M is for Mommy

Once upon a time I had a life (outside of cooking, cleaning, kids activities, and facebook). I worked for our local Christian radio station . I had several areas of responsibility, but mostly I organized their community events. One year, my boss wanted us to have an outdoor concert of local talent. Sort of a Battle of the Bands, without the Battle part. Anyway, we solicited tapes from the community and I screened them to see who could play and sent out letters to the folks I selected. What I didn't know was that my boss had envisioned, like, 4 bands, and I (not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings) accepted 24 acts. So, we had to lay out some ground rules--the first of which was NO SOUNDCHECKS. None! Whatsoever! NO EXCEPTIONS! I've never seen so much angst from so many people--angst is something you see alot when you deal with divas. Experienced in diva-dealing, we stood firm. Most of them eventually got over it and performed well. "George" did not. He broke ...

Being a missionary is really sort of a heartbreak assignment. When you’re on the field you miss your loved ones at home, when you’re at home you miss folks from the field, there is always change, transition, goodbyes…. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time I realized this, long before I realized I would be a missionary. My husband came home from class in seminary one day with the campus newsletter in hand. “I’ve found our calling!” he said. A church of 35 people in Hawaii wanted an intern for one year. We called them and four weeks later, we were on a plane. When we arrived, we were greeted by church members, who presented us with leis and chattered excitedly using many strange words that we didn’t understand--Likelike, Kamehameha, Liliuokalani (I later found out these were street names). Something inside me said, “You will never be as happy again as you were a few minutes ago. While you are here, you will miss home. You will fall in love with these people and when you go home...

I'll be taking time out tonight from a course I'm taking, offered last weekend in Phoenix and downloaded via internet, to watch Jeff at the South America Summit, also in Phoenix, also via internet. Afterwards, they should be archiving the video here . Jeff begins speaking around minute 41. What I want to know is, "Whassup with Phoenix?" Go figure.

I struggled for weeks to settle into a good housekeeping schedule. Finally, here it is: Monday - Wash sheets and towels, bathrooms (easy way to start the week) Tuesday - Floors Wednesday - Grocery (sale day at our supermarket) Thursday - Dust Friday - Kitchen (since I'm in there all afternoon for pizza/movie night preparations) Saturday - Iron (not that I've actually done this yet)

Launched today, thus officially beginning the holiday season!

On Sunday nights, I like to serve pancakes and applesauce for supper. I don't like to brave the grocery on weekends, so these are ingredients I can buy during the week that'll last until Sunday night. Here's my applesauce recipe: Peel, core and quarter 12-15 apples Place in large pot with 2 cinnamon sticks, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon citric acid (or juice of 1/2 lemon or lime). Boil until apples are translucent (30 min?) Pull out cinnamon sticks. Smash apple quarters with a fork. Stir to incorporate liquid.

I had such a restful weekend!! It was wonderful! I had caught up all my housework and cooking. We ate leftovers Saturday noon and night. I did the boys Saturday homeschooling in the morning and slept ALL AFTERNOON!! We all slept late this morning (church doesn't start until 10:30 here). What a treat!!

Every Friday night is Pizza/Movie Night here at the Dunson household. This means that Mommy spends Friday afternoon in the kitchen. Then menu doesn't vary. We do two Pineapple/Canadian Bacon, one Pepperoni, and one Chocolate, usually with peanut butter. It's a simple recipe, I take pizza dough for one pizza and mix in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon while kneading. Bake the crust for 10 minutes or so. Spread with peanut butter and top with grated semi-sweet chocolate shavings. Bake for another 5 minutes until the chocolate melts (being careful not to overcook). There you go! Fancy-schmancy!

