Hope's Musings

WE CAN PRAY AT HOME
The preacher had run overtime last Sunday at church (by about 45 minutes) when Hope’s Sunday School teacher brought the kids out to the parents still sitting in the pews.

When Hope came to us, she whispered, “Mom, I’m ready to go home!”

I said, “He’s praying right now, we’re almost done.”

Hope looked at me with a classic teen-age look (although she’s only 4) and said with incredulity, “Mom, we can pray AT HOME!”

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WE ATE ALL THE CHEESE
I was putting Hope to bed and reminding her of what we’d learned that day about angels. I said, “Now remember, Angels are messengers from….who?”

Hope proudly said, “Mary!”

“No, No, NO! The Angel was a messenger TO Mary FROM God,” I quickly emphasized.

“Oh Yeah, that’s right mom,” Hope said. “Mommy, tell me the story about Moses and the golden cow statue.”

I told her the story and she said, “Mom, sometimes it’s ok to pretend that statues are god.”

“NO! It’s Never OK to pretend that or even to think that,” I stated in a very FIRM voice.

I went on to explain to her that there is only ONE God, and that He is a jealous God. I told her about the 10 commandments and then started sharing the gospel message and God’s plan of salvation with my (by then) extremly sleepy and blurry-eyed 4-year-old.

I came to a point where I asked her if she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart. She slowly nodded yes and then sat quietly looking me right in the eye for several seconds. Then, with a big irresistible puppy-dog-eyes kind of look she very seriously said, “Mom, Abby and I ate all the cheese!”

I had to hold in a laugh and try not to smile to big, “That’s okay honey, we can buy more cheese at the store,” I assured her.

“But Mom, it’s all gone,” she said.

Again, I bit my tongue in effort not to laugh, “It’s ok honey. I love you. Good night and sweet dreams.”

Feliz Natal

Merry Christmas

Close-ups

Dance of the Butterfly

Isabela Grace

Wow how time flies! Our newborn daughter is already 7 weeks old. Here are some pictures of how she's changed in just a few weeks!

Allison's Parents Visit

We had a wonderful visit with Allison's parents during the month of November.

Here are some of the "Kodak Moments" from their stay in Brazil.

Granda & Patriarch enjoying their new "grand-darling".





The girls get their nails done:




Big sisters


Baby Dedication of Isabela Grace


Abby loved Granda's rollers and wanted to have some too!

Birth Story

Well, as many of you know, Abigail Faith, our second daughter, was born 12 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. And, I've often heard that each pregnancy goes quicker, so...I did NOT expect to labor for 22 hours with the third one!

BUT - Isabela Grace, apparently, was perfectly content to stay where she was, in-utero! I had painless contractions for about 5 hours before Chuck and I decided we should go to the hospital to be checked out (just in case.) [with our other 2 dauthers we had waited until my water broke to go to the hospital - but we figured since Abigail had come so fast, that being in a new country and still learning the language - that we might ought to better our chances of having the baby IN the hospital.]

SO - We took Hope and Abigail to our missionary family's house and headed for the hospital - only to find out that Allison was only 1 cm dialted, even after having contractions for almost 7 hours. The ER doctor told us to go home and come back to check my progress in 3 hours. So, we did. Again, only 1 cm. SO - we were sent home for the night and told to go to the doctor in the morning, unless Allison's "bolsa rembrou" (water broke).

WELL - I guess I jumped the gun, but, I, Allison, thought my water had broken at 3am, so back to the hospital we went, only to find out that I was 2 cm and my water had NOT broken, but they admitted us into the hospital anyway.

FINALLY - at 9:30 am - after 21 1/2 hours of contractions and being dialted only to 5cm, we decided to allow the doctor to break my water and see if that would speed things along.

IT DID - Allison's contractions - still not painful - "fica mais forte" [became very strong] - so 15 minutes later, we headed down to the delivery room. Previously, we had to get a "prescription" from our Dr. that said that Chuck was allowed to be in the delivery room with me during the birth. We had made absolutely sure that this would happen to the best of our ability.

SO - when the hospital staff escorted Allison back to the delivery room alone, we both started praying majorly hard and got a bit nervous. As I, Allison, lay on the delivery room table, WITHOUT MY HUSBAND IN THE ROOM, I thought of what I'd told Chuck earlier. "If they don't let you back there, I'll just get up and walk out!" Well, remembering those words, I almost began to cry, because I realized that there was no way my body was going to let me get up and walk out in it's own power - I NEEDED MY MAN! Oh, how I prayed when I heard the nurses come in and tell the Dr. that Chuck wasn't going to be allowed back there with me. [Dr. Rosa was Awesome - she marched right out there - pulled rank - and brought Chuck back to me! - it turned out that although she'd been the one to write the "prescription" for Chuck to be with me, that she'd forgotten to use the correct "stamp" on the paper - ridiculous huh? So thanks to all of you who prayed with us for a smooth birth!]

ANYWAY - Once Chuck came back to be with me, everything was awesome! Although we were in a very sterile enviornment (surgery room - ABOUT 80 TO 90 % OF THE BIRTHS IN BRAZIL ARE DONE BY C-SECTION) they let us have our I-POD and Bose speakers to play George Winston's piano music to help sooth me during contractions! Pretty cool!

