Colombian Flare

As most of you know we have had the tremendous privilege of another family member this year in the form of a foreign exchange student from Colombia! Sandra has been with us for a year now and has been the biggest blessing and friend that fit right into our home as if she'd been with us forever. It was also nice to even out the teams here in the house too....Bill and Sawyer vs. Me & Sandra! Since she was going to UNO as a full time student and working in the cafeteria, she didn't have much time to cook her traditional Colombian food.....but then there were weekends. :)
Unless you have a cook at home or live in Brazil with a maid, you have no idea how nice it is after pulling into the garage, unbuckling a car seat, rummaging around under the driver's seat for your cell phone that fell out of your purse, collecting a sippy cup and granola bar wrappers stuffed between the seats, grabbing an arm-full of groceries, arguing with Sawyer about not playing Daddy's drums, shutting the car doors with your hip and then kicking the door into the house until it pops open only to be greeted with the mouth watering smell of garlic fried rice, bacon wrapped chicken and sauted zucchini............it's the weekend and Sandra cooked!!!! WAHOO!

Sandra's brother Andres has been here in Omaha for about six years now and is getting married this afternoon to a lovely Omaha girl! So, a tons of Sandra's family has come up for the celebration and we were able to steal a little bit of their time to have them over one afternoon! They are so warm and friendly and have that latino flare that I miss so much from Brazil. They are all about greeting you with hugs and kisses and the disregard for any personal space that North American culture needs :) Being a little bit more on the reserved side, it was a little bit of a stretch for Bill but he was such a good sport! Meanwhile I just LOVED it!

This is Sandra and her mom Betty.

It was so great to put faces to the names and finally meet all these people that we had heard so much about for the last year! We would love to take Sawyer to Columbia to visit Sandra once she moves back and experience her home and culture!
(Sandra is also making a traditional Colombian meal for us next week before my mom leaves and I'm already fantasizing about how D-lish it's going to be!)

On a side note: Sawyer has been gallivanting around the countryside with my mom for the last three weeks! I know!!!! That's a LONG time! They took this trip together last summer while she was here too-just visiting all of my aunts and uncles and family friends but Sawyer got a little home sick and came back early. But this year-he's LOVING it! I can barely keep him on the phone long enough to tell me what he's been up to before it's, "Oh, Mommy! Bye!" They have been all over Wisconsin, Michigan, Baltimore, Ohio and Chicago and are coming home TODAY! The first two weeks of not having Sawyer were really nice-I got so much done and organized, took naps, painted my toe nails, walked Phoebi a lot more, didn't have to find a babysitter on Saturday nights and slept in on Saturday mornings!! It was a wonderful break but this last week we've been really missing him! We know that he's having the time of his life and Nana Jane is spoiling him rotten, but we miss his cute little face too much!