you gave up on me, didn't you?

When I realized we're almost into August I decided I'd better post something, if for no other reason, so that I don't have a gap in my blog archives.

Frankly, July wore me out.

It's been over a month since we left, and Brazil almost feels like a distant dream now. After a week or so of hesitating before flushing toilet paper, drinking tap water, and greeting people in English, we're all adjusted to being in America again. It's really good to be back.

We miss it though. Brazil was an incredible experience and one we will never forget. We miss living across the street from one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We miss the tropical climate, the fruit, and the juice, but most of all we miss Matt. After nearly 4 intense weeks of business trips around South America, he's almost done with his international assignment. We get him back on Saturday.

We already really like Texas. The kids and I spent a few weeks there before flying to California to visit family. We've had a lot of fun over the last month along with a fair share of tears and exhaustion. We feel a bit displaced and are all ready to be home, to put the suitcases away (for a really long time), and to start decorating this place:

more to come...eventually.

Last Day

We leave tomorrow. Matt took today off. We lived it up.

Ipanema Beach

Ipanema market

The Lagoa

Brothers

Barra Beach

It was a perfect day.

Tchau, Rio. We will miss you.

never forget

This place simply captivates me.

I will never forget it.

almost all packed up

The sun is setting on Rio

Such a metaphor... we leave for Texas on Saturday.

extra curricular activities

I am so happy my boys both have passions in their lives.

Garrett's is futebol. He eats, drinks, and breathes the sport. He spends all week anticipating soccer practice with his Brazilian soccer coach. He does a pretty good job keeping up with the rest of the kids and following thePortuguese instructions!

Ethan's passion is music. Passion is probably an understatement. His whole life pretty much revolves around his music. He seldom goes anywhere without his MP3 player in his pocket. He's been going to a weekly music class that he loves. He now wants to play the violin and the guitar when we get to Texas.

Ethan and his music teacher, Claudia

Ethan "hooked up" to his music

And just for fun, the boys talked Matt into taking them to a nearby skate park. They had so much fun. I don't know how long I'll go along with the skateboarding thing, but they sure looked cute.

always remember

In anticipation of our move back to the US, we've spent a lot of time in the last several weeks looking at houses online. While the kids salivate over the large backyards, I easily get carried away in the excitement of furnishing and decorating our new home.

But I'm quickly humbled (once again) the minute we step out of our cushy expat lifestyle and open our eyes to life around us.

Our drive to church each week is beautiful. We are surrounded by beautiful landscape.

But the scenery quickly turns to this as we pass the poorer neighborhoods and the guilt sweeps over me for ever complaining about broken appliances and small apartments:

My heart aches for the people that struggle each day to just put food on the table; the barefoot kids that juggle tennis balls at the stoplights in front of our car in hopes that we'll pay them something for their entertainment. Anything we do never really seems like enough to really help. I hope these images will forever be imprinted in my mind and the minds of my children. I hope we always remember how incredibly blessed we are in so many ways.

Petropolis

Saturday Cara, Matt and I went to Petropolis, a cute little town in the mountains near Rio. We toured the Imperial Palace. It was fun. Lunch was too, but my favorite part of the day was shopping at the Luiz Salvador Ceramic Store where we bought a set of handmade dishes. I love them. No picture yet since they're all boxed up safely for the shipment.

Friday Market

One of our favorite weekly outings...

I'm going to miss walking down the beach every week to the market and buying papayas, mangos, bananas, savory fried pastries and cheap jewelry.

favorite family pictures

So, it's turning out to be a little more than one photo-a-day...but it's crunch time for the photo posting. We're down to one week left...