Maynara Rebekah

Tonight is our last night at Betania and in Curitiba.  Tomorrow morning we're off to Rio de Janeiro for our appointment at the U.S. Consulate next week.  All 6 of us will be staying with our friends the Moreiras in Rio for a week before heading home a few days before Christmas.  To wrap up our time Curitiba stay, we wanted to write one last bio.  Last but not least, our oldest.

Bio:

Maynara turned 10 at the end of April.  She is beautiful, independent-minded, strong-willed, and not afraid to tell you exactly what's on her mind, for better or worse!

Likes:

• Making her bed in the morning.
• Playing make-believe "office" with her siblings.  She always appoints herself office manager!
• Dolls, stuffed animals, Barbie, and Hello Kitty characters.  She calls them her "filhos" (children) and likes them nicely arranged on her bed at all times.
• Nice clothes.
• Singing.
• The Bible.  She has a lot of respect for the Bible and God's word (praise the Lord for preparing that in her heart for us!).
• "Mothering," disciplining, and telling her siblings what to do. (We're working on this one...)
• Taking videos with the video camera.
• Playing cards.
• Taking loooooooooong showers.
• Seconds at meal-time.
• Swimming.
• Coloring and drawing.

Dislikes:

• When other people touch her things.  Or sit on her nicely-made bed.
• Losing a game.  She's sometimes liberal with her playing techniques to ensure this does not happen.
• Don't let the picture of the butterfly on her finger fool you.  She's usually freaked out by butterflies!
• Not getting attention.
• Not being in control.

Greatest Hits:

• 
  
  Maynara didn't have a middle name, so before we came to Brazil we chose two names that we liked and thought were special and were going to let her choose when we arrived.  We thought we'd have time to have a nice discussion with her but found out on the way to the orphanage on the first day that we'd have to petition our children's new names that same day at the court!  We talked with her about the Biblical significance of a name change being part of a new life through God's grace, but after a brief conversation with her about the names we had chosen, it was clear that she was not really interested in them and instead had other ideas!  And so, on day one she picked a middle name for herself, a name she says she always wanted to name a daughter someday.
  
  
  
• Maynara enjoys doing her hair and changing clothes several times a day, especially before going "out."  She's been known to ask siblings and parents, "you're going out in that" if she thinks their outfit is not up to snuff before leaving the room!
• She likes to get up early, wake her siblings, and supervise their cleaning of their room and making of their beds before Mae and Pai wake up.  Unfortunately, some of her siblings don't like to get up as early as her, so she lays down a blanket on the floor and transfers them to them their so she can make their bed for them.