We've come a long way, baby!

Back in the 70's, after ther women's liberation movement, the Leo Burnette Ad Agency produced this ad slogan for Virginia Slims Cigarettes. It depicted a woman all bowed over carrying a big basket of laundry in raggedy clothes, all beaten down looking... like she was on her last leg because she had worked so hard for everyone else. This was suppose to be a depiction of what women of the past were like. Then this thin super-model looking chic in a business 'power suit' with a big smile on her face (depicting what women of the present supposedly look like) came on the screen with this cigarette between her fingers, like she had arrived. The slogan for the campaign was, "you've come a long way baby!" Do you remeber that? Well, today I thought of that slogan and I'll tell you why... a little over a month ago we came to Brazil, trusting God, to adopt 5 children that we had never met. When we first got them from the orphanage and brought them to Betania it was very challenging and there were times when we really questioned what we were doing (If you've been following our blog you know this.). Well that was then and this is now. Today Mary Jane, Michael, Matthew, Maryssa and my mother-in-law went to this thing called the Hippy Fair. It is a place downtown where on Sunday's they close down the street from 9am-1pm and all of these street vendors sell their stuff. My father-in-law and I stayed back at Betania with Marlon, Ana, Diogo, Gabriel and Robert. We took them to the park to let them play and at one point I went and sat down and just watched them. I then thought back to about 4 weeks ago. I was sitting in the exact same spot watching them. Man, what a difference. First of all nobody was taking their clothes off running around. Nobody was peeing outside. They were throwing their trash into the trash cans. There were no fights breaking out and the biggest thing... they were actually listening to me and following instructions! That may not sound like a big deal to you but this is huge. These kids were crazy in the beginning. They were like a pack of wild animals sent to torture me and my family. Sure, they were really cute but beyond that it was insane! I have litterally spanked more in the last month than in my entire 18 years as a parent combined . I'm not exaggerating either. But look at what the Lord has done! Michael actually told me today that it isn't really as bad as my blogs made things out to be. That's when I told him, "you weren't here in the beginning!" Things have really taken a turn over the last few weeks (excluding our day at court/doctor). It's almost like night and day. Don't get me wrong... it isn't perfect by any means. We still have a lot of stuff to work on... but we're no longer like that lady in the ad all beaten down, and bowed over. We're more like the super model all smiley and stuff... just without the cigarette! We've come a long way, baby!

Tomorrow we're going to be taking a city tour on a bus with the entire family. Pray for us! We're planning on going out to eat at a restaurant at the very end of the tour. It will be our first time eating out with all the kids so it should be interesting. I don't think any of the kids have ever been in a restaurant before so, like I said... Pray for us! Besides that, things are going good and we're counting down the days. We love you guys!

Love ya,

Jim and Mary Jane

Michael's here!

Michael made it safe and sound. We had Kevin (thanks again bro!), a friend of ours, take Matthew, Marlon and me down to the airport to meet him. It was so good to see his smiling face as he walked around the corner. Thank you for praying for him and a safe arrival. I was a little nervous because of all the issues we had when we flew here. But, God really gave him favor with his flights and with customs.

The kids love Michael! They we're following him everywhere today. It's awesome to finally have the entire family together. The kids were great today. We didn't have any issues which is good, because we don't want to freak Michael out this early in his visit. It was funny, at dinner (we were eating in shifts again tonight) it got kind of loud in the little kitchen area we were in. Michael walked in and then immediately did an about face and said, "there's a little too much going on in here for me," and left. Get use to it, buddy! Those quiet dinners at home are a thing of the past. Then a little while later, Maryssa came in and told us that she went into Michael's room and he was in bed. She said she asked him, "what are you doing?" And he said, I'm going to bed... then she said, "Michael, it's only 7:00!" He thought it was later. Welcome to the world of chasing around all these kids! Everything was good today though. Nothing outrageous happened. Although when we were outside Robert came up and had a big piece of gum in his mouth... the only problem was that none of us gave it to him! He found a peice of gum outside somewhere (used/previously owned of course) and was just chomping away. The funny thing was that we didn't take it away from him! He probably chewed it for a half an hour before he either swallowed it or spit it out somewhere for some other kid to find. What in the world has happened to us? We would never have let our kids do that a month ago. Oh well.

