Gone...BooHooHoo

Well, Danny and Joel left yesterday morning on a bus headed to Caldas Novas. Then they are heading to Belo Horizonte for a few days, then Rio for the remaining days until they head home a week from Monday.

It was SO MUCH FUN having them around. We miss them already!!

But, onward we march. And more visitors will be arriving today. We serve with Asas de Socorro here in Brazil...a Brazilian organization. We needed an American sending agency. The sending agency we were led to is AMAZING!! We LOVE them! It is called CTEN...Commission To Every Nation.

Sending agencies funnel money and provide tax deductions for donators, among many other things. One of those 'many other things' includes pastoral care. So, the pastoral care team for Latin America (a husband and wife) from CTEN are currently on a trip, visiting us and at least one other missionary couple (living in Rio). They're names are Dick and Birdie Johnson. We've skyped with Dick before, but never Birdie...and have never actually met either in person. We are looking forward to it. They've had over 35 years of missions experience, so it should be really interesting to talk with them over the next few days.

They head out early Thursday morning, so you probably won't be hearing from me until that point. But, until then, enjoy some more wonderful pictures of our time with Danny and Joel. Ahh, sniff sniff...so sad that they're gone. Remember to check out their Brazil blog to see more pictures and find out how the rest of their trip goes...assuming they will have internet access every so often.

We just got a call from them this morning. They are loving life there in Caldas Novas (at a DiRoma hotel/water park) and will be leaving Caldas around 7PM. They'll have a 12 hour bus ride through the night to Belo Horizonte. They are having a great time!

Now for the pictures (lots of them...thanks, Danny and Joel, for sharing) of the last few days...

Last Saturday was just a relax-at-home day. Joel came up with an idea to make a sprinkler for the kids out of some hose that was left here by the previous renters of the house.
So, he, Danny, and Joel whipped out a fun water toy for the kids really quick.
Me and Cass...
...hanging out watching the menfolk.
Excited about their new outside fun.

They were a little unsure at first, but Daddy provided them with a demo.
Then they were ready to go too.

Before, lunch that day...she was already passed out. ;)
On Sunday we all went to familiarize Danny with his birthplace, Goiania. This was the house where he lived for his first 5 years.
We stopped at one of the open markets to look around. It's a sea of tents where you can get all tons of stuff.
Then it was off to Flamboyant, the big fun mall. We ate lunch at the food court (Burger King!!...for some of us) and then walked around.
Cass is quite the big girl these days. Snacks with the big kids in the afternoons now...she gets SO excited when she sees the snack bowls coming. Love the squeals! ;)
July vacation was over as of this week. Classes started back up at Asas, we started homeschool again, and the kids' soccer and dance kicked back up. Danny and Joel tagged along to experience a day with the kids at their activities. Fun-ness.
First, we dropped off the girls at their dance class.
Then we headed to the center of town to take Grady to soccer.



Watching from the sidelines.
After we watched Grady for a bit, it was back to watch and get the girls at dance class. I'll post the dance pictures another day...Danny got some GREAT ones.
And then we were on our way again, back to the car to go downtown to get Grady from soccer.

As you can see, Joel's glasses were a big hit. ;)



Cute pic. Unfortunate her finger's in her nose. ;) Ha.



What a hard worker...great job, Grady!!
Then off to get...CHURROS!
Grady...
...studying the magic of a churro.
After Joel had his first churro, he announced that he was going to start a churro business back in Beverly. He had several throughout his stay here. "I can't get enough" he kept saying. ;) After this churro stop though, his tummy became a little iffy. So, Beverly folk, unfortunately for you, the churro business might be out the window. Don't they look good though? You can get them filled with either chocolate or sweetened condensed milk. Mmmmm!

Headed back to the car to go home. Our little ballerinas always get lots of stares when we are out and about. ;)
Grady climbing up for gum. ;)
Tuesday evening when Joel came home from work, I had the kids all ready and we headed out to find this quarry where people go cliffjumping about a 10-15 minute drive from our house (and then a big ole walk). By the time we found it, it was dark, so no cliffjumping occurred. But, it was a good adventure anyway. And really pretty.

Looking at the view when we got there.
It's hard to see because it was DARK!! We literally walked back to the car (20 minutes or so through pastures and barbed-wire fences) in the pitch dark. ;) Our kids are awesome...they never even questioned it...just matter-of-factly marched along and climbed through barbed wire. Ha ha ha. Just a normal day in the life of the Ebersole family. Ha.
On Wednesday after lunch...went out to find this. So much for homeschooling with Hadley that afternoon. ;)

Most of our pictures are of our kids smiling or laughing. Just thought these were great serious pictures. ;)
Joel and Danny's mom sent down things for us to make pinwheels with the orphans in the orphanage across the street. So, we took it all over there on Wednesday afternoon and gathered the kids together. Fun!! Chaotic, but fun. ;) And the kids loved it too of course.
Hadley hanging out with the girls, waiting with them for a pinwheel too. She got one, but then gave it away later to a little boy who didn't have one. Sweet.

Showing off his new pinwheel.
Danny hanging out and talking to some of the boys there. He seemed to really be in his element. He said he needed to work in an orphanage some day. Of course, the answer to that is that he needs to come live with us and work in THIS orphanage. ;)
We went over to the little boys' house to visit some more and see some of the other smaller boys.

They started knocking him down...ha ha ha. They got a real kick out of it looks like.

Pray for these kids. They first of all need to have their process completed in a timely manner so that they can be adopted. And then after that is accomplished, they need homes. Praise: Just since this picture was taken on Wednesday, things started to really roll for one of these little boys and he might have a home soon. A family is praying about him right now. Pray for that family as well. Thanks!!
Preface for the next few pictures: Joel had been wanting to get the kids one of these for a while. Being the animal lover that I am NOT, it was not hard for me to not rush into it. The timing was right on Thursday, so here is what transpired. That day we had gotten our babysitter to come for one last hoo-rah downtown with Danny and Joel. We took them to our favorite hamburger joint here and then ran some errands downtown (including picking up some churros one last time). We picked up the kids' surprise and went back home to wow their socks off. ;) The babysitter, her sister, and another friend were also there for the big reveal. ;)


Everybody close your eyes.









After the new wore off a bit and Joel had left to take our babysitter and her sister home, Joel C. set out to make the bunny rabbit a home.
Cute, huh? We haven't decided on a name for sure just yet. Grady came up with John John and Michael Shane. ;) Other possibilities are Chloe, Lucy Sue, and Goldilocks (another Grady contribution). ;) The rabbit is a girl, just FYI...not that it matters in relation to a name. We'll see what sticks. At their ages, us parents might just have to declare a name. Otherwise it will probably be different every day. ;)

Danny, the foreman. ;)
They were shaking the tree and making it 'snow' on the rabbit.


A tad bit excited to have a furry, moving thing in the box. ;)

Everybody got a turn 'building' the bunny house. Eissa was cracking me up.


Grady giving the rabbit her food and water. Now our pet was all set. Although we did have to chase it around the seminary that night in the dark after she escaped...twice. ;)
After we played with the rabbit some, we took some family pictures while the photographer of the family was still here. Thanks Danny!
Then something really funny was going on. I'm not allowed to say much. It involved preparation for the Brazilian beaches...that's all I'll say. ;) Hilarious.
Saying goodbye yesterday morning.

Uncle Danny and Joel were pretty adored around here. :) We sure will miss them. We already do. Thanks for coming!!