We went to this movie last night,
and it was HILARIOUS!!!!!! It's not often that I laugh all the way through a movie. This one is up there with "Dumb and Dumber" If you want to see a great comedy, this is the one!

This is the Mojul River. It is just a tributary of the Amazon. We were told there were places on the Amazon River you could not see the other side.
The broken Konvi. It lost a bolt that was, apparently, most important to the shifting process. After about 45 minutes, another bolt was found to temporarily fix it. Ken had to drive in 3rd and 4th gears all the way home.
As we waited for the guys to play mechanic, we explored the nearby buildings. Julie and Kae found another tarantula~just in case you thought the first one was a fluke. Their webs were pretty cool. There were lots of little tunnels in them. This spider was on the ceiling. Watching it move was freaky (the other one in the boathouse just stayed in one place)


***All in all, this trip was so very enlightening. I have never been one for a lot of material possessions, but I was still deeply affected by all that the Brazilian people DON'T have and are still so happy. Especially, the river people. As someone on the team put it, they are the richest poor people you'll meet. I also can say that I was never so happy to be home( and away form the fire ants!!!!). I really get upset with the excess of the United States. We, as a culture, have to have it big, bigger and biggest. Living as the Brazilian people do for just a week, taught me to scale it back as much as I can. One of the other pieces I took from this trip was that I feel the need to expose my kids to more foreign language. I was very impressed (and envious) of those who were fluent in Portuguese and English. It really opened my eyes to the wonderful world of bilingual........

Like I said before, we hadn't seen anything with those first spiders.....




As we were arranging our hammocks for the night in the boathouse, I see this guy in the corner. Of course we all had to take pictures. We figured the tarantula was about 6 inches.

I had been told that as long as you don't bother them, they leave you alone. Ok. I have mosquito netting, I felt safe. However, my "roomie", Noami did not. She was pretty insistent that the spider be killed before going to bed. I did not want to be a part of that, so I can't say for sure how he met his demise.



Sleeping in the hammock was not as comfortable as it probably sounds. The Brazilians mostly sleep in them and position themselves sideways with their legs hanging off the edge. I can tell you with great certainty, there would be nothing of my body hanging over the edge of the hammock that night!!!
This is one of the churches planted along the river. In addition to the churches and clinics, PAZ also establishes filtered water systems. A cement drinking-fountain-looking contraption is filled with clean sand and rock. The water is filtered through this and captures the parasites, germs, etc. in the layers. It is a really neat process, as it doesn't use chemicals to clean the water. It may not sound like much, but for these people, clean water is a true gift. They have no power and their transportation is canoes and homemade boats. Does seeing their way of life make me appreciate mine? You bet your anglo asses!!!!!!!!
The bottom level of the boathouse was being utilized as a school. We were getting ready to depart as the kids were showing up via boat. Have I mentioned yet, how cute these little kids were? I love the looks they are giving Paul. "That is one big kid!!" Hey....they were right.....he IS one big kid!!!! ;) They watched us leave and sent us off with big smiles and waves.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we took a boat trip down the Mojul Rover, which is a tributary or the Amazon. The PAZ organization plants churches up and down the river. They will then take a group of nurses, EMTs or whatever is available to clinics set up in the churches. These people have little or no access to medical care, so this is a great service for them. Earlier in the trip, the organizer of this trip, Ken, was debriefing us regarding what we could expect on the trip. A team-member, Paul, told Ken I was an LPN. Ken then told me I could stay with Becky and be the other "station" as far as diagnosing the problem and deciding what the treatment would be. This was very exciting and terrifying at the same time. I haven't used my nursing skills in this type of capacity in over 9 years. I prayed intently that 1.) I wouldn't ultimately further injure or exacerbate some one's initial problem 2. ) I wouldn't look like an idiot, by not knowing what the hell I was doing. "Please don't let me look like an idiot, please don't let me look like an idiot....."





This is what we saw as the boat docked. They were all waiting with smiles..........:)


Prior to the trip, Kae (in green) received donations of "care packages". They had basic necessity type of products: shampoo, soap, toothpaste, brush, etc. plus a small toy. She had over 50 of these bags and items. She also purchased rubber bracelets with colors corresponding with faith words. The other bracelets had beads on them that the kids could put together themselves. This was such a hit!! It kept the kids busy while they waited for their turn.









The parent would sit down and tell Becky or Noami (in black) what the problem was, and they would translate it to me. We gave out a lot of antibiotics, Tylenol and Monistat. Paul was able to hear a prolapsed valve on a kid, but FORGOT to let me in on the action!! Just kidding, Paul!!! :) Anyway, the children were adorable!!
This is Emele. She stole my heart. Mom thought her brother had put something in her ear and wanted me to check it out. I did and thankfully, no rocks, food or bugs. However, there was a lot of "gunk". As Ken tried to scoop it out, Emele laid there completely still. She did not squirm, fuss or cry. She was such a brave little one!!!

