Zo⋅e - noun - “a female given name: from a Greek word meaning ‘life.’”Our first cat in Brazil was “given” to us while we still lived in Niterói. It was a very hot summer day (around 100*) and we heard the “mew, mew” of a tiny kitten voice. We discovered a little baby cat, barely old enough to have his eyes open. He had been placed into a shoe box and abandoned at front of our gate. Sharon said that we would keep the kitten just long enough to get it healthy and then give it away. I knew better! We fed him by dropper, then bottle fed him until he grew into a beautiful healthy cat. By this time, Sharon couldn’t let him go, he’d become part of the family. We had a friend once tell us that, “you own a dog and feed a cat”, this was true of Furby. Furby adopted me and he was “my cat”.When we moved from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro, we took special care of Furby so that he’d feel welcome and adapt to his new environment. He did well and was soon prowling the neighborhood as if he was the lion and this new territory was the Sub-Sahara of Africa. We’d had him fixed years earlier, so we weren’t worried about any “little Furby’s” out there creating mischief. One day, Furby went outside and never came back. I was saddened! Furby was my cat and I missed him terribly. One neighborhood lady told us that she thought that a group of stray dogs killed our cat at the end of the street. She thought that she had seen a dead cat that looked likes ours’ out on the corner. How sad!A little over a year ago we were given a kitten and we chose the name “Zoe”. Now, my wife Sharon was reared to be a cat hater. It’s not her fault, she seemed to have been born that way. She was genetically predisposed to not like cats! Her father is a cat hater and he taught her well. She tolerated Furby, but Furby wasn’t hers. This however was not the case with Zoe!Zoe was given to us my some school mates of Priscila’s. Priscila knew the mother cat and had made arrangements for us to get fist pick when the kittens were ready to leave their mom. Zoe was a precious lovable kitten who didn’t know that Sharon was supposed to be a cat hater. Zoe was very demonstrative in her affection and she demanded affection from Sharon. She would often follow Sharon around the house as Sharon was doing house cleaning. If Sharon took a nap, Zoe had to be in the same room, occasionally in our bed.About three weeks ago, Zoe started getting sick. We originally thought that Zoe was just trying to purge a massive hair ball, but after further examination it was discovered that Zoe had what is called “Feline Leukemia (FeLV)”. Here in Brazil, cats found with this disease are not immediately put to sleep, but are allowed to try to live as long as the disease does not progress beyond possible care. We were deeply saddened by this diagnosis. We discovered after doing some research on the web and speaking to our veterinarian, that we could try to extend Zoe’s life, but that ultimately this disease will kill her. After a week of trying to help Zoe get somewhat better the veterinarian said that Zoe was anemic, would not be getting better and that would have to be put to sleep.Zoe means life! We were blessed to have this cute furry bundle of life with us for around a year. Jesus is recorded as saying "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10b) We are grateful that it is Jesus who gives us life and that we can completely put our trust in Him. Please pray for Sharon as she grieves over the loss her “her cat”.
Sharon and I are trying to complete the necessary medical questionnaires for us to be able to be medically approved once we complete our upcoming Stateside Assignment (called STAS - I still prefer to call it "furlough"). Because of this health questionnaire, there are some questions that we did not know the answer to, so we made some calls to our parents in the States. I think that I understand the basic reasons why the questionnaires, especially for the missionaries, are so extensive. But I still don't like doing them. Well, because of this questionnaire, I called my dad to get some family history information. My dad turned 85 and my mom 84 in February. During our last furlough my dad had to have colon cancer surgery. I was attending a missions conference in Texas when I was told about dad's surgery and was able to change my flights and be there with my mom and dad during dad's surgery and recovery. It was a time that I was glad that I was able to be a part of. Living in Brazil limits me from most of these life changing events. Yesterday, when talking to dad, he gave me the information that I needed for the questionnaire and some information that I am still trying to process. Dad said that the doctors have discovered that he has another cancer in his colon. He said that on May 10th he will undergo another surgery. He told me that without the surgery he will probably live about a year. This was information that a part of me never wanted to hear. The reality that my dad is finite and that some day he too may no longer be living really hit me hard! I realized that I am feeling very selfish right now. I want my dad to live until he's at least 100! I realized something else as well. My wife, Sharon, lost her mother to cancer during our first furlough (June 1998). As I was feeling sorry for myself, realizing the finality of my father, my wife has had to deal with her loss of her mother for almost 10 years now. Sharon's daddy also has been sick with emphysema for several years and she has had to deal with the struggle of her sick daddy living on the other side of the hemisphere and being powerless to be there anytime that she wanted. Please pray for Sharon's dad (Jay) and mine (Dick) as they face the finality of their lives and as we face the reality of having to let them go. Pray also for us as we begin preparing for returning to the States for our next STAS (aka "furlough") which will begin in late June of this year. Thank you for your prayers. Jeff Renard - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sixteen years ago I caught a precious gift. Sixteen years ago, Sharon was in labor with our third child. We have always been parents who didn't want to know the sex of our children before they were born. With Wesley, the first born, he came on his due date. Everything about him was textbook delivery. I was her Lamaze Coach, I was there faithfully encouraging her to (as Bill Cosby said) "push 'em out, shove 'em out, way out!". Naaman was a bit more of a challenge and required the help of Petucin to help be delivered. A couple of years later we were pregnant with baby number three.We have a dear friend and medical doctor who delivered Naaman. So, with baby number three, of course we called in the best! In between contractions I was out getting a very quick cup of coffee. Our doctor friend was sitting at the nurse's station, also drinking coffee, when I asked him if I could help catch this one. I wasn't sure how this question was going to go over, but our doctor was totally open to my suggestion. Totally with the doctor's help, I dressed and gloved up and the rest, as they say, is history.Well, here we are sixteen years later and I have to admit, that for a person who is athletically challenged, it was the best catch I've ever made!Happy 16th Birthday, Willa-Ann Marie Renard
Hello once again from Rio de Janeiro. I wanted to give those of you who are praying for us a quick update on my trip to Aracruz, Espirito Santo.
