it just gets better.

my heart is full tonight. i feel incredibly blessed and so happy. tonight may have been the best night in brazil so far.

why?

well i have two friends now! yep! i can hardly keep the smile off my face as i write. seriously, i'm so happy. i told you about fancisca (henry's nursery leader) and her daughter alasandra and her son felipe on the blog last week. today fransica knocked on my door around 5pm. she doesn't speak any english but somehow i knew exactly why she was here.  she went into the laundry room and folded the 5 days worth of clean clothes. the pile was huge! she sat on the ground and played ball with henry. she held charles as i made dinner. she talked and talked and talked to me. i tried to translate her words and would repeat them back in english. we laughed. neither of us knew what the other was saying, but really, we didn't need to.

she was kind. she was happy. i tell you, this lady has so much love.

we drove to the park near her home and met up with alasandra (her daughter) and her two boys. we played and talked. henry loves felipe, her 2 year old son. we then walked to fransica's home and had homemade smoothies. i wish that i could show you everything, the small streets and even smaller houses, the warm humid heat and the children playing in the streets. as i walked into her humble home the feeling of love was overwhelming. there was joy. there was peace. there was christlike love.

we laughed and tried to teach me portuguese. we had really good smoothies. henry was happy and content. charles was sweating on my lap. happy of course. he always is.

as i drove home i felt like my heart might bust. i love these women. they have shown me what it means to be a friend. they are humble and kind.

i have so much to learn here.

xxx

prince charles.

this one is my favorite. the cutest lil' giggler.

hope that makes your day a bit brighter, because it sure does mine!

xo

tender mercies.

 photo via

the last few days have been especially hard for me.

(great opening line, eh?!)

as much as i want to speak portuguese, i can't. and because of that, i can't make friends very easily. #anditgetslonely. really lonely.

 the boys and i love being closer to dad here in campinas, but he still has pretty bad hours which means we have to entertain ourselves all day. i feel scared to go out alone with the babies and although i love love love our new apartment, little henry and i are getting a bit claustrophobic. so i have been on my knees a lot lately. this morning i found myself on my knees, my cheeks wet from tears, asking for a friend. just one. just someone to talk to.

and this is what happend...

daniel calls me around 2pm and tells me that a lady from the ward is coming over and to let her in at the portaria. (house is a mess, still have pajamas on!).

she rings and i open the door. in front of me is henry's nursery leader and her daughter and her daughters son that is henry's age. holding a water melon. the daughter says "hello! my mother wanted me to come meet you."

say what?! she spoke perfect english. in fact she teaches english. her son felipo and henry were instantly best friends. i talked to her daughter as the boys played and the mom went to put the melon in the kitchen. oh. it felt so good to talk to her, we laughed and watched our little dudes play. about 30 minutes later the mom comes out of the kicthen and signals for me to come over. i walk into my kitchen and all the dishes are done and she had made lunch for me and the boys. she tells me that there was a chicken and brocoli dish and then just plain steamed brocoli.

i was so surprised that she did that first of all, and second of all, how did she do that is so little time?!

the mom tells her daughter and grandson "vamos"! the daughter says to me, "it was nice to meet you" as she stands up to leave.

i start to cry.

these ladies didn't know me, they didn't know that i had been pleading with my father in heaven to send me a friend. they didn't know that i hate cooking and that i was dreading cleaning the house. they were just being kind.
they were three angels. they really were. 

with tears streaming down my face i couldn't even get a goodbye out. they started to cry and we embraced. i felt loved. i felt remembered.

my prayer was answered.


xo

journal tuesday.

 here is henry. my little artist.

coloring is his new favorite. coloring on paper, walls, charles, more walls, and even the sofa. he just can't get enough. it is very cute to see him get excited about creating something. he will look at his "artwork" and say "ohh wow!". he will look at me (i am his trusty crayon assistant) and say "i'n lellow" aka, i want yellow. after he colored on the wall the other day and was told that he could only color on paper (for the millionth time) then he runs over to the colored wall and says "mommy! airplane!" he had colored an airplane! it was just scribbles, but not to henry!

i just couldn't stay mad after that. it was the best thing.

sidenote:
we finally got our dining room table today, (yay!!!) we don't have chairs yet, but we are one step closer to eating like civilized people again. excited.

when i went to check on charles while henry and i were coloring, this is what i found. favorite thing in the world.

 we came back from the pool the other day and were all on our bed chillin'. of course. then henry crabbed charles hand and fell right to sleep. it was the sweetest. have you seen this insta picture. im loving this whole brothers thing.

xo