Six Years of Bliss and Craziness Part 1

Six Years of Bliss and Craziness Part 1 –
As promised I finally found the time to write about our adventurous travels going to and from the Pastor Conference in Campo Mauro, Brazil.
*I have to add a side note here to say: “Dad, if you are reading this remember that we are already home, safe and sound. However, just to be on the safe side you might want to make sure you take your blood pressure meds before reading any further.” ;)

Our trip started out well, we rented a van from a friend and we left with enough time to make it to Campo before dark. We estimated the travel time to be about 10 hours. Boy, were we ever wrong! We got lost for a few hours in Curitiba, which is about three and a half hours away, and by the time we finally arrived in Campo it was so dark we could not find the road that led to the bible college. At 3a.m., after 16 hours of driving we decided to call it quits and check into a hotel. It was so frustrating. We knew we were so close but we just could not find it. The only phone number that we had was for the bible college office and that was closed. So into the hotel we went, spending our entire gas money that we had set aside for the trip home.

The next morning we woke up and tried again. In the daylight everything went so much easier! We found the road, we found the bible college, and we were all rejoicing!!

The conference itself was in a word AWESOME! We were so incredibly blessed by the time in the Word, time in worship and time with friends. Personally I was so very blessed to be able to sit in every bible study! Going there with six little ones I doubted that I would even be able to sit in one, but there was a sweet girl there who took care of our kids and did a great job! It was also so awesome to feel the encouragement from the other pastors and their families.

When the Lord first told us to adopt our kids we were a little concerned about what our Brazilian friends would think. Would they think we were taking on too much, would they think that we were crazy, I mean it is pretty far from normal to have six kids in Brazil? That being said, we were SO blessed by their almost overwhelming support and encouragement!!

On the last day the Lord just blessed our socks off by providing the money for the trip home. It was truly a miracle and a reminder to me that I never know whom the Lord is going to use to provide for our needs. No one could have known that we literally had NO money to make it home, but He provided the EXACT amount that we needed in R$ (Brazilian money) to get home, plus some American money that we would later change to help with some other needs that we had!! What can I say? Our God is faithful!! He knows our needs, and He provides.