23

Yesterday was our 23rd wedding anniversary.

God has really blessed me with an awesome husband.  He is honest, generous, and cute.  He treats me like a queen and knows how to make me giggle.  He is passionate about being a great husband and dad, and about growing God's kingdom.  I am really proud to be his wife.

To celebrate, we spent the afternoon together just chilling out, and then went out to eat.  Nothing fancy, just time to be together.  Just what we needed after some long, stressful days.  It was perfect.  (We were going to go see a movie, but the only choice was Transformers 3 or Harry Potter - neither of which excite me at all - so he spared me.  Thanks, honey!)

One thing that we do religiously is take a date night each week.  I can't describe how important this has been for our marriage.  With 6 kids and a job that doesn't necessarily have a set time schedule, it has been great to take time for ourselves each week.  We don't have to spend a lot of money (usually we go to the cheap movie night and eat a hamburger...) but just getting out helps us to be better parents, better missionaries, and better husband/wife to each other.  I'm really glad that we have this tradition and are setting this example for our kids.

You think you would know everything about someone after 23 years.  But today, I learned something new about my husband.  Bronwyn put some shoelaces in the dryer this morning.  After a while, the dryer started to make some funny noises and she looked in and the shoelaces were gone.  Then the dryer just stopped altogether.  My husband, who wouldn't be necessarily described as a handy-man, took almost the whole dryer apart (with my help, of course), fished out the shoelaces, fixed a broken wire caused by said shoelaces, then put the whole thing back together.  IMPRESSIVE!

Learn something new everyday.

Happy Anniversary, Kevin.  I love you!

Did you know....

that you can find out how to do almost everything by looking on YouTube.com?  Well, you can.

Here are some examples:  "how to kiss", "how to make a paper gun that shoots", "how to tie a tie", "how to be a nerd".  All of these interesting things can really be found on YouTube.  They have a "how to" for almost everything, but not everything.

The other day, Anderson brought home a "worm" made from a pantyhose leg stuffed with balls of crumpled up newspaper.  He was supposed to decorate it and take it back to school.

Since we have been pretty busy with organizing the house and all the other stuff going on, we, of course, waited until the last minute to do this.  I happened to see the worm and said, "Anderson, we have to decorate your worm today!"  He got a look of urgency on his face and got up to work on it.

The next thing I knew he was sitting at the computer, frustrated.  He said, "Mom, I got on YouTube, and typed this in, but nothing is coming up!" We looked at the YouTube page he had opened, and read what he had typed:

 "How to Decorate Homemade Worms".

Can you believe that ?  No YouTube videos on how to decorate homemade worms!

Actually we should be thankful that a video didn't pop up because who knows how "worm decorating" could be interpreted by the YouTube viewing public.

Anyway, he managed to get it decorated and was really happy with it.

Maybe we should have made a YouTube video of how we did it to help other worm-decorating 2nd graders out there.  Oh well....

My New Boyfriend....

It has been really cold here recently.  Until the past few days, the temperatures were down into the 30's and we don't have central heat.  That means really cold unless the sun comes out.  The worst part of the day is at night.

When we first moved to Brazil 9 years ago, we brought electric blankets.  They were accidentally left in the hotel where we stayed.  When we realized what had happened (in a matter of hours) they were "gone". Some cleaning lady got herself some new electric blankets, but without the controls.  They were with us.

Anyway, we don't have electric blankets, so we cover up with lots of covers and we are fine.  However, that initial "getting into a cold bed" isn't that much fun.  My boyfriend (husband) was always fussing at me for putting my cold toes on his warm legs.  Well, I just got me a new boyfriend.

Here he is:

A couple of years ago some Brazilian friends told me about filling up empty soda bottles with hot water and putting them in their bed at night.  I thought that was about the most redneck thing I had ever heard of.  Well, I guess I'm a redneck now because it really works!

Fill it up with hot water (not boiling or you might melt the bottle) and it stays hot/warm the whole night.  Nice for the cold toes.

So, hello new boyfriend.

