Unpacking

Packing in Sao Paulo was difficult because I was super tired and it was hot, but at least you knew what needed to be packed. Unpacking into a full house was much harder! Also I realized that our condo was actually a little bigger than our house. Our apartment was roughly 150 square meters which is about 1600 square feet. Our house is only 1500 square feet on the upper level and doesn't have the great built in closets and maximum usage of every inch like the condo in Sao Paulo. Plus it was already full of clothes and stuff. Unpacking made me anxious about how we are going to fit two more babies and their stuff in our house. 

Welcome Home

We were welcomed home by at beautiful sunny day when we got off the airplane in South Bend. We were also super lucky because it was the first flight from Detroit to South Bend to fly in 1 1/2 days due to weather. 

The plane ride went well. Eric was so nice to watch all of the girls. The girls actually did pretty good and slept for most of the flight. As people were getting off a lady even told me that for a long flight she said they did great. I would have to agree that my kids are pretty good travelers. (Well that is Gretta & Eliza. Carli still struggles when awake. Lets just say the next flight didn't go as well after she had been strapped into her cars seat for almost 24 hours, but who would blame her. Luckily it was only 30 minutes long.)  A long flight is hard, but at night its much better and even better with only a 3 hour time change. It was 7:45am in Detroit and the immigration line was short and then we got our bags. All 20 of them. Luckily they found a porter to help us. There was no way we were going to be able to get all of the bags through customs without some help. Of course they wanted to know why we had so much stuff, but luckily it went well and we got everything rechecked to South Bend.

That's when it got a little tricky. In Detroit you have to go back to the regular screening line to get back into the terminal for the domestic portion of the flight. You always have to get re-screened but in other airports they have a special place usually right after you re-check your bags to get you re-screened. The line to get screened was RIDICULOUS long. Some how part of our tickets said we were pre-screen and others didn't and lets just say the TSA agent wasn't helpful! So they wouldn't let us in the pres-screen line. Finally after another family with kids/stroller etc showed up 10 minutes later he said, "Why don't you go down to the other station they are better at handling strollers. They even have a special line for people with kids." WHAT!?!!? That information would have been nice 10 minutes earlier when we were worried we were going to miss our connection.

We decided to try it and he was right. They did have a special line and it was much quicker. The funny thing is that station is on the opposite side of where the elevator is to the main level. Don't you think you would have the stroller line closest to the elevator?!?! So instead after we got through security we had to walk all the way back to the other station to use the elevator. Sometimes I think it's TSA job just to make flying very painful! It doesn't have to be so painful, but somehow it always is. I think they were just jealous of our tans and that some of the other people were headed towards warm climates:)
I have had some great TSA experiences and some awful ones. It totally depends on the mood of the people working. I know it's a tough job and I am totally grateful for what they do, but their mood makes a huge difference and some of them are just cranky!

We made it to South Bend. We had to wait quite a while on the ground in Detroit because the plane had been sitting for 1 1/2 days and was cold and need to warm up and we had to get de-iced. Once in South Bend the Corporate Vans showed up and the drivers were super nice an helpful and helped us get all of our stuff loaded. The funny thing is the nice lady told me she would wait for me to get the kids coats out. When I told her we didn't have any coats. She was shocked!!! Luckily they kept the vans warm and we were fine. It took us a while to get out the door because one of our black/yellow bins was missing and we had to check all the luggage tags to figure out which one it was. That took quite a while. Then we were headed home.

The property manager happened to be on a cruise this week, but assured us that his 39 year old son could make sure everything was ready for us when we got home. He also came by a week before and turned up the heat and sent pictures of the house. Well let's just say I think we should have come home a week he was around because his 39 year old son dropped the ball. It was an EPIC FAIL!!!

