House Repairs

All through August, the sound of men’s voices talking, laughing and even sometimes disagreeing filled the house.  The deep rumble of the cement mixer, the jackhammer’s pounding and the puffing of the painters’ compressor frequently drowned out the voices, but somehow the cement mason’s radio managed to blare out advertisements and popular songs above all the other noises. This cacophony began promptly at 8:30am and ended abruptly at 5pm every workday. Although our ears ached by the end of each day, the noise was proof that repairs were being done on the house – and we are immensely thankful for the way that the Lord has blessed and directed in this big step!

Our house before repairs.

Our house, number 63 on Rua Hygino Langhi, was built in 1998.  Ten years and several coats of green paint later, we moved in. Over time the green paint faded and someone added spray paint to the décor, but these were least of the problems that we set out to fix last month.

Zaccheaus and helpers mixing cement.

Sr. Renato our realtor and civil engineer introduced us to the necessary workers.  Zaccheaus, the cement mason, was the first to start work on July 29^th.  He immediately rented a jackhammer and began breaking up cement in three different places.  The sidewalk was the largest and hardest area that he had to work on. The original sidewalk was a thick layer of concrete covered by granite tiles, but by the time we moved in the granite tiles had been covered with another, thinner layer of concrete.

New sidewalk being laid. 

Time and use cracked all three layers of the sidewalk in a variety of places and it was beginning to crumble. Zaccheaus spent two and a half days removing the worst part of the sidewalk and then mixing cement and laying a new one. He then gave us the responsibility of "watering" the sidewalk several times a day to prevent the top layer of cement from drying out quicker than the bottom layer.

Work on the ramp.

Zaccheaus also broke up a narrow swath of cement on the back veranda, as well as almost half of the ramp which goes from the garage to the downstairs. Our house has two floors and there was a long crack along one side of the veranda and various cracks in the ramp that were allowing water into David’s bedroom and the catch-all room, which we call the shed.  

Laying the asphalt.

Once Zaccheaus had these areas broken up and leveled, Sr. Renato sent Valdecir out to lay a “blanket” of asphalt which permanently sealed the cracks. Zaccheaus then went back over these areas spreading a layer of cement and laying new granite tiles on the ramp and ceramic tile on the veranda.

The "shed".

Speaking of ceramic tile, the tile throughout the house is eighteen years old and it is impossible to find the same or even similar tile in our modern world.  Breaking the veranda tile gave us two options: 1. Spend extra to replace all the tile or 2. Put in mismatched tile. We opted for the mismatched look until I discovered stacks of tile in the back corner of the shed. Most of these stored tiles didn’t belong to this house, but there were 43 tiles that matched the veranda tile! Zaccheaus eventually used 42 of these tiles to patch the veranda.

Reinforcing the outside wall.

As he was working on the ramp, Zaccheaus also spent time reinforcing the outside wall. This wall reaches well over eight feet high in some places and separates our property from the empty lot next door. The wall’s foundation has gradually settled and caused cracks in the wall. To keep these cracks from becoming worse, Zaccheaus chipped off the cement around them, embedded rebar into the wall and then covered it all with new cement.

Chipping off cement in Mom's bedroom.

Once he was done outside of the house, Zaccheaus moved inside to work. He spent several days working on a wall in Mom's bedroom that had a serious humidity problem. He manually stripped off the  wall’s outer layer of cement until the bricks were showing, applied a special sealer and then covered it all with a new coat of cement. While this wall was exposed, we called in our electrician and had him redo the wiring on that side of the room. It is a blessing that this bedroom now has four dry walls, as well as electrical sockets and switches that work.

The bathtub.

Zaccheaus’ last job was to remove the bathtub from the main bathroom. This poor bathtub had a sorry existence which began with being installed incorrectly and ended years later with cracking and leaking water into the downstairs area. The bathtub was already unusable when we moved into the house, but we could stand in the tub and take a shower so it met our needs for a number of years.  Eventually, though, the sand under the bathtub shifted causing the bottom of the tub to crack and making even showering impossible.

