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Willik is in Florida

Willik left for Florida sunday night.
He'll be away for 10 days.
My parents and sister took him, as a present for his 5th birthday.
They'll go to all the parks in Orlando, and also a brazilian churches conference over the holiday weekend.
When Phoenix was saying his final goodbye to Willik, and realizing that he really wasn't going along, he got very sad, his bottom lip came out, and his voice quivered, as he said "But I want to go too!"
We managed to divert his attention and he's doing fine, though when waking up the next morning, he called for Willik, first thing.

They called us last night to let us know how they are doing. I think Willik talked to me for about 20+ minutes, telling me about all the rides and things he could remember. I don't think he's ever talked that long on the phone before. I guess that's what the world of Disney does to ya.
Yesterday was Epcot, today will be Magic Kingdom.

Unfortunately for him, the day after he returns will be his first day of Kindergarten, so he won't have any time to readjust, share stories, or rest. Life is tough sometimes!!!

29 August 2006 | Comments (0) in willik

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<< previous | thoughts

God delivered!!!

We received a great gift today. We got a new minivan.
Yup, we found it on yahoo, and it was way out in suffolk.
We bought it from an apparently well-off family, who bought a new van, so they were selling this one.

Why am I calling a gift, you might ask...
Well, that's because it couldn't have had more extras if we tried...

Here's the thing... the minivan that was stolen was great. We'd purchased it for $850, and we'd had it for a year. But it had no features, no extras, nothing special and it was old. It had a ton of miles on it, and we would see lots of minivans just like ours everywhere we went. The only thing it had going for it was it's cd player, and that had been stolen a few weeks before the minivan itself had been taken.

We were looking for a minivan that could sit our family, plus Fabio's mom and brother, so as to have enough room when they visit from Philly. I was hoping for a minivan with 4 doors, because that makes it so much easier to get the boys in the car. And we were hoping for low mileage, without much wear and tear, because we ourselves were hoping to put a bit of mileage on it when we travel to Philly and Maryland a couple times a year... without worrying whether or not the car can make it that far.

Well, as the title of the blog said, God delivered, and more!
This Plymouth Grand Voyager has all the toys and gadgets one might ever want in a minivan, and some you might not even think to ask for.
It's got the cd changer and the dvd mounted on the ceiling.
It's got integrated car seats!!! Yay! If you'll remember, the minivan that got stolen had our car seats in it, so this is a huge blessing!
It's got the 4-doors, plus the back space for those big supermarket shopping days.
It's got power windows and all those other power things. It's got a partially digital dashboard, and smooth changing gears.
Everyone can have a cup o'something on board plus there are little spots to tuck away things. We even found some old cookies in a compartment by the rear seats. The previous owner had 4 kids--these things happen! :)

So, we weren't expecting to have a few thousand dollars expense just pop up. We also weren't expecting to get a van this nice, but we asked the Lord anyway.

He gave us much more than we asked, and I'm super thankful. Praise Him!!!

update: pictures from the ad.
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25 August 2006 | Comments (2) in thoughts

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Sounds super! Hope you find a better parking space in the other direction.

Posted by: Pop at August 26, 2006 10:04 AM


Yes!!!!
That's right. God definitely pulled through a big one for us. It is a little scary to get all excited about it, because of the fear that this one will also get stolen. But if I protect myself from feeling the possible loss, I'll be missing out on the current joy.

Posted by: Fab at August 26, 2006 11:31 AM


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<< previous | city

stolen cars, vandalized cars and bad neighborhoods

Most of you know that New York City has been losing it's luster for me for some time.
One could say it started happening as early as the first time I spent a summer away doing missions in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, while attending Art School in the city.
I guess it was the first time I really got a chance to see what living elsewhere was like. Don't get me wrong, I was most excited to come back to the city every time I went away for a while. What, with all the cultural diversity and places to eat representing just about every country imaginable, it's very hard to beat. But, here and there, I would experience something new and pleasant each time I was living somewhere else.

I went on to spent a summer in South Eastern Oklahoma, also doing missions.
Then I left Queens and lived in the Lower East Side, while serving my church, Graffiti and this was possibly the greatest way to fall in love with the city all over again. And while working here, is when I met Fabio, now my husband.
When I left Manhattan, I moved far away, and went to live outside Yosemite National Park, in El Portal. I was here to work with a church, and I got to be closer to Fabio, who was in the Marine Corps, in California. Talk about being away from the city!!! This was as far from a city as you could get...
Then, when my term was over, I went to live in 29 Palms, and that too, was ultimate non-city life.
I've been back in the city ever since we got engaged. That's 8 years straight, and for the most part, I enjoy it.

Everything started to change when we had our kids. Not in the usual sense, about "not wanting to raise kids in the city because it's dangerous", kinda way; but in the " I want a backyard and a bit more space" kinda way.

Some time ago we decided that we couldn't afford to buy a house in New York City. That is, not in the 5 boroughs, or in the greater New York, which includes Long Island, and Westchester. In order for it to be affordable to us we'd have to be commuting more than and hour and a half each way, and when you have small kids, missing some 13 hours of their lives means not seeing them at all, and Fabio and I just don't jive with that.

For a few years now, we've been longing to leave NYC all together, but the opportunity hasn't yet presented itself; God is still working out the kinks...so when we get to wherever, it will be perfect for us, if we listen carefully.
The thing is, now I'm wanting to move in double time, cause our neighborhood has gone down the tubes quickly, and I'm getting tired of being a victim.
3 months ago, the cd player in our minivan was stolen. Then about a month ago, our station wagon's tires were slashed/punctured. Then about 3 weeks ago, our minivan was stolen.
It seems that almost everyday there's broken glass somewhere on our block, or a car looks as if it's been scratched.
It really makes you want to leave in a hurry, you know...

If you read this whole thing, you really love me, or you just got a great history lesson into my life. Thanks for reading..

24 August 2006 | Comments (0) in city

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