Paul Vieira

Sorry about my lack of posting. I’ve been working my but off doing things around the house to get our house ready to sell. We’re going to take the plunge and sell our home without knowing for sure what the next step is. The housing market in Winnipeg is hot and so it’s easier to buy another house if there are no other strings attached, like condition of your house selling. Anyway, I have some exciting news!

My sons entered their short animated film into a film contest that was held by an international children’s film festival called Freeze Frame. The festival is going on right now here in Winnipeg. About a week ago we found out that the boys’ film was nominated as a finalist. Last night their movie appeared on the big screen at the awards gala. Over a hundred people watched their movie. It was so amazing for my boys to be there and hear the audience laugh in all the right places and hear the great applause at the end of the show. To make the night even more perfect, their film Super Mofy and the Rise of Miffo won first prize for Best Animation. I’m so proud of them. Their hard work paid off.

You can watch the film on my blog page . Enjoy!

The other day I read about an interesting concept. Studies show that anyone how has reached a world class level of success in a particular skill probably spent more than 10,000 hours practicing and perfecting their craft. Whether you are taking about John Mayer on stage or Michael Jordan on the court, this number pops up consistently right across categories of human achievement. I guess it takes about 10,000 hour for the brain to form the neural connections needed to make a person one with their craft. To put this into perspective, if you spent three hours a day working at one specific talent, it would take 10 years to become world class. This applies to everything from playing piano, to swinging a golf club, to programming computers.

I talked to my 10 year old son about this the other day. He wants to become a film maker. I told him that there will be thousands of other hopeful film makers in his generation, all working to make it in the movie business. The only way that he will be able to stand out is if he works hard over the next 10 years to perfect his skills. He`s up for the challenge. At the moment he has several projects on the go. He`s learning how to use animation software to create moveable objects in 3-D space. He`s also working on creating his first claymation film, and writing a script for a short film that he`s hoping to start filming this summer. I`m doing what I can to help him reach his dreams. We`re having a lot of fun along the way.

You can watch our first animated film by clicking here

I`ve been writing about how I`m learning to enjoy life and find meaning in the ordinary. My wife embodies this, and she always seems to be a little ahead of me in these lessons of life. She`s wonderfully creative and has so much talent in so many areas. I wanted to let you know about a sewing project she has just completed. She has hand-made these beautiful totes that would make a perfect Christmas gift for a little daughter, niece or granddaughter. Check this out!



Please visit my Tamara`s blog to learn more or go directly to her online Etsy Shop

I can`t seem to get my kids to sleep in their own rooms. The night that I got back home after my trip to Oregon, this is what I found in my wonderful, spacious king-sized bed (that has now become too small):



I`m so soft. I just can`t seem to say ‘no’ to them. Our family is really close, but this is ridiculous. My night sleeps have been terrible these days. The kids are always crawling into bed. Okay, we put our foot down with the older boys, but I just can`t resist my twin girls. They have me wrapped around their little fingers, just about ready to pull me apart like a wishbone. Everyone tells me to cherish these years because they go by so quickly. So that is my justification. I`m enjoying my kids. I`m letting them stay close to me. We are building a close knit family and I like that.

People ask me what I do for church now. Usually, people ask me if I`m in a house church. The truth is, my wife and four kids are my church. Most of us, in our North American lifestyle, only have time to maintain a few close relationships. Well, there are five people in my family that need me and it is most important to me that we remain close. They are my community. They are my church. I don`t have much more to give outside of them, without my family being sacrificed. I have two or three other friends that I`m close to. I can tell them anything. They know my joys and they know my weaknesses. We can even tell our sins to each other and we do so without fear or shame. I text or email one of them, at least every other day. My wife, my kids and my close guy friends – this is my church.

Twice a week my sons and I do this thing we call ‘Theology with Dad.’ I`m teaching them what I know about God and we`re studying scripture together. They have amazing insights and I learn as much as they do.

My family is the best thing going on in my life and I feel so incredibly blessed.

Eleven years ago this very day, November 2nd, was a day that changed our lives forever. It was the birth of our first child. She lived one hour, and died in our arms. My wife and I named her Hope. Our little girl changed my entire outlook on life. She made eternity real to me because this is where she is, and she is real. My hope in life beyond this world lies with her, and I believe I will see her again. This was the only thing that brought us comfort the days following our tragic loss. The idea that this world is temporary, and that when we die we begin a new reality with those loved ones that we`ve already lost, is a powerful truth that can not be fully known or grasped until we come face to face with death. Loosing our daughter was one of the most important moments of my life so far. This painful experience is when I began to see a side of God that I had never known before.