Look, he was waiting for me to come to bed and he fell asleep doing crosswords.  How cute.

Put on your thinking caps - I need opinions!

(to my mom and mother in law - you have to learn how to make comments on the blog - seek help!)


As many of you know, Ansley, our second daughter who is 18, has finished high school and is staying home and working this year.  Next year, she will go to Ecuador for several months, then on to college.  She has some good jobs teaching English and is working a lot and  making some good college spending money.

Bronwyn did the same thing when she graduated from high school.  However, this summer (winter for us), she is home but not working.  It would be hard to get a job for just 3 months and she really needs to be available to help out with family things as well as with Stephen and Weston who don't speak portuguese, but are here to help out (and are doing a great job of it so far, by the way).

So....  she is going to need some college spending money.  We have been thinking of ways that she could earn some money, but I thought I would ask you all to weigh in on some of our ideas and maybe add some of your own....

1.  She is going to sew a bunch of stuff for the next craft sale at the kids' school.  The last sale, I made pillows as well as the cookies.  These little owl pillows I made sold like hot cakes.  I had to go home each day and make more and they sold as soon as I got to school.  It was crazy.  So, there is a sale coming up in October, so during these months, Bronwyn is going to make a bunch of little critter pillows to sell.

(source:  etsy.com)

2.  What about setting up an etsy shop with things from Brazil?  Like she could go to the craft fairs and buy handcrafted jewelry, etc. and resell them on etsy.  Do you think that people would buy from her?  She could also add in other things that she would make - she is pretty good with a sewing machine.  

(this is one example of the kind of thing she could buy and resell - source: etsy.com)

3.  She could get a job at school.  I know this is an option, but I would kind of like to avoid it if possible. Her hours are really full and she also has some other activities going on that she has to do in order to keep some of her scholarships.  She is a great student and I know she could do it, but I just thought something else might be better.  I'm all about thinking outside the box :)

OK, now let's have some of your ideas...

How 10 people are fitting into an apartment in Brazil.....

If anyone had asked me 3 months ago if I was looking for an apartment to live in, I would have said "No, we are going to have 2 visitors for a few months this summer and with our big family, an apartment just won't work.  It has to be a house."  Actually, I think someone did ask me that and this was my answer.

It's not an unreasonable answer.  Most apartments are not very big.  Compared to the US, most houses are not very big at all either.  So I never imagined that we would find an apartment that would work for our family.

You can read here how we prayed and looked and prayed and looked for a place to live.  It was getting frustrating, then God just blessed us with this apartment, which is really nice sized.  The only 4 bedroom apartment that I have ever been in since we have lived here.

Compared to the house we moved out of, every room is the same size or larger - except the living room which was HUGE in the other house.  We also gave up the outside area which helped with a lot of storage, but I have gotten rid of a bunch of "stuff" and will continue to get rid of some more.

So, here's how it is working out......
(forgive the mess, I'm trying to accept the fact that it will probably be messy most of the time for a while...)

There is one bedroom that is a little more toward the front of the apartment.  The actual owners of the apt. were going to use it as a TV room when they were planning to live here.  This is Stephen's and Weston's room for now.  After they leave in August, it will be Garrett's room.  HIS OWN ROOM!  He can't wait.

Further down the hall on the same side as this room is a kid's bathroom and then the girls' room.  Bronwyn, Ansley and Carys are all sharing a room until August when Bronwyn goes back to college.  Then after our furlough at the end of this year, Ansley will be in Equador, so Carys will have.... HER OWN ROOM!  She can't wait....

Across the hall from the girls' room is the Master bedroom and bathroom.  It is big and has a nice view out the big window.  Our room has the most boxes to be unpacked.  It's kind of been the "dumping ground" for miscellaneous stuff so far.

Beside the master bedroom is Anderson, Giovanni and Garrett's room - until August when it will be just the two younger boys' room.  For now, Anderson is on the top bunk, Giovanni on his little bed underneath, and Garrett at the end of the room on a twin bed.

