tudo certo

Things are pretty lovely here! My classes ended well and I've had a few days of vacation now. I've been sleeping A LOT. I've been distributing mass amounts of gifts and photos and my email address. I've been having fun sleepovers and saying my goodbyes to students, colleagues, and friends. I've been buying more small presents to bring home with me and playing triage so as to decide what's actually going to make it back with me and what's going to get tossed or offered to a friend here instead. One of the two hammocks I purchased in July went home today with one of the women who works in my house. ;) Today I also got my ears re-pierced, the former piercings having closed up a in accordance with my becoming a lazy, head-in-the-clouds college student. I'm enjoying this sweet time of transition and rest. God has blessed me in some unbelievable ways this week--I've really been blown away. Hopefully I will have a chance to share some of them on here before I commence my travelathon on Friday morning, but if not there will be plenty of time when I'm back in the Sunshine State!

If you would, please pray for my reentry into the United States. My visa here expires today, and I am not leaving for a couple more days, so I'm not sure exactly what complications that may bring. Also, I'm not yet feeling the pain that my students, colleagues, and friends here are feeling due to my leaving; I miss home right now and I don't think I will fully miss Brazil until I'm not longer in Brazil. That reality is quickly approaching, though. May I be sympathetic towards those I am leaving here, even if the hurt they are feeling hasn’t quite hit me yet, and may my soul find peace and rest despite the great multitude of change in the coming days.

Tchau,
Claire