Fwd: Wishing you all a blessed 2014

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Adriana Ribeiro

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Jan 1, 2014, 6:43:17 PM1/1/14

to tue_bib...@googlegroups.com, anneke...@onsnet.nu, Frans Visscher, Egbert en Carlien

Subject: Wishing you all a blessed 2014

Dear Family and Friends (Família e Amigos)

After 25 ½ (+4) years of self-imposed work / mission / technological exile we returned to Brazil for good – what a change, particularly considering this stage in life when our natural desire is to settle down and retire.

We moved to Itajubá, a relatively small town in the south of Minas Gerais, only 3 hours away from Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo. The World Cup next June is a pure coincidence - - trust me - - - but I would call it providence :-)

Paulo took a position at the Federal University of Itajubá (where here is the technical lead for a newly created Institute for Smart Grids) and Adriana returned to full-time work as a medical doctor as part of a newly created Federal Government Program called Mais Médicos para o Brazil (More Doctors for Brazil - intended to bring medical care to needy communities around the country) - she serves at Santa Rosa (as the only GP), a nearby community of about 7,000 people.

We have bought a lovely piece of land and are starting to prepare the terrain for constructing our Narnia retreat. Right now we are taming the land and planting all kinds of fruit trees, flowers and vegetables.

The children and grandchildren are doing great:

Ana, Sony, Valeska e Alexandra are in Port-au-Prince and facing the challenges peculiar to Haiti.

Pri, Daniel, Zeke and now Eliel are in Phili for a while as they prepare to return to Angola in the new future.

Adriana, Matt, Bella, Benny, Liliana and now Amelia moved to Michigan and have a nice place for the kids to play and grow.

Ruth moved to Phili and is adjusting again to life in the USA after time in Scotland and the Netherlands. We had a great family reunion in the USA in July and plan on another one in the next couple of years.

We attend a Presbyterian Church and help with a mission Sunday School at a community nearby and also cooperate with with the local Intervarsity group. Paulo has also started organizing a local CS Lewis Discussion Group.

Let us keep in touch and supporting each other in prayer.

Blessings to you all in 2014

Paulo and Adriana

"The thing you long for summons you away from the self. Even the desire for the thing lives only if you abandon it. This is the ultimate law—the seed dies to live, the bread must be cast upon the waters, he that loses his soul will save it. But the life of the seed, the finding of the bread, the recovery of the soul, are as real as the preliminary sacrifice. Hence it is truly said of heaven ‘in heaven there is no ownership. If any there took upon him to call anything his own, he would straightway be thrust out into hell and become an evil spirit.’ But it is also said ‘To him that overcometh I will give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it’ [Revelation 2:17]. What can be more a man’s own than this new name which even in eternity remains a secret between God and him? And what shall we take this secrecy to mean? Surely, that each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the Divine beauty better than any other creature can. Why else were individuals created, but that God, loving all infinitely, should love each differently? And this difference, so far from impairing, floods with meaning the love of all blessed creatures for one another, the communion of the saints. If all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the Church triumphant would have no symphony, it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note."CS Lewis

PS - For images of what happened in 2013 see the blogs:

Taming the Land - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/12/domando-terra.html

Intervarsity Retreat - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/11/convivencia-jovens-primeira-igreja.html

Contruction of Cair Paravel - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/10/cair-paravel-under-construction.html

Lovely Weekend - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/10/the-true-nature-of-nature.html

Adriana Returns to Medicina - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/09/usb-de-santa-rosa-itajuba.html

Family Reunion July 1 – http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/07/family.html

Family Reunion July 2 - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/07/family-2-of-children-and-zoo.html

Family - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/07/grand-kids-crown-of-life.html

Vancouver 1 - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/07/vancouver-view-from-grouse-mountain.html

Vancouver 2 - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/07/vancouver-ieee-pes-gm.html

Mission Sunday School - http://2narniabound.blogspot.com.br/2013/07/a-special-morning-com-sanfoneira-de.html