Well I'll try to update any who are interested. We have had some late nights visiting and Rebekah and I not feeling well and wanting to get to bed ASAP. As I mentioned briefly in a previous post we had dinner with Roberto and Monica. They are a wonderful family and very thoughtful. As I mentioned last night Roberto stopped in late with 2 space heaters. Next week Monica would like to take us to the hotel (4 or 5 star) to let the kids go swimming... indoor heated. Last night Kevin and Karla Boot visited for awhile. They are missionaries with CCI. Tonight Kevin and Karla brought over an American couple, Ben and Becky. Ben is doing a 6 month internship to get his MBA in International Business. They have 4 children and the youngest was 1 month old when they came down in Jan. Today we met with Daisey for the second time. She is the CEJA social worker. After our meeting she was very positive and thought things were going very well. We are just about half way to returning to Cascavel to meet with the judge there and make the adoption legal. Unfortunately, we will be here another 2+ weeks after that. One thing the children (mostly the older 2) are concerned about is learning English. They wanted to know why they can't just keep speaking Portuguese. I believe Daisey tried to explain to them but reality will hit them when they land in the US and not find anyone speaking Portuguese. Today a man from the office was in back while we were taking a walk. It looked like he was stringing up a long bow (archery). But it turned out to be a 1-string instrument that he sang and played. He showed Pamela what to do. Then Wellington showed up and he already knew what to do. He stood on his hands and head and danced a jig. It was funny and great to watch. Almost everyday we play Hide-N-Seek. Most of the time I could probably find the children quickly, but I will look the other way or pass by them and act like I don't see them. All that to kill an extra 5-10 in each game we play. Eventually if I don't find them they come out of hiding. Deep down inside of themselves, they want to be found. They don't want to be separated from me for good. They want to be in my presence. When we try to hide from God because of guilt, sin, or something else; deep inside the Spirit convicts and we really long to be in God's presence. Could you image being Adam and Eve? Each day they walked and communed with God. When they hid after their sin they didn't try to stay hidden. They answered when God called for them. They knew what it was like have fellowship with God and they didn't want to lose it. Do we answer God when He calls for us. Do we actually listen for Him. His Spirit dwells in us and draws us to Him. It is also comforting to know that God knows where we are and doesn't look the other way. Someone looked the other way a lot before the children were rescued. In a game I may look the other way, but in reality God has led us not to look the other way. My Night Time Sinus medicine is kicking in. I better sign off before I ssstarrrt tooo slurrrr.
Dave

Last night we were invited to dinner in the home of Berto (Robert) and Monica. Berto handles all public relations for Lar Bentania. Monica manages the hotel that Betania has on the other side of town. Today was Dr. visit for the physical that each child must have.... then it was off to get shots that are required by the US. Each of the children had to have 4 shots... guess what the evening will be like. Oh, by the way last night it got below freezing and tonight it is also to be below freezing. Now the problem... if you remember from one of my earlier posts... there is no furnace in the facility. I'm from MI but I have a thermostat. And they leave the doors open and some of the windows. We go around closing them and then later pass by and find them open again... stop laughing because I know some of you are! Berto stopped by tonight and had a bag with 2 space heaters in it. Hallelujah!! PTL and any other praise you can think of. Tomorrow afternoon/evening we have been invited to Kevin and Karla Boot's home. They are American missionaries that live very close to here. They are in the process of adopting. Please pray for them as they wait. I'll wrap up tonight and really try to commit to more info tomorrow night. Enjoy the pictures.

Tonight I will be short. Not feeling the best and would like to get to bed. This morning was cold and there was dampness in the air even though the sun was peeking thru some. I broke down and took some dirty clothes to be washed by the staff here. It was probably a good decision as Rebekah doesn't feel well either. We have a new game... its like a scavenger hunt. We write down on paper some common items in the building and the children have to say the word and figure out what it is (with a little help). Words like.... light, floor, window, sink...etc. The older 2 attack the list and love playing it. Lino visited today and said things seem to be going well. Tomorrow night we have been invited to have dinner with a family. The father works here at Lar Betania. Their daughter speaks English well as she was an exchange student in Georgia. If anyone out there has some rainy day ideas, please let us know. We have been told June is a cold, gray, rainy month. Will try to update more tomorrow.'
