The next stage!

Once back in Bauru, we started settling in. Within minutes the phone rang, and life here was going again. It was still fun having Natali here! We talked and relaxed and laughed and played games and toured together around the region.
Along with lots of folks from church, Natali met Suzana (the lady who saved Sue’s life a few years back) and Mario (who painted a picture for her one Christmas). Sue and Natali got their nails and toes done together a couple times, even with little flowers painted on the nails.

They loved shoe shipping in Jau – a town about thirty minutes away with huge outlet malls with just ladies’ shoe stores! I brought a book along for that trip. They made a haul!

A couple rainy days we wandered around downtown Bauru and even visited the hands-on train museum. Located in the center of the state of São Paulo, Bauru was to be the railroad transportation hub for the state.

We took another day trip to Barra Bonita for a boat ride on the Tietê river. It’s an unusual river which flows inland instead of out to a coast. In São Paulo, it has a reputation for being very stinky and polluted, but out here it’s a clean, grand river with hydro-electric dams with locks for boats and barges to pass through, and good fishing. I thought our kids were pretty well-rounded until I heard that Natali had never gone through locks on a boat. In spite of the cold and wind of that day, it was a fun trip complete with a picnic in the park.

The hardest times, as family, to be apart are end of the year holidays and birthdays, so we celebrated Sue and Natali’s birthdays (which are both big “0” ones for them this year) complete with chocolate cake and frosting roses on top just like Mom used to make for every birthday.

All too soon the time came for our little girl to leave the nest again. On the other hand, it was nice that none of us wanted to see the end come, and there were tears accompanying the good-byes.

Ministries continued on during this time. August was a great family month at church with seminars, guest speakers, films and all kinds of activities going on. It was sad to see it all come to an end this past Sunday, with the teens leading the service, but so many commented on what a great help it was for them in centering their homes on God’s principles.