The Brazilian Drink

When Grady and Hadley went to school, Michawn and I ran to this little store while Joel was still home for lunch to watch the two little girls. Michawn was wanting some coke so thats what we were going to the store to get. While we were there she got me this little drink. It is the thing here in Brazil and she wanted me to taste it. Since I have been here we have not really done much, we have just been chillin. This weekend I hope we are going to get a schedule made out of the things I will be doing for the next several weeks until Ariel gets here.

Here are just a few pictures of me tasting the drink. The drink was just ok, it was nothing to die for or do cartwheels over.


This is the little store we went to to get the goodies!


This is just the other side of the store.






I was trying to figure out what the taste reminded me of and saying it was ok.


I guess this is Joel's reaction to me tasting it. I guess he was remembering the taste in his mouth as I took the first sip of it.


Eissa had to have some too.

Getting Settled In

Yesterday was my first full day in Brazil with my cousins. The day was great and relaxing. I slept in and got up and took a shower. I spent a little time with the kids at the kitchen table eating oreos! Their first ones since I got here. Michawn and I had some the night before. The loved them, as you will see in the pictures of the black teeth! :-0 After lunch Michawn and I walked Hadley and Grady to Portuguese Class (school). They go to school from 1-5:30. When we got back home I blogged and then started to unpack all of my stuff. About the time I got done unpacking it was time to go get the kids from school, and off to the park we went. Michawn and Joel live on this campus where there is a seminary and for supper we went to the cafeteria. We went there because Joel wasnt going to be home until late. The cafeteria is right next to the park so after the kids got done playing for a little while we walked over for supper. After supper we walked back home and put the kids to bed. Michawn, Joel, and I were going to watch a movie but Joel was really tired. He had been flying most of the day and was exhausted. So tonight Michawn and I are going to have a movie night and watch "Bella." Joel wont be home tonight, because Joel wont be home until about 10:30. I was about to go to bed last night and Michawn was on the computer talking to Aunt Nena and she told her to tell me not to go to bed yet that my mom was going to call me. Well mom tried several times and the line kept being busy but she finally got through. I talked to her and dad for a little while and then went to bed.

Here are some pictures of my room and bathroom, Hadley and Grady's school, and the park.

"On the road again".....or should I say "In the air again" and 26 hours later

Michawn and I are sitting at the table, both on our computers, the two older kids are at school, and the two little ones are down for a nap and Michawn was like "You need to blog." So thats what im doing.

