1,000 gifts (numbers 250-300)

255.  seeing evidence of God wooing someone

259. mailboxes

262. bookshelves full of books

263. cowboy boots (especially on my Lily)

271. a kindle full of new books

277. cute, organizational baskets

281. Portugal yellow

284. yellow flowers dotting green grass

287. sledding

290. seeing parents swoop their children into big hugs

291. Bibles in every language = beautiful

295. maps and postcards from journey’s taken

296. teaching my children to find shapes in the clouds

299. the Irish accent

300. pigeons descending upon a city park

The Bread Museum

As promised, here are some pictures from our visit to the “museu do pão”.  The adventure started right away as we tried entering the parking lot and a guy with a walkie-talkie told us to wait as there were cars descending.  The lane up to the place was literally that tiny…they had men manning the road at the entrance and exit   Michael wasn’t thrilled about having to parallel park nearly perpendicular, but he did a fabulous job…and thankfully, our parking brakes did a wonderful job as well   Here is Henry trekking up to our final destination…

The first room just had examples of all the equipment used to make and store and sell bread through the years.  I like this little old “bread delivery bike”.

Then there was a room for “bread in Religion and Politics”.  At first I thought it was kind of strange, not gonna lie, but I guess I get it.  It is used in many religious sacraments AND in lots of old political campaigns…I mean, what do people want most except assurance of their “daily bread” (food).  They had all kinds of old posters and such using featuring bread, but I just felt wierd taking pictures in this room, so, moving on.  On our way to the next room they had this wall with the word bread in every language…pretty cool.

There was then an ADORABLE cafe inside, but we were out of money at this point, so we didn’t stop, nor did I get a picture (which is a true shame).  Here is a beautiful old calendar though (from 1946 obviously) depicting the different phases of harvesting wheat and/or grains.

Then they had a special section showing off ALL the different types of bread in Portugal.  Every region/city has a specialty…it’s kind of crazy how many different types there are for such a small country.  One thing they have LOTS of variety in.

 And several other little “bread tidbits” here and there…blah, blah, blah…but it really was interesting to see what an important role bread plays in everyday life all over the world.  Then, we headed off to the little kid section where each of the kids got to make a little bread souvenier.  They loved it.

I just love when Calvin is working hard and has the tongue out   They also had an adorable little “general store” looking gift shop where you could buy bread and honey and jam.  It kind of reminded me of cracker barrell.

I’m not sure how old this building is, but they way is was done up was really beautiful.  I was highly impressed with the attention to detail here.

One last pic of all our happy kids…I mean, what a day…snow, puppies AND a fun museum!  They are such cuties!

Serra da Estrela

That is the name of the highest mountain in Portugal.  And, the only place in the country that occasionally gets snow.  I had always wanted to go and last Sunday we were given the perfect opportunity as some friends of ours invited us for a day trip.  When we told Henry he started jumping up and down and said, “are you serious?  I have ALWAYS wanted to go there!  Alexandre told me it snows there.”  It is common knowledge that it is the only place in the country with snow, but I found it comical that my seven year old also knew this.  I told him not to expect snow right now though…it has been unseasonably dry and pleasant outside.  It was a stunning drive (about an hour and 40 minutes or winding roads and charming old Portuguese villages).  My friend said their was snow there, but I was a sceptic the whole way…I didn’t see a drop.  Thus, I was STUNNED when we rounded a bend and there were people actually snow skiing down a little slope!  Really, my jaw dropped.  Henry (and the others) were elated!  It was really fun to see so many people out playing in the snow…something I have obviously never seen Portuguese people do (due to lack of snow), so it seemed so out of character, but fun!  We enjoyed about an hour of sledding and playing in the snow with our sweet friends…

It was SO much fun…I had forgotten how exhilirating something like that can be…for an afternoon at least

And below are just a couple pictures I snapped while riding along in the car.  I’m pretty sure they don’t do the place justice.  We have decided we want to go back sometime in the summer and just stop and climb and rest and picnic and take pictures all along the way….

Then we stopped in one of the small towns for lunch…

and to check out some of their souvenier shops which specialized in wool and leather products, sleds, pottery and…

….puppies!!!