Something cool did happen today though. A group from church called Crossroads of Walton arrived today. They are staying here at Betania with us. It is a group of adults and teens that are ministering for a week in some of the schools and slum areas around Curitiba. Now, it would have been awesome enough just to have someone from the States here. But these folks are from the church that is literally at the entrance to our subdivision back in Georgia! One of the kids even lives in our neighborhood. Is that cool or what? I think we are going to join them Wednesday Night at one of their ministy events. This week will probably fly by having them and Michael here at the same time. Well, that's about it for the day. We love you guys and thanks again for praying for us. We can really feel it.

Love Ya!

All 10 Dunn's

I think I'm going crazy!

OK. If you read yesterday's blog, you know that it was probably the most difficult day we've had since we've been here (and that's saying alot, because there have been several.). And today had the potential to start off just as bad. I didn't get in bed until almost midnight. After I blogged, then I had to watch 2 episodes of The Office on my i-pod (I needed to laugh and that's my therapy) just to decompress from the day. So, I got to bed late. Well, Robert decided that 5:00am was a good time to wake up and start the day. Normally I would have been pretty grouchy about it but for some reason I decided to just roll with it. So, Mary Jane, Maryssa, Matthew, Robert and I got up and started our day. Robert always wakes up laughing and smiling so it's hard to be mad at such a cute kid (even though I was feeling sleep deprived). After about 45minutes Diogo woke up and came in the room. Shortly after that, him and Matthew

left the room. I really didn't care either because our room is pretty crowded and 2 less people is a blessing. After about 30 minutes I thought I should probably go and check to see what they were doing, because it was way too quiet. I noticed that the kitchen door was closed but I could here something going on inside. When I opened the door, Matthew was standing there tying little strips of plastic bags to this long thing that looked like a clothes line... in the kitchen! Diogo was standing up on top of a chair holding up one end of this long line of strips while Matthew tied them on. They had atleast 100 strips of plastic (that they cut themselves, out of grocery bags) tied to this line and it stretched from one end of the kitchen to the other. You see, those ghetto kites that I told you about yesterday won't fly unless you tie some type of tail to them. So they were just getting a head start on the day by making this big huge tail, that they woud later cut up and divide between all the siblings. We killed more time until breakfast, then we went to eat. After breakfast, we decided to let the older kids go out and fly their kites and MJ and I would keep the little ones inside and let them play with playdough. As I was sitting there, trying to act like I was interested in all the different shapes they were making (really I could care less, I was just trying to keep my eyes open because I desperately needed sleep... come on don't judge me, you can't tell me that you're always interested in every playdough shape your kid makes!), I noticed out of the corner of my eye that every time Gabriel smiled at me that there was a hint of blue on his tongue. So I asked him to stick his tongue out. Sure enough, there was a blue stripe right down the middle. Then it dawned on me... hey, he's got blue playdough, duh! He had eaten enough of his playdough that it had turned his tongue blue. I immediately panicked and scooped him up in my arms and we rushed off to the hospital, gently brushing his hair with my fingers, I reassured him that everything was going to be OK.... yeah, right... I'm kidding! Actually, I laughed so hard because this kid puts everything in his mouth and will eat absolutely anything, it's scary. Then I went and got my camera and took a picture. How much playdough do you have to eat before it changes the color of your tongue anyway? We actually played with the playdough all morning. We made all kinds of stuff with it. MJ even rolled a big ball of it up and then she sunk 3 of her fingers into it to make a bowling ball. She then fished some bottles out of the trash and used them for bowling pins. The kids loved it. And yes, as you can tell we are still bored. Anyway, it was time for lunch and I was pumped. You see, after lunch my father-in-law was going to take all the big kids to this park 45 minutes away and our friend Carla was going to take MJ, Maryssa and my mother-in-law shopping. This left me here alone with Robert and Gabriel and both of them always take naps after lunch... you know what that means? I get to take a nap after lunch! I was so happy. So, I put them down for their nap and I layed across the bed. I thought I would get a little reading in before I dozed off (I'm reading The Church in the Workplace, by C. Peter Wagoner. It's pretty good. You have to read to lead as my Pastor says). As I was laying there reading I started to think... man, I wish the 2 little guys were up so we could hang out. What? Did I just think that???? That's why I think I'm going crazy. Why wasn't I more concerned with getting in a quick nap? I was definitely tired. Then it hit me. I love my sons. I want to be with them and play with them and just have fun together. It's amazing how the Lord can light something inside of you that nobody else can. Because that's what He's done. You see, even yesterday in the midst of all that chaos, I was thinking about the what if's. What if I got arrested and put in jail for disciplining my children in public? What if they took the kids away from us because we actually believe that spanking a child is OK? The feeling that came over me wasn't good. These are our kids! We love them as our own. There is no way that we could be without them. Well, as I was laying there wishing they would wake up... I saw the handle on the door start to move very slowly. Was I hallucinating because I was so tired? No! It was Gabriel! I motioned for him to come up on the bed with me and we just hung out and waited for Robert to wake up. Then when Robert got up we went downstairs to play soccer. After that we decided to walk down to the store and get a popsicle... just the 3 of us! It was so relaxing. But here's another reason why I think I must be going crazy... I was really wishing all the rest of the family was back. Why wasn't I just enjoyng a relaxing day? Am I a glutton for punishment? Do I like the fact that when we're all together there's always some argument to break up or some kid to chase or a face to wipe, or... I think you get the point. When Mary Jane got back she asked me if I was able to relax and I told her about what happened. She definitely thought I was crazy for not sleeping and for actually missing all the drama that is 'our family.' But it's hard to explain. When I first heard that we were going to have to be here for 46 days to co-habitate with our children, I thought it was going to be a waste of time... we could do the same thing at home, right? But I believe that something special has happened over the last month... our hearts have been knitted together with our kids in an awesome way. We can't wait for you to meet them. Call me crazy, but I'm glad we've experienced EVERYTHING that we've experienced here.

