Paris 2005 - Part 3

As an American living in England visiting Paris, I was thrilled to find a few things that reminded me of home....even though Hard Rock Cafe had been descended upon by hundreds of bratty American children who were in France for summer camps. Seriously. What a hard life. ;)

 American Cathedral

 Driving on the US side of the road

 Hard Rock Cafe! Drinks with ice! Free refills! (The food was not that great, but it's the little things)

Favorite traveling companion. Ever. 

Paris 2005 - Part Two

I highly recommend Paris in July. The weather is nice, the days are long enough to allow for properly exploring things, and the city comes alive after dark which provides plenty of people watching opportunities!

Brasserie Flo. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d695216-Reviews-Brasserie_Flo-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

So delicious. Expensive, but delicious.

More tomorrow.

Paris 2005

One of my favorite life experiences...being present for Bastille Day in Paris. We spent the evening elbow to elbow with Parisians on a bridge approximately a mile away from the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing, breathtaking, spectacular, and very authentic. The last part of the sentence is the most important to me. Whenever we travel, the last thing I want is to feel like a tourist...even when it's painfully obvious that I am one!

It's also important to note that my husband is a must have whenever I travel. He speaks French which has been VERY helpful at times, he never gets lost, and he manages to take us off the beaten path in any city / country we have visited to date.



More reminiscing tomorrow!

Motherhood

I have to say, I think Mother's Day is swiftly becoming my new favorite holiday. Up until 2010, July 4th was my favorite holiday because of the fireworks, warm weather, homemade ice cream, 9pm sunsets, and fresh food from the garden. Since J came along, I have a new appreciation for Mother's Day. There is NOTHING in this world that compares to having my sweet babies wrapped up in my arms and feeling an almost overwhelming appreciation / gratefulness / awe bubble up inside of me when I'm hit for the millionth time with the realization that yes, these two amazing, beautiful, sweet, smart babies belong to us. Almost immediately followed by an overwhelming sense of urgency to do everything we possibly can to give them a safe place, a loving home, and everything they could possibly need to make good choices in life.  Mother's Day is a good day for these types of reflections.

I have been reading "A Mother's Heart" by Jean Fleming for the past few weeks. Normally, I wouldn't put a book down unless necessary, but I have been pacing myself through this one because there is so much content that challenges me and makes me take a long, hard look at where my heart is in this still new role of mothering. It's not the kind of book that I would recommend to just anyone. I think it would hit a nerve with the majority of my friends who have chosen to maintain their careers in addition to taking on the role of mother and I especially think it would be offensive to my career minded friends who do not have children yet. It's exactly the kind of challenge I needed after E's arrival a few months ago. I have to confess...up to the last trimester of E's pregnancy, I had been keeping my foot in the door so to speak. I was pretty content with being a stay at home mom, but I liked being involved with community projects and I LOVED having people depending on me to do things that seemed wonderful and amazing at the time. Not taking anything away from those projects, but since E arrived, I have had TWO little persons under the age of two completely dependent on me and for me personally, there is no project in the world that has required as much creative thinking, flexibility, problem solving, budgeting, and FAITH as this new development. The challenge I have appreciated the most from this book has been the challenge to truly lay my life down for my children. Not in the sense of being a doormat and bending to their every whim or allowing them to control our household, but to always be diligent and mindful to put a good/godly example before them and to make good use of the time I have with them, lifting them up in prayer, putting the word before them, and providing an environment for them that stimulates them in good ways. The author also is quick to point out that even when parents provide the best guidance for their children in the hopes of persuading them to choose God as an adult, the choice is ultimately our children's choice to make. We cannot force them or pressure them into choosing to follow God. We are instead responsible for living our lives in such a way that they can see the power of God at work in our lives and come to believe in Him through those experiences. Sowing the seed so to speak. It has certainly given me a lot to think about and pray about and in addition to encouraging me in how I need to interact with my own children, I have seen a lot of application towards to the body of Christ as well.

