A Day with Stefanny

Since we were already going to Brazil for Carla and Arnaldo's wedding, we decided that it would be a good opportunity to visit our Compassion International sponsored children. We have 3 in Brazil. This was Keith's first time to visit a sponsored child, but my third time. You can read about my visit to Sindy in Peru here and here. I also visited Tayrinne and Kaio in Brazil in 2002... long before I had a blog! You'll hear more about Kaio later, but here's a picture of Tayrinne.

We flew to Fortaleza, where Kaio and Grasiele live, the morning after Carla and Arnaldo's wedding. (That was rough--only 2 hours of sleep!) Luckily we had a couple of days to recover before we met Stefanny on Wednesday.

Sunset in Fortaleza

Stefanny lives in Recife, which is relatively close, but far enough so she had to come by plane... the first time for her and her two companions!

After we met Stefanny, her aunt (Marimercia), and her project director (Elisiane) at the airport, we went to the beach. This was a good ice-breaker, since Stefanny is very shy. Swimming and playing on the beach were the things to do.

After lunch, we did some origami together.

Then we asked if she wanted to swim again? No. Play on the beach? No. Bury you in the sand? No. Bury Keith in the sand? She giggled. We took that as a yes.

After that, we buried her in the sand AND went swimming. Everything needs to be in the proper order, I guess.

We went to the mall to sit, enjoy the air conditioning, have coffee and ice cream, and talk. Stefanny fell asleep (having left home at 5:00 a.m.), so we talked to Marimercia and Elisiane about Stefanny's family and the project.

Keith decided to do some origami too.

Then we went to the airport, prayed for Stefanny, and said goodbye. It was a very good, very long day.