Micah and Kristy

Out for walks at the MTC

2008-04-25T09:25:00.000-04:00

Sofia na mesa

2008-04-15T00:21:00.000-04:00

Sofia na mesa from Micah Goulart on Vimeo.

Sofia Pfffft

2008-03-29T02:20:00.000-04:00

Sofia Pfffft from Micah Goulart on Vimeo.

Sofia and Mic

2008-03-12T11:20:00.000-04:00

Sofia e Mic from Micah Goulart on Vimeo.

Winter is almost over!

2008-02-19T00:14:00.001-04:00

Back in classes

2008-01-21T22:29:00.001-04:00

We're back! Christmas break in Canada was a lot of fun. It was great to see Beka and Jimmy again and see their apartment. We played a lot of games!! Micah and I are the official champions of Cranium. Micah has a few videos from Canada posted up on youtube.com. You just have to type in micahgoulart to find all the videos he's posted.

We've started Tech Tips and New Testament Church principles. Both are very challenging classes. I can really see how Tech Tips will be useful, knowing about Solar panel technology and how electricity works, etc. But I would be lying if I said I found most of it very interesting. Not my cup of tea. Thank goodness for Micah who's good with that kind of stuff!!

But Micah and I are glad to be back and right now we're working our way through the book of I Samuel. We're excited to learn more about God and see what He chooses to teach us. Please pray for us as we work on becoming more faithful in our daily walks.

Here's a few random photos. Enjoy!

An Early Christmas

2007-12-25T18:50:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Christmas twice this year. Since we were leaving to Canada to spend the holidays with Micah's brother and sisters in Brazil we celebrated Christmas with my family a bit early. It was fun to open presents early. My parents got Sofia a toddler bed and some really cute jeans (you can see in one of the photos). Sofia helped to open her presents and was way more impressed with the wrapping paper than anything else.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-10T17:57:00.001-04:00

Here's some photos from Thanksgiving day. We had a nice lunch at my parents house and a very relaxing couple of days. Susie was able to come and brought her fiance , Sebastian. It was nice to finally get to meet him and he was a lot of fun to hang out with. Most of the photos of the day are on my Dad's computer so I only have a few of the three of us. It was freezing outside when we took these photos.

Bath Time!

2007-12-05T20:23:00.000-04:00

2007-10-22T14:17:00.001-04:00

October's almost finished and it seems like it just started. We're keeping busy with school, work (for Micah), and Sofia. I feel tired a lot even though my schedule is pretty easy....I don't know how moms with several kids do it! Praise God, He gives us enough strength to make it through each day. Micah really has a full schedule. He goes to classes in the mornings until lunch. Then he has almost 2 hours of work detail and 4 hours of his work for deviantart. Plus, on Thursday evenings he's involved in a ministry outreach to a local jail. I'm so thankful to have a husband who works so hard to provide for me and Sofia.

Sofia is looking more and more like a big girl. We saw a 5 day old baby last night and I couldn't believe how tiny he was.....and he weighed almost 2 pounds more than Sofia did at birth! You forget so quickly how tiny they were in the beginning. Sofia's laughing more now. If you make her throw little punches in the air she almost always starts laughing. We have a little boxer on our hands!

Halloween Costume

2007-10-14T09:29:00.000-04:00

Almost four months old!

2007-10-06T10:17:00.000-04:00

2007-10-06T10:12:00.000-04:00

Silver Dollar City

2007-09-28T15:23:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went to Silver Dollar City, an amusement park, about 1 1/2 hours from here. We went with my folks, Luc, Amy, and Isac. We had a great time. Since my Dad and Luc don't like to go on roller coaster rides they were willing to watch Sofia so Micah and I could go on all the rides too. This was Isac's first time on a roller coaster ride and he really enjoyed it. It's actually a pretty small place and only has a few roller coasters. I'd love it if we could make it over to Six Flags in St. Louis before it closes for the winter at the end of October. It would be a little tough with Sofia though. We'll see....

