On the next part of the journey...first step to heading home...

Well we have had a lot of things going on lately here the last few days and just not able to catch the blog site up.

Tuesday Night~ Saying good bye to CLM :(

      We spent Tuesday night by taking out a few of  Donei's friends to dinner in the colony then returned to CLM  for a farewell party for Donei. We had banana split sundae's and we all received presents from the family at CLM. It was SO hard! I still haven't re-cooperated from the good byes. It was really hard for me as his mother to see him struggling..........I had to remove myself from inside and go cry outside. Donei was having a hard time.......its all he's ever known and everyone he's ever been family with. Rumolo ripped my heart out at one point (Donei's closest buddy). He was sobbing hugging Donei.

The reality of it all has hit home for Donei, and although I feel this is what he wants, think about how hard it would be to just pick up and change your life 100%~ New country, new family, new language, new everything. Please pray for Donei and us as we begin the journey home.
At the end of that night it was time to say good bye to Luana...........as I'm typing this out now I'm having a hard time "remembering" the moment without tearing up. She has been protecting her heart I'm pretty sure since the girls left a few weeks ago so she hasn't been around us much, but that was okay because we appeared to be doing the same. But I went into the dinning area and we did our last hug. I was crying, she was crying. Before she left I slid on her wrist my bracelet that has Psalms 37:4 on it "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will fulfill the desires of your heart."
Its always been my favorite scripture and I hope one day my hearts desire to hold Luana again as MY child will happen. I sure don't understand all this with Luana, but again, just trusting God.
We left CLM Wed. at noon to get our bus we took to Curitiba where we will now be until next Tuesday.
We are living in a "flat" in Curitiba downtown area where we will finish some more paperwork.
Tomorrow we have appts for Donei to get one more shot, his physical, and then apply for his passport. Once he arrives in the USA he will automatically become a US citizen. He will then have dual citizenship with Brazil and USA. How cool is that! He will never have to get a Brazilian visa :))

Today we went sightseeing in Curitiba on a Train ride through the mountains. We were told by several people it was a must~ and it was! One of those breathtaking adventures I'm so glad we went to see. It last for 4 hours and they had a bilingual guide and served snacks and drinks constantly. We had a great time together the three of us. You then have to take a bus back to Curitiba which then was another 1 1/2hour. So it was a long day. Mike and Mary Cochran will be coming to Curitiba on Saturday for the weekend with us to do our last time together before we leave for Rio on Aug 31st.............Looking forward to seeing them~ We have missed them so much already since leaving CLM where they were our neighbors.
Love you all and missing home (a little)....... :)