Michael made it to Miami and should be boarding a plane for Sau Paulo in about 20minutes. He will fly all night and we will pick him up at 10:00am tomorrow. We can't wait to see him. Thank you so much for letting me rant today. God is really doing some amazing things on the inside of Mary Jane and I... I just hope that it translates well through the blog.

Love Ya!

Jim and Mary Jane

My wife is a prophetess.

It started out as a pretty good day. We got to sleep until 7:30 or so, we ate breakfast, my father-in-law took all the big kids to this little convenient store and all the kids got kites. These kites are so ghetto! They only cost .30 each and the string is less than a dollar. The kids love them. They are litterally made out of tissue paper... the exact kind that you use in gift bags! They only last a little while but it's one of those activities that keeps the kids busy for a few hours so it's worth it. Then we ate lunch and then we started getting the kids ready for our last appearance at the courthouse. We had to time everything perfectly so that we could keep the kids clean until our adoption liason arrived to pick us up at 1:30. He arrived about 5 minutes late and as he was pulling the car around... that's when it happened. Mary Jane prophesied... "I have a feeling that what we're about to do is going to give you plenty of material to blog about tonight." I didn't pay much attention to her because I'm a guy and that's my job. But as the afternoon started to unfold I could see that what she said was all coming to pass.

Before I go on, let me give you some background info. In Brazil you aren't allowed to spank children. Not even in the privacy of your own home. They say that it is abuse. So, to spank a child in public is definitely a no no. Secondly, keeping our kids clean for any time past 30 minutes is virtually impossible. If there is a puddle they will find it. If there is a small patch of dirt they will walk through it. We have to keep a bib on Robert if we want to keep the front of his shirt dry for more than 10minutes because he is a world class slobberer! So, just the stress of trying to keep them looking good for court was enough to have most parents reaching for the prozac much less what we were in for. When we got to court we had to climb 8 flights of stairs because the line for the elevators was almost out the door! I know that I look like I'm in shape (round is a shape!) but that's a lot of stairs when you've got a 2 year old on your shoulders and you're holding the hand of your 4 year old. To make matters worse, Diogo (our family prankster) thought it would be funny to turn the lights off as he he reached the top of each flight and make monster noises to scare the rest of his siblings. Normally this would be encouraged (because it is funny) but when your parents are out of breath and feeling dizzy because of all the stairs, you just don't want to deal with that. When we finally made it to the top, we had to wait in this narrow hallway... with no air conditioner... and only 3 chairs. There were 7 of us! What's up with the chair shortage??? It wasn't because other people were in the other chairs either... there were only 3 chairs! As our liason told us to wait we all scrambled to try and be the first to plop down in one of the chairs. Then whoever made it first had to have someone on their lap... and if you were lucky you could have 2 kids on your lap. Wow, this is awesome. As we sat there each minute seemed like hours. After about 20 minutes of sitting in this tiny, hot hallway with kids trying to escape and whining and touching the lights and teasing each other and touching each other and complaining about the heat and asking for water and moving from one lap to another and... I think you get the picture... we were about to lose it. Remember what I said about not being allowed to spank your kids? Well, I think all Brazilian kids are given this information in