Dave

We woke up to sunny skies today. I had it all planned in my mind. Get around have breakfast and coffee... then hang up the wet clothes to finish drying. Well I did get them hung and they dried most of the way before the clouds and light rain set in for the remainder of the day. Just after lunch the place cleared out and it seems weird not to see hardly any activity. Today being Sunday is hard as we would like to be in our church back home. We played outside till the rain started and then it becomes a struggle to find fun and interesting things to do. Wellington likes to watch TV and so I let him watch a soccer game... can you imagine soccer on basic TV? I told him there is little soccer on TV in the US. I told him about American Football but he asked about baseball. The children are learning more English each day and they may not say everything they know. We will ask them to do something in English and sometimes they will do it... so I guess they are beginning to understand. Gabe has his fussy times still but is getting better. This weather is not ideal for asthma so he probably will not be 110% till we get to Rio or home. If people knew everything about adoption or what they would encounter; there would probably be fewer adoptions. Not that they are all bad... they can and are demanding. That said I think it would be good for every Christian to be involved in the adoption process. Obviously I don't think everyone should adopt a child/children into their family. Not everyone is called to do this. However, everyone has something to offer the families that do adopt. I want to take a little time to point out some examples of things that can be done to help. I will also mention some names... but in doing so I will not remember everyone I should... but don't worry, God knows and will reward you for your faithfulness. How do you thank the people that are caring for your 5 children back home?? Thanks Terry and Kevin for taking on the 2 younger ones. You will never know what relief that brought us. Mom thanks for all the things you are doing... I won't even try to guess what you are doing with the 3 older ones. Also you (and dad) are to blame for the adoption... you raised me and taught me so you share some blame. Godly wisdom and advise from (I won't remember everyone) Pastor Goebert, Pastor Scott, Kevin F, Pastor Rich etc. MaryJane Dunn for e-mailing and encouraging us for the last year (they adopted 5 from Brazil last year), Kevin Foster for the fundraising dinner idea, and for all the generous people who helped financially. Then there are people like Greg Millard, Larry Minor, Jeff Hall and Steve Baker who helped get the basement ready (added a bath, bedroom, and office). Barry Mowry family... keeping a watch on the homestead, meals from Mary, boys doing chores when needed. Luciana from LIMIAR (if you want to adopt from Brazil... use them), Mary Holtapp from Bethany Christian Services (great for domestic and Int'l adoptions and foster care). Frank Gorsline shares blame in this. Two years ago he dragged my family and me to Brazil for a 2 week mission trip... we were at an orphanage on that trip and rest is history. (Frank you should come and visit me... you owe me a churrascadia (spelling) ). Everyone who has and is praying for us, is heavily involved with adoption. You are approaching God's throne on behalf of these children. What greater thing can anyone do? Please keep praying. (Health is a concern as Rebekah and I are getting sick and I think Lidiane is as well.) Our home church Factoryville Bible also Calvary Baptist, and North Bridge Church. These are a few examples of people involved in adoption. So like the old poster that has a picture of Uncle Sam on it and says, "I need you"; imagine a picture of a child in need of a family and the words saying, "Get involved"
God Bless you all,
Dave

He's baaack! That's right Gabe is back. Finally after a couple of days off, at dinner time Gabe found himself again. Happily shoveling food down. He also wanted some of Mom's coffee. Once he gets home Grandma Mowry will gladly fix him coffee. Listen carefully to me Mom, if you give him too much, you get to watch him till the caffeine wears off. As I believe I mentioned yesterday, there are a lot of people here this weekend. It is a real mess. You have Catholics, Lutherans, Missionary Alliance, and who knows what else. Even though it was gray skies again all day it wasn't as bad. There are other kids here for the children to play with. The hard part is figuring out where each one is at any given time. Rebekah did some laundry in the sink yesterday afternoon and some of it still isn't dry yet. She found a wash board today and did some more. I hung the clothes on a clothesline in the back and took them down at sundown. It doesn't even seem like they have dried at all. Obviously there is moisture in the air but it doesn't seem humid. It didn't reach 70 degrees today I don't think. I guess the hair dryer will have to come out again tomorrow morning... I hate damp underwear. Yesterday I wrote about the coffee... the food. For all who have been to Brazil, will understand. For the rest, you need to be thankful for the variety you have in the US and should enjoy it. Rice and beans are a staple. I am here to tell you, two years ago when I first came to Brazil, I looked at the rice and beans and thought "I better take some to be polite"... but they were good. Not like our beans in the US. However, you have them everyday. Also I want to send a message out to Jim (and MaryJane) Dunn. "Hey Jim! would like to come down and have a ham and cheese sandwich with me for breakfast and dinner everyday". All kidding aside, I like the food, especially the fruit... mango's, bananas (prepared 30 different ways), oranges (at least 3 different varieties), watermelon, etc. They also have a dessert that looks like large tapioca but is purple in color. Its pretty good. I just found out why. They cook it with wine....ssshhh, don't tell Pastor Goebert. All in all I am very thankful for everything