More photos

2007-09-23T09:19:00.000-04:00

This last month has just flown by. School has been going very well (they haven't kicked us out yet!) :) My favorite class at the moment is Animism. It's so interesting to hear such a different worldview and the guy who teaches it has so many personal stories to tell from all his years working in the tribe. But it really brings home what a challenge it will be to live in a tribe and try to understand the way they think. But understanding the way they think is so necessary for teaching the gospel so that the message you preach is the same message they understand. Otherwise they'll misunderstand the message and mix your beliefs in with theirs. Anyways, all that to say that we're being challenged by this class to think about a lot of the issues that will arise while working in a tribe.

Sofia is now 3 1/2 months old. She's up to 16 1/2 pounds and is just starting to fit into some of her 9 month clothing! I have to admit she's my little doll - I love to dress her up in all her little outfits!

Here's some photos!

Feeling Sick

2007-08-29T07:43:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-08-25T00:08:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-12T21:12:00.001-04:00

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

2007-08-08T06:22:00.001-04:00

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......

2007-08-04T05:02:00.000-04:00

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!

Churrasco

2007-07-28T14:30:00.000-04:00

We had a nice churrasco (bar-b-que) down by the pool today with Micah's family. I'm really gonna miss the awesome meat they have here!! We took the opportunity to try out the cute little bathing suit a friend gave to Sofia.

Our Ghetto Girl

2007-07-27T09:39:00.001-04:00

Six Weeks Old

2007-07-24T23:46:00.000-04:00

Check out the flip flops that Grandma Sue gave her!

The countdown...

2007-07-21T16:02:00.000-04:00

We're so close to the end of our time here in Brazil (at least for now). Right now our plans are to leave on the 30th of this month.....that's only 9 days from now! The only problem is Sofia's American passport. It is supposed to arrive sometime around that time and it may set our plans back several days if it comes later than we expect. So please pray that the process would go quickly and smoothly. Micah has an interview on the 30th down in Brasilia to get his visa for the U.S. We're praying that he is given his visa. If he is denied, we'll have to stay in Brazil for another year so we're really hoping there are no problems with that.

It's very strange to think of leaving Brazil after spending 2 years here. I'm so thankful for my time here, especially living so close to Micah's family. I really feel like I'm part of their family and that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't had this time together. I know Micah and I are very sad that we'll be so far away from them. At the same time I'm so excited to be moving right next to my parents and being able to see them everyday. I really miss that. They're especially anxious to spend time with Sofia.

These next two weeks are going to be quite busy. We'll have the very sad time saying goodbye to Micah's parents, followed by a very happy time saying hello to my parents.

Here's some photos from 2 days ago.

Bath Time!!

2007-07-14T09:15:00.001-04:00

Holy Cow - our little girl is huge!! She's turned into such a chunko and I love it :D We just weighed her yesterday and she's 12 pounds!

The Beach

2007-06-30T21:39:00.001-04:00

We just got back from a couple of nice relaxing days at the beach. It was great to get out of the house and have a change of scenery. Plus, we got to put Sofia in her little bikini :D Here are a couple of pics!

Two Weeks Old

2007-06-24T07:25:00.001-04:00

Blood Test :(

2007-06-16T17:52:00.000-04:00

Poor Sofia had to have a blood test done yesterday. I wasn't with her when she had her shots done so I had no idea what I was in for. It was awful! I don't know who cried more, her or me. All I know is it went against every instinct I had to sit there and watch her in pain and not do anything.....worse than that, I had to hold down her legs.

The rest of the day she was a bit more fussy than normal. She mostly needed to be held and ate a lot more than normal. I'm so glad that's behind us! This pic wasn't from yesterday but I thought it was fitting for this post :)

More pics!

2007-06-14T08:43:00.000-04:00

She's Here!

