How Can They Be MINE?

Sometimes I wonder how my children came from Mark and I. It's a wonder. I was there when they were born. But, how exactly did these very unique characteristics come from US??? It's just more proof that we serve a very creative God!

I'll use Todd as my illustration today.

This is Todd just a few days ago....in the metro....on a cold day in Paris when his mother MADE him wear a hat.


Todd thought it was HILARIOUS to put his hat on, then smoosh it around, and then pull it off really fast to make really funny hairdo's. Like this...


But, the best part of all was watching the French people around us.

We couldn't help ourselves. Our entire family was laughing - really laughing - at Todd. But, we were the only ones laughing in the train. There were French people all around us who refused to even crack a smile! They were watching us, and their faces spoke a thousand words.

"Oh, those horrible people behaving so disgracefully in public!"

"Can you believe those parents letting him do that, and on the metro of all places?"

"They MUST be from another country. Probably the USA. Typical."

There were a few men who let out a very small smirk - almost as though they remember being a boy and loving to do stuff like that when they were little. But, they quickly replaced it with indifference. They have been very well trained by the French culture.

I almost wish I could have been standing in the corner of the train taking a video of the whole scene. Maybe someday I will! Some days we can pretend we fit here, then there are days when it is just evident that we don't!

The funniest part to me was that Todd tried with everything he could, to keep this hairdo for forever! He wanted gel. He tried to repeat the same steps the next day with his hat to try to create the same craziness. But, he learned it's just not that simple to repeat wild hairdo's. So funny!

Ah... do you remember the post I wrote a while back about our names in France? Here's more proof of how our names don't fit in French culture.

We were walking through the metro, and we passed this poster for the most recent Adam Sandler movie.


In one instant, I knew this movie was not called Jack and Julie in America. I told Lena, "I'll bet you anything that movie is called Jack and Jill in the USA."

Sure enough! I checked online, and they changed the names to be more 'French-like'!!!! See!!! My name is just weird here. They rejected Jill and replaced it with Julie.

And, poor Todd got another proof of that just last week, too. Here's a birthday invitation he received from a classmate.


We saw "Tood" on the envelope and thought perhaps they had forgotten to make the second "o" into a "d", but no. When we pulled the invitation out of the envelope, it clearly reads TOOD in all caps! Oh, boy.

Todd did get a very big laugh out of this. Thank goodness he has a great sense of humor.

He's gotten invites that say "Toad" and "Tood" now. Will there be another form before we leave? We'll see!

I've mentioned before that Tuesdays are Mark and I's date lunches. We went to a fabulous couscous restaurant together today. Here's a photo of me in the restaurant.


It's a busy photo, but do you see the cat? It's real. Yep. I ate lunch with a cat sleeping soundly just behind my back. Too funny!

Oh, and I have another big surprise. Guess what they did to the bathroom at one of our churches. Look!


Can I just say HEAVEN!!!!!! Clean, bright, colorful, new! It's hard to believe I'm really in the heart of Paris when I go to the bathroom on Sundays now. Oh, and they even seem to be much more diligent about making sure there is toilet paper in each stall. I'm so very happy about this!

Now, if only the other church would decide to remodel. This is what it looks like.


It's freezing cold and FILTHY!!!! Don't be fooled. There isn't any toilet paper in that toilet paper holder. And, there's never any soap. That red bottle on the floor is someone's drink that they left behind. But, hey, at least there is a toilet seat!

I'll end with a photo of the big snow storm that canceled most activities this past Sunday morning.


Horrible, isn't it. :-) But, we haven't seen snow for a year, so we were thrilled to have any amount of snow! We're all hoping it will snow a lot in March when we get back to MN. We miss playing in the snow! (If we get tons and tons of snow, you can blame our kids. They are praying for lots of snow to play in!)

I'll end with a photo I took of the painting I finished today. This is for my Mom to see. I'm making my shadows darker. I think the right side of the painting is better than the left. Do you like it?


Here's a photo of my teacher, Daniel, who is helping my friend Marth with her painting.


Here's a painting Daniel painted. I just love it!


Perhaps one day I'll be able to paint something like this. It's fun to learn from this man. I am really going to miss this class. But, I look forward to finding a class that is taught in English so that I can really, really understand!

OK - that's it for today. Have a wonderful rest of the week!