Hi everyone,
We just wanted to let all our loved ones know that we received our visas today! So that means in 19 days, on the 30th, we'll be leaving out of Seattle for Brazil. Our scheduled return date is 3 months from then, but we'll most likely be applying for an extension so that we get back at the end of May, beginning of June. Just in time for Corey's graduation!
Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers. I'm sure they made a difference. It's been an emotional roller coaster the last couple days waiting to hear back from the visa service. In fact, last night we were checking on the status of our visas, and Andy's said "canceled." We couldn't believe it. This was our second attempt at visas (our first was denied for various complicated reasons). There was crying and planning and resolving to make it work at a later time. We had trusted in God's plan for us, and our constant prayer over the last 2 weeks was "Thy will be done." When we called the help line this morning to discover the reason for the cancellation we were shocked to hear it was because Andy already had a viable visa. Turns out (which I should have checked, stupid me) that Andy's visa from visiting me last year was still good. "And in fact" said the helpline fellow "both visas should be arriving today, fedexed overnight." Lo and behold, now that I hold his passport in my hands, his visa does indeed say "5 years." My shiny new passport (due to name change) now also holds a visa, and we will be leaving soon.
For the next couple weeks, Andy will be working, and I'll be home preparing (it's kinda nice being unemployed at the moment :o)). There are a million things to get done, but now I can approach everything with a greater resolve and excitement since I know our trip is a reality.
For those that we haven't explained anything too, I apologize. We'll be trying to design and install a biogas digester. It takes sewer sludge, compost, pretty much anything, and anaerobically digests the material. Methane, which can be used as a cooking gas, and biosolids (fertilizers) can be harvested from the digester and sold. The idea is not only to help with sanitation issues but to also create a type of micro-economy. Andy's familiar with digesters because it was his senior design project, and I'm familiar with them, well, because I worked at the Sewer Plant and we have several GIANT digesters (very interesting, if you ever get the chance to check them out you should, and the people who work in the lab are nice, I promise). We might also be working on a water cistern project and perhaps something to do with irrigation in the arid desert region.
We're going to Sobral (So-brau) which is in the North East state of Ceara (Say-a-ra), and I'm SO excited to be speaking Portuguese again. Andy is learning, and I have no doubt that his skills will drastically improve once he's inundated. I know mine did while I was there. We will have access to email and internet, so we'll be keeping a blog about our adventures. If anyone wants postcards or snail mail, please send us your mailing address. The blog can be found at:
http://cabrazil.blogspot.com That's this website :o)
We hope that all is well with you, and if you're in Spokane or close, we would love to see you before we leave. We'll be in the Seattle area (Port Angeles) probably from the weekend of the 26th until we leave and would love to see you out there too.
All our love and God bless
Beijos, Tchau
Caitling and Andy
