Starting normal life

We´re now living in our wooden house next to the "real" house and have started our normal daily life. I´m still getting used to the gas stove (tend to burn garlic and the like as the stove is so quick) and cleaning the house over here. There´s no hoover and there is loads of dust and sand everywhere. We bought the ultimate luxury washing machine that spins the laundry (as opposed to hand washing everything) and I´m loving it.

The kids are doing ok. Lucas has hardly reacted to the change but Luana has difficult days. Her spoken Portuguese is already very good (she did understand everything to start with) and she´s not a shy child so she gets along with everyone and she´s really enjoying the attention she gets from all of her "new" relatives. But she clearly needs loads of attention from us as well and she makes that very clear on a daily basis. She seems to be calming down now though (or maybe I´m just getting used to all the screaming and the tantrums...).

We painted the wooden house and fixed the floors as well as some of the walls and it´s getting cosier all the time. We don´t have that much furniture yet but we´re getting there. The main focus is now on the "real" house next door. We´ll start (or someone who knows what he´s doing will start) working on the interior next week. We however have no idea how far our money will last and when we´ll be able to move in...

Church is good. Luana loves Sunday School and we just love being able to sit down and listen to the teaching (as opposed to having responsabilities during the church service). We take it in turns to attend on Tuesdays and on Thursdays without the kids and then go all together on Sundays. There are two services on Sunday; a more teaching focused service at 8.30 and then a worship service at 19.30.

Hoping to hear from you who read this blog!