And the Journey Continues

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Last Day

Today was a bittersweet day....first the sentimental gesture at church with the gift the family gave Matheus to take home with him and then the lunch with friends. Then Matheus had to come home and pack as he had not even started packing yet. He worked really hard and used good strategy to get it all put in the 3 suitcases he had along with his ski bag as he packed a lot of soft stuff around his skis. He also put a couple of pairs of shoes in the ski bag as well.

Karen Beane came by to say good-bye to him just briefly.

Hershey tried to sneak into his bag.....ha.

Bryson came by and spent about 15 minutes with Matheus....they even chatted with Claudia via the computer. Bryson gave him a picture of them together with the Deamon Decon in a frame. Bryson says he is going to go and see Matheus in Brazil and that he already has the money saved up for the trip.

Handsome man!

Lacey and Julie came over later and they brought a friend of theirs from Germany....the cutest little girl.....they hung with us for a couple of hours....we laughed and chatted and had a great time....after they left, we had dinner and watched the movie, Overboard. Our boy fell asleep on his sofa for the last time.....God....I am going to miss him! I dread tomorrow. :(

after they left, we had dinner and watched the movie, Overboard. Our boy fell asleep on his sofa for the last time.....God....I am going to miss him! I dread tomorrow. :(

Good-Bye Lunch @ Sagebrush

Today after church, we had lunch at Sagebrush with some friends as a good-bye for Matheus. Several people showed up including Kris, Jesse, Bryson, Dana Smith and a friend of his as well as Bryson's parents. It was a fun time....and guess who showed up at the end.......Big Show Baker.....ha.

Matheus says goodbye to The Grace Place

Today was Matheus' last day at The Grace Place and it was very touching. The congregration there put together the coolest thing for him....they gave him a canvas with a tree painted on it and everyone put their thumbprint on the branches using different colored ink......and then they signed the back of the frame. It was beautiful.....Joe presented it to him and he almost cried....it really touched him....it touched us all....what a wonderful idea!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Shop and Party

Today was our last shopping trip as we headed to Hickory in the morning.....we stopped at Kelly's sports to order a Letterman Jacket......he tried on a couple and ended up choosing one with white leather sleeves....it looked great on him. We will be taking the letter back to them early next week....they are going to embroider his first name on the front and last name on the back in gold.

A Sample of what the name will look like on the back....but in yellow/gold

name on the front....sample

A Sample of what the name will look like on the front

Matheus will have white sleeves

here is the jacket

COOL!!!

I love that smile!

nice shoes

Then we headed to Dick's Sporting Goods to see if we could find a Carolina Shirt he liked.....and a pair of shoes for his dad....they didn't have the shoes and there were no Carolina shoes he liked. He tried on this hat just for fun....it looks great on him.....doesn't it? :)

I almost bought this shirt for Claudia.....took a pic to show her.....I think it would look GR8 on her

This looks like something that would make a nice gift in the future also!

He tried this one on...but decided against it.

Then we headed to Burts.....in downtown Hickory....to get a ski bag for the trip home....while there he checked out the ski goggles....

and the skis

Today we went to Angie & Lynn's house for a goodbye party for Jon. Matheus met a little girl there from Brazil.....her mother did an exchange with Angie's family when they were younger....Marco had met her a few weeks ago and had told Matheus he needed to meet her....what a coincidence! She was a sweetie....so was her mom. Her name was Helena.

All the kids went out on the boat and I swam for a bit in the lake. They have the most beautiful place there. They had food also for us all....hot dogs and the spreadings.....some great chicken salad! After we ate....we all piled in the boats and went to one of their neighbors houses and the kids went para sailing....there was a hill and the boat pulled them down the hill before lifting them into the air....it was SOOO cool! Matheus did it and he seemed to LOVE it! Tommy video taped it on Matheus' iphone.....and he was wearing a helmet cam.....we are hoping to see the video from the helmet cam on Utube soon....:) Lynn and Justin and Travis worked really hard so all the kids could do this....they are such nice people! We met a real nice couple there.....the Harts....we had met their son there before....Phillip.....we see why he is such a nice young man..as his parents are very nice christian folks....with a great sense of humor!

After the para sailing.....we got a chance to chat with Helena's mom and Angie's mom for a while....it was really nice.....and helpful to me also.....just hearing her stories of how it was for her when she first came to live here in this country.....the things that were hard to get used to and how hard it is for her to interpret from Portuguese to English in her head. I told Matheus on the way home that it was a helpful conversation and that I wish that AFS had more orientation and connections like this to assist us in understanding what he went through. He shared some of his difficulties when he first come here just as burping…..as this is something that is not done in his country…..he shared that he didn’t really remember when he started dreaming in English as he stated that he thinks he dreams in a combination of English and Portuguese. Angie stated that the students that she worked with were always very excited the first time they dreamed in English.