HAPPY 2007

Well, it's here. 2007

To close up 2006 we went to the beach for Christmas Day and Boxing Day (that's the holiday after Christmas if you are British!). Ate, slept, read, played games, went down to the beach, ate some more, slept some more, watched video, saw pictures, and ate.




A painting of the beach just down the hill from the house where we stayed. It is a very well known land mark on this particular beach.



The whole bunch of us, minus Ken, who was taking the picture, and Silas and Jolene who were sleeping.

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Then for New Years a bunch of the church people met out at the property for a Brazlian bar-b-que. Awesome meat and munchies to go with it. Played games, sang, had some special presentations and, of course, ate.



Making LOTS of good food!



Music to sing by...



Bel and Caleb...eating the goodies

the CROWD that came out to fellowship at the property for

New Years 2006

Humble Pie

To eat humble pie, in common usage, is to apologize and face humiliation for a serious error.



Derivation:
The expression derives from umble pie, which was a pie filled with liver, heart and other offal, especially of cow but often deer. These parts were known as umbles, and since they were considered inferior food, in medieval times the pie was often served to lower-class people.
Although "umbles" and the modern word "humble" are etymologically unrelated, each word has appeared both with and without the initial "h" after the Middle Ages until the 19th century. The similarity of the two words was probably a significant factor in the evolution of "eat humble pie" as an idiom.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_pie


Ok, so what did I do, you ask? I did the unforgettable. I rubbed up against a parked car with mine (which was moving). As if that wasn't enough, it was right outside the copy business owned by one of my co-teachers. Within seconds, literally, there were people (that came from out of no where) checking out the damage.

One of the first things someone said to me (after I tried to locate the owner of the parked car) was, "That was a really responsible thing to do. Most people would have just driven off as fast as they could." And she is right. Here, you run first, and don't look back.

After standing there for a while, still a bit stunned, I gathered my wits about me and remembered to call Ken. He came out and negotiated with the owner of the newly cracked tail light and cracked bumper (it happened to be plastic, just like ours). While I was still standing there trying to look inconspicuous, someone picked up a piece of something off the ground and handed it to me. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "This is from my car." Guess I forgot to asses the extent of the damage that I made to my vehicle. Not that it mattered, really.

Afterwards, I stopped to think about what the girl had said about running from the sight of the accident and the implications that it might have had. Who would have seen me? Well, for starters one co-worker, a friend who works for him, a church member who works for him, a student (the one in 4th grade who's name I can't remember) who showed up on the sidewalk, the parent of another ALPHA student who has a store on the other corner, the lady who said she recognized me from times before, another lady from a neighboring church, etc. What a wretched testimony that would have made.

Take responsibility. It is something I am trying to teach my kids and my students. Guess I had a chance to practice it in a little bit bigger way today.

What? You want to see a picture of the car? Now, that is asking a little too much don't you think?

Christmas 2006

Anabel on a bluff

overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

Just a quick note to wish you all a wonderful Christmas. We at the Ken Stucky's will be celebrating with an evangelistic program held at ALPHA on the 24th. Today, in fact.

Tomorrow we will throw our swimsuits and toothbrushes in our bags and take off for the beach. Have I made you jealous?!?! It has been kind of a tradition that who ever of the team was here in Brazil for Christmas, would take off out of Mossoro for a couple of days.

We are all going to a beach house for some rest, fun, videos, pictures, and to catch up after a VERY wild 2006. Ken's folks got back from furlough the beginning of December and want to show us their pictures and other tidbits from their trip. Ron's family will take off the middle of February, so it is a chance to spend some time with them.

So, have a wonderful CHRISTMAS, everyone!

LORI

For the Love of the Lost

Alicia has had a project going now for well over a year. She has been wanting to cut her hair to sell.


I had heard of such a thing only once in a Christmas story of a young married couple that had hardly a penny to their name. She wanted desparately to buy her husband a beautiful chain for an heirloom pocket watch. He wanted to surprise his young wife by buying an ornate comb to adorne her gorgeous hair. She sold her hair to buy the chain and he sold his watch to buy the comb. All for love.

Well, here is Alicia's love story and just in time for Christmas, too. The plan has been very simple. The day she cut her hair, she intended to send the money to our church's missionaries in the Amazon.


Zenilson and Ritinha













The Christ is Life Church has been supporting a young, single missionary girl for several years. She met a young, single missionary man, had a very romantic courtship (over ham radio!) and finally tied the knot. Back in June, we got to know this couple much better. They were in our area on furlough less than 6 months after having been married.

They planned a stop in Mossoró to spent several days with the Christ is Life Church and to share about the Kuripako Indians with the ALPHA kids.




Alicia with Ritinha on vacation July 2006







As we embarked on family vacation in July, Ken suggested that we pick up Zenilson and Ritinha in Fortaleza and take them with us for a couple of days to give their ministry some extra exposure. We had a fantastic time getting to know them better and about the ministry they have deep in the Amazon rain forest.

The time we spent with this young couple had a great impact on Alicia. She can't wait till she can go visit them. Ken is planning a trip to work with them for a couple of weeks and she will be the first one to have her bags packed!



























Alicia's newest hairstyle

These are a few of my favorite things...

I just watched "The Sound of Music" with my Advanced English class. Wanted my kids to watch something in English (using the English subtitles is a big plus), has historical significance and have them exposed to a new music form (Roger's and Hammerstein musicals aren't exactly a part of Brazilian music culture). Managed to kill a flock of birds with one stone.