Leveling the floor.

Considering that bathtubs are uncommon in Brazilian homes, Sr. Renato suggested that we remove it, lay ceramic tile and make a simple shower box, instead of installing a new tub. Zaccheaus brought some helpers with him and did just that! As the shower floor neared completion, we again faced the dilemma of matching old ceramic tile and this time the stacks of tile in the shed failed us. Thankfully, I met a helpful saleslady at the construction store. She helped me find a new tile which complements the existing tile in the bathroom. Now that the new tile and shower box have been installed, the bathroom has a modern air about it – just as the saleslady predicted it would. :)

The new shower box.

Zaccheaus and a plumber he knows removed the bathtub and its pipes on a Friday afternoon. The next morning the water reservoir in the attic began overflowing. Since our plumber couldn’t come out until Monday, we went the weekend with the water shut off at the street. Monday morning early the plumber arrived and replaced the buoy which controls the incoming water. Later that afternoon, he changed the buoy again because the reservoir continued to overflow and run off the roof. This second buoy still did not solve the problem, so we called the plumber who had removed the bathtub to see what he could do. He wasn’t sure what was causing the overflow, but a colleague of his eventually found a pipe in the bathroom that had been left open and was allowing water to run through the pipes and back up to the reservoir. Moments after the pipe was closed, we sighed with relief as the street water was turned on and the reservoir DID NOT run over. A few hours later, though, the reservoir was still doing just fine but we discovered that the hot water system was dry. Guess who we had to call again? The plumber came out one last time, removed air from the hot water pipes and since then there has been water in the pipes where it should be and no water running off the roof where it shouldn’t be! 

Painting begins!

Four days after Zaccheaus began his work here at the house, Silvano and his team of three painters arrived to begin their work. It was interesting - and frequently stressful - to notice how Zaccheaus and his helpers were the polar opposite of Silvano and his group. Zaccheaus is a good worker, but exceptionally slow in everything he does. His helpers were just like him. Silvano, on the other hand, is an energetic little man who keeps his team hopping from morning to evening. The painters came to the point several times of working right on the cement masons’ heels. Mom and I could tell that this frustrated Silvano, but thankfully he was consistently patient.

All the metalwork.

It had been about eight years since the house had been painted last, so Silvano and his crew had a lot of work to bring things up to par. They started off painting everything that was metal. This included windows, the guardrail along the side of the upper story and the heavy gates at both ends of the garage. The front garage gate had several places that were rusting out at its base, but the painters expertly filled these places with a plastic paste, sanded it down and then painted over it. We chose to keep all the metalwork white. That first day it was so nice to see dirty, rusty paint, sanded off and then covered by coat after coat of fresh white paint. That afternoon, though, I was shocked to see the new paint speckled with tiny black insects. I asked one of the painters about it, and he matter-of-factly responded, “Oh, they like the smell of paint. After the paint dries and they die, you can wash them off with a sponge.” 
He then added “There are also some larger bugs with long wings that are attracted to wet paint too.” I am happy to report that the larger insects never arrived and the smaller ones did wash off easily!

Truck full of books.

Let me rewind just a little and say that before the painting started, Joy and João Carlos came over and picked up the last of the books that we had stored here. These were books that Dad had printed and now Joy and João are selling on their online store. I thought moving the books would be pretty simple, but it took the better part of a day (and a lot of sweat!) to move all the boxes out of the downstairs storage rooms, up the ramp, load them into a truck and then unloaded them at their new storage place.

Empty storage room.

Having the books gone made it much easier to paint and later clean up the downstairs area, and it gives us less to move when the time comes for that.

The foam and I.

