A little bit like home

I am not sure if everyone experiences this or not, but in our lives there are a few people, dear friends, who have been there at major transitional points in our lives. They are the friends who take off work when your father passes away or make a couple of extra trips right after your child is born to hlep out. They are the friends that have seen your house at every state-- messy, cluttered, and clean (and this sometimes because they helped clean it). These are the friends your parents ask about because even they think of them as part of the family.

Our friend Emily is one of those friends for our family. She was Jennifer's roommate in college and after, and seems to have been there at every major stage of our family. This week Emily and her brother Nathan came to see us in Brazil. It has been a great week. We took them to the beach, the lighthouse, the old part of the city, our incredibly huge mall, our team worship, and even a few thrilling bus rides. Our time with them has been refreshing and encouraging.

An unexpecting outcome of their visit has been the normalizing effect of our life here in Brazil that their visit has brought with it. Having lived here for almost seven months, Brazil is starting feel like home. We are making friends. We know how long it takes to walk to the bus stop, the mall, the grocery store, and our teammate's houses. Our language is improving and we are starting to feel fairly normal (as normal as we Porters can be). But having Emily and Nathan here has just helped that transition feel a little more solid. It feels so normal to have our friend in our home who has been in our home so many times before. Our life feels a little more normal and a little more like our life and not someone elses. While I think I was expecting a fun visit with Jennifer's best friend and her brother, their visit has brought so much more. What a blessing this visit has been.

Here are some of the pictures from our time:

Jennifer and Emily













This is us after a little bit of Brazilian Beef.













Emily and Nathan













Emily and Kelton at one of the Lighthouses in Salavdor