We pulled in and Eric got out to find the house keys. They were suppose to be waiting for us on the porch. Poor Eric was outside searching all around the porch looking for them in the -1 degree temps and couldn't find them. Just then the son of the property manager showed up with the garage door opener and keys?!?!!? Really!?!? We were at least 30 minutes later than we should have been because of the missing luggage. I am so glad we were missing a bag and weren't sitting out side in the cold waiting for him to come. We could have opened the garage door, but because both cars were jammed inside the garage I don't think I would have been able to get my pregnant belly around them to get inside the house. And remember that big snow pile Eric emailed the property manager and his son about on Monday?!?!? Well much to our dismay it was still there?  A little better, but not much and we found out that two guys from church were responsible for it looking better, not the property managers son who has been charging us each time he plowed the snow into the snow pile!!!  Supposedly so it looked like someone was home.
When he showed up with the keys Eric asked him what he was going to do about the drive way and he said he would come back later and dig it out by hand. Later?!?!? What about right now?!?! (By the way he NEVER came back!!!!)  Plus there was no way to get a car out of the driveway which created a problem when trying to get our luggage in the house. The missing keys and  big pile of snow left should have been a tip off that all was not well:( I got the girls inside the house and instead of being greeted by a nice warm house I walked into an ice box!!! What they were suppose to have turned up our heat to 68 deg!?!?!? Well they did turn it up they just failed to make sure that it really was 68 degrees. It was a nice balmy 40 degrees in our house because the out take valve was covered and for safety the heat shuts off.
I called my good friend Amy Barfuss and the shuttle van driver was nice enough to drive us over to her house. We hung out at her house while poor Eric dug out the vent, and arranged with the neighbor to have his friend come with his front loader and dig out the driveway. It took most of the day to get the heat up to 68 degrees. So instead of unpacking most of the day was wasted doing things that should have already been taken care of. UGH!!!!
I am just grateful for such a wonderful husband who took it all in stride and worked so hard to make everything right. He also had arranged for our cell phones to turn on Wednesday and for ATT to turn on our internet. What a great guy!

Thursday morning we were greeted by this beautiful sunrise.

Laptop Saga

So when we were getting ready to leave for Brazil I really wanted to take my desk top and printer, but Eric said we didn't have room and that it's rough to bring electronic's into Brazil. So we took Eric's laptop. I have love hate relationship with the laptop. Let's just say the laptop was a point of stress for quite a while when we were in Brazil. First the battery died. I was actually already the 2nd battery. We bought the laptop for Eric to go to MBA school and the first battery died about 1 1/2 years into MBA school. Luckily we had bought the laptop at Costco and it was still under the extra Costco warranty, so he got another battery for free. A few other classmates had the same laptop and experienced the same problem, but weren't so lucky with the warranty.  

Well it started to have a difficult time keeping a charge almost as soon as we got to Brazil and then really died the end of November. To make it even more difficult for some reason the cord connection was also struggling, so it's was hard to use. I would have to walk around the apartment and try out different outlets and positions of the cord to see if I could get it to charge. The ipad is good for a lot of things, but the laptop is much better at multitasking and blogging. It made me a little bit cranky. 

The good news is that someone from St. Joseph was headed down for work and was able to bring a new battery in December. It didn't help the cord connection problem, but at least when I could get the battery to charge it would last for more than 15 minutes. 

Lets just say I was super excited to see my desk top when we got home!

32 Weeks

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Last Meal in Sao Paulo

We went out to Mexican food for our last real meal in Sao Paulo. The girls enjoyed watching the ladies make tortilla's and Carli loved the beans and rice. 

Gama Cards

Are experience in Brazil has been nothing but positive. However there are a few things that haven't gone as well as would have hoped. First the third party relocation company here in Sao Paulo has been a little bit difficult. They were in charge of getting our Visa and our Visa's took WAY TO LONG. It's not 100% within inside their control, but lets just say that Eric sent a lot of emails that were unanswered and a few pieces of paper that should/could have been submitted earlier. Let's just also say that in the INC(International Newcomers Club) Dicas book they make a point of saying that most relocation companies are not super helpful in Brazil. Well that was our case. Whirlpool isn't going to use them again, but that didn't really help us much. They did do a good job of picking us up at the airport, but that's the highlight. Remember it took 2 1/2 months to get us to the Federal Police even though we were suppose to go within the first 30 days we were in the country. Eric has emailed and called them without responses more times that I can count. Let's just hope we make it to the airport on Tuesday.  Okay that's enough about them. 

The next part has been our health care. First off I have to say that I am super grateful for great medial insurance. Eric's medical benefit at work has been a huge blessing for our family. Most of you know that Carli spent quite a few days in the NICU and has required some expensive interventions, so I am very grateful for our health care. The only real problem we had was that the transition from our normal health care to our international health care was a bit rough. 

  Eric and I both went to a meeting with the HR lady about our insurance and she said, " I am not even going to explain it now because we are still in negotiations and a lot of things are going to change before July." I figured that eventually they would send us an Explanation of Benefits and someone would explain how it was going to work. She did tell me that our health care in Brazil wasn't suppose to be used for routine things, so I diligently scheduled all of the girls follow ups, our physicals, and such for before we left. It was pretty clear soon on in the process that we weren't going to be leaving for Brazil in July, so we had a few appointments scheduled for August and as time dragged on Gretta got strep and the normal kid stuff came up, oh and I got pregnant with Twins, so lets just say our doctors visits didn't slow down much. Plus 2013 was an expensive health care year for us.  Carli got tubes, a few sedated hearing tests and her cleft palate repaired all before May, so we hit our Max out of pocket expense in June.

