Wow, I didn't realize that it had been so long since I posted to this blog. A lot has happened and I don't have my portable hard drive with all of the pictures on it, so I will just type.
The biggest news is that Brett returned from his misison in the Philippines in October. It was an amazing feeling to see him again and know that he served faithfully and selflessly for two years. He had lost a lot of weight (like 30 pounds) so is very skinny, but is healthy and that is good. We will slowly fatten him back up! He flew into Brazil to stay with us for a week then he and I flew up to Kennewick to have him released from his mission, give a homecoming talk at church, go to the doctor, dentist, and shop. Then we traveled down to Rexburg to take him to college. I was able to see Erin and meet her roommates. Then Brett took Sadie and I down to Utah where we flew out of and Brett & Erin returned to BYU-I. Brett is adjusting well to "normal" life and is having a good time in Rexburg, despite being cold.
When I was in Washington I picked up Sadie, our dog. We weren't able to bring her down with us in August because we had paperwork to complete here before she could be shipped. So she flew out of Salt Lake City and was reunited with our family again. She loves being on the farm. She can run around the houses and plays with a neighbor dog. She faithfully watches over the kids. We sure love our Sadie dog!
United Airlines update: I filed a complaint with the DOT and my case was forwarded to someone else at United. After a review of the case I was told that my expenses could not be reimbursed. I was also told that they had no explanation as to why we were denied boarding in August. I was offered travel vouchers equal to the amount we had to pay in airline ticket difference (just over $1000) and was told to submit my receipts for the four days that our luggage traveled to Brazil and back. So, United has received that claim and now I continue to wait for a response.
Erin is doing well at her first semester at BYU-I. She was blessed with great roommates and is having a lot of fun. Lucky for her they are all staying next semester so will be together for a few more months. We can't wait to have Brett & Erin join us on Sunday for two weeks over Christmas.
The kids have decided that they all hate homeschooling and want to go to school. So they will attend a private school in Formosa called Colegio Sagrados Coracoes (everyone calls it Coleginho, which means little college). School goes from February to December here so they will start after the first of the year. They are all excited and so am I. I think everyone will be a little happier to be involved and a little more busy. And it will help them all develop the language more. Kehli and I start language lessons at the Wizard Language Learning Center around the same time.
With the raing season here everything is lush and green - much prettier than when we arrived in August. With the rain comes bugs, lots and lots of bugs. Big bugs!! We have also seen several Brazillian Wandering Spiders, which makes me very nervous. They are a very venemous spider that is highly aggressive and fast. We are hoping that some of the videos that we have shown the kids have scared them enough to watch out for them and leave them alone. We killed one in the house last week and that freaked me out a little.
Things on the farm are going great for Mark. They are done planting and the beans and corn are growing up fast. We had some visitors from the States come last week and that is always fun to see someone from "home" even if they are coming to see the farm and not us. More visitors are scheduled for January.
We are moving to a different house in the neighborhood in Formosa. The one we are in is good, but the floorplan is weird and there is only air conditioning in two of the bedrooms. The family room and kitchen do not have air conditioning and it gets VERY hot in those areas. Another home became available that is a little bigger, has air conditioning and has a much more functional floor plan. So, we never fully unpacked our shipment and packed up everything else. We move on Thursday and Friday and then hope to be more settled. Maybe we will even get some Christmas decorations up before Christmas.
Well, the kids all just walked in to get ready for bed. I'll update more soon.
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