twelve hours

In a little less than 12 hours, I will be headed out my door to start our journey to Brazil. I can't wait to see what God has planned! Thank you for all your prayers and support! This is going to be a trip of a lifetime. Can't wait -- but I doubt there'll be much sleep tonight. ;)


Love in Christ,

   Sierra

Five More Days...

Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

You know those computer screensavers where you choose words that will float across the screen like a banner whenever your computer hasn’t been used for a few minutes?  You can choose the color, font, font size, words, etc.  Well, my mind is that idle computer and Five more days is that banner.  My mind is not idle, but that banner blocks everything else out.  It’s a huge, fun and bold, black against white font: Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

It seems so weird to think that all there is left to do is pack.  I have little lists floating around: Do not forget! (Bible, journal, pens, etc.), Need to buy! (travel shampoo bottles, money bag, water bottle, etc.), Do before Sunday! (empty SD card, run to St. Cloud, pack, etc.).  No more flurried searches for papers needed to apply for a visa; no more planning fundraising events; no more discussion of travel details; no more team meetings.  Five more days, five more days, five more days,  five more days…

We know where we’re sitting on the plane.  We have names and ages of the children who are presently at Reame.  We know what time we have to be at church Sunday morning.  We know what we’re wearing while traveling.  We know how much money we’re taking with to be exchanged into reais.  We should know what we’re going to pack. ;)  It’s all set!  Most of the team members will most likely spend this week packing.  Saturday, the lot of us will get together once more and pack the team supply bags.  Sunday, we get to the church at 9:30, pack the trailer, at 10am we get commissioned in the service, and hopefully will hit the road by 10:20-10:30.  Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

We’ve found out several projects that we’ll be doing down there:

·         Painting the trim of the girl’s house

·         Gardening

·         Cementing the sidewalk outside of Reame

·         Putting together a mosaic in the said cement

·         Organizing a storage closet (for which they are actually renting a dumpster) :)

·         Painting and decorating Lynda’s new office

·         Cleaning leather sofas

Most of the Reame children go to school from 1-5pm, so that will be when the majority of the projects will be getting accomplished.  I’m very excited to do some of this!  I think we’ll be able to bond as a team a bit more during these times and perhaps get to know some of the Reame staff a little better.  Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

The Brazilian government has changed their laws: on weekends, now, children must go home to their families – if they have one.  So on Saturday, we will be doing a bit of touring.  Seeing the “Christ the Redeemer” statue and Sugarloaf Mountain are on our lists for Saturday.  We also get to experience a Brazilian pizza/pasta buffet and an authentic Brazilian steakhouse (think Fogo de Chao, if you’ve ever been there).  Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

Well, I better stop typing, now, because I could go on forever.  Can you tell I’m just a tad excited? :)

God bless and thank you so much for your prayers and support!  We can’t wait to tell you about it and show some pictures when we get home!   

In Christ,
  Sierra

To My Dad...

 As I was with Mother's Day, I'm a day late with my Father's Day post.  *sigh*  This is for you, Dad! :)

For supporting our family -- thank you.  For first suggesting homeschooling -- thank you.  For supporting me and encouraging me in my college -- thank you.  For giving me a job -- thank you.  For supporting LIVE and praying for it -- thank you.  For giving me your love for music -- thank you.  For helping me study as much as you can -- thank you.  For taking me to concerts -- thank you.  For taking me camping all those years -- thank you.  For being the best dad ever -- thank you.

For all you've done for me --

Thank you, Daddy!  I love you very much!

Love,

   Sierra