HAVA IS ONE!!!

We had a wonderful weekend as we celebrated the creation and life of our daughter, Hava. She officially turned one on Friday at 1:14. We had a small celebration at home and on Sunday, we had a bunch of friends come celebrate with us at a mall nearby. Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us. We are so blessed to have a beautiful, healthy child who seems to truly bring blessing to so many others besides ourselves. May the L-RD continue to watch, care and bless her throughout the years He determines to grant her.

First picture of the day!Hava and her mic.My VERY FIRST birthday cake - it tasted better than it looks!Just ONE!She really wanted to touch the cake.Didn't have a clue about the candle.She had no trouble getting her hands dirty.2nd birthday cake - much prettier!So many friends!Al playing host.Hava got into this cake while we were still praying.Dad made balloons.
Hava 's first carousel ride with friends.Hava's naptime buddy. At the end of the day, she called it quits on his shoulder and took a nice little nap.

Our Weekend Trip

We just wanted to thank you all who prayed for us this weekend and give you an update. We had a wonderful trip and were very blessed by a very open-hearted church near San Antonio, TX. Al, Hava, Eli (a friend of ours also traveling to Brazil this summer) and I drove about 5 hours south to present Project AMO to FBC Nixon. We spent the night with a very kind couple and drove back after lunch on Sunday. (That's when we played the alphabet game with Al - the most hysterical version ever! If you haven't heard about it, just ask us!!!) :o)

Al and I spoke with the kids group during Sunday School and taught them some Portuguese as well as Al giving his testimony of his childhood in Brazil and the need of telling your family about the Savior. One of the kids asked him: "What did your family say when you told them about Jesus?"
Al answered: "You know when you find a cake you really like and you ask someone to try it? They might taste it and say they don't like it, but you keep telling them to try it more because you KNOW it tastes good. That is how people are - sometimes they like what you tell them or show them, sometimes they don't. But you can't give up telling them about what is good."

Al, Eli and I also spoke during the service about our call to go to Brazil this summer. We explained about LFM and Project AMO and Al shared part of his testimony and the need to go home and continue to share the gospel with our family. Eli and I also sang songs from the musical. *Which, let me stop here and congratulate Eli for singing in PORTUGUESE for the first time!* Eli played guitar and I played piano. Hava stayed in the nursery and "blessed" the workers there - ok, so she probably cried quite a bit, we could hear here in the sanctuary. :o) But everyone fell in love with her.

So, a big THANK YOU to FBC Nixon for receiving us in love!!! Also, once again, thank you to everyone who prayed for us. We all went and came back in one piece. May HIS NAME be blessed!

One More Week!

So, today was Hava's "1-year" doctor appointment, although she will only officially turn 1 on Friday. So, since she has not had her birthday yet, she got an early gift and didn't have to get her shots yet. (That will be the week after her b-day.)

Anyway, the doc said she is right smack in the middle of average....which is a good thing. :o)

We are so blessed by her...and yes, she is backing off of the tantrums a bit. PTL!!!

HAVA LATELY

So, these are not necessarily in order, but we thought it was time to catch everybody up on Miss Hava before she turns the big ONE!

We went to a friend's house lately who was also turning one, this is Hava's messy cake face.And this is Hava trying to steal the limelight (or maybe the cake) from her buddy.
Hava evaluating the moves on present-opening.
This is "sweet" Hava, eating her vegetables like a good little girl.
And this is "melt-down" Hava - throwing a fit to prove these pictures are real-life.

This is Hava's new hairdo. I suppose it is one of the only ones. Papai is not too fond on the "straight-up ponytail," but at least there is hair to put up now.

Hava says: "Thanks for coming by. I'll make sure and keep things interesting here - and keep Papai and Mamae on their toes!" :o)

Prayer Requests and Updates

It has been a little while since I actually updated our "blog" because so many things have been happening with our global contacts that we thought it more important to be in prayer.

The Leite Family Ministry has 2 areas of service: 1 - to bring the gospel to the hearts that are searching globally, and 2 - to support those worldwide missionaries and lay workers who have dedicated themselves and their families to that end.

We have added on to our blog a running prayer request list of the urgent needs of those families. We also have a running prayer request list of LFM needs. You can always find these 2 lists in the left-hand column of this blog. Even if we have not posted a new blog, those prayer requests will be shown and updated on a regular basis (almost always daily, sometimes hourly).

So, we would like to ask those of you who are dedicated to uplifting these missionary needs in prayer to check our site regularly for the requests and the updates. You do NOT need to have the "gift" of prayer, or the "gift" of lovely speech. You do NOT need to devote hours of unending "quiet time" with the L-RD in order to ask for His mercies and providence. All we ask is that you check back from time to time for updates and send up a sincere prayer from a humble heart in the few moments it takes to make a couple of mouse clicks. He WILL hear you. Plus, as well as blessing the missionaries and the heart of the L-RD, YOU can experience the blessing of prayer and the wonder of the power it has as you see the immediate feedback straight from the fields!

*Special note to our missionaries: Feel free to send your requests and updates to: leitefam@yahoo.com Please remember to specify if they are public (we can post them here under protected names and/or countries, if needed) or private (just for Al and Rachel to pray).

BE BLESSED!