Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!

When I was young, I used to go to Home and Garden expos with my dad, and they were pretty cool. We would look at all the booths as dad was looking for stuff to redo the house, and we'd get free samples sometimes or see some neat demonstrations. I always had fun going to those.

When I was in college (c'est université aux Etats-Unis) I went to a food expo once with the Director of Food Services at the school. I enjoyed that a lot too because we got to sample all of the food that companies wanted to sell to restaurants and cafeterias.

Well this past week, I went to an expo that was even better than those, I went to Le Salon du Chocolat (Chocolate Expo) in Paris. Imagine, a huge exposition hall filled with booths from bakeries and chocolate stores from all over France, Belgium and Switzerland. It was incroyable! And there were free samples!!! Now I love America, and a good old american hamburger will always be my favorite meal, but chocolate is one thing that Europe definitely does better! They even have a word in French for someone who makes chocolate. Like a pastry cook is a "pâtissier", a person who makes chocolate is a "chocolatière."

Now this could have been a good language learning experience for me, but all I really heard or said was "Voulez-vous y goûter?" (would you like to taste some?) and "Oui Madame" (yes ma'am!).

A woman of whom this world was not worthy

My grandma died this past weekend at the age of 93. As she advanced in age, she lost many physical abilities and her memory worsened. However, while physical and mental abilities diminished with age, her character remained untouched. Her humility, desire to serve others, and contentment with what God had given her seemed to have become effortless.

I would often ask grandma how things were going and I never remember her complaining. And it wasn't like she was discontent with her situation and had learned to put a good face on a bad situation. She genuinely felt she had nothing to complain about. She constantly marveled at how God was continuously kind with her. She had served the Lord faithfully for decades. Yet she never viewed God's kindness as payment for her service. Her humility lead her to view every gift from the Lord as an undeserved surprise. Her relationship with the Lord never involved a paycheck, only a continuous stream of Christmas mornings all year long.

I mourn the loss of my grandma because I've lost someone special. But she is not just a loss to me. She was an example to the world of how God's grace can transform an individual such that certain virtues become not just goals, but essential expressions of their soul. Hebrews 11:38 gives a list of individuals in the past and labels them as individuals of whom this world was not worthy. My grandma is proof to me this list isn't closed.

I thank God for the incredible spiritual heritage he has given me.

Ruth Stewart (1916-2009)

Transformation

Our little girl turned 3 last weekend, and we are starting to realize that she is not so much our little girl now! We were noticing yesterday how much older she is looking now, and then today we noticed another transformation in her, she is becoming our little bilingual girl! Usually at school, her teachers try to use English with her to make her feel more comfortable as she has been having a hard time adjusting. Today when I picked her up from school though, the second her teacher saw me she got this big surprised smile on her face and said "She was speaking in French to me today! I was speaking in English to her, and then all of the sudden, she started speaking French!" Her teacher was very impressed, and we are very proud of her.

My two favorite people in the whole world!

The beginning of the rest of her life

Summer is over, and tomorrow morning Addie will begin the adventure that will last for the next 15 years (not quite the rest of her life :).  She is starting school!!!  Tomorrow morning we take her for her first day of "école maternelle", French preschool.  She will be in this school 4 days a week for the rest of the year as Wayne and I continue our studies in French.  We (or I) am a little nervous but very excited for what this will do for her language skills.  We feel that the opportunity for her to be with French kids is invaluable right now.  She can understand a fair bit of French from her time in the nursery last year, but she really needs to be pushed to use the French she knows, and playing with  kids her age will do just the trick (especially little girls who like to have tea parties and play pretend)!

Please be praying for her (and for me, and Wayne for that matter as he has to take care of both of us!) tomorrow.  Pray that her teacher would have understanding of Addie's situation, pray that she would not be nervous and pray that she would begin to make friends quickly.

P.S. We start school on Friday and we are so excited!!!  I already have my bag packed.  Yes, that does up us on the nerd scale.

Ooohhh, Champs Elysées...

Here is a little slideshow of our summer which included visits from both sets of grandparents, a little time away as a family, some very intense French practice with friends in Switzerland, and a whole lot of fun!  Enjoy!

Wayne preached...in French!!!

When Wayne's mom told this to a man who knew Wayne as a child, his response was "I never thought I'd see the day when Wayne would preach, much less in French!"  I am so very proud of my husband for making the big step into preaching in his second language here.  He's my favorite preacher to listen to, I'm glad the people over here get to listen to him now too!  We are very thankful that our church here in France has given Wayne this opportunity and that he is able to minister to them in our time here.  

If you want to hear what Wayne sounds like in French (even if you don't understand) you can listen here.

Si vous voulez écouter sa predication, vous le pouvez ici.

Whose money is it anyways?

Life in Paris is different than life in Dallas, or probably most cities that I have ever lived in.  The last year that I lived in Dallas, I was not faced much with very poor people, those who would come up to you on the street and beg for money.  It just wasn't done where I went.  But here in Paris, it happens all the time.  On the metro, on the way to the grocery store, and definitely in the city where they know that there are lots of tourists.  And whenever I am asked for money, I always have to ask myself  "Do I give it to them?" and sometimes it's even "Do I give it to them again?  I just gave them some?"  Sadly, I think I too often err on the side of caution and don't give money  I often think "Well, what if they really don't need it but could just go get a job" or "Why are they still asking?  I just gave them something!  I think they are taking advantage of me."  

In reading Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount, I have been convicted of my attitude, specifically the attitude of not wanting to be taken advantage of.  I think that too often, I try to protect myself instead of doing what God asks me to do and letting Him take care of the results.  In Matthew 5 verses 38-42, Jesus speaks about retaliation, or I should say he speaks against retaliation.  It is here that we find the famous concept of "turn the other cheek." It is a difficult idea to put into practice for sure, but I think that most Christians know that they should do this and really do try.  But a few verses later, another concept is linked with the lack of retaliation, that is the idea of giving to beggars.  Directly following the command to turn the other cheek and give your cloak as well when someone just asks for your tunic is the command from Jesus "Give to the one who begs from you."  That's it, no caveats.  But if this isn't enough to convince you, keep reading the next section.  In this section is the famous concept of "love your enemies," but it was something else in this section that hit me.  God tells us to give and not worry about being taken advantage of because he does exactly the same thing.  "For God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (verse 45)  God doesn't look at where he makes it rain and decide field by field who he will give rain to and who he will not.  The rain falls on the field of the just as well as the unjust.  And when a person does something bad with a good gift that God has given them, it is as if they slap God on the cheek, and yet he still turns the other to them, still gives them good gifts. 

Now I know that there are exceptions to every rule, that in Senegal it would be impossible to give money to everyone who asks because they swarm your car every time you stop at an intersection.  But I do not want my life to focus on the exceptions.  I want to have the attitude of Christ.  I want to give without expecting anything in return, even gratitude.  I want to give in faith, trusting that God will do what he wills with my gifts.  I want to give knowing that I have done what my Father has asked of me, not worrying about the other persons actions.  I want to give not worrying what others around me think, only what my Father in heaven thinks of me.  I want to give, knowing that it is all God's money, and he will do with it as he pleases.