Some Photos

They grow up fast. Oh, we were warned. We even believed the warnings. We just weren't prepared for the reality. With apologies for the long absence (I have to play with the kids sometime, you know), here is a little update to what is going on in the life of the Winegardner clan, Ocala edition.

Karl (That would be me. But this parenthetical interjection aside, I will refrain from referring to myself in the first person.) has been gainfully employed as an insurance agent since late May. He enjoys helping people with their insurance needs. If you want to learn more about what he does take a look at the new insurance website he recently created and published, and share it with a friend or two.

The kids are growing and learning. Hendrick is walking and babbling. He understands just about everything we tell him to do, and is beginning to talk. Kylie is very excited about Christmas. She has been counting down the days for about two weeks now. Every day she asks if "tomorrow is Saturday," and then, "Why not?" Or, "When will it be?" "Can I open my presents now?"

While we all enjoy the sunshine that is so prevalent in Florida, however this time of year reminds us particularly sharply how far away from friends and family we are. Somewhere between the Left Coast of the USA, and the Northeast of Brazil. We miss y'all.

There are more pictures of the kids from the past few months here. Karl really has to get out the door to work, or he would write more... Merry Christmas!

Easter and Other Things

We are still here. And with all this rapture nonsense, I guess that phrase has a double meaning to it tonight. At any rate, what I mean is that we do actually remember that we have this website. And friends and family who like to read about what is up in our corner of life. Due to God's provision we have moved to our own apartment. Hendrick turned seven months old a month ago tomorrow. There are pictures of him on our photo album. He is wearing 12-month-old clothes these days, and really likes his big sister.

Easter came and went, and we (ahem, I...)didn't get anything written. That was also when we celebrated Hendrick's birth last month. But there are pictures!

New City, New Start

We made it to Ocala, Florida. Now we are trying to find work for me (Karl), then we will be looking for housing. The weather is much cooler than that of Teresina, for which we are thankful, and we have already found a nearby park which Kylie loves to play at.

Since Patrick and Nyna are also here, we have been hanging out with them a bit as well, which is fun. In fact, the other day we were able to take Kylie swimming at their pool and Nyna took some pictures of the fun (click on the photo on that page to see other pictures as well).

We are doing well, but we do have a lot on our plate, so if you don't hear from us for a bit likely we are working at getting our new life settled in. Its an exciting adventure. At least that is what I keep trying to convince myself of.

Trip Postponed

The US Flag flies over the John Day Dam

Kylie got it first (and probably the worst so far), then Nádya, now Hendrick and I have it as well. Whatever "it" is forced us to postpone our travel plans for a few days. Fever, sore throat, headache, the works.

We will now be leaving Monday, instead of this afternoon.

Fortunately, we retained the same schedule for our flights and the train, everything is just moved out a couple of days. We really hope to be well by then, since Carnival season is coming up here in Brazil, and seats are scarce.

Returning to The States

We have been a bit busy of late making preparations, and posting about this has been put off a couple of times. We are preparing for our return trip to the US on Friday the 18th!

Hendrick's passport arrived, and we have our tickets; we are now Florida-bound. We are excited and nervous. Excited because of the new chapter in life, and the possibilities it holds. Nervous because there are so many unknown factors (and a few other factors that we know all to well).

We will miss the family and friends here in Teresina, but we know that God has called us to be in Florida.

We do have a celebration planned for Hendrick's fourth month, but I don't know if there will be time to post about it (not that we won't try, we know you like the pictures grandma!).

January Birthdays

Each of us is a year older now.

Nádya and I each got to mark the turning of the new year by also celebrating our birthdays. While it was my intent to get you told about each celebration separately, something came up, and I couldn't. Okay, that isn't really true; I forgot. Now I really do feel older.

There are a lot more photos at our photo web album, including pictures of the awesome guitar cake my mother-in-law made for me with help from my wonderful wife. And, of course, lots of pictures of both kids.

Hendrick celebrated four months on the 22nd

Hendrick turned four months on the 22nd. At his checkup a couple of days later, he was 9 kilograms, and 68 centimeters (19.8 lbs, 26.77 inches). When the nurse weighed him, she did a double-take, and ended up weighing him again. Yes, he is that big.

