We are leaving for Florida today to visit my cousin Manuela and her adorable twins. We are excited and are so looking forward to enjoying the beach of Boca Raton - about an hour north of Miami. This will be the first time that we've gone this far south in Florida. Look forward to blogging when we come back about our time there!
A special birthday wish to: Mainha do Recife! FELIZ ANIVERSARIO!!! Estou pensando muito em voce hoje e lhe desejando toda felicidade, amor e paz do mundo! Um grande beijo bem especial para voce, com muitas saudades!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAFA!
Tomorrow, July 9th, is my dear sister's birthday and I wanted to write a special blog, just for her. She’s currently visiting my mother in Portugal and will be able to read this in the morning.
Fafa, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm already thinking of you today and thanking God for your life! I so wish I could be there with you tomorrow to give you a special birthday hug but I'm happy to know that mommy has been spoiling you and already started celebrating your birthday a few days ago!
Here are some of the photos that she sent me of the surprise birthday party she had for you with some of her friends, last Friday night:
Honey, I’m so blessed to have you as my sister and your birthday is a special day for me to remember that! This year is even more special because we both know that we have never been as close to each other as we are now. God used the last difficult year to bring us closer together and this too, is one of the very special things that your nephew, Jonathan David, did for us. Thank you for being such a wonderful, loving and caring sister! I will always be grateful for how you loved and took great care of me during the last year.
I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow and really get to enjoy your day, surrounded by people who love you so much! I look forward to all the amazing things that God has planned for you in this new year of your life. Each day that passes you become more of the amazing woman God created you to be and I feel very blessed to be a witness of it. I love you so much and can’t wait to see you again in September and personally give you your birthday hug!
FELIZ ANIVERSARIO MINHA QUERIDA IRMA!
Fafa, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm already thinking of you today and thanking God for your life! I so wish I could be there with you tomorrow to give you a special birthday hug but I'm happy to know that mommy has been spoiling you and already started celebrating your birthday a few days ago!
Here are some of the photos that she sent me of the surprise birthday party she had for you with some of her friends, last Friday night:
Mommy surprising Fafa with a birthday cake!
Fafa, Stephen and son of a friend
Beautiful birthday woman!
Honey, I’m so blessed to have you as my sister and your birthday is a special day for me to remember that! This year is even more special because we both know that we have never been as close to each other as we are now. God used the last difficult year to bring us closer together and this too, is one of the very special things that your nephew, Jonathan David, did for us. Thank you for being such a wonderful, loving and caring sister! I will always be grateful for how you loved and took great care of me during the last year.
I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow and really get to enjoy your day, surrounded by people who love you so much! I look forward to all the amazing things that God has planned for you in this new year of your life. Each day that passes you become more of the amazing woman God created you to be and I feel very blessed to be a witness of it. I love you so much and can’t wait to see you again in September and personally give you your birthday hug!
FELIZ ANIVERSARIO MINHA QUERIDA IRMA!
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And also to honour this day - this is my (Jonny's) first blog entry! Happy Birthday Fafa!!
I am glad that you are having a wonderful time in Portugal and I am wishing you all the best for the year ahead. Thanks so much for the support you gave us over the last year and for being the wonderful sister-in-law and aunt that you are!!
Lots of love,
Jonny
Here we are thinking of you!
Squiz's visit!
My friend from work, Hope, her husband Jacob and their cutest son Eli came over for dinner tonight and we had a lovely time with them. Eli, who is affectionately called Squiz, just turned one and the last time I saw him he was about 3 weeks old - it was so nice to see him again and to see how he has grown. He's got so much energy and is a very happy little boy. Congratulations you guys for doing a great job with Squiz!
Hope, so happy we finally got to do this! I so appreciate you and look forward to getting together again soon after you return from your trips! In the meantime, I'll look forward to reading your blog! :-)
Hope, so happy we finally got to do this! I so appreciate you and look forward to getting together again soon after you return from your trips! In the meantime, I'll look forward to reading your blog! :-)
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Fourth of July Holiday!