I also have realized how foreign this way will seem to so many people that we love and care about. I am very blessed to be part of a family that shares the same beliefs when it comes to religion and Christianity, but my husband's family does not share these beliefs. It has not been a point of contention to date and I am hopeful that it will not become a point of contention ever, but as my brother in laws have had children of their own (before our two boys came along), it is now becoming very evident that we differ in our approach and our foundations. It's not a problem for us because we believe that each child is unique, therefore, the approach may have to differ from child to child to meet the needs of the individual. But, we also are convinced that each parent is accountable for their child. Therefore, it's not wise to involve ourselves in the parenting of our neice and nephew. We're always open to discussing things, we love them, and we will encourage them in whatever their parents instruct them to do, but we will NOT interfere in how they are being raised unless it is harmful to them in some way. So far, things have been fairly peaceable, but we saw a few moments of temptation for my oldest brother in law when he came to visit a few weeks ago of wanting to jump in and dispense parenting advice to us on how we should be raising our boys. Thankfully, he caught himself before he said too much.

I understand how hard it is to resist that temptation. I have had to stop myself SEVERAL times over the years. :)

If I could go back and do it all again...

Well, simply put, I wouldn't.

Living in the here and now, enjoying the life that I have now, being thankful for His mercies which are new every single day means there is peace and contentment. There is a complete lack of anxiety or fear. I don't have to spend a single second of my day trying to figure out all the angles and plan and scheme my future away.

I remember being 19 - 23. They were some of the darkest, most feaful days of my life. I thought I knew better. I thought there was a better life "somewhere out there" away from the accountability and away from the support that had been offered to me through my family and my extended family. I allowed myself to look to other PEOPLE as my standard and was somehow shocked and disappointed when they failed to measure up to my expectations at times. I grew weary in walking in love towards other people. I grew tired of "having people poking their nose into my business all the time" because I wasn't able to see that they were holding a mirror up to my face and asking me to take a look at what I was becoming. I didn't understand it came from a place of caring about me and for me and wanting to see me succeed in everything that was GOOD for me.

It breaks my heart to see others struggling with the same things. And it's not just the younger crowd. I see people my age and older going through the same testing that I went through all those years ago. And, I want to say to each of them...it will not be worth it in the end should you choose to turn your back on the things that you know to be true. Even if you were to argue that you are unsure of the truth or you don't agree that it's the truth, time will show. And the world is a harsh teacher and even crueler master.

Count the cost before you put on those rose colored glasses and abandon everything you have known up to this point. If there is a lack of peace, it's not from above.

And that's all I have to say about that.

If I were a psychologist...

Oklahoma weather would definitely be diagnosed as schizophrenic with bipolar tendencies today. Cold enough for a jacket to too warm for a jacket in the space of an hour. Sunny when I left the house followed by a smattering of rain to a quick downpour almost immediately back to sunny. And now, the sky surrounding my house is a lovely red dirt haze. Hang on tornado season, here we come!

Almost time

We are two weeks away from sweet baby E's due date, but he's already the same size as J was when J was born. In light of all the contractions I have been having at random intervals, I am thinking E might be here ahead of schedule which is okay by me!

I finally got the hospital bag packed and my focal point finished. I decided to do something similiar to last time. A few scriptures, two pics of J, and an ultrasound pic of E in a frame. It's nice to have something to focus on when things start getting intense and between E's sweet face and J running around in some striped pjs and piggy ears, I will have all the incentive I need to push through. No pun intended.

E's baby shower is this Sunday. Between my sister's wedding, wedding showers, and this baby shower, I think my family has the streamlined approach down to perfection. We're having the shower immediately following the church service, we're serving grab and go refreshments, and we're just having the gifts displayed instead of opening everything. The only sit down and stop activity is the ABC book. We made one at J's shower and it's still my most favorite gift. Each shower guest selects a letter of the alphabet and then colors a page that represents the letter. J's book is adorable because it's a great mix of adults and kids' artwork. I can't wait to see E's when it's finished.

I have a few more household things that I need to finish up and P needs to finish remodeling the guest bath so we can prepare for the British invasions that will occur over the next couple of months, but other than that...I think we're good. :)