Meeting Jospehine Johanna Prenevost

I went to Saskatoon this past weekend because I wanted to go to the hospital and visit Auntie Jewel and little Josie. On Thursday night my mom called to tell me that the hospital was closed to visitors because it was under quarantine because of Norwalk virus. I decided to go anyway with the hope that Jewel and Josie would be released while I was there. I spent Saturday afternoon and evening at Lisa and Paul's house . It was nice to visit with them and get to play with my niece Cadence. She is growing so fast!

Mommy and baby were not released on Saturday and on Sunday morning it sounded like they wouldn't be released until sometime mid-week. After church mom dropped me off at the bus depot and I was about to head back to Regina when she called my cell phone to tell me that they were being released that afternoon. I was so thankful that my bus hadn't left yet! Mom came back and picked me up and we went over to Jewel and Lou's place to watch Sarah while Lou went to pick up Auntie Jewel and Josie. Mom had to leave before they got back because she had to work at three.

Before Lou left for the hospital Sarah was dragging around the car seat saying, "It's to carry, it's to carry!" It was the cutest thing ever!

This was my first time babysitting little miss Sarah. I love this little girl to bits!!!! She is soooo photogenic! I'm jealous!

Sarah sort of ignored mom and played with me. I had so much fun loving on her!

As soon as I put her cowboy hat on her she went and got her stuffed unicorn named Neigh so that she could ride him. TOO CUTE!!!!!

The next thing I knew I was riding Neigh and Sarah was riding Neigh Jr.

I was so excited to be a part of Josie's homecoming! Sarah wasn't too sure about it I think. She looked in the car seat as I took Josie out and said "There's the baby" but then she kind of ignored her. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to sit on my knee and have a picture taken of the three of us.

Here she is in all her cuteness!

With her being such a big baby, I half expected her to look like a 2 month old. I was glad to see that she still looked like a newborn even if she weighed like a 2 month old! She is very long! She's going to be tall like her mommy and like her big sister...who is very tall for a 2 year old!

When I brought out the prayer blanket that I had made for Josie, Sarah decided that it was perfect for her, so she got to try it out before Josie did.

When Sarah seemed to have lost interest in the blanket I layed it out to get some pictures of Josie with it. Sarah didn't really like that idea and was pushing her feet underneath it and trying to pull it out from under Josie. I took the pictures quickly and gave the blanket back to Sarah.

Those long fingers are destined to play the piano like her mommy. She's five days old here and the kid could practically palm a basketball!

I love this picture of Mommy and Sisters. Sarah didn't want to have a picture at first but once I put her on mommy's knee she started to check Josie out a little. Touching her even. I think Sarah might go through some sibling jealousy until she gets used to sharing mommy and daddy with her new little sister.

It was such a blessing to see my new little cousin Josie and to spend time with Sarah. Because I was living in Brazil when Sarah was born I didn't get to meet her until 3 days before she turned one. Our second meeting was her second birthday. Since then I've been blessed to spend quite a bit of time with her and for that I am thankful. I didn't want to have to wait that long with Josie. Not only was I in the same country this time but even in the same province! I had to take advantage of the opportunity . To top it off the Prenevost family is on the move soon. They will be spending their maternity leave in Prince Albert and so it will be even further from Regina than Saskatoon is. That made actually getting to see her this weekend even more special. As otherwise our first meeting could easily have been months from now. I am looking forward to that next meeting, hopefully sooner rather than later!

A Final Installment of Holiday pictures

We stopped to take this picture on the way to Regina.

My Grandmother is the coolest lady in the world!

Here we are again looking awfully cute!

The snowboarding experience!

The skiing experience!

My little roommate Joyce.

Victor and I went to a Spiritual Formation Retreat. It was a requirement for a class that I am taking this semester and he tagged along. I think that he enjoyed it. I know I did. God did some softening of my heart in areas that have been hard for a long time now.


Retreat was held at a place called "Camp Lutherland" I honestly don't know what possessed them to give it such a name! The camp is right on Lake _______. Logan and I went out on the lake with Vitinho during some free time to talk to the people who were out ice fishing. Vitinho was very nervous about walking on the frozen lake! He was afraid that the ice was going to break. I would have been nervous too if I was him!


Here he is on top of the hill looking out over the lake.


Here is the group that participated in the retreat. We're missing Jennifer Kerr because she was taking the picture.


Here's Brett and I flexing in front of the Legislative building. When I'm around Brett we're nearly always doing something silly! :)


For me the funniest part about this picture is that the hands and ears are pink and Vitinho is BROWN!!!!!


Michelle stopped in on her way back to Ketepawa. This was the last time that they saw each other so they had to say good-bye. So sad!


