Feeling Sick

We knew living in such close quarters with so many other people would cause problems sooner or later....but we were hoping for later :) I came down with some sort of flu bug on Sunday which wasn't too bad and didn't last too long. The problem started Monday afternoon when Sofia started to show signs of being sick. Poor girl, she's had a fever and clearly has been feeling miserable. She's been crying a lot! She's showing some signs of improvement but it's too early to tell if she'll feel better today. Of course, this morning I woke up with a very sore throat....I knew I got off too easy last time!

So me and Sofia have missed the first couple days of "real"classes (not orientation). But they have a great system where every class is recorded and put on the intranet here so I can download it and not fall behind.

There was one really bright spot in the last couple of days. Yesterday morning, Sofia gave her first giggle! My dad and I were the only ones who got to hear it so I really hope she does it again soon for Micah to hear and that it wasn't just a fluke.

Here's a few photos from the last couple of days. I forgot to mention that on Sunday we went out on the lake in my parents boat which was really fun. Sofia looks a little uncomfortable in her life vest but the minute the boat started moving she fell right to sleep :) We'll definitely be doing it again.

Finally here!

Whew, the time sure does fly by! We've been in Missouri for a week and a half. Our trip was uneventful and Sofia was such a good baby on the flights. She slept the entire time on the airplane, except to eat of course! :) What an answer to prayer!

When we arrived at our apartment here we had such a wonderful surprise. My parents had completely set up our apartment with really nice furniture and had even painted the livingroom. They had printed out pictures of us with Sofia and put them up in frames around the house. It felt like home right away!

School started on Monday, so we just finished up the first week, which was basically just orientation. Classes have been great so far and the people are awesome. Sofia goes to class with me from 8-9am and then goes to the nursery until noon. She does great in nursery and usually naps for most of it. I get a pager that vibrates so if she starts crying or gets hungry while I'm in class I know to walk over there.

Other exciting news - Sofia has started sleeping through the night!!! This is huge. It's only been the last two nights but we're hoping that the pattern continues because it feels really good to get uninterrupted sleep.

Okay, here's a few photos from today for you. Enjoy!

Praying for Tomorrow

Well, we're still here in Brazil. We're now hoping that we can fly out tomorrow....just hoping for good news tomorrow when we call the embassy. In the meantime, here's a few photos from today. Just in case some of you were worried that Sofia might be getting too thin, I've included a few bathtime photos :) We didn't have a big enough tub for her so we used the bottom drawer of the refrigerator :) And lastly, after a hard day of eating and napping, Sofia is wiped out with Micah.

Hopefully Friday

Micah talked with the Embassy on Monday morning and was told that Sofia's passport was being mailed that day from the US and would probably take 3-4 days to arrive. We're hoping it arrives there by Friday morning. If it does we'll have time to get a bus to Brasilia, pick it up, and get a flight in time to Sao Paulo. If it doesn't arrive on Friday we'll have to wait until Monday, since the Embassy is closed during the weekend.

Micah's parents arrive today! They're going to be staying here for a month while they visit some churches and Leonor goes to the doctor. It'll be really nice to have the company.

Waiting......

Well, lets start with the good news.....Micah got his visa! No problems there. He flew down to Brasilia early Monday morning and picked up his visa on Wed. morning. However, Sofia's American passport is a whole other situation. It was supposed to have arrived by now but we believe that the lady in charge forgot to mail it in until I showed up on Monday to pick it up. We have many reasons for thinking this. even though she said she mailed it in and that is in the US and will take around ten days for it to arrive. I'll give just two examples of why we think she might be lying to us. On Monday, while Micah was at the American Embassy in Brasilia he asked about Sofia's passport and they said they had no record at all of it being processed there (it has to go through Brasilia before being mailed to the US). Then on Wed. morning he asked again about her visa and they said it had just arrived on Tues. from Belem. We think the lady mailed it out right after I visited her on Monday.

There were also a few other reasons that led us to believe she forgot and then lied about it. I went back to see her on Wed. and she reassured me that the passport was in the US and would only take 10 days to arrive. She said Micah must have heard wrong both times he asked about Sofia's passport. I believe that she has put Sofia's passport as a priority so it should arrive in 10 days, give or take a few days.

This situation has been a bit of a struggle for me as I deal with my anger towards this woman that I think lied right in front of me. Although the Lord has been bringing to my mind times that I have lied to other people. It has really helped me to get off of my high horse. This woman hasn't done anything worse than what I have also done and will do in the future. While I have forgiven this woman, I also need God's help to continue to forgive as the anger seems to come back so easily. The one thing that is so disappointing about this situation is that I am now missing my sister Cynthia's visit. I haven't seen Cynthia in almost 5 years and I've never met her 1 1/2 year old daughter, Chloe. I was really looking forward to seeing them and I'm not sure when the next chance I'll have to visit them is. I'm still hoping that Sofia's passport arrives on Mon or Tues and I make it out in time to at least see them for a day or two.

On the other side of the coin, this passport problem gave Sofia and I a couple extra days with Micah's family. Goodbyes are so hard and in spite of all that was going on, I really enjoyed my extra time, especially with Micah's Mom. The only easy goodbye was with Micah's brother, Isac. Don't worry that's not as bad as it sounds! :) It looks like Isac will be studying at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri this year, which means he'll only be 1 1/2 hours away! It's a very last minute decision and he has a lot of details to work out before he can relax but the school admin seems to be very helpful and I'm praying that everything works out smoothly for him.

Right now, we're planning on calling the Embassy on Monday and every day thereafter to check on whether Sofia's passport has arrived. We'll stay packed up and ready to go so that as soon as we find out the news we can catch a bus to Brasilia, pick up the passport, and fly to Sao Paulo and on to the US!