The Fryar Kiddos are GROWING!!

I feel like every time I sit to Blog, I have to add a "I'm Sorry!"  I don't like this!  BUT... I'm SORRY...  I have some catching up to do!!  

Here are most recent Birthday pictures!  The kids are getting bigger by the day!  My little Momma's heart doesn't want all these little girls working so hard to capture my boys' hearts!!  And my little princess is growing like a little weed!

Awww... Rio!

We are blessed here in Brasilia, the capital city, with many things!  We have some beautiful waterfalls nearby, a small lake with some beautiful views, and palm trees - wonderful elegant palm trees.  But... that's really about it....   It's so important for us to "get out of the city" during breaks.  We spend our weeks over-extended and not fully relaxing... so to get to relax on a beach is such a Blessing!!

Because it's far too expensive to travel home to the States for Christmas, we have made the wonderful trip to Rio de Janeiro several times while living in Brasil.  This was our 3rd trip.  What a Beautiful Expression of the Lord's Creativity and Masterful Artistry!!  We love Rio so much!  The very tall mountains just seem to drop off straight into the Ocean... leaving just enough space for the most AMAZING Beaches!  We saw many hang gliders jumping from the top of the mountain and landing on the beach.  There was so much wind on most of the days we were there that made the waves HUGE and made the Kite-Surfers come out by the dozens!  So incredible!  

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Fryar Five! :)

Chris, Beverly, Caleb, Negash, and Sarah-Bethany Fryar

The CANDY Tree!!

Having a Blast with Ms. Summer!

Sweet Little Bet-Bet!

We were so blessed to have one of our fellow teachers spend Christmas with us!  We had a blast! :)

I'm really hoping DESPERATELY to keep this Blog and our Updates more current.  My most sincere apologies for falling far behind... but this past semester was very very tough on many levels!

We have also had many blessings and the Lord has remained Faithful and Kind... as He always is!  The Lord truly is GOOD all the time, and ALL THE TIME He is Good!  Praise His Holy and most Hallowed Name!

Much Love to you all!!
~Beverly

Last Day before Christmas Break!

Here are some cute pictures of our last day of school at Brasilia International School before the Christmas Break!  

Chris has been promoted to the Assistant Director's position and we have hired a Business Manager to come take that off his plate hopefully in the Spring.  That will be the first time in 7 years for Chris not to be doing the finances at BIS!!  This fall has been interesting to say the least for Chris, as he has had to spend many hours dealing with a situation in Rio with a former Network school.  This was a very difficult time for him on multiple levels.  Praise the Lord that HE holds all Governments on HIS shoulders and that HE will bring Justice in HIS time!!  Those who pervert the truth will be held accountable... and we have to release that for The LORD to handle!!

Chris has also been teaching Honors US History which he has LOVED!  He has been challenging the students to rise to the level of College Freshman!  They have all learned so much in his class!  In addition to holding down 2 jobs, and teaching an Honors level class... Chris is ALSO taking more Seminary classes!  He is on track to graduate with his Masters this summer!  He's worked so hard this year.

I (Beverly) am teaching 4 classes (Geography, Life Science, Biology, and Chemistry) and trying to maintain a part-time schedule as I pick Sarah-Bethany up everyday at 1pm.  It's been difficult for me being involved in many things without the time to stay at school to work on everything, but I've been managing ok.  I created a new website for the school (through a company called Finalsite).  Check it out!!  www.brasiliainternationalschool.com  or www.biseagles.com  This was a very large task to undertake, but I enjoyed it!  I also worked with Connie (below on the left) on the Christmas Program which is always a big undertaking at our school.  I've also been in charge of Member Care for the school - which involves working to get the new staff in and settled, activities for team building for all the staff, and other "member" duties.  I'll be honest to say that having 3 kids on the field this year has been SO MUCH more difficult than before with just Caleb.  It has limited us in VERY many ways.  But we also know THEY are our First Mission Field too!  So we are working to figure out the balance. Pray for us on this!