We got new International Cards in June and I figured that they were for us to use when we got to Brazil and we would just stay on our regular insurance while we were in St. Joe. Eric has his physical July 1st so he could complete his 4 "wellness items" before we left. Then he hurt his back later in July and went to the doctor and to the pharmacy. The pharmacy told him our insurance was denied. That's when we realized that they had switched us from the regular insurance to our International Insurance July 1st. Of course I was in a panic because I had all of the girls and my visits already scheduled and it stressed me out to figure out if everyone was now "in-network" and what I was going to do. When we got our cards they came with 4 pages of colored copied explanation of benefits which didn't really explain anything. When Eric called HR she told Eric that anything that was "in-network" with Lakeland Care would be covered. Let's just say that EVERY BILL after that point Eric had to do something to get it paid. Our Family Practice doctor and the pediatrician didn't except our new insurance even though they are part of "Lakeland Care". It took months to get their bills paid. He also had to dispute all of my visits to our chiropractor. Every one of my OB appointments had to be mediated and it took Eric a lot of time to get it all sorted out. We have an agreement. I take the girls to all of their many visits and he makes sure everyone gets paid. Let's just say that dealing with Children's LA for all of Gretta's stuff about did me in, so since then Eric has taken care of the bills. (Children's LA use to send "fishing" bill which are bills you don't really owe, but they are for low amounts and they send them to patients who have good insurance figuring they will pay because they don't really understand medical bills the amounts are usually less than $25 dollars. Let's just say they got in a lot of trouble and we eventually even got money back from them, but it still isn't fun to get bills you know you don't owe that say if you don't pay them they will send you to collections.)  About a month ago Eric got an email that said everyone had been paid and that they had been called telling them that they were getting paid. 

In October when we arrived in Brazil they told us we needed additional cards called "Gama" cards for Brazil to be used at the hospital. They were supposedly FedEx'd but never arrived. Eric followed up a few times and then kind of forgot about it. The ER visit I had in November turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the guy who registered me was super smart and he was able to call someone and not only get my CPF but also my Gama number. Not all registers are the same. At my next visit the lady printed out my gama number for me and I just gave them piece of paper and that worked. Going to the hospital here is a regular occurrence when you are pregnant. I had to go there for my maternal fetal medicine appointments, so regular check ups and also all of my labs. They don't to those things in regular doctors offices like they do in the States. 

Well our last week here I asked Eric about the Gama cards and he just laughed. After switching our insurance 3 months earlier than we left we still hadn't received our Gama cards 7 months later. Eric did find out that one of the HR ladies quit and that might have cause the delay. Well 3 hours left in his last day at work in Sao Paulo and lo and behold the Gama cards showed up on his desk. LOL!!!! 

It's a good thing we never needed them for anyone other than me and some how that nice register figured out my number. 

The other horrible news was that the Chiropractor at home STILL HASN'T been paid. I am mortified. I think he stopped sending bills because he is a family friend and knows we will figure it out when we get home. But it is so embarrassing to me to know we owe him so much money and it didn't get paid!!!!!

The only upside is that since being here in Brazil our International Insurance has worked wonderfully and has been easy to work with. I also feel like we have received top notch care. To bad they just didn't keep us on our regular insurance until the day we left and lets hope the transition back is smoother. 

Pillow Fights with Dad

Pillow Fights with Dad have become a nightly occurrence at our house since "summer vacation" started and the girls have been staying up later since they don't have to go to school in the morning. Sometimes even Carli gets to get in on the action. 

Play Date with Fabi and Daniel

Fabi Maughan from church volunteered to watch the girls while we packed on Monday. The girls had a great time playing with Daniel and all of his toys. Their pool is closed on Monday too. Maybe all condo pools are closed on Monday's. Who knows! I drove the girls over and Fabi's bellman/security were so nice. She called down and let them know an American who didn't speak any Portuguese was coming with a whole bunch of kids and they were kind enough to even walk me to her elevator.  To bad we couldn't communicate with the security maybe they would have been nicer too! She took all of these cute pictures of them having fun! I am so grateful for all of the friends and people we have met here in Brazil and how kind everyone has been to us. 

Snow, Snow and More Snow!!!

