Porto: A trip never to forget!

Hello all!

Gosh it already passed by.. This trip was long to look forward to (looking back.. we booked our flight on july 23rd.. only 3 weeks after i got home from my internship in the childrens home!).
I can say.. 5 days were just too short. We did soooo many things! Let me give you a short sumary of the days! Me, Helmya, Ingeborg and Natasja on our trip to Porto - Portugal.

On wednesday we left home around noon to head to Brussels South Airport (Charleroi). Our flight was at 4.45pm.
After a 2 hour drive from Eindhoven to Charleroi we checked in a waited for departure.
Everything went well and at 6pm local time we landed in Porto.
Leonor and the kids (a small part of the family i used to live with) were already waiting for us.
Gosh it was SO great to close my arms around them! I really missed them so much.
The kids were a little shy ast first, but that was fast gone when we went the the playground, to pass time waiting for Emanuel.. who was.. of course late...
When he arrived we drove the his parents house where we were staying.
After a warm welcome we had a lovely dinner and gave them our gifts from Holland.

Jumping in to my 'own' bed that night was awesome. I was back home again.

On thursday we went shopping in the new shoppin centre "MARshopping", with Leonor, Emanuel and the kids. We dropped the kids at the playground where they were taken care of, and were about to have a whole lot of fun. That shopping spree was so much fun. and so expensive. ha. but i bought some real cool new things!

That evening was our first visit to the children's home. Lar Evangélico Português. I really was SO excited to see all the kids again. And so were they. Kids were flying into my arms as soon as i walked in. The looks on their faces were priceless.
It was great to be back and spend some time with the little kids. I totally love them!
We also brought a golden envelope to give to Daniel, Isabel, Madeleina, and Emanuel. We collected money at our church the week before (at the choirs concert) and were able to give them almost €420. Money that was very welcome, and very needed in this time of financial crisis. It's great to see how God is providing everything in such different ways.
I truly hope i can continue to be of meaning for the home in the next years!

On friday we went the the 'Quinta' (farm) of Leonor's dad in Abragão. Really.. in the middle of nowhere... but soooo amazing. I'd been there many times before and was again excited to go there.
On our way there through, we got stuck in Penefiel. We were smelling something really bad.. making jokes about it.. and soon after that finding out the car was smoking and the bad smell was our car.
Something with the gears... very nice..
Luckioly Leonor's dad could come and pick us up while the car would be taken back to Porto to get fixed.
The day at the Quinta was awesome. Me and Helmya went to take a little survival in the little river next to the house while the others went on a little jeep safari. Very funny when it started raining half way and we had to climb aaaaall the way back to where we started and got back to the home completely soaked. But it was SO much fun!

Later that night we went out for dinner at the Italian Restaurant (greeeaaaat lasagne) and went bowling after that. André and Guilherme (Emanuel and Leonors kids, 5 and 3 years old) were with us and joined us for the first time. You shouls have seen the looks on their faces. Really priceless! They had the time of their life!
Again Helmya won. I don't know how she does it.. i think she secretly goes bowling every week!

On saturdaymorning we once again went to the Childrens home for another visit. We just wanted to spend some more time with the lovely kids.
Once again is was unforgetable. It was great to be able to give these kids a little exta attention.
I love them and they all stole my heart a long time ago! (and i dont think they're planning on ever giving it back ;))
It's really great to see the good work of the home once again and to be a little part of these kids lives.
Our money is really used very well.
In the afternoon we went to Aveiro. I went their ones before with my parents. Great little town, but sadly almost everything was closed because of some holiday and the weather was awefull.
After lunch and a short walk through the centre we headed back to Porto to get a nice hot shower and get ready for dinner.
We went to out fav restaurant in Porto: Ar the Rio. If you ever go to Porto.. go and try that restaurant at the riverside! (at the side of Vila Nova de Gaia) We had a reeeaaal good dinner and headed to Emanuel and Leonor's house for desert: Crêpes com chocolate e chantilly! (crepes with chocolate and whipped cream)
Emanuel is real good at making them!
After the kids went to bad we played some Uno on our last evening! Great fun. And i won the one big final game! :) (that totally made my day :P)

On sundaymorning we got up with blue skies, so decided we should really go to the beach now.
We spend a few hours there untill lunch which were totally awesome. Perfect end of the holidays.
Playing with the kids on the beach and playing some baseball at the end.
Latr that day we had the most wonderful family lunch and had a chance to spend some time with everyone of the family. At the end we took some wonderful pictures and then the end had come.
Time to go back to Holland.
Way too soon really. None of us wanted to go back, but we really had to.
Saying goodbye was once again hard. We really wished we could stay longer, but work was waiting.
There's not really much to say about our flight back.. we were all tired and sad we had to go back.. and on top of that.. they didnt have much food in the plane.. we had t live on a cup a soup and some pringles we had left. (way to go ryan air for not having any food on an evening flight!)

We're all back to work now and already started the countdown to our next visit: June 2009.
8 months still... but a real good thing to look forward to!

I'll be posting a video with some pictures soon! So keep checking back!

Love,
Deborah