A couple of months ago, Pr. Luciano (pastor of the First Baptist Church of Aracruz, Espirito Santo) asked Sharon and I to consider speaking at their first ever Semana Santa (Holy Week) retreat. I began creating, editing, refining and more refining a series of talks and PowerPoints for this event. Pr. Luciano gave broad strokes for guidelines. He wanted me to talk to the married couples about healthy marriages, utilizing some of the materials from Celebrate Recovery and to "preach" a couple of times.
Sharon was originally supposed to present a series of talks to the Young Adults, but this was later changed to working with the children. For those of you who know Sharon, you know that she has a gift with kids. However, for that past 6 weeks to two months, she has had some inflammation in her neck, been to two doctors (colleagues with each other), a couple of x-rays an MRI, they gave her two different sets of antibiotics. Needless to say, Sharon had to cancel her participation in this event. An update on her, no, she still is not completely better. We've contacted the ENT of this doctor team and he is out of town until after this week (we're in the midst of two holidays back to back, Tuesday and Thursday). Back to the retreat. When I got there it was a great event. I spoke with all of the participants Friday evening (173 people), around 20/25 couples for two workshops (Saturday and Sunday mornings) and then to around 700 for the church's evening worship. There were several who gave indications of wanting to receive Christ into their lives and many rededications. Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Sharon's health.
Good morning from Rio. At our kid's school they have been having a "hero" theme throughout the year. It is a way of giving recognition for students who go out of their way to help others or show positive character traits that another student feels is commendatory. One example of this is when our son Naaman was nominated for "hero of the week" because he broke up a fight between two younger classmates.
Well, this week I've been working on a talk that I'm supposed to give this weekend. I probably should be doing this right now, but am being distracted writing this instead.
A part of my talk is supposed to cover my personal testimony in Christ, my history of chemical dependency, my current recovery and how I utilize the Celebrate Recovery ministry in my daily living. As I'm trying to create this talk (actually more the power point that goes along with it) I began to have a creative block because I really wanted to show a couple of pictures from my growing up years in Wichita, Kansas. I knew that I had some personal photos of that time somewhere around the house, but could not find them.
I expressed my disappointment of my failed search to my wife. She could see that I was stuck and tried to help me find these "great moments in Jeff history". After looking in all of the common places, finally I hear a "Jeff, come up here" call from Sharon. Sure enough, she found my lost photos (they were not in the normal places). I was over joyed!
Do you remember the cartoon "Mighty Mouse"? When the mouse was saving the world from impending peril the music would play, "Here I come to save the day" and Mighty Mouse would show up and all of us could breathe a sigh of relief. Well Sharon, honey, you're my Might Mouse! You're my hero. You saved my day!
Now I guess that I'd better stop procrastinating and get back on the creation of my talk and its accompanying power point.
Here I come to save the day . . .
