Toys

Toys are nice...as long as you don't have too many and they aren't too stupid. They have some really stupid toys out there these days.

But, my FAVORITE toys ever are the wooden toys. I L-O-V-E wooden toys. If it were up to me, all our toys would be wooden.

I just ran across a great website: www.finewoodentoys.com. There are many other similar sites as well...just google wooden toys. But, these are the things I love (and the kids do too). I love that they are educational, provide plenty of imaginative play, are so dang sturdy, and, what do you know, are many times even less expensive than the plastic sort. LOVE them.

So, you know, if you are thinking you might want to get the kids something for say, Christmas or something...yeah...now you know where to look. ;) Although, these days they happen to be completely content with a tree growing outside that didn't cost a thing. :) I guess that doesn't work for rainy days though, now does it?

Pretty In Pink And More

Sunday, me and the girls had a pink painting party. Even Asa was included on this one...her first experience. And, another first was that I've never painted my fingernails and toenails pink when I painted Hadley's either...I always choose another color. Well, Sunday we were all alike. Then, we all wore pink for church. It was a very fun girly afternoon. :) Enjoy those pictures below.

Another exciting thing is that we now have some videos of us for you to view on YouTube. Just go to www.youtube.com/michawnme and click. Fun stuff. So glad that you don't have to miss out on actually seeing us even though we live so far away. These aren't the most superb of quality videos...we might decide to do something else in the future. But, for now, they will give you a glimpse of us. The videos go in order from the newest to oldest (top to bottom). Remember the trick to being able to watch the whole clip uninterrupted is to pause until the bar is all red. Also, I will be adding videos periodically. I will most likely give you a heads-up here on the blog when I do, but just go ahead and add our YouTube site to your favorites.

And...last but not least...there are soon going to also be more pictures on the website (as soon as Joel, my personal IT guy, comes home). Go to www.EbersoleOnline.com and click on the 'pictures' section. You will be able to see our pictures from August and September. By the end of tonight they will definitely be available. Have fun.

This Is The Birthday That Never Ends

We've been extremely busy this week with our company here, but it's been so much fun. They had a great experience and really enjoyed their time in Brasil I think. But, they feel no peace about this being the place for them. So, back to Louisiana they go, excited that God gave them direction and this experience, but wondering what in the world will come I'm sure (also excited about that part too though, just the process of watching that unfold for them). They are visiting an orphanage with a friend of ours now and then this afternoon we will be taking them to catch their plane. Pictures of our week to come. But for now...

I just loaded up some more pictures on the computer and thought I'd post, yes, more of Asa's birthday pictures. Here you go:


When I was putting the girls down for naps that afternoon, I was taking a couple of shots of Asa in Hadley's room. Hadley decided it'd be a good idea for me to take a picture of her sleeping...so she promptly gave the proper pose.












On our way to a birthday treat. We went out to eat at McDonald's for Asa's birthday...mmm, hot fudge sundaes here we come.








Daddy and the kids in the parking lot...chomping at the bits. Notice the birthday crown. Hadley got that in February for her birthday...it was actually her cake topper.













Nice shot, Joel. :) To his credit, he actually did get better shots where the top of my head was actually included, but the kids looked better in this one. So, Mama sacrifices yet again. ;)













Eating some grub at "Cows" (if you don't remember, that's what our kids call McDonald's for some reason).








Me and my girl.
















The fun 1 yr. old.


















A series of pictures of the kids loving on the birthday girl.


I love this facial expression. "Can we be done now, please?"

Time for more hugs.


Yep, we did it. We crossed the line. She's had enough hugs. :) Happy Birthday...again! :)

New Look

I've had a blog for a little over a year and a half now. I was starting to get a little bored with the way things looked, so...well, as you can see, I changed it. It's not exactly the way I would want it to look. That is partly due to the fact that Blogger doesn't give just the right options that I need them to (why didn't they ask me?) and partly because the options they do have...some of their pages were coming up with errors. So, if Blogger gets fixed, maybe you will see even more changes. But, for now this will do.

Lots going on around here. There was lots to do this week and also an overall lack of motivation to blog if I did have a free second. Of course, that was probably due to the fact that I really did need more than a second to actually post, so I just didn't post at all for the last few days. There's lots in my head to post about. I don't know about you bloggers that read this, but my thoughts tend to be in blog form these days. Not all of them, but some. So, at any given moment I could probably rattle on about something in the form of a post. But, I don't have time to do that at any given moment.

I'm completely rambling in this post, but this next week will have even more activity. As stated before, our friends get here from Louisiana tomorrow. They will be doing the candidacy at Asas Mon.-Thurs. and then leaving again on Fri. Anyhoo, I will post when I can.