For comparison, Kylie was 7.5 kilograms at five months. See also, Kylie at Four Months.

Stay tuned for information about our return to the US. We think we are getting close, just want to be sure all the pieces are in place before the plane takes off.

Recent Photos

Kylie

There have been a few times where the shutter of the camera went off recently. Not all of them are in this album, but it is worth sharing. Some are things that "just happened" around the house, and some are from events or visitors that came. Hope you enjoy!

Also, if you are looking for something else to do, you might check out Karl's blog.

Christmas 2010

Kylie, Nádya, Karl, and Hendrick on Christmas 2010

We had a simple, but enjoyable Christmas with Nádya's family. We had lunch Christmas day instead of the usual Brazilian tradition of celebrating at midnight after Christmas Eve; mostly because the kids would not have made it that long into the night.

Lunch was a marinated turkey, rice, beans, and a fruit salad. All of which were spectacular. Especially the turkey gravy. Dessert was a chocolate bunt cake filled with passion fruit mousse. I would still like another piece of that.

Kylie got a bike for Christmas.

Kylie giving her great-grandmother a checkup with her new Dr. set.

More pictures can be found at our Picasa Web Album.

Hendrick: Three Months

Hendrick is a big boy. On the 21^st we took him for a checkup, and he weighed 7.05 kilograms (15.54 lbs), and measured 63.5 centimeters (25 in). He is quite the little guy, and we love having him around. He loves to smile and laugh almost as much as he likes to eat. He traveled great on our recent trip to Fortaleza, and he is outgrowing clothes faster than we can change them.

Family singing to sleepy Hendrick.

Mickey Mouse Cake

There are more pictures in our album.

See also, Kylie: Three Months

Kylie Clowning Around

Kylie Clowning Around

Kylie got some paints recently, and discovered that they stuck to her skin. She asked to be painted as a clown, and here is the result.

Fortaleza Trip

Last Monday we went to Fortaleza to apply for Hendrick's Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and his US Passport. Monday night we got on a bus, but only after much anticipation from Kylie. She was more excited to be on the bus and going somewhere than anyone. After settling in for the eight to ten hour ride, though, she settled down and went to sleep.

More than a couple times when we have traveled, we have encountered taxi drivers that either don't know the part of town we are going to, or want to run up the meter. I decided that planning ahead and printing out a map with directions would be better. It was a great idea. The taxi driver took us right to the address on the map.

Except the address was wrong.

I am still not sure how that happened, but once we got it figured out the address was wrong, I went from my memory. The problem was, that this guy had no interest in what I remembered, and insisted on getting more phone credits and calling for directions (all while the meter was running, of course). He came back with the same information I remembered, and we were on our way.

We now have a new family rule: Don't get in taxis where the driver is really old.

At the Consular Agent, we submitted our paperwork and discovered that we would have to get new photos, since the ones we had were not the right size. So once we got those taken and submitted, we had the rest of the day to play, since our bus was scheduled to leave at 9:00 PM.

We had lunch at a great restaurant, which I can't remember the name of, then we were off to the beach. After a short stop at a mall. At the restaurant we had been told that the beach was "800 meters that way," it ended up feeling like 1600 meters. But what do I know?

The fun part was that Kylie was so excited about the beach that she forgot we were walking. By the time we got there she had just started wondering if we would ever get there. She loved the water. We played for a while, had some coconut water and ice cream, and then washed up and caught a taxi back to the bus station. This taxi ride was much less eventful.

At the bus station we had some time, still, so Kylie made some friends with other kids waiting there. Once we were on the bus, she was asleep. The four of us were sharing two seats, so one might imagine that the kids slept better than the parents.

The first thing Kylie said when she woke up? "Daddy, let's go to the beach!"

Hendrick's US Passport could take almost two months to get here, they said. That is when we plan to schedule our trip back to the States.

Thanksgiving For Two Months

While it is difficult to believe that two months have flown by, it also seems that same time has crawled along. Hendrick is growing. A lot. As I mentioned the other day on Twitter, he weghed in at 6 kilograms, and 59 centimeters.