I've been going to Curves (Pronounced in Brazil: KUR - vays) for a month now. I'm amazed at the results. I've not dieted, except to not TOTALLY PIG OUT. I had my first evaluation the other day. I've lost two kilograms (that's 4.4 pounds). I've lost centimeters everywhere (most places 1 or 2). But the best thing of all is to see my body return. Little pieces of me are suddenly recognizable as what I remember me looking like (in college, the last time I had lots of time to look at myself). It happened first on the apartment elevator. I looked in the mirror and suddenly saw a tricep. No wait -- 2 triceps!! My college arms were coming back!! About a week later, I looked down at my knees. There were MY knees!! I don't know where they've been the past ten years or so but they certainly weren't there!! I'm so excited!! Thanks, Cur-vays!!

OK, so it's not my FAVORITE, but I have to do it anyway so I might as well burn some calories. See, in Brazil, it is imperative that you sweep (or vacuum) and mop your WHOLE HOUSE every day. So, once a week I vacuum and mop the apartment. My family takes shoes off at the door, which is why I don't have to do it every day. Up until last week, Jeff was helping me. I would vacuum and he would mop, or vice versa. Well, in his post-shingles fatigued state, I decided to do both last week and I was SO PROUD! I did it!! The only thing was I didn't stretch out afterwards so I was REALLY SORE the rest of the week. That's when it occured to me--this has to be aerobic! So, as you read this I'll have on my heart rate monitor and Ipod and I'll be melting the pounds away to this playlist: Precious Plankton Dances in the Kitchen 1. Baby Got Book (Dan Smith) 2. Dragostea Din Tei (O-ZONE) 3. Instanbul (Not Constantinople) (TMBG) 4. The Heart of Rock & Roll (Huey Lewis and th...

This is funny. Our kids do grow up with an amazing knowledge of technology these days. On the way home from music class today, Parker and I were singing that 10 Little Indians song. You know, One little, two little, three little Indians, Four little, five little, six little Indians, Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians, Ten little Indian boys! Parker decided to change it around a bit: One little, two little, three little Ipods, oh my!!

A brilliant idea from fellow missys here in PoA: is here I would so love to see our school filled with believers!!

Once upon a time there was a Little Rock. Bigger than a pebble, smaller than a big rock. Little Rock lived on top of a big rock in the middle of a stream. One day, it rained upstream. The stream's water rose. And rose. Soon it was a rushing, gushing river with rapids and currents swirling all around the big rock. Sticks, leaves and rocks floated by, swept up in the current. Little Rock stayed on top. Little Rock stayed dry. Little Rock was hot. Hot and dry, a little dusty, Little Rock had no idea the river even existed. Poor Little Rock.

Sometimes it's really bizarre living south of the equator. Time zones illustrate one of the strangest realities of this... See, we're two time zones east of the US east coast. This means that we are 1, 2 or 3 hours ahead of Eastern time. During the US Summer months, the US is on Daylight Savings time, we are on Standard Time and we are one hour ahead. During the US Winter months, the US is on Standard Time and we are on Daylight Savings Time and we are 3 hours ahead. There is a period on either end of a few weeks in which we are only 3 hours ahead. Weird, huh?

5. I-Tunes With the increasing spiritism, violence and perversion on TV, many of us have gotten disgusted with the tube. We had three families here rip out the cable in the same month for this reason (we didn't decide this together, each family made the decision on their own) I heard a preacher say once that Christians don't have more intimacy from God because they were, "always in front of the hellivision and all that gives them is devilvision." Anyway, the thing is I just love to watch TV. With I-Tunes, I can legally download shows one episode at a time and only bring into my home that which I choose. I spend about $2-4 per week on kids shows and about $5-7 per month on stuff for me. I gave Jeff a show season (Stargate Atlantis) for his birthday, which got me off the hook at the last minute. I-Tunes is also useful for other things. You can buy songs, one at a time. No more buying a whole CD to get one song. Then you can group songs into playlists and burn them to C...

(Missy being missionary, not necessarily young female). Our planet is getting smaller and smaller. Gone are the days (Praise God!) when missionaries packed their belongings in their coffins and sailed off over the horizon never to be seen again. Gone are the days of waiting a month to get a response to the letter you wrote yesterday. Gone are the days (I HOPE!) of annual missionary prayer letters! In order of importance: 1. Skype If you don't know what skype is, I don't know what rock you live under, but you need to crawl out from under it. It does require broadband, but you can access it from a lan house. Free calls computer-to-computer, cheap calls elsewhere. It is actually cheaper to call Jeff's cell phone using skype than using our home phone, or my cell. Chat is also available if you don't want to commit to an actual voice conversation (or if you need to be quiet when kids nap). Cam Dunson's Facebook profile 2. Facebook is not much of a tool for thos...

