Day by Day...

Life has been passing by, day after day and yet so fast. Somehow I forgot that I started a blog and should be posting new things about my journey/adventure here in Brasil. I start my new job next week. I will be a teacher at a local high school, where I will be teaching, in English, the AP honor courses that I took when I was in high school. This is an advance program for the Brazilian students here. They are required to take a test, and pass, in order to enter into the program. It is an extra curriculum besides there regular school, and is taught in the afternoon. I am very excited about this opportunity to be a teacher, but at the same time, I am very lost at what exactly I should do. I didn't major in Education. I majored in Social Work. However, I think this is going to be quite an adventure and like someone told me here, "God wouldn't have given you this job, if He didn't know that you were capable of doing it."

Hard work is beginning to have a new meaning here in Brasil. Being a housewife, getting a new job and keeping the old job I already had, is beginning to sound a little overwhelming to me. I mean keeping the house clean, washing clothes, ironing clothes, and all the rest a common housewife does is one job in itself. It's just now that I get the whole thing about what women say about laundry. About how she spends a whole day washing clothes and then wakes up the next day and finds a basket full of clothes. And to think right now that it is just Joao and I. How will it be when we have kids? The laundry never stops. Although, I think it might be the process of washing clothes here that makes things a little different. There is the washing of the clothes, the hanging to dry, the ironing and then putting the clothes away. I usually can do the washing and hanging to dry very well, but then all of the dry clothes gets puts in a big pile on the bed in the second bedroom, waiting to be ironed. (And yes the clothes have to be ironed because they get so stiff after they have been on the line to dry). Its a little more simple in US, when everyone uses the dryer and then simply folds the nice warm clothes and puts them in the drawer. I am not complaining though and if I wanted a dryer, I could go buy one because they do have one here. However, I am blending in with the culture here and I want to get the full experience. I like it too. I am learning a lot about what hard work is all about and how things were before we had all the high technology.

But back to being a teacher. I am going to be the teacher at the high school, and I will also be keeping my other job as an English teacher to small children at an English school. So two jobs, means twice the fun... right?? Not to mention that I have several people ask my husband if his "wife" would be willing to give private English lessons to their child or for themselves. What can I say?? God has truly been blessing me and definitely has answered prayers of uncertainty back in the very beginning when I had no clue what I would be able to do here or what job I could get. Praise Him! He is always faithful and has been so good to me. Now, I am seeking His wisdom and guidance, as I learn how to be a teacher. Which is something I have never done before, and definitely lack experience in.

So, I am going to just take a deep breath, say a lot of prayers, keep drinking my coffee (which is what I am doing now), and know that God is with me each step of the way. It was just the other day that I had a very sweet moment, where God spoke to me. A lady who lives next door to Joao's parents house, invited me to sit next to her on the bench outside her home. This bench is right under a shade tree and it blocks the sun a little so that it is not too hot. This lady is very sweet and a friend of the family. When she asked me to sit with her, I got a little nervous because it is hard for me to carry on conversations in Portuguese. I am getting there, but I don't quite understand everything just yet. But I sat down and visited with her for a while. We didn't say too much, but it was the sweet company she gave to me. She showed the birds to me as they landed in trees nearby and she talked about the garden that belongs to the neighbor across the street. Then at moments we would just sit in silence for a couple of seconds and watch the movements on the street. At that moment, I saw the beautiful nature that God has created and saw how much I needed to just stop and remember Him. Which reminds me of the verse "Be still and know that I am God." Sometimes in life, instead of rushing through things so quickly, and either anticipating or worrying about the next week or month or whatever life may bring, we just need to take it day by day, moment by moment and let God have His way.

Love, V