Justin is now three so it was time for a photo shoot with him.  Cause I needed to get some of Alissa too.  

My little 2 year old boy

Ok, so it has pockets, i have to figure out how to use them. 

this is a pose for uncle dwight, who is sure I'm going to be a linebacker for the Iowa Hawkeye when I grow up. 

Ready or not, here I come.

my two little blessings 

every once in a while we will the cutiest things. ;) 

waiting for the bus 

Is the bus here yet? 

The Playground by our house.

One of my favorite toys on the playground by our house. 

I don't know where the last two years have gone

But I'm so thankful for this little boy that has brought us so much joy

and continues to add smiles to our lives.

Vacation

I figured since it's been a week since we have been home, it's about time to share some pictures from our vacation.  We had a couple nice days in the Algarave and then came home again.  We were very blessed to have found a very good deal on the motel because it was in the off season.

The road down

the scenery was nothing like I thought, it was very rugged and beautiful. 

the sign saying we were almost there

the view from the balcony in our hotel room 

Our balcony 

I was exploring around the hotel and found this library with some english books in to read during your visit. 

The kids loved to play on these horses.

The two pools, the one in the distance was a small one for the kids. The kids had so much fun in the little kids pool after lunch one day.

The kids loved this cat. Alissa decided it's name was "feridas" (holiday).  Justin tried to chase her and she hid under the car.  So Justin tried to climb under the car.  Alissa was in major love with this car and still talks about her even though she was never able to touch her.

the gate by the pools that lead to the beach.  We visited the ocean the first night almost as soon as we arrived and were back the next evening. 

the stairs to the beach 

We enjoyed the beach, especially because it was SO empty due to it being the off season again. 

It was so beautiful with the cliffs

The ocean was magnificent. 

I enjoyed the beach so much. 

Our motel room 

the living room area 

On the way home, we hunted and hunted (Justin threw up a couple of times, he gets so car sick here!!) until we found the Sand Festival.  It was fascinating. All these things were made out of sand.  It was mixed with something because it was hard but still pretty amazing to see.

an ultrasound 

airplane 

musicans 

i loved the tractor 

the details on this was amazing 

"the man caught in stripes" according to Alissa to the rest of us its a egyptian pharaoh

"Thomas" according to Justin

The old way of taking pictures, glad that is not how we do it today. 

I loved the detail on this one.

Their sponsors 

the outside

Another night we went to the western most point in the continental Europe.  We arrived as the sun was setting.  It was so beautiful!! 

our arrival 

It was very very windy. The yellow bands on Justin's wrist were suppose to help the car motion problem.  Not sure it really worked, he still threw up. 

It was so neat watching the different stages of the sun set. 

Justin and Alissa  racing around the monument stating this is the western most point.

The coastline was beautiful

The lighthouse 

another stage of the sunset 

right before we left.

So we had a good week and visited some neat place.  Now the count down to when we leave has started.  It's hard to believe that in a seven weeks will be on our way to Africa. 

LISBON

It's time for more fieldtrip pictures.  This fieldtrip was in the downtown area of Lisbon.  We had an interesting time learning more about the history of this place.

First we went to the Elevator in front of us.

But before we went up, we checked out the buildings around.  They were all very similar in the shape of windows, doors, and how they were laid out.  Why?  When the city was destroyed by the earthquake, then tsumani, and then fire (in the 1700's), people need a place to live.  Since they were already making prefab house to take to Brazil, they quickly put them up here.   So the buildings look alike, but people had places to live.

View from the elevator

interesting iron work 

From the elevator, we headed under this arch.

after we stopped for pictures. ;) 

We were on our way to this church 

This is the place where the dictatorship was overthrown in 1974 and portugal became a democracy.  Not one shot was fired and it was called the carnation revolution.  The reason it was called the carnation revolution was because there was a coffee shop owner that was going to celebrate being open for one year close to this church.  The owner was going to give every woman who entered the shop, a carnation.  But when the revolution started, the owner closed the shop and headed home.  One the way, the owner gave a carnation to a solider who placed it in the barrel of his gun.  Someone got a picture and broadcasted it on TV.  Local people came out to make sure that every solider had a carnation.  The carnation is now the national flower. 

A very very old wall

This was on our way to the Roman coliseum ruins

Roman ruins 

this would date back to the time of Jesus 

had to think that this was made for over 500 people. 

A church in Lisbon

They dug up the garden in the inside (all these old churches have gardens in the center).  Underneath they found these ruins dating back to at least the Roman era. 

Mary reading Jesus a story. 

love the windows and reflections on the floor 

I love the old trolleys in down town lisbon 

This church had a fire in it and because the people felt that it was to do with how they treated Jews at one point in their history, they have not totally removed the damage of the fire.  You could still smell the smoke when you entered.  The gray is all fire damage. 

Just outside the church is an olive tree that is from a tree in Jerusalem and a sign of peace. 

This area is now the gather place for all nations here in Lisbon.  So even though at one time, it was used in a horrible way, God has brought a new meaning and peace to the place.

  What have we been doing the last couple of weeks?  Well we have been getting used to having to take our kids to their new babysitter every day.  We are very thankful that they LOVE the new babysitter as it has made the transiting from Celma easier.  They still ask about Celma some and when the doorbell rings they want to know if that is Celma, but they are adjusting well.  So now every morning we get the kids up and dress and head to the bus.  We then ride the bus for around 5 minutes and then jump off the bus and walk up the hill.  The walk can take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes depending on the speed.  Justin isn't very excited about all the walking but he is getting better and better each day.

Alissa waiting with Daddy for the bus one day.

Anna our new babysitter 

Justin hanging out with Anna's daughter 

One day on our way to the babysitter, we encounter Herbert the snail as Alissa called him "Herbert the snail is from the Music Machine" 

One day after Continent delivered the groceries, Justin decided he wanted to help me put things away. While putting things way he decided that the juice needed to take a nap.  Here he is "sleeping" with the juice.

Now the juice has woken up and is ready to be put away.

Ice Cream eating is always exciting when it's Justin eating it. 

Someone sent us the Sunday comics,  Alissa has enjoyed "reading" the comics

Some friends took this picture of us today. I think it turned out very well.

We are sad as today we had to say good-bye to some more of our new friends. 

May the Lord guide them as the continue to work to the process of serving Him in Angola.