What happened to summer/winter!?

I'm so sorry! I can't believe it has been that long since a post! My sincerest apologies to all!
We have come back to the States and are living in the Michigan house for a few weeks. We left Brasil the beginning of August and were supposed to be back already. Of course, the paperwork is taking longer than usual, so we must wait patiently here at the house. The paperwork I am referring to is the permanent Visa's we need in order to stay in the country legally. Blake's paperwork must be done first in order to send his with my application. Hopefully Blake will be able to head back down in a week or two, because the project really does need him.
So it looks like Garrett and I will be here for a while longer. His curriculum is still stuck in customs in Sao Paolo (has been since June) so I took the opportunity of being here in Michigan to go to the Teacher store and stock up on supplies. Yes, Garrett has still been having school throughout the entire summer/winter! He gets weekends off, and of course the days we are travelling, but mostly he still has school every day! We are working on studying flight (appropriate!) and reading Captain Underpants novels. BlackJack 21 is a great game for teaching addition in your head, and Yahtzee is great for multiplication skills.
Tootsie is still in Brasil. My girlfriends are keeping an eye on her for me. Paula runs her in the morning before work, feeds her and then leaves her out on the lead. Simone come in the early evening to love on her, play ball, feed her and then put her in the house. We miss them all tremendously and can't wait to get back.
I will post again soon! Thanks for you interest and if you have any questions or are curious about something, let me know. Tchau for now, Pam

Getting to know the neighbors

We have been very busy getting out and meeting people. My girlfriend Heather introduced me to her friend Christiane, who lives in Tatui. She has a seven year old son Enrique who likes to play with Garrett. They get along very well, and don't seem to mind the language barrier. Aren't kids great!? They both like to play video games and kick the soccer ball around. The language barrier hasn't slowed them down at all. Christiane only speak a tiny bit of English but chooses to speak only Portuguese with me. She is very patient and speak slowly to help me understand her. She doesn't mind my mistakes and is just glad that I am trying to speak her language! Wonderful lady!
I have met other ladies here in the neighborhood as well. Two doors down is a lady named Egle. She is trying to learn English and loves to walk. We have started walking and talking together a couple of times a week. During one of these walks, she introduced me to her friend Paula, who is also trying to learn English. Fabulous woman! They both are still in the beginning stages of learning English, and they are genuinely interested in getting better! What fun! It has been a pleasure getting to know them because they are very sweet and friendly. Typical Brasilians!
We are getting ready to head home for a 2 week trip back to Michigan. We leave August 11th to arrive home on the 12th. We plan on coming back home to Brasil on the 29th. Hopefully the paperwork will go smoothly. We plan on bringing the cat back down with us this time. He escaped last time and has been living outside around the house for the past 7 weeks! Fortunately, our neighbors have been keeping an eye out for him and making sure he has fresh food and water! Great friends!
Thanks for keeping in touch with us. It has been a wonderful feeling of love and support to read your comments and know that we are in your thoughts! Tchau for now, Pam, Blake and Garrett.

Catching up

Well, the house is pretty much set up to our liking. Blake is working quite a bit, but still manages to come home for lunch most days. That is such a special treat. He never could do that when we lived in Michigan. The Guardian office is only 7 minutes away while the site is 20 minutes away on the other side of town. It is nice having him home more!
Garrett is enjoying homeschool. His favorite subject is recess/video games. He also enjoys math and puts up with reading and learning Portuguese. We usually start the day with an hour walk around the neighborhood with Tootsie. Garrett rides his bike and Tootsie sniffs everything!!!!! We say "Bom Dia" to the other people we pass in the street. Quite a few of them comment on how big Tootsie is and of course, they comment on Garretts "lindo loiro com olhos azuis" (beautiful blonde with blue eyes). The girls absolutely adore him, and want to touch him. This, of course, makes him shy, but honestly, I think he loves the attention. He's such a Cutie!!
Garrett is really enjoying the fruit. His favorite fruit are the bananas which are about half the size of the ones you would find in the States, but OH WOW the flavor is AMAZING! The mangos are delicious and plentiful, as are the strawberries and oranges. Garrett also loves the rice and beans which you can find with just about any meal here. The little breads (paozinho) are made fresh daily and don't last more than 24 hours. I make a point of picking them up every day at the local restaurant. They only cost R$1.80 for 6 of them. Delicious!!!!
I am trying to get a rhythm going with our new life here. We walk first thing after breakfast, and then come back and do school until lunch time. We work on Portuguese and typing in the afternoon and then go to the tennis courts or the empty field to throw the ball for Tootsie. By then, it's time for me to start dinner. Pretty simple life....... until later. Tchau

Settling in.

