Running....Can I Do It?

For years now, I've secretly admired runners.

Those folks you always see on the side of the road that seem to run forever, never stopping.

I remember telling my husband back a few years ago about my desire to be a runner. It was the first time I said it out loud and I remember feeling like a dufus while telling him...the exact thing I didn't want to happen. Wishing I had just kept it to myself.

When I was a kid and had to run the mile in PE class, I was always one of the kids that finished last. It seemed like the entire class would be inside the track cheering me to finish before the 12 minute time limit was reached. Telling me that if I didn't hurry, I would have to run it again tomorrow, and it was supposed to rain that day.

With shortness of breath, pain piercing my sides and my pulse so loud in my ears it was deafening, I would finish the mile just shy of 12 minutes every time.

Boy was I glad when PE was no longer mandatory and I could choose art or photography.

I've never been a good runner, but I want to become one now.

This morning, with my husbands encouragement and my kids cheering me on, I loaded up my black Lab and the two of us headed to the coast.



Choosing a running partner that won't ever utter a discouraging word was a very wise decision on my part. He was grateful for a short run along the coast that ended with a little game of fetch before heading back home. We weren't gone long, but it was a start.

It was a small victory.

Bless Her Heart

Can you imagine what the other cats in the neighborhood are saying about her?



This is what happens when you have your cat spayed. She looks like she's been put in a feline straitjacket.

She probably feels like that too.

Summer School & Antiques

Summer school is in full swing.

Reading in English,
Writing in English,
American History......

All that fun stuff that they don't get in the normal school year.

We also do Portuguese school work to help prepare them for the following grade. We only do it for a few hours each day, but it's enough to keep them busy in the morning hours. The Portuguese kids sleep til noon each day, so that gives us a few uninterrupted hours of school time each morning. Because after lunch time (2:00 for the Portuguese) we can guarantee that our house will fill with neighborhood kids.



Today however, they were a bit distracted by these cuties. We eventually had to put them outside away from my students because nothing was getting accomplished. (Even I was distracted taking pictures!)





These little boogers are just about ready for new homes. If anyone of you reading are in the Minho area and would like a kitty, just let me know.




We have a friend who is moving into a new apartment. The landlord had this piece of furniture in the apartment that my friend didn't want. So the landlord gave her permission to give it to someone who promised to take care of it. I had no idea it would be so pretty! I'm thrilled with this new addition in my kitchen!



I'm not an antique person, but I'm sure it's antique and the stamp inside says it's from Heidelberg, Germany. I've not had any luck looking online for information.



Any advice from you guys that know about this sort of stuff???



I'm in love with it..and I don't even know what you call it!
Maybe it's a buffet?? What do you think?

Is It June Already?

It's June 3rd. According to the calendar it's not Summer yet, but in my little corner of the world, I would argue that point.

It's hot! Hotter inside my house, than it is outside. How does that happen?

The kids will be done with school in less than two weeks. We'll all enjoy staying up a little later in the evenings and sleeping a little later in the mornings. Then after a week or two of lazy summer living, they'll start summer school with mom. Portuguese work preparing them for the next school year and some "American" school work too (as the kids call it).

My mom is coming the end of July for 10 days! We are all thrilled to have someone visit in the summer months, Usually due to the high costs of airfare, no one can come during the these months. Our house is already hot, imagine how hot it will be at the end of July. Don't tell my Mom that.

After about 6 hours of cat labor, we have 5 little kittens that were born on Monday. They're the ugliest little things right now, but once they grow into their cutness, I'll be posting some photos....I mean...look at this poor guy....



As far as the ministry is concerned, all is well. God is blessing greatly. My husband is staying busy preaching several times each week in church services, special ministry meetings to widows and in homes where fellow Christians are holding services in an attempt to reach their neighbors with the Gospel. We've recently spent many hours doing some minor construction to the inside of the church building and major spring cleaning which has left everyone excited and encouraged about the ministry.

Our summer calendar is filling up quickly with various evangelistic projects, church pic-nics, church fellowships and visitors. We're also trying to throw in a family vacation somewhere in between......

I'd like to ask you to pray for a friend of ours June McCarty, who recently lost her sister unexpectedly.

Also for our co-workers Maicon and Leticia, as they received sad news yesterday that she had miscarried.

And please remember us, The Andrzejewski Family as we work here in northern, Portugal.

A Little Of It All

Three days left to post a comment for the give-a-way. Click Here!

Last Sunday after church, we headed outside to give bike riding lessons. I've posted a few pictures...well...a lot of pictures.

Faith, the athletic one on the bunch decides to go first.


