We know it’s very late to be sending this 2018 Christmas card & letter, and we apologize for this, but we truly hope your family had a great and holy holiday! We also wish you an amazing 2019!
I – Gabby –also apologize for having been amiss in the previous years. Sending Christmas cards in between out-of-state moves (in 2015 and 2017) and having a Christmas baby (in 2016) was too much for me to handle. I’m also not sure that we sent out cards in all other years that we been living in the US (from 2009-2014). So, no! We didn’t forget to send you a card in previous Christmas! No one got a card!
Also, you are not getting a picture of us this year, but let’s be hopeful that in 2019 I’ll start doing the whole Christmas card thing properly. I so enjoy getting cards, pictures and letters from all of you! I rejoice with you and it reminds me to keep praying for your intentions and your families!
Now enough blabbering and let’s talk about 2018.
I think most of you will remember that in mid-November, 2017, we moved out of South Dakota and settled in Greater Atlanta, Georgia. Our moving process had many ups and downs – which basically means that a lot went wrong and there were not many “ups” in the “ups and downs” before mentioned. I’ll save you the details, but to sum it up, we started 2018 living in a two bedroom apartment in Roswell, GA then in February we were living in a small-but-quaint ranch house in Suwanee, GA.
If you ever wondered what is like in Greater Atlanta, Georgia, I’ll briefly describe it to you! It looks like a big city in the Jungle with plenty of uneven terrain. It’s beautiful both in cold and warm months. But it’s dreadful in spring if you happen to have spring allergies, and it can be fearsome in summer with all the mosquitoes. But we do get a bit of all four seasons and summer is not intolerably hot like in Texas.
Friends here in Georgia are awesome. Very welcoming! I think it’s because of the vast diversity! Really, I never lived in a place like Atlanta before. I feel like there is a fair share of all ethnicities. The neighborhoods and restaurants reflect this diversity and it has been interesting to get to know these places a little bit.
Traffic is bad! Fortunately, Dan rides an executive bus to Emory (where he works as the director of the EPIC facility, I forgot to mention this before) and that was the reason why we live in Suwanee, since this bus only stops in two different places. Emory actually pays for the commute in an effort to improve traffic jam conditions. And I feel much better knowing Dan is safer riding the bus.
Impossible not to mention our Six Flags membership in this letter because we’ve spent countless weekends there between the amusement park and the water park. Really, I don’t think I can’t count or recall them all. The kids love it, as you can imagine.
About schooling! Nico had a very challenging year as far as adapting and we ran through a lot of evaluations. Nico is not considered in the Autism Spectrum like we thought he could be, but his ADHD is substantial. Our kids also tend to take a long time to fully develop spoken language so his lack of communication skills - for the first half of the year - contributed greatly to the problem. After much discernment, Nico will start Kindergarten in public school next Fall (2019) and he just started “prek 5yo” at our local Georgia PreK program as we were very fortunate to fill up a last minute opening. We don’t plan on keeping him in public schools for too long, but that’s how is going to be for a while.
Rebecca was in Connections Academy, an online public school for the first half of 2018, which is basically homeschooling. We managed to enroll her in first grade again once we moved to Georgia because she is very small and also too young for the grade she was before. For the second semester of 2018 we enrolled her at SJBA, a hybrid catholic school, 25min away from home, traffic cooperating. Which means she goes to school on Monday and Wednesday and we homeschool on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It’s a pretty challenging curriculum and it’s been daunting to adjust to the commute and everything else. But I can’t say I regret our decision. I think of it as a blessing in disguise. Quoting a peer mom: “It’s horrible!!! But it’s the best thing we can do for our children!”. As a super bonus point, Rebecca loves it there! And she never felt like this about any of her previous schools!
Vicky turned two mid-December, 2018. And she is just adorable! Funny, full of joy and energy and so smart! She proves to anyone, time and time again, that she can totally keep up with her older siblings! No plans of enrolling her in a school in 2019, yet!
Finally, on October, 21st, as we were getting so excited and ready for our planned upcoming trip to Brazil – so we could visit family and attend my brothers’ wedding in early December - we received the saddest of news: My dear dad (Antonio Alexandre de Moraes - or simply, Toninho) had a heart attack and passed away suddenly at only 59yo. We hopped in a plane the next evening so we could attend the funeral. It was the funeral of a saint. Around a thousand people came, seven priests co-celebrated his present body Mass, and many were the testimonies we received of granted favors through his intercession later on (and still going on).
We are fortunate that nothing was left unsaid between all of his 11 children and our dad. He knew how much we loved, acknowledged and appreciated him, and we knew how much he loved us and how much he sacrificed himself for us! He was a very loving and happy man! He would help anyone, anyhow even without being asked to. I am really blessed to have him as my father and as my example of holiness. It’s an honor, which I carry with grieving heart, nonetheless.
Lastly, our lengthy time in Brazil was necessary to spend it out with my family. My brother’s wedding was beautiful and blessed. It was gratifying for me to see that each of my siblings (and the respective girlfriends and newlywed wife) are amazing, selfless, godly people!
As I finish this letter, I ask for your continued prayers for me, for all of us and for my mom. May God and Our Mother lead us the way through healing. Also, please keep Rebecca in your thoughts and prayers as she prepares for First Communion on May, 4th, 2019.
I’m forever grateful to you and please know you are in included in my prayers, as well.
Love,
The Kota Family
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