Saturday, September 09, 2006

So what's with the mouse?

If you have children you are probably familiar with the Laura Numeroff books, If you give a Mouse a Cookie, or at least it's cousins, If You Take a Mouse to School, If you Take a Mouse to the Movies, If you Give a Moose a Muffin, If you Give a Pig a Pancake, or If You Give a Pig a Party. In each story you give the main character one thing and then they want another until it's a big ta-do and at the end of the story they want the first thing again, creating fits of giggles from any first grader who realizes the whole fiasco will start again. Tee- hee Tee-hee.
Well Adison Schmitt, a 3 year old at my church gave me this little mouse and cookie doll to take to Brazil and give to a little girl. she wanted me to take her picture so I could bring it back to the states and she could pray for her. (Of course her partents told me all of this. She was too shy and simply gave me the doll saying "Mouse and cookie"
So I did as I was told but took a lot of pitures of mouse along the way so I could create my own grown up version of the books.

If you Give a mouse to Christy...

If you give a mouse to Christy, he'll want to go to Brazil with her. He's heard she likes to travel around the world, and since he's only been to the movies and to school, he'd like to give South America a try.
















When she agrees to take him, he'll want to help her pack. He'll remind her that even though Delta airlines will give you a plastic knife with dinner that is so sharp you could amputate your finger, shampoo and lip balm are considered terrorist threats and can't be in your carry on.


















After packing, Mouse will realize he needs a passport and a visa. Christy will remind him that mice don't need passports, and are in fact encouraged to leave the country. But he'll want his own anyway.He'll make one with a digital picture and construction paper. He'll even make his own visa so he won't have to pay $115 for an official to stamp it. Mouse says $115 for a stamp is a load of crap. Christy agrees.













Once the passport is in order, Mouse will travel with Christy to Atlanta but watch out! Other travelers might think his cookie is up for grabs!


















Heidi will have to rescue Mouse and keep him company on the way to Brazil. But after several hours, Mouse might become cranky. Mouse will wonder why he paid so much money for a flight that shows Mission Impossible 3 and some lame Robin Williams in an RV movie at 4 in the morning.















Once they land in Brazil, mouse will help all 21 people gather their luggage.


















After that ordeal, mouse will think he needs a drink. But the only thing on the beach to drink is coconut milk. Mouse will think that it's kinda bland and needs rum and pineapple juice,- but he knows that would be hard to get through that tiny hole.




















So he will settle for ice cream instead. Mouse knows Brazil has amazing ice cream. All of the flavors are in Portugese so Mouse won't be able to read them. And although Mouse knows there is cheese flavored ice cream, Wes won't get any. He will only feed him normal ice cream.
















After ice cream mouse will want to go to sleep, but in the morning He will want to take a tour of Neteroi. And when he does he will meet Maria. He will love Maria so much that Mouse will decide he wants to stay forever and teach her about Jesus. He'll tell Christy goodbye and let her return to America alone.

I live to serve!






While in Brazil we spent a lot of afternoons working. My favorite project was the day we went into the hills to pass out clothing. the truck drove ahead as we walked up and down seemingly endless hills. and when we stopped, the locals began pouring out from nowhere. They'd all like up and we'd attempt to fit them with clothes before leaving for the next stop. Some were wise to us and would simply follow us to the next location to get more clothes. :0) But it was a wonderfully satisfying task. I could see immediate results of who I was helping.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Just because...


I like this picture of me and Jennifer.