Love to France...

Care packages are fun and people have asked what we would like here if they wanted to send something. So I thought I would write out a few things. Some would fit in an envelope with a letter, others would be in a box.

Tacco Seasoning... (yes we miss taccos)
Koolaid
Chap stick
smarties
Gum
Thank You notes (very hard to find here)
Peanut butter
Fishy crackers or animal crackers
Kids vitamins
Stickers
Note pads
Magnets


We are getting more used to what we can find here and how to make it work. I love a granola I found for breakfast with vanilla yogurt on it. We eat sandwiches for lunch almost every day. (Jeff picks up a baguette on his way home with the kids.) And dinenrs have been random. Quiche, frozen pizza, lentil soup, grilled cheese, rice and sauce. Meat is very expensive here and frozen dinners are cheap. So we are using the more 'unhealthy' frozen dinners most school nights so I don't have to put much brain power or time into cooking after studying all day.

Lessons from The Little Prince

Jeff has been reading The Little Prince to our kids at bedtime since we arrived in France. The other day while he was reading about the Fox being tamed by the little prince I found myself very moved. The reasons that have been hard for me to leave my friends and all that I find comforting and familiar is that I have let myself be tamed by them. The fox talked about what it would be like to be tamed by the Prince like this…

“If you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…”

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near- “Ah,” said the fox, “I shall cry.”

“It is your own fault,” said the little prince. “I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…”

“Yes that is so,” said the fox.

“But now you are going to cry!” said the little prince.

“Yes that is so,” said the fox.

“Then it has done you no good at all!”

“It has done me good,” said the fox, “because of the color of the wheat fields.”

Then as the little prince left the fox he gave the little prince some advice… “What is essential is invisible to the eye” and “it is the time you have wasted on what you have tamed that makes it so important to you.”

Many things remind me of dear friends and family. I am glad I was tamed by you, so that I am reminded of you as I see things that we shared in common. It is hard to be away, but the memories we share make it worth the sadness.

Shopping in France

I am starting to get the hang of this kind of life... I bought a shopping cart that I can pull home from the store... now the trick is only buying what fits in there so I don't also have bags to carry alongside... more trips but less weight per trip. It goes so against my Costco/stock up shopping mind that I have trained myself for. Luckily the store are not far... all within one Kilometer I think. That between half and three quarters of a mile. I have not been real creative with my cooking yet, just eating the basics, but I might try a quiche this weekend. Maybe I should get the Julie Childs cookbook and work through it like in the Julie and Julia move... NO... that would never work at this pace of life we are living. But I would like a french cookbook... it would call for things that I can actually find in the stores.

A New Year with New Challenges

January 1^st, 2010

I have to admit, I brought in the New Year with tears. I don’t know why this adjustment has been so hard for me. It is not that I don’t like being here. The people I have met are great. I like getting lots of walking exercise and exploring. Trying new food sounds exciting.

But I miss the familiarity of home. I miss being able to be surprised by a phone call or instant message from someone. It all started with Jeff asking why I really want internet at our house. We can go over to our school everyday and we have free internet there. So is it really that big of a deal to also have it here in our home. I don’t know why this is such a tough issue for me to let go of. I had ideas of hearing the Skype phone call and being surprised that someone had reached us. Maybe they were awake in the middle of the night and knew we would be up. Or after I am home with our new baby, getting on and talking to people from my bed, letting them see our new baby. Or even keeping up with your blogs and emails so I know what is going on with my friends and family back home. Not that I cannot do that from school once a day, and plan times to Skype people from there. I guess the ability to be connected to the world any time I want was much more deeply imbedded than I realized. I feel like Jeff was surgically removing it from me and it hurts. I believe he has good reasons and it will be good for our family on different levels. But why is it so hard for me? I don’t know. It was not one of the things I expected to have to give up this year.

Getting Settled

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Life is grey… the sun peaks out from time to time, but we mostly see grey skies. I feel like I am in the country of amazing food, and I don’t know how to make or acquire any of it. I did find a good bakery this morning and brought home a baguette that made great lunch sandwiches. Even regular staples don’t taste the same. The eggs have a unique smell and taste. There are three isles of yogurt at the grocery store. I don’t know where to begin! Peanut butter is rare. It costs about $8 for a small jar. Luckily I have gone shopping with American friends who have been a huge help in figuring it all out.

Our home needs some sprucing up. I should have asked for IKEA gift certificates for Christmas. I think we will get some curtains and we need something on the walls. Maybe a few throw rugs to help things feel homier. Some candles would be nice too. We also need a few plastic cups and maybe some that hold more than 4 oz of liquid.  My new friends Hilary and Michelle stopped by and said they would take me to IKEA on Saturday!

We have learned a few good tips. The French don’t do garage sales, but once a month everyone throws out their goods and you can go dumpster diving for used but good stuff. (We might look for a new couch and dinning chairs.) Mimolete cheese tastes the most like cheddar. You need one euro to ‘use’ a shopping cart.