Right about the time that the books were being moved, I spent two days removing the acoustic foam from the sound room’s ceiling and walls. A good part of the foam pulled off the walls in complete panels or at least large chunks, but there were several places where I had to scrape it off inch by inch.

Removing glue in the sound room.

When the painters moved in to paint the sound room, they spent almost two full days scraping and applying chemicals to remove the remaining glue from the walls. Their efforts paid off and the sound room looks very nice now.

Applying water repellent paint.

There were three other walls in the downstairs area of the house that also required extra attention from the painters. One of these was the back wall of David’s bedroom. This wall runs right along our property line and since there is no house built behind us, it is completely exposed to the weather. During the dry season, the paint on this wall tends to peal and the rainy season makes the pealing even worse. Silvano, the head painter, did two things to mitigate this problem. First, he applied water repellent paint to the outside of the wall, and then he had his men texture the inside of the wall before they painted it. The texture adds a nice accent wall to the room, but most importantly it helps the paint adhere better. Hopefully it will be able to withstand the sun and rain of this coming year!

Wall with ongoing humidity.

The other two problematic walls downstairs have long-standing infiltration problems. Our road runs along the side of a hill. The lots across the street from us are all higher than the road, while the lots on our side of the road are below street level. The man who built our house went ahead and built the downstairs below street level and the upstairs even with the road. Whoever built our next-door neighbor’s house filled in the lot to bring it up to the street level before they built, and as a result we have two downstairs walls that are against dirt and constantly damp. There is no easy way to solve this problem. Sr. Renato said the best way to deal with it is to regularly repaint these walls. The painters invested extra time and effort to scrape all the bubbly paint off, then apply texture and several coats of fresh paint to these particular walls.

Repairs are finished!

Just as Zaccheaus and Silvano were finishing up our house repairs, we had a weekend of rain. It laid the dust and calmed our allergies, but it also leaked in on one dining room wall. Silvano very kindly went up on the roof to see what the problem might be and found that the gutter was cracked and holding water. Since then, we have had Claudinei, the gutter man, out multiple times to repair the old guttering and add on some new where necessary.

Mom and I

These house repairs have been physically and emotionally draining on Mom and I, but words fail us to express how wonderful it is to have them done! We sincerely appreciate all who pray for us and also give to meet our needs!!  Our house is now officially for sale. Sr. Renato has taken pictures and will be putting an advertisement in the local paper as well online. We look forward to seeing how the Lord will direct and provide in this next step, just as He has up until now.

Joy and Sorrow: A Wedding and A Funeral

Just recently, I was listening to some preaching, and the pastor made the statement that our lives are a mix of joy and sadness. When I look back over the last six months, this is so true. Joy and João Carlos were married in December. It was a time of happiness and family being all together. Then a few months later Dad is gone and we are left exhausted and sorrowful. Looking back at these events, from one point of view the hardships outweigh the happiness, but the pastor didn't stop when he said our lives are a mix of joy and sadness, he went on to say that God in His infinite wisdom and abundant graciousness to us is the one that mixes just the right portion of joy and sadness in our lives for His glory and for our ultimate good. This has been a comforting thought to us again and again!

I am going to do my best in this post to tell you a little about this mix of events in the order that they happened. My hope is that in the end this post will be a comfort and not a source of pain. 

Joy with her cow dishtowels!

I don't remember the exact month, but in the first part of last year João Carlos asked Joy to be his wife. She happily agreed and they set the date for Dec. 6th. The months that came between Joy’s engagement and wedding were few and very busy. Joy quickly set to work choosing a simple wedding dress and finding a seamstress to make it, ordering a cake, and making the invitations by hand. She did all that along with acquiring and organizing all the little things that are necessary for making a house a home.  As part of this organizing of basic things for the kitchen, bedroom, etc…, Joy opened and sorted through her hope chest. Joy collected cows during her teens and twenties, and we developed the habit during those years of giving her cow refrigerator magnets every birthday and often other days throughout the year too! :) This collection of magnets came to light again when Joy opened her hope chest. It was good to see all different little cows again. Even the refrigerator magnet of a piece of beef stuck on a skewer was still there, and once again I affirmed to Joy that it DEFINITELY DOES count as a cow magnet and once again, she strongly said IT DOES NOT!!! :) In her hope chest, Joy also found some Tupperware decorated with cows, and about twenty-five dishtowels, each with a different cow pattern!