2007-06-11T17:22:00.000-04:00

Sofia has finally arrived!! We are so happy and blessed to have her with us. I might be biased but she's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen :D She was born on Saturday morning and was 8 pounds, 1 ounce (yea - the ultrasound was way off!). She was 50cm. long....I think that's around 19-20 inches long.

The birth didn't go exactly like I had planned. I went to the hospital at 10am to start taking the pills to get the dialation and contractions started. If nothing happens then they wait 6 hours and give another pill. They'll only do this four times and then they do a c-section if labor still has not progressed since it's hard on the baby. Well, what do you know, no four measly little pills could make Sofia want to come out of her comfy home. The doctor checked me at 9am and I was still only 2cm dialated - the same as I was a week before. So 1/2 hour later they started prepping me for surgery. At this time, some really strong contractions started to kick in and my water broke. In only 1/2 hour I dialated an inch more. However, they found meconium in my water so they had to get Sofia out right away to make sure she didn't swallow any of it. It was a good thing I was already prepped for surgery because when they pulled her out she had some in her mouth but hadn't swallowed any yet.

I had really wanted to have a natural birth but in the end I'm so thankful that Sofia is healthy and I'm healthy that it really doesn't matter how it happened. And if there is anywhere you want to be to have a c-section, it's here in Brazil. All of the nurses who helped me were so amazed that I wanted to have a natural birth. If you can afford a c-section here, most people prefer it. They said they only have 1 or 2 natural births a month, since it's a private hospital most of the people have the money or the health plan to afford a c-section. So strange.

Here's a few pics that were taken on Saturday. The first one is my favorite, it was the first time Micah got to hold Sofia. When you have a child you certainly realize how little time it takes to fall in love. Everytime I look at Sofia I can't help but praise God for His goodness and I'm amazed by what a miracle He did in creating this new little life.

Induction Scheduled

2007-06-06T05:42:00.000-04:00

Well, we're still waiting for Sofia to join us. I guess she's awful comfortable where she is :) I had another ultrasound on Monday and everything looks great. She's looking very healthy and they think she probably weighs around 9 pounds. I was hoping for a nice 7 1/2 pound baby.....9 pounds sounds awfully big!

I had my last doctor's appt. yesterday and she set my induction date for Friday morning, if labor doesn't start on its own by then. She also stripped my membranes to try to get something to happen naturally. So far, there's nothing going on. But it's nice to have an end in sight, our little girl will be here by Saturday for sure.

Thanks everyone for your prayers, if you think of me on Friday, please send up a few more :) I'll be sure to update next week with pictures of Sofia and her birth story.

Baby Shower

2007-05-27T06:29:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks since the last post, things always seem to get busy at the end of the school year. My mom has been here for about a week and it's been so wonderful having her here. She's been doing all my dishes and keeping my house clean! The best part though is just hanging out and talking with her.

My mother-in-law did a baby shower for me yesterday. It was so much fun and everything looked so cute! I know she's been working on it for a long time to make sure everything turned out well. I got some cute little dresses for Sofia and a lot of diapers! I'm so glad I won't have to be doing any diaper shopping while I'm here! Here are some pics from the party. Enjoy!

37 Weeks!! Sofia's almost here!

2007-05-07T22:51:00.000-04:00

Everything's Good!

2007-05-05T07:25:00.000-04:00

Well, I had my ultrasound on Thursday night and was shocked at how much my amniotic fluid levels have gone up. I was at 8cm ten days before and on Thur. it was up to 25.73cm! The doctor who did the ultrasound said the baby was swimming in there and I had enough water to give away! Guess all that drinking and trips to the bathroom paid off.

The only bad thing about the ultrasound is that the cord is now wrapped around the baby's neck. It's not tight but it's something we'll have to watch. He said I'd probably have to come back in two weeks to check if it was still around the neck before giving birth. Apparently, it's something that could require a C-Section, depending on a few factors. That would be just my luck....going full-term and still having to do a C-Section! :)

The other good news is that Sofia gained 13 ounces and 1 inch in the ten days between ultrasounds. She now weighs approx. 6 pounds, and is 18 inches long!

