WE HAVE A BUILDING

WE FINALLY HAVE A BUILDING! THINGS ARE REALLY GOING TO GET MOVING NOW! THE LIST OF THINGS TO DO SEEMS TO BE ENDLESS BUT IT IS ALL SO EXCITING AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW THIS ALL WORKS OUT. THE LOCATION IS GREAT, THE GARAGES BELOW WILL BE EASY TO TRANSFORM INTO CLASSROOMS AND THE UPSTAIRS HOUSE IS BEAUTIFUL. I FEEL REALLY LUCKY TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIND THIS BUILDING. IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! WE ARE GOING TO PAINT IT AND FIX LITTLE THINGS UP. I WILL POST BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES ONCE THE WORK HAS BEEN DONE.

Months

Janeiro, Fevereiro, Março, Abril, Mayo, Junho, Julho, Augusto, Setembro, Outubro, Novembro, Dezembro.

Graciano, Kaike and I worked with the months yesterday. After creating index cards with the months on them we worked on recognizing how they are spelt, then we learned the order that they go in. You can see Graciano (above) thinking pretty hard about what comes after August. Kaike (below) needed a little help but he was able to do it in the end. I think the really like learning, when there is someone there to teach them. These boys are pretty lucky to have the mother that they do, she teaches them as much as she can.

After about an hour of learning about the months, practicing math, and playing games with the alphabet we starting playing with the camera and Gabrielly. She normally doesn't smile in pictures but we were able to get some good ones this time! When we would show her the pictures of herself she would smile and twirl in a circle. She is adorable!

I discovered that after the flash of the photo Gabrielly blinks her eyes and then smiles really big. as if the flash scared her but then she liked it. So the best way to take a picture of her is to take two in a row and the second one she is always smiling. Now the goal is to get her to smile in the first one...

Feliz Páscoa!

Easter here in Brazil was wonderful. I spent Saturday up at the orphanage with all the kids. They had visitors from Rio de Janeiro come and offer their support. It is always nice to see how the community helps the children at Casa do Caminho. Zeca, a famous Brazilian singer, brought huge chocolate eggs for all the children. The generosity here is amazing! So many people help and so many more want to if they could.

After lunch we took all the kids down to the river to play for a while. It was really nice to cool off on such a hot day. Plus what kid doesn't love to play in the water?!

This is what happens when you let children take pictures with your camera... they make me laugh

This is the view along the road up to the orphanage. The rolling mountains are breath taking, and everything is just so green!

On Sunday I was able to go to church in Caxias, the next big city. It is a great ward filled with wonderful people. In the afternoon it was nice to go around and visit all the children and families I love here.





But my favorite things about Easter was being able to talk with my family. I love my family so much and it was really nice to hear their voices again.

"The Better Part of One's Life Consists of His Frienships*"

Brazil is such a wonderful place to be. I love the weather (except lately it has just been raining!), landscapes, culture, history, but most of all I love the people! I forgot how fun it would be to visit old friends and see how their lives have changed and progressed over the past year.

The other day I was able to spend some time with Cleberson. He is now 8 years old! We went on a walk and stopped at this little train play structure. He is posing so cool.

Graciano, Kaike, Caio and I having too much fun with the camera! These boys are so great! I try to visit them everyday, they just add so much joy to my life! You can tell by their sweet smiles how happy they are. They make me feel so special, I hope to one day do the same for them!




Today I went and visited my friend Marly. Her and her family have always been very special to me. Last December she had a baby girl. It was so sweet holding her for the first time. It was also so nice to see how Danielle had grown up.

Vitória is such a joy to be around. She looks pretty happy about getting some candy huh?

*Abraham Lincoln

Flowers in Brazil

Today around 11:30 I was working on a project at home when the phone rang. It was a man asking how to get to my house. This was a little strange I thought. But I had given out my number to several people to contact me regarding a building so I thought it was just that. After a little conversation he said that he is in Caxias, the closet big city, and that he has a delivery for me and needed to know how to get here. I had no idea what it was but he told me to meet him in the center of my town in an hour and a half.

To my surprise I had flowers delivered to me! In Brazil! My boyfriend Dallin sent them and they actually made it to me! The delivery guy had to ride the bus for an hour and a half just to deliver them.
Dallin even remembered my favorite flower. What a great guy huh?! This gorgeous bouquet has made my whole week!

Finding a building is harder than it seems, However there is hope

After a full day of searching and asking everyone if they knew of a building for sale yesterday, Eveline and I were exhausted. However we made some good contacts and have come one step closer to finding the right location. What does looking for a building consist of you ask? It means that you walk down the street and stop in every store, every market, every side bar and ask if they want to sell their building or if they know of one for sale. Brazilians normally want to help so they tell you to go talk to this person or that person. Usually resulting in nothing more than a rat chase.

However now that we have been searching for a while people that we have approached before are coming up to us and tell us they know of this house or that building for sale. Yesterday we were able to actually find a few locations. One that looks like it might work. We can only hope at this point. Progression is being made!

Aside from searching for a building I have also found time to visit the Neto Cruz family that I love so much. Here are a few pictures from the water balloon fight that we had last week.

Graciano

This is my God daughter Gabriely, isn't she adorable?!

Everyone enjoying being wet! It is so hot here! I think it broke 100!

Yesterday while I was walking to the city I saw Josivan and Adriana! This was the first time that I was able to see them this trip. They were just walking home from school. I can't believe how much they've grown up!

Brazil seems to become more beautiful everyday that I am here. I guess because I am living my dream of helping to keep children off the streets. This Culture Center will be my life for the next 6 months and I am looking forward to everyday of it! And now I have a 2nd man in command, Eveline from Holland. It has been great working with her and I feel that we will be able to accomplish more together than I thought we could. Two is always better than one!

A Week and a Half in the Land of Beauty

Officially being here in beautiful Brazil for 12 days now makes me remember why I love it here so much! It has been fantastic to visit old friends and play with the kids again. On my first day here I went up to Casa do Caminho to visit the children and see how it has improved over the last year. It was amazing! There is a fantastic group of volunteers and staff that have made it such an enjoyable place to be.
We are currently looking for a building to purchase so that we can open the Culture Center here in Xerém. Making sure that we have the right building and the right location is vital to the success of this project. With another week of searching for the building, we hope to have many good options to chose from. Then we can start this new adventure!
Over the last week and a half I have been able to spend a lot of time with the group of children here in the city that I got so close to last time. These are the children that are my main reason for returning here and starting the Culture Center. We have had water balloon fights, played card games, and laughed a lot! They teach me so much every time I am with them. it is such a pleasure to be here with them. I am looking forward to a fantastic 6 months here in beautiful Brazil!