Little Manatee Made of Clay

(Victoria speaking)

So today we got to be tourists and go to a local "Hippie Fair" as the Parker family calls it. It is pretty much an open market in downtown Belem where hundreds of people just set up shop and sell whatever they like! It is a wonderful place to be all touristy and buy souvenirs. Charlie and I got to practice our Portuguese and buy some fancy Brazilian stuff!

But here’s the thing. I have a love/hate relationship with souvenir shopping; pretty much with shopping in general. I am always scared I will run out of money so then I don’t buy very much then have way too much money left over. On the other hand, I just want to buy all of the cool things too many people and then I run out of money. There is never a happy balance. Some people would call it “overreacting” but I really do freak out when I can’t buy things for ALL of my friends back home and for those who supported us to get to where we are. I really really really do not like disappointing people and this is just a straight shot to doing that. So today when we ran out of the money we had with us, it took everything in me not to be a downer the rest of the day.

I know many of you will say, “Oh don’t worry you didn't need to get me anything!” But really, I did. I want to show everyone how much I appreciate them and this was how I was going to do it. Then a thought popped into my head. Ready? This is gonna get all biblical on you.

How do you think God would react if I offered him a little Manatee made of clay (yes, I did get one of those) and said, “Thank you Lord for sending us here. Take this manatee as a token of my appreciation.” Ummmm no. God wants our love and admiration. He doesn’t want little souvenirs that would just collect dust in his beautiful, dustless house called Heaven. He wants us to love him with every piece of our being and then some. Why should I worry about not having enough things to give people when I can give them what really matters? Love.

So let me love you. (For those of you that just started singing the song, it’s okay, I did too.) But really! When I get back, I would LOOOOOVE to show a bit of my love for you by sharing our story. Let’s meet up for coffee/food/Filibertos and chat. I want to hear what has been going on in your life and of course share about our summer in Brazil! It’s the least I can do for all of you amazing people.     Also, if I apologize profusely for not getting you anything, I give you free reign to punch me.

Okay, thanks for listenin’ and maybe understanding. It made sense in my head and that’s what counts right? Whatevs. We leave in 3 days and that is just not okay. Not okay at all.