Christmastime in Disneyland Paris!

3 days after our cruise, I had just enough time to unpack and then repack for an overnight with K's company in Disneyland Paris! We're not privileged enough to get these fun trips in Indy with his work. The office here holds only about 20 employees, so they had a budget for taking everyone to Disney!

I have always loved Disney World during the holidays and Disneyland did not disappoint, although there are a few things that make it more European. For instance, there are no designated smoking areas...all areas are smokable.

We did wait in line to see Papa Noel. He did speak English too which was a bonus!

The kids both wrote their Christmas letters to him while waiting in line for their turn to chat with him. We even received a post card back from him a few weeks later. Of course it was all in french even though our letters were in English.

Here is his workshop.

What a great weekend! We rode all the rides we could hope to ride and picked up a few shows (half English and half french - pretty clever!). They even pulled out all the stops like only Disney can do. There were live horses manning the sleigh for his show!

Taking One for the Team

When K left for the airport last Sunday, he had clothes filling one suitcase and another suitcase equal in size completely empty ready to bring back the American treasures for Christmas, J's birthday in January (including party stuff ordered from Oriental Trading), crafts for R's school Christmas party, other random grocery items from my list, additional baby items for my new nephew coming to visit in about a week. My family already has diapers, formula, baby food, strollers, car seats, (the list seems endless when you have baby travelers!), etc. to bring. He helped them out by bringing a few items ahead of time.

So, his sacrifice in all of this was leaving ALL his clothes in Indianapolis with my parents. (No, he's not becoming the Naked Barcelona Man.) He's basically coming home to us tomorrow morning with the very clothes on his back and that's IT! What a trooper! He didn't donate them to Goodwill, but my mom is going to wash them and store them for his return on business in January or February. He won't have to pack a single item when he returns. Why didn't we think of this whole concept earlier? I could have been bringing back sooooo much stuff from the states (especially since the exchange rate is stacked against us over here!)...now, we just need to hope and pray he doesn't get stopped in customs. I don't even want to think about what the taxes would be on 2 huge suitcases full of new treasures without any clothes in sight!

Spilling the Beans

In lieu of a Santa Shop, the kids' school holds a Christmas Boutique where families donate unloved items for regifted treasures. The students are charged 1 euro for each gift purchased for their family members. All proceeds go to the parent/teacher organization.

Low on the donation list this year was dad gifts, so an extra note circulated pleading for more dad donations which resulted in about every father receiving a tie this year. (Hope ours isn't reading this or he'll have a hint about his gift.)

