Point of Grace - How You Live

In our "coffee talk"/ Bible group on Friday mornings, we have been talking lately about how there is a tendency for us as American women to value ourselves based on the things that we do. This is a real downer when one doesn't leave the house for a couple of days at a time and the activities within the house are mainly cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, and potty training. As expat, stay at home moms, we sometimes find ourselves asking ourselves, "What the heck are we doing here?" And although we believe that we are making an eternal investment in the lives of our children, sometimes the daily grind does seem meaningless and we find ourselves asking, "How are we really contributing?" We read the book of Ecclesiastes this week and discussed Solomon's reflections on life and meaning. At the end of his life, he recognized that enjoyment and satisfaction in life are a gift from God but acknowledged that it is also meaningless and lacks fulfillment apart from God. This song is about embracing life and although when I first heard it, I thought it just catchy and kind of faith hillish, it really does speak to our coffee talk discussions on life lately. The theme is embracing what God has given us to enjoy in the here and now (even though we may not know what is next). I love the line that says, "Make peace with God and peace with yourself, because in the end there's nobody else." At the end of our lives it is just us and God, so I want to be able to say that I lived my life fully, and I believe that we can only experience true fulfillment in life through Jesus who came to make peace between us and God. Hope you enjoy the video!

Arachnaphobia

I am absolutley, thoroughly, and totally disgusted! Also, I'm freaking out. It seems that one of the big huge nasty spiders survived my two attempts to spray him to death in the attic/ closet that is right next to CG's room. He also survived the spray across the doorway and around the door that is supposed to keep him from entering the habitable part of the house not to mention the gas bomb that I used this week! He decided that a fun trick would be to climb into the clothes hamper and surprise me today. After I grabbed a new, only worn once onsie off of the top of the pile to wipe off CG's mouth while I was changing her on the changing table and replaced it, I saw him. Right there. Big, black, ugly and right on top of CG's cute little pink sweater! So close to the changing table and her bed. I screamed and jumped and grabbed her and ran. Now every time I feel a tickle on my foot, I am jumping. Is this behavior normal? I would not say that I have a huge fear of spiders. I just hate them! And the thought of them in my house is really hard to take. What is it with this house and my life? Lately I feel like I am living in a horror movie!

Mama Don't Play!

Ok, no more fun and games, I have pulled out the big daddy weapons! My oldest baby has been bitten again in her room and this mama got angry. When it comes to fleas, mama don't play! Do you like the latestin extermination fashion? Just call me the flea terminator.

My friend, Dig, kindly took SA for me for the day so that I could prepare the house for the second bombing. This took longer than I had anticipated. After clearing up the clutter so that the gas would be sure to reach every flea or flea-to-be, I had to remove all foodstuffs and appliances from the kitchen counter, tape shut all of the cabinets in the kitchen, remove the plants, and thoroughly vacuum the whole house (yes, again). I also had to open all of the drawers in order to expose all of the linens and SA's clothes to the gas (great, more laundry). Hope that we have a flea free home soon. Time to vacuum again and mop and continue washing. I hope we are finished with this problem. I am sending out the rugs to be cleaned and spraying the carpet that remains.

Lately I have been worn slap out by a string of seemingly unsolvable problems like: the toilet leak and the plumbers that would never call back or come, the mildew that has reappeared on the walls that was already removed and the unreachable landlord who doesn't seem to care, the car that needs repairs, and yes, the flea infestation. Anyway, we are not promised a problem free life, but I am thankful that we have a God who is with us in the midst of life's challenges. Yesterday as I drove away from my "just bombed" house, I saw a beautiful rainbow. I guess that was His way of reminding me that He knows, He cares, and that He does keep His promises to us. The promise that is meaningful to me today is this:

"I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my Name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them. I will satisfy them with a long life and give them my salvation."
Psalm 91:14-16

Toddler's Tour of Paris and Back to Reality

Paris was a nice change of pace. We really enjoyed travelling by train as we had a compartment to ourselves, could move around a bit, and I was able to nurse the baby! We had an apartment style hotel which worked out really well as D and I slept on the sleeper sofa and the girls took the bedroom. We had a kitchen which was wonderful, and the hotel was situated right next to a mall with a grocery store in it and a Haagen Daas store! After getting the girls fed and settled down for the night, we were able to eat take-out (KFC one night and Chinese the next)! This may not sound like a treat to ya'll, but it was for me!

In town I decided to go with the baby carrier and one lightweight travel stroller. This didn't work that well at the Musee D'Orsay, but at least I got to walk by Van Gogh's, Monet's, Renoir's, and Degas's paintings even if I didn't get to really look at them for long. SA was over the edge after our embassy appointment, long lunch (not long by choice), and after we finally kicked her out of the stroller so CG could have a nap. D kept asking me if I was "soaking it all in", but it was hard to thoroughly "soak in" Paris when one is worrying about babies in the wind and rain along busy streets and being smushed like a sardine on the Metro with my 3 mo. old strapped onto my body. The "big "ole clock" at D"Orsay and the "big 'ole wheel" were the highlights of the trip for SA. The large ferris wheel was located in the center of the city next to the Jardin des Tuileries and near the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and the Champs-Elysees. We had a lovely view of the city although it was a bit windy and chilly.

We did a little shopping (one kids' store) and never made it to Starbucks, but we had a nice mexican/ french style lunch on Saturday. I had a great margarita! There is only one mexican restaurant where we live, so it was good to get my fix of mexican food before heading back home to the boon-docks of France. We finally gave up on the Metro again as it took too long with SA insisting that she climb up and down all the stairs and having to carry the stroller with CG in it (we gave up on the carrier too). Taxis are more expensive but alot easier- especially when there is luggage involved. It was a short trip but probably as much as this stress case mama can handle right now anyway.

Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church, SA turned up with 6 more flea bites on her back. This morning she had 4 more. Yesterday, I spent the day taking the car to be repaired, waiting for the plumber again (but this time he did come!),and shopping for flea bombs and formulating a plan. I will have to bomb the whole house this time and then wash all the linens in the house and SA's clothes again. I hope that will be the end of every flea, flea egg, and flea larvae and pupa. But we will see...

We're Off to Paris!

I am so excited! We're off to Paris tomorrow! We have to go to the Embassy to get CG's certificate of birth abroad and apply for her passport. We could have gone to Lyon for this, but why pass up an opportunity to go to Paris? D is excited about going to Starbucks. I am excited about seeing the Musee Dorsay and shopping! SA is excited about riding the train!

My challenge for today is to figure out just how to get around one of the greatest cities ever. It is a challenge because there are so many options, but which one would be the best? Baby carrier and a stroller? 2 strollers? Double stroller? Stroller and a boogie board attachment? Stroller and a snap and go? We have lots of second hand baby equipment from friends- a double stroller which is like driving a bus- I am not too keen on taking this as Paris is VERY handicap inaccessible. I also have 4 baby carriers none of which I have had great success with thus far. Hmmm, I am just not sure what would be best. The good thing is that we know that the Metro is very hard to navigate with a stroller. I really prefer knowing what the challenge is ahead of time instead of being taken totally off guard by expecting American accessibilty where it is unavailable. The other good thing is that SA can walk now. However, just because she can walk does not mean that she is totally in control when she does, and I do think that both she and I need an option for her to sit. We have this great Combi stroller which has a tri-fold system and a shoulder strap- we could just fold it up and walk down the flight of stairs into the Metro and then carry it through a turnstyle. Last time we just gave up and walked for miles as it just seemed too hard to get on and off the Metro and the buses with her and the stroller and all of our stuff. This time we will need to ride more if she is going to have to walk and if one of us is carrying CG. I am just not sure of the best mobility solution. I guess I want one that will be easy and enable us to enjoy the city, but as one French lady told me at the laundry mat the other day, "La vie n'est pas simple." ("Life is not simple.") My response to her, "Jamais, jamais" ("Never, never").

After washing everything (for the second time)in my flea ridden house in a washer that is one third the size of the washers in the US and a dryer of the same size that has a condenser that needs to be dumped out about every hour, vacuuming more times than I can count with a second hand vacuum cleaner that is not the best, and finally bombing the suspect areas because nothing else seemed to work, I spent the day at the laundry mat with SA's bed linens on Monday only to find out this morning that she has wet them all! I need a break! Hopefully we will have a wonderful weekend in Paris... I just need to wait until after the plumber comes to fix the leaking toilet, then hopefully I can get out to buy my Paris travel necessities. This mobility thing with 2 kids is still difficult- yesterday I didn't make it out of the house until noon even though I was getting ready all morning. And then I returned empty handed at 4:00 because I couldn't think clearly or make a decision while shopping with both girls. I've got to get better at this!

Ready, Set, Go!

The French celebrate Christmas with a huge meal that lasts for hours and concludes with gift opening after Pere Noel (Santa Claus) comes around midnight. As you can imagine, navigating this situation with 2 small children could prove difficult. In our case it was near disastrous as SA was a sobbing mess throughout the evening. Hindsight is 20/20, and I have lots of advice for myself after the fact, but I guess we all have to live and learn. After accepting the invitation to our friends' house for the "Reveillon" (Christmas Eve), I learned that we would be out until after midnight and being the plan ahead mom that I try to be, I purchased an inflatable sleeping bag for SA. The problem was that I had planned to put her down after dinner. I knew that dinner would be served late, but I mistakenly thought that SA would be able to make it through dinner. I'll skip most of the details, but let's just suffice it to say that the main course was served at midnight after we had had the champagne with amuse bouche and entree (i.e. appetizers) of raw salmon, shrimp, oysters, and foie gras!

I had told SA that we were going to be having chicken, so she wanted to stay up to eat chicken. We were actually served "chapon" which is a very special, expensive, festive, castrated rooster. This rooster was served with stuffing made from all of the rooster entrails and ground pork (this was SA's favorite part of the meal) and roasted chestnuts. Then, we had a visit from Santa Claus, and all of the presents appeared under the tree. We all exchanged gifts and then went back to the table for dessert. By now it was between 2 or 3 in the morning and I was so exhausted that I didn't want to taste my own pumpkin pie although I explained the recipe to our curious friends.

We have such precious French friends here. They are so generous and open to us and I am so thankful to have these dear brothers and sisters in our lives. I only regret that I am not able to communicate with them better so that I could express my appreciation to them. Instead I feel that I am always making linguistic and cultural blunders which could be construed as rudeness while at the same time dealing with a tempestuous toddler. Thank goodness for grace!

After going to bed after 4AM, I was ruined for the day of the 25th. I had invited friends for coffee in the afternoon thinking that we would be finished with our Christmas morning festivities by then. I was wrong, and I didn't have time to bake the birthday cake for Jesus that I usually have on Christmas day. Fortunately, my sweet friend, F,(the one that helps me with my French and cherry picking) brought the "buche de Noel" (traditional "yule log" cake) that she made for her family and shared it with us. After visiting with our friends in the afternoon, I was again exhausted. So, the Branyons celebrated Christmas, American style, on the 26th this year.