It's been a while

Hey there friends and family. We know it's been a while since we have updated our blog. Here are just a few updated pictures for you to enjoy.

Dwayne participated in the annual AEA (Christian Camping International) conference in May. They had a tour of the kitchen facility at the hotel they were at and all had to wear hair nets. His mom would be proud.At the conference, he also had the opportunity to do the leap of faith. It was a bit intimidating at first, but he made it with no problems.Also at the conference, Dwayne was able to see the car we will be buying. This is a 2005 Chevrolet Zafira, which is a 7 seater. The present owners are missionaries with AEA and are returning on furlough to the US for 6 months. When they return they will be down sizing their car. When they heard we were in the market, they made us an offer to buy their car with a small trailer (sorry no picture) for R$40,000 (about $23,500 Cnd). That is a few grand cheaper than what the general market value is on this same car without the trailer. It is a gift from God. We do, however, need to raise about $8000 Cnd to buy it.

We will get the car at the end of August and have until the end of their furlough, in January, to pay it off. Please pray with us that this $8000 will come in.Jessi is becoming more and more her own person. She is quite athletic and enjoys playing sports such as hockey, soccer, basketball and even volleyball. She can walk or jog dribbling a ball as well as handle a soccer ball with her feet. It is neat to see how active she is and determined to get better and better at what she does.She is also very much of a helper. Jessi loves to help others clean pick things up or with whatever they need help with. Although she is very strong willed, she also has a soft side to her when it comes to serving others this way.Jasper is still and will forever be our nature lover. She is the happiest playing with bugs or plants or water or what ever else nature has to offer her. It is great to see how much she appreciates the littlest bugs and respects they as living creators. Each one is very special to her and captures her imagination. She just needs to learn that sometimes it is best to just leave certain bugs alone.Jasper also loves to do crafts. She loves to draw, color, paint, cut, glue, etc. to make things for people. She has a good imagination and is getting quite good at her drawings. Jaden is growing into a young man very quickly. Physically he may be taller than Dwayne already, but even his maturity and understanding of what is important to know in life is growing. He has been doing quite well at school (he brought home a 100% in his last science test). He is growing spiritually (he desires to go to church and adolescent group as well as trying to read his bible on a daily basis), and he is growing socially ( he is picking up more on the Portuguese language and finding more friends at church)Here Jaden is participating at a Campers Encounter we held last week. He is getting freer to get involved in activities and using his Portuguese.Shannon is also doing well. She is very excited that she has not had the same nausea as with the last two pregnancies. She tries not to involve herself too much with Quest activities at this point and focuses most of her attention to the kids and our home. Here, however, she is participating in our first Quest Board Retreat we held in May.She looks, oh so beautiful, doesn't she!Here Shannon is standing with the wife of one of the Pastors from Jaraguá do Sul. We hosted an appreciation B-B-Q for the Pastors and their families this past weekend because June 10th is Pastor's Day in Brazil. Grazi is due (with their first) at the end of July and Shannon (with our fourth) the end of August. Even tough pregnant and sore a lot of the time, Shannon still has fun with the rest of us. We had a Murder Mystery meal as Team Quest in which each of us had characters we needed to play. Well, Shannon was a n old gold miner. People figured out who she was by process of elimination of who was there. What do you think of her get up?Dwayne on the other hand was a rodeo cowboy. He always like to use his beard to his advantage when it comes to dress up. With that knife and that look, no one wanted to mess with him.Finally, we just wanted to show you this picture of our board from the retreat. Our guest speaker was Dr. Dan Bolin (second from the left in the back row) who is the president of CCI World Wide. It was a HUGE privilege to have him come to speak to us as an infant camp in southern Brazil. He blessed us tremendously as a ministry and gave our board (and our team) a lot of wisdom in how to run a healthy camp. Two of our board members where not able to make it, but we videoed the session for them and the benefit of future board members.

We would love to hear from you and receive pictures and updates of your families as well.

God bless you and please continue to pray for: us, our family, money for our car, Quest and our ministry. Thank you!

New Pics!

Hey everyone! No new stories of great significance to share but I thought you might enjoy some new pics of the family. We are preparing to be back in Canada for a 4 month visit and are having new prayer cards made up, so we took a few other family pics while everyone was clean and looking there best. You'll have to wait for the prayer cards to see the whole family! I can't believe how much the kids have grown and changed since the last one we did when Jessi was only 3 months old! Time has sure flown by, Jessi is now 2 and a half, Jasper is 4 and a half and Jaden 14 and a half. Dwayne and I have also aged, grown, shrunk, grown, and trying to shrink again, that is our midsections, hahaha! We are looking forward to September and seeing you all soon!

