Cousins

Since we have been here, we have had time to spend with cousins which we haven't seen in a long time... And no, I had nothing to do with Kevin's arm. The one to Kevin's right is Stanley, and the two on the outside are...well...my brothers (don't tell anyone we're related, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese).

Joshua is actually a first cousin once removed or something similar. My cousin, seated behind, did not want a picture taken, hence the strategically placed child. The cousin, whose identity will not be revealed, does NOT have a name that starts with a J and DEFINITELY does NOT end with ESSICA, and her last name is NOT a city which might be the capital of Peru.....

Now I'm in trouble. Anyway, she won't find out.......... I hope...

Somewhere in Mato Grosso

For those who don't know, our family is in Mato Grosso.....lost in the thick, humid jungle, searching for a way out... OK, not really, but it was worth a try.....
We're actually re-visiting family, doing some sightseeing, and........doing some sightseeing. We recently went to the Pantanal. It had been forever since our last visit, and we had fun seeing the animals, tearing up our car on the road (make note of the commas, otherwise what I just said means something completely different), things like that.......
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, then I've got... let's see... 15000 words in one post... plus whatever else I wrote... It's enough for now.

Water Buffalo

This bird is a tuiuiú (or something like that).

Piranha

A Macaw and a Pastor

Capibara

Some huge lily pads

And a sunset.....

Fourth of July Pictures

Here are the 4th of July pictures (from our 4th of July celebration, of course). The only thing we didn't have were fireworks (sigh).

The Fourth of July

Hey everyone! It's Independence Day!
Just thought I'd wish everyone a Happy 4th of July. I'll probably have some pictures later on of our celebration. We won't have any fireworks this year though. So remember us, suffering here without fireworks snif snif...... all right, I'm kidding...
Anyway, remember to thank God today for the freedom He has given us, and remember those who gave their all so that we might have freedom.
Happy Fourth of July!!!

     Well, I'm finally getting to my blog again. It seems like the days when I have nothing to do are the days when I don't want to do anything, so I haven't gotten around to the blog sooner (even though I'm on "vacation").
     I haven't been doing much lately, so there isn't much to write about. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I have been giving free guitar classes to some people of our church. Maybe I'll get some pictures of my students so you can see them. I've also been working on banners for our missions conferences in November and our VBS in January. Gotta get a head start. Really, I love designing banners and stuff like that, but I don't know why.

     My biggest piece of news is my dad's birthday, which was yesterday. We had a cake here and one at the church. That's a lot of cake for one day.

This is the cake that Hannah made. I don't have any pictures of the one at the church.

     That's about all that's happened lately besides the civil case that's going on. Be sure to pray for us about that. I'll be back again, probably later than sooner . Oh well...   

Another Update (Oh, Boy...)

Well, it's been a while since I've picked up the pen (metaphorically speaking) and sat down to give an update to the few patient people who are (amazingly) still with me ( I don't blame those who aren't. I mean, I don't even read my own blog. Oh well............

We are finishing up our school year. Actually, everyone has just finished. And of course, I got done with my school year first, and was promptly rewarded with the official title of Sir Leaf-Master, Raker of the Yard. Funny how things turn out. Well, when I'm not working (in the yard or elsewhere) I am either reading, planning things for the new movie about to be produced by PD Productions and Pointless Pictures, Inc., or creating planets and blowing them up with the trial version of Adobe After Effects CS6 I downloaded. That's a pretty cool program by the way, but hard to use. There really is no point in blowing up planets, but hey, people already say that I'm weird. Can't do much to change it now.

Really, it's amazing that, looking back on all that I've just written, all it is is a whole lot of nothing, and, since I'm in a philosophical mood, I ask myself, "Philip (that's me), how many times do you do that in your own life, wasting time on something that seems important but it turns out to be something of no value (like blowing up planets)?" And if I think about that for a while, I can remember many times when I've done that. Let's see...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12..............................When I figure it out I'll tell you. I'm no Einstein so it might take a while. If it's that way though, I'm also no Plato, Columbus, Cortes, Edison, Ford, Fulton, or Lincoln either, so that narrows myself down to.......about one person.

Anyway, I've got to take out the trash right now, so I'll see you later. Good grief, I sound like I'm talking on the phone (by the length it looks more like I made a speech).

Well, I'll sign off now.
Philip Doolittle, over and out.

Down Came the Rain and Washed the People Out...

This year our river nearly reached a record height. It has hardly stopped raining this rainy season, and there were places which had never been flooded before but now were covered with water. Some cities in our state had a great number of people who lost their homes.

 Free Wi-Fi, anyone?