Painting the "books"

During these weeks immediately following Joy and João Carlos’ engagement, I began working on the cake topper. Joy and João both like to read and in fact some of their first contact with each other was through the online bookstore that Joy runs, so I had the creative idea of making a stack of miniature books with a bride and groom on top for the cake topper.  A stretch of trials and many errors quickly taught me that having a creative idea is much, much easier then figuring out how to make the idea a reality!!! :) In the end, I was able to take three small squares of styrofoam and cover them with cold porcelain, which is a soft white dough made from cornstarch and glue. Once the porcelain was dry, I painted each of the squares to look like a book that Joy and João had read together. 

Finished cake topper

Last of all, I varnished the books, glued them in a stack and then glued a bride and groom that I bought off the internet on the very top. The finished cake topper worked out to be a little too heavy to sit on top of the cake, so I ended up decorating the top of the cake with some flowers and then setting the cake topper surrounded by greenery and more flowers next to the cake. It looked nice, and now Joy has the cake topper sitting on an end table in her living room.

On October 11^th, Stephanie hosted a bridal shower for Joy. Stephanie did a very good job

Charity and Joy 

making a delicious variety of finger foods and preparing some games for the guests. We played probably four or five games, including having a bubble gum chewing contest with the younger participants, but I think the favorite game was the question game. Stephanie thought up a list of very hard questions for Joy to answer about João, and for every answer that Joy got wrong, she and one of her guests had to dress up in funny hats, scarves, glasses, etc.. and have their picture taken. Thankfully Joy missed enough questions to have a funny picture taken with each of the guests. :)  

Bridal Shower Guests

 A month and a bit before the wedding, Joy and João found a house to rent. Well, they actually found two houses. The first house was two blocks away from where João works as a computer programmer. The house had a nice sized yard, was on a quiet street, and although it’s layout was a little unusual, it seemed to be just what they needed. However, shortly after João did the paperwork to have the water turned on, they found that the house’s plumbing was terrible. Water seeped into several rooms of the house and the owner’s attempts to tell them that it was a very minor problem and nothing to worry about were not convincing, so Joy and João went back to house hunting. A week or two later, they found the blue house where they are currently living. This house is also within walking distance of João’s job. It’s yard is smaller then the first house, but since all Joy and João have is a cat this is no problem. This house has three bedrooms and meets Joy and João’s and the book store’s needs very well. One curious thing about this blue house is that it is on a very old street. According to Joy’s neighbor, back when Presidente Prudente was very young, people put up rows of houses in this neighborhood and then some time later roads were put in between the houses. This caused several of the roads in the neighborhood, including Joy and João’s road, to be very narrow, so narrow in fact that if you are going to park along the street while you visit Joy, you have to pull up your car on the sidewalk so that other cars can very carefully creep past on the street.

Joy and João's Wedding

From the very start, Joy and João wanted an outdoor wedding, and since their wedding date was in December, which is one of the driest months of the year, no one thought there was any need to worry about rain. Joy and João found a very nice “chacara” to rent for the big day. This chacara had a nice big yard, a variety of trees, a swimming pool, and a small building with bathrooms, a small kitchen and a place to barbecue. The plan was to set up chairs on the grass between two rows of trees and do the wedding right outside. Around the middle of November though, it started to rain and it rained practically every day until the day right before the wedding.

