Big Brother Micah

We are so proud of Micah! He's a great big brother! He's not jealous of little Elijah at all. He loves to help change his diaper, give him a bath, and kiss him whenever he gets a chance. He repeatedly asks, "Why does baby 'Lijah' like to eat all the time? Why does he poop so much? Why is sleeping again?" We recently picked up Elijah's Brasilian passport and Micah said, "Ok, no he can get on the plane with us to fly back to NC because he has his passport now! Let's go!" Unfortunately a toddler has no concept of time, so telling him we have to wait until after Christmas was no consolation. We are so thankful for our "big brother" Micah. He is constantly encouraging us all: "Mom, you're a great feeder! Elijah, you're a great eater! Dad, you're a great soccer player!" I wish we could take credit for teaching him this, but I think we owe it to the "Little Einsteins" cartoon he loves to watch so much. I hope these 2 guys will be best friends as they grow up together in Africa!

"These are the days of Elijah"

Ha! I couldn't resist using the title of that song! That's what I feel like these days...Elijah, Elijah, Elijah! But, that's what it's supposed to be like, right? I feel like a dairy cow and he takes up all my days...and nights. Welcome once again to motherhood. I look at Micah and I think, was he this time-consuming? And I answer myself almost immediately...YEP! Then I thank the Lord for this little blessing in disguise, reprimand myself for complaining, and ask for more patience and wisdom.

Elijah, now 1 month old, takes his first trip!

We all loaded up in the car to visit Peniel, New Tribes Mission's Bible School here in Brasil. It's only about 3 hours away. We were a little nervous about how Elijah would do, but he did great! We stopped on the way to visit with an old Bible school friend of Daniel's. It was so much fun! He is a pastor and they have 2 daughters. The youngest, Leticia, is 4 years old and she said she could speak English with Micah. It was so cute...she sounded like a little pirate as she invented words, "Arrrr larrr larrr!"

The Bible school is located right outside a small city called Jacutinga. It's known for hand sewn sweaters. It's such a beautiful area with rolling hills, green vegetation, and lots of coffee fields. Those are all coffee plants straight ahead, behind the truck.



I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the trip. On our way back we stopped and ate typical "mineiro" food. Mineiro is the name given to people who live in the state above Sao Paulo called Minas Gerais. It's really just homecookin'! Yummy! They sit out all these pans and pots full of food on a wood stove. The highlight of the trip was when I gave Micah some homemade Brasilian whiskey! I thought it was fruit juice....yeah, no....it was just fruit flavored! He took a sip and spit it back in the cup and said, "My tongue is burning!". I almost got mad at him...until I smelled the liquid. Whew!! Alcohol for sure! Oops! It makes me wonder what kind of cultural blunders I'm gonna make in Guinea! Feel free to start praying in advance:)

Elijah is already 2 weeks old!

Elijah is doing much better at nursing now...which means I am feeling a lot better too! He is waking up every 2.5 to 3 hours to nurse, which means a lack of sleep for me, but that comes with the territory. Micah wants to hold him all the time and shake his hand. He says, "Nice to meet ya, sir!" Sometimes Elijah doesn't enjoy that very much, especially when he is trying to sleep.

Well, here's some pix. Elijah's eyes are open more now and the bruising is almost gone. I wonder what color they're gonna be?