Other C-mas stuff...

Christmas humanitarian aid mid caroling... At a nearby "community" (it's not polite to say "slum" or "favela" anymore) delivering donated gifts and toys and basic food baskets to the 30 sum families who live there... (We will also start a sewing project there this year. Pls pray for that. we still need a room and a couple more sewing machines, ..and anointing for the teachers. *gulp! )

Yay!!!

Kid, what ARE you doing? hehe!

...Our very own Brazilian Santa!
From Rio to be exact ;)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas dinner

Laura & I

The girlies

Fire show for the VIP's (My bwuver)

My brother leaving and my sis ariving

Kiara, all that was missing was you!
..miss you! :-*

Yay! time to break the C-mas piggy bank!

Christmas season...

It's Christmastime again...
And with it comes the activities we usually engage this season. Some of them are...

1-Christmas caroling/busking. And for that we need costumes. so since this one seamstress did an unacceptable job on our dresses, we had to redo it all ourselves (made from last years skirts! Shh!*).

Here's my sewing table (making new hats) looking rather neat compared to what it looked like most of the time. :P

2- Christmas cookies! :D

3- Christmas Cards

(Pardon the sick look, I seem to have come down with a flu just at the wrong time. :(

Christmas Singing...
Another disclaimer: We don't have ANY good pics of our singing team :(
..yet, hopefully. So these will have to do for now.

And in this picture we had forgotten 1 of out hats.
oh well, and so we improvise; make that 2. :)

Have a great C-mas season!

Art for Africa...

This project kept me busy and and turned me into a "computer potato" for quite some time...

An expansion of a program we started in Sierra Leone (by Activated Mission.) It's still a local small scale project but hopefully it will take off and be a blessing to many in all of Africa.

I basically just modified some "Start Early" posters to relate more to the African kids.
Sadly I wasn't able to finish ALL of them due to the upcoming C-mas season.

Here are a few samples:

I do hope it will make a difference in the lives of the little African children.

Cheers! ;-)

Welcome back to Brazil...

So here I am in Brazil again...

I made an unannounced appearance to surprise my mom.

(popping out of a big crate box and all! It was pretty funny...)

Here are a few from a few weeks ago...

I spent a few week with Mom and lil' sis Laura.

..working on a project for Africa at the same time before going into Christmas push preparations and shows etc... (more pics and updates when I find the time)

Escaping the European winter into the Rio summer heat! :D

...its not too bad ...Yet!

The beautiful view at night...(The "Pão de Açúcar" in the distance) Darkness and light hiding all the imperfections :P

This background is more what it looks like during the day...

that's my sister at one of the sailing lessons!

She's has

free sailing lessons almost every other day at a foundation just next door to the house...

And she recently participated in a women's yacht race!

I was a bit disappointed at first to find out I wouldn't be allowed to come along (to take pictures) of her race so I was only going to take a few pics of them leaving. But came at just the right time to hop into a boat (of Lars Grael - athlete who lost his leg sometime ago)and managed to sneak in to another boat. Yay! So I watched most of the race from there till they got out of sight and then returned to the finish line.

Me taking pics..

My sister's team and their boat

On your marks.. Get set...

Their team was leading the race pretty much the whole time...

...till the very end they lost to third place! Oh well, at least you get a medal. :D
I'm so proud of my little sister!

Europe 2008...

Ok, i think this is my longest post ever!
That's because my trip from Africa to Brazil took quite the D-tour this time. (but a very pleasant one.)
I got to see so many new places and visit family and some of my close friends in Europe... as well make new ones ;D
Thank you EVERYONE who made my trip so fun and special.
I thoroughly enjoyed every moment I spent with you all!
(..and thank you low budget airlines who make it easier for me to travel around Europe. Hehe! :P)

...Right, so first stop was Spain (a little town somewhere between Valencia and Alicante: Villena)
The home was located in a beautiful country side with tons of sunflower fields and vineyards all around.
..Happy times :)

Too bad my cell cam didn't capture the color so well...
Oh, and I was very disappointed to find that the sunflowers where indeed NOT facing the sun all day as they aught to. ...my childhood fascination was shattered :(

...Picking grapes off the playground vineyard

Ah yes.. this place was amazing...
...Close by the home there is this beautiful gorge which is great to dip in on a scorching hot day such as this one.. but oh, the water is SSOOOOO COLD!!! (I quite literally froze my brain and thus had to recover from a unusually induced headache! ..and You think YOU get a "brain freeze" from eating ice-cream? -HA! )

Nope, you're not allowed to see my face here; I was in utter chock from the ice cold water :-[

We all had fun jumping off the rock,
Yes I know it looks harmlessly low, but it takes a few moments (a few more for some:P) to gain your courage to jump, especially when you think of what will meet you below (did I mention ice?)

