hey all, i keep wanting to mention that while we were in ireland, we met a young christian guy with a very interesting story. you can read about it at www.amandaspoems.com. his name is aaron dieppa.

okay, i just need to process my family again. this summer is about letting go some more. it seems like niklaas is staying young as long as possible, matthew is about where most average 11 year olds are at, emily is a girl and so at about the same level as matthew. that leaves me with triplets right now. however, my triplets are as very different as can be. yesterday i asked niklaas to put water in the water cooker and turn it on. well, he didn't even know what a water cooker was, never mind how to turn it on (a big buttom on top!) however, ask him the meaning of any word and he's on it. he is now still working on his three apart story, his video game, and reading the reverse dictionary which is opening his world of words up even more. matthew has been very compassionate during my crutches time. he's very careful to walk with me, get me water, etc. (nik hasn't even noticed i'm on crutches and possibly needing help). matthew is very sensitive and compassionate. emily is just nonstop. she's been driving me nuts, so i'm trying hard every night not just to pray with her, but read with her in bed or sit and listen to an odyssey together. we've been baking muffins together and today we'll pain together. i can't even count anynmore how many games of phase 10 we've played or poker or uno or you get the picture. so, all this is good and fine because i love and celebrate the different people God creates.

this is also the summer of letting go. we had company when school ended and summer started so i wasn't there to process this with them. then it was right off to ireland. then straight into surjury. i finally feel like we have summer. it is very busy with world cup every night two games. we are not getting very much sleep, but it's the world cup in germany!! so my kids have had to be on their own many days for long periods of time and they have done great!! it's all good, but hard to let go a little more even it's something you want to do because it's good, right, and healthy. my friend esther (dutch) is a physcologist and she says she loves watching how healthy my kids are. mom, do remember this feeling? am i babbling - again!

niklaas has been enjoying his breakaway very much. it covers some pretty grown up topics that are still making him uncomfortable, but both boys love it. matthew and emily have not been receiving the clubhouse, did you order this for them? the breakaway is coming to niklaas and matthew schalm.

my leg is doing good. markus has been giving me an injection every morning. who's the braver one hey! our doctor is great. he's very thorough as germans are. my surjury was on friday, saturday morning i ws back in get the tube pulled out, tuesday i was back in just to look at it, friday i go back to get the stiches out. i've also been signed up for 10 physiotherapy session - three a week. this seems kinda overdone to me, but i guess when in germany do as the germans!

can you tell i'm missing you all. it's just really hitting, the reality that we will not be seeing you next summer. we have decided to stay anyother summer because otherwise there would be no one here in finance - can't happen. markus an matthew will fly to calgray right after christmas for the new year. markus really wants to come to niverville during this time, but i'm not sure this will happen.

it sounds like gary and bernice have bought a house in winnipeg - gary is there now shopping for a house. i think he signed something yesterday. this is a relief to markus work wise, but can you imagin how they must be feeling. he had to find a house that is or could be made wheelchair accesible, one that bernice could resell after he passes away, it's all just overwhelming to me. they are definately in Gods grace bubble right now.

okay, i'll go now and stop boring you all. i realize it's only me in this family who really loves to talk about this kind fo stuff all the time. i am extremely relationally wired.

love you all, teresa

Wow, i haven't seen this much action on the blog for a long time...this is great! Sorry, Markus, but BRAZIL WON!!!!!!! When are you going to start cheering for them? Once Germany loses to Argentina??? It's been a bit frustrating here because there is no way to follow the cup closely....oh, well!

We had supper at Marianne's tonight and Bob and Heidi and Pete and Lynda dropped by for dessert...it was very nice. We met Tris' girlfriend, Sam Beth.

Shannon, good to hear that you are hanging in there without me...no questions yet??? What's this??? Thiago is moving in with you??? You don't need to do that you know. How's Lidi? I miss her so much. Take good care of her for me ok?

Dwayne, WAY TO GO...you are just about there. I am now weighing 147 lbs( with clothes) on Mom's scale, so I'm happy. So far Scott and I are controlling ourselves. We are back to running/walking on a daily basis, which has been very good.

Tres, I can call you and tell you about our nutritionist, but it is actually quite simple. It has been a great experience for everyone who has done it. She not a rigid calorie counter, but she is teaching us to rethink a lot of old eating habits.

