BRAZIL! and baby stuff... of course!

Eddy's parents meet Benjamin!
We have made it to the southern hemisphere and are savoring the warmth! Brazil seems even more beautiful than when we were last here... the trees are brighter, the air is fresher, the food is- well, the food is always better! It's been about 5 days and we've been to four, yes (4) churrascarias (all you can eat style BBQ restaurants... that happen to be uber-cheap!)... the hope of shedding a few winter pounds has suffocated under pounds of beef... literally.
Diaper change on the flight!
Ben has been fabulous here- he slept through most of the flights, barely made a peep and has been adjusting to the weather, people, places, parties... wonderfully. We couldn't have asked for a more precious son!
The meeting of the cousins, Eddy's brother Danyel with Gabriela
Today was our family baptism, where Benjamin and Gabriela, Eddy's niece, were dedicated and baptized at his home church here in Brazil. It was good time of celebration with family and friends.

Enough talk- the rest is photos to give you a glimpse into the last few weeks/days here... enjoy!

And the poking begins!
Playing with the kids in Danyel and Lis's house
The baptism...
The After Party, at a Churrascaria, of course!, celebrating baptisms and birthdays!
The "I'm overstimulated" look...
The whole fam!
Danyel, Lis and Gabriela
The cousins... the poking continues!

3 Months with Benjamin!

Our Ben is 3 months! Woot-Woot! Eddy and I feel so fortunate to have this time to spend with him, watching him grow, adjust and learn... and doing some of that ourselves! While granted it has only been just a few weeks, we absolutely LOVE having a son! Yes, there are days of stress and little sleep and feeling totally incompetent... but above all that is the overwhelming, inexplicable love. He's smiling and cooing, gasping and batting at toys. He's started to drool, making us wonder if there aren't some teeth wanting to break the surface... oh boy! And he's no little fella- he's over 16lbs... and it looks like most of that is in his head!

In other news... We're heading to Brazil in a few days and will be there visiting family, friends and supporters for about a month. It will be Ben's first airplane experience and we're curious to see how things go... we'll keep you posted!

It looks like we'll be making one last trip out west in March, before we return to the Sand Box in April, just in time to renew our visas. We'll be stopping by Salem to visit friends and supporters and also swinging by Vancouver to look into some different ministry opportunities. We're very excited to see if we can partner with different people to better reach out to those in Africa.

Photos: Ben! Our big smiley Boy!!!... Car seat dreams- as he munches on his teddy's ear... Feeding in the car... Feeding in the bed- the blessed "dream feed", where he never wakes up, just gulps down the milk!... Eddy running the Polar Dash- it was -10 degrees!... Out and about in MN during winter- brrrrrr!... Batting at a musical toy.... Daddy plays Rasta Man with Benjamin!