This is Scott and Becky (on right) with the first "house parents". The parents will live in the house and basically take care of up to 10 kids living in that house.(in addition to their own two). I remember the dad is Carlos and the daughter is Karla. The son's name is James (in Portuguese) and I still can't remember the mom's name. You'll have to bear with me, seeing as how I had A LOT of Portuguese thrown at me this past week. You can't expect me to remember it all!!!! :)
Damas napping on our screening.
Green was the only color available for the screen. At first, we thought, ick. However, once we got it up, it looked really cool~like a greenhouse. The butterflies also thought so, because there were quite a few that took notice. This butterfly was soooo beautiful!!!
Our project was near completion at this point. We were pretty proud of it.

Some of my photos are a little "askew", due to me trying to be sneaky in taking them. I felt funny snapping off a lot of pictures of the Brazilian people and their area. I didn't want them to think I thought of them as a freak show. I completely felt like a "tourist".




This is Scott and Becky's dog, "Damas", which means checkers in Portuguese. Their other dog is "Bradocki" which means bad dog. Scott joked that they have two dogs, BadDog and Dumbass. Damas is part dalmatian and part greyhound or something like it. He is one fast canine!!!

This was an attempt to capture the cyclist. We saw many "families" on the bicycles. Dad pedals, mom on the back holding the baby..........Becky said she's seen families of 5 on them. Their primary means of transportation is bikes, motorcycles, scooters and if you are "rich", an automobile.
These guys look just like our own "Spanky". They were extremely fast. The top gecko was about 5-6". The bottom gecko was only about 2".

We had 2 projects while we were there. One was re-roofing the caretaker's house and the other was screening in the shelter house where Scott & Becky (who run the orphanage) hold their home group meetings. This pix is me breaking up concrete and clay tile taken off the roof. I was taking out some ingrained frustrations, I guess, cuz I ended up breaking the sledgehammer. Ooops!
This is what we did for three days.......I felt like I couldn't get screening out of my brain. I have to say, my hand strength greatly diminished over those days.. until I was using both hands to roll the screen into the grooves in the frame. The biggest challenge, however, was avoiding the fire ant nests. I was not good at this and have the bites to prove it. I may be heading to the doctor, to get prednisone to relieve the itching. Those buggers LOVED me!
The trip to the grocery store was very educational. Not sure this is really batmilk (can you imagine the bat "milking" process????), but worth a picture, anyway. Given the delicacies of the Brazilians, batmilk wouldn't be a stretch.
To the average eye, this looks like a log. Not so. This is a skinned anaconda. The story goes.......this guy attacked the dog of one of the families who live on the river. (For future reference, we call these people "river people" and it is not a derogatory phrase) The husband and wife killed it and skinned it. It was missing it's head, but still was 19 feet long!!!!! The next day as we came on it again, it had bloated to the point of explosion. That smell was burned into my nose the rest of the day. Nothing like it.

BACK FROM BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So, I returned home Sunday morning from the mission trip. We arrived in Miami Saturday evening and stayed there that night. I learned of the flooding in Iowa, and immediately started calling home. The only contact we had with our families was the day we got there and again a week later! Being cut off from home was probably the hardest part. I am very happy to report all is well with my family. Unfortunately, thousands of others cannot say the same. Many prayers go out to those affected by the flooding!!

So, here are only some of the pictures I have to share right now. I will be posting all of them on a different website. I will post the link as soon as I have everything set up. I will also be getting pictures from others on the mission team that I can post later.
This is the childrens home at the orphanage. It is the first of 5?? This is where we stayed, since there were no children there, yet. The house parents move in within the next week or so. They hope to have kids within the month. The vehicles were Komvis. Bought new, but you can only get them in Mexico/South America due to safety reasons.......should have been a huge red flag, but had no other way of getting around. I can safely say, riding in these was the most dangerous and scariest part of the trip!!
This is the team at the local cyber cafe the evening we got in.
Our first spider sighting. We thought this spider was huge, but we hadn't seen NOTHING yet!!
Again, we were very interested in this molted tarantula skin. One of our team members brought her 8 year old daughter, Sidney. She was "critter girl". She was always exploring for bugs and lizards. No fear, this one. She found this little guy.

Well, I'm nearing the departure time for the Brazil trip. We leave Columbus Friday morning. Right now, our group is frantically emailing back and forth regarding our luggage and what we are to bring. I've been quite impressed with the organization being done prior to leaving. I have a lot of people asking if I'm really excited. I have to say that I'm more nervous than excited right now. Once I get on that airplane and finally take a deep breath, I think I'll be fine. I'm stressed about the packing, the flight, the possibility of disease~thank you health department for your very aggressive "pro-vaccine" tactics.....but most of all, I'm stressed about leaving the kids and Eric. This will be the longest I've ever left them. Eric will assume all responsibilities: cooking, cleaning, feeding the kids, laundry, and getting each kid to their ballgame. Oh yeah, I'll have to remember to write a note with instructions to feed the dogs. Last year, when Ally and I went to Georgia, after 3 days, Eric realized he had forgotten to feed Gracie and Boo. He only came to this conclusion after seeing the dogs repeatedly swipe food off the table.................geesh!!!!!!
I'll have two flights to brush up on my Portuguese. We were taught a few words and phrases for the kids. We were told that even if we butcher the pronunciation, the kids appreciate the attempt. I am excited to hang with the kids. I'm sure I will feel like taking them home with me. However, I hear customs frowns on bringing children out/in without proper papers. Damn!!
I will blog about all that we encounter when I get back ~ after I love on my kids for several days!!!!!!!!!