São Paulo

I'm now sitting on the floor in the São Paulo airport.

This is what I'm doing right now. Talking to goobers.

This is what I've lugged around for the past few hours. The South African Airways place only opened at 1:30. 

My flight to Johannesburg leaves at 5:30. Thanks for all your prayers! So far everything has been great!

Psalms 121

I have this tradition with Bible verses. I normally read a book of the Bible pretty much based on what I think would be interesting to read. I also normally have a verse that I read every day. I pick the verse based on whatever problem I am having. Last year, I had a really grumpy time... pretty much everything that happened made me want to either cry or scream at someone. Lovely, right? My verse was one about being satisfied with what you have. It helped me so much.

If you think I'm completely okay with this trip, not nervous at all, you're crazy. Most of the time, I'm not nervous. But sometimes, at weird times, I get so nervous I'm almost sick to my stomach. Whenever that happens, I read this chapter of Psalms...

I raise my eyes toward the mountains,
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.


He will not allow your foot to slip;
your Protector will not slumber.
Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.


The Lord protects you;
the Lord is a shelter right by your side.
The sun will not strike you by day,
or the moon by night.


The Lord will protect you from all harm;
He will protect your life.
The Lord will protect your coming and going
both now and forever.

I wonder how many times I'll be reading this tomorrow.

Okay, so I leave home tomorrow. I'll get to Rwanda Monday night. I don't really have time to be blogging right now, but I didn't want to leave you without my beautiful words for that long. (haha).

I'm almost done with packing... I just have to pack my passport, ticket, stuff like that. That's not all that important, right?

Last night, I got a surprise party! I had no idea, really. Mom and Ans planned it. Also, Dad took me out of the house for 5 hours and stalled so they could set everything up. Thank you so much! My friends showed up... some of them even came back from the beach just for the party. I seriously have the best friends ever.

 I have one suitcase almost completely full of fabric. That is A LOT of fabric!

In preparation for my trip, I burned my forehead with a hair straightener, I got an infection on the outside part of my ear, I gave myself an accidental hickey with a nerf dart (SWEET!), I banged my forehead on the closet. All this to add to my normal loveliness, so I'm looking good!

Michael and Chelsey, I took your advice on packing... thanks!

I really wish I could put pictures on here, but I have to go finish packing!

Just 4 more days...

It's hard for me to believe that I leave for Rwanda on Sunday. I'm not really nervous or scared... but I do get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it. It's a good thing I have SO much to do... I never really have much time to stop and think about it. It's funny...I've been planning for this for at least 2 years, probably 3. But it's always been something in the distance... a year, 8 months, 2 months. Now it's here. This past year and especially these last few months have gone by so fast!!


I have a list of stuff to take that is a whole page in my notebook, front and back with 2 columns on each side. CRAZY! It's so hard to plan your life for 2 months. Especially when you share most of your stuff. For example: Today in the pharmacy, I had no idea how much shampoo to buy. I've never had my own shampoo... I share a shower with 4 other people. Mom and I share a bunch of our clothes. Ans too. It's hard to separate what I should take. I keep thinking of things I'll need... little but important things. 


That's all. I just thought you should know these important things. I didn't know if I had said the exact date I would be leaving, so... now you know!


Also, can anyone see the food in my teeth in the picture? Awesome.

Inter Game - Anderson's Story

I asked Anderson to do a blog about the Inter game we went to on Sunday. 

Hello I'm Anderson. We lost the game tomorrow, I mean yesterday. We lost. I'm watching Diego right now and I'm on the sebenty six level on Sponge Bob. That's all. 

The End.

Tea for Rwanda

These are pictures of our tea yesterday. We thought no one would come and we would get no fabric. We were so wrong. All the ladies gave a ton of fabric and wrote sweet notes to the ladies in Rwanda. We had so much fun! Please excuse our shiny faces... it was 96 degrees yesterday.

  

Tea for Rwanda

Today we are having a tea to collect fabric for the ladies in Rwanda. We are organizing it with our friend Auristela.

Yesterday we made...
zucchini bread
frozen cherry dessert
moccachino brownies
cheese straws
8 pillows for our living room

Today we still have to...
make canudos (brazilian food)
make mini pizzas
make molasses cookies
clean the entire house
look cute and happy by 3:30

Wish us luck!

Blah Blah

Today I had this GREAT idea of what to blog about. We just re-did our room! I took these super cute pictures... I was going to do a before and after kind of thing. So, 2 seconds ago, I got on my computer. Turns out Mom stole my idea. Thanks a lot Mom.

Today I got 2 shots. Someone please feel sorry for me. No one here does. So far the most sympathy I've gotten is an offer to cut both of my arms off.

Today we are babysitting this cuteness.

The End.

- Dad blogged about our Valentine's Day weekend. Check it out over there! ---------->

- Yesterday Mom and I spent the whole afternoon getting our hair done at our neighbor's house. I got mine cut and she got hers colored.

- Today we're going to see Invictus. I'm going to spend 2 nights in South Africa on my way back from Rwanda... I'm excited about seeing the movie!

- The Koonce's blog: http://kooncefamily.wordpress.com/

- I went to the doctor last week for malaria medicine and last minute instructions. This is what I left with.

Yes, this would be 7 different pages of instructions, telephone numbers, shots, medicine, etc. I was in the doctor's office for about an hour. And I get to go again this week! So much fun.

What to do on a hot day...

Itu!

I haven't blogged this past week... I know everyone who reads this blog (pretty much Mom and Dad) missed reading my lovely blog posts, but it was for a good reason. Ansley and I were kind of busy. We spent the week in Itu, São Paulo with Mark and Ali Kaiser. They have 3 kids: Bárbara, Manu and Carioca. They are all in their 20's. They also have a dog Buckeye and a crazy maniac that they also call a dog named Jeremias. We stayed there to do the ACT on Saturday in a city near Itu. We had so much fun!

We stayed SO busy. I know Mark and Ali are probably laughing at this because I think it was pretty much their normal lives. Mom asked us what we ate there, and we only could remember 3 or 4 meals. Crazy!

Playing mexican train... we played this game at least once a day I think.

Ali and I organizing stuff at their house and getting ready for the Chique Show (homeless people come over to eat lunch every Friday at their house).

Going to a birthday party in São Paulo, about an hour or 2 away from Itu.

Our new big brothers Carioca and Manu. Sorry about my drunk face in this picture. I think I knew I was in the middle of a blink, but I was too tired to pose for another picture.

At the airport on Sunday.

Us with Buckeye and spaz dog.

Ans, I'm so glad we got to go on this trip together! I had sooo much fun. Love you!

Mark, Ali and kids, we're so glad we got to spend this week with you! We had a blast! We love you and miss you already.

Birthday!

Today is Mom's birthday. She turns 27. My dad wrote about her being pretty much the coolest person in the world on his blog. Go check it out.

I love you Mom! I hope you had an awesome birthday.