Friday morning, Kevin went to work again and I got to see my friend Gerrii and her three little girls. When we left, their youngest daughter was only a few days old. Another reality check hit me when I realized she was crawling across the floor! Craziness! We had a few short hours together before we both had to run to other places, but it was a sweet time.
One restaurant on our "List of Places to Visit" was El Rancho Grande, a favorite of ours when we lived in the Big O. We met our friends Jeff and Traci there and enjoyed chips and salsa and fajitas (Mexican style). We don't have tortillas or tortilla chips in our town, so for the last eight months, we've learned to do without. Another successful meal. . . white cheese sauce and all!! My tummy was happy and full! Kevin went back to work and I went out to Traci's house. We got to catch up over yet another cup of coffee (one too many by this point), and the kids took naps. I met Traci only a few months before we found out we were moving to Brazil, so we didn't even have a year of history together when I left. Our connection was pretty instant and I'm sure it has a little to do with the fact that we love photography, coffee and talking deeply about life!
My hot date:)
Originally we had planned to have dinner with Jeff and Traci, but since the John Deere Christmas party was that night, we decided to go to it. Kim volunteered to take Emma to a Bulldogs basketball game and then put her to bed for us. I was shocked. I mean, I recognized that she was willing to do that for us and I was so grateful, but Kevin and I haven't had a real, just-the-two-of-us date since we moved to Brazil!! I was nervous! I was excited! It was a little weird putting Emma in the car with Mark and Kim and saying goodbye to her, but I pushed aside the weirdness and chose to have a good time! We had a really great dinner at the Hotel Ottumwa and Kevin was able to catch up with some of his old colleagues. Aside from getting to hang out more with Traci, another highlight from that evening was that I got to talk to another ex-pat mom. Her husband had done an assignment in France and they had their two daughters over there with them. She was a great encouragement to me and I had so many questions for her. I keep realizing that there are thousands of women who've done what I'm doing, who've done it well, and who've also had hard times. I loved connecting with her!
Originally we had planned to have dinner with Jeff and Traci, but since the John Deere Christmas party was that night, we decided to go to it. Kim volunteered to take Emma to a Bulldogs basketball game and then put her to bed for us. I was shocked. I mean, I recognized that she was willing to do that for us and I was so grateful, but Kevin and I haven't had a real, just-the-two-of-us date since we moved to Brazil!! I was nervous! I was excited! It was a little weird putting Emma in the car with Mark and Kim and saying goodbye to her, but I pushed aside the weirdness and chose to have a good time! We had a really great dinner at the Hotel Ottumwa and Kevin was able to catch up with some of his old colleagues. Aside from getting to hang out more with Traci, another highlight from that evening was that I got to talk to another ex-pat mom. Her husband had done an assignment in France and they had their two daughters over there with them. She was a great encouragement to me and I had so many questions for her. I keep realizing that there are thousands of women who've done what I'm doing, who've done it well, and who've also had hard times. I loved connecting with her!
Traci and I at the party
We went back to Mark and Kim's around midnight. It was such a fun date night for us! Apparently, Emma didn't miss us much, because she had a blast at the basketball game! She loved playing with the balls and watching the kids play. She even got to hear some Portuguese from the high school principal! I'm not sure she understood, but it was fun to hear. I think Kim had a great time with Emma too, and that just made me even more thankful that we had taken advantage of the offer!
