That being said, there are OTHER times, when living in France "smacks me in the face". Last week, for instance. Sarah and a friend travelled north to visit 2 IU friends who graduated and are working in Chicago. My "mom-radar" was on high alert, and I suggested she go another weekend. Long story short, she was in a car accident Monday that totaled her car and she called me from the scene. What can I do from France? Simply praise God for His provision and pray that the girls would remain safe as additional cars around them were also crashing. That's all I could do. Needless to say, for a girl of "action" that seemed too little, but that was all I could do for her.
Well, I did manage to call her brother and start him on the road to her rescue, but I would've preferred the opportunity to jump into my car and rescue her myself. To have the ability to wrap my "mom arms" around my little girl and assure her that things would be okay. God is a great teacher in the face of the unexpected. I had to trust His provision for MY daughter…after all, Sarah is His daughter too, and she is more precious to Him than she is to me…yep, let that sink in…hard to fathom, isn't it? So instead of my "mom arms", I prayed for the Holy Spirit to wrap His arms around my little girl and make her feel safe.
We are still trying to manage the "insurance" part of the accident, and Sarah has a sore back, but those are easy fixes.
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| Car kept from flipping thanks to the median |
On a happier note, let me share some snippets from a recent dinner party. "That's too much ice" said the Frenchman having received a glass of coke containing 3, yes 3 ice cubes. I quickly took his glass to the kitchen and removed the ice….I even threatened to microwave his drink so that it wouldn't be "too" cold for his sensitive French tongue. "It's so wet" commented this same Frenchman upon tasting a wonderfully moist brownie. Yes, it seems that anything chocolate needs to be dry and nearly stale to be satisfactory in this country. Believe it or not, I LIKE this guy. He is great. He just happens to be French. Good thing he snagged himself a beautiful American wife….
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| Mon ami, Guillaume is seated in the chair to the far right. His lovely wife, Katie is seated next to him |
Dinner party #2 and another conversation about life in France. A Spanish woman said that she has to order one (un) or three (trois) croissants from her bakery because whenever she tries to order two (deux), the saleslady always tries to giver her a dozen (douze). Yes, apparently, to the native French speakers, those two words sound the same when spoken from any non native French speaker. (2 sounds like "duh" and 12 sounds like "dues" to me) A quick shout out to my friend Katie on this point….she asked for green beans for deux and walked away from the market with enough to feed douze (12).
My final "share" for this entry will be about my wonderful husband. Anyone who knows David, also knows that he is very "thrifty". Yes, moths have been seen leaving his wallet on the occasional time he might open it to spend money on himself. Seriously, he just never "wants" anything. Try buying someone like this a gift…it's nearly impossible. Based on that, whenever he says the words "I need" or "I'd like to have", my ears usually perk up.
That's the back story, here is the "rest of the story". We have made several trips to Spain and my husband's favorite restaurant is a local Spanish Tapas Cafe. Whenever we travel, he looks for tapas cuisine. What is his favorite? Iberico ham. He has threatened to bring back a ham leg of his own for the last two years. Well, guess what is currently living in my storage room?? We had friends who were driving a second car back from Madrid and they offered to bring back an Iberico ham leg for David. Now, we are talking about $250 worth of ham. David asked me if I minded. Did I mind? HECK yes, who wants some animal's LEG sitting around in their house for several months?
Could I say no? Absolutely not. I mean, come on, he looked like a 5 year old kid sitting on Santa's lap asking for his first two wheeler. "Our" ham arrived last week. Our friend, Oscar, came over to show David how to properly store and slice up his own personal ham leg. We have to keep it in our storage room with the heat turned off. Why, you ask? Else wise, the fat will start to soften and ooze all over my apartment floor. David is in Heaven. He has sliced himself ham several times already. He has even suggested a trip to IKEA so that we can get a "table" for his ham.
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| Ooh la la. Dated and everything (10-2012) |
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| Oscar "mounting" David's baby |
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| First, you must slice off a piece of "fat" to use as a "cover". This prevents the meat from drying out. |
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| A "real" Iberico ham will have the black hoof and they are fed only acorns. |
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| Turns out our fancy Cutco knives didn't quite "cut it". Amazon to the rescue . (Don't judge me….it was early in the morning and my hair hadn't been brushed yet!) |
I am REALLY glad that my husband never "wants" anything. In fact, I think I might just turn my "ears" off the next time he asks me "if I mind".
A quick THANK YOU to all of you who lifted up our nephew Sam in your prayers. His wisdom teeth extraction went well and his behavior has improved dramatically. Here is my smiling Sam to bless your day.
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| Swollen chipmunk, but happy |
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| swelling is gone and he's ready for action |