Anyway, I need to get some sleep. Dwayne and Shannon, the meeting today with Jack and Howard was very positive and they are both very excited about us moving ahead towards a new camp, whether that be in partnership with JTB in even a minimal form. We'll call you soon. Tell Pipa that his papers are coming, but that he needs to be calm. We are wanting to do this well and Jack has been very busy these past 2 weeks. We'll get them to him tomorrow morning.

Love you all... Patsy

GO BRAZIL!!!!!

Just an update from my visit to the nutrionist:
I now weigh 200.43 lbs. Tthat would be .44 lbs off my goal which to be under 200 lbs. I also lost size again in my tricepts, abdomin, stomach and hip circumfrinces. In other words, my clothes are getting bigger and bigger on me all the time.

I will now be going once a month for a check up and weigh in to make sure I'm still on track.

Dwayne

Hey Tres and everyone,

The whole nutrionist thing is about the number of calories you intake in a day. We all have a majic number according to our weight and hight (and age I think) of how many calories our bodies can use. My majic number is 2880.88 Kcal, so if I intake less Kcal then that I will loose weight. The diet the nutrionist has me on is 597.35 Kcal for breakfast, 561.35 Kcal for lunch, 115.96 Kcal for afternoon snacks, and 639.80 Kcal for supper. That, I belive adds up to 1858.63 Kcal per day. I was down to 201.5 lbs a few weeks ago and today I hope to be under 200 lbs. We'll see if it really happens or not, but that is my personal goal.

Patsy can give you the more technical version of this all. But that is pretty much what it is. Then if one excercises above that yet, you would loose more weight. We still eat what we used to just not a full plate of everything. Now it's 2 spoons of rice, more salads, fruits, meat is alright, etc.

Well we've got another child. Tiago is moving in and bunking with Jaden in his room on a matress pulled out from under Jaden's bed. Roger has decided that the SAL program will no longer have males in it, only females????? We are not sure what he is thinking with this thought.

We've started on Pipa's second application for his Canadian visa. We got a letter from Marli which should help.

We will find out how much our church raised, by doing nothing for us, this past week for a vehicle. They've been taking donations for the last three weeks. The missions team (Kevin Penner) is hoping for $1000, so we'll see what comes in. Our June letter just got sent out this week as well and it has our request for money towards a vehicle in it . We are also sending out our prayer cards with it. Yes, they are finally made and sent out. The picture is a feww months old, but it is a pretty good one.

Well, I will go for now. We now have high sped internet in our house which makes keeping intouch much easier than having to pak up the computer, run down to the office, get it all set up, emailing, taking it all down, running back home and setting the computer back up. Anyway, we have less excuses to not keep in touch.

Have a great day, and Scott or Patsy let us know how the meeting went today with Jack and Howard, asap.

Dwayne

hi everyone, i just got back from my first physiotherapy session. she said my leg movement and range is very good. i think thats thanks to dads great advice to keep walking. i have nine more session, every other day. tommorrow i go see the doctor again. germans are quite annal about this doctor stuff. she said i should not walk too much, but who has the patience for that.

the kids just left for the pool so after this letter, i plan to sit with my feet up and have a cup of iced coffee.

i got my hair cut this morning - it sure is dark. i might get it highlighted soon to give it a third dimension.

patsy and dwayne, im interested in your nutrition stuff. give a a daily breakdown of it. is it about what not to eat? what to eat? what to eat together? how much to eat? how much to exercize? when to eat?, etc...

brenda and al, i think the best bet in vevey might be to book an 8 person mixed dorm room in a hostel for the night. it comes to about 25sf per person per night. we could pack a lunch along, there is a kitchen there for us to use for supper. if we camp, it means bringing alot of stuff along (first finding people to borrow it from) and with 7 people in the van we will be tight enough. i'm still waiting to hear from matthew about his concert. on july 2nd they are playing in hyde park, london with the who. was there any thing i was looking into - oh yeah, i just remembered -rome!

shannon it was great hearing from you! we keep praying your family will have a wonderful year filled with God surprises as you study portugese.

i'm trying to figure out what the word blessing means and if we as christians over use it. what do you all think?

how about that world cup hey! markus is cheering for ghana over brazil - sorry, it's his african blood, you can just never quite get rid of it once you've got it. of course over all markus is cheering for germany (since canada or nigeria aren't in it).

take care,

teresa

ps how do you like the new thing - no caps?