school or something because our kids would not obey at all! They were acting like I've never seen them act. I'm convinced that they knew we couldn't discipline them in public and that is why they were acting this way. So, being the guy that I am (now remember we're not only in public, we're in a courthouse) I wasn't going to let some little kid get the best of me. I looked down the hall and didn't see anyone coming and swatted one of them on the butt because they wouldn't sit down. His eyes got real big... he couldn't believe Dad spanked in public! Then someone walked by and went into a room right next to us and another kid tried to turn off the lights for the 15th time so I looked around and the coast was clear so I coughed real loud and swatted at the same time ( I was in stealth mode now! ). This basically lasted and hour and 10 minutes! This may not seem like a long time to you but for us it was an eternity! Finally, the judge called us in... not into his courtroom but into his office. Now, his office had real nice leather chairs, all kinds of decorations from different countries, a lot of glass stuff everywhere... this was not a childproof environment! We all sat down and the kids were real calm at first as the judge and the D.A. spoke with them, then once the kids were comfortable they all started acting out again... touching stuff, jumping up and down on the furniture, getting up and taking things off his desk! Was this really happening? What was this judge thinking for bringing us into his office for this long of a time period? Was it a test? I don't know but I wanted out. Robert was all over the place touching everything even though I was saying, "NO!" He walked over to this small glass table that had this very expensive looking African statue on it and hit it just enough for the statue to rock back and forth and... whew! Mary Jane caught it just in time! It was crazy. The kids knew that even though I was brave, there was no way that Dad was going to spank them in front of the judge! There was no stealth mode spanking gonna happen in this office... you can believe that! The judge just kept talking and talking and talking. Was this really happening? Was this just a bad dream? Was Allen Funt going to jump out from around the corner and say, "smile, you're on candid camera?" Finally after about 30 minutes we were free to go. We then went next door to the courthouse and all the kids got there picture taken for their passports. This went fairly smooth except when it came time to pay... it cost us 120 reas!

Now, we were off to the doctor for their shots. By this time we were so frustrated with all the kids for not obeying us at the courthouse that we were glad that they were going to get stuck with a needle! And we hoped that the doctor used the biggest needle in his arsenal too! Just kidding... well, maybe not. When we got to the clinic, we were the only ones there. Everything was nice and neat... it was very quiet... then, BAM! Within 2 minutes of our arrival, all the toys were all over the place and it was so noisey, because of our kids, that you couldn't think! I looked at Mary Jane and told her I didn't care because maybe this will motivate the staff to get us out of there quicker. To make a very long story short... our children received a total of 17 shots between them! Robert had 5, Gabriel 4, Marlon 4, and Diogo and Ana had 2 each. You can imagine all the crying that went on as each child received their shots. We had to go in with them and hold them while they got each one. Mary Jane went in with Ana and I went back with all the boys. The way they made me hold them was like something you would see in a UFC cage match. They were not happy! To say that this was a stress filled day would be an undertatement! Then it came time to pay the bill... are you ready? 1,670 reas! That's over $1,000 American! What! You've got to be kidding me! OK Lord. Did we really sign-up for this!

