January 2015 - already?!?!

January 1st we took off for a few days for a much needed break.  Here are a few things we saw/did along the way....

There's always time to stop for coffee and fresh cheese.

 Surprise!  A real live train that runs from Ceará Mirim to Natal every day for only R$ .50 or $ .18 US

 Four wheeling on the beach.  Alicia was kind enough to give me a chance to drive on the way back.  :)

 Rio do Fogo - a spring fed river that dumps into the ocean. 

 Ever heard of "jambo"?  

 The car is super easy to spot if we just leave a package of toilet paper in the back window...

If it only didn't have to end...ahhh

All About Music and a birthday, too! December 2014

Another year gone by.  Can't let it get away without adding a couple of pictures that cap off the year. 

Alicia and her "twin", Renan, celebrated their 18th with the Christ is Life Youth Group.  Games, swimming, and, of course, cake! 

Anabel played in a quartet at school this last year.  These four kids worked hard all year long practicing together almost every week besides all of their other music classes they attended.  They hauled their instruments, stands and music to the local "praça" for about an hour late one afternoon.

To top off the school year, the quartet was invited to play on one of the local cable TV shows. 

Milton and I started maintenance on the instruments for the 2015 school year starting in January.  Saxophones are Milton's specialty.  He's the one who takes them apart and puts them back together, while I just assist. Not to mention taking really bad selfies!

 

Adolescent's Prayer Group

During our church's prayer meeting (for the last 3 years), I have spent time with the adolescents who attend. Besides praying, we have read missionary biographies, worked on Bible reading schedules, done some verse memorization, made Christmas cookies and given them away with tracts and invitations to church, learned about Bible translation for people groups who are just now receiving the Word in their language for the first time, etc.

One specific prayer request we make sure to include are our church's missionaries who live in the Amazon (Ambauba) with the Baniwas.  They do Bible translation, literacy, and teaching.  Most recently we have prayed for  project that Zenilson has been working on for quite some time...translating three volumes of lessons in chronological order and then publishing the materials for distribution.  

It was pretty exciting to get a package in the mail that contained some of the first books that came off the press.  Pictured are most of the kids who participate in our prayer meeting.  They are showing off the finished product. 

Acampamúsica Veteranos 2011

The ALPHA Jr. High Band is off and running with Band Camp 2011. These are our returning band students. Besides eating, swimming, devotions, a wee bit of sleep, and just plain fun, we crammed more than a week's worth of practice in less than 24 hours.


Kids arrived just after 3pm on Friday afternoon and stayed on through Saturday morning, leaving just before lunch.

Relaxing a bit before ANOTHER practice.

The GROUP!

and we're...BACK!

Normally, an absence of more than 6 months might be called a sabbatical...don't I wish! Many excuses for not posting in 10 months, but none I will mention right now. If you are just DYING to know, I could be convinced to entertain your question, but otherwise, I'll just move on.

What's this MESS? Just the beginning of ALPHA's band instrument repair shop. For now it is mobile...meaning the little tool box comes and goes from home to school all the time.

Since school let out in mid December, my "vacation" project has been to do a custom-made course in band instrument repair. Starting with 5-6 flutes to practice on, I took apart the first instrument with my heart in my throat and trembling hands. My VERY gracious teacher, who lives in Kansas, has given me instruction and tips (via e-mail) every step of the way. Oh, the questions I manage to come up with! I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I have been able to do and, so far, haven't managed to destroy anything beyond repair.

The motivation behind all of this is to cut costs and diminish downtime when an instrument is not playable (for whatever reason). If we manage to refurbish an instrument ourselves, the school will be able to save $250 + per instrument in repair bills. Our closest repairman is 3 1/2 hours away; the turn-around time is simply way too long. A student often times has been without his/her instrument for several weeks.


But there is more. Our budding repair shop is being made possible in a unique way. Sondra Koehn, a life-long friend of Ken's, and then mine since Bible college, passed away this last year after her battle with ALS. The family has designated a part of the memorial funds to help us get set up with tools and supplies. Sondra's love for music will live on in a special way by helping ALPHA kids get a start in playing in band.

What to do when a student gets his trumpet mouthpiece stuck? Never fear, Bobcat is here! Before this dude came our way, we had to send the instrument to the repair shop in Fortaleza over 3 hours away to do a job that could be done in 5 minutes if we had only had the right tool!


Some of the supplies for repadding flutes...

Old pads removed

New pads installed and even new bumpers for the "feet"

Polished, cleaned, adjusted and ready to go!

Bubbles!

How can something so simple be so intriguing? Brian Richardson took these when he and Jocelyn came for Anabel's birthday. I was amazed at what was caught on camera.


A bubble being born...

And Time Just MARCHes On...

The whole crew who celebrated Jessica's 17th birthday. We were even blessed with a guest from the US on the occasion, Eric Townsend.

For some reason my kids don't stop getting older. Guess that says something about me, too. In March we celebrated Jessica and Anabel's birthdays. Jessica is more than thrilled to be only a year away from 18. Anabel was supposed to be an April child, but there was no stopping her...and that is still the case. :)

The best cake ever...Super Moist Chocolate Cake!!!


Anabel and her 10th birthday cake, courtesy of Aunt Ranelle. Glad someone in the family has talent...I am lucky if I can get the sheet cake to turn out!

This last one is just for fun. Anabel is all about dressing up, perfume and makeup. In this case, even the cat didn't manage to escape!