JP's eye injury

  So I was playing a wicked new game called paddle (kind of a mix of tennis and squash)
and I got nailed in the eye. The ball actually hit the edge of my racket and hit me square in the eye.
Really bad luck. From there I went straight to the hospital. Tear on the retina. Laser surgery the
next morning and now three days of rest and recovery. My eye hurts less today, but vision is still
very blurry. I'll see the doc again tomorrow at 9am. Thanks for your prayers! JP

Kimberly's Birthday!!

Kimberly's birthday was great! We celebrated with the family here and had a DELICIOUS chocolate and strawberry cake! That evening we went to a small amusement park and rode the ferris wheel! Then we each ate a churros! Happy Day!! Thank You God for life!!

School Has Started

We have started our school year at BIS. JP is teaching high school math and P.E. Kimberly is teaching Pre-k 3 and 4 year olds, 2nd grade math and language arts, and kindergarten social studies and science. We are staying busy with school work and lesson plans. We are able to go on runs some afternoons and spend our Sundays with church and family. It has been a privilege to be able to share Jesus' love with the children at school and incorporate stories about Him in our lessons. How cool!!!

Itaipu Power Plant! Major Power!

Once back in Brazil we went to the Itaipu Power Plant. The largest hydro electric power plant in the world! It has 20 huge turbines. One turbine generates enough power for a city of 2.5 million people! That’s a lot of power we were riding around! On part of the tour we went through Paraguay! Brazil and Paraguay share the power from this hydro electric power plant.

Now back in Brazil we are looking for a car and doing some shopping. JP’s mom knows the places in town for the shopping experience! We are having a great time!! School starts in a week. We have a few more days of vacation left. J

Iguassu Falls!! The "Land of Rainbows"

After Caldas Novas we came home for a day and then onto the airplane to go to Iguassu Falls! This is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Unbelievable beauty there! We spent 3 days in Foz do Iguassu. The first day we spent on the Brazil side of the Iguassu Falls. I call this place the "Land of Rainbows". There were so many rainbows there! We took the boat ride and went right up to some of the water falls!! We hiked some and ate lunch. We ate outside and there were signs that read “Watch out for the Quati.” These varmints would come up to your table jump in an empty chair and reach across the table and take your food!!! Then hop down and walk off with it in their mouths! At first I thought they were cute until I saw one take a lady’s lunch right off her plate! They were so fast. Later that day we went to the Bird Park. It was one of the largest bird parks in the world.

The next day we were able to go to ARGENTINA to see the falls from their side! After we got the visa issue worked out our taxi driver took us the Iguassu falls park . We were in for a breathtaking surprise of beauty! It reminded us of the pictures of Never, Never Land in the movie Peter Pan. There was a high standing island in front of the some of the falls which has a water fall coming from it! There were platforms going out over some of the falls to get us closer to the roar of the water. We walked 1.1 kilometers one way over the Iguassu river to get to a raging waterfall.

There was so much water moving through the river. Check out some of these pictures to see. The power of the mass of water was breathtaking. God’s creativity foresaw these waterfalls and HIS power is mightier than the rushing of the many waters. HE has allowed us to look upon HIS rainbows of promise and love! Whoooooooo!!! J

Cristalina!

After Caldas Novas we went to a town called Cristalina where we were able to see many, many rocks. We even went to a crystal mine and JP found the water! The water was supper clear, clean, and deep! There were rocks everywhere! So pretty! Dad was so happy! It was a beautiful place!

Hot Water Parks!

Last Monday we went to Caldas Novas hot springs! We went to 3 hot water parks and spent our days soaking in warm water! There were water slides!! This was a highlight for Kimberly and her mom. Kimberly’s Dad and JP went down the slides too! Some pools were hotter than others and some were cool. At night the pools are emptied, cleaned, and then refilled by morning. The water is the best when it is just coming into the pool. So, it was fun to go out and get in the fresh water at night.

Dad's getting a foot massage!

Cross Cultural Concert

We went to an Argentine and Brazilian cross cultural concert. The music was so good!!