When we got back to Betania all of the kids had meltdowns. just put it this way... it wasn't pretty. I even had to discipline Marlon, which was hard because I hadn't had to really do that yet. He was so mad with me that he said, "he wanted to go back to the orphanage!" I was so ticked off. My flesh wanted to say, "OK, there's the door!" "How dare you not be appreciative of all the things we've sacrificed for you!" But I wasn't going there. I had my father-in-law come in the room (to translate) with just the 2 of us and I told Marlon that he was my son. I wasn't going to let him go back to the orphanage. We were a family, period. By the time it was all over, we were able to hug and kiss each other. I think he realizes that MJ and I are serious about them and we are committed to them, regardless of how they act. We then brought all our new kids into the Sala (living room) and we had our first family meeting. My father-in-law translated for us and we explained that we were very disappointed in the way that they acted today. We told them that we loved them but we weren't going to tolerate that kind of behavior. They all said they understood then one of the kids said, "I think this would be a good time to hug now." So, we did. Man, what a day. This was probably the hardest day yet. Today's blog couldn't begin to explain the stress that we all experienced. But one thing... there was no quit in us. I even explained to our liason today that even though times may get tough, just knowing that this was a God idea and not a Mary Jane and Jim idea... it makes all the difference in the world. We know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and that He will complete the work that He has started in us. No matter what.

Well that's it for now. Michael will be flying from ATL to Miami standby tomorrow, so pray for favor. He just needs to be in Miami by 6:30pm for his flight to Brazil. We can hardly wait to see him. Oh yeah, we were told by our liason today that net week we have to take all of the kids to the passport office. He told us that it will probably take 2-3 hours inside the office! I can hardly wait! Hopefully Mary Jane will prophesy something positive this time... I guess we'll have to wait and see?

Love ya,

Stressed Out in Brazil

"What they don't know won't hurt them."

Have you ever hid anything from your kids? If you're a parent you probably have, right? Have you ever 'NOT' told your child it was their birthday? Well, today was Gabriel's birthday and he didn't have a clue! So, we didn't say anything. He turned 4 years old today and he doesn't even know it. Now before you start judging us and talking bad about us, let me explain... 3 of the kids have birthdays this week. We had planned on celebrating them on their respective days, the April 2nd for Gabriel, April 4th for Diogo and April 7th for Ana (did the government pick these dates out of a hat so that they would have something to put on the birth certificates?). So, we bought presents while we were at home in Atlanta and put them in the suitcase that Michael was bringing. He was suppose to have been here this week. But when he heard how much 'fun' we were having here, he begged us to shorten his stay to 1 week rather than 2. He will be arriving on Saturday with all the gifts (from dollar tree of course, so at least we can throw them away before we head home!) so we will celebrate all the birthdays then. Now that you know the story behind why we didn't tell him it was his birthday, I'll move ahead with the story... he was so sweet today and we felt bad for not telling him. Gabriel is almost always smiling and laughing. He has this little squeaky voice that is very funny to listen to and he is always on the move doing something. One thing I can say about Gabriel is that he is definitely entertaining. He is constantly doing something that makes you say, "what in world is he thinking?" I was sitting in the Sala (a sort of living room area) this morning and he walked up to me and pulled my face down to his like he was wanting to give me a kiss ( he is very affectionate and this happens several times a day.) so I bent down and puckered up. All of the sudden I felt what I thought was his tongue touching my lips! So, I jumped back and kind of yelled, "hey?" Then Maryssa busted out laughing and said Dad, look... so I looked and Gabriel was sitting there with his lips puckered up with a lolly pop (just the candy part, no stick) protruding from his lips! He had pulled the candy off the stick and had it in his mouth and tried to pass it into my mouth! I don't know what is worse his tongue or candy that has been in his mouth for a while? Anyway this was one of those times where you ask yourself, "what in the world was he thinking?" About an hour later I was by myself in the Sala with Robert and Gabriel. My father-in-law had taken all the other kids on a long walk to the park. Mary Jane was in the bedroom cleaning and it was my turn to watch the 2 little guys. I was sitting there kind of in a daze not really paying attention to what was going on, when I looked down on the floor and I noticed Gabriel and Robert taking turns putting chap stick on (we had just given Gabriel his own chap stick - root beer flavored- yesterday in his goody bag at our ghetto easter egg hunt). As I continued to watch them (you can see the pictures I posted) not only were they applying it to their lips... they started applying it to their cheeks and foreheads. Rather than stopping them I decided to take this opportunity to conduct a little experiment, by seeing how far this thing would go. After about 20 minutes of passing this rootbeer flavored chap stick back and forth they started to eat it! It was an amazing sight to see your 2 youngest sons sharing so well! One would take a little bite then he would pass it to the other who would take a bite. This went on until they had pretty much consumed the entire stick! As I sat there watching I began to wonder... am I being responsible as a parent by letting them do this? I don't know about all that, but it sure was funny! And besides that it killed about an hour of the time that I was suppose to be watching them! By the way, if anyone out there needs a babysitter... I'm available LOL! After they finished eating an entire tube of chap stick it was time for lunch. So, we went down to the cafeteria and ate (FYI, chapstick isn't very filling because these 2 little guys ate a ton at lunch). the big kids got back with Papa and then we went to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. And that is what our day consisted of... exciting, huh? Who needs a birthday party with all that excitement going on? Man, am I ready to get home.

