Well...

Post by Brin

Some of you have heard me complaining about my water situation. I really think it is worthy of being called a fiasco. When we first arrived back in Brazil we discovered the pump to our well was not functioning as it had been pre-furlough. So we hired someone to descend into the well (75 ft.) and he diagnosed us as needing a new pump. So a new pump was put in. Again we daily ran out of water and Josh determined that the new pump was not put in deep enough. At least we hoped, because that would be an easy fix. Josh tried to no avail to find someone to finish the job, but couldn’t until after the rainy season (June). That is when I started complaining. I really like to have enough water. I live in a rain forest for crying out loud. Sometime later we found a guy willing to go down and fix the problem. And…..he did. And now for weeks I have had all the water I could drink. It was wonderful until yesterday when Josh took a shower and the water smelled like dead animal. We thoroughly scrubbed the water holding tank and filled it with fresh water from the well, and the water still left us feeling filthy after taking a shower. So the only other source could be our well itself, which was still unsealed from the last time.

So here you see Josh, again, opening up the well and pouring a bottle of bleach into the watery grave of a decomposing something. If you could smell us now…

I think that I need to clarify a few things. Yes, our family is still home schooling. We have also put our girls in a school here in Altamira so that they could make some friends their own age and also have the opportunity to learn independence. They go to school every afternoon which leaves the mornings open to home school. It works pretty well. Ella loves Brazilian school, however Ava and Mia are not convinced yet. Ella also loves home schooling now that Chelsea helps me home school twice per week. Chelsea is a new missionary with the Xingu Mission from Columbus, Ohio. She will be working with youth and also involved with music and dance ministries. She herself is a grateful home school graduate and her enthusiasm inspires Ella to want to learn. Chelsea is also a talented musician so at some point I will have her teach Ella music. Right now the only instrument we have is a plastic recorder, so we'll wait a bit. I am so thankful for her. We have all been anticipating her arrival in Altamira since we first found out she was coming in August. Chelsea has visited twice previously, the last visit she stayed for 3 months and conducted a ballet class for all the missionary kids. My girls remembered this small detail and we always referred to Chelsea as the "ballerina." We greeted Chelsea when she walked off the airplane and I am pretty sure that Mia was expecting her to be wearing a tutu and tiara.

Here is Chelsea's blog if you want to know more about her:

http://chelsea-nichelle.blogspot.com/

Celebrate with us! Only 2 months away from being 7, Ava has graduated from Kindergarten. We surprised her with a giant chocolate chip cookie which is a grand gesture since the chocolate is imported.

Everything she needed to know she learned in Kindergarten. Here are some of Ava’s ramblings on the topic of "school”:

• I know how to say honey in Portuguese because my teacher brings it to school and gives it to us at snacktime. Sometimes they bring honey and sometimes pizza.
• Emily teached me reading. Mat M-A-T. Bat B-A-T.
  
• I go to school in brasil and I get nervous and cry. And Mia screams and cried more.
  
• My teacher she barely lets us play. At the end when we go to our moms she gets out the toys. She mostly cares about homework.
  
• Whoever does good at school gets a pencil and whoever obeys gets honey. Only I obey.
  
• We want to make friends and so we say hi and share food.
  
• I have to do Brazilian math.
  
• When I see Mia on the playground, when I leave I get a little scared.
• When I don’t want to stand on the stage I run to Mia. Everyone looks at me. Because of my white face and red curls and because I talk weird.
• I have a babysitter here her name is Cleide. She has sleepovers with us. She takes the lice out of my hair.
  
• My favorite part of school is making friends. Her name is Deborah.
  
• We went to the waterfall and we saw a snake and I was in a tube with mom. Snakes are good, they don’t hurt us but some poison.