 It is a dog that is native to that area and super cute.  My kids  enjoyed seeing them sitting out front of EVERY gift shop (which was the funniest thing to me…I’ve never seen a gift shop that sold live animals before) and were even more thrilled to get to pet and be kissed by one!  After that, we actually headed off to a “bread museum”, but I’ll have to post about that later…I’m tired just reliving this fun filled day!  Amazing what all we can pack into a day when we have Portuguese friends to be our tour guides

Cool Kids Party

I know that every parent probably feels this way about their kids, but ours are REALLY amazing.  They have handled the life “given” them SO well that sometimes we just stand amazed by them.  I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised.  When we felt God asking us to move overseas we also felt like He wanted to use ALL of us.  Our conviction on that played an integral part on the country we chose…we did not want to go somewhere were children could not be seen or heard, or where we would have to home school or where it would mainly be the “man” doing all the ministry.  We felt too strongly that we should all be involved…and God led us to Portugal.  I’m so thankful for that.

Our children have handled this move (two moves actually) with so much grace.  They do a wonderful job “sharing” us and our home with others.  Mg and I (taking turns) are often gone at night.  We also often have people over and thus they are constantly expected to pick up, but they also do an incredible job welcoming people into our home and loving on all the students that come in.  They have also been the ones to open doors for us…through their schools and extra curricular activities.  We are so thankful that they are friendly kids because that causes others to have a desire to hang out with us.  I truly see God using their little lives here.  I am one proud momma.

Life is SO busy right now that they hardly ever have any “down time”.  Mg and I get some during the day while they are at school, but they go to school, go to their extra-curricular activities, come home and do homework, eat dinner, take baths and then bed.  And weekends are CRAZY…that is the only time we really have to hang out with other families, so we are ALWAYS on the go.  I get exhausted sometimes, so I really marvel over the fact that they don’t melt down more.  They aren’t perfect of course…(they do have their moments of whining, etc.)…but overall, they are truly wonderful.

So, their sweet daddy came up with the idea to throw them a party, just because.  It was to express to them how much we love and celebrate them.  We chose a random Thursday (the one day they all come home at the same time and we have no night activities) and decorated the house and set out snacks and crafts and surprised them after school.  It was a fun day together and it was sweet to hear the big two say, “this is the best party ever!”  When asked why they said, “because it’s just us.”  I am thankful that they still enjoy family time.  We just hung out all afternoon blowing up balloons, throwing confetti, eating, building train-tracks, doing crafts, etc.  They woke up this morning and said, “can we have another party today?” 

Gumballs and m&m’s, popsicles and kooaid, rice crispy treats and cheetos are going to make for some happy kiddos Reading their invitations (well, except for Lily, but isn’t she adorable in her brothers old cowboy boots…her new obsession )

Ha.  We had confetti EVERYWHERE, but it was fun!

The guests of honor

Can you tell they were enjoying the party?!  If not, below is a “before and after” shot   All in all, I would call it a success!I hope they ALWAYS feel loved by us, but this was an extra fun way for us to express it to them AND they were really receptive to it.  Yesterday, pretty much anything went.  We even ended the night with a movie on the “big screen” and popcorn (a LOT of junk food was consumed yesterday).  It was great.  In my opinion, they really did deserve this little celebration.  They are some of the most loving kids I know.  They truly are “cool kids”.

A DAY date

Last Monday, Mg and I dropped the kids off at school and headed south of Coimbra about an hour.  We were going to meet some friends of ours who live close to Lisbon for lunch, so we met half way.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of us with our friends, because we met at a mall and I didn’t feel the need to drag the camera inside, BUT, we had a lovely lunch date and enjoyed “Subway”, which I had no idea was there…it was a pleasant surpise and a nice treat (there are not many in Portugal).

Before we met them though, we decided to venture to a little town we’d heard was home to an impressive old monostary.  It’s amazing to me that for such a small country, Portugal has SO much to see…no doubt more because of it’s years of existance than it’s size.  This particular monostary (in a little town called Batalha) was started in the mid-1300′s but took several centuries to complete.  It’s crazy to me to think this monostary was around before our country was even on the map!  Inside, several famous people were buried (like kings) but also Henry the Navagator…if you remember him from what?, 10th grade world history.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from this beautiful, stain-glass filled building.  Enjoy.

