"Chuchu" or Bitter Melon in English!

When Matthew and I were in Brazil (in 2005) he ate bitter melon (or chuchu as we call it in Portuguese) for the first time in his life and he loved it! He had never eaten before nor seen it and we did not even know how to say "chuchu" in English.

I've always looked for "chuchu" here but never found it until last week at Safeway. I was surprised! It was a little different from the Brazilian "chuchu", ours has more of a pear shape and the bitter melon that I bought was round.

I bought 3 bitter melons and payed 10 dollars!! It was a shock to me because you can find bitter melon in Brazil anywhere and it's very cheap. Probably, with 10 dollars you could buy a whole plantation of bitter melon back there. But I thought I'd try it to see if it tasted the same. And, after all, Matthew and I both love it.

It was exactly the same taste, thank God, and we ate it as if it was the most delicious meal ever! I even gave some to Julia who also loved it. She would grab the spoon, the food and put everything inside her mouth including her fingers. She absolutely loved it!

So it was expensive but worthy it! I'm trying to find out how to grow bitter melon here, because I think it will be much cheaper and we can eat it more often. So, if anybody knows how to grow bitter melon, please, tell me and I'll try.

Julia's pics - 4 - 5 months...

Isn't she the sweetest baby?

Now we have more hair to comb...


Ahhhhhhh!! I love my bath!!!!

And I love my fingers too!! They taste delicious!!!

I love to be in my carrier, I can see everything around!

I'm serious now!

Matthew

The day after Easter we had to come back to the ER because of Matthew's disease. It was not fun! He had diarrhea all over again and the doctors wanted to make sure that he did not have an intestinal obstruction. I was scared to death because if he had an obstruction he would need a surgery and the hospital here is not very good.

Praise God his exams came back normal and he did not need surgery. The doctor decided to treat him for intestinal infection although he was not completely sure of what was going on.

He is doing better now, still taking Prilosec for his stomach, because of the bleeding. We pray that God will completely heal him!

Thank God Julia and I never got sick. This was totally God's hands upon our lives and we are soooooooo thankful for that.

Thanks for those who prayed for all of us!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL!!!

May we all do not forget the True Meaning of Easter, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

He is ALIVE, the cross is empty and He lives and wants to have a relationship with us. It's up to us to say yes or no!

I know Easter has nothing to do with Eggs but I certainly miss the chocolate eggs we have in Brazil this time of the year. My mouth waters just to think about them. I do miss Brazilian chocolate...

This week has not been easy for us. Matthew is sick. He's got a virus that actually took him to the hospital. It started on Wednesday with a headache, his whole body aching and a fever. Thursday he started a diarrhea and Friday he started vomiting. I took him to the hospital where they gave him an IV plus pain killers and some medication for nausea. We spent a few hours at Kona Community Hospital and, by the time we got out of there, he was feeling a little better. At least, he was not throwing up anymore.

Today he is doing better, not completely recovered, but better. He is feeling pretty weak yet. On Friday we noticed some blood in his vomit and today, in his stools so we are going to the doctor this week to check it out and make sure everything is OK.

Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow so that we can celebrate Easter in church and among friends because we have not left the house since Wednesday, except to go to the hospital.

We are praying for protection for me and for Julia so that we won't get sick. We are doing good so far. Please, keep the three of us in your prayers.

HAPPY EASTER and may God bless you!!!