Civil Wedding

December 5^th, the day before the wedding, Joy and João had their “casamento civil”, this is where the bride and groom and four witnesses, in this case David and I, João’s sister Jackie and his Uncle João,  went to the government office downtown and signed the official paperwork and marriage license. Joy and João were actually supposed to have this “civil wedding” at three that afternoon, but the couples before them were running late and Joy and João had to wait until about 4 p.m. to have their turn. This delay worked out very well in the end, because João had secretly ordered a big bouquet of red roses to be delivered to Joy at the government office and the delay gave the roses time to be delivered. The florist’s delivery boy, who was rather harried from running late, rushed into the waiting room at the government office holding the large bouquet of red roses, and took a minute or two to look around. I am sure in that small space of time several of the other brides in the room wondered if the roses were for them, but they weren’t. The delivery boy said “Joy? Where’s Joy?” and as soon as he found her, he gave her the roses to her pleasant surprise. Following the civil wedding, we had João and his family over to our house for dinner, and of course cake and icecream.

The Extended Gardner Family

Joy and João’s wedding day dawned sunny and dry, even the grass dried, and João with some help from Daniel, David, and Ben set the chairs and pulpit up between the trees. A few hours later Mom, Dad and I arrived to put out the flowers and to organize the snacks and cake for after the ceremony. It was right about this time, which was only an hour before the wedding was to begin, that I learned a lesson which will stick with me for the rest of my life, and that is: always make sure the kitchen is clean before the wedding! 

Joy and João with His Parents

The man Joy and João rented the chacara from guaranteed them that the chacara would be clean when they received the keys. Sounds good right? Well, when I arrived at the chacara with the responsibility to organize and serve the food after the wedding, I opened the kitchen door and found the kitchen in a mess.  Everything was dusty, a soft drink had spilled onto the tables and dried there, and there were flies galore. I just about panicked at that moment and told myself that the next time I go to a wedding I must check the state of the kitchen well beforehand! So, if any of you ever invite me to your wedding and before the ceremony you find me poking around in the kitchen with a cleaning cloth, please bear with me. :) Thankfully, Mom came to my rescue and together we managed to clean things up and by the time the guests were driving up, everything was ready.

The Vows

Joy and João wanted and planned out a very simple but tasteful ceremony. To begin the ceremony, Stephanie played the piano, and we sang hymns that Joy and João had chosen. Following the hymns, Benjamin preached about the fear of the Lord and how it is the responsibility of every individual, married or not, and also how it is essential in a marriage. Benjamin then had Joy and João come to the front and exchange vows. And just like that my little sister was married! Following the ceremony, we had a good time snacking on the munchies and cake and also taking pictures! Jackie, João’s sister, and also Daniel and Sabrina are amateur photographers, so they pulled out their cameras and started clicking away. 

Mr. and Mrs. João Carlos Fachini

Due to the weeks of rain before Joy and João’s wedding, their honeymoon was quite as adventure. :)  Joy and João had us over one evening  for a time of singing around the piano and pudding cake. It was quite enjoyable! While we were eating, Joy and João started telling us about their honeymoon and they both kept bursting into laughter. They were married on a Saturday evening, but didn't leave for the farm (this is a farm that João's Dad manages) where they would be honeymooning until the following Monday. The three hour trip out to the farm went fine until they turned off onto the dirt roads leading through the fields up to the farmhouse. There had been a lot of rain in those parts recently, and the roads were muddy. João was able to avoid getting stuck in the mud until they were about a mile from the house, then they got stuck really, really well. But as João said he wasn't too worried about it because there was a tractor working in the next field. Sure enough the tractor driver was happy to help, but he didn't have any chain or rope to pull the car out. No problem, João thought, there is rope at the farmhouse, so the tractor driver agreed to drive him to the farmhouse and off they went with Joy staying in the car and João hanging onto the side of the tractor. Once they were at the farmhouse, João found the grounds keeper and asked him for rope. We don't have any, he said gruffly and went back to his own business. João said the grounds keeper didn't even offer to help them find something that would work! João was undaunted, though, and remembered that there was another house about a mile away on the farm where they might have rope, the only problem was that due to an impassible cattle guard the tractor couldn't take him there. So, João alternately ran and walked to the other house, found rope and then ran the mile back to the tractor. He then once again hung on the side of the tractor all the way back to the car. He was covered in mud by then, but the car was soon free and they made up to the farmhouse without further problems. 

