{"id":6366,"date":"2025-05-04T10:57:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T10:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/?p=6366"},"modified":"2025-06-05T08:38:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T08:38:57","slug":"familyy-update-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/?p=6366","title":{"rendered":"Family Update – April 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Donna:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalms 104:24 – O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been a lovely spring dance between showers and sunshine, orchestrated by the Creator of all things,\u00a0 and it is working together for good on behalf of the people, the land and the produce of this area! At the end of March the trees were beginning to blossom and now by the end of April they are bursting with leaves, branches\u00a0and promising firstfruits!! It has been good for us as we haven’t\u00a0had to do any watering\u00a0and we continue to replenish our water\u00a0 supply in the well and in the pond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Since we are planning a covered area for the caravan, we worked onn the concrete footings which will hold up the support posts. The complete\u00a0structure\u00a0should be put in place next month. In order to protect our greenhouse from flying away due to the severe wind storms we have experienced the past few months, wooden boards were made into a frame for three sides of the greenhouse. It has been beneficial as we can tie wire over the top and secure them to the wooden beams. We also made a small fence at the end of the grass area. A sand and brick pathway was added to the\u00a0 left side of the house for easy navigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside our cabin a\u00a0beautiful change took place . We built a custom made under sink cupboard. It is made of beautiful\u00a0wood and adds a\u00a0gorgeous touch to the\u00a0kitchen area. Mama is one happy mama and chef :)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 Easter was a blessed day as Easter always is! We worshipped and sang along with the local community in the church in Fund\u00e3o. In the afternoon we shared an Eastern Orthodox tradition with a neighbor from Belarus. Red Easter eggs are a significant symbol\u00a0representing the blood of Christ and the resurrection.Traditionally, the eggs are dyed red on\u00a0 Holy Thursday to signify the redeeming blood of Christ that was shed on the cross. The white egg, before being dyed, represents the white tomb where Christ’s body was laid after he was taken down from the cross, and the hard outer shell represents the sealed tomb of Christ. On Easter Sunday, there is a ritual of “cracking the eggs” , symbolizing the breaking of the tomb and the bonds of death, following Christ’s resurrection. Believers challenge one another by holding their egg firmly and cracking them against each other person’s egg until there is one winning egg which didn’t crack. The holder of that egg is deemed to have a wonderful year ahead of them! This custom is a means of greeting and presentation for Christian believers, foretelling the eternal life experience that awaits true believers after death. Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   April 9th was the day to celebrate sweet Aurora’s beginning of a new year of life!  She is growing ever so tall, ever so clever,  ever so loving!  Looking forward to seeing her again, hopefully this summer! Our dear Benjamin celebrated his birthday on April 25th! If you haven’t heard his new recording of “Flower of the Field” make sure you listen to it, out now on social media! It is an oldie goldie full of new nuances and great music! Congrats Ben!! We love listening to your songs over here on the other side of the planet!:)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 \u00a0We had a visit to the farm from Cristy, Nuno and Afonso over the weekend. Great weather was the key as little Afonso loved crawling around everywhere, engrossed in play with stones, sticks, leaves, sand and water. His is always bursting with energy to discover new things and enjoy the simplicity of nature. We do believe Cristy and Nuno had a fun and relaxing\u00a0weekend as well;) On the third day of their visit there was a total power blackout\u00a0in Portugal\u00a0 and Spain which lasted for about 12 hours. We were fine as we have solar power to run the water and lights, a generator for dark days or extra power and gas for cooking. We only felt the crunch when our phone and internet connections failed at around 4 pm. It is interesting\u00a0how much a part of our psyche is geared to being able to connect to anyone at any time and how\u00a0 estranged we felt,\u00a0 anxious to have it returned to service. Lord help us!\u00a0 We continue to keep our off grid infrastructures working and hopefully improve them. The EU is warning us we have to be ready for emergencies. Don’t we all…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praying for you all. Keep alert for the signs that tell us to be prepared forr ventual sudden changes. Mark 13:35-37<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the images of the month:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spring everywhere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Work, work, work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Inside the cabin – getting better<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Easter celebration with neighbours <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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– Orthodox tradition <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Cross in Fundao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Happy Aurora with family (Emanuel, Mandy, and Isabel) on her birthday \u00a0\u2665<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Benjamim – Happy Birthday \u00a0\u2665<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Great to have Nuno, Cristiana and Afonso at the farm – come again – anytime. \u00a0\u2665<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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planting trees at the farm \u00a0\u2665<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jay. Coach in action \u00a0\u2665<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Gloria in Italy \u00a0\u2665<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donna: Psalms 104:24 – O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. It has been a lovely spring dance between showers and sunshine, orchestrated by the Creator … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wordproject_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6366"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6405,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6366\/revisions\/6405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}