...view below the mini falls



I Arrived in Spain just as just as the Spaniards where getting ready for the Christians and Moor's festival. Sadly I left for Switzerland before the real festivities began in our little town, but I got to see some of the decor, costumes, and the first day of festivities.. (For pics of what I missed and what it was like see here and here.)





















Joining in the fun, Yay!











Day1: Dinner time at the town square... complete with entertainment... (bring you own tables and food, we'll supply the wine)

The whole town was there! I've never seen anything like it.

Time to fly to Switzerland for a visit...
My stuff was stuck at some airport for about a week but arrived just in time for my next trip.
I could only take a small bag anyway...
sniff* ..no space for my laptop. Oh well, Lord knows I need that from time to time)

SWITZERLAND:

Yay! Me and Dav together again after a looong time... Miss you luv! :)

..It was also great to see Silas and Claire (and meet baby!) again after exactly 1 year after their weeding.
Happy Anniversary!
















We were fortunate to come to Switz just as this home was hosting a CGO area meeting...
...It was fun and lots of work. We cooked ALL day. and in the end organized some games for the attendees.

Then a couple of the boys took us out for some games...














Seems we all love pool no matter where I go :)

Hey check it out, I have a magic wand :P
















And we got to visit Coral and her family IN Switzerland! very cool ...We lived all together in Brazil and taught her how to say her first words in Portuguese. :)

GERMANY:

Dav & I hitchhiked to Germany and met super cool ppl and even a cute guy along the way.

Making sure we head in the right direction.
(who says girls can't read maps.. huh Matt? :P)

Sheekles and Smooshly*.. being vain in the girls room. :)

*Marina and Monica (didnt get a pic w/ the rest of them :(

Aww! Dav took me out for pizza.

Going back to Switz by train.
Dont want to get into all the details but it was a loooog ride.
But I made it in time for the party (just barely)...

Back to SWITZ:
Party time!! Happy B-day Virgos!











..The "whatever sign"
-Whatever!

David and Mercedes

Rock on!!












Aby!! gr8 to see you again! ...sweetie!

Dear Taby and Manu











Mike and Sims ;)

So much joy... and joy-ness...


















Last Summer flowers...
Pretty nice for a phone cam huh?



Road trip to the south of Switzerland...
I even got to see the dam James bond juped off in "Goldeneye 007" (sorry lost the pic :( )

ITALY (Milan):





We went to the Italian
part of Switzerland.
But had to hop over to Italy
to get some Italian tools etc..
So on the way back
we stopped by the
center of Milan for a
look around and
some Italian ice-cream!









The beautiful
Duomo di MilanoThe Milan Cathedral...
















...And the statue of Vittorio Emanuele II in the Piazza del Doumo









Pigeons of the piazza...

Back on the Road (South of SWIZTERLAND):















Some of the pretty roadside views...
















Oh, I wish I could swim in it...



















Back in ITALY (For Spirit Tree Concert):

Group shot: Everybody say: Cheeeese!:D ...aw you all blinked!

David, pretending he doesn't think Mecedes is all that hot :P

Ppl reading the "..what ppl get high on" tracts after the show.

Back to Switzerland to visit my brother and catch a plane back to Spain...

Back to SPAIN:

I stayed at the home in Spain a while, worked on some layout projects etc...

...A few more random pics of their beautiful rustic home and adorable Gerber babies...





























Jace, Paloma & kiddos...








I had a wonderful time there (Thanks guys!)
...I miss all of you merry freaks and beautiful families! Xx





Lanzarote (Still in SPAIN):
...Then I got to visit the Canary Islands for a couple weeks.
This island emerged from cooling volcanic lava etc, etc, etc.
It was I interesting little place. I got to see so many sights I felt like a real tourist...
Complete with a bus tour thru the Montañas de Fuego (Mountians of Fire) a Volcanic mountian range; verry educational indeed.


















Camel rides















Montañas de Fuego

The coolest BBQ spot ever...

Cooked by the vocanic heat!

..Man induced geyser

Salt flats

Albino crabs; found only in this particular lake/cave.

posing like a good little tourist. :)

And this is the very cool house of the late artist Cesar Manrique, built within the solidified lava flow!

My personal meditation spot (nice huh?)

-The End-

4 now...