Joy and João after the Civil Wedding

Once at the farmhouse, Joy and João went to the room that the grounds keeper's wife had fixed up for them. When they opened the door, they found that it was all wet. Apparently the roof had sprung a leak during the rain and no one had noticed. Joy and João where able to find another room down the hall that would meet their needs, and they set about getting ready to shower, after all they were both really tired and João was muddy. They soon found out that the heating element in the shower of their bathroom had burnt out, and they spent a few minutes checking the other guestroom bathrooms to see if those showers were heating and they weren't. João then remembered that his Dad had a bathroom in the manager's quarters and he figured the shower in there would be working. So they headed over there, only to find that the door was locked. To make a long story short, they spent a long time looking for the key, but eventually found it and were able to take a warm shower. That was the first day. The second day Joy and João decided to take a relaxing walk down to the pond, and as they walked some type of insect bit Joy thirty plus times. Joy itched quite a bit they next day or two, but she said things went much more smoothly after that. Joy and João laughed soooo much as they told us all of this, and I am glad they can laugh. They will probably laugh every time they tell the story of their honeymoon from here on out. :)

Zoo Puzzle

During the whole year of 2014, Dad didn’t do very well. Again and again problems would arise, often related to his ability to swallow or his digestive tract, and we were constantly doing exams or seeing different doctors to try and understand what was going on and learn how to deal with it. Well, after Joy’s wedding, we noticed Dad began to gradually grow weaker. During the rest of the month of December he had serious problems swallowing, even creamy soups and other soft foods were enough to make him choke at almost every bite. On a side note, during the week of Christmas and New Years, Mom, Dad and I put together an 1,000 piece puzzle. Most of the puzzles we have done over the years have been animals or landscapes, with an occasional painting thrown in. Well, this puzzle was VERY different. It was a colorful, humorous drawing of a zoo made by a Dutch cartoonist! Since the puzzle had a lot of little details which made it easier to tell where the pieces went, it took us only a little over a week to put it all together, and Dad especially seemed to enjoy working on it. :)

Daniel, Dad and Arthur

In January of this year, Dad’s swallowing difficulties subsided a little, but his complaints about digestive problems increased. Most of the time he didn’t have an appetite, and constantly mentioned heart burn, nausea and an uncomfortable feeling of fullness. Our general doctor introduced us to a very good gastroenterologist, and he was able to help Dad find some relief from the heart burn, and although, he couldn’t resolve the sensation of fullness, he did prescribe a nutritional supplement for Dad to drink on days that he didn’t feel like eating, and this ended up being a big help to Dad. During this time, Dad continued to enjoy giving seminary classes in his office and also playing games. :) Just about every Monday, Mom, Dad and I battled it out over the Scrabble board and during the week at Dad’s request, we would play dominoes, Skip-bo, and on the list could go…..and just in case you are wondering, yes, Dad did win most of the time! :)

Dad 

Dad’s digestive problems gradually worsened and he grew weaker as February slipped by and March arrived. Along with the now common digestive complaints, Dad began to look noticeably yellow and soon developed all the usual symptoms of jaundice. We visited Dad’s primary caregiver, an oncologist by the name of Dra. Paula, several times and explained to her Dad’s increasing weakness and jaundice, but for a reason we still do not understand, she didn’t take steps to look into the situation. She would say oh he’s fine or here in three or four weeks we will do such and such exam. This was quite frustrating, but the Lord graciously provided Dad’s needs through another channel. David gives private English classes and one of his students is an excellent oncologist by the name of Dr. Luiz Bugalho. David mentioned Dad’s situation to Dr. Luiz and he immediately took an interest in Dad and offered to do all he could to help. Dr. Luiz quickly took over Dad’s case, and in the last week of March he had us running all over town helping Dad do different exams.