We've been here for a couple of weeks now and it is starting to feel like home. We have been introduced to a couple, Heather and El, from Canada who have 4 sons, ages ranging from 11 to 7. Garrett is absolutely thrilled to have boys to play with, and the boys are completely excited to have an American friend to speak English with. All four of the boys go to school here and have had to learn to speak Portuguese. They won't speak it with Garrett, so I am trying to teach him as best I can with the help of Rosetta Stone and a book I got from Heather called
"Portuguese in 10 minutes a day". Garrett used his Portuguese the other day when he said "Obrigado" to the waitress. She was VERY surprised, and responded "Que lindo, ele e aprendendo Portuguese" (How beautiful, he's learning Portuguese). Blake and I were very pleased and Garrett was pretty proud of himself!
We only have one car (it runs on alcohol) so getting around has been limited. We have been very fortunate to have a lady named Simone helping us to get settled in. Honestly, she has been a Godsend. She is always very patient and helpful with everything. She helped me put together the house with the furnishings, electricity and phone. She even managed to get the internet installed into the house (AMAZING) within 2 weeks. Simone is AWESOME.
Our internet is up, so our phone now works both ways. If you would like to call us, the phone is the same as always, and the time is an hour ahead of eastern time.
Love and peace to all, Tchau

We made it!!!!!

After many, many hours (36 total) we finally made it to Tatui! We didn't end up taking the cat because he was nowhere to be found when it was time to leave. Fortunately our neighbors are keeping an eye out for him and keeping his food and water dishes full. Tootsie had quite a trip but pulled through quite well. It took 13 hours to get her cleared thru customs! Blake had the Expeditors meet me at the airport and it was they who took care of all of the paperwork. There is no way I could have done it myself. Fernando and Raquel really took good care of us and even fed us lunch. The rest of the office staff was wonderful as well, watching Garrett when I had to run to meet someone or sign paperwork. I have been truly blessed and watched over!!!!
We have been busy putting the house together. It is starting to feel like home. I have even managed to find my way to the grocery store. I have gotten lost but found my way back after about 20 minutes. It has been an exciting adventure.
I told Garrett to count the cereal boxes at the grocery store and he came back with a count of 6 different kinds. Very different from the States!
It has been in the 60's since we got here. The winter time here is like in Tennessee. Not freezing but damp and windy. Yuck!
I hope everyone is having a great summer up north! Take care, Tchau!!!!

Second Chances

Well, we didn't get to leave last Wednesday. The paperwork needed to transport the animals didn't come back from the Brasilian Consulate in Chicago. The papework must be dated within a 10 day window so I have to redo all of the paperwork and drive to Chicago. I am hoping I can get the papers signed, translated and legalized and then be back in time to meet Blake in Brasil this weekend. Blake had to leave Saturday, so Garrett and I will follow him this Thursday 6/12 . Whew.......it's been a busy week.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers. Thanks for the calls, drop-ins and comments to the blog. Your support means alot and we appreciate having such wonderful family and friends.
I would also like to say how proud I am of my husband and son. Blake continues to amaze me everyday, and I wouldn't want to travel thru this life without him. Garrett has been very patient while he is learning to live out of a suitcase. The television has been turned off for a week now, and he has found other avenues of entertainment, mainly, playing with his friends and throwing the football (he's got a heck of an arm). Everybody keeps asking how he's handling it. Really, he is doing very well, considering the fact that he is nervous about moving to another CONTINENT! He will learn the language once he becomes emmersed in it. For now, he is focusing on maintaining a positive attitude and learning to read. I couldn't ask for anything more.
I go to the Consulate in the morning to get the animals paperwork done. I will post an update again soon. xoxoxoxoxoxooxox Pam

Packing!!!

Blake and I have been to Brasil and found a house! It is located within a gated community which means it is very safe. I saw a little girl riding her scooter down the street, singing and smiling. She waved as we went past. This is a good sign of what we have to look forward to living in Brasil. The people in Brasil are very friendly. Although they don't speak English, they are patient with my attempts to speak their language. Garrett has learned a few words of Portuguese, like Bom Dia (good morning), Por Favor (please) and Obrigado (thank you). I am sure that he will learn much more once we are moved down there and become immersed in the culture.
In the mean time, we are very busy packing for our trip. I have many lists of things to bring. Here is one of them.
First Aid kit: Band-Aids, Booboo juice, cotton pads, Neosporin, Aspirin, Tylenol, Motrin, Pepto-Bismol, Imodium, Caladryl, eye drops, ankle wrap, sunscreen, aloe vera and hot water bottle.
We are scheduled to leave June 4, 2008. We will fly down to Texas (3+ hours) and then take a flight to Sao Paulo (10+ hours). We then drive through Sao Paolo to Tatui (3+ hours). It will be a long day! The dog and cat are coming with us and I hope they will be safe and healthy through this ordeal. Garrett has been on many airplanes before, but never anything this long. We will make sure his Nintendo DS is charged up and that we have snacks packed with us. He has a u-shaped pillow to help with sleeping on the plane.
We are all very excited to be going on this trip and have just a few days to finish preparing. Please feel free to send your questions and comments. I will reply as soon as possible. Thanks for looking and keep in touch! Pam, Blake and Garrett