First Quarter ~ 2009/2010 School Year

First Quarter was filled with many activities and events.
The time went fast and it's hard to believe this school year is 1/4 gone.
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Hannah & I both celebrated birthdays during this first quarter.
Hannah's was the day before school started & mine was the first Saturday of the school year.

Hannah had her little friends over for swimming, fun, and a sleep over to help her celebrate a decade of life.

Can you guess what Hannah's favorite color is?

I picked a delicious, home grown pineapple for my birthday.
We all enjoyed eating it with our supper.

The girls made some yummy brigadeiros (chocolate, Brazilian candies) for both of our birthdays.

Feliz Aniversario!
Celebrando com brigadeiros ~ Quarenta e um
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Brazil Independence Day
September 7th
The HS had an Independence Day party.

There were lots of fun games...balloon relays, water balloon toss, Brazil bingo, and the limbo to name a few.

Water Balloon tossing was one game that proved to be a great way to cool off.

The prizes were little mint candies.

Megan & Kim show us the variety of Brazil colored foods for supper.
Blue pasta & sauce, Green jello, Yellow drinks, & a Brazil Flag Cake
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Critters

We've seen some interesting critters this quarter. With it being dry season, we've had a high number of iguanas come out to the forest behind our house to sit and warm themselves in the sun. I've decided iguanas aren't the brightest creatures on the planet. They have a tremendous fear and respect for humans, but seem to think dogs are friendly. Our dogs seem to think iguanas are a tasty snack. Needless to say, we try to keep our eyes open for the less than brilliant iguanas who climb through our fence to join our dogs. If they make it in the fence, they rarely survive the welcome committee.

Here is our resident expert on iguanas and next door neighbor, Stew, saving yet another one from certain death.
This was a very aggressive male iguana. He was trying very hard to bite Stew or slash him with his long, razor sharp tail.

Hershey and Tapioca look on with GREAT interest as Stew takes the iguana back to the forest. Hershey, the rottweiler, doesn't know her own strength and nearly went through our fence in an effort to "assist" Stew.

Nathanael shows us a very pregnant female iguana. She was rescued before she tried to join the dogs, and was returned to the forest. Maybe we'll see some baby iguanas in the near future. We've had some of those around the house before.

Lizzy shows us another shot of the iguana.

Hannah has a tiny lizard that she caught.
We see bunches of these, both inside and outside the house.

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Spirit Week
The week before Field Day was planned as Spirit Week. The whole school got into the spirit of excitement.

There were Pirates a plenty roaming the JH/HS.

Here are our two pirates ~ Nate & Liz

Elementary had Hat Day.
Bunches of fun hats came out of closets to make appearances for that day.

Backwards Day was fun.

With clothes on backwards, many classes sat in their chairs backwards, and one elementary class even went through their schedule backwards, with their afternoon classes first.

Color Day passed without my camera present. :o(
Each class dressed in a particular color, giving the school a beautiful rainbow of colors.

Western Day

There were cowboys running wild on this day, and a few Indians too.

It was a great, spirit filled week, that led up to our end of the quarter event...

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Field Day

Field Day is always the last day of our first quarter. This year the school was divided into 3 teams.
The Marauders, The Harpy Eagles, and The Super Slugs
The teams create a banner and cheer for their team.
The teams compete in a variety of track and field competitions, with parents and teachers involved in cheering, score keeping, measuring, and timing.
The students, teachers, and parents alike, all love this day of fun and competition.

"I believe I can fly..." Go, Hannah!!!!

Caleb and his classmates ~ Jaime, Henrique, Paulo, and Lauro.
Students generally compete against folks the same age and gender, therefore making most of their competitors throughout the day the same people.

Lizzy with her main competitors ~ Rina, Mackenzie & Rachel

Many relay races are run so that all students are involved. Boys and girls run together with their teammates, according to age. Nate makes a great hand off to Bethany in the HS relay.

Each year awards are given for sportsmanship in both the elementary and secondary to a boy and girl. Caleb received the honor for the elementary boys this year. Great job, Caleb!!

At the end of the day, the team with the most points is awarded the trophy. Their team name will be engraved on the trophy and be forever remembered in AVA history.

Taking home the trophy this year was....The Super Slugs!!!
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It was a great first quarter!! Lots of fun, memories & more!!

Summer Daze ~ Brazil

Life in Brazil the past few weeks has been very busy too.

Dennis and the kids had a good time holding down the fort while I was gone.

Lizzy got the chance to cut Daddy's hair.

After a lot of concentration, a goofy looking mohawk, and a bit of help, Daddy's hair looks pretty good. Great job, Lizzy!
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Our house underwent a HUGE project that started while I was gone and got finished a week and a half after my return.
Our house had wood wall board a meter up nearly every wall. Over time the termites found that this was a great place to set up house. Dinner was constantly served for them. It was decided that the wood (and termites) needed to go, so the project began.
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Dennis and the kids took everything that might get ruined out of the house. Thankfully, our neighbors (who happened to be in the States for the month) allowed us to use their house during the process. Leaving just the wooden furniture in the house, the demolition began. The wood was stripped from the walls ruining the plaster beneath it, since much of it was glued on. They tore out the plaster back to the clay bricks. After all the wood and plaster was out, they replastered, sanded, sealed, sanded again, and then painted the walls.
During the project, we lived in both houses. We cooked, showered, used the internet, and did laundry at our house, while we slept, ate, and hung out in our neighbor's house.
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Here are some before, during, and after shots to give you an idea of what it looked like.

The livingroom with the wood paneling

The livingroom back to normal once again.

The girl's bedroom during the process

The girl's bedroom after completion. They wanted a purple and lime green room. It turned out very nice.

Our bedroom with the wood

Our bedroom in process

Our bedroom after completion

It was a long and VERY dirty process, but it's nice to be back in our home with its new face lift.

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Palavra da Vida Norte
Word of Life North

The kids went to camp this summer for a week. Caleb and Hannah went to the Kid's Camp week and Elisabeth went to the Youth Camp week. Nathanael worked on staff for both weeks of camp. The camps are completely in Portuguese, although each of our kids had at least one counselor who spoke English. Our kids always learn so much Portuguese when they attend camp. It's a great way for them to grow spiritually, culturally, and in their language skills.
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Criance's Week

Kid's Week

Hannah enjoys one of the refreshing activities in the pool.

Caleb and Gleidson, one of his counselors
Hannah and her roommates (and a few extra staffers) at the banquet/social night

Caleb with his roommates

Small group meeting time
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Joven's Week

Youth Week
Can you find Lizzy or Nathanael?

Evening meetings in the Chapel
Prova de Fogo (Fire Proof) was the theme of the two weeks.
If your life is built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, you will be fire proof.

Giant games of Twister

Team building activities and contests
The very long push-up

Team building and trust building activities with ropes and more

Nathanael and some of the other Equipe (Staff) singing, "Dance the little piggy" song.

Some snacks for sale

Helping out with an evening game

Some of the Equipe at the Joven's Social Night
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All of the kids had a great time at camp and can't wait for January when PV (Palavra da Vida) has their "summer" camps, since technically these were their "winter" camps.