Weekly Update: 12/10 to 12/16 (12/23/17)

Christmas season is in full swing in Brazil.  That just means it’s warm this year for Asher’s, Shannon’s and Ellie’s birthdays, plus our anniversary.  For those not counting the years. It was 12, 45, 9 and 46 respectively.  

Summer in São Paulo is still like winter in the Dominican Republic!

Special activities for the week of 12/10-12/16:

1) Two new Pickleball sets were ordered.  (According to the USPBA these are the first nets shipped to Brazil.). 

2)  APRAESPI Garden Project Approval document was sent to SLC for final review.  More on this after we buy the rotor-tiller, 50-egg incubator, with candling light, HD Stihl brush cutter and other tools, equipment and supplies.  Main purpose of project is to teach gardening/landscaping/avicultura skills to older students so they can get jobs.  Added benefits are salad fixings for three cafeterias, increased chicken flock for food and organic fertilizer.  

3) “Gringo Idoso Samba Band” performances were well received!

4) Celebrated 46th wedding anniversary at “Rodeo Restaurant” (Avenida Haddock Lobo) that we last visited in 1980. 

5) Resolved issues with FEAPESP (http://feapaesp.org.br/) to proceed with 1,000 wheelchair project and World Health Organization (“WHO”) training for their physical and occupational therapists. 

6) Relieved that Dil’s surgery went well. 

7) Grateful to have a new deacon (Asher) in the Handerdum Clan. 

Com Muito Amor e Carinho,

Papa & Gma. 

"Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand."

–Dr. Seuss

So thankful for our “otterly awesome” family!

“Hand-in-hand” Christmas lasts forever, plus we recover from “Chicken Patty Poisoning,” cyst surgery, bad days and every other challenge that comes our way.

Jesus taught us to always love one “an-otter.”

Glimpse of Gringo Idoso Samba Band (“Gisamba”).

“Gisambas” singing to neighbors in gazebo of Vertentes apartment complex (where most of the senior couples live).

46th anniversary dinner at Rodeo Restaurante on Haddock Lobo in posh neighborhood of São Paulo. It is not every anniversary celebrated by eating the inside of a barbecued palm tree (“palm hearts”). How romantic!