here. The people are so loving and giving. Two nights ago the group that was here decided to go out to eat and not dine in. We didn't know about it till a lady in the kitchen told us that they prepared enough food for us and delivered it to the small kitchenette at the end of our hall. People are thinking about us all the time and I am so grateful and humbled. Today Rebekah pointed something out to me about the children. They are changing. When we first got them, they always held hands wherever they went. Wellington looking out for the other 3. Lidiane being a little mother to the younger two. Now they don't hold hands as much. I believe they were very insecure before and little afraid. I hope now they can learn to be kids and let Mom and Dad be responsible for them. They can trust us more and more to love and care for them. As young Christians may hang on to the old way of life because it is all they know. Little by little they come to know (love and trust) their heavenly Father and let Him take charge of their lives. Thanks to all you send messages. Please continue to pray for us and our family back home.
God Bless
Dave

Last night was great!! We all slept. All that coffee didn't keep me from sleep. Ah!! Great coffee anytime of the day. I did learn something about Brazilian coffee. They don't send the best coffee to the US. They don't even keep in Brazil. They sell it to Europe, especially Italy gets the best beans. The lower quality stuff gets sent to the US. Rebekah is not much of a coffee drinker but she has it for 1 - 2 meals a day now. She liked it 2 years ago when we visited a coffee plantation near Londrina, Brazil. Enough of that stuff. Gabe is doing better today. Less coughing but wasn't back to full energy yet... that's not all bad. His appetite is not what it was the first few days but I'm sure it will be back. It was a complete gray sky day here and I don't think it got much more than 60 degrees. I believe there are many people hear who think I'm the crazy American not wearing a coat. I was in my short sleeve t-shirt all day. There are many people who wear scarfs all day even in the office. We met a Brazilian who said the weather forecast for next Tues called for 0 degree Celsius. I can handle that as I bought a jacket from Walmart.... but.... they don't have any furnaces here or in many places around here. I haven't found any duct work or thermostats or roof top HVAC systems. In the summer it doesn't get much above 85 degrees here. Remember we are further south in Brazil. So next week I may freeze... stay tuned. Today we took a walk "off campus" with the kids for the first time. We went to a grocery store and bought some laundry soap. We broke down out of desperation as we haven't done laundry since we got here. Rebekah washed enough clothes for tomorrow. You can tell what rooms we are staying in... the ones with pants, shirts, underwear, etc hanging out the louvered and sliding windows. Problem is they probably won't be dry by morning. Rebekah asked what we should do... I told her it was a good thing she brought her hair dryer.... not a good answer. Yesterday was difficult on the children as they were thrown off schedule... not that we have a tight one, but everything was different. Today was smoother by far. PTL! We have been here for a week now so things are settling into a routine. Tomorrow we can use the playground as it is the weekend and no school children will be around. We are learning the personalities of the children more each day so that helps. Today I caught one of the girls saying a sentence using both Portuguese and English... that's a start. Communication has been hard but we are learning more and they are understanding more English... that is except for one phrase I use and they still don't respond.... "hey guys". They don't look up or respond. They just keep doing whatever they have been doing. I then have to remember to call them by name. It isn't that great... they all have a name. We all have a name and God knows us and calls us by name. One part of our trip I have been dreading, hating, etc. After our stay here in Curitiba, we fly to Rio to get US visas for the kids. That means staying close to the US Consulate to avoid high cost of taxi rides. Which means staying in the center of town. Since we will be ready to take the overnight flight on July 3rd, we would arrive in the US on July 4th... the ticket prices skyrocketed. So we booked flights for July 6th. That is 5 days in Rio instead of 3. And we are on our own there. Limiar is not able to have anyone there to assit. Now you know why I dread, complain, hate the thought of it. So in my mind there is nothing that I can do... just suck it up and do what you have to do. Well God has other plans. Here at Lar Betania, we met a couple. Luis is a pastor from Curitiba but has been pastoring in Rio for a short time. He is here for a few days to have some follow up medical test performed. He doesn't speak much English but I had an interpreter ask if he knew of a hotel close to the US Consulate. A little while later he came to us and said he and his wife spoke and he wants all of us to stay with his family. And he will drive us where we have to go. You have got to be kidding me!! You want 6 practical strangers to invade your small place for 5 - 6 days. Of course my personality says that we would be a lot of trouble and hassle and I don't want people to be bothered by our needs. Rebekah later scolded me and said let people give you something if God has laid it on their heart. So it looks like we have a place to stay. Why didn't I pray about it? Did I think I would be bother to God with a selfish issue? Sometimes you have to go thru "un-fun" stuff and maybe sometimes we wouldn't have to if we just prayed about it. God cares about ALL the things in our lives. When will I ever learn to bring everything to Him. Do we have an awesome God?? He knows me... my weaknesses... and even when I don't ask, He is there providing and ministering to me despite my complaining and lack of faith.