We had a party to celebrate Thanksgiving and Hendrick's first two months (a couple days late for that, but it was more fun and less work that way), and also included a friend of the family, Iara, whose birthday is the 25th.

Our meal included pizza, rice, beans, creme de galinha, and a potato salad. The food was fantabulous. No turkey, though. The desserts were equally good (okay, what dessert isn't better than the main course), but I did still miss the pecan pie.

See also, our photo album of the event, and  Kylie at two months.

Singing In The (Tropical) Rain

From A Couple of Videos

This one has been a while in coming. Kylie looked outside and saw that it had started to rain (something not so common here in October). She had been at it for a few minutes by the time I got the camera out, then the battery died, cutting short the video.

We are getting our paperwork together for Hendrick's US Passport etc. and getting ready to start planning our trip home. More on that to come.

In the meantime, you might want to read about my recent trip to the Delta do Parnaíba in Piauí. I am also working on a post about our Thanksgiving, keep an eye out for that tomorrow.

More Pictures of Hendrick

In the post about Hendrick´s Arrival, I mentioned that "He has his mother's toes." Someone emailed me asking for pictures. So the other day I took some, and put them in our photo album. The album is called Hendrick Hands and Feet, and despite the name, has some photos of Kylie, Nádya, and Karl in it as well.


We have all been fighting a cold of late, even though it is summer here (which means temperatures are about 40° C (104° F) every day). All that to say that not much has changed since the last post, except that we are working on getting well, and Hendrick and Kylie are growing.

Kylie and 1515

Kylie asking Marcelo Castro to vote for himself.

Kylie's Brazilian grandfather has a few political connections, among them is Marcelo Castro. During the previous months there have been numerous campaign materials around the house, and Kylie has caught on. We went to meet Marcelo Castro the other day, and took a few pictures I thought we would share.

Kylie had a ball. She went to each person waiting to meet with him and asked them to vote for "Marcelo Castro, number 1515." The vote here is electronic, and each candidate has a number corresponding to the office for which they are running.

There are also some other good shots of Kylie, and a few other pictures at our photo album.

Hendrick's Arrival

Hendrick Josiah was born the 22nd of September at 8:48 local time via C-section. He was 4.175 kilos, and 51 cm long*.

This time I stayed in the hospital with Nádya while her mother and sister took turns taking care of Kylie, which delayed this post by a couple of days (no internet in the hospital-not that I would have really had time). As with any newborn, we are up more than we are asleep. Although we are truly grateful for the help of Nádya's family, who have helped with both children so much already.

We stayed in the hospital two days and two nights, basically without incident. As with most hospital experiences, the food was wanting, and the sleep interrupted by the comings and goings of nurses all hours of the day.

Hendrick is quite strong; in fact my first impression of him was that his torso was very triangular. He lifted his head from my shoulder on the first day, and has already started rolling onto his side from time to time. His face really reminds me at times of looking at my maternal grandfather, whose 96th birthday was the 23rd. He got his toes from his mother.

Nádya and Hendrick are both doing very well, and while it will take a while for full healing to be in place, Nádya has already made much progress in that direction. Now if only she could get some sleep.

Here is a link to our photo album for Hendrick's Arrival. There you will find many more photos of our little bundle of joy.

As an additional joy, we get to be aunt and uncle! Nathan and Melissa have posted pictures of their little one, and we just got notice this morning that Ryan and Amy are on the way to the hospital to have their little girl. Amy and Nádya shared the same due-date.

See also, Kylie's Arrival.

*Here are the conversions: 51 cm is 20.0787 inches, 4.175 kilos is 9 pounds, 3.27 oz.

Florida, Then...

Karl, Nádya, and Kylie in December 2009

Despite my best intentions, it has been far to long since the last update. Between plans morphing, and my trying to keep up with the various things which one must do in life, writing has taken a back seat—albeit begrudgingly.

Here is the summary of the new plan: August 6th is my last day at work. I then get in our new (to us) Suburban and drive across the country to Florida, where I will look for work and find living arrangements for our family, then we'll get Nádya and Kylie back to the States.

