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.

An Afternoon In The Park

Toward the end of 2007 we first came into contact with Tim and Joyce Keliher. I think it was back when I preached at an English service here in Teresina. They are missionaries who help facilitate on-campus Christian groups. They don't lead the groups, they are there for support of the student-leaders of the groups.

It was a great afternoon, and the park is a pretty interesting place even if it is filled with ravenous mosquitoes. There were two things that stuck out among the mountain of photos we took that afternoon. (And we would have taken more, but the camera's battery died.)

The Iridescent Lizard

As we were hiking around the part of the park that leads down to the river a lizard that had been sunning itself scampered across the path. It was so cool looking that we had to find it to get some pictures. Fortunately it was not far off the path (we did not have to even leave the path), and we got some pictures.

It was about a half meter long, and my guess is that it was a chameleon of some sort. I have not seen anything like it before, so iridescent, so blue and green. So cool.

There are three more pictures of it in our photo album from the afternoon.

If you know more about this lizard than I do please comment!

The Birds

The tropical bird trade is huge business here, and a lot of it is not legal. As we were traipsing back toward the front of the park we passed a police station. Nádya asked if they still had a zoo exhibit a little further on. It turns out that there was not, but they did have some birds whose owners had been caught without bird-owning licenses, and would we like to see them?

The one above is a crested cardinal, and pretty rare from what they told us. The birds were there because it was the weekend, and IBAMA (the agency which evaluates and frees the birds who can be returned to the wild) is closed on the weekend. Again, there are more photos in our photo album from the afternoon.

One intriguing fact they told us was that the cages are crushed when the birds are handed over to IBAMA. I guess that is to discourage investment in such things. It really is not that uncommon to see someone riding down the street on a bicycle with a bird-cage. They are usually caught for their songs, which can be very beautiful.

Kylie: Seven Months

Our little princess turned seven months old on Saturday, so we had the usual party. There were not as many in attendance because of various activities, but those who were there enjoyed it thoroughly.

It has been fun to see people's reactions to Kylie change over the last month, or so. When she was first born people would say things like, "Oh, she looks exactly like her dad!" That has been changing recently with more and more people saying she looks exactly like Nádya. She is growing and changing so much!

We took her to the doctor for her monthly checkup on Friday, and the doctor said everything looks fine. She will start teething soon (Well, she has already started chewing on nearly anything she can get her hands on.), and she gained 300 grams (0.7 pounds), and grew one centimeter (0.4 inch) since we were there three weeks ago.

Kylie had a great time getting her picture taken. Incidentally, she hardly ever automatically smiles for the camera—we usually have to coax that out of her, but it is not terribly hard to do. She actually loved the cake, and wanted to be close to it. In the picture above I am holding her back from diving in.

Singing? Clapping hands? Kylie loves them both. I think I have mentioned that she likes to dance, as well.

We sing the birthday song every month, and last night was no different, except that Kylie was kind of humming along. She is beginning to form words, and really recognizes when mom is talking to dad. She is even beginning to catch on to the concept of waving goodbye!

Of course, at the end of the night she is ready to go to bed. Saturday she tuckered out pretty early, so we were glad that we started the party a bit earlier than usual.

The following is just for a technical verification. You may ignore it. Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Teresina's Striking Sunsets

There are some things I will miss about living in when we move to the United States. One of them is the sunsets. Here are three shots of two sunsets I have taken in the past week.

These are all taken in the same place: An upstairs window in our house.

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. :)

The Big Birthday

As I mentioned in my last entry, Patrick came. He had a birthday, and we celebrated by going to a restaurant and having pizza.
Of course, pizza here is different than in the US, so we introduced him to two new (to him) “flavors” of pizza. First we had chicken and catupiry (a creamy type of cheese) pizza, and finished up with a banana and cinnamon pizza. The second was exceptional in my mind, but both were good.

Afterward we had ice cream (!!). It was a very enjoyable evening.

Here are the photos from the evening. They include notes about some of what happened, as well.

I have gotten a few questions in the past weeks from people who have missed an entry, or two. If this was you, its great that you asked me, but I thought I would give a couple of tips on how this blog (and many others) works:

A blog is a web page that is meant to be updated frequently. So, the newest material is on top–if you want older entries, you have to go to another page. There are two ways to get to other pages; the first is to click on the entry title under “Previous Entries.”

The second way to find old entries is to find the “Archives” menu on the right, and click on a month. All the entries from that month will show on one page.

Have fun exploring!

Strange Fruit

Just got done posting a primmer on some of the stranger fruits and vegetables I have seen here in Brazil. If you are interested (and I think you should be--:-D). God has put some pretty cool stuff here that you have probably not seen before.

[Editors note: The link may not work. It seems to be a problem with Blogger. If this is the case for you, click on the link in the sidebar that says “Karl's Blog” and look for the entry “ Things that grow in Brazil.” I will get it working as soon as I can.]

[Editors note: I think the link is working now. {12/29/2005}]

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Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!
Just thought I would put up a quick post with some pictures of what we did with all that fruit we bought yesterday.



I hope this finds you well, and enjoying the holiday--and the good food that is available!

Our salad (and the rest of the noon meal) was delicioso!

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