I’ve been tagged!! Actually, I got tagged months ago by Kerri Hamilton , who is on her way to Brazil TODAY with her husband and four children to serve here in Rio Grande do Sul. So, it seems fitting to post the tag blog today in her honor. You see, as I have a TON.of.blogs. in my reader and the writers are always getting “tagged” by one of their many hundreds of readers and finally one of them tagged ME!! Yeah! Anyway, here are the rules: Here are the rules: *Link the person who tagged you. *Mention the rules in your blog. *Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours. *Tag a new set of six following bloggers by linking them So, I’m supposed to explain 6 "unspectacular" quirky things about myself. It’s taken me a week to narrow it down to just 6…Here goes: 1. I totally don’t get video games . AT.ALL. I don’t know if it’s lack of hand-eye coordination or the terror that came from the knowledge that if that little frog got squished on the road, it was ALL MY FAULT. I have neve...

It has been said that "chicken is the canvas on which the chef paints..." and, as any Suzuki Mom, or baseball mom, or swimmom, or bowling mom, or whatever knows, dinner prep on lesson day is rough. Leftover night works for one night a week, but I can't squeeze two out of it. So, we have crockpot night. One of the easiest options is to throw some skinless chicken (I use legs) into the crockpot, sprinkle lightly with Mrs. Dash, or Seasoned Salt, or something like that and cook it. High for 2 hours or Low for 3-4. Then I pour on some sauce of some sort. Tonight it's Uncle Ben's Sweet and Sour. If I were in the states, I'd probably use a flavor packet of something. Put it on some jasmine rice, and voila!

This is too good not to share. Still, I'm posting it early so it'll be buried soonest...

It's that time again folks!! National Blog Posting Month 2008 (NaBloPoMo) is finally here!! I figure this should get me nicely back on the blogging bandwagon. You can be sure that: 1. There will be a post everyday. 2. I will be cheating (backdating and frontdating and such) 3. There will be some really good recipes, stories, spoilers, etx. 4. There will be some junk.

Dinner table conversation: The 8-year-old decares: Probably, there are more criminals in the US and England and China and Japan than anywhere else. China is where most things are made. Dad: Why the US? 8y.o.: The US is just such a big country and a big chunk of that is New York with, you know, all those cat-burglers and such. Dad: Why Japan? 8yo: Japan has all the Ninjas. Dad: And England? 8yo: I just think they would have a lot of robbers with all that jewelry. Mom: Excuse me, I have to type this up before I forget it...

September is beginning to draw to a close, and with it, the major push for the Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. If you have not yet received a copy of the videos and the accompanying bulletin inserts, you can request the DVD by contacting us , view them online or download them . The final video on Witchcraft is available on GodTube and also on YouTube . Our prayer emphasis this week will be on the stronghold of Witchcraft. We would encourage you to watch the videos with your church or small group and to devote time during this week asking God to free the hearts and minds of the Gaúchos from the deception of voodoo-like African witchcraft which bind the Gaúchos in incredible darkness. Blake, Parker and I made it back to Porto Alegre yesterday – it’s nice to have the whole family back together! Parker got a good report from the doctor and will be continuing with follow-up with eye doctors here in Porto Alegre. Even though the Month of Prayer off...

