Sunday Funday and our Weekly Videos

Sigh. How does vacation leave so quickly? We had a three week break between semesters to catch up, regroup, and charge back into things. It also coincided with the time we would be car-less, so we have had a stay-cation. They never go as planned, do they?
The first week we caught up on things and had Ana's first birthday party--the best party she could ever have--seriously, it was wonderful. The second week Ana decided she didn't like stay-cations and didn't sleep much. At all. Especially at night. So we worked on catching up on sleep. This third week I was very ready to get done everything that never gets done during regular life--and I had the nice long list to prove it...when Monday night, my computer died. kaput. We will find out next week if they can even salvage any information from it (5 years of pictures and paperwork). Sigh.
God knows. But it has been a wonderful time of enjoying each other (snuggling up with Caid and Ana Sofia) and having many good conversations, deep conversations that couldn't have been reached if we were not in a place/time of rest. I am excited to jump into things (VBS for Lagoa was last week, for Guadalajara is this week, and for Cajueiro Claro is next week), and have a smashing second semester.
This week has been a heavy week for America. I have felt the heaviness from here and tried to write about it and process it...
1. This Letter to my Daughter about Race has been my most shared blog post ever (12 shares is a lot to me). This is hitting many people hard. It should hit us all hard.
2. This Saying Yes is written by my amazing friend Brittney, who was my roomie in Brazil in 2011, and just recently brought us peanut butter as she and her husband came to visit. I SO love and respect them! Here is the video they made with us!

3. Another beautiful look/story of adoption

4. There are a lot of questions about how to be a good missionary...including what I can and cannot have. 

5. I will tell you something sad. I posted a video of my daughter (who is black) that said #blacklivesmatter, and got very few likes. My husband posted the same video, but included many hashtags like #alllivesmatter, #Brazilianlivesmatter...so on, and got MANY likes. I don't care about the likes--I care that so many turn off so quickly when they see #blacklivesmatter. Why? It is something we all need to talk about. 

6. Just in case that wasn't awkward or controversial enough, let's talk about misogyny in Missions. Another good conversation. I am not sure what I think. I still need to chew on this more. 

God bless! For all of you enjoying some summer vacation (or stay-cation), remember it won't go as planned, and maybe that is best. Or at least--let's find and make the best of it.