Thursday, March 08, 2012

House, Car, Life

It is pretty sad when you are giving blogging assignments in your class when you neglect your own blog. I know that the way of social blogs and such is basically being changed to Facebook. I guess everybody wants instant information. We now need to know what is going on less than a minute after it happens. I can't say I don't want the same thing sometimes, but sometimes you lose track of what someone is doing when you just hear all the small details.

HOUSE

 If you have not heard or noticed all of the house pictures on Facebook then...  WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! In November...

And are still not living in it yet. So we decided to do some improvement to the house before we moved in and well, everything takes a long time in Brazil. We are getting very close to be finished except that the closer we get the more I find other things that need fixed and/or changed. For example water is not getting to the showers because of the way the pipes were put in the house, so now we need to change of bunch of the pipes in the house to get the water pressure we need. I have put up a lot of pictures on Facebook about each step that we have done but here is a quick (haha) list of the improvements we have made in the last month:
  • Loft on top of the kitchen area
  • Cut the kitchen divider down and put on a granite counter top
  • Change the location of the back sink and did the piping for the laundry machine
  • Put in more outlets in about every room
  • Made the outside walls around the property taller on 2 sides and put in bars on the walls
  • Put in Bars on all the windows and doors
  • Put in the back service area bars
  • Added a roofed garage (open on two sides)
  • Made a sidewalk
What we are currently working on:
  • Stairs to go up to the loft area
  • Putting this plaster stuff on the walls to make them smooth before we paint
What we still need to do:
  • Paint EVERYTHING
  • Change the garage entrance to make it easier to get in and out of
  • Change the water pipes so that our showers work
  • Clean up everything
  • MOVE IN

CAR

We bought a 2005 Fiat Palio 1.8L HLX a year after we moved here with our Work Visa. It has been a  very good car for us but Brazil driving and Brazilian roads have taken their toll on the car. I have never been very good at car care outside of oil changes and making sure gas is in the car, so that has meant a few things that need fixed have turned into a lot of things that need fixed. Mostly minor stuff like grills for the fog lights and a new trunk cap thingy (hatchback car). But, now we are thinking of selling the car and it needs to be in better shape to do so. 
We are also praying about buying a 7 passenger vehicle next. We are looking at the Fiat Dobló. A few of our friends heard we were looking for the Dobló and did all the leg work for us. They found a 2009 1.8L Adventure Dobló for us at a very good price (for Brazil and for the year of the car). We were not thinking of buying the new car/van so soon but now with such a nice one and good price we might go ahead and buy it. So we need prayer about this and prayer that we can fix our Palio to get a good price for it as well.
Fiat Dobló Adventure

LIFE

Melody is growing like crazy. We really wanted to get moved into the house before she started crawling and getting into things but that did not happen and she is crawling all over the place, plus she is pulling herself up to a standing position to play.



It is so cool and weird to see her grow so much. I guess after her being a little colic for around 4 months I got used to her needing to be held so much and comforted. Now she is happy as can be playing by herself and crawling around. Lindsay and I feel so blessed to have Melody in our lives and I really enjoy being a father. 

Lindsay is back to helping at the school this semester during the morning and I only have to teach during the afternoon, so it has worked out great for one of us to be with Melody while the other is working. We feel very blessed this semester because of that. Lindsay will also be finished with her online classes soon. She is about to start one of her two remaining classes to graduate. Please continue to pray for us as we have had a lot of life changes last year and this.

If you are interested in helping us with some of the one time expenses we have been having I.E. Car and House you can donate to us at: https://app.etapestry.com/cart/WorldRenewalBrazil/default/item.php?ref=8200.0.7360555