We are well into the Month of Prayer for the Gaúchos of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil! As you may remember, the prayer focus this year is on the spiritual strongholds that bind the hearts and minds of urban Gaúchos. If you have not yet received a copy of the videos and the accompanying bulletin inserts, you can view them online or download them at www.teamgaucho.net . Our prayer emphasis this week will be on the stronghold of Materialism. We would encourage you to watch the videos with your church or small group and to devote time during this week asking God to free the hearts and minds of the Gaúchos from the deception of the unhealthy aspects of modern culture which keep them from being open to receiving the gospel. Jeff is in Porto Alegre, while Blake, Parker and I are still in the USA. Parker goes to the doctor today (Wednesday), and if all goes well, he will be cleared to return to Brazil next week. Please pray that he will get a good report from the doctor and that we will be a...

September is rolling right along, and with it, the Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil! As you may remember, the prayer focus this year is on the spiritual strongholds that bind the hearts and minds of urban Gaúchos. If you have not yet received a copy of the videos and the accompanying bulletin inserts, you can view them online or download them at www.teamgaucho.net . The second video on Pride is available on GodTube and also on YouTube . Our prayer emphasis this week will be on the stronghold of Pride. We would encourage you to watch the videos with your church or small group and to devote time during this week asking God to free the hearts and minds of the Gaúchos from the deception of the unhealthy aspects of their cultural pride which keep them from being open to receiving the gospel. Jeff has returned safely to Porto Alegre, while Blake, Parker and I are still in the USA awaiting Parker’s medical clearance so we can return. Please pray for ou...

September is finally here, and with it, the Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil! As you may remember, the prayer focus this year is on the spiritual strongholds that bind the hearts and minds of urban Gaúchos. If you have not yet received a copy of the videos and the accompanying bulletin inserts, you can watch it here, view them online or download them at www.teamgaucho.net. Here is the first video on False Religions. We would encourage you to watch the videos with your church or small group and to devote time during this week asking God to free the hearts and minds of the Gaúchos from the deception of false religions.

I am so behind on my blogging, I've been tagged and written about 4 posts that I haven't published. I want to publish my "Live, Not Live Blogging from the Beth Moore telecasts" posts. Most of all, I want to tell you the story of the many, many God-incidences that have brought us here now for Parker's surgery and wonderful recovery. That's my blogger's TO DO list for these coming few weeks, BUT FIRST, this one couldn't wait. I've heard that blogging TO DO lists can be quite attractive, even profitable for some. So, when my 8-year-old son, Blake wrote out a Summer's Day TO DO List for him and his brother the other day, I knew it was worthy of a post. Here is Blake's TO DO list from a hot July day with his 4-year-old brother: Chechtist: --Pretending -- Dancing -- Movies -- Card Game -- Emergency Defense Barriers

Since my computer is still being repaired, I haven't posted in awhile. Good news is that the DVD is completed and a master copy burned!! Our other big news is that we're in the states for longer than we expected. For the skinny on our situation, here is a copy of the prayerletter we just sent out: Greetings from Newark, Delaware! We arrived in the USA from Brazil last week to attend a missions conference sponsored by the IMB in Richmond. The day we left Brazil, we had an appointment with Parker’s eye doctor who told us that surgery would probably be necessary to correct his crossing eyes. I had already arranged an appointment with the ophthalmologists at the children’s hospital here in Delaware, and during that appointment they confirmed that recommendation. We are so thankful to God for the opportunity to get Parker’s eyes corrected and to get it done here with such good care available. It is, however, something of a challenge to work out schedules, since it will involve more ...

September is the month of prayer for the Gaúchos. We are producing a DVD with 4 videos that highlight 4 strongholds which bind the Urban Gaúchos of POA in darkness: Witchcraft, False Religion, Pride, and Materialism. These videos and accompanying bulletin inserts will be distributed to interested churches and individuals in the USA to use in worship services, prayer services, Bible studies, small groups, etc. We did this last year, and were surprised with the positive response. However, we have been running up against one technical problem after another. After much wrangling, the videos are ready to go, but we still can't get them to burn to a DVD. We need to get the master DVD ready so we can make copies to start getting them distributed. There is no doubt in our minds that this is spiritual warfare - it's interesting how much push back you get when you do something to raise up prayer to combat the forces of the evil one. PLEASE PRAY NOW and ask God to make our computers wor...

I have very few regrets in my life, and almost none in my marriage. BUT, after seeing this--I want a Do-Over Reception!

