A Simple Prayer

Today,
For what I am that I ought not to be,
Forgive me.
For what I am not that I ought to be,
Forgive me.

Be with my mouth in what it speaks
Be with my hands in what they do
Be with my mind in what it thinks
Be with my heart in what it feels

Work in me
...through me
...for me
...in spite of me

In the precious name of Jesus,
Amen

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.

Tourists in Porto

Trying to navigate a new city from behind the wheel of a car is not always easy (or enjoyable). It is difficult to read road signs, look at a map and listen to the GPS.  So today we decided to head out for an open-top bus tour and be "tourists" in our own town.  That way we could all enjoy the view, see the sites and learn where things are.  We had a lot of fun, so here is a look at all we saw.

Vacation in Madrid - Our last adventure

The last thing we did before leaving Madrid was attend a real bullfight.  Our friend recieved some free tickets and we did want to pass up the "cultural" experience.  Bullfighting in Spain is a bit different than in Portugal because in Spain the bull is actually killed in the ring.  Throughout the course of the night there are 3-4 bulls that fight, but we only stayed for one - just to say we had seen a real bullfight.  It was interesting, but I don't think we will be going back anytime soon.