So we are getting acclimated. I think we will all feel better when we start sleeping through the night. Jet lag is hanging on for dear life. I am not used to the kids being awake in the middle of the night. It is almost 6AM in California and already 3PM here. Or should I say 15:00.

We still have five days till school starts… hopefully we will be ready!

From Massy France

Well this is my first morning waking up in France. It is a good day. I was going to blog yesterday and it wouldn't have had such an encouraging note to the blog. Though our trip was uneventful and everything went well. The affects of sleep deprivation on top of culture shock upon arrival did not bring out the best in us. The kids were wired and we were sleepy, not a good combo. We were homesick for the familiar and the predictable. We were homesick for our beds and the ability to send the kids outside. We were homesick for family and friends to lean on for support and help. We were homesick for the predictability of knowing how to get a good meal for the kids. But today is a new day. Although sleep was sporadic and choppy, there was enough of it and we are feeling much better. I woke up to a breakfast of pain au chocolate and hot chocolate. What could be better? We will be moving from the hotel to our apartment today and hope to start making it feel like home. I will try to blog more while we are here and upload some photos.

Sonlight

Wow it has been too long since I have blogged. I know this because I usually read others blogs around the same time I blog myself. And I have 61 blog entries to catch up on. Probably wont get that done tonight! I just wanted to share the joy in my life of homeschooling. I was given a lot of homeschooling material by a sweet lady in Monterey. Most of it was Sonlight curriculum. We are anticipating a departure for France sometime in the fall. And since I wanted to try out homeschooling while still here in the USA with resources for help, I decided to give it a try now. Yes... actually now. I am going to give Drew and Joe a week off after they are through with school, and then we are getting started on Kindergarden and 3rd grade. The cool thing about homeschooling is you can make your own schedule. Then if we want to take a week off for VBS or vacation, we can do that too. I did ask the boys if they even wanted me to teach them and if they wanted to do school this summer, and they both said YES! I will also be attempting to teach some preschool to Harley. (Pray for us there!) Anyway... I'm excited to give it a try and will let you know how it goes.

Last one... it's a good one... :)

Project #5
E-flirt.com

Text or E-mail Some Sweet Nothings

“I turn on my computer. I wait patiently as it connects. I go online. My breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words, “You’ve got Mail.” I hear nothing, not a sound on the streets of New York. Just the beat of my own heart… I have mail, from you.”
Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kennedy in “You’ve Got Mail”

Your Project
Send a flirty text or e-mail to your husband.

Getting Creative

• Use an e-card service (hallmark.com or americangreetings.com) to send a cute and flirty note.
• Don’t know how to text? Ask any teenager in the general vicinity.
• Most phones have a camera feature where you can send a photo message. Be sure to keep it G rated so that he doesn’t get in trouble at work.

This is the 4th out of 5 of these...

Project #4
Heart vs. Stomach

A Treat Just for Him

“You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.”
Ronald Reagan

Your Project:
Get a food treat for your husband that he’s not required to share with you or any other family member.

Getting Creative
Stumped for ideas? Here are some thoughts:

• Get his favorite pint of Ben & Jerry’s and hide it behind the frozen chicken. Even if you buy it on Tuesday, you’ll have it ready and waiting for his special night later in the week.
• Is there a certain cut of meat that your husband loves? How about having the butcher cut something just for him? Most supermarkets will even do the marinade for you – one less thing to think about.
• Is there a certain candy that your husband loves from his childhood? Check out www.candywarehouse.com. They have all the nostalgic candy you could want (Black Jack Gum, anyone?) while also carrying any modern favorite you could be looking for.
• My husband’s family loves something called “noodles and mashed potatoes” (we lovingly refer to it as “The Starch Fest”). I learned how to make this special dish just for him.
• My guy loves the smell of baking almost as much as he enjoys eating the treat. Have some brownies in the oven when he gets home from work or working out. (I know, it negates the workout, but isn’t chocolate always worth it?)
• Our friend Scott mentioned that he loves cranberry sauce, but eats it only at Thanksgiving. His wife intentionally made the holiday treat for him this past July.
• Are you a wife who is an expert at low-cal salads and other forms of chick-food? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Man Food at www.kathilipp.com for ideas

An amazing weekend...

Jeff and I went to a marriage enrichment conference this weekend. He did not think it was a good conference, I thought it was good. How's that for a united front? :) I do totally see his point and agree they could have challenged us more, but I really appreciated the time to reflect and learn some new ways to approach and support Jeff. I was actually able to confess something to Jeff that I was not sure how to do before this weekend. Scared out of my wits would be a better description. It gave a good opportunity to discus things that would not have come up without the structure. So I am thankful for the time with Jeff, thankful for his understanding and forgiveness, and thankful for the passionate and unconditional love he offers me. (Even though he drove me crazy with his constant dialogue about how the conference could be better, I came away from it with a better and renewed understanding of who he is.) Two of the things I took away were...

1. The perfect wife does not expect the perfect husband.
2. Strengths pushed to extremes can become a weakness.

There was a whole lot more, but I'll leave it for now.