And now for a few pictures that we took at a pool party/churrasco (Brazilian cookout/BBQ) that we went to a couple of weeks ago. After church one Sunday morning, we were invited to go to a friend's house. We were there all afternoon and had a great time.


Hadley's new favorite person. She is seriously in love with Neto. She doesn't mention him when he's not around, but when he is around, she likes to hang out with him. Fortunately, he loves kids and he and his wife don't have any of their own yet. I said something about how Hadley is love with him to his wife and she promptly said "and he is with her too." So, I guess the feeling is mutual. :)
Grady enjoying the pool.











Our friend, Kleyton, and his daughter, Analis (16 months). She is so pretty and has such tiny features...she looks like a little China doll.














Joel with his "sombrero."
















A view of the pool and house.











Grady enjoying some dessert.
















After a little swimming and a little food, the babies were done. That is our friend, Kristina, with her daughter Analis (16 months)...seen before with her Dad, Kleyton. And that's our friend, Carol, holding Asa.

Seasons

Since we are in the southern hemisphere, you know everything is opposite for us. We are now in spring. Therefore, we just had a time change last weekend...we sprang forward. We are now 3 hours ahead of central time/2 hours ahead of the east coast. Kind of weird to get adjusted to that way of thinking...that we are going into summer time here.

The weather is hot, but it's nothing compared to Louisiana. Sometimes I think these people would die in Louisiana. They're all worried about the gringa that's not accustomed to the weather and I'm like, please...this weather is great. :) But, it is hot. And, you do have to take into consideration that there are no air conditioners here. But, I could never sit in a house in Louisiana without air conditioning...people seriously die that way every year (the elderly and poor who have no fans or air conditioners). Here, we have no air conditioner, but I can even sit in my house and not even sweat.

Apparently this is the worst time...when the rains haven't yet started. It probably gets hotter than this, but almost every afternoon at that point (after rainy season has started) it rains and really cools things down. This is all hearsay. I'll let you know how it is after I've really experienced it myself.

I took this week off from Portuguese class. I'm doing some studying on my own and using some different sources that I have. One reason that I took off was because we have company coming for a week. They are a couple from Louisiana. I've mentioned them before...Thad and Wendy. Thad is the one who met Joel in Dallas and first got his wheels turning about whether or not MAF was really the right organization for us. Now he's ready to enter the mission field himself (along with his wife and their 4 kids) and they are coming to check out Asas de Socorro. Very exciting. They arrive Saturday morning. They leave Louisiana Friday, so just keep them in your prayers.

Another reason I took this week off is because our girls are a little puny. It's nothing major, but they have runny noses and are fighting fever. They are both a little off kilter, but again, nothing major. One thing they are doing though is sleeping late...that part I love. Even that I would give up though to have them well. :) So, pray for them too.

Alright, enough jabbering for today. Here's a picture, just for fun. This is in church one Sunday. They had just come back from their class, all decked out in their new paper hats and enjoying their sugar.

Amazing Swimming

So, I've always thought of swimming lessons as something that was for "city folk." I'm like, I never took swimming lessons and I can swim great. But, I also lived near a lake and had many family members who taught me how to swim. One of those uncles actually did teach swimming lessons at camps (or something similar...not really sure of the actual details). His daughter, my cousin, could swim like a fish by the age of 2 or something crazy like that.

Well, they actually do offer swimming lessons here. Our friends take their daughter, 16 months. Now, I don't know when we are going to be able to carve out time to go to swimming lessons, but I would love to try to squeeze that in. I would love for my kids to be able to swim, but even moreso be able to not drown if they found themselves in water unexpectedly.

You have probably all already seen this. I've been emailed this several times now, but I wanted to share it. It's pretty impressive.

Time to just sit down and blog is not that plentiful these days, but soon I will sit down and post more than just a video or link. :) Now, go be impressed...

http://www.childdrowningprevention.com/index.html

Crazy In Car

Just found this yesterday. It was taken by Priscilla while she was still here...so, in August. The kids get a little nutso when they have to wait on us in the car. It's normal, but it's loud. :) Just another tiny glimpse at the kiddos.

Happy 1st Birthday, Asa!!

A year ago Asa Rose Ebersole was born (a home waterbirth...still so thankful for that), at 9:29am, weighing in at 9 lbs. 14 oz., and 22 1/2 inches long. For more on that incredible birth and the first few days, go here. Also, you can keep scrolling down to the post after this for the video that wouldn't work last night...enjoy.

And now, for a year of Asa in pictures. We love you, Asa!! You are a complete joy!