So here you go, Enjoy!!

So here are the girls and I. They are looking oh so sweet, and thank you Jesus for letting their hair grow back after the oh so short haircuts they gave themselves! Still a bit of evidence with Jasper's but boy is it looking way better!

Jasper is a Daddy's girl, and loves to snuggle with him whenever she gets the chance.

Jessi and Daddy are sooooooooooo excited about going to Canada! She had a pouty face a few seconds earlier but when we told her we were going to Canada she perked right up!

My little boy, is no longer little in any which way. He will now and forever be, taller than me!

His next feat is to be taller than his Dad and he is only an inch and a half from the tie!! I don't think it will take too long, especially at the rate of food entering that teenage body!

"My Heart Is Laughing!"

What makes this segment of our blog oh so special is that it involves both ours and Scott and Patsy's families!!

This is one of those moments in a Dad's life that is a memory maker when they hear the words "That was cool!" coming from there oldest son.

Our story begins with us leaving church Sunday night to travel home. We proceed to stop at a set of lights, and thus the revving of engines begins!! The manly men in our lives are of course having a hoot and us mom's are quite impressed that our guys have some of that teenage guy who just got the car and wants to impress the ladies still in them. And so with us jeering on the Buhler's that there car may not actually keep running, and us thinking, we just put on new tires....and the motor bike who weaved in between our cars thinking the dotted line is a lane.... we prepare for what is next..!!!
Our car peels out, not too much mind you but enough to squeal the tires, our kids begin to howl!! Now you need to know that Jasper has been expressing her feelings by using her heart as a monitor. If she is sad, she says her heart is crying, or if she is angry she says her heart is very angry, and so on. So in this moment of tires squealing, and the jokes back and forth, Jasper announces to us all, in her big voice full of glee, " My heart is laughing!!"
And that's not all, because at the first light Scott hadn't squealed his tires, and we are pretty sure that the boys in his car gave him some urging on, because at the next light, that Buhler car gave a good ol' squeal, and the game was on. With an empty stretch of road Dwayne made one last pass with a little extra gas and we moved out in front for good.
At the turn off to our house, we took one last look back to see the Formula 1 sign hanging out the window of the Buhlers' car giving us one last laugh.


So for all of you who need some joy in your life, just think of the laughter that filled our car, the kids who think their Daddies are way too cool now, and a little girl whose heart laughed!!!

All I want for the next 4-5 years is my Front Tooth back!!!

Before After
Ice cream and yogurt, what a life!!

Sooooooooooooooooo, what can I say about the adventure this weekend? Our youngest daughter decided to outdo her big sister in the dental department. Two years ago Jasper had broken her tooth on some concrete steps, and then fell on her face shortly after making them look ever so lovely. And so following in her sister's footsteps, or rather face plants, Jessi gave us a scare on Sunday by falling down the stairs with her little bike. She managed to totally knock out her front tooth, loosen the two on either side and add a few minor bruises on her cheek, eye and stomach. Dwayne was away with Scott, Carol, Becky and Nathan at a camp convention. Patsy, Lidi and I were doing a presentation for Quest at a nearby city when we got the rather scary phone call from Lidi's parents who were quite upset and panicking as to what to do. So off Lidi and I went back home picked up Jessi, took her to emergency in the city to make sure there was no major damage done. I must say this kid has got a pretty good pain threshold and that God was definitely among us. She didn't have a concussion which was a relief and we have since been sent to a dentist who has referred us to a specialist to get her teeth checked out. We may have to get a spacer put in at some point to leave room for the permanent tooth to come down and keep the others from closing in, but that we will see later this afternoon.

For now, Jessi is thrilled with scaring her sister with her scary face and enjoying this power over her!! She is as we would say a little stinker and at times relentless!!! Jasper does not appreciate the faces, and big brother is feeling quite bad for his baby sister who must have had a lot of pain with that tooth being knocked out!

So for now we will wait and see what the next step is and hope that this week will be nice and calm, accident free, and restful. The gang got back last night after a 20 hour car trip and are happy to be home, Dwayne getting to see a little less of us due to the tooth incident!

Until next time!!

Rafting and Rock Climbing!

