post by Brin
Such a sunny day it is, meteorologically and emotionally speaking!
Today Gabriella is now minus 4 wisdom teeth and, kid-you-not, it took us 9min 50sec to drive to the oral surgeon this morning. By the time she left our front door and then later arrived in her bed only 1 hour and 45 min had passed. To have done that in the Amazon would have (for us) required a boat, a car, an overnight in the city and a lot of patience in the waiting room. I am thankful for this moment and this place.
And know where else timing has evidenced it's sunny disposition? Josh has been on his lonesome at a Wycliff training center in NC for 5 of the 37 days that he will spend under an airplane. I think he loves it. And I am not at all jealous that my husband's new bff is a Cessna 206. Because, as God mercifully gifts, Josh gets his training and also works on a future Asas plane, destined for Brazil, while I get to stay in Tremont. I miss Josh, but if he were to leave while I stayed in Brazil (which was a possibility last March) I would miss his snake-slaying skills and his biceps for carrying my gas tanks. He needs to write his own update so everyone tell him so.
And the girls...
Gabriella is navigating what are, for her, the unchartered waters of an American public high school. As a teacher at PQQ (our international school in Brazil) I enjoyed front-row seating at my girls' education - now trusting them to unknown teachers but ultimately God. Gabriella wades in by joining the speech team; which ironically coincides with the exit of her wisdom teeth and aggressive orthodontic banding to make up for the lack of it in Brazil. She eats mounds of ice cream daily and with the price half of what it is in Manaus, my thriftiness compels me to do the same. Also on her list is marching band, under the direction of Mr. Hillrich who is also Uncle Dave. Seriously? How can a high school sophomore just up and join band? Mr. Hillrich points out that marching band is both auditory AND visual. Meaning to say she is decently coordinated and will hold a helpful place on the football field. Also, she is a beauty so obviously he was referring to that as well. I taught her to put her reed on her mouthpiece after she had stubbornly lodged it inside the mouthpiece. My history in woodwinds payed out since now my daughter advises me on books, clothes, technology and even cooking and I needed that boost. Gabriella's favorite class is Current Global Issues but also is learning a lot in Honors English. With comparatively trivial amount of homework she now has lots of time for hanging out with friends, games, youth group, and dabbling in various hobbies.
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| See Gabriella? She is the short one playing a saxophone. |
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| Congratulations to Gabriella who passed her written test for her driver's permit. |
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| Did I park that? Yeah, in front of the DMV actually. I am going to make an awesome driving instructor. Actually, it just makes me miss Josh. |
Immersed in the swift currents of junior high (read: raging rivers of emotions) enters Ava. In the junior high school students can bring their personal devices (and all the potential poisonous horrors) for use throughout the day. I pine for months ago when Ava could be found coloring and listening to audiobooks or conversing with friends in the hidden branches of a mango tree. Of course that tree could be concealing any sort of venomous creatures. To a momma's pondering heart the antidote is the same. God holds Ava in His hand. Ava loves school. Let me clarify; Ava loves the people at school. Learning? Eh.
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| Ava has joined the Cross Country team. She will run, she supposes, if she can flit about with her friends as well. |
After leaving the rigorous standards for academics and attire at PQQ, we apparently let our guard down and sent Mia to school with contraband clothing. The straps on her shirt were *barely* short of the two finger rule. And she was devastated. And then a few days later, scarcely acquainted with frank rejection, she cried for an hour after witnessing a typical 5th grade cafeteria tragedy where another student pitifully pursued a place to sit and no one seemed to care to offer one. I told her she had "fresh eyes to see" and encouraged her to not just observe but influence and use that moment to be a disciple of Christ and do what she has been taught. It reminded me of the Seniors that Josh and I cared for last year and their class verse....
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