Asa's very first picture. She had just been born. What a cute little chunk!
Just minutes old.
A few hours old. So very tired from all that birthing.
1 month
2 months











3 months
















4 months











5 months
















6 months
















7 months
















8 months











9 months
















10 months
















11 months
















Today...1 year old!

Looking forward to all the wonderful years to come with you, Asa!

Asa's Party Video

This is the video that was taken at Asa's party the other night...the one that I couldn't get to work on the last post. Hopefully you can see it now. Again, you can really tell our friends got a kick out of Asa's reaction to her gift. And, the guy holding Asa is our friend, Guilherme. We plan to have more videos available here on YouTube soon so you can see things with your own eyes down here, even if it's not face-to-face.

3-2-1

That's what I will have as of tomorrow at 9:29am...a 3 yr. old, a 2 yr. old, and a 1 yr. old. :)

Yep, tomorrow is Asa's birthday. It's what everybody says, but "I can't believe she's already a year old." Actually, in some ways it really does seem like a lifetime ago that we were living in Kilgore (where Asa was born). So much has happened. That's what happens when you live this kind of lifestyle...time goes by just the same as it does for everybody else, but when it's so jam-packed full of moves and big life changes, there are so many things packed in there that it makes it seem like a longer time than the usual "time that flies" mentality. Kind of weird.

But, yeah...our baby is a year old already. And, she is SO MUCH FUN!! The other 2 kiddos are so much fun too, but Asa is definitely the "clown" of the kids so far.

She laughs all the time and just does really goofy things...with the motive of getting a laugh. It's really funny.

She has really started to play with the other kids in the past few weeks. She'll go and join them and they are so good with her...they really seem to be reaching same-level-play sometimes already. It's fun to watch.

She climbs everywhere.

She walks everywhere too of course (and runs).

She loves to play peek-a-boo, hiding behind the couches.

She loves to be chased.

She is very easygoing and laid back.

And, she's also pretty darn sensitive. When we tell her "no" or if something is too loud or abrupt for her liking, she's got an amazing bottom lip pooch and huge crocodile tears that come seemingly on demand.

She's super duper snuggly...I mean REALLY snuggly. Love it.

She's very, very sweet.

She gets very excited when she gets up from her naps to see everybody. We will be walking through the house to the rooms where the kids usually are and she's squealing with joy.

She waves, blows kisses, and says something that resembles "hey." She also says, "Mama" sometimes when she is really, really tired of waiting in her high chair for her food. :)

She's astoundingly cute I have to say, in all ways.

We sure do love our little Asa Rose!! Thank you God, for giving her to us a year ago tomorrow. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET LITTLE ASA ROSE!! WE LOVE YOU!

And now, here are some pictures. Some from just the past couple of months (her climbing shenanigans I told you about) and some from last night. Every Monday night we have a young married's get-together...praise & worship, teaching, food. Well, last night after the praise & worship and teaching they had a little surprise for all of us...a surprise party for Asa. It was so sweet and super special. God has really, really blessed us with some spectacular friends here. They had a great choc. cake, decorations all over (Hello Kitty), brigadeiros, other finger foods...it was so great. Thank you friends!! The video (**update: don't get excited...the video doesn't work; it works when I preview my post, but not when I actually post it...so sorry; we will try again another time) at the end is the first video I've ever put on here...we never take videos with our little camera, but did last night. Hope it works.

Love you, Asa!!


This was in early September. This was one of the first times she climbed up on something...and she hasn't stopped since. :)














This is when I was sick as a dog. I love how they kids are all on the couch with me though...so cute.
Grady's new "favor for me" sometimes...to feed Asa a banana. He's such a great big brother...he really takes care of her. One time she got a little aggressive and bit his finger, so he was a little leary for a while, but he's over it now. :)





Asa loves to play with her big brother and sister, joining them in whatever they are doing. They welcome her in happily too.














She gets mighty, mighty excited about any animal she sees.
And she loves babies...thank goodness, right?
Taking a bath in the laundry room sink.











The bathing beauty.
















Climbing some more. Yesterday while we were doing a little dish duty, she decided she wanted to join us. She had never climbed up on the kitchen chairs before this week and yesterday she really outdid herself. She has terrific balance and moves like she's about 3...she was moving around on the chairs and not even almost falling. I was pretty impressed.









I think she was pretty impressed with herself too. :)
The Hello Kitty decorations. So funny...when I was little I remember going to see Rebecca Domangue in Houma and she was into Hello Kitty. I had never heard of Hello Kitty, but lo and behold, here she is again. I thought it was funny when she came back and she's here in Brasil too...everywhere actually. Really fun.
Asa got a Strawberry Shortcake (another blast from the past, right?) ball, which she loved, as you will see in the below video (hope it works). You can tell that everybody was so happy she like it. :)