Watching "The Sound of Music" made me think of "a few of my favorite things." Actually, a few of my favorite pictures. So, step into my exclusive art gallery (you won't find any of these at the Smithsonian) and take a peek at what we have done or seen over the last few years.

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July 2005: Anderson and Stucky kids got 'stuck' with each other for a week and managed to work together on this banner. Micah, the only boy in the bunch, was the master sewer of the crew. :)

I always thought this looked like something from a National Geographic magazine...picture was taken at a kids' club in the home of one of our church people. Picture title: "Motionless Crayons in Motion Filled Room".

Church work day, May 1st 2006: Someone had to keep the kids busy while the rest of us worked. :)

Vacation 2004: Stopping to take a picture with a bunch of beach soccer players. What kind of wierd tourons were we, anyway, to ask these guys to stop their game so we could get a picture with them?

Vacation 2006: A "STOP" sign in the middle of "no-where" Ceará, Brazil. By the way, all those people were with us on vacation.

Vacation 2006: I don't get the credit for this one. Cristina, the one in the blue shirt in the previous picture, took this while Ken and I were off looking for an internet café.

Vacation 2004: I was too cheap to buy one, but did bring home the picture...

Vacation 2004: Two heads in a coconut...Leila and Andrew at a public telephone in Salvador, Bahia.

Vacation 2004: Ken get's the credit for this one. I had an artist friend of mine recreate this in a painting...she took out the closed umbrellas in the foreground but left the rest. It hangs in our office to remind us of one of the best vacations we have ever taken.


Vacation 2004: The Paraguaçu River in the heart of Bahia...very large boulders and a few tourons scattered in between.

Attack of the Snake Skin! That snaked lived at least one state over from ours (we hope he didn't live any closer than that...don't want any of his cousins coming over for a visit)

Vacation 2006: Seven Cities National Park in Piauí, two states north of us...Ken standing at the bottom of the rock formation that very closely resembles the outline of Brazil.

Title of picture: "Brazil is SOOO Big" (2% larger than continental US to be exact)

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Pull out the Stops

Picture of hibiscus flower

December 13th.

It signifies several things.

Here in Mossoró it is a local holiday dedicated to our city's patron saint, St. Lucy (Santa Luzia). The story has it that the original family to come live in this area made a promise to this particular saint. If she would hold up her end of the deal, they would build a church and dedicate it to her. The populous grew, was incorporated into a town and to this day, Mossoró holds true to the word of the original family...the main cathedral in town is dedicated to her and many people pay homage every year from December 3rd -13th. To learn more about this Catholic holiday celebrated all over the world click on the following link...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy

Here at our house it is the first day of school vacation. Everyone is done with homework, tests, grades, etc. The girls can finally sleep in, but don't, and Ken and I get a little bit of relief from our fast paced week. Ken trimmed trees and hung Christmas lights on them. As he was teetering at the top of a 10 foot ladder, he mentioned that it is no wonder people pay $20 an hour in the US to have lights strung on their houses.

At ALPHA it is the day of our staff Christmas party. The three Stucky couples spent the day (and hours of many days previous) getting ready for the big event. Our staff has given of themselves all year long and it is our opportunity to honor and serve them. 44 staffers and their spouses/fiancés came.

Some of our top ALPHA students helped serve at the banquet

Lots of good food and fellowship


Ivonete (Pre-5 teacher) and Michelle (3rd grade)

And a few more teachers: Simone (1st grade), Jose (Pre-3), Leila (coordinator)

And finally, everyone all bunched up together, spouses and all!

Before I forget, there is one more thing...December 13th is the day before Ken's dad's birthday. A full 65 years old. Happy Birthday, Dad, we love you and don't know what we would do without you. Glad you are back home from your travels!

Joe Stucky

The Most Busiest Time of Year

Picture of pomegranate blossoms

Just when you think it can't get any busier...well, you know the rest! The end of the year is so full of special programs and events that sometimes we aren't sure what we are getting ready for. I had one student come to a school event with his clarinet. He finally tracked me down long enough to ask what room we were using to set up and practice in before going on stage. The funny thing was was that his program (a recital) wasn't till the FOLLOWING week. :)

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Alicia turned 10 years old today. Double digits. I was calculating that when Anabel turns 10, Alicia will be 14 and Jessica will be 18. OUCH! Goes by really fast, doesn't it.

The Preschool closing program (includes Kindergarten graduation) was VERY well attended by all the parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sisters, etc. For some reason, interest in the little people runs high...their program is a huge highlight of the year. Anabel's class theme was Wisdom. They dramatized King Solomon and the two ladies with the one remaining baby. Caleb, Anabel's cousin, took part in the Kindergarten graduation and his class' presentation.

Anabel (center, back row) with her preschool class

Caleb Stucky (back row, far left) and the Kindergarten class of 2006

After the preschool's closing program, Ken and I took Alicia out to our favorite restaurante (remember, Tuesday is date night!). Because of the events and school and the big recital on Wednesday, we decided to take her with us. Lots of spaghetti, lasagnha and even a special plate of ravioli just for the birthday girl. She thought it was great. We managed to get the owner (a true blue Italian) to take our picture in front of the sign.

Happy Birthday Alicia!!!

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