I have way too many feeds in my reader. Just when I'm about to delete one, though, something really meaningful comes through. This happened last week with the following quote. Knowledge Is No Longer Power Knowledge is and will always be valuable, but Power has moved. It has moved from Knowledge to Trust. In any situation, the person who is most trusted by others is the person with the most power. In Social Networks you are able to build your connections, strengthen your reputation, and expand the number of people who feel comfortable communicating with you. You can begin by simply communicating and exploring, then when appropriate, contribute something you feel they will value. Before long you will be known and trusted. Soon after, you will find people seeking your advice, input and recommendations. Build Trust Before You Need It By cultivating these relationships you will be accumulating a relationship “bank account” from which you can make withdrawals (asking for something) later...

This video is 8 minutes long, but WELL WORTH IT!!

In 1986 a man named Steven Wiley recorded the first Christian Rap song released on Brentwood records and then promptly disappeared. I'm here to say now: Steven, if you're out there, the teenagers of 1986 have grown up. We have kids now. We're trying to teach them the books of the Bible. WE NEED YOUR HELP!! Everybody chant together: RE-RELEASE! RE-RELEASE! RE-RELEASE! Note to feedreaders: click on over and watch the video--it's worth it, especially if you're a child of the 80s like me.

This video is a great portrayal of how sometimes we missionaries feel at the task looming in front of us that is so much bigger than ourselves. In the end we just have to hold to God's promise in Isaiah 52:15 Those who have never been told of Him will see and those who have never heard will understand.

This is another non-recipe recipe. Core and quarter 2 apples. Place in microwave-proof baking dish. Nuke on high for 3 minutes. Cool slightly.

This is really a non-recipe recipe. I took a bunch of vegetables, washed them really well, chopped them into 1-inch chunks and put them in a big bowl. Then I whisked 1/3 cup of olive oil with 1 teaspoon of salt and some ground pepper and tossed it in with the vegetables. I spread them out into 2 9x13 casserole dishes, covered them with foil, and baked at 400 F for 40-50 minutes. Then, I took off the foil and let them brown for 10 minutes. I turned out really yummy. I used: 1 large tomato (or 5 cherry tomatoes cut in half) 2 sweet potatoes 2 large white potatoes 3 carrots, peeled 2 large zucchini 2 portobello mushrooms 1 HUGE red bell pepper I think the only 2 items that were indispensable were the tomatoes and the red bell pepper. They really gave the other veggies a good flavor. This isn't as much work as it sounds, since you're not peeling (except for carrots) and the chunks are big. It's a quick put-together and one person can get 3-4 FULL meals from it if they aren'...

May 11 is a big day this year. If you're following what's going on in Lakeland , you know it's a big day. If you're a participant in a church that follows the liturgical church calendar, you know it's Pentecost Sunday . If you're a Mommy Blogger , then you already KNOW it's REALLY BIG . (PSST -- you, clueless Dad there: It's Mother's Day). It's also the single biggest day of the year for the US restaurant industry. It's also the Day of Prayer and Fasting for World Evangelization , with a special focus this year on South America. Since Mother's Day, restaurants, and fasting don't go so well together (if only they would just consult ME before they go planning these things!), I have decided to invite you all to join me in a week-long fast (type of your choosing) PRIOR to the Big Day. So, while you're praying for an outpouring of God's glory on our nation, or your moving, contempletive worship service, or your Mom, or My Mom (wh...

I promise this is true. One year ago, I began physical therapy for some back pain I was having. The pain was really getting worse and I finally gave in and began PT, which in Brazil is an endless endeavor. Anyway, so I worked hard and STR-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-ECHED and really enjoyed getting to know my physical therapist who, I thought for awhile there, was going to get saved in the process. BUT, I spent so much time on her treadmill I got hip bursitis. This happened in September and I got really discouraged. I couldn't do anything, it was pretty much all I could do to hobble around and get my work done at home. My back was feelling somewhat better, but my hip was ruining any joy I had in that. Months went by. In November, I really began to discuss this seriously with God. One day, I was praying about it and I heard Him say, "You need to clean your own house." Of course, I thought He was talking about the falling US dollar and the ever-increasing amount of ...

