One of the many benefits of being in Brazil so long is that we have the opportunity to learn a lot more about the culture and to try new things! Today, as we drove back we had the chance to experience the scenery along the 3 hour stretch. The country is beautiful and we managed to see both the ocean and the mountains in a single day.
During our short get away trip, we also experienced another cultural opportunity. Very close to the hotel that we stayed in there was a Pizza place that had a Rodizio option. The Rodizio option is basically like an all you can eat, buffet concept. The difference is that you don’t ever have to leave your table. The table has a little spin wheel which allows you to request more pizza (savory or sweet…or both) or indicate that you need a break. The waiters then come out of the kitchen with the freshly made pizza and ask if you would like a piece. Every few minutes another waiter stops by with a different type. The variety was quite impressive and the kids loved the concept so much that they requested it for both nights. It was a bit more expensive than what we would normally do, but the benefit was that the food was immediately ready (something very key with impatient kids), it had lots of options, and everyone had more than enough to eat (in fact, we might have reversed our weight loss :D). We are thankful to have saved up some additional funds that allow us to take advantage of something like this which is fun, cultural, and memory building! It also allowed us to help our kids think about finishing what is on our plate first before eagerly jumping to get the newest option. Thankfully, we have been working over the past few weeks on the concept of finishing food and not throwing it out or wasting it. We suspect that this was simply never taught before and so it is brand new to the kids. Furthermore, they likely also didn’t have options before…there is a high chance that dinner was simply whatever was made and if you didn’t like it, you just had to wait until the next day.
We are also getting lots of Portuguese lessons every day! The kids more or less manage to understand most of what Luke is trying to say and they help him correct his pronunciation during family worship time (imagine reading the Portuguese equivalent of a King James Bible that is very formal and not using hardly any familiar words). We have mastered the words Sorvete (ice cream) and Salgadinhos (chips or other similar snack foods like Cheetos or pretzels). Can you tell that our kids are very interested in food? They have also come to dread the realization that dad’s most often used word is Talvez (maybe) because there are so many requests for different items.
Today, before heading back, we also got to experience a bit of the Brazilian coastline. The kids loved the beach and even though we had no beach equipment whatsoever, they were very happily engaged in body surfing, collecting shells, and having a fun time. There have been so many waves of change for all of us lately – it is hard to believe it has only been 19 days since we became a family. There are so many things all of us are learning…it feels like we are all facing a majorly exponential learning curve. Amidst the waves of change, it is refreshing to take a little time for just pure fun. It is easy to lose sight of all the stress we are all under and to just get exacerbated that things are not going the way they “ought to be”. It is easy to get frustrated with children that don’t listen and do the very opposite to your face, to be annoyed with the inability to communicate exactly what all of us want to, to be at our wits end with another son who seems to be showing all of his negative behavioral actions on steroids, and to get impatient with one another because we are tired and barely holding it together for plenty of moments. In these times, we are grateful that the Lord allows us to visit the beach, to enjoy playing, and to have this time apart from other responsibilities to build both memories and family. And we are thankful for your prayers, your encouragement, and your financial generosity! You have no idea how much we need all of these! They act as anchor points as the waves of change crash in and they allow us to build an incredibly critical foundation for our family.
Halfway Around the Globe 