"Faith, put your feet here."


"Wooahhh...Daddy.....I'm a little crooked!"


Crash... right into the garden! At least she's still smiling.


Faith took a break while Lib took a shot. But it was short lived.


Faith tried again, and again ended up in the garden. But she didn't give up. Look at Lib helping her. They can be so sweet ...sometimes!


Hey...she's got the hang of it now. She has the look of confidence!


Lib and Brooklyn decided it was safer being the cheerleaders.



"This is how it's done, girls!" (Kind of reminds me of the circus when I was a kid)



Trinity stayed inside and loved on Major



And I made an Apple Crisp. Starr over at Cooking With The Preacher's Wife posted this recipe and believe it or not it was my first time to bake with apples. (I know Nanny...shame on me.) It turned out wonderfully, and it was so simple. Click here for the recipe.



Our friendly neighborhood girl came over to play last night, but it was homework time in our house. She wanted to help Faith, so here is a little video of them working together.



My mom and stepdad are coming in a week. Preparation are already being made! We've been looking forward to this for a while. We'll celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and three birthdays while they are here. All good excuses to eat!

Okay, only three days remaining to post a comment to qualify for "The Kitchen Trio". Click here to see the rules.

Have a great weekend!

Ducks, Dogs and Doctors

I have this weird thing about me. Well, I guess I have several weird things about me but the one I'm specifically talking about is this:

If I spend time with an animal doctoring it, or trying to help it through a situation, I get way too attached. I've always had the 'I can rehabilitate you' attitude about people and animals. Does that make sense?

For example, several years ago my mother gave my (at the time) three girls 3 baby ducks for Easter. We named them Rack, Shack and Benny. (You mom's should get that one.) They stayed inside till they got too big and stinky. Then we moved them outside into a old bunny cage until they got a little older and strong enough to run around the yard by themselves. There was a pond on the church property and we lived in the parsonage. We had beautiful visions of these ducks swimming on the pond and helping to beautify the church property.

Well, they got sick, bad sick almost like a bad drunk. They couldn't hold their head up and their eyes rolled back in their heads. I searched the internet...what was wrong with my ducks? I ran to the local farm store and got a huge bag of antibiotics they sold for cows and figured out how to treat my precious ducks. They wouldn't swallow, so with a syringe and towel, I sat on my back porch all day with their little heads in my lap as I forced antibiotics down their throat drop by drop. After several hours they began to 'sober up' and I was amazed at their recovery.

Well a few weeks later the same thing happened...This time I found them laying at the edge of the pond. One of them had it's head bobbing up and down out of the water. It couldn't control it's head and it was trying not to drown. The others were near by (they were inseparable) and both also showing signs of distress. So I again played a vet and nursed them back to health. It was
after this that I realized the problem. I made the changes in their diet and they grew to be big beautiful white peeking ducks. They wouldn't ever go back to the pond for some reason and would sleep with our cat. They would waddle behind us as we walked over to the church. Everyone loved them. They were so sweet and would eat out of your hand. Although we never had the beautiful scene of them swimming on the pond, and they ate every single flower that was in my yard, we still loved them.

One day, a friend came over and said, "What's wrong with Benny?" I ran outside and saw Benny hiding under the porch and the two others no where in sight. Benny was hurt. Had blood oozing, but dutifully came to me when I called. She(yes, they were all girls) was so sad and scared. We later found a trail of blood and feathers going down the yard and out into the woods. It was obvious that something had dragged off Rack and Shack and had tried to get Benny too.
I grieved and doctored Benny. Every two hours I was up and giving her antibiotics for two days and trying to treat her wounds...she wouldn't eat & started getting really bad. I was devastated. Michael had to 'put her down' and I couldn't stand to even hear the sound of the gun. So I went and sat in the mall parking lot and waited until he called me telling me it was over. I remember calling my Grandma from there and crying my eyes out. She was so sweet and offered to pay for me to have a vet do it.

I grieved for weeks and still grieve when I think about them.

Well, this morning. My sweet dog whom I've loved through his problems and difficulties came up missing. (He's adopted and came with some issues) He's had his share of mental and physical problems and I've done all I can to help him. Doing all this only made my love for him stronger, as it did with my ducks.

We went to chain him up this morning cause we were about to leave and he was nowhere to be found. Our neighbor helped us look and told us another neighbor saw him with another dog(female?) heading out through a vineyard. We drove all over the entire village calling his name. As we went along other men helped us. Calling his name...as difficult as it is for a Portuguese person to say 'Major'. Eventually and not without the help of the others we found him. He was relieved to see us. I told him that women weren't worth all this trouble and we brought him home.