Yes, for a short moment I considered walking away from my faith. I remember asking my wife Tamara, “Do you think we should walk away from God now that He`s taken our girl from us?” Some of our friends and family wouldn’t believe that God would do this. They were living in verses of scripture that were written for seasons of joy an life, not for times of sorrow and death. They took truth from a different season and tried to apply it to our situation. Some told us that our faith wasn`t strong enough. Others insisted that the devil killed our baby. These may be very real options in other situations, but not in this one. Some of the people around me made the mistake of interpreting the tragedy from a very narrow perspective. They only knew a side of God that blessed and prospered His children. Actually, that`s the only side of God that I knew as well; that is until my daughter died. When you loose someone and somebody tells you that you needed to have more faith, they are telling you that you that you are responsible for their death. This kind of thinking brings a terrible oppression and unnecessary turmoil upon people who are already grieving the loss of their loved one. God is bigger than me and bigger than my ability to believe for a miracle. True faith sees what God is already doing, and what God is doing may not be what we want. My daughter`s death triggered the need for a different depth of faith. Was I going to trust God even though He hurt me?

Yes, God hurt me. You might agree with the friend who told me that the devil stole my child from me. Okay, it might make you feel better to blame the devil, but at the end of the day, who does the devil answer to? Can he just decide to come into my home and kill one of my kids? Does the devil do anything he wants without needing permission from Almighty God. Doesn`t this kind of perspective of the devil`s power on earth elevate him to a God-like status? No. If the devil does anything, he can only do so because God has let him do it. I had to come to the realization that ultimately God was in control and responsible for my daughter`s death, directly or indirectly. It doesn`t really matter. I had to face God and I felt hurt by Him. This was real. I found no comfort in pat Sunday School rhetoric about God being good. I was devastated that this happened. It didn`t have to happen to us, but it did. And God let it happen. So I asked Tamara, “What should we do? Should we walk away from all this?”

My wife looked at me with tears in her eyes, and without any hesitation, she said, “How can we walk away from the only person who can heal us right now?” Her words to me that day were more than just words. They pierced my heart. They carried a truth that I had never seen before; a truth that can only be seen in the season of the “valley of the shadow of death.” It`s a beauty that can only be known when great trial is upon you. Even when you feel God has hurt you, can you still believe, trust and even love Him? It`s a reality that causes your head to bow and the sweet savor of humility to fill your heart. You come to this very sober and yet comforting realization, “I must go back to the hand that hurt me, to heal me.” When you go back, you don`t need answers. You give God the space to be God. You lay it all down; the hurt, the disappointment, the anger, your judgment, and your right to know “why”. There is no “why”. This is not about “why”. You know you love someone deeply when you can trust them even when it may appear that the opposite is true, that they look untrustworthy. I`ve never known my faith to be stronger than in that moment that I said “God is still good.” It`s a faith that you don`t see in good times or even the faith that goes with miracles. It`s believing that God is trustworthy even when everything around is shouting to you that He`s not. God helped us love Him and trust Him anyway. He helped us to let Him heal us, and He did this primarily through giving us four more healthy and beautiful kids. The last two are twin girls!

Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time he will restore us,
so that we may live in his presence.
Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in early spring.
Hosea 6:1-3

My children spend a little more time with my wife than they do with me because I work outside of the home part-time. Their mother is definitely having her influence on them. My family is growing weirder all the time. There have been a few occasions upon coming home from work that I have found my entire household hiding from me somewhere in the house. I enter the house and shout out – I`m home! In response, I am greeted with silence. There is nothing stirring. The house is dark. It`s actually quite unnerving. So I go from room to room looking for my entire family. One time I found them all under the kitchen table. That was an easy find. The other day, finding them was much more difficult. After a few minutes, I finally discovered my family all lying under the bunk bed in the boy`s room. Picture it. A full grown woman and four children all crammed under a single bed. This is crazy. This little game of hide and seek when Daddy comes home is very strange. However, I can`t stop smiling when I see my little kiddies crawl out from underneath their rock with giggles and laughter. I love them all.