It's been the warmest January on record in Sao Paulo and the coldest January on record in Chicago. I figure if it's the coldest in Chicago then it must be the coldest in St. Joseph too. Everyone says they have never seen a winter like it. While 90 degree days without AC for a pregnant woman have been tough. I have to say I think I would be a depressed pregnant woman if I was at home this winter. Being in Brazil has been a blessing. I have enjoyed the warm weather (not when it's 90, but the low 80s have been nice and as long as it cools off at night it's okay too.) But what I have really enjoyed is the long days. The sun comes up around 6:45am and sets around 8pm. Sure beats short winter days of Michigan.

St. Joseph is on round two of the Polar Vortex and Lake Effect Snow.  

Our neighbor who knows we are coming home this week sent me these pictures today very concerned that we aren't going to be able to get into our house. The property management company knows we are coming home on Wednesday, so this was a big SHOCKING!!!!! 

Eric just sent them an email with the pictures attached and hopefully the house looks more like the pictures they took just 5 days ago where you could actually get in and out of the driveway when we get home:) 

Gretta and Eliza are SO excited to go home and I know it's the right time to go home, but I am NOT So excited to go back to this:(

St. Joseph Here We Come!

It's true we are coming back to St Joseph next week Tuesday. I am not sure I want to with all of the pictures our friends have posted of the Polar Vortex, snow,  blowing snow, crazy cold temperatures and winter that never seems to end, but all good things must come to and end and we must go home. 

Actually we were suppose to stay for 6 months and Whirlpool said we could stay the whole 6 months even though Eric is down with the original project he came down to work on. There are just a few things that complicate us staying any longer.

1. School for Gretta & Eliza- School here is SUPER expensive and we have used up the money set aside for school. The Brazilian kids go back to school tomorrow to start the new school year after having about a 6 week "summer vacation". Lets just say home schooling hasn't worked out as well as I would have liked. Probably because I am pregnant and tired and its hard to do it when Carli is awake. So we need to go back and get them back in school, so they don't have to repeat the year. 

Plus I am too pregnant and tired to watch all 3 girls from 9am until 8pm (Eric's work day here)

2. The baby boys. I actually have no reservations about having the babies here in Sao Paulo. Albert Einstein Hospital is one of the best hospitals in South America and better than the hospital in St Joesph for having babies. I have been impressed at the care I have received here. In fact it's less than 5 K from our house and the hospital I plan on delivering at in Michigan is more than 90 miles, which makes me a littler nervous consider the winter they are having in Michigan. 

It's just all of the complications that might happen that make having the babies here complicated. First they are due super close to the cut of of 183 days. That's the magic number of days we can spend in Brazil before Whirlpool has to pay a WHOLE bunch of taxes here for us. So they would like us home before 183 days. And once they are born we can't just fly home the next day we have to make and appointment and go to the US Consult and get their passports before we can leave which can take up to 8 weeks. So we would almost 100% for sure be over our 183 days. 

I also didn't bring anything for the babies. It's so hot they could live in diapers, but we don't have a crib, car seats, a car big enough for 7 people, and I can't imagine taking 5 kids home on the airplane! Plus we aren't ready at home for them either and that's going to take some work. We need to move Carli to the girls room and get their room set up. Thank goodness for Amazon prime. I think I am going to be ordering quite a few things when we get home to get ready:)

So with all of that said we felt like it was the right time to go. I will be almost 32 weeks pregnant. Luckily this pregnancy has gone very well but realistically the twins could be born anytime after 36 weeks or even earlier. So we figured that we shouldn't push our luck to make it to 36 weeks. 

I will miss all of the beautiful sunshine, pool time, great food, friends, and Teresa and Alanna. We did think about trying to bring Teresa and Alanna home with us, but it got to complicated even though Teresa really wanted to come. 

Michigan here we come just in time to hibernate/nest and get ready for the next big adventure in our life the TWINS!

Last Day of Church in Sao Paulo

Sunday was our last day at Church in the Indianaopolis Ward here in Sao Paulo. We have enjoyed our 4 short months here. Everyone has been so welcoming and nice. We will always look upon our time in Sao Paulo as a good experience. 

Eric served with the Young Men while we were here and that was a good experience for him. The girls were blessed to have a Primary President that lived in Washington for 8 years and spoke English along with her three boys, 9, 6, and 2. Renanta was so helpful and nice to our family. We also attended Church with 4 other American families and were lucky enough to have Sunday School in English. I have to admit I am looking forward to being able to understand Church again!!!