Tonight, again as I was doctoring a boo boo on his elbow and giving him the 'talk' about lady dogs I was reminded of how attached I get to animals. I've never been a 'animal person' really. Maybe it's because I know I'll get too attached. Who knows....maybe I'm just weird. Maybe I just need pets like fish that I won't have to doctor and rehabilitate, just flush them down the toilet.

So, after typing the longest post in history, I am happy to say that Major is inside and laying on his blue blanket. Hopefully he is considering his actions today and deciding he doesn't want to do that again.


Special thanks to The Domestic Fringe for hosting the carnival and and to the AMNH for donating the prizes.

Majorly Cool!

Okay...so I've never personally owned a dog. Until now. And now I'm hooked!




Major is the coolest dog. I'm afraid I may turn into one of those annoying people who take their dog everywhere with them. Today we were gone all day trying to get our Portuguese drivers license. I made several comments while we were gone that I missed my dog. (All you dog lovers...mom can leave an ugly comment if you like....I deserve it!) Major plays soccer, fetches a ball and catches a frisbee! How cool is that?!

"Major"

At last, the long awaited arrival of our newest family member...Major.



Major was abandoned and left at a local animal shelter. In Portugal, people take vacation for several weeks at a time and this usually happens in July and August. When they go on vacation, they leave their dog in the street. This could have been what happened with Major, we aren't sure. But whatever happened it has left him frightened of loud, sharp noises and fast movements. We met him on Monday when the "case worker", a very nice lady, brought him by so we could play with him and see if we would be a good family for him. She took him with her when she left cause he still needed to be seen by a vet and trainer, then she brought him back to us today. We've been anticipating his return all week. There has been a collar, leash, brush, food and toys waiting for him since Tuesday. He is a precious "big baby" who loves attention and loves to fetch a ball. Here are a few pictures of our family getting to know him better:

Settled?

In my previous post I asked you how you though we should celebrate being in Portugal for 6 months. Starla said, "eat ice cream." But when you eat ice cream just about every night, that's not really a way to celebrate. So I was thinking something a bit more exciting. Something a little more permanent....(not that the added pounds from all the ice cream isn't permanent, cause they seem to be on me!) Something that shows we're finally settled. No more traveling across America raising support. We have all our furniture now, at least all were going to get. We've met folks and some even consider themselves our friends. We're making progress with the language. (my husband now has a blog in Portuguese...cool, huh!) The list goes on and on....

So.....maybe another addition to our family???

Sound exciting and permanent enough??!!









NO! I'm not pregnant.....I'm talking about a Dog.


Stay tuned....

"It Followed Me Home"

Seriously, no kidding! This adorable little thing stumbled after me in the dirty mud puddle filled road last Monday. As I walked home from dropping the girls off at school, I came upon a dirty mud puddle that this little cutie was trying to find it's way out of. It had eye infections so bad that it couldn't open them for the swelling. It had a runny nose worse than any I've seen and it cried this pitiful little"help me" sort of cry. It was having trouble breathing and I was expecting it to kill over at any moment. My heart went out to it. I picked it up by the nap of the neck afraid of what disease it had. Carried it a few doors down to our house and put it in the back yard. All the while I was telling it that I was going to get in trouble for bringing it home.

I called to Michael and he came outside. We tried to feed it and give it water..but it wasn't interested. It just kept crying and stumbling around. I was about to go grocery shopping, so I left it in the back yard and left. When I returned home a few hrs later I was half way hoping that it would be gone and I wouldn't be faced with the heart breaking decision to put it out of it's misery. Well, it wasn't gone, it was still there crying. Michael said..."Take it to the vet."

So before he changed his mind, I hopped in the car and Trinity and I flew down to the nearest vet as it was almost 5:00. The vet was still open and saw us without any charge. She said if I would give it a home, she'd do it for free. So...after we spent about $20 at the pharmacy, fed her the right food and loved on her for a few days, this is what she looks like! She is doing so much better...and by the way, her name is Tigra.

Happy Mothers Day

Here in Portugal they celebrate mothers day a week earlier than they do in the States, so this is the second Sunday in a row I've been given roses! Sweet huh?!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, our day didn't get off to a really good start. The 4 little "Mothers" in our house had a very tragic beginning to their Mother's Day. We discovered a neighborhood stray cat had entered our house through a cracked window and ate their sweet little hamsters. We had a rushed burial before church and dried the tears with a promise to get two new hamsters immediately after church. So this is the result of our kept promise. Let me introduce you to Mary & Martha.