It’s always fun to get out of town and explore a little with my husband, even if it is just for an afternoon.  We also love getting to know our new country better and better, so it’s fun to learn more history and such through these outings.  Here’s to several more in the next few months

Are you wondering where the kids went?!

They’re still here, but they are busy and I have been “resting” and so I’ve hardly taken ANY pictures so far this year.  Oops.  But, I did take some pictures of Cal’s little school birthday party.  They are a few weeks old now, but better late than never, right?!  I incorporated it into our “English story time” and took some books about birthday parties.  Then we sang to him in English and had cupcakes and Cal got to give each of his friends a little present.  All the kids were super excited…probably why I didn’t get the best pics, but anyhow…Calvin felt special and that’s what matters to me.

Ha.  I love little Diana on the right…she is the cutest little thing, but this is always her sleepy hour and she looks so bored in this picture   And don’t you love Cal’s smile in the one below?!

He’s so cute and happy to give out gifts to his friends!  They each got a little travel, crayola coloring kit.  And below is not the best picture, but you can see the kids showing off their gifts to their teacher…they all loved it!  It made me happy to hear some giddy squeels even!

We’ve yet to throw a “real” birthday party for the little guy…it truly is just an awkward time for a birthday , but I think all and all he had a great birthday this year and felt plenty celebrated.  I sure hope he did anyway, because he is…we love having him in our family!

Hi, I’m Cristi…

and I’m NOT perfect.  Whew.  Actually, I hope that if you’ve known me and/or read my blog long, you’ll notice that I try very hard to keep it real on here.  I usually try to keep it real in person too…I hope I’ve never given off the impression that I’ve got it all together, but in keeping with my word “grace”, I thought I would give grace to myself and start laughing at some of my quirky imperfections.  They are, after all, what help to make me, well, ME and not like everyone else.  You know what I mean?!  It feels good to be able to just accept myself, flaws and quirks and all   Hope you’ll also get a kick out of some of these…

1. I can NOT dance, nor sing…two things I’ve ALWAYS coveted in those that can.  Why oh why God did you skip me in BOTH these departments?!

2. I crack my knuckles…WAAAAAY too much.  I am definitely due to have arthritis one day.

3. On that subject, seriously, almost NOTHING frustrates me more than when I can’t open a jar or bottle and have to seek my husbands help.  (Probably showing my self pride…I hate feeling dependent.)

4. My kids say “You’re ALWAYS on the computer”.  Kids gererally speak truth though…and ironically enough, I’m on the computer now while they are playing trains together.

5. It was from ME that my kids have learned to use such extreme words like “always/never or love/hate”…it’s definitely not from their daddy who is much better at moderation.

6. After 3 years living in Portugal, my Portuguese still sucks   (that last word is also a problem of mine according to my mom.)

7. I never, EVER iron.  Nor do I know how to sew…even a button.  (Dang it…another thing I have to depend on my husband for)

8. I have a hard time saving money…I like shopping too much.

9. While many of you look at me and think “skinny girl”, the credit has to go to God.  It’s definitely not due to my healthy eating habits or strict exercise regimine.

10. While I long to follow God wherever He leads, there are most definitely places I secretly HOPE He’ll never send me/us.

11. You will never hear me voice those places out loud because I fear when I say it, He’ll send me…which is definitely a warped perception of how God works…silly, silly of me.

12. I am a food snob.  My Portuguese friends are discovering this about me and it makes me feel kind of bad.

13. I have a mouth the size of Texas…it very often gets me in trouble. Always has.

14. I am 32 years old and I still have NO IDEA how to wear makeup.  Especially how to apply eye-makeup.  I probably should learn…no doubt I’d look better, but it scares me!

15. I was a really dorky little kid who dreamed up and drew floor plans for entertainment

There.  So, who out there still wants to be my friend?!  Thankfully, I know Jesus still loves me.  What about you?  Could you confess some of your “imperfections” and know that you are still loved by God?!  I hope so.  You should try it, it’s kind of fun (and freeing.)