It seems like now it's just a waiting game. I'm so excited and anxious to see my little girl. Seeing her move during the ultrasounds is great, but just makes me that more eager to see her for real. I guess every mother feels this way at the end of pregnancy :)

Micah arrives home at about 1am tonight! It'll be so nice to have him home again. Plus, I told him he owed me a present for leaving me for 10 days when I'm this pregnant! :D Let's see if he remembered to bring me back something.

Doctor update

2007-04-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I went to the doctor on Wednesday and the news wasn't too bad. She wasn't worried about my placenta too much since it was clear that the baby was still getting enough oxygen and nutrients but she was worried about the low amniotic fluid. I guess I'm a level 8, which is the lowest level that is still considered okay. So she told me to drink 2 liters of water a day and twice a week to get an IV that would send a water solution straight into my bloodstream. Then she told me to take another ultrasound in two weeks and if my fluid level was any lower I would need to do a C-Section. If the fluid level is around the same, and 8 or a 9, we would wait a week (until I hit 38 weeks of pregnancy) and then induce labor. I'm not sure if that would have to be a C-Section or not. But hopefully the fluid levels will go up and labor can proceed normally.

I'm planning on doing another ultrasound on Wednesday. I decided there is no way I want to wait two weeks to find out if the problem is getting worse. The doctor had said that if the fluid levels go too low the baby will have trouble breathing and will be in pain. So after she told me that, it's pretty much impossible to wait two weeks not knowing if Sofia is in pain or the situation is getting worse for her. If it ends up being that it's too early to tell and I have to take another ultrasound a week after that one, so be it. I'll gladly pay for an extra ultrasound, to know things haven't gotten worse.

Until then I'm drinking tons of water....(and spending most of my time in the bathroom) :) I'll be sure to update next week after I find out how the next ultrasound goes.

A little worried

2007-04-25T07:52:00.000-04:00

Up till now I've had a very easy and healthy pregnancy, nothing to be worried about. On Monday I had a routine ultrasound done and the technician found two things that could turn into a problem. One is that my amniotic fluid levels are pretty low. Second, my placenta has aged faster than it should. As the pregnancy progresses, the placenta ages and becomes less able to supply nutrients to the baby. They "grade" the placenta based on the amount of calcification. There is a normal progression of aging that is to be expected, but it can also age more quickly than expected. The technician said my placenta was a grade 2, which shouldn't happen for another 2 weeks.

"Placenta calcification refers to calcium deposits that appear on the placenta. These calcium deposits indicate an aging of the placenta that occurs near the end of pregnancy. These deposits of calcium can cause certain small parts of the placenta to die. The calcium deposits may also cause some parts of the placenta to be replaced with fibrous tissue. The calcium deposits can also obstruct parts of the placenta with clots of maternal blood. They can also harden or block the maternal blood vessels. In most cases, placental calcification does not affect the functioning of the placenta, and the fetus is generally not harmed."

The good news is, this doesn't seem to usually cause a problem for the baby. Even in a worst case scenario, where they would have to take the baby out early, Sofia should do fine on the outside. She weighs a little over 5 pounds now and is healthy. She just needs to stay in me a little bit longer to get fatter and develop her lungs a little more.

I have a doctor's appt. today and I'm really eager to hear what the doctor thinks about all of this. The technician said that my doctor would probably put me on bed rest. While I hope that doesn't happen, it'll be worth it if it keeps Sofia inside me until she's full-term in a few weeks. Please pray with us, that God keeps Sofia healthy and that these things don't turn into a problem.

I'll update after I find out more information from my doctor.

34 weeks pregnant

2007-04-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

Well, here's the latest photo that Micah took yesterday of me at 34 weeks.

I've had a really rough couple of days with a cold that's going around. I'm finally starting to feel better, I just have a stubborn cough that's refusing to leave. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be as good as new. Despite that, Sofia seems as great as ever. She's been moving all the time and her greatest fun now seems to be kicking me in the ribs. Oh well, she better enjoy it while she can, in a few weeks I want my body back!

