A Weekend Full of Celebrating!!!

On Thursday, February 25th, Nathanael turned 16!

On Friday, February 26th, the HS had a Valentine's Banquet.
Yes, I know this isn't really close to Valentine's Day, but the weekend closest to that fell on our Carnaval Break. So, it was planned for the Friday it would work best.

The High School had a great time enjoying yummy food...

...making fun memories...

...and playing fabulous games!
Stack those people up in the Stack Game!

~~~
On Saturday, February 27th, Nathanael hosted a birthday bash at home.

About 16 HSers (& a couple JHers) came to help him celebrate his new year of life.
We had a yummy meal and then an exciting...

...Photo Scavenger Hunt!!!
With two teams, we got some very cool pictures.
Here are just a few of the 25 each team had to get.

Spelling "NATE"

Two great ways to do that.

Jumping by the Mosaic

In the Globe

Shaking hands with the Director

With 16 of something
Plenty of flip-flops laying around that day...what a great choice!

In a Pin Wheel

All in one bathroom stall

Crazy faces with an elementary teacher

Bible Story imitation ~ Daniel in the Lion's Den

With a wild creature

In "Jail"

Under one umbrella

Bench pressing with fans!!
GO, Lizzy!!!

In a Goal...

Upside-down

Imitating a Winter Olympic Sport
Bobsledding
(Got enough people in your bobsled?? Quite obviously we didn't watch a lot of the Winter Olympics here. Not a huge viewing crowd in here in Brasil.)

In a Bridge

There were many unique & fun photos from an afternoon of fun!
Fun times!
~~~
After the photo fun, we sang to Nathanael (it was about the 50th time he'd been sung to over the course of the past couple days)...

...and then had DESSERT!!!

Cake & Ice Cream for everyone!!

The kids then hung around playing Wii for the next several hours.
A great time was had by all!

Unique Brazil!!

We see a lot of unique things here at times. From animals to signs, you never know what you're going to see next. I try to remember to take my camera with me wherever I go, so that I can capture these unique moments. Here are a few.

This fruit is a cupuacu (ku pu a sue). It is a regional fruit that has no English name. The shell is VERY hard and while this one was low enough on the tree that we could take a photo of it, most of them are so high up, you hope you're not walking by underneath the tree when they fall. I think they could kill a person if they hit you from high up.

There is a flock of parrots that live around campus. Elisabeth and I found seven of them feeding in a star fruit tree right after a rain one afternoon. They are very beautiful (although not as pretty when wet), and allowed us to take several pictures before they flew off.

I found this little frog by my laundry room not long ago. He was a type I had not seen before. With rainy season here, we now hear MANY different frog sounds...whistles, chirps, croaks, and beeps.

I had a sunny day and decided to hang my sheets on the line outside. I hadn't used the line in a several weeks and this is what I found...tiny plants growing on the ropes.

This is a sign that I've passed many times at a store near here. It's painted on in the parking spot, next to the handicapped spot. I guess hunched over, little old men get to park here. :o)
~~~
Brazil is a unique country with many unique things to see.

Fun Times

We tried to fill our time with lots of fun memories during the time Dennis was in the States. We had our Brazilian friends, Carlos & Luiza Pires and Marcos & Lilliam Cohen, over for a traditional American winter meal of Chili and Corn Bread.

It was a great meal, and thankfully the temps dropped to about 80 degrees that evening so we didn't sweat too much while we eat our chili. :o)

Carlos (and his girls, Ana Luiza & Ana Carolina) entertained us on the piano.

Marcos plays the clarinet with the symphony in Brasilia. He and Lilliam played several duets for us on the clarinet and piano. It was a fun and laughter filled evening for all of us.
~~~
Belem got a new shopping mall - Boulevard Shopping - in recent months, so while Nathanael was working out at camp and Caleb & Hannah were campers, I went with Elisabeth to check it out.

We went with another mom and a couple of Elisabeth's friends, Bethany & Rachel.

The girls "just had to have" new matching shirts for the occasion.
It is a great mall. Very modern, with some unique places...like...this bathroom.

This sign says, "Entrance prohibited if older than 17 years of age." (loose translation)
And they have someone there to enforce that rule. So Cindy (the other mom) and I got to wondering, "What's so special that you have to be a teen to use this bathroom?" So we sent the camera in with the girls. :o)

This is what they found. Wide screen TVs playing music videos, funky decor and unique fixtures. It was quite funny really. Gotta love foreign countries.

Christmas Past ~ 2009

The end of the first semester was filled with lots of fun activities to help the time speed by. Since Dennis was gone for his surgery, we were all glad for the busyness, which helped the time go quickly.

Ronda Hagar is our wonderful piano teacher here at AVA. We are so blessed to have her. All of the kids take lessons from her and have excelled under her instruction. It's such a blessing for them to have the opportunity to study piano and use their abilities for the Lord. Each Christmas, Ronda plans a Christmas Recital. What a great way to hear the kids play and celebrate the Season of Joy!

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Elisabeth had a humorous role of "Hubert" in the Junior High Christmas play titled, "Tis the Season." She's a natural born actress and really enjoys being in drama. It was a great play!

The elementary had a Christmas program too.
Caleb had a lead role in that play and did a great job.

Caleb asks the "pastor" what present he would give Baby Jesus.

Hannah sang in the children's choir.
She is the first girl on the left in the back row.

I videoed the Piano Recital and the two plays and we sent them to Dennis with someone going back to the States. He and his parents were thrilled to be able to watch these events.

~~~

Christmas Eve

We visited a city near here that decorated the town with TONS of 2 liter bottles. It was amazing to see the creativity.

An amazing 2 liter Christmas tree.

We enjoyed a nice evening with friends on Christmas Eve.
~~~
Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, we went out to eat at a nice restaurant down on the Amazon River front. Great food...but we sure missed having Dennis with us.