Grace

Well, I better get back to blogging…I did enjoy my week off though.  It is fun now looking back over the year with my “picture a day” challenge…so many “little” things caught on film.  I confess though, there were times it was exhausting and thus, I only got my camera out once last week.  Hopefully I won’t forget to capture some of the “little moments” this year as well, but it is nice to just rest and enjoy a day without thinking, “wait, what did I do today that’s picture worthy?”  I also needed a break after “December daily”.  It’s funny how excited I get about doing it every year and then forget how exhausting it is by day 15…and then especially AFTER Christmas…good thing I have a birthday and a “year review” to write about or it would be near impossible

Enough of my excuses for my week break though.  I’m back to blogging now…not sure what all it will be about this year, but I do know one thing I’m wanting to challenge myself with.  And that’s “GRACE”.  There is one blogger that I sometimes keep up with and I’ve noticed that for the past five years or so, she starts her new year off with “one little word” that she wants to focus on for the year.  I never know where she goes with it from there…I wish she would share more about it through the year…like what she is learning about the word, how she has been putting the word into practice or even just to encourage others to focus on that “word” as well.  I think it’s a pretty great concept though and so this past week I think God has been encouraging me to give it a go.  He kept giving me the word “grace” and so I am going with it…and even challenging myself to do “more” with it…like I wanted that other blogger to do.  I want to share about grace here on the blog as I learn more about it and practice putting IT into practice.

There are several reasons I think I’m to focus on this word this year.

1. I NEED to extend grace to myself and accept the grace that God has already given to me.  I am SO very hard on myself (I truly think I come from a long line of women with “self-loathing” issues), but I want to break that cycle before it is passed on to my Lily.  So, I am saying I need to extend more grace to myself as I set a HIGH goal of ending a long pattern of self critisism…kind of ironic, but, I am going to work on it with the Lord’s help!

2. I NEED to learn to extend more grace to others.  Perhaps because I am so hard on myself, it is hard for me to extend grace to others.  Actually, depends on the others.  It’s funny the people that I am really gracious towards and pretty sad the people I am least gracious with…like my immediate family.  I want them to be so wonderful that I sometimes snap at them for silly things.  But, I want them to be able to accept God’s grace to them and so I need to be a model of GIVING that same type of grace.  It’s going to be hard…but will be worth it if I can do it!  My children are SO worth it!

3. I just think this is such a FABULOUS thing the Lord has given to ALL of us!  It’s also very mysterious to most people.  I would love to take a good, hard look at the different meanings and examples of grace God gives us in the Bible and help others to understand the exstensiveness of it.

4. I feel like with all the “transitions” our family will be going through this year (with half spent here and half spent in the U.S.), I will gladly ACCEPT grace from others (as in, I hope they’ll be understanding of changes that have occured in me these past three years) and I’m thinking I will need to DISH OUT a lot of grace to others (for example: when I don’t understand them anymore).

Anyway, these are just a few reasons I think God has been bringing “grace” to my mind, but I’m also hoping that through 2012 He will show me other reasons He wanted me to focus in on this “word” this year.  I’m excited and nervous all in one (seems to also be a common theme in me right now…like my feelings towards coming back to Texas = nervous and excited).

My journey through the New Testament lead me to start in the book of Romans today and Paul’s greeting stood out to me in verse 7, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.  I then flipped through and notice that Paul started ALL of his letters by extending GRACE to his audience.  I was thinking, that is probably the BEST thing he could give to them.  We ALL need grace…not only from God (who I believe is the easiest to get it from), but from others.  Especially someone who is about to deliver some tough news to you, as Paul often did.  He wrote sometimes to discourage them in the ways they were walking, but he always extended grace before he did that.  When someone extends grace to us, we know they really love us and thus, it is easier to hear and accept what they have to say.  Do you agree?  This is why I WANT to parent my children with more grace…I want them to know how much I love them, and when they are secure in that, I believe they will listen to my advice more.  This is why I want to extend more grace to my Portuguese friends, because if they feel safe with me, perhaps they’ll get a small glimpse of the safety they could have with Christ.  I want to extend grace to believers back home as I encourage them to perhaps get out of their “comfort zones” and start mingling with more lost people!  I do this all in LOVE.