In other news, Spring Break has ended so it's back to work for us. Micah still was doing his deviantart work last week and taking care of me while I was sick so I'm not sure he actually had much of a vacation. I'm so lucky I have such a caring husband - he really took good care of me when I was feeling bad. Thanks Micah!

Flashbacks from the past year

2007-04-12T07:58:00.000-04:00

Micah's sister, Rebeka, married Jimmy, his college roommate, on Dec. 22, 2006. They got married in Goias, Brazil at the same place where Micah and I were married a year and a half earlier. It was really neat to go back to the same place and remember our own wedding. Despite just about everything going wrong during the week before the wedding (so many people cancelled, the cake lady, the flowers, the food, etc) the actual wedding day turned out absolutely beautiful. Jimmy and Rebeka are now living in Canada and Rebeka is planning on going to school there in the Fall.

After their wedding Micah and I headed to the states to spend Christmas with my family. We barely made it, we arrived Christmas Day. It was so awesome to spend time with my family again. We also were able to do an ultrasound on Dec. 28th and found out we were having a little girl. So you can imagine the fun time I had shopping for the next two weeks for my little girl. It was so fun to get to do that kind of shopping with my Mom. Here's a few photos of our time in Missouri. One photo is my mom and I on a walk, that's one of our favorite things to do together. The other photo is us at the Berto's house, playing a fun Christmas game.

Next up, came Micah's 26th birthday party on Feb. 5th. I threw him what would probably be considered the saddest surprise birthday party ever! I invited all the people around our age that work here at AVA which added up to a grand total of five people!! Oh well, I think Micah was surprised and there was lots more cake for us :D

Lastly, is a picture of Micah and I at the Valentine's Banquet for the High School and staff. It was a good time, lots of food. Everyone did kareoke, except Micah, Isac, and I. The High Schoolers don't know how lucky they are that I spared them from listening to my voice!

We're Back!!

2007-04-08T09:44:00.000-04:00

After almost a year of no new posts, I guess it's time to get back into gear. The sad truth is one day I just couldn't sign into this site to update and as time went on I just forgot about it altogether. But Micah recently fixed it for me (a subtle signal for me to start updating again I think :D)

The biggest news for us since July has been getting pregnant!! Our little girl, Sofia, is due May 28th and we're so excited for her to arrive. I think I'm a little more eager, as my body is starting to feel the aches and pains of pregnancy a lot more recently. Here's a few photos of my growing belly - I'll be sure to post more as I get even bigger.
22 weeks pregnant

28 weeks pregnant

We were also excited to find out that we have been accepted into New Tribes Missions Institute for the August 2007 semester. We plan on moving to Missouri at the end of July. It will be difficult to leave Micah's family behind but we're also happy to spend the time so close to my parents.

On a side note, Micah's parents just bought a new little puppy, called Kibe. Check out some cute photos of the little guy.
Well, that's all for now. In the next couple of days I'll be posting some photos and info. from the last year so be sure to check it out!

Update

2006-07-17T18:52:00.000-04:00

Whew, it's been a little while. This month has been a really busy one for me. Micah's cousin, Isabelle, has been living here since July 1st and been giving me Portuguese classes. Usually we have about 3 hours a day, plus a few homework assignments. I also try to watch some shows or movies in portuguese. My favorite is watching the tv show Alias dubbed in portuguese, with portuguese subtitles also. I'm not good enough to watch without subtitles, but with reading I can understand just about everything. Isabelle is leaving Belem on the 27th and I'm already bummed about it.

My parents arrive tomorrow for a week's visit!! I'm really excited! It'll be the first time Luc has been down here as well. Mom and Dad were here about a year and a half ago, before Micah and I were married. On the downside, I have to clean my house tomorrow! (I'm sure Micah's very grateful for this!=)

I'll be sure to post some photos from my parents visit in a week or two.

