Marcos said that he just got a new job and with this new job he gets a company car, and so we could use his other car if we wanted. What a blessing! So the car dealership made some money on us, but it all belongs to the Lord anyway, right? So they were ripping off God, not us, and God is making it balance out with the money that we'll save from not paying for a rental car with Marcos' car. Isn't that nice! The Lord who works mighty miracles that seem small. So now we are loving it in our little 2 door compact car - it drives like it's in one piece, unlike the Santana, and doesn't rattle and shake when we drive it on the dirt road. Corey and I sit in front, and the kids all sit lined up in a row in the back seat. Corey said he never thought he'd be so excited to drive the kind of car he drove in high school - he's having flashbacks of being 16 and cruizing in the black Volkswagon rabbit... (timewarp)...only he's in Brazil (how'd I get here?), and has a wife and 5 kids in tow...(What!?! When did all that happen?!? I'm just a kid!)
We've all been safe and sound this week. Swimming as usual, plus the kids have been doing lots of art work, which leaves the floor covered crayons and colored pencils that fall off the table and tons of scraps of paper (sometimes a full sheet of paper with a small part cut out, then discarded... I'm trying to teach them to "use it up" but it doesn't seem to be registering). Ethan drew a great picture of Jesus on Sunday - he looked at a card with Del Parson's red robed savior and drew it so well, Corey and I were especially impressed with the nose - complete with nostrils. Melodie is the most dedicated artist. The boys will always jump down and run around to do something else for a bit then come back, but Melodie stays until the job is done, working non-stop comping up with some little amazingly creative thing that hatched in her little brain - yesterday she made a paper Hello Kitty doll that's head was big enough to also a pocket (she had stapled another Hello Kitty shape behind it) with a space inside where she proudly showed me was stored: Hello Kitty's paper brain, Hello Kitty's paper heart, and Hello Kitty's paper "guts". (They learned the "guts" word after squishing caterpillars and asking me what the green stuff was... "guts." I said.) It was really cute, and now all the kids are making pocket people with all the stuff that goes inside. Ethan made Jesus pocket and I helped him draw the brain, heart, and "guts" - I guess we gave him so much praise for the great Jesus he drew on Sunday that it is his new trick for attention. He's a great little artist - his most frequent piece of doodle work though is Superman, complete with the little black curl coming down the middle of his forehead. Since his "Superman Birthday" Ethan has been starting to twirl his hair in front a lot. I first noticed it when he would be coming to ask us for something, so I thought he was just nervous, but then he'd do it at other times when he shouldn't feel nervous so I thought he was fidgeting, and trying to get him to not fidget I asked him to not twirl his hair. "Why do you do that with your hair?" He then explained to me that he's trying to get it to curl like Superman's. I thought that was cute. - I guess it's worth a try! His hair is pretty straight though, and so he's a little envious of Hyrum's hair, that has more curl in it. Hyrum will be all sweaty from playing outside or after swimming, and Joe and Mel will pull him aside and help him get a Superman curl, which makes Hyrum feel very proud. Hyrum wears Ethan's little Superman costume more often than Ethan does now. Hyrum was jumping off this little area from the patio onto the grass the other day, telling me he was going to fly over to the pool. 1-2-3- jump! And he'd fall on the ground. "Oh! Try again" he'd say. 1-2-3- fly!! Down he'd go. "Almost Hyrum! That was great!" "I'm gonna do it Mom!" I could tell by his face and actions that he really thinks he can fly, just not sure how it's done. It was so cute. I watched him again, said good job, and he was not frustrated, just smiling and saying "Almost!" to himself. Also yesterday he was outside waiting for Superman to come, showing me the palm tree that Superman would shortly be landing by. He just sweetly and matter of factly said "I'm waiting for Superman." We rented Superman the movie and Superman 2 from Blockbuster, so Superman has become a real person and is their current hero. And don't forget to put on the red Superman Underwear!
Great thing about Brazil this week: Cheap airfare to Rio - On Friday morning Corey, Joseph, Wesley and I are going to Rio de Janiero. We were going to ride the bus both way for 5 hours each way, but the airfare is really cheap to fly to (a little more to fly back), so we are going to fly in and take the bus back. The other three are going to stay with our friends Fabio and Adrian (who are coming to BYU in 4 months). We will just be in Rio Friday and Saturday, coming back Saturday night. A friend of ours from Sandy (Jared and Jerusha know him - Christian Napier) is in Rio right now for a business trip, so we are going to meet up with him for lunch and a visit. Joe and I are excited to see the Pao de Acucar mountains. I'll attach a picture that Corey took last time he went there in January. So should be fun, we'll send you all some pictures of that next week.
Love you all-
Tiffanie