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.

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!

Three Things About Kylie

She loves to play with her hairbrush. This includes chewing on it and hitting things with it, she just hasn't quite figured out how to brush her own hair with it.

Kylie loves typing. She loves the keyboard so much that she only has to see someone using one, and she will start whining to go over to it and pound on it for a while. This picture is in her stroller; she was lucky enough for the computer keyboard to quit working with the computer, and now has her own for a toy.

She also loves this monkey. It happens to be my mother-in-law's, and is from USBank. I am not sure of the story of how it got here (I have a guess, but will leave that for someone else to tell in the comments.), but Dona Carmélia has been very clear that it is hers and she wants it back. We will happily oblige her.

Some Helpful Babycare Tips

This was to good not to link to. Enjoy!

Some Helpful Babycare Tips

Kylie Growing

Of course we expect that our little princess will grow up; it is just happening so fast! Kylie is standing on her own as long as she has something to hold on to. She is also walking up and down the hall with help. She hasn't really got the hang of crawling at all, but can scoot around a little when she wants to.

She also loves the camera:

Here she is mid-scoot—and mighty pleased with herself:

She has also discovered that life isn't completely a bed of roses:

When we took her to the doctor shortly after Nádya's birthday for her six month checkup. She weighed in at a very healthy 8.4 kilograms [18.5 pounds], and was 67 centimeters [26.38 inches] long. It is a good thing she is not spending so much time in our arms!

The doctor said everything looks good, but that we need to watch her weight a little bit, though with her increased activity it should not be a problem.

There are more pictures of this little princess in our web album. They are displayed chronologically, so the newest ones are at the bottom.

Christmas: Later Than Planned

My parents sent me a package near the beginning of December. This was our Christmas presents and, while they were told it should get here in time, it didn't.

New Years? Nope.

Karl's birthday? Não.

It did come on Nádya's birthday (the 21st of January) though!

Here is Kylie with part of what she got:

My present may seem odd to you: Shoes. I have not been able to find any here, and my old ones were wearing out. My feet are very happy. ;)

Kylie At The Six Month Mark

From Kylie's 6th Month

On the 16th of January we had our usual monthly celebration of Kylie's birth. As we get closer to heading to the United States these parties become a little more precious to us, as the family gathers together and celebrates.

There wasn't anything particularly special about this one—well, the cake was spectacular. But that is always the case. Kylie is getting to the point where she has a bit of involvement in the parties, which makes them more fun. I am not sure that she understands that the parties are for her, but she certianly warms right up to having lots of people around. At least until it is just past her bedtime...

There are a great many more images in our web album, should you wish to see more. Which reminds me: If you have questions about a particular photo in the web albums feel free to use the comment form below the photo.

There are a couple more entries coming soon. :)

Photos: An Update From Teresina, Brazil

From Kylie's 5th Month

There have been a number of events since Christmas that we took photos of, some of which have been posted in our photo album. The above is from a trip we took to the mall to see the Christmas display (It was interesting, but not as interesting as other years.).

Here are some of the highlights:



Kylie has begun to sit on her own, and loves looking around and exploring the new vistas in that way.



About the same time she started sitting, she started gleefully giggling at certain things we do. There are a couple more like this in the album.



While waiting at the mall before another event (which I will write about shortly), we ran into some friends from church. Their daughter is one month older than Kylie. They were fast friends.



Nádya's brother, Júnior, came from Parauapebas, Para to spend Christmas and to ring in the New Year with us. Kylie loved the extra attention. ;)



While no teeth are showing yet, Kylie is definitely getting ready to teethe. She loves chewing on this little thing, or another toy that looks like a foot—or her own foot for that matter.

Oh, and since this is the first post of 2008: Happy New Year!

Photos of a Cute Baby

From Kylie's 5th Month

Sometimes one just cannot resist the temptation to share pictures of one's offspring.



And finally, "Afterbath."

Ultrasound Number One

I have read many blogs where the excited parents post pictures of their yet-unborn baby. This seemed odd to me until now—now I have a clue. Not that I was put off by the pictures, I just didn't understand what a significantly cool thing this is.



This was an amazing experience. We both cried when we saw the baby. I am still in awe.

Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Nyna!

[Edit: I forgot to mention that this is at 7 weeks. Also, this morning I have been able to sort out my video "woes" and have have changed the post to reflect that above. The video format is Quicktime (.mov).
I added music, but it fades out when there is something important going on. Yes, that's me playing guitar.]

Technorati Tags: Baby, Interesting, Life In Brazil, Living Outside the US, Our Activities, Our Story, overjoyed, Ultrasound

On The Way

I am extremely excited to announce that we are pregnant!

The due date is sometime in late July, and we are very excited. Its humbling to think that our creator has endowed us with this wonderful gift.

Reactions from various family members (both families):

• Carmélia (Nádya's mother): She did not believe it until she saw the paper from the test. She then promptly began to cry, and said congratulations. A little later, she said that she thinks its a boy, and has begun to call him Caleb. I still get confused when she refers to "him" by name. [Nyna's reaction was much the same.]
• Júnior (Nádya's brother) is in town for medical reasons. I wish you could have seen the expression on his face when we told him that he is going to be an uncle. It was like he had won the lottery, or something. He was quite overjoyed.
• We called my family Thanksgiving day to let them know. I was on the speakerphone, so I know a lot of people heard at once, but I am not sure exactly who all was there (this was right before we told Nádya's family). When I told them, I heard a collective gasp (!?!). Then the phone acted up, and I missed a couple of words my dad said. I then heard my mom reply, "And that means you are going to be a grandpa." [Happy birthday again, mom!]

Many of you are now wondering, no doubt, how this will affect our plans to get to the US. This has not really affected our plans to much. Since the due date is in July, we are thinking October might be a good time to move. That would give us some time to be with family here, and to get used to having a third personality in our family (It makes me giddy to say that!). It also lines up with the end of the year for the English course.

I hope you all had as good a Thanksgiving as we did. I will post more about what we did for Thanksgiving later today, or tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: acted, caleb, collective gasp, due date, family members, good time, grandpa, happy birthday, i am excited, Life In Brazil, medical reasons, mom, no doubt, Our Activities, Our Story, overjoyed, personality, promptly, said congratulations, she saw, she thinks, thanksgiving day, time to move, won the lottery