Tchau!

More beach photos

2006-06-25T08:52:00.000-04:00

Rebeka on the beachRachel bodyboarding

Micah and Isac

Micah's parents

Salinas

2006-06-25T08:45:00.000-04:00

We just got back from about five days at the beach. Micah's mom knows some people who have a beach house there which was fantastic. The beach in Salinas is really beautiful and it wasn't crowded at all since vacation doesn't start here for Brazilian schools until July. The four days we spent there started to feel a little bit long though.... Unfortunately, in Salinas there's nothing to do besides going to the beach, no malls, no little shops, no movie theatres....etc. So we started to get a little bit bored and resorted to a lot of card games.

World Cup!

2006-06-19T13:21:00.000-04:00

The World Cup has begun!! Which in Brazil means it's time for people to show their patriotism to a level I've never seen in any country before. Soccer is truly THE national pride of Brazil. For each of the games that Brazil plays, everything shuts down.....grocery stores, malls, schools, taxis, you name it. Everyone is wearing Brazil shirts and almost every house is decorated in green and gold. One of the things I love best though is the fireworks. Any time Brazil scores a goal or at the end of a game if they win, people set off fireworks in their backyard. The result is Brazil scores and you just hear tons of fireworks going off all over the city and you realize that it's not just you and your friends watching the game, it's everyone in the city.

On the flip side, it's hard to see this level of patriotism and not feel a desire to go home to your own country. I am American and am very proud to be American. I think it's healthy to have a certain degree of pride in where you're from and to be proud of the accomplishments of your own country. I am very happy to be in Brazil and it's a lot of fun to take part in this World Cup experience but it also confirms to me that my first love is the USA, not Brazil.

Side Note : If the USA wins it's next game against Ghana and the Czech Republic loses to Italy, then the USA will play Brazil. That would be a lot of fun!

A little update

2006-05-19T12:54:00.000-04:00

Not much has been going on here the last month. The school year is really starting to wind down, just about three weeks left to go. I've really enjoyed my first year of teaching ESL. I feel like I've definitely learned a lot! Micah's done really well with his first year of teaching High School classes and ESL. He's a natural at it.

I'm really looking forward to Susie's visit at the end of this month. She should arrive on the same day as Rachel, Micah's sister. It'll be fun to have some new faces around here and to be able to show Susie around Belém. She's been down in the south of Brazil but it's a whole different world up here. Belém has much more of an Indian influence and doesn't have much of the European influence that the south has.

We haven't really figured out our plans for this summer yet. We'll probably be spending a couple of weeks in Campinas, about an hour from Sao Paulo, where Micah will be working for his old company and I'll be taking some Portuguese classes. Micah just recently discovered a school here in Belém that offers Portuguese lessons which is really exciting. We're just waiting for them to send us information so that hopefully next semester I can begin taking classes. I have been really dissapointed this last year about not being able to find a school here that offers classes so this is a really wonderful surprise.

Subway's here!

2006-05-19T12:49:00.000-04:00

The first Subway has opened in Belém! It takes us about 40 minutes by bus to get there but that definitely hasn't stopped us. Micah and I are crazy about Subway so this is really exciting. For those of you who have lived in another country you also know the excitement of finding something familiar so far away from home. I mean, we have McDonald's here but I never liked McDonald's much so it doesn't really count in my book.

Micah's Photo!

2006-05-06T21:20:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, awhile back the makers of this CD purchased the rights to use Micah's photo on their CD cover. Just recently we received a copy of the CD in the mail and it's so exciting to know that it's finally out in print. It's really incredible to see one of Micah's photos on a CD cover! A few different people have purchased this photo to use on internet sites, etc but this was the first time we got to see someone use it in print. Very cool stuff. I'm so proud of Micah and how much he continues to practice and improve as a photographer.
The name of the CD is The King of All of Me and it's a praise CD (obviously :) You can see it at http://www.worshipmusic.com/3859718792.html.

