Margarita Noel... practice for parenting

One day before Christmas we got a little stir crazy in our little apartment, so we decided to go shopping. We were trying to figure out what to get one another for Christmas. We thought that a small aquarium and a few fish would be good. Well, we ended up with a dog instead! I thought it was an excellent idea at first, and then I got home. I began having major apprehension, and I began asking myself: What have we done? How long will she live? Are we crazy?
I finally did settle down though!
Naming this little creature was also a feat. At first I thought that we should name her Peixe (fish in Portuguese) because originally she was supposed to be a fish! My mother asked me if I would like to be called "fish" and she really liked the name "Noel". Aarao told me that Noel was also a Christmassy word in Portuguese. So she became Noel.
One day I was speaking in Mexican accent as Noel. Chihuahuas are from Mexico, so of course she has an accent! After the accent, Aarao began calling her Margarita. So, we have Margarita Noel.
Last night this little Margarita Noel went crazy! I thought Aarao was going to go crazy along with her. Noel decided she would run around and bark like she was crazy for about 30 minutes. We were outside of our apartment in the freezing cold trying to catch this incredibly fast dog. People were actually coming out to watch the madness. One woman stood with her young child for about 15 minutes just watching and laughing. Noel was quite the show for everyone, including the many people trying to go to the gym in peace. Finally she settled down when another dog came out to do her business. When we got inside with our very naughty puppy, Aarao looked at me and said, "Can we give her back?" He was not a happy pet owner.
As we sat there trying to wind down from the nights happenings, we began to apply this lesson to parenting. We began imagining ourselves twenty years down the road with a ruthless teenager. In our vision we are hopelessly trying to figure out how to settle our daughter down and get her to listen to us, and my very sweet husband looks at me and says, "Can she just go back to where she came from?" Can you picture this? I can, and it is scary!
So, our practice has begun. Will we survive? Will we succeed? The Lord only knows!

Enjoying being married

It has been over 6 months since we got married, and we have had so much fun over these past months. Aarão has adjusting so well to the United States. It is such a blessing how well he is doing. We are enjoying our little apartment together. Aarão is the master cleaner, and I do most of the cooking. We finished our first semester of school. He made all A's in his classes, and I am enjoying teaching 8th grade. My students have been so much fun. They are creative and totally over the top!
Aarão misses his family, soccer, volleyball, and Brazilian food very much! He wakes up sometimes and longs to play indoor soccer! He did find a place to play volley and soccer, so that is good. He went for the first time the other night, and I cried when he left. :) We don't spend much time apart. I will spend some time talking about the past few months we have spent together. God is good all the time, and he continues to take care of us.