Caleb (10yr) is doing well in 4th grade.  He loves playing Soccer and afterschool clubs.  Both the boys love that Chris usually works late and they get to play at the school until I come pick them all up!  He loves Minecraft on his iPod, and pretty much anything electronic!  He does enjoy reading these days, which is a HUGE statement for him!  He's still our little cuddle bug and loves to play any kind of game!

Negash (9yr) is doing well in 3rd grade.  He also loves Soccer and Basketball and anything outside!  Both the boys have become really close to the other staff kids and we are blessed to have 3 staff boys their age!  Sleepovers come fairly often! :)  Negash loves to laugh and be silly!  He is loving learning Portuguese and will use it all the time - even if it's saying "Yellow, Green" in public!!  If it sounds fun in his mouth... he's going to blurt it out! :)  He loves to play electronic games and read on his Nook.

Sarah-Bethany (1 1/2 years) is doing great in her little Day Care (Creche).  She really loves it there and is doing so great!  She also goes to our sweet friend's house on Monday and Thursday afternoons so I can get some things caught up at school.  She is surrounded by sweet Portuguese-only speaking people who are preciously pouring into her little life!  She is so full of character!  She is also quite full of our OWN opinions!  Lord help us!  She loves to laugh and boss her brothers around - who, by the way, are ALWAYS at her Beck-and-Call!   She is a Daddy's Girl through and through, but she and I get our sweet alone time everyday for naps and bedtime!  Love her little hand propped up on my shoulder or my neck as she falls asleep!  My sweet little baby will be 2 in May.

My precious friends who always point to Jesus! - Connie and Angela

I got to have a fun photo shoot with these sweet & beautiful students!!  So much fun!

Sarah-Bethany loves Kanako!

Bet-Bet's Best Friend Abbey (or 'B-abbey' as SB calls her!)

Caleb in his classroom!

Negash in his classroom!

Our Faculty and Staff at our Christmas Party

Sarah-Bethany's First Birthday Party!!

Sarah-Bethany Turned ONE!!  Can't believe it's only been 1 year... and in the same breath... it's been a year already??  She's such a sweet and happy girl... as long as it's not time for nap! :D  We had a great time!  Our sweet Brasilian friends were a bit appalled at the "Smash Cake" idea... so we just did that quickly and changed her clothes back! :)  Here are some pictures from her BIG DAY!! 

The Birthday Day Girl and her Big Brothers!!  

The AMAZING Birthday Cake hand made by one of our staff!!

Smash Cake and a 'Princess Wave'

No Birthday Party is complete without "CALLING THE HOGS!!"

One of her Brasilian Aunties!

Proud Papa!

All Tuckered Out after a LONG DAY of Partying!!  :)

Our New Place!

Our Apartment is located in Sudoeste.  Here is a Google Maps link.  Point A is our Apartment (SQSW 101) and Point B is the School ("Via W Cinco").  I don't know about you, but I LOVE to play with Google Maps... so I thought it might be interesting to you! :)  You can even get "STREET VIEW" :)

You can see that HUGE Green area between the Apartment and the School... that's Parque da Cidade: City Park.  We LOVE it there!  This is where Chris trained for his full marathon when we were here last.  The whole city goes out there on Saturday morning and excercises.  Roller blading, bicycles, beach volleyball, soccer, running, walking... you name it!  And they also do this really cool combination of Beach volleyball and soccer - it's volleyball with only their FEET!!!  

You can also see Lake Paranoa.  It is a man-made lake to help with the dry air during dry season.  Its not Lake Ouachita or Lake DeGray, but its nice!  
Also notice how "Planned" the city is!  Everything fits into perfect little Quadras. Brasilia was built from NOTHING back in the 60's.  It is a "planned" city in the shape of an airplane - which when you live here... TOTALLY messes with my N,S,E,W brain!! All the major streets CURVE!  But... the city out grew the plan... so the outer areas aren't the same.  

Anyway...  thought you might find this interesting!  :)


View My Saved Places in a larger map

WE ARRIVED!!! (a week ago... :)

We made it!!