Yes, originally we were planning to move to Brazil, but quickly realized after my return home that circumstances would not allow for such a move. Of course, there are significant risks involved with moving from here to Florida, but we could not stay here any longer in any case.

I got my thinker going and figured that, though our 1984 Volvo 240 Wagon might make it from here to Florida, it would not be comfortable getting there nor would it fit all our stuff. After much searching, consternation, and more searching, I found a 1998 Suburban which should fit most of our household items and be reliable transportation for a while once we get settled. I named it Shadowfax, as I like the symbolism of an epic steed for an epic journey.

Once in Florida I will have some quick decisions to make; I have a three-year-old-daughter who I have not seen since the end of March, and a very pregnant wife with whom I would dearly love to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary at the end of August. She is due in the later part of September. I will also need to find a job.

The timing isn't all worked out yet, which is really unsettling, but we know who has The Plan. Even if we can't see where our feet are going to land, we know that He does—and that he will ensure our safe landing.

Settling In And Warming Up

We have been enjoying family, and the scorching heat here so much it has been hard to get time to post any pictures.

Well... that is not entirely true. We are just barely getting back to feeling normal after our trip (now that my vacation time is almost half over) and I finally got our phone set up. If you would like to have our number, just call and leave a message via the "call me" icon to the side. It's a free service, and since we have a number local to Vancouver Washington, we can call you back for free as well.

I have to get some more electronics lined up before I can post any pictures. I don't have any predictions when that will happen.

Our Trip

We were supposed to be in Teresina by now, but due to a broken
windsheild on our first plane, and engine problems with the plane they
flew in to replace it with, we have only made it as far as Atlanta.

We still have about twenty-four more hours until we arrive at our
final destination.

The airline put us up in a hotel last night and gave us vouchers for a
couple of meals, so we are fairly satisfied. Though, we did have to be
re-routed through São Paulo which makes our trip much longer.

If you want to follow my Tweets on Twitter my username is
karlwinegardner.

Moving To Brazil

Aside from the obvious lack of posting updates here, life has continued for us. We have had many joyous times as well as our share of sorrows here in the United States. The time has come for us to move back to Brazil.

The economic conditions in which we arrived here were not easy, and have continued to worsen. Though there is light at the end of the tunnel for the economy, it is still to far away for our family—also, that is not the only factor; Nádya is once again pregnant! She is finishing up her first trimester, and looking very much forward to not having morning sickness anymore. The baby is due in September.

This one factor has made it all the more difficult for us to tell family of our decision, as we know that they were looking forward to seeing the little one.

There is a longer version of events which would make this post far to long to read in one sitting, however I would like to say that this decision is made to keep our family relationship strong rather than a triage to prevent estrangement.

Our relationship is strong, but the continued and combined stresses of living on the fringe of poverty along with being far from family, friends and all things familiar has taken a large toll on Nádya's well-being. I am not placing blame here, as I remember to some degree how it felt. To the contrary, because I remember how it felt, and because I can see how this situation is taking its toll on all of us I can better understand how this will help all of us.

There are many challenges ahead. We don't have jobs in Teresina. We are leaving the 17th of March, and still have to figure out what we are doing with all our stuff (probably a moving sale of some sort...), and there are many other unknowns. This is without question a step of faith. Maybe it is even stupid.

As I post this we only came to a final decision last night, and the emotions are fresh, raw, and maybe a bit less guarded than they should be. I can only hope that, given the resources we have, we have come to the best conclusion we could. We see God's hand in this and continually seek to remain at the center of His will.

We are aware that goodbyes will need to be said, and maybe some will want to help in some way or another. We are not asking for money, just have notice that many people have offered to help in various ways. If you would like to help, call my voicemail using the link on this page (Where it says "Call Me!"), and leave a message. Don't worry about the time, as it goes straight to voicemail and does not ring my phone.

Two weeks is not a lot of time to tie things up here. We will surely not connect with all those we would like to, that does not mean you are not important to us. Please call or send an email if you would like to. Don't hesitate!