In August, we will play musical beds.  The bunk beds in Stephen and Weston's room will go the the two little boys' room.  The double bed in the girls' room will go to Garrett's room.  The beds in the little boys' room now will go to Carys's room.  She will have room to put the twin bed underneath the bunk in kind of an "L" shape and the trundle bed will fit underneath the twin.  Giovanni's little bed we will donate to someone who needs it.   Confused yet??

Obviously we have a lot of decorating to do and some boxes to unpack and put away.  But we are making it fine now.  And so far we haven't been evicted from the building because of the noise level or late night movie watching.

The apartment also has a living room with a space for a dining table and a couch/TV area, a dining room, kitchen, laundry area, "maid's room" and bathroom (which will be my craft area), and a powder room.  More pictures to come!

What have I been doing??

I bet some of you gave up on my blog - I thought about giving up on it, too.  But, I'm hanging in here and trying to get it started up again.

So, what have I been up to?

Well, we moved.  And that seemed like it took forever.  A month before the move packing up everything,  two weeks fixing up the house we moved out of,  and now who knows how long unpacking and fixing up our new apartment.

We welcomed the Aggies for Christ group on the same day that we moved.  They helped us clean up and fix up the house we moved out of and were very forgiving of our boxes and mess while they hung out in our apartment (only 2 of them stayed with us).  Bronwyn's college friends, Stephen and Weston, are also here and are fitting right in as our adopted sons for the summer.

So, I'm anxious to fix up our apartment and show it to our families - and anyone else who reads this blog!

Right now, there are still boxes everywhere, but we are making progress.

For starters, just so you know where our apartment is, here is a map that Anderson drew.

As you can see, we are super close to the school.  We are also to our club (like a YMCA) where the kids can get together with their friends and play soccer or goof off.

One day last week, it was nice and sunny and Garrett and Carys were gone all afternoon at the club or school hanging out with their friends.  They came home when it was starting to get dark.  It reminded me of when I was little and would stay out in the neighborhood til dark playing with my friends.  I was really thankful that we live in a place where they can do that, for the first time since we have lived in Brasil.

So, even though things are crazy right now and we don't have everything figured out, we are thankful for our apartment.

Pictures coming soon!

love,
Benay

Móveis / Furniture

Aquí são alguns itens que estamos vendendo na mudança para nosso apartamento novo.  Se você tem interesse em ver algum item, por favor entrar em contato comigo pelo e-mail:  benayblume@gmail.com.

Here are some items that we are selling as we move to our new apartment.  If you are interested in seeing any of these items, please get in touch with me by e-mail at benayblume@gmail.com.


1.  Escrivaninha de madeira:  comprada em 2002 na loja Masotti. Dimensões da parte de cima são 145cm x 66cm
Wooden desk: bought in 2002 at the furniture store Masotti. Dimensions of the top part are 145cm x 66cm.

R$400

2.  Sofá de couro sintético: separado em duas partes. Cada parte se estica para descansar as pernas se quiser.
Synthetic leather couch: separated in two parts. Each part can be pulled out for leg rest.

R$600

3. Mesa branca de madeira: mesa quadrada com 4 cadeiras e espaço para mais 4 nos bancos. Dimensões da mesa são 120cm x 120cm.
White wooden table: square table with 4 chairs and space for 4 more people on the benches. Dimensions of the table are 120cm x 120 cm.

R$ 750

4. Armário de madeira para TV: também comprada em 2002 na Masotti. Tem pratilheiras atrás das portas.
Televisão:  Sony, tela de 21 polegadas.

TV cabinet: also purchased in 2002 at Masotti. There are shelves behind the doors.
Television:  Sony, 21 inch screen.

R$ 400:  Armário/Cabinet

R$  200:  TV

5. Freezer: Consul - large with two doors.  Works great.  (This model)  Would also trade for smaller freezer.

    Freezer:  Consul - grande com duas portas.  Funciona muito bem.  (Este modelo).  Também aceitaria uma troca para freezer menor.

R$  300