Today was the longest 2 weeks of my life! With an opening line like that you know the guys are saying, "This is going to be fun reading" and the ladies are saying, "Oh my! I wonder what happened, I hope everyone is OK" If my spelling and grammar is/are worse than usual I'm operating on about 2 1/2 hrs sleep. So please excuse the word slurring from sleep deprivation. I'm operating on 3 cups of Brazilian coffee and a glass of Guarana. Gabe had a rough night. Fever started going up, breathing continued to be labored and shallow. Finally at 5:00 AM we called Lino. He arrived about 6:00 and took Rebekah and Gabe to a Hospital. Fortunately Curitiba has excellent medical facilities for South America. Some say the best in Latin America. After Rebekah left I continued to pray till 6:30. I included in my prayers that God would have the 3 children sleep an extra 1/2 hr. They usually get up at 7:00 sharp. And God answered my prayer... "my grace is sufficient for you" not the verse I was hoping for. At 6:40 the girls came in and that was end of sleep. I told them to get dressed for breakfast which doesn't start til 8:00. I was hoping for 5-10 minutes of sleep. Not a chance. They started bringing clothes and asking me to pick between 2 choices. I couldn't remember what pants they decided on by the time they brought in their shirts. Needless to say when Rebekah returned later, she hoped I wasn't the one who picked out their clothes for the day. Hey... they were modest, no one really looks that close at color co-ordinating. When it was close to breakfast time I looked at Pamela's hair and did the wisest thing I could think of... "Lidiane, could you please do Pamela's hair?" After dragging out breakfast for as long as I could... including 2 cups of coffee.... it was time to play hide-and-seek. Wellington and Lidiane teamed up against Pamela and I. I dragged that out as long as I could. Truth be know I was in no hurry to find them and end the game. After 2 hrs of that I had to kill another 1 1/2 hrs before lunch. Can you guys say video. Just before lunch I finally called Lino's cell ph#. Rebekah answered and said they would be leaving soon. Gabe had 6 different breathing treatments and some other medicine for viral bronchitis (spelling). By the time they arrived we were having lunch and Gabe was much happier. PTL. Lino said it would have cost R$550 (Brazilian currency) but they went to the free medical side of the hospital as it was so early in the morning and they got right in and didn't have to wait. I was fearing and dreading the cost. The rest of the day had its issues and by 4:45 I was thinking it had to be supper time. We did eat a bit earlier in hopes of getting to bed a little earlier. This morning as I was praying for Gabe, I found myself worrying and fearing all sorts of things. Is it pneumonia (spelling), will he have to stay in the hospital, what about the cost... no Blue Cross Blue Shield down here, will the other 3 children be all upset that Gabe and Mom were gone when they woke. Help Lord! I don't know what to do. Peter said something similar to that as he was sinking in the stormy waters. Fear... what should we fear? When we put the girls to bed they like to have a light left on all night. And they would say something we didn't understand. The 2nd night they said it, we discovered they were saying "We are afraid!" I sat down, looked at Lidiane and said... "Pae es aqui y eu ajudo"... "Daddy is here and I will help" She smiled, lay down her head and fell asleep. They next time I am afraid I hope to remember... Daddy is with me and will stretch out his hand. Did God answer my prayer... Gabe is doing better, the kids were kept occupied, it cost very little for medicine. Fear... what should I fear?