My family vacation

For a wife, especially when you are a foreigner, one of the most important things is to get along with your in-laws. In my case, I don't have to make any efforts for that. I have loved them all since the first time I was introduced to them. I really feel I am a part of this wonderful family, they are all very sweet and intelligent people ( I'm surprised they liked me!) With them I don't feel just welcome, I feel accepted! And I say the same for the North Beckley Church of Christ where I found a cozy environment and very nice people!

Now, enjoy the pictures!

This is Virginia, our good friend!

This is Ruth, she enjoys sending us cards!
My sister in law Angela!

Above, my family game night!

We all like to spend time playing games. :)

Aren't we cute? hehe

This is the adorable Grandma Boyer

teaching Matt how to play Sudoku!

We had a great time with them!
I really feel part of them!

I

I am sooo blessed with my new sister!






She is so patient to teach me how to sew!

This is Charley, he is also a member of the family!

This is Grandpa Boyer teaching me Sudoku! It's addicting!
We spent magic moments together!
I thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful Christian family!

2008 Plans

We are dressed up to work for God! :)
This year our goal is to continue the couples' ministry. for the first time our church is going to have meetings once a month from March on (January and February are vacation months)!

Please pray for Davi and Katia (my students) and Cesar and Viviane (our friends)!

This year, we are working for the health of the couples, because if they are not well, the church won't be healthy!

May God bless this ministry!

"Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor". Ecclesiastes 5:9

Our trip to the shopping center!!!

Last Monday we took our niece and nephew, Mariah and Cassiano, to visit Santa Claus at the shopping center. They are only 18 months old, and they were really afraid of Santa! With them we are practicing to be parents! Check out the pictures! :)

Cassiano is not happy about it! He is not understanding anything! ;)

Mariah couldn't stay at Santa's lap, she needed to call her mommy Carlota to take the picture!

We also couldn't resist, as we don't have any pictures with Santa when we were kids!

Mariah was terrified by Santa! These mothers like to obligate the kids to take pictures!

Cassiano also needed his mommy Patrícia to take the picture, he also cries whe he sees Santa!

He didn't last 10 seconds on Santa's lap! He's thinking "Get me away from this crazy guy!"

Now you know a little bit more about our Brazilian family, these two little kids are very special for us! We want to be there for them, and be an influence and example for them to follow Jesus! They mean hope for us! We imagine that they can do great things and make a difference in the lives of people who and will surround them!

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these". (Mark 10:14)

Habitat for Humanity in São Leopoldo

Once upon a time in São Leopoldo (metro area of Porto Alegre) three little princesses lived in a very poor house like this one. One day, a group of Christians from many different denominations got together and decided to do something to make a difference in their lives.

This group of people are from Habitat for Humanity, above you can see Matt translating for them. They are Christians from different parts of the world, mostly USA, getting together to build houses for humanity. Instead of going on vacation, they travel to serve others!

In March I took a Saturday to help them to communicate with the real construction workers and a young engineer. I helped them to carry some bricks and also played with the three little princesses in the house, all the family was involved!

This is Pat, he came all the way from the USA with his wife just to serve and work hard, really hard! And he didn't need to speak Portuguese, there were times that he could communicate just with a glance, or some gesture! The universal language there was solidarity!

This is his wife, she is also Pat! They stayed in São Leopoldo for a week, and will be remembered for much longer in this family!

These are the three little princesses of the house! They were soooo happy with so many volunteers speaking different languages... But the important thing is that they will be fine and have more quality of life. They will have dignity!

This is the team of volunteers with the Brazilian family and the construction workers! Together they could do wonders, even raising up walls!

At the same time 39 houses were being built , after Easter more 240 houses were built this year in São Lepoldo, involving hundreds of Volunteers like Pat and Pat St. George!

I thank all of them for doing this. It is not easy. I just worked translating for them for 1 single day, and of course I helped by carrying bricks, by the end of the day I was so tired that I slept for 14 hours...

The three little princesses helped a lot, too! If I was tired after a day, can you imagine how tired they were? Maybe not. They were sooooo excited about having a new home that they might have forgotten to be tired!

This picture was taken yesterday, 7 months after. Adrielle (10 yrs old) is on the left, Adrianne (13 yrs old) is on the right. The house is ready! The princesses have their castle now! :)

Here it is! After an initial work of 40 days, with different groups working every week, and continued work by the Brazilians, it's finished! Together we can make a difference! I am happy that I could have a small part in this house! I am really motivated to work more in the future, and make more difference! We can work wonders in the name of Jesus!

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another" 1 Peter 4:10

Couple's meeting / fourth Edition

Bossa Nova show!

Renato & Branda
Moema & Roberto
Davi & Kátia
The Signorets


Benay & Kevin
César & Viviane

Lorena & Lauro

Me & my cake!










Saturday, we had our fourth couple's meeting with the help of Branda and Renato. We used the parlor of our building. We had less couple's this time, 8 couples! But the good thing is that we had 2 couple's visiting; Davi and Kátia, my English students, and César and Viviane, friends of ours, they had us over for a barbecue when my mon and sister in law were visiting !

Love wins!!!

This is Carolina Crippa, we just had a farewell party for her at the company. She was learning English for a romantic reason, she is going to marry an American from New Jersey. They had been dating for three years, and finally after all the bureocracy they will get married and be together. I'm glad I can be part of this romantic story by teaching her to say lovely words to her future husband. I really appreciate this couple for overcoming all the difficulties and distance to be together, they prove that when there is true love, there are no barries!!! :))) I'm sooo happy for them! I told her to look for a church of Christ to make friends and get some support, it is her first time in the US, and the adaptation can be difficult! Please pray for this new couple! We are going to try to meet in December, as New Jersey is closer to West Virginia. I always try to do more than my duty for my students! :) We are starting a beautiful friendship!

This is my english group of one of the companies I work for. We were having a farewell party for Carolina. We are sooooo happy for her.

The group is doing great, they are all systems analysts and programmers, so they need English to work. It is a really nice group to work with! And then there were 4! I really like to work with this group, but sometimes I need to be strict when they are not studying enough. By the way, they're still waiting for the Bibles in English!

Our couple's ministry continues!

Hi, this is Davi, he is my English student. He was presented here before. This last Saturday, Matt and I had dinner with Davi and his wife Cátia. We had a great time together. We also invited them to visit us at the next couple's meeting on November 17th. They were really optimists about it. They are both very intelligent and open mind. Cátia works for a Dutch company for hair products called Keune, she is a technician. Next year I am going to work for this company to teach English to hair professionals, as they have to travel to have courses abroad, that is being a pretty big project for me right now, as I am preparing my own English book for this purpose. God has opened many doors for me since I started to use my gift and acquaitances to serve and glorify the name of Jesus! I ask you to pray that our relationship with this couple grow! And also pray for their relationship as a couple!