What's Happenin'. . .

**In about 2 1/2 weeks, Kevin's parents, along with Tim and Bethany (brother and sister-in-law), will land in Brazil!!! We're going to meet them in Rio de Janeiro, which will be our first time there as well. They'll be with us for almost two weeks. Needless to say, we are exciiiiiited (meaning, very happy and anxious to see them.)
**About a week after they fly back to the States, Emma and I (and possibly Kevin), will fly into Kansas City. We'll be in the U.S. for almost 4 weeks, traveling around Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado, in no particular order. I realize our trip is less than 6 weeks away and I have no plans whatsoever!! I've become very Brazilian as far as time goes. Out of respect for people though, I will make some sort of itinerary, so you know where we'll be when. Kevin might be in Iowa for a week working, but since that's not set in stone, I'm not including him in many plans. Don't expect to see him (unless you're a blood relative of his). Grandmas, I'm sure you'll get to see him:)
**As of this hour, Emma is once again the only American child in this town. Holly and Aaron and Baby Jacob left today for the States and won't be returning.
**Being the only American child doesn't seem to bother Emma. . . she now has quite the Portuguese vocabulary and uses it daily! Until a week ago, she would only speak Portuguese to Brazilians. If I asked her something in Portuguese, she'd respond in English. If a Brazilian asked the same question in Portuguese, she'd respond in Portuguese. She still responds to me in English, but when I ask her to speak like the Brazilians, she does. I am amazed every time I hear her! While I'm trying to get to her speak more of the language here, the Brazilians just love that she speaks English and they all want to hear her little voice.
**It's officially winter here. However, it was in the 80s today and I was wearing my swimsuit while sitting in the sun in the backyard. Gosh, winters here are rough;)
**After my last race (the end of May), I came down with some weird stuff, mostly fatigue and a dry, annoying cough. I've had problems with low iron since high school (at least), and I realized I hadn't been taking my vitamins. I'm feeling much better, although the dry cough is still hanging around. Grrr. Maybe it's the weather??
**Since I'm feeling better, I'm back to running regularly. I took about two full weeks off, trying to recuperate. It was really challenging for me not to exercise, but I think it was good for me, mentally and physically. I don't have any races planned, but it feels so good to get out and challenge myself with a run.
**Sometimes I put Emma on the back of my bike and we go for a ride with Kevin on his bike. It kind of feels cheesy, but it's such a fun family thing to do. And since she's gaining weight and getting taller, it's quite a workout!
**Kevin's travel time has decreased significantly since the beginning of the year. While I was starting to get used to it, I'm really so thankful he's here most of the time. He actually commented the other day that he feels like we have a routine for the first time in a long time. Speaking of, he'll be gone all of next week for work and we won't be traveling with him. Boo.
**Although I love it when Emma and I get to tag along, I'm so thankful that I'm comfortable being here alone now. I have people I can visit, places to go, options to fill our time.
**We went to church a few weeks ago. It was great. Totally worth a detailed post. Emma loved it. We did too actually. We're looking forward to going back.
**Kevin and I each had a pair of shoes that needed to be fixed. I've NEVER taken my shoes to someone to have them fixed. Never. Well, we went to a sapataria (shoe store), and the man said he'd take care of them. I picked them up today. R$8. Total. That's less than $4.50! Awesome.
**We're hosting a 4th of July party here on Sunday. Kind of funny. . . we're inviting the Germans. They're ex-pats also, so when the Americans get together, we always invite them. They're fun and so great to be around. I just think it's funny that they gladly celebrate our American holidays with us!
**Speaking of holidays, I totally forgot about Memorial Day. It's not a holiday here, so Kevin was working. It came and went and I kind of forgot.
**So Brazil is playing another game in the World Cup (Copa do Mundo) tomorrow. 11AM here. The town shuts down. The entire country pretty much shuts down!! Stores close, schools and restaurants close, eh hem. . . even JOHN DEERE!!! Every employee can leave and go home (or elsewhere) to watch the game!! They just have to make up the hours they were gone! How crazy is that?! Horizontina will be a ghost town tomorrow from 11AM-1PM. I might have to go for a run then! Since we don't have TV, we'd have to go somewhere to watch the game and it's not all that important to me. Don't tell any Brazilians that though. They are die-hard fans!!
**I'm reading quite a bit lately. I'm reading several different books. I love reading. I don't always like how I feel after reading. . . namely, conviction. I love when I read something that hits the nail on the head, but when it applies directly to my sin, that's hard. Good and hard. I'll have to write about that more later.
**I love organizing. It's ridiculous, really, but it keeps me sane (at least I think it does). Anyway, I love lists. Sometimes I email a good friend of mine with a list. She's great and returns my email with a list of her own. I thought I'd write a short list today of a few things that are on my mind. Apparently, I have more on my mind than I thought. This isn't exactly a short list.
**Today I was thinking about the time we'll get to spend with Kevin's family when they come to visit us. I want to share so much of this culture and country with them. However, I realized that so much of what shocked me a year ago is quite normal now. Other than being separated from family and friends by a few thousand miles, I kind of feel like I'm just living life. It's life. It's really not all that different than my life in Ottumwa, except that I have to speak Portuguese to function. OK, so that's not totally true, but I was struggling to think of major differences and realized that those differences have just become life for me. For example, I don't think twice about putting my used toilet paper in the trash can beside the toilet. I don't even think about the fact that there's a trash can next to EVERY toilet in EVERY bathroom in EVERY place in this country! I just know what it's for. I don't think twice about pouring myself a glass of water out of a giant blue jug. We can't drink the tap water, so we buy 2-3 bombas de agua, or water pumps. They aren't pumps, they're giant blue jugs, but it translates to mean pump. Anyway, that's how I get my water. I don't think twice about passing people on any street in town. It's OK. If someone is driving slowly, I can just speed around them, no problem (unless there are giant yellow bumps in the road. . .but that's another post). There are no stoplights in this town and the only time I really stop at an intersection is if another car is going to pass in front of me. I don't think twice about the bars on every window of my house. I'm used to the large population of street dogs. They're ugly. Seeing a man pee on the side of the road, actually facing the road, still shocks me and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it, but other than that, life is feeling strangely normal here.
**Well, then. That's about enough of my list. It's July! We've been here over 14 months. Wow. Wow. Wow. And good night. Boa noite.