Dia das Crianças

We talk a lot about how lucky we are, how much we have, how much God has blessed us.  It's one of the beauties of being here...our blessings are very visable to our children here.  There is a dirty but sweet little girl who comes to our gate regularly to ask for food.  When D played over at a friend's house, he reported that it was fun, "but she doesn't have very many toys."  We went on a visit to a nearby orphanage, and discussed anew of our blessings (a mom AND a dad!)  We are grateful that we are Americans.  While we are grateful for this experience, we are also grateful that we will someday be going home.  We are grateful for eachother, for DaddyHealy's job, for our things, our toys, our bank account, our cupboards full of food.  We try to teach the children to share what God has blessed us with.  Overall, our children are learning day by day to be more grateful. At least that is my hope.

There was one day, however, when our children think it must be the best thing in all the world to be a Brazilian child.  Dia das Crianças.  "Children's Day" is in line with Mother's Day and Father's Day, and why not?  Children are what made us mothers and fathers after all!  The whole week of Children's Day turned out to be a Children's Week of sorts.  The icecream shop had different specials each day, the schools had ongoing celebrations.  With thier classes, D & M had picinics, popsicles, and carnivals complete with rides and cotton candy!  The whole week, and maybe the whole month, were spent celebrating children.  But this all ends with the best day of all, Children's Day, on which each child recieves a present from their parents (and if they are lucky, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, Godparents, and so on.)  Besides all that, since Dia das Crianças coincides with the Catholic/National holiday of the celebration of "Our Lady of Apparations," it is a day off school and work.  Our maid told me she always took her kids out for icecream and to the park, and of course gave them a present.  Even now, she gives her grown children chocolate for the holiday.

It reminded me of Christmas in the States in a way. Every store on mainstreet painted their windows and made displays of all the newest toys, advertising how many days until the holiday, and that credit was available.  At school the kids painted pictures of what they wanted.  Naturally, as they talked about it for weeks, they changed their mind repeatedly.

We debated.  We have enough stuff.  We have more than enough toys.  But this will be their only Dia das Crianças. (We arrived the day after last year, and we will move back before it comes around again.)  Besides, when they go back to school on Monday everyone will be talking about what they got.  In the end, we went with the whole "when in Rome" thing, which resulted in 3 very excited, and very surprised kids.