Where there is smoke there is fire.

(I wrote this a month or so back but forgot to post it.  Thankfully we have had some rain and cooler weather and the fires have subsided.)

The other night when we came home there was a huge cloud in the sky above our apartment.  We were so excited that it might rain.  There have been a lot of forrest/brush fires lately and we knew we could use the rain.  However, once we got up to our 8th floor and looked out we realized it was not a cloud, but rather smoke.  We have seen smoke before from some of other distant fires, but this was a huge smoke cloud.  Once the sun went down we realized how big the fire was and how close it probably was.

I know, I know

I know, I know.  It has been a while since I have updated anything on the blog.  Things have just been a bit crazy the last month and I have not had time.  I have a lot of random pictures, so that is what this post will be - random.

We took a beach day with our friend Rita, her brother and a few of their friends.  It was one of the cloudiest, cool days we had all summer, but we made the best of it.

We had some good friends visit from Lisbon and we enjoyed visiting and showing them around Porto.

The guys suited up and headed to their first Porto professional soccer game.

The boys start back to school next week and we head back to language classes the next week, so summer is officially over.  However, we look forward to a busy fall.  Micah is playing with a local basketball club, family is coming for a visit and  other visitors are coming to take a look at how they might come and work with us in Porto.  We are excited to get things moving!

Snapshots of Our Week

We have been out and about this week trying to learn more about our new city.  After church Sunday we decided to take a drive along the river.  It was a beautiful day and the views were amazing.  However, the road was a bit more curvy than we expected and our 2 hour Sunday afternoon drive turned into more like a 5 hour excursion.

We were able to spend a lovely evening in the home of one of the local pastors.  It was nice to visit with them and hear their hearts.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to build these relationships.

Today we headed downtown to a local market and shopping area.  It was fun to be out and about.  August is a high traffic holiday month, so the area was full of locals and tourists.

 

Tonight we set out for a small town to the south of Porto.  We have freinds there who invited us to a local medieval festival.  It was so neat and the boys had a blast.