10 months

The 9th month of life for Karis has come and gone. Now we are into the double digits. Our day yesterday was completely taken over with our serious tile floor problem. Thankfully we are only renting and the mission takes care of most things. But we still ended up busy all day.
The day for Karis was not good either. She woke up with a temp of 102. So I nursed her with a damp washcloth on her head and took off her pjs. After arriving at school I took her temp again and it was 98. Hopefully it was only due to her new teeth. Speaking of... I found another tooth coming in. I thought she was cutting the 2nd top tooth, but I also can see 3rd bottom one.
She took two long naps and when she woke up at 6:15 we skyped with family. Then, instead of cooking we decided it was the perfect night to try out the newest restaurant in town. A place where you get free refills! Burger King. Karis got a crown and we got all the soda we could drink (in 30 minutes that is).
Enjoy the photos!

Only a box...

But so much more!
Thank you Molly! We were happy to receive little tokens of joy from the USA. This is indeed a time to rejoice. After living in Brazil for 5 months and 3 weeks some times it's nice to have a little taste of "home". Especially for me cheerios and jif.
Molly~ We appreciate your time and effort! It really does mean a lot to us!
(My arms aren't nearly as flabby now that I eat rice and beans every day.)
PS. Happy Birthday a few days early! Wish I could be there to hug you.

Week 23

All is quiet. Too quiet. I don't like it this quiet.
Karis is sleeping. Steven is at church. The neighbors are quiet for the first time today.
Once again there is something I should be doing, but instead I will share my thoughts.
Sometimes the way you think is correct sometimes turns out to be completely wrong. Thus, are the one way streets in Brazil. The streets are mostly one ways and often confusing especially when looking for a particular store that you have never been to.

Apparently our box has arrived from Molly, but of course it was delivered on Friday afternoon as everyone has already left the school. We have all of our mail from the US delivered to our school. Our boss says it is better this way. However, our apartment rent will now be in our name so perhaps we can have things shipped here? Sooo, we will pick up the box tomorrow when we go to school. I'm excited!

My friend started keeping Karis at our home while we are in school 3 days a week. I'm so thankful for her! I am missing her right now. I wish I was at church. But, she is doing a great job. Karis took a nap for her all three days last week. Impressive. She even took a little bit of a bottle (formula). I think she is okay with the formula although she still prefers "all natural". She will continue to help us out with Karis until we don't have classes or she is exhausted from all of the energy Karis requires. Because she is about 2 months pregnant. I am so excited for her! I can't believe she told me first. Not even her own mom. (Her husband knew.) Yes! A new little one is on the way. I am so sad that we probably won't still be here when he/she arrives. Our lives are so in motion. We never stay in one place very long! It is awesome.

This morning at church was good. We studied James 3: the tongue. Karis really loves the nursery and all the sweet ladies there. I would really like to have a "mom" friend. You know, to have play dates with/for Karis to play and me to chat. Strange that the only baby close to her age in both of our churches is 3 months younger than her. And really that is the only baby at all. I wonder if families with babies don't make it a priority to go to church? I always see a ton of babies out at the malls and parks. I don't get it. I guess I should hang out at the mall or park more often.

So the washing machine is done and I need jeans that are in there to wear to school in the morning. Still a little cold here in the mornings. Oh, that reminds me... our tile floor cracked! The area is the size of a double bed. Friday our house helper was here cleaning when she heard really loud scary noise. She called us at school and told us our floor busted up. We look forward to having it fixed, but not until next week. Long story, but things here just take longer. Especially when you are renting and it happens on Friday.

Long week ahead. Ready to speak Portuguese so I don't have to go to school everyday... oh, and so that I can say what I want.

Week 22

Karis is on her 3rd hour of her nap, Steven is working out with a personal trainer, I finished all the necessary homework for class tomorrow sooo I probably should start dinner. But no. I will blog.
The thing about language learning is that you always have something to study or work on. It's never ending. I'm okay with that, but I do enjoy seeing a beginning and an ending. I would do some crafts, but I hate crafts. Mostly I hate glitter and things you can't get to be perfect (like who can cut a straight line?). So therefore, I love to bake. This past week I made a new Betty recipe. It's similar to an apple pie, but since I don't have a pie pan (well, I do have one, but it's in our crate and I refuse to buy one b/c I have one) I made the crust a pastry and folded it on top of its self. Anyways, it was really good. The pancakes I made Sunday were not great b/c here is Brazil corn syrup tastes a lot like honey. Or maybe it's because I bought honey thinking it was syrup. I also noticed that the store that I usually buy peanut butter from does not have one single jar. I know this because I check each time I walk into the store. Thankfully I have 3 open jars right now. Mostly they are more on the empty side, sad. One is extra crunchy which I never thought I would eat, but when it's all you got... it was a gift from a church that came here from FL. I got another jar from my friend Sara b/c she has a lot (she is a M here in Brazil too). The 3rd is the peter pan I bought here. It's horrible. So I put it aside for when I get desperate. Which I shouldn't be b/c my friend Molly sent me some, but it's been a month and I still don't have it... meaning that it's probably stuck in customs! Frustrating! Along with the cheerios! Urgh!

On to more important things:
Karis had her first swim lesson. Not really a big fan of the lessons. So we are looking into a pool for us all to go to when we want to. We hope to find one soon because we are going to the beach in November for Thanksgiving and we want Karis to be able to enjoy the water. So we would like her to get used to it. We are all looking forward to this trip! 10 M families will gather in one huge house on the beach to eat turkey and dressing. Seriously it's going to be awesome! We are flying down b/c the drive is over 15 hours. Since K is still little we don't have to buy her a ticket. I can't wait to swim in the ocean in November. I really want to have a swim birthday party. I always wanted one growing up... do dreams really come true? Ha.

Steven and I have our "big" evaluation (aka test) coming up the end of the month. This is a 30 minute only oral test to see what level of language we have reached. Not really a way to study for this so we'll pray I don't clam up. Thankfully the company doesn't fire us if we aren't at a certain level. At least not until we have been here for 3 years.

I think this is the most I have blogged in ages. Probably bored you. Sorry. Thus this is my brain- thinking out loud. Scary.

The pic of Karis in her Auburn outfit with the cool shades was to celebrate her uncle Scott getting his first golf pro job in Auburn! War Eagle!

Week 21 I think

I have lost count. One hour seems more like one minute lately. Espically this week because we started school again. We are preparing for our 6 month celebration of Language School. And by celebration I mean evaluation. We'll have an oral exam to check our progress and see where we need to focus the next 6 months to improve.

In other news... Karis is getting her first tooth on the top. We can finally see it under the gum now. She has been so fussy this week. At least now we know why. This Friday will be Karis' first swimming lesson. We are only going once to see if she likes it and then we'll decide if we want to sign up for weekly classes.
We were able to purchase a new toy for our "big" girl. After our meeting with other missionaries around the country we noticed that Karis enjoyed playing with big toys. So we have been looking around town to find something she would enjoy. She liked the bag more than the toy... of course.

Sorry to all 3 of my faithful readers... I intend to do a better job of writing now that we are back to our regular schedule. Check FB for more photos of our vacations and outings during our break.