It was a long journey, and a long week… but the Lord is Faithful!

Suitcases finally all packed!!

#LoveDelta

Our flight to Atlanta was tough… Sarah-Bethany just could not get comfortable.  We felt so badly for all those sitting around us, but we really couldn't do anything about it.  We had a delay on taking off and a delay once we landed while waiting for the gate.  It was TOUGH!  We had 30 minutes to get from Terminal A in Atlanta, onto the subway, and down to Terminal E!  Praise the Lord we know the Atlanta airport so very well!  We made it just in time to board.

I’ll have to admit… once we got on our airplane in Atlanta… REALITY SET IN!  Big Time!  My eyes popped open and my jaw dropped to the floor….. “Baaaaaaaaaabbbbyy…  We’re going to BRAZIL!!!!”  That moment didn't really clear for about an hour!!  I just kept looking at my babies and looking at Chris and saying… “AND we’re taking THREE Children!!!” 

Not really sure why it hit me so hard…  I guess in all the planning and “Do-ing” it hadn't really hit me that THIS IS FOR REAL!!

I sent out an All-Points-Bulletin to some Awesome Prayer Warriors saying “PLEASE pray for Sarah-Bethany to SLEEP on this plane!”  AND… Sleep she did!  Praise the Lord!  She slept a little restlessly, but SLEEP SHE DID the WHOLE Way!  Oh… and can I just give a Shout Out to Delta Airlines for their FREE Economy Comfort upgrade!  That 4 inches is MIGHTY HUGE with a baby on your lap and a 6ft 3 husband!! 

We made it to Brasilia early in the morning.  It was So Sweet to get off that plane!  The boys did AMAZING!!  Handled everything like PROFESSIONALS!!  Chris MASTERFULLY piled up ALL 10 suitcases, plus 4 OVERsized carry-ons onto 3 little carts for Custom’s Inspection.  Caleb and Negash each had one, and Chris had the BIGGEST one.  Sarah-Bethany CHARMED our way AROUND the Custom’s Official… One quick look at her, and he just let us move on! :)

Jeff and Paulo were at the airport in the Kombi (Big VW Bus) to load up!  Thankfully we *KNOW* they had seen WAY more luggage than our 450 pounds!  And away we went to our NEW Apartment!! 

Saying Goodbyes...

It's always hard to say Goodbye... but this is really more like "See ya in June" for us! :)  Which makes it easier!  But still very necessary to see as many people as we can fit into our schedule before we go.  Here's some pics from our Goodbye's and Other FUN activities in April/May!

Chris and the guys!  He is really missing these guys!!!  

The wedding of the decade!!  Ashley and Eric!

at the wedding

With Joe and Susan

With our Fellowship Family

Greg leading prayer over our kids and the Kennedy kids who are all leaving.  We LOVE Fellowship Downtown!!

Amy and Dale and the kids all came up to see us!

Awesome Kids - Lifelong Friends!!

MIMI!  - LOVE HER!!!!!

Sarah-Bethany and I will miss our Wednesdays with TiTi Wanda!!

The boys with Aiden at Chuck E. Cheese!  Gonna miss our outings with Julie and Aiden, too!

Learning to Skateboard at the Shafer's!

With our Fellowship Memphis Downtown friends!

Brooklyn (boys' cousin from St. Louis) got to learn to Skate too!

Negash's favorite part was the Trampoline!

One last visit with Dr. Tsiu before we go!

All of this AND...  Bowling with Ashley and Eric, Lunch with the entire Fryar family & Birthday party for little Parker and William, Dinner with Trevor, Coffee with Laura, Soccer every Saturday, Dinner with my West Clinic Girls, Going Away parties at school for the boys, Dinner with Laura and Parker, A Jewelry Party, and a final GNO @ Newks with my Adoption Group!

Shhhooooooooo....  We're tired!  All of that, plus at least 5 other things I'm forgetting!!

We had an incredible last 6 weeks!  Thank you to ALL of you who loved on us and helped us!!  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!

*See you in JUNE!*