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| Simon James Gale, March 5, Son of Adam/Jenn |
When two people fall in love and make eternal commitments it opens the pathway for generations of peace, love and JOY! In our case it has been Great Joy with each added child, marriage and grandchild. We started out as two. Then with 6 children we became 8. Then with 6 spouses we jumped to 14. When we left in October we had 14 grandchildren (netos in Portuguese). That made a total of 28. We are now both proud and grateful to announce that Michael Alexander Jensen joined the crew in November 2010 followed soon thereafter by Simon James Gale born March 5, the same day and two years later than as his previous brother.
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| Kendon Gale, Baptized by Dad, Bruce |
We hit the 30 mark on that blustery March day....Yahoooo! One more grandchild is due in about two weeks that will bring the total to 31. A number we expected to hold solid as we return next April. But no, Bruce and Chela surprised us all by announcing a projected December 6th arrival of family member #32. You can imagine how much we would love to see, kiss and hold these amazing new family members, fresh from their Father in Heaven. No frowns here, we knew this was a price we would pay for choosing to serve and help the people in Portugal. Do we feel misty about not being around them....of course. We will make up for it once we get back home....lots of hugs and kisses. Other major events are missed but the pictures make the missing much more bearable. Kendon´s baptism was one of those incredible events but as you can see, the picture is worth a thousand words.
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| President Gil and me with Douglas & Josefina Familia |
Talking about families reminds us of the challenges the amazing Portuguese people have. With lots of apartment buildings, many people with no car and long work hours, family time suffers. What doesn´t seem to suffer is the love they have for their children and families. Strong bonds are created from early childhood as we see parents unafraid to selflessly support, love and care for their children. Today we were returning from Beja only to hear that one of our cherished friends in Beja was in the hospital with an apparent miscarriage. With no children and in her mid thirty´s this can be very disheartening. Encouragement helps yet recovery from a miscarriage takes time and time doesn´t seem to be a friend right now. We find great joy in becoming friends and family with the people in Portugal. We also find times of sadness as we see and hear of their hardships. The city of Beja is in the middle of farm country and has many unemployed with many more losing jobs or projects as each day goes by. Some are faced with leaving to find work in other regions and many in other countries. A number are looking at moving back to Brazil, finding work in other european countries like Fance and Switzerland and even going to Angola where there seems to be work. We are so grateful to be focused on helping these folks establish career plans and, at this time, just finding work to feed the family!
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| Eileen in front of field of Girasols (Sunflowers) WOW! |
Driving back from Beja today put a huge smile on our faces as we passed many fields of sunflowers. Yellow heads bobing as far as the eye could see. Eileen couldn´t help but stop and get a picture of one of her most favorite flowers that exemplifies meeting challenges and pushing through them. Sunflowers seem to personify joy, happiness and standing tall even when it is the hardest thing to do.
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