It happened to be snowing when Michelle was on her way through Regina which delighted Vitinho. This was the first time since he had arrived that it had snowed. He was beginning to think that he was going to have to leave without having seen snow fall. Michelle went outside with him (I was a wimp and didn't want to go out in the cold) and they took some pictures and made a video. Michelle wrote him a little message on the windshield of the car. :)



There is a Taylor downtown called Victor Silva. We had to take a picture of Mr. Victor Petri Silva himself with the sign.


Here he is going for a spin in the gyroscope at the Science Centre. That thing is totally scary!!!! I was too chicken to go completely upside down.


Making giant bubbles at the Science Centre.


Yes he does!
Side note: It was RIDICULOUSLY cold out that afternoon!


We drove back to Saskatoon on Friday evening and stopped at the care home where mom works so that they could have one last good-bye. I nearly cried watching them say good-bye.


Vitinho want one last romp in the snow before he left to go back to Brazil. This was taken in a snow drift behind the house at the farm. He has a slightly difficult time walking through it.


And here is the picture I mentioned in an earlier post of when he let himself fall back into the snow and exclaimed "Que Deliçia!!" (Translation: how delicious!!)

Those are the last of the pictures I have to share of Vitinho's time here in Canada. It's kind of sad to wrap it up. It is hard to believe that he's been gone for just over a week now. The first few days were really hard on me. I felt pretty depressed. The fact that I'm now really busy with school prevents me from being as sad as I could easily be. I am thankful for the blessing of the Internet and programs like skype that make it easy and affordable to keep in touch. I miss my little brother and I know that he misses being here. I am so very thankful that he was able to come and meet my family and see a little bit of my world. I have wonderful memories that I will cherish forever. I hope that the trip meant as much to him as it did to me.

Estou com muitas saudades de você querido Vitinho!!!! Obrigada por ter vindo!!! Eu te amo meu irmãozinho chatinho!!!! beijos!

Another Installment of My Holiday Adventures

That dark little blob is actually Victor going tobogganing, also known as sledding to you American folks! There are two people standing at the top of the hill. The one on the left is my sister Michelle, and the one on the right is some stranger who ended up in my picture:)

This is Hugh and Irene from the church in Saskatoon. They are wonderful!!! I love them so much! They invited Michelle and Victor over for supper one night. It was a very nice time! Victor and Hugh had fun flying planes on the computer :)


Here he is all bundled up in one of mom's old ski-do suits, ready to go dig a snow fort...OK so it ended up being more like a tunnel. :)


Here is my brother Dirk and I.


This is at the entrance to the tunnel. Dirk had started digging it the previous week.


Those are Dirk's feet sticking out of the entrance and Victor is clearing away snow that Dirk has dug out.


Dirk making the ceiling of the tunnel higher.


OK, this is extremely funny... As Dirk was digging he happened upon a frozen cow pie in the middle of the tunnel. When he pried it up from the ground it was frozen onto this stick...So it's a big poop-on-a-stick!!! HAHAHA!!!!


Victor really seemed to enjoy the snow despite the cold. Here he is face first in front of the house. I really enjoyed watching him enjoy the snow!


Here is Sarah carefully reading her mommy's Bible on Sunday morning...As carefully as a 2 year old knows how :) This and the rest of the pictures in this post are all from December 31st.


And here she is giving Vitinho a good-bye hug after lunch. They became good little friends I think.


After lunch we went to the University of Saskatchewan campus and Vitinho took SOOOOO MAAAAANY pictures!!!! He was very impressed with the buildings! This is some art that is on display outside. I think it's a fun picture!


Now Vitinho is being pulled under the snow by the giant!


This is me looking cold, or maybe I'm just getting a little impatient.


Here I am at the gates...not looking much warmer :)


The Photographic wonder!


After we finished at the University I took him to the Meewasin Riverworks. We looked at the weir and we went up on this train bridge. I admit it was really cold up there but I made him go all the way across. My poor little Brazilian was frozen!


Here I am in the middle of the train bridge. Thankfully the wind wasn't too strong otherwise the cold would have been unbearable!


Vitinho looking out across the river.

After we finished taking pictures I intended to stop at the grocery store and pick up some snack type food and rent movies and then just go back to the farm and hang out. I felt really bad that I didn't ave any big plans for Victor to experience ringing in the new year in Canada. By the time we got finished touring the University and taking pictures the grocery stores were all closed. I felt even worse about not having something good for him to do. Thankfully Blockbuster was still open so we stopped to pick out a couple movies. It was a big surprise to run into Paul. I was so thankful when he invited us to come hang out with he and Lisa and watch movies together. Times like New Years Eve are in my opinion meant to be spent with good friends. I felt much better about Victor's New years eve in Canada now that we had some good friends to spend it with. I couldn't have asked for more special friends to ring in the New Year with, Lisa and Paul and my little niece Cadence and my very dear Brazilian brother, Vitinho.

Here is Paul and Lisa and I on the couch just after ringing in the new year.