A Little Update on Brazil. . .

Oh boy it's coming fast! Here's a little update on our move: As of today, our plan is to leave Ottumwa on April 9th. That's only 5 weeks away! We'll be driving to Moundridge on the 9th to spend Easter weekend with Kevin's family. The day after Easter, we'll fly to Cincinnati and spend about 2 weeks in intensive language training. My niece Erica is flying out with her daughter Bryana and they'll stay with us and take care of Emma while we're in training! (Yay for a little more family time before we depart!) When we're finished in Cincinnati, providing we have our visas, we'll fly to Sao Paulo, Brazil and then on to Porte Alegre. We'll spend a day there before heading to Horizontina, which is about a 6 hour drive west of Porte Alegre.
Yesterday we spent an intense day of orientation at World Headquarters in Moline. We were fingerprinted, photographed, interviewed, and given massive amounts of information regarding our move. I mentally checked out a few times because I couldn't organize all the information that was being given to me. Fortunately, they didn't expect us to remember everything and they made us a 3-inch binder full of everything we talked about. Thank you Deere! Over and over I kept telling Kevin that I was impressed with all they were doing to make this a smooth transition. So many details have already been taken care of and I am so very thankful! Unfortunately, they haven't discovered how to magically make us go from here to there without hours and hours of travel, and they haven't figured out how I can still have face to face time with good friends and family:) I'm sure they're working on it! I was also thinking it would be really neat if they could just download Rosetta Stone into my brain without me actually having to spend time learning the language! I'm excited to know another language, but the thought of having to study again is a little intimidating. Eu estou apprendendo Portuguese! (I am learning Portuguese!) I think that phrase will help immensely! Banjeiro means bathroom, so I'm all set!
Our house is still for sale, but we have an offer on it! Yay! We met with the movers last week and the packing starts on April 3! That's only 3 weeks from Friday! Holy Smokes!! I'd better get a little more organized! Fortunately, I don't actually have to pack boxes this time. Really, I feel like I just unpacked everything! Oh, I did, exactly 12 months ago! I remember telling Kevin at the time that I wasn't moving again unless Deere moved us! I do have the privilege of unpacking everything, but I'm reeeeaaaaaallllllllllllllyyy, really happy that Roader gets to do the filling of the boxes. Our things will be shipped in a sea freight container and we'll see those items about 2 months after they leave here. We'll also have an air freight container that will have some items that we need more immediately, such as clothes and diapers and a few books. We will likely live in a hotel until we find a house. We're learning patience and flexibility and I think I'm doing surprisingly well, so far! It will be nice to be in a place we can call home again, but for now, we're going to enjoy living out of our suitcases!! Well, that's all for today. More updates later!