This title is not accurate, it has been longer than 26 hours. But it took me about 26 hours to get here. Monday morning I got up at 7 to tell my dad and brother bye because they had to leave to go to a golf tournament for one of the scholarships Colby got for school. After telling them bye I finished packing and got ready to leave. We (Mom, Aunt Nena, Tucker, and I) stopped by Granny's to tell her, Aunt Marilyn, and Ariel bye. Then we headed off to Shreveport to eat at my FAVORITE restaurant, Red Lobster. The guy that waited on us was awesome. Aunt Nena ordered 2 dozen biscuits for me to bring to Brazil for Michawn and the family. Well our waiter did not charge us for them and he also went through a lot of trouble to package them to make them easy to carry around. He was great. So after we ate, we headed off to CVS to get me a calling card so I could call home during my 8 hour layover in Rio De Janeiro. Then off to the Airport to check my luggage and all that good stuff. Well for those of you who dont know, the airlines are starting to only allow 1 checked bag and you have to pay for the additional bags. I had two bags and they were both overweight. My Aunt Nena was generous and paid the 2 overweight fees and the additional bag fee. After all of that was taken care of I said my goodbyes and I love yous and headed through security and to my gate. The flight from Shreveport to Atlanta left at 4 pm. The flight was good and we had no problems or complications. I had about a 2 hour layover in Atlanta so I got me my favorite fast food, McDonalds, for supper. I talked on the phone some and did some text messaging to pass the time. The over night flight was also good. I sat by a Brazilian guy who spoke English so that was good. I slept most of the flight, which is unusual for me. Normally I cant sleep very good on the over night flights, but I had no problem. When arriving at Rio De Janeiro I went through passport check and to baggage claim to get all of my stuff then proceeded to customs. I went straight through customs with no problems. They did not check anything or ask me any questions. Awesome right (most trips I tend to be the one to get checked from head to toe and all of my stuff looked through)? I head upstairs to check my bags and get my boarding pass and all that good stuff. I found a lady that spoke English and she informed me that I had to wait until 12 or after to check in. So I got "buff" from about 8:30 to 12. When I would get tired of sitting around I had to hall all of my luggage around with me to walk some. Keep in mind that I had 2 checked pieces one weighing about 70 lbs and the other about 85 lbs plus my carry on which weighed about 20 lbs, my purse, and my pillow and blanket. :-) can't go anywhere without my pillow and blanket. Oh the calling card situation, almost forgot. So after I find out I can't check in until 12 or after I went to go find a phone to call mom and dad. I could not get the card to work. When I activated my card while in Atlanta the lady gave me instructions on how to use it to call the US from Brazil. I could not get it to work at all. I started to panic for a second but then I thought well maybe I can get on the internet and see if Michawn and them were on Skype and get them to call mom and dad. What do you know, I could not get internet service either. So now im really starting to panic. I started walking and started praying that God would let me run into someone who spoke English. I asked this one worker if he spoke English and he said no, well while I was asking him I overheard these people speaking English. So I turned around and there were 3 men and a lady. These 3 men just so happened to be from Louisiana around the Homa area. The lady was Brazilian and she let me use her cell phone to call Joel and Michawn. For some reason I wrote their Brazil phone numbers down and boy was I thankful. Thank you Lord for letting me write their Brazil numbers down. God was totally watching after me and taking care of everything I needed as he always does. So after 3 tries I got a hold of Joel and he told Michawn and she got word to my mom and dad and let them know I was in Rio and ok but that I wouldn't be able to call every two hours like my mom wanted. So time began to slowly start passing by. 12:00 rolled around and I went to this guy Hosea who spoke English, and again God took care of everything, Hosea took all of my stuff and completely did everything for me. He also informed me of some good news, which was that I did not have to pay another additional baggage fee or the two over weight fees. Talk about awesome. Hosea was great! Thank you Lord for letting me run into him. I get to my gate and find out that our plane is not there so I was delayed another 2 hours so now instead of being in this airport for 8 hours I was in there for 10, but I can't complain. God was totally with me and let everything line up perfectly. While I was at my gate this pastor from here in Brazil that spoke a little English came and sat with me and we talked a while. One of the things that really touched me that he said was "My dream is to be able to preach a sermon in all English." So the whole time we talked I introduced him to some new English words and helped him know how to use certain words. Our plane finally arrived and we were on our way to Goiania where Michawn and Joel would pick me up. When I walked through the door and saw Michawn, Joel, Eissa, and Cass I started crying. Michawn started laughing and said why are you crying? I was so excited to see them I could not help it. I could hardly even talk lol. It was funny but a great feeling to finally see family that you haven't seen in over a year. We got to their house between 8:30 and 9 and some of their friends were here to have a bible study/ meeting thing. Michawn and I just went to the kitchen to chill and finish cooking the supper. After everyone left I got the privilege to be Santa for Michawn and Joel and give them all the stuff I brought to them. Michawn and I stayed up until about 2 this morning and finally went to bed after some Oreos lol. Well thats the update for the trip over. Pictures later, Michawn (the expert blogger) has to show me how to do them.

Here are a few pictures that Joel took of us when I arrived! Thanks Joel!

Getting Started

The time has come for me to head to Brazil to live with my cousin Michawn, her husband, and their 4 children for the summer. I have never really been much of a blogger or diary writer or anything of that sort, but those of you who know Michawn knows that she is a BIG time blogger. Well she told me I needed to get one and post everyday and put up pictures so everyone can have easy access to see and hear from me. So here I am getting a blog the day before leaving to go to Brazil I will be flying out of Shreveport tomorrow at 4:00 pm. Be in prayer for me, and my family that I am leaving back home. Pray that God will surround my family with comfort and peace. I can't imagine being in their shoes and watching my daughter, niece, or granddaughter leaving the country for 9 weeks. I on the other hand am very excited about this opportunity and hope that since I will be with my cousin and her children (by the way those of you who do not know, I absolutely love and adore kids) I wont get homesick. Love yall and will post more later.