Hey family,

This is my first ever blog. You can be excited, i know you want to! Alright enough small talk!
Things are going well so far with the exit of Scott, Patsy, kids and Cindy. But i definitely have to get use to looking up at the hill and not seeing anyone come down. I think i miss that the most. it was always a perk to my day. as for being lonely, not a chance! Pipa, Thiago, Carol and Lidi have all become our other 4 kids we thought we would have one day before Jasper and Jessi came along. We don't mind, it's helping with the Buhler withdrawal.
Lidi is in Caxius this weekend studying (maybe a few games of Dutch Blitz to ease the brain) and Carol is in Tres. So it's us and the boys. Nos vamos fazer Churrasco amanha antes da copa do mundo. How's that for Portuguese. Pipa helped a little but i got a very good from him.
Alright, Jasper is now trying to help so i believe that is my cue to exit.

lots of love,
Shannon

Those Brazilians will need to play a lot better if they plan to win anything!

How 'bout those Brazilians! Did you watch the game?!!

Hey Tres and everyone else,

Here is how you add pictures to your blog posting. While on the page I am right now, the one where you write your message, there is a tool bar for changing the font, how you want it formatted, spell check, etc. It is a part of the fram around the window you type in. One icon on the tool bar looks like a picture of mountains and sky with some trees. Click on that icon and another window will pop up. You first click the "browse..." button to choose which file you would like to copy the picture from. Once you find the file and the picture, doubble click the picture and it's file name will show up in the formerly empty box beside the "browse..." button. If you want to add two or more pictures you then click the "Add another image" link and repeat the process of choosing a picture. do this for as many pictures you would like to add. once you have all the pictures you want to add to your blog click on the format you want (left, center or right) and choose an image size (small, medium or large). The pictures I have posted are the medium size. Once you have copletted all that click the "Upload image" icon and it will bring you back to the page where you write your message.

The pictures usually upload at the top of your message, but you can move them down by clicking and holding the mouse button down to drag it where you would like it.

As for Scott & Patsy, yes they are travelling right now but should be home late tonight or some time tomorrow. The were at the CCI Convention. Scott, Pipa, Tiago and I will be leaving again tomorrow or Wednesday to look at land possibilities for the new camp. Jack has encouraged us to and is even covering some of our expences on the trip. Once we get back on Friday night, they will be here in Gramado till they leave.

It sounds like there is just a bunch of partying going on around Kandern these days and with the World Cup staring soon the parties will just continue. Shannon would LOVE to be there to go watch a game with Markus. It is her dream to watch a World Cup game live some day. That is the big reason we wanted to come see you during the World Cup.

We are all either sick or getting over being sick at our house. Yesterday Jaden was home alone because we went to Caxias to watch the Brazilian mens Vball team play Spain. and he threw up 5 times, Jasper trew up twice on the ride to Caxias, I have had a bad cold, Jasper and Jessi both have had runny noses and Shannon is very tired and has been stuffed up for the past two weeks.

The Vball was alright, but not the best. It turned out to only be the up and coming Brazialian men playing. Spain was really bad and had no chance of winning the match. About 60% of Brazils points came from mistakes made by Spain. It was very good ball, but not as good as it could have been. Brazil didn't have to play very hard to win in 3.

Today we need to clean out the appartment across from ours so Scot & Patsy can stroe their stuff there and also so Lidi can move in there. She will sleep and study there but do everything else with us.

We look forward to seeing pictures from all of you,
Dwayne

Hi All,

Dwayne how do you add photos to the blog?

The first picture I didn't think Jessi looked like Jasper, but now I think she does.

How are the Buhlers doing? Are they away right now?

Niklaas received two awards this year - Science and Bible. He has only his exams left to do.

Matthews class had their closing party today, they still have 1 1/2 days of school.

Emily's class had a little field trip to the bakery today. He has a huge aquarium under teh bakery where he keeps sharks, eels, etc.

Markus has the possibility of two World Cup tickets. Shannon are you interested. Paraguay vs England.

We had a great visist with Ryan Schalm and his friend Murray.

Tonight we were at a birthday party for Markus - the guy Markus plays vball with.

Niklaas went to a birthday party today too - go carting.

Matthew goes to a birthday party tomorrow - swimming/pizza.

On Sunday is the kids closing concert.

After this I have two middle schoolers - only two more years of elementary - wow!!

Teresa

Hey everyone,

Mom told me she wanted to see more pictures of the kids so here are a couple more updated pictures, enjoy:

Just a side note; as of yesterday, May 31, we had already received $2000 Cdn towards a vehicle. We are hoping for $6000-$8000 more. Praise God!

Dwayne