Happy Father's Day!

A quiet day to relax and reflect. Just what he needed....

 *photo coming*

We are very grateful for the Father's and Grandfather's in our lives. We have some wonderful examples to learn from and follow. So many wondeful men! We have great appreciation for all of them.

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About a month ago Emily's life took a turn in a very new direction.  That direction happens to be in a far-away land.  She was invited by family friends to come study in Brazil! This is the same family that Mark's brother stayed with when he was an excahnge student about 28 years ago.  They are wonderful people.  Emily was thrilled with the opportunity and so we have hopped aboard this amazing ride and are trying our best to prepare each other for this new and amazing experience she is about to embark on.

In a nutshell, she will be staying in a small town about 4-5 hours north of the Sao Paulo.  Matao.  She will be attending a private school (K-12).  There are about 16 kids her age in this school. She will have the opportunity to help teach English as well as dance.  She will be totally immersed in the Portuguese language.

We find it hard to believe that she is bave enough to do this.  It is something that we NEVER would have dreamed would be happening.  It will be hard for all of us, but hopefully a very rich and wonderful experience as well.  We are really impressed with her desire to do something that will be harder than anything she has ever faced before. We have put much prayer and thought into this decision and feel it is a good thing for her to do.  I think we will become stronger parents to her through this, which seems like an odd thing to say considering the distance. All of sudden you look at each day in a different way.  Big changes...

If all goes well with the visa, she we be boarding the plane at the end of July. She has been working with a friend who is visiting from Brazil and getting a taste for the language.  More to come....

Camber's birthday gift to Em was a ticket to a concert...

Ray LaMontagne and Brandi Carlile.  

This is a photo of the two of them enjoying themselves very much at the concert Sat night.

We love these beautiful girls.