Not sure if I am making any sense to the rest of you (I hope so), but I know God is working in me.  As I come to your mind this year, I’d love to be remembered in prayer for learning, accepting, applying and giving grace this year!  I’d also love to hear your thoughts on grace sometime!  Well, I’ll sign off for now, but “grace to you and peace from God” to all the readers of my blog

Week 52

I can NOT believe it has been a whole year already.  This is my last post from my “picture a day for a year” challenge.  I think the main thing that strikes me as I wrap this up is how thankful I am to the Lord for giving me such a full life.  I wasn’t sure I would have anything to take pictures of when I started this challenge…I mean, we still had very few friends here in Coimbra, no ministry and not very many activities, but God definitely changed all that this past year.  There were literally only a few days when I struggled to come up with a picture.  Most of the time, daily life just happened and I LOVED capturing a lot of it on film.  Looking back, we’ve definitely lived a lot this past year.  It’s been a pretty great year, if I do say so myself.  Hope you’ve also enjoyed getting a glimpse into our family life…thanks for keeping up with us!

Sunday, December 25th:  A quiet Christmas day.

Monday, December 26th:  Enjoying some of their new gifts.  Mg and I tried to get them things that would make them be creative and/or think.  These were some fun books we found for them AND their new pens…Lily’s is like a feathery princess pen and Henry’s is a sling-shot…we’re still undecided as to whether or not he can take it to school :)

Tuesday, December 27th:  Happy 4th Birthday to this cutie!

Wednesday, December 28th:  Got TWO awesome packages today!  Sweet Henry teared up when he got this home-made plate from his old neighborhood friends!

Thursday, December 29th:  We needed to get out of the house, so where did we go?  The skate park of course!  Oh, and the car wash, because they seriously love it!

Friday, December 30th:  Lily FINALLY lost her first tooth last night!  It’s been wiggling forever…the new tooth is already half grown in!  She was so excited though!

Saturday, December 31st:  We went on a little day trip and spent a wonderful day together as a family.  Henry was even sweet enough to use his own money to pay for his brother and sister to ride the merry-go-round with him!  (Looks like he’s not being nice to Lily in the picture, I’m not sure what was going on, but they were laughing and having a good time).

Looking ahead to 2012

2011 has been a really great year…I have to say.  We have enjoyed SO much getting to know this adorable city that God has placed us in.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but I have truly grown to LOVE Coimbra and the friendships and ministries we have developed here.  Perhaps that’s why 2012 might be a little bitter-sweet for me.

Sweet because: 1. I get to still spend six months of the year here in my charming little city.  2.  I get to spend six months back in my homeland…Texas.  3.  I have some GREAT vacations on the horizon this year including London, Morocco, Disney World and several other places in the U.S.  4.  I get to see family and friends that I have DEARLY missed these past three years.  5.  I get to go shopping at Target, eat Texas bar-b-que and Tex-Mex and celebrate the fourth of July and black-friday   6.  I get to finally hug and kiss on lots of babies that have been born since I have been gone.  7.  I get to show off College Station to my kids  8.  I will attend as many baseball games as possible

Bitter because:  1. I do have to leave Coimbra (and Portugal) behind for six months.  It is my home now and I will miss it…as well as, I worry how much will change in the time we’re gone…hopefully we will still have ministries and friends to come back to.  2.  I’m terrified I’m going to get HUGE pigging out on so much yummy American food  3.  I’m honestly nervous about “reverse-culture shock”.  If you haven’t heard of this term…it’s where you leave your “home” culture for so long and get accustomed to another culture, that when you come back to your “home” culture you are SHOCKED…and I’m nervous about this in several different arenas.  4.  I’m worried that all I’ll want to talk about is Portugal and a) either no one will care or b) that no one will like me cause they’ll be so tired of hearing about it.  5.  While I’m in the States I’ll have all kinds of doctors appointments and some uncomfortable procedures done :/  6.  Mg says that I’m going to cry when I go to target…I’m pretty sure he’s prophetic and that’ll be embarassing.

Anyway, 2012 is going to be one FULL year.  We’ve got six months left here and we want to finish strong.  Then we’ve got six months in Texas…which seems like a looooong time (since it’ll take us out of our normal routine) and yet like such a short time to pack in three years worth of “missing”.  We really want to show our kids a WONDERFUL time while there so they will love the U.S. like we do and so they will know about their country, but we don’t want them to love it so much they’ll cry all the way back to Portugal…it’s gonna be tricky   So, here’s to 2012 and all the “adventures” it has in store…and a tip of the hat to a wonderful 2011!