Making a Home

 Cleaning Tips and Tricks:

• In my humble opinion, newspaper cleans windows better than paper towels.  (And it's free!)  
• Gel alcohol works well for the stove top and kitchen sink.
• To reuse zip-lock baggies: wash them and rub the baggie upside down against the backsplash of your kitchen.  They will stick and dry out quickly.
• We've been washing dishes with coconut bar soap instead of liquid detergent.  It's really sudsy and natural.  For those of you that will come visit, you have to try it!  

Etiquette in Brasil:

• Greet people with a hug and kiss
• Hold any type of sandwich or hamburger with a napkin
• Offer food and/or gum to others
• Open a present in front of the giver the moment you receive it
• Thank you notes aren't necessary (actually nonexistent)
• And above all else, when you'd like to make a friend, bake cookies.  (Brasilians love them!)

Overdue Pictures of Our Apartment:

What a blessing!  Our very own home... We have 1 big, open room (living room, then dining room, then office), 2 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms.  The apartments and houses in the city have tile in the bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms, and marble or granite counter tops and hard wood floors.  These give the apartments so much character (and make the apts. easier to clean too!).  Looking forward to having American visitors one day!

May Pics!

Vivi (our pastor's wife), Marcela, and I made over 500 typical chocolate Brazilian candies (brigadeiro) for Rebekah's 3rd Birthday Party!  Prince Charming and Princess Fiona came to the party.  Marcela, Princess Fiona, another friend, and myself blew up each balloon you see in the background.  I learned a lot about decorating for children's birthday parties! 

Dinner with friends from church, our teammates and friends visiting from the States...

Some kind of political protest in Centro...

"While there is a man homeless, without bread, without education, all progress is false." -translation by Michelle (be generous, friends)  :)  


May has been a blessing.  We continue to take the same number of hours of Portuguese class 3 days a week and go to campus 2 days a week.  We feel like we're still acclimating to life in the city by taking the bus and learning our way around.  The last couple weeks have been especially encouraging for us because of the presence of the students from Memphis that arrived mid-May.  It's a gift translating when we can and relating to Brazilians with the Americans on campus and at events.  It's been busy but fun.