Daniel holding Arthur, David, and Ben

The results of the exams were sobering. The Multiple Myeloma was back and busy in Dad’s ribs and sternum, and the jaundice was caused by a large tumor wrapped around Dad’s pancreas and blocking the liver ducts. Dr. Luiz was thankfully very honest. He counseled David to call the family together, and also suggested that he do exploratory surgery to see if he could relieve the pressure on the liver ducts and allow them to drain the bile as they should. This would alleviate some of Dad’s symptoms and hopefully make his last three or four weeks more comfortable.

Sabrina and Charity with Arthur

The Lord abundantly blessed with Benjamin and Daniel and Sabrina being able to come to Presidente Prudente before Dad had surgery on April 7^th.  For a few days before the surgery and also a few days after the surgery, Dad was in a government paid room at the hospital, and there were several other men that shared the same room. In the bed across from Dad, there was a retired policeman named Alex. He had congestive heart failure and was waiting for a heart transplant. Of all the men, I think Dad enjoyed talking to Alex the most, and later even after Dad was moved to a private room, Alex would come by to see how Dad was get along.

Mom with Arthur 

Dad had surgery early on April 7^th and he came through the surgery better then we expected, but Dr. Luiz discovered that not only was it impossible to relieve the pressure on Dad’s liver and the bile ducts, but the tumor on the pancreas had already metastasized and there were hundreds of tiny tumors all over the inside of Dad’s abdomen. Due to his weakness and the medicines that he needed to take via IV, Dad was not able to come home after the surgery, but Ben, Daniel and David worked up a schedule so that Dad was never alone at the hospital and this also allowed each family member to spend time with him. The boys always spent nights with him. I think they were selfish and didn’t want to share the uncomfortable sofa with us girls. :) In the morning between 6:30 and 7, Mom would go up to the hospital and be there until almost 11 a.m., when I would change with her and stay until visiting hours began at 3 p.m. One of the boys would then come up and be with Dad during visiting hours, and later in the evening, that boy would be replaced by whichever boy was going to spend the night. João Carlos and Joy had different schedules due to João’s job and their responsibilities caring for the church, so instead of helping out every single day, they would just pop in at the hospital whenever they could to talk with Dad and give whoever was staying with him the opportunity to step outside and gets some fresh air. Sabrina, Daniel’s wife, and little Arthur their son, were also with us during this time. Sabrina was a big help putting meals on the table and keeping the house in decent order. Arthur did an outstanding job of making us smile day in and day out with his antics. :)

Visiting Hours

The first week after the surgery, Dad was very alert. We watched movies with him, read out loud, and talked a lot. One time while I was there, Dad held my hand and said that he was ready to go and be with the Lord. He said he saw that he needed to submit to the Lord in death. This is always going to be a treasured memory for me! The following week, Dad stopped talking as much, began sleeping more and his mind was not as clear. 

Ben Preaching

On April 23^rd, soon after I began my turn staying with him, Dad started randomly talking. He would say a word or two in English and then a completely unrelated phrase in Portuguese. This delirium was constant from that point onward, there were a few brief moments when Dad opened his eyes and recognized whoever was with him, but for the most part, he didn’t respond to us and when he wasn’t sleeping, he was speaking deliriously. On April 24^th, Ben had the afternoon and early evening shift, and shortly after 6p.m. Dad simply stopped breathing. His pain, discomfort and limitations were over, and he was with the Lord.

