We've been back in Brazil for about a month and a half, it's nice to be back at home where it is easier to relax. We had a great yet busy time in the States when we went up in June for Conferences and visitations. In all we spent over two months in the USA between 3 different states (OR, WA, and TX) and too many airplanes. We saw all of my immediate family but unfortunately didn't see nearly as many friends as we were hoping to see. For Samantha and I this was our first time back in the States after leaving in December of 2012 (a little over 1.5 years).
I felt prepared for the re-entry into the USA as I knew what other people had experienced after long absences from the USA. I deliberately avoided some of the things many talk about, for example, getting overwhelmed in a grocery store at the sheer variety of cereals, frozen foods... I protected myself by walking to my favorite cereal, getting a box, and walking away instead of trying to choose one of the many options.

I re-experienced some forms of culture shock as we came back into Brazil, though. It's crucial to stay on high alert while driving on the roads in Brazil, watching for other cars, people on bicycles, pedestrians or animals who at any time may wander into the middle of the road. We were grateful for several people who maintained our things while we were away, we found out that our house was cleaned two different times by people in the few days leading up to our arrival. Even with the extra cleaning it's still a never ending task to keep floors clean here in Cubatao. As we walked around the house after we arrived our socks and feet turned black because of the black dust that settles everywhere.
One of the things we bought while in the States was a robotic floor sweeper/mopper. We knew that with Izabel using most of her energy keeping her and the baby healthy through this pregnancy that we would need something to try to keep up with the never ending dust. Oh how happy we are to have this new toy that Samantha has named "V." Even though we have V running all day long sweeping and mopping the cloth we attach always returns black with dirt and dust.

Izabel had an ultrasound last week, during the ultrasound we learned that we are going to be having a boy and everything is healthy. In the States we were told that the Due date is February 1st but when we arrived back here we were told the 4th. I hope the baby doesn't get confused.

Celebrating Izabel's mom's birthday. The 4 daughters and two grandaughters

The three son-in-laws

Pregnancy belly!