Visa News: The Countdown Begins

Good news! We have an appointment with the US Consulate in Rio de Janeiro for Nádya's visa!

The interview will be the 26th of March. We just found out this morning, and have a lot of planning to do between now and then. We do not even know when we will need to leave for Rio (but we know at least a day or two before the 26th).

More news as it comes.

While you are here, an update on Patrick and Nyna: Nyna's visa has been approved, and they are heading back here to spend some time with the family before heading off to Florida. They get in tonight at around 11 PM local time.

Patrick Has Arrived

Patrick got here this morning on the right plane, and even a little early. The only hitch in the journey was that his suitcases did not arrive with him. They are supposed to come later today according to the airline.

[Update (Feb. 21 7:30 PM local): Patrick and Nyna have headed off to Rio de Janeiro this morning, and I got an email from Patrick that they had arrived safely. Patrick's luggage got here after midnight last night, so it did not get here "the next day," but he was happy to have it all the same. ;) ]

Pat’s Blog: The Big Trip!

The plane tickets have been purchased! I will be leaving for Brazil on Tuesday, Feb 19th, arriving Wednesday the 20th, around 7 in the morning.

[From Pat’s Blog: The Big Trip!]

After a long wait, Patrick and Nyna finally get to head off and get married! We are very excited for them, and are looking forward to seeing Patrick again. 

For new readers, or those who don't read every entry: Patrick is a good friend Karl met while at Multnomah Bible College, and Nyna is Nádya's sister.

Our own visa process is (as far as we know) moving along behind the scenes in Rio de Janeiro. So we are trying to be patient while waiting. We will keep you posted as soon as we find anything out.

Chasing Rabbits

Have you ever chased a rabbit? I haven't. But I imagine that it would be very difficult to keep up.

I feel a bit like I have been chasing a rabbit recently. It (hopefully) will not be fruitless, but it is very exhausting. Starting a business of your own is a ton of work. Have I mentioned that I am in a foreign country? It is very rewarding, though.

Here are a few tidbits of news that have happened recently:

My congratulations to Patrick and Nyna: They are engaged! It all went down Sunday morning, and all are very happy about it.

The wedding does not have a firm date, as yet, but probably next year around the mid-year mark.

Patrick still had to go home that evening, but he will be back. Personally, having done that a couple times, I know what it feels like: Lame. Keep both of them in your prayers.

We had the occasion to celebrate our first wedding anniversary on Sunday. It has been a wonderful year, and I cannot imagine making it through such a year with a woman of lesser quality. Nádya is the best kind of person to have as a spouse, friend, and companion in life. There is no doubt in my mind that God put us together for a purpose, and that we are where we are for a purpose as well.

I am not sure how to segue to this, so let's just jump in (or not, depending on how literally you take that...): Here in this neighborhood of Teresina there is not a city sewer system, so a septic tank is “the way to go.” It seems the tank that has been outgrown or was not big enough in the first place, so to take care of the problem they are installing a much larger one.

The hole has been dug by hand over the last couple of days, and they are rolling the sleeves, (?) which are about 1 meter across by about half a meter, into it today. It seems considerably smaller than what I remember from when I saw one dug up when I was a kid.
One last thing of note. I was looking at the statistics from this site. This little map shows where people are that visit (the yellow dots). The bigger the dot, the more individuals from that city have visited. This goes back to May.