Graveside

Here in Brazil, the funeral must take place within 24 hours of the death. Ben, Daniel, and David had already prepared beforehand as much as they could for the visiting hours and funeral service, so as soon as Dad passed away, they went to work finalizing everything. We were all exhausted after Dad’s lengthy hospital stay, so the boys scheduled the funeral to take place between noon and 4 p.m on April 25^th. The visiting hours began at noon, the service took place at 3 p.m. and the burial was immediately afterwards.

A Moment for the Family

One little detail, I really appreciate regarding Dad’s funeral was that Dad was wearing a dark blue shirt and the boys went the extra mile to have green, yellow and white flowers covering the body, as is customary to do here in Brazil, and also in the arrangements. Dad loved Brazil and Brazilians. He told us several times that he wanted to be buried in Brazil, and the dark blue, white, yellow and green are Brazil’s national colors. Often when I looked at Dad during the funeral, I would remember how he enjoyed teaching people about Brazil’s colors and their meaning. We kids heard Dad tell people about Brazil’s colors so much that we often beat him to it. We would secretly tell people what the green, yellow, blue and white of Brazil’s flag represented, so that when Dad would pull out the flag and say “Would anyone like to guess what the green on this flag means?”, everybody already knew the answer. :) Laughter always followed as Dad realized that we had beat him to it once again! I am very thankful for good memories!

Pallbearers

Many friends, pastors that Dad knew and brethren from churches that Dad worked in over the years came to the funeral. Ben, Daniel and David conducted the service together. Ben preached a very good message about how for the Christian to live and also to die is Christ. Our lives and our deaths shouldn’t be about personal accomplishments or an undying legacy, but their focus should be serving and exalting Christ. Daniel and David each prayed during the service.

Closing the Grave

The funeral home where we had the visitation and service was right in front of the cemetery so as soon as the service was over, Ben, Daniel, David, João Carlos and two Brazilian pastors carried the coffin to the hearse and we walked behind it to the grave site. At the graveside a Psalm was read and we sang a hymn, and that was it.

The Cemetery

Presidente Prudente has two cemeteries. One is very old and the graves are often above ground. The family buys a plot and then builds a cement cover over the plot. Some of these cement covers are very simple with a small wall and a cement slab for a lid that can be removed when necessary, and other families actually build a small room with a door and windows over the plot with a trap door in the floor of the room that can be opened. As loved ones are buried in these plots, metal plaques of all different kinds with the name and dates are fixed to the cement covers. This old cemetery actually looks like a miniature city from a distance. The other cemetery in town was opened in the last few years and all the graves are below ground. The cemetery’s administration maintains a nice lawn over the graves and there are a few trees scattered around the property. In one corner there is a long aviary with red macaws climbing around and squawking. In this cemetery each grave is marked with a metal plaque that is level with the ground. This newer cemetery is where Dad was buried, and by the end of this month there will be a simple metal plaque installed marking his grave.

Charity, Mom, and Joy

Well,  I think I better start tying this off, but before I do, I will make a stab at answering the question that a lot of people have asked Mom and I recently and that is “Now what are you going to do?”. To be very honest, we aren’t sure what to do.  After thirty plus years in Brazil, we have plenty of reasons to just stay in Brazil, but at the same time we have loved ones in the States too and at times the idea of making a home in the States and being able to speak English :) is quite attractive. So, in short we are undecided, and thankfully we have a year to think things over and come to a decision, because it is going to be at least year before the paperwork for Dad’s estate will be finished and Mom can put the house up for sale.

Right now Mom and I are busy every day cleaning up the house and finishing up a few projects that Dad left partially done. After these projects are done, I am thinking about maybe doing a course of some kind and perhaps even getting a part time job. We will see how the Lord directs each moment and each day.

During the weeks surrounding Joy's wedding, there were many that rejoiced and celebrated with us.  Thank you! During Dad's final months, the week of his death and funeral, and in the weeks since then, there have been many that have sympathized with us and done all they could to support us. Thank you very much! You all have been a comfort and blessing, and we thank the Lord for you!