OK, so I'm not really. . . just married into it.

In my first ministry job, I had an office mate. Now this guy was INCREDIBLY BLUNT. He said exactly what he was thinking, all the time, with no flowery words or disclaimers attached. He loved God, he loved people, but he alienated most of them by being so very direct. I never understood why people got so upset with him. Couldn't they see that he loved God? Couldn't they see that he just wanted the best for them? Didn't they know what scripture said about those who don't listen to criticism? Anyway, every time Al corrected me, I listened, examined, prayed and, frequently, changed. One day we were working late and I was telling Al the latest saga of my adventures as a CSDS (Christian Single Desperately Searching). "Cam, you are so manipulative." He went on to point out how this is sin. "No," I responded, "I'm not! I'm not at all manipulative." I then went on to explain, in depth, how very UN-manipulative I was. Nevertheless, I took his...

It was Spring of 1989, Charlotte, NC. The business establishment doesn't really matter as I'm sure it's long gone by now. We had traveled to see They Might Be Giants play a show that evening. Now, at that time, to my 21-year-old eyes, those guys looked SO OLD. I remember wondering where my college radio crowd would be in 20 years. How would we age? Would we ever really grow up? Would we make suburbanite families? Would our kids have damaged hearing because we dragged them all over the southeast to see our favorite bands play? Would we ever have real jobs? What would it all look like? Fast forward to Spring of 2008. I have my answers, at least a lot of them. Those of us who aren't Baptist missionaries, or Episcopalian priests, or high-powered D.C. bigwigs, or the Hasbro VP in charge of all the Star Wars toys, or Hootie, are doing this . Cool. Maybe you can't go back to Constantinople. . . . . . but Istanbul's pretty cool, too.

Eric and Ramona Reese are IMB missionaries serving in Rio de Janeiro. They have a beautiful rapport with Brazilians. They love Brazilians, the Brazilians know it and love them back. One thing I didn't realize about the Reese's ministry is the dangers they face in the slums of Rio. The IMB recently featured their ministry in this video short that is part of their Commission Stories series. HT: Pascal and Amy Stowell

Recently, we had the opportunity through our mission to request some college students to come and work here in Metro PoA for a semester. In an admirable attempt to make us fuddy-duddy missys seem more hip, hop, and happening to the "Millenial Generation," we got the following primer on how to word our job requests: What are they [today's students] looking for? • For ministry that will help people both spiritually and physically. They really want to see people helped in both ways. • For an opportunity to minister as they see Christ ministering in the N.T. • For the opportunity to build relationships with both the people they will work among and with the missionaries they will work along side of. • For a request that sounds less like a project and more like an experience. • For ministry reflecting a real cause and a real need - not statistics but a need. • For specific types of ministry. They respond to ministry with orphans, a chance to help hurting people or projects that...

Here is an update to yesterday's prayer request. Jeff wrote it early this morning before leaving to be with the team. Thank you so much for your prayers. We’ll write with more details later, but suffice it to say that your prayers are already making a major difference. The team did manage to get to the city where they were working yesterday without major difficulty, and even though we were down two translators, everything ended up meshing together in the end. The team led about 29 Bible studies yesterday, and many indicated a desire to follow Christ, including the president of the neighborhood association, who was like ripe fruit falling off into our hands – it was a wonderful thing to see. The kickoff service for the new church plant was a success, with a number of visitors present to sing and hear a story from the Bible. In short, God turned many of the difficulties on their heads and brought blessings. However, we still need your prayers – there is a lot of week left. We appea...