Hello once again. I've been watching the news about the situation there in the States from here in Rio. As an outsider looking in, as a person who is proud to be an American (I think that there is a song in there somewhere), as a ex-patriot who is still very concerned about his country, the news from the States does not look good. I'm not talking about who was elected as our new president. I feel that (1) if you voted you have a right to make comments about your government, that being said, if you didn't vote, then keep your political opinions to yourself, (2) also, if you voted and are a Christian, then I feel that the Bible clearly states that God allows the people in politics to be in their positions of service to their country, so (3) the current leadership is the leadership that God has allowed to be placed there at such a time as this. So, what is the current "such a time as this" that the United States is in? I am concerned when the people that we've elected to represent us and our voice have pushed through a "financial package" that is way beyond even the politicians to comprehend. A massive bill that will soon be in front of our new president that is around 1,100 pages long, has hand written corrections and comments in it, was presented to Congress with less than 12 hours to review before it was put through to a vote and is going to place the American people in such tremendous long-term, multi-generational debt that there is no light at the end of the tunnel! What are we doing and where is this thing going? I know that there are some people who feel that God owes it to America to keep her forever strong and safe. Well, 9/11 has taught us other wise. The current Wall Street market yo-yo effect is telling us something else. The massive lay offs of people who once thought that their jobs and retirement plans were safe from being messed with. The greedy corporate heads who get a bail out from our government and then take a plush holiday retreat at our expense and honestly think that this is owed to them. The Madoffs of the world and other ponzi schemers that have stolen billions from honest investors and Madoff himself is complaining because he is under a penthouse arrest and can't take his limo out for a cruise around the block. Excuse me, but as an outsider looking in, my soul is screaming "what is going on here"? If you have some insight, please let me know. I don't believe that we, as Americans, should just sit back whining and saying, "but what are we to do?" Enough already! If you have a vote, make it count! For those of us who are registered in Oklahoma, your Oklahoma Legislature site can be found at http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/. It's easy to find on the web, no matter where you live. Look it up. See who represents you. Make a phone call, write a letter or an email, voice you opinion. After all, these are the people that we voted in. These are the people who are supposed to represent us. Remember, they work for you, it is your tax dollars that pays their salaries. That's what makes this country great and that the Founding Fathers wanted you to have some input, their beginning thesis was "no taxation without representation". That "representation" means YOU!!! If we don't speak up and speak up quick, then we will be the ones flushing this country down the toilet all the while whining about about how we can do nothing. Think about it, ask yourself where this country is going and then do something.
Well, hello again! It's been a while since I've been here. If you remember right, I began this blog by stating that I would not use it just to waste people's time, but to use it to share my thoughts. Thus the reason I've been away for a while.
As many of you know, my father-in-law (Junior "Jay") is not doing well fighting emphysema. I have been praying for him and was concerned that my wife Sharon would not get to be with him as his illness progresses. Finally we made the decision for her to go to the States and spend some time with her daddy. So, on January 14th Sharon left Rio and went to Wichita for three weeks.
Now, I've always considered myself to be a guy that could survive if he were faced with the sudden loss of his wife. So I felt pretty comfortable with being the solo-dad as she headed up north. After all, our children are no longer babies, the oldest one at home right now is 18 and the youngest one's 12, so it's not like I'm stuck trying to figure who gets formula when. I'm fifty years old now, so I thought that I ought to have this parenting thing down by now.
OK, Sharon leaves on Tuesday and Friday I leave to pick up the kids from school. One small problem, I locked the keys in the house. Now for any of you who have been in Brazil, you know that houses here are not like most in the States. Here the houses have bars on all the windows and locks on all the doors. No problem! I have kids at school that have keys, I'll just go pick them up and we'll get back into the house. We all laughed when I told them what I had done. After all, we've lived in this mission house for 4 1/2 years and this is the first time that this has happened to me. Lesson learned, let's move on.
The next day, Naaman and Willa-Ann were with their Youth Small Group, Priscila and I had picked up a new Chinese friend to have her over for dinner. I realized that I needed some lemons (actually in the States we would call them "limes", but here they are "limões") to make some sour cream (yes, we have to make our own sour cream in Brazil). We were going to have baked potatoes with the roast I was cooking and the sour cream was for the potatoes. Anyway, I'm all ready, Hilary (the Chinese friend is ready) and Priscila is ready. Priscila says, "why don't we take the dogs?" Good idea, let's get them ready and let's go! I've got Daisy (our boxer) ready, but Priscila's having a hard time with the harness of Madeline (our dachshund). I stop to help Priscila, we get the harness on, head out the door, closing it behind us and I reach for my keys. It's then that I discover that the keys that I was sure that I had with me, I had set down on the coffee table to help Priscila with the dog harness.
Now, I'm in a pickle. Priscila has no keys, I have no keys, the only other set of keys that I'm aware of are with Naaman and Willa-Ann which is across town at their Youth Group, the cell phone and car keys are in the house. Well, thankfully, the car was left unlocked and the garage door opener was in the car. We decide that since we already have the dogs ready to go for a walk, we might as well head on out. I buy the lemons/limes that I need and we head back home. On the way there I hatch a plan of leaving Priscila and Hilary at the house, I'll flag a taxi, find Naaman and Willa-Ann and return home with, once again, my children's set of house keys.
The plan works pretty good, except that the Youth Group decided not to stay at the original site, due to painting of the apartment. So I am in a taxi with the meter running, traveling around Rio, looking for a group of adolescents and their adult leader. Sure enough, I see them down by the lake, getting ready to cross the street and I'm six cars behind them watching and thinking, "this is not going according to my plans". Thankfully the traffic started to move, my taxi driver started honking his horn and I was able to get Naaman's attention.
When everything was said and done, the taxi ride and the lemons costs me R$42,00 (or about US$18.50). Now my question is, was this just old age or expensive lemons?