Tomorrow's the big day... our last day of court and doctor visits. Michael is coming in 3 days and we can't wait for him to meet his new brothers and sister. That's about all for today. I can't wait until the 4th so we can 'NOT' tell another one of our kids it's their birthday! Thanks again for praying for us. We truly love and miss all you guys.

Love ya,

Jim, Mary Jane and Gabriel - who doesn't know he's 4

Money Cometh!

I've always wanted to say that. It sounded just like Leroy Thompson too! If you've ever heard him preach that message you know what I'm talking about (you can only understand about every 5th or 6th word of anything he says, try and google it if you can.) No we didn't pull any lever(again, you've got to hear the sermon to understand)... Mary Jane had this cool idea for Easter that we didn't get to do because there were too many other kids around and we didn't want to exclude anyone. It's just like an easter egg hunt except there are no eggs. It's our ghetto version of an easter egg hunt... we took brazilian coins (centovos) and hid them outside where we take the kids to play everyday. There were over 60 coins but it didn't even equal $2.00 American, so this was a very cost effective activity. My mother-in-law and Mary Jane went outside and hid these coins all over the place. We then took all the kids out and explained what we were going to do. They were so excited. We lined them up and then said, "go!" They all took off like a crazy mob of shoppers at Christmas when the doors open at one of those early bird sales! There was no way that you wanted to be in front of them. Gabriel was the first to find one. He was so happy and was jumping up and down saying something in his little sqeaky voice in Portuguese. When are these kids going to speak English, anyway?... Back to the story... rather than all traveling in a pack they decided to split up and go different directions (this was wisdom in action) and they all started to find coins. This lasted for about 40minutes. It was so quiet and peaceful with just the occational shouts of joy when someone found one. They were so persistant in their search. Even though what they were searching for didn't really add up to alot... they were excited about looking and finding these coins. My wife is a genius. To be honest with you I thought this was a horrible idea when she told me. I even told my father-in-law, when we were going down stairs for the event, that I wanted to go on record as saying this was a bad idea. I really thought that the older ones were going to find way more than the younger and that there were going to be fistfights, crying and a lot of spitting going on because someone was going to feel cheated and throw a temper tantrum. It didn't happen. Not even close. They were actually excited for each other when the others found one. I think we as adults could learn a lesson from this. How many times have we seen someone else get blessed and rather than rejoicing with them, we felt cheated and threw a adult sized temper tantrum and said, why didn't I get that? You know what I mean, don't you? It's easy to fall into that junk. Anyway, after the big ghetto easter egg hunt (without the easter eggs) we gave each kid a big bag of candy and toys that was filled just for them. You know, easter toy stuff... the kind of toys that you purchase at dollar tree and if they last more than 45minutes it's a miracle...? They all sat there and stuffed their faces with candy for litterally an hour. My mother-in-law asked me if we should tell them to slow down and eat some later. I told her to let them eat it until they puked because they weren't bothering me right now (this was the first break I had all day!). Well, they ate pretty much all of it and nobody puked. Then we played soccer for a couple more hours and the day was finished. Another day closer to coming home. Praise God!

We have a big day on Thursday. We have to take all the kids to court to see the D.A. for the finalization of the adoption and then we go and get their shots. After that we go to get their passport photos. It's getting close to the end...wow!

Thanks again for following our journey through this blog. I hope that it encourages someone out there to keep on doing what God has called you to do, no matter how difficult it seems. And don't forget to laugh along the way... because it sure beats crying. Well it's time for bed so that's all for now. I think I'm going to wake up in the morning and tell the kids I hid money while they were sleeping... maybe that will buy me a few minutes of free time and they'll leave me alone???

Love Ya,

Jim