This past week was an adventure sport week for me! Scott, Becky, Nathan and I went rafting at Brazil's best rafting river in the country! We got to go through some cool rapids and up and down some big waves. The weather is a bit cooler now so we all sported some wet suits to keep warm from the cold water. It was a whole lot of fun and we had a great time.

Saturday afternoon I got to go rock climbing with Nathan and Becky as well as a couple of friends. This was my first time climbing and it was a lot of fun. It was definitely a great challenge physically and mentally, but I managed to reach the goal that I had set for myself. I will definitely do it again! I know for sure now that I don't have a fear of heights or water! I really enjoy the adventure sports, and now that i don't live on the flat prairies of Manitoba I will have lots of opportunities to get involved in them more.

Dwayne, Scott, Nathan, Becky and Carol are off to a camp convention for the week. Lidi's parents arrived last night to visit and help out while the men are gone! Jaden is itching to go fishing with Gilmar and the girls are already busy helping and playing with there Brazilian grandparents! Should be a lot of fun this week!

Day of the Jasper!

So today, was one of those days when our middle child was up for auction, well not really, but boy was it one of those days. The start wasn't so bad but by lunch she was in full swing of the whining, crying, complaining and ohhhhh that defiant spirit mode!! After a timeout, a few talking too's, lunch was done and little sister was off for her nap. After Daddy was back at work, so was she, managing to wake up little sister from her nap, and after having proceeded to paint herself with paint, mom enters and ergo more timeouts! Playdough in multiple pieces on the floor, toys and what not strewn everywhere, screaming, fighting and all that two siblings could muster, the afternoon went on. At supper things seemed almost too calm, which I should have recognized as the calm before the storm, but hey, there is always hope, right!! We sit down to relax, watch a show, and then big brother says those famous words, "Mom, Dad, one of you should come here" Oh, No!! As we make our way to the bathroom, the next words come out, "Jasper cut her hair again!!" Now some of you know this has been part of her repertoire in the past but after her last haircut at the hairdresser there was hope that she would not need to take it into her own hands once again. This was the wishful thinking on our part, well mostly mine i guess! This time however, she has done a much better job, making sure those bangs were good and short so it wouldn't get into her eyes, so she claims. On top of it all, she has now recruited another, and yes, little sister has joined in on the cost cutting, self haircutting scheme. It is in these moments, or these days when you look at the wild animal kingdom and come to the understanding why some of the mothers have been known to eat there young!!

It is also at these moments that you are thankful to have a camera and the internet to share with the rest of your friends and family why prayer is so important!

Please take a moment to enjoy the new styles of the girls below, thankfully Jessi isn't quite as handy yet and didn't do too much damage, sorry i mean artistry like that of her sister. We are thinking that the new family pics for our missionary prayer cards will now be postponed until regrowth occurs!

Prayers Answered!!

Praise God for a wonderful 1st camp!!

Our theme, as you can see above, was and will be for our first camp season in January-February of 2009, Indiana Jones and the Sword of the Kingdom. With the new Indiana Jones movie coming out in December of 2008, we thought it would be cool to make a play off it for our theme.

Both Shannon and I got to do our first public speaking in Portugues at this camp. We each prepared our talks in English, translated them to Portugues, got them corrected and practiced reading them over and over and over till we ran out of time and needed to give our talks. We did pretty well, if I must say so. Everyone understood what we were talking about and even helped out with our pronunciation when we needed help.




The kids also got involved whereever they could. Jaden along with the Bulher kids were in charge of running the "Barzinho" or tuck shop. They did a great job of serving everyone.



Jasper helped out with the band as they lead worship. She had a blast and did a lot of drawing on the side.



Jessi stuck closer to the kitchen, for more than just the food. Lidi's parents were cooking for us and they are like grandparents to our kids. Jessi loves to be with "vovô" (grandpa) and "vovó" (grandma).



This is a picture of the wonderful Staff that help us out with running this camp. We praise God for their willingness to serve in this way.



Give us about a week or so and we will have the webiste up to date with info about the camp. Check it out at http://www.questbr.com/.

Our plans are to run this same staff training camp again in July during the University break for those who where not able to join us this time. We are already having people asking us about when the next time will be. So we are looking forward to that

Please continue to pray for God to supply for the property we belive he has shown us as the home for Quest. We have until March 15th to come up with the down payment of R$275,000 (or $162,000 Cdn). We believe that God will provide for this property in his time and in his way. Please pray with us to that end. You can see pictures of the property we are looking at by visiting our blog spot at http://www.questbr.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for your prayers throughout the past few weeks and for those you will give up on our behalf in the weeks to come.