This was only the second time she has competed, so we were proud when Leila won two third-place medals in crawl and butterfly at a regional meet this morning in Taubaté, a near-by city. I have more pictures, but here are four for you to enjoy.

The group from the SwimAmerica school poses outside the Taubaté Sports Club before entering.

Leila is ready to take on the cold water, since it's been very cold the last couple of days.

She's one second away from her butterfly competition.

Here, she takes third place in the butterfly competition.

Son Micah was supposed to have returned from music camp yesterday, and Grandpa and Grandma were to have delivered a new computer to him this morning. I thought either he or Mom might be on the net tonight, so we can have word of how the camp went. No sign of either thus far.

Vicki taught the ladies' meeting this afternoon, here at the house. The monthly meeting rotates among the women's homes, and this month for the first time in a long while it was held at our house. Usually, the host lady also teaches.

Afterwards, we all traipsed up to Jose Roberto and Lea's house where I baptized Ilma. She and Bete had been studying together -- the evangelistic series Glenn Robb and I put together back in 1985 -- and Ilma decided last night before the last study that she wanted to take the plunge.

The water was very cold. I had a bit of trouble talking, though I tried not to let the chill show. Ilma was not so practiced. She cried out after she got in the pool -- it was almost to her shoulders.

I did the baptism putting her head downward rather than laying her in the water backwards. Seems to work so much better and since there is no specific instruction how to do it, I've lately begun placing the face in the water. Any objections?

Well, daughter Leila, age 11, has said for some time she wants to study to prepare her for baptism. And she said on the way home she much preferred the laid-back method. So I'll respect that.

It's not that we go out so much, but the birthday boy or girl can choose the meal. Joel's birthday was June 12, Leila's the 16th, so they wanted an all-you-can-eat, bring it to the table meat lunch. This would-be vegetarian suffered for it.

Joel turned 17, Leila 11.

The couple is Otavio and Valeria, from the SJC church, and his mother Nadima. Good friends to share a happy moment.

Anesia comes Monday through Thursday and helps Vicki in the house. I was finally able to catch her on camera. She inherited our husky Yuri, when he got more than our space could handle.

He asked to go out to an all-you-can-eat pizza house. So we did -- it was fairly empty, weekday, night was young. (Brazilians eat around 8-9 p.m.) I think the boys lost count of the pieces they ate.

The best was the chocolate desert pizza with peaches and kiwi. Sometimes they put strawberries on 'em, but they weren't in season yet.