One foot out the door and it feels good!

~Post by Brin

The other day I mused that this will be my first furlough going home healthy. Four years ago we traveled home and I had just started a course of amoeba medication. Many people pointed out that I had lost a lot of weight in those 2 years; a lot of it was just the 2 weeks prior. I held back no details for anyone who lingered in that conversation too long. Then 2 years ago, packing to leave I was tired, slightly feverish. I broke out in the telltale dengue fever rash the day before we were to fly.

Today I am feeling fantastic and ready to go! After I pack up my whole house, that is. And teach all my science classes. And give Science class in Portuguese to our lone 5th grader. I am pretty sure I learn just as much as my student, Duda. She was entertained today when I was amused to hear the word freshwater translated “agua doce.” Sweet water indeed. I will work hard all day and prep dinner ahead of time so I can swim in the river each afternoon....which explains why I have swimmers ear. Stink! I guess I am not perfectly healthy. I also have a gorgeous scrape on my knee I earned playing my first game of futesol (court soccer). Health is a relative term, I suppose. And I thank our Father for mine.  

We are moving again, this time just across the yard. So in the midst of looking for immunization records, making our “to buy in the States” list, attempting to find our least worn out clothing (also least smelly, I apologize ahead of time), and planning dinner dates and picnics all the way into August, we are also packing up our whole house. Which involves interruptions when it rains, or when the electricity shuts off or when I have to take care of someone’s booboo. And there are a lot of booboos with jungly kids running barefoot and pitching themselves into the river.


I end this post with a freebie, because of course it will increase my readership: Free hugs for all!  For my friends and teammates that stay back and for my friends and family that I soon will see!