Sabbath Morning, April 26th, 2008

It was a little chilly this past Saturday. However, it's very hot again today.

A typical scene. The girls and I love how the horses are a part of traffic.
Horizontina's song and flag.
For one of our Portuguese classes we toured the local museum with teacher Rubi and a professor of history from a local school. One of the most fascinating parts of the class to me, was this tool shown above. It is a plow typically pulled by oxen. That in itself is not so interesting, as we have these in our museums back home also. The neatest thing I learned about this particular plow is that it is still in use today, and not because of religious reasons like with the Amish, but because of necessity. Andrew and I have often wondered how it is that steep hills have crops growing on them. On our trip to the coast this past x-mas, we saw mountainsides covered with beans and corn. It's beautiful to see. Apparently, they use this tool to this day, to prepare the soil for planting on steep hills and mountain sides. Take note at how red the dirt is. The rust colored dirt was one of my worst enemies upon moving to Brazil. I say "was" because thanks to Josamane, our former horse riding instructor, I found a magical solvent--coconut soap. I can now reclaim our clothes and shoes.

Samantha made us this chain that marks how many days we have until summer vacation in the U.S.. (Makaela made a chain too, but it's for her birthday!) We are planning a 5 week trip back starting in the middle of June. Our calendar is full with all of the events and outings we are planning for our vacation--we are all crazy excited--family, friends, restaurants, zoos, museums, libraries, shopping....it's going to be a sweet time, and a nice break from school for the girls.

These green mustaches are for you Neni! The girls love the "Better Than Greens" that you sent, and are always asking for it at meal time. These mustaches are not staged either!!! This is actually what happens when they don't use a straw.

We have a new little market across the street from us that has become a source of "independence" for the girls. They love running over there to pick up groceries that I may need. The entire buying groceries thing has become a little more frequent than it used to be back home. I find we run to get produce at least every other day, as the produce spoils much faster here. As you can see by the picture of Theodore, he sits intently and waits until they arrive safely back home. So sweet he is.