Rio photos

2006-04-20T14:16:00.000-04:00

Okay, here's two photos from our vacation in Rio. All the photos are on a CD which Micah's brother has so I got these photos from the few he's posted on line so far. Hopefully, in the next week I'll get ahold of the photos and be able to put up a few more photos.

On the top is a picture of Rio that Isac took from atop the Christ statue. It gives you a beautiful view of the part of Rio where we stayed. We actually stayed with a very rich lady who lived in an apartment right on the beach. We would be on the very left side of the beach in the photo. It was so awesome, from my bedroom I could lay down and see the beach and sugar loaf mountain, just amazing.

The other photo is Micah and I in the Botanical Gardens. Megan is a wedding photographer and didn't want to let such a beautiful background go to waste :) It was actually quite an experience to travel with three photographers. I'm not gonna lie, it can be exhausting at times. We had to go to every little place in the pursuit of that one perfect photo :) But in the end, we have a ton of beautiful photos so I really can't complain.

Rio here we come!

2006-04-04T13:42:00.000-04:00

Next week is our Spring Break and we just bought tickets to Rio de Janeiro. It'll be Micah and I, his brother Isac, and our friend Megan, both of whom are also teaching here. We're planning on leaving early Sunday morning and will be returning on Saturday. Micah's family has some connections for people we can stay with so we won't have to pay for a hotel, which was a huge factor in being able to go.

There's so many tourist attractions in Rio that we plan to be quite busy during the week. Of course taking time out to enjoy some of the famous beaches Rio has to offer! I'll try to get some of our photos of the trip up after we return. But for now here's a picture of the famous Christ statue with Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background. Both are sights we plan on seeing firsthand.

My first niece

2006-03-17T06:23:00.000-04:00

My oldest sister Cynthia gave birth on January 8th to my first niece, Chloe Lyn Anderson. Praise the Lord she's a very healthy and beautiful baby! My parents and my little brother Luc were able to drive down to Florida and visit them just a few weeks ago. Luc absolutely loves babies! and I heard he fell in love with Chloe instantly.

CARNAVAL!

2006-03-04T15:09:00.000-04:00

Well, this past week was Carnaval, which means I haven't had to teach all week :D Poor Micah only got off Monday and Tuesday since he teaches at the American high school here. I was really excited about experiencing Carnaval here in Brazil for the first time. I know what some of you are thinking "Kristy don't you know Carnaval isn't for Christians..all the drinking, dancing, nudity, etc." But I figure if you live in Brazil you have to experience Carnaval at least once....all the excitement, celebration, bright colors, parades.... Well, in the end it didn't really work out to see Carnaval in person this year. Micah and I never figured out where they were holding the parades in our city. But we did watch part of the parades in Rio de Janeiro on tv. Brazilians definitely know how to throw a party! I hope next year Micah and I will be able to see at least one of the parades in person.

Our new wallpaper

2006-03-01T15:09:00.000-04:00

For those of you who haven't already seen pictures, here is what our kitchen looks like. We only a one bedroom apartment but all the rooms are huge so it feels much bigger! We're on the second floor and right below us are the ESL classrooms, where I teach English to Brazilians. I can't ask for a better commute :D

Just last month we wallpapered the kitchen. All the floors and walls in our apartment are white so it really needed some color. When we went to buy paint here the guy who helped us had never seen wallpaper before and didn't know how it even worked. He was even more impressed when he found out it was for our home and not for some fancy restaurant. It's always funny to find the little things that are so different here from home. We're planning on doing the livingroom this month sometime. Once we do it I'll post up some photos...it should be really cute!

Hey Everyone

2006-02-24T17:29:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone!

I just thought this would be a fun way to keep in touch with all of you and let you in on more of our daily life. Plus, I'm notorously bad at keeping up with emails so maybe this will be easier :D I hope you enjoy and check back as we continue to upload more pictures and notes.

Love you all,

Micah and Kristy