But Vacation Was Real Too!

We are now back to normal...routine...real life.  "But wait." I argue.  "Vacation was REAL too!"

And it was.  Real fun.  Real relaxing some days.  Real busy others.  Really needed.  Really enjoyed. Real learning experience.  Really new experiences.  Real special family time.

Here are the last few events of our wonderful month long vacation in July:

My little girl is such a marvelous mommy to her dollies and spends hours caring for them.

The children love when I take pictures of them.  Here Noah said, "Mommy, mommy!  Photo!"

This smile is precious to me.  I cherish his smiles as we wade our way through a tough time behavioral wise with this  nearly 3 year old.  Everyone tells me, "Jama, it is the age." Why do I feel the "age" is eternal then??  Just asking!

We spent a wonderful evening with two very dear friends at our home.  Everson and I made our newest favorite: homemade hamburgers.  While it may not seem a big deal to American's, homemade hamburgers with homemade bread and ALL the fixin's is not common in Brazilian homes.  Our family and friends are enjoying our newest "thing!" 

Tia Vanda having "tea" with the children after dinner.  How they love their Tia Vanda! 

Another wonderful afternoon tea with my friend, Tais, who is abandoning us here in the city and moving to the interior of Sao Paulo State.  I have to admit...I am a tiny bit jealous!  Go with God, my dear friend and may He give us many more afternoon "cafezinhos" together in your new home someday.

I met Tais through my beloved friend, Juliana.  Tais is her mother-in-law.

My latest tiny birthday cake.  I made this for my special friend, Kamila, to celebrate her birthday last weekend.

A two layered, Lemon Cake with lemon frosting and decorated with fresh lemons, zest, leaves and flowers.

Kamila wanted to hang out with my kids and I so we went to Habibs, where there is a great playground.  The children ran and played like crazy kids, as you can see here.  Chloe was already hot and sweaty.

Ysadora (Kamila's daughter) and my Noah boy.  These two are great friends.

This girl is a blessing in my life and it was a privilege to spend the afternoon with her.

And now we are back to normal...whatever that is.  I had hopes of slowly settling into my second semester teaching High School, but those hopes were dashed on the first day.  It has been more like "hit the ground running full steam ahead"  but it is good to be back.  And a slow semester it won't be with no less than THREE literature classes and one debate, of all things!  And Monday I had one private student.  By Tuesday night I had three.  Oh, my.  And I thought I was crazy busy last semester.

Everson is back to work and school.  He is officially in his FINAL YEAR of his engineering course, which means he has his big final project to do this year in order to graduate.  It will be a busy year for him, as always.

The children are both back into their school routines.  Last week as p.a.i.n.f.u.l as 5:45am seemed truly like an ungodly hour to get up every day of the week, but as always, we do adjust.

And God is good.  All.the.time.  Have a wonderful week and be blessed.

Hugs, Jama