Greetings from Porto Alegre. We would like for you to pray for the work of our volunteer teams from Oviedo, Florida and Belgrade, Montana, who are currently here working with us. They arrived on Saturday, and will be with us throughout the week working to evangelize alongside a number of our national church planters. We are only one and a half days into the trip and we are already experiencing major resistance from the forces of evil. Translators are getting sick, Jeff is suddenly sick and has barely slept, there are several other major problems going on, and to top it all off, and we just got notice that the main interstate highway which is the only route to the neighborhood in Novo Hamburgo where we will be working to start a church from scratch today is blocked both ways because of an accident. This is interesting, as the last time this same group from Florida came to work in the city of Novo Hamburgo, the exact same road was blocked both ways on the very morning that the team was...

I just love ITunes. Especially free Itunes. Anyway, I was searching tonight to see if VeggieTales had a podcast and found this . Phil Vischer speaks to Seattle Pacific University students on what happens when God give you a dream, fulfills it, and the dream dies. 21 minutes, given sometime in late 2004 or early 2005. It actually makes me a little nervous, since we're coming in the middle of the story of Joseph in Parker's nightly Bible reading (he had the dreams last night, and was sold into slavery tonight) and then I end up listening to this. I think I'll go check to make sure the children are still breathing. . .

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ANNA MAE LOUISE WOLLERMAN 12/13/1910 - 2/18/2008 Anna Mae Louise Wollerman has moved to heaven.

This amazing testimony is from a student who was at Union University the night of the tornado. This was circulated to me by email, but it appears to have been a post to her blog or a mass email. I have removed her name to protect her privacy. Well, most of you have probably heard by now, my school, Union University was hit by an F4 tornado this past Tuesday night (Feb. 5, 2008). Thanks for all the calls and messages. I will try to talk to you all as time and my emotional state allows. I don't know what reports you have read, but I was one of the 15 students who got trapped in the wreckage. I was in my dorm room with one of my roommates (K), the 3 girls from upstairs, and my mentor from church. About 2 minutes before the tornado hit, my other roommate (who is an RA) ran in and told us to get in the bathtub. We barely made it. Our ears popped, my mentor (J) looked at me and said, "We have to get in, NOW!" -- then the lights went off. I was the last one in. My legs didn'...

In my last post, I mentioned the members of FBC Blogtown, or at least those in my Sunday School class. Actually, I resided in this little shack on the backwoods periphery of Blogtown for over a year before I met anyone here who is NOT Baptist. (and Yes, non-Baptists, I AM aware of how creepy that sounds). Anyway, this past November I ventured over into another area of town. I found it really interesting and now head for afternoon walks over there frequently. It all started when I decided to try to participate in NaBloPoMo and ended up joining all these groups of Mommybloggers, SuzukiMombloggers, HomeschoolingBloggers, IOnceLivedInHawaiibloggers, Expatbloggers, and so forth and so on. Most of these bloggers had the sense to blog anonymously, so I don't know their names, but it has amazed my how interested I can be in their adventures. Alison , a very nice soup-loving lady in San Diego, is trying to have a baby. It's amazing how complicated this can be nowadays. I understand almo...

I LOVE my email program! In July, we got the new Outlook version and it has the best feature. It will check for me all the blogs that I like to read and put any new posts right in my inbox (actually, right in my Feed box, which is right near my inbox. . .but I digress). Anyway, I thought I would share those blogs with you. Since I live on the periphery of the backwoods of Blogtown, just across the river on the other side of the tracks, my neighbors are varied. I'll introduce you to them in the order that I found them. The real estate developer who sold me a spot in blogtown is Guy Muse , because of his ingeniously visual use of the blog as a medium to raise awareness/prayer support of his ministry and people group. Linda is Guy's wife. I would consider Dorcas Hawker to be my first "friend" in blogtown, although she couldn't really be called a neighbor because her real estate is in a much more swanky part of town. I met Dorcas because we were interested in some o...

There's 51 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it; So the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it! I've mentioned before that I've been homeschooling our oldest son, Blake, in 3rd grade U.S. History this year. Blake attends an international school here in Porto Alegre, but they don't teach US history as a subject this early. Sonlight's two year US history curriculum was recommended to us by our regional educational consultant. We did the history curriculum, the readers and the read-alouds. WE HAVE HAD THE BEST TIME! Blake finished the 3rd grade curriculum yesterday. We had started September 1st on a ten-day training trip we took as a family. Basically, he worked on Saturdays and holidays (we're in summer break now, remember) for 2-3 hours each day and we finished up just in time for the end of summer break! We both learned a LOT of US history and some really good American values (that I never realized were Ame...