Chuck and I worked very closely together as a team in the delivery room. As soon as he came in there, he had me get off the table and walk around; which was great - working WITH gravity - and much less painful! My contractions were less than a minute apart and we'd walk around the delivery room and then I'd have a contraction and totally lean into Chuck and put ALL my body weight on him - he was totally supporting me! It was really cool - he talked me all the way through each contraction and I learned a new portugese phrase - "onda do mar" [wave of the ocean] which is how I referred to each contraction.

During this time, I heard one of the nurses ask Dr. Rosa "why" we were doing this? (I didn't know if she meant - why no anesthesia, no c- section, natural labor, or why we were working together so hard like we were, but I did understand very clearly Dr. Rosa's response} Dr. Rosa simply stated that this is the way "Americanos" like to do it - it's typical for Americans she said, It's popular there.

FINALLY - I got back up on the delivery room table - they tried to put my legs in stirups and tie them down - and I screamed and kicked and yelled NO! They looked worried and surprised and probably thought I was crazy at the moment, but they let me do it my way. And 3 or 4 pushes later, Isabela Grace was born!

It was so awesome! Dr. Rosa said that the way Chuck and I worked together to bring Isabela Grace here was beautiful! I can only hope it was a testimony of Godly love between a husband and wife - since my Portugese went out the window during that hour in the delivery room!

My husband is so wonderful! He is AWESOME! I respect and admire this man so much! I am so blessed to be his wife and to have had his children! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Baby Isabela Grace

Isabela Grace is Here

Isabela Grace Hoskins
Born: October 15, 2007 @ 11:01am
Weighing: 7 lbs 14.5 oz.
18.5" inches long




Baby Gracie was born after 22 Hours of Labor. (21 hours painless contractions, and the last hour Chuck and I worked HARD as an TEAM in the delivery room, then 3 or 4 pushes and...


Isabela Grace was born! It was incredible!
7 lbs 14.5 oz (3.6 Kilos)
18.5 inches long (47 cm)


A few hours old...Gracie has dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. (Just like both of her sisters did when they were born). BUT - she does have Allison's dark complexion - maybe she'll keep her dark hair.


Hope absolutely ADORES her new baby sister. She's been a big helper to mom and dad and LOVES to hold the baby.

Isabella Grace @ 34 in-utero

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Allison & Dr. Rosa

Here is the "BEFORE" picture of Allison, Isabella Grace (in-utero), and Dr. Rosa. Please pray with us that here in a few short weeks we can post an "AFTER" picture of Allison, Baby Gracie (in our arms), and Dr. Rosa .

Daddy's little soccer fans

Chuck has been promoting soccer with both the girls. The other day he bought both girls a new soccer jersey. And last night in fact, before Hope went to sleep, Chuck took Hope in the living room and was teaching her about how to play soccer. Hope brought in several stuffed animals to play along with her on her team. Of course, it was a perfect photo / video opportunity - and I couldn't find my camara. But it was quite a scene - Chuck playing goalie (with a goal made of Elmo and princess chairs) against a team of stuffed animals led by his 4-yr-old daughter Hope!

Hope's 3 Birthday Parties

Hope did in fact have 3 birthday parties.

#1 with missionary friends Emma Grace & Ethan Epps. [This was a spur of the moment party, only minutes before we took them back to the airport to fly back to Rio Branco, after their stay in Campinas since they came for Tiffany's delivery of their 3rd child, the birth of baby Evan.]




#2 with our Brazilian friends from church ( the "Swim Party")



#3 with our missionary family here in Campinas, Brasil
Hope at the park on birthday party #3


I made practice cakes for the first 2 parties, and the 3rd cake (which turned out much nicer) was made with the help of missionary friend Charlotte Whitley - who is into cake decorating.


"Big Abby" (left) as Hope refers to her missionary cousin, Abigail Lopez - whom she also attends preschool with and "Little Abby" (right) her little sister, Abigail Hoskins.


Our missionary family here in Campinas at Hope's #3 birthday party

Hope's Birthday

Parabens pra voce (Happy Birthday)...to Hope

Happy Birthday to Hope. She's now 4 years old! Amazing how time flies. Thankfully, God granted us with a wonderful family that shared with us in the joy of Hope's special day. This family goes to the church we've been attending. They were very gracious to invite us for lunch and swimming at their house. The girls had a grand time swimming, eating, and blowing out the candles. They helped to make Hope feel special today! What a blessing.

Please continue to pray that God would bless us with special friends that will help us:
1) Practice our language
2) Understand the culture
3) Step in as "surrogate" family

Gracie's Baby Shower

Santos Exploration Trip

Pictures from our first real "Exploration" of the Baixada Santista region, right on the coast of the State of Sao Paulo, Brasil. This is where we'll eventually end up after language school. Guy Key, another IMB missionary graciously spent his day showing us around the cities of Santos and Sao Vicente.

Check out our slide show below. Put your cursor over each picture to get more info about it.