We spent a relaxing day today with our family friend Maria Helena. Jonny cooked a wonderful evening meal - we joined most American families today by having a "cook-out", just before the thunderstorm came.
Maezinha, you will be very happy to know that I took advantage of Maria Helena's visit today to finally clean out and organize our storage closet in the living room! We've been in this house now for almost a year and have been using the closet to hide all our mess and at the same time lose everything. I'm so relieved that we finally got it organized because every time we've had guests over and I've had to "find" something, I would get embarrassed of the mess and the fact that I could never find what I was looking for! Here is the evidence of the organized closet - there is so much space now that Jonny can even sit inside!
Maezinha, you will be very happy to know that I took advantage of Maria Helena's visit today to finally clean out and organize our storage closet in the living room! We've been in this house now for almost a year and have been using the closet to hide all our mess and at the same time lose everything. I'm so relieved that we finally got it organized because every time we've had guests over and I've had to "find" something, I would get embarrassed of the mess and the fact that I could never find what I was looking for! Here is the evidence of the organized closet - there is so much space now that Jonny can even sit inside!
Monday, July 2, 2007
Remembering Jonathan David: 5 months on
Saturday, June 30th, was two anniversaries related to Jonathan David: 5 months since he was born and exactly a year since we found out that we were expecting him. We remember clearly our excitement of finding out we were pregnant - one year ago we had no idea what we would go through...
But glory be to God because we have come such a long way in our healing. We remembered Jonathan David a lot (as we do every day) but this anniversary was different - much less grief, more acceptance and peace. We are a living testimony to what 1 Peter 5:10 says: "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." There were days and weeks that I thought I would never be able to smile again; but here were are, 5 months later, smiling and restored. We are not the same people (we will never be and are grateful for that) and we miss our son so much - but we have been restored, are strong, firm and steadfast. Thank you Lord! You are a faithful and good God and we continue to trust in you.
But glory be to God because we have come such a long way in our healing. We remembered Jonathan David a lot (as we do every day) but this anniversary was different - much less grief, more acceptance and peace. We are a living testimony to what 1 Peter 5:10 says: "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." There were days and weeks that I thought I would never be able to smile again; but here were are, 5 months later, smiling and restored. We are not the same people (we will never be and are grateful for that) and we miss our son so much - but we have been restored, are strong, firm and steadfast. Thank you Lord! You are a faithful and good God and we continue to trust in you.
Last weekend of June: Catching up with friends
I can't believe we are already in July! June just flew by! We are excited about this new month since we will be going to the beach soon: first to Florida (Boca Raton) to visit my cousin Manuela and family for a long weekend and then to Chincoteague in Virginia for a lab retreat with Jonny's colleagues. Should be fun!
We spent the last weekend of June catching up with friends that we hadn't seen for a long time. On Friday night, we had dinner with Daniel, Carol and Marcelo (Carol's sweet younger brother who's visiting from Brazil) at a lovely Cuban restaurant in Silver Spring. It was so nice to catch up with them after a long time and in much happier times.
On Saturday, we spent the evening with the Hargraves in their beautiful new home. We got to enjoy their wonderful hospitality and Dirck's cooking! It was also so nice to get to know their son Connor better (6 months) and to see how Taylor has grown (3 years old)! Thank you guys for a memorable evening together! Here are some photos of our time together:
We spent the last weekend of June catching up with friends that we hadn't seen for a long time. On Friday night, we had dinner with Daniel, Carol and Marcelo (Carol's sweet younger brother who's visiting from Brazil) at a lovely Cuban restaurant in Silver Spring. It was so nice to catch up with them after a long time and in much happier times.
On Saturday, we spent the evening with the Hargraves in their beautiful new home. We got to enjoy their wonderful hospitality and Dirck's cooking! It was also so nice to get to know their son Connor better (6 months) and to see how Taylor has grown (3 years old)! Thank you guys for a memorable evening together! Here are some photos of our time together:
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