"You need to make your own yogurt." I promised you, that's what I found myself telling myself one afternoon last month. Did you know that with about 30 minutes and Senhora Google, you too can become a yogurt-making expert? All you have to do it take some milk (1 liter), warm it (if you're in the states and don't have MilkInABox, then you have to sterilize it first) to 120 degrees, put it in a clean glass jar and add a couple of tablespoons of yogurt. I then set it in a cooler that has some hot tap water in the bottom. I cover it and leave it for 12 hours. Then, I put the jar in the fridge and let it cool. After a couple of hours, I added some vanilla flavoring (about 2 tablespoons), and some sugar (about 1/2 cup). It turned out great! It also supplies us with some lactase, that enzyme that helps us digest milk. Blake and Jeff loved it. Parker still doesn't recognize it as food, but he will soon. I also made butter last night. I was getting ready for our ...

Last night I was stalking googling old friends, a fav internet pasttime for me, when I came across the following story. Jeff and I were in missionary orientation with Mike and Jeanne Melon and their kids, Jeanne and Gregory, back in 2001. They served an ISC term in Paraguay. I'm just proud to know 'em. This article is from a blog called "Remember Me" . Jeanne and Gregory left New Orleans mid-day on Saturday before Katrina hit. Mike, a bi-vocational pastor, completed his work shift and got home just after Jeanne had left. He had planned to leave immediately. But, when he got home he discovered that two senior adults had no way out of the city and would not leave. Mike purposed to ride out the storm and try to take care of them. Mike’s . . .house began taking water about 8:30am and he watched as the water came up the road. He said it was almost surreal. He and the dog relocated to the attic with some food and an axe in case he had to cut his way out. About 1pm in the ...

I just did the Presidential Candidate Calculator . It's a little self-test that tells you which presidential candidate you're most in agreement with on certain issues. Mostly, I learned that I know NOTHING about the major political issues being discussed in the US right now. [They do offer good explanations of the pro- and con- side of each issue.] My result was very surprising. The only thing I can figure is that, even though they weight issues, they don't weight them strongly enough. Either that, or I've been watching too many Alias episodes. . .

I'm taking advantage of Parker's loooonnnng summer break to teach him his letters. We can't start our reading program until he can recognize both upper- and lower-case of all letters. He has learned some letter names in Portuguese, which makes for some interesting interchanges. We're up to I . Mommy: This is a Big I and this is a Little i . What's this (pointing to Big I )? Park: EEEE! Mom: No, it is pronounced EE in Portuguese, but we say I (aye) in English. Park: A ye! Mom: This is an igloo. I makes an ih sound like in igloo . What other words start with the ih sound? Park: CHURCH! Church starts with I ! [clicking sound is heard as pieces fall into place in Mommy's brain] Mom: Very Good! Igreja starts with I .

Sorry, I'm running a little late. I hope that everyone had a very happy holiday season. We really did. We spent our December in Porto Alegre as a family, just the four of us. We had never had Christmas with just the four of us, so I wanted to take the chance to really teach the kids about Christmas, what it means, and start some traditions for them to enjoy through the years. (This was all inspired by the fact that we spent the entire day of Thanksgiving in the car rushing to get to Florianopolis that we totally forgot to ACTUALLY GIVE THANKS or EVEN TALK about the holiday with the kids). [BAD missionary mom, BAD, BAD missionary mom] Anyway, we did have a good season. Here are some things we did: We listened to LOTS of Chrismas music. I DO recommend Charlie Brown Christmas, I DO NOT recommend Christmas with the Rat Pack (they change a lot of words to things that were apparently cute back in the 1950s). We really enjoyed, as much as anything, the weekly Free on Itunes holiday choice...