Enjoying Sao Paulo

Spent a beautiful day at the Ibirapuera Park and had a great time.  It's a huge park with a lake, many trails, slides and all kinds of fun!

...black swans on the lake

Benny wore himself out chasing pigeons...

Climbing a tree sure beats sitting in the hotel room...

Moving to Brazil

Well, here we are again-moving...18 checked bags, 15 carry-ons, 6 people, a dog and a cat!  We moved back to the States in July of last summer thinking that we were there to stay for a while.  But as God would have it, we are off on a new adventure-this time to Brazil!

We officially arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil August 1st and are very excited about this new adventure.  Please know that if you make your way to Brazil you have a place to stay!  We would love to have you!

Here are the girls on their first day of school, August 6th.  They are attending an American system school called Chapel.

Jonathan's 1st Birthday!!

It's hard to believe that he is already a year old, but it's true!!  We had a great time celebrating and just had to share his first cake pictures.

Thanks for all of your support and prayers, God has been faithful and things are currently on track for him to be able to come home with us at Christmas!

Cut for Love

Caroline made up her mind a long time ago that she wanted to donate her hair to 'Locks of Love', a foundation that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair, many times because of cancer.

She has been growing it out for a few years now and asking to measure the length and finally she had enough! 

She needed 10 inches from the top to tip of the ponytail!

No going back now! 

She is very happy about her donation and loves her new "do"!  We do too!

Easter Celebration!!

Easter has long been our favorite time of year and holiday, but this year was truly special! 

Sydney and Caroline accepted Christ as their Savior a few years ago and we had been going back and forth on when and where they should be baptized.
Then earlier this year Sarah Jane accepted Christ!  So when the opportunity to be baptized on Easter Sunday at our church here in Shanghai came around, that's what the girls wanted to do!

It was really a blessing to be able to watch the girls publicly profess their faith and to be able to share it with friends and family. (Ma was still here in Shanghai visiting!)

So here goes. . .
All lined up and ready to go...Caroline's good friend Madelyn was getting baptized too-which was cool!

Sarah Jane went first...

Then Caroline...

and finally, Sydney...

Praising God for His faithfulness, amazing love and perfect sacrifice this Easter and alway!

Officially a Pre-teen!

Well, our oldest little girl keeps growing up! She's now officially a pre-teen and is loving it.  We had a great time celebrating her birthday as a family and especially with Ma in town.

Nothing better than pizza and cake!

Next it was time for presents!  Earrings from SJ...

A zebra umbrella from Caroline...

A bath wrap from Aunt Melissa...

A great plaque with advice on boys from Aunt Sug...

And a new cell phone from Momma and Daddy.

Growing up Fast!!!

It's hard to believe that Jonathan is already 6 months old!  He has quickly moved from the infant phase into the baby phase and is doing all the cool and fun things that baby's do like grabbing his toes, cooing and smiling and laughing.

He loves his new "exer-saucer"...

and his jumper (thanks Pa!).  Sidenote:  We still haven't learned that we're living in China.  We asked Dan's dad to send over one of the jumpers that clamps above the doorframe since all 3 girls had one and loved it.  Anyway, we pulled it out of the package and started looking for a doorway to hang it in and...we don't have one!  No doorway has molding on both sides to hold the jumper.  So, we made do by hanging it from a stand that used to hold a basketchair.

And to top it off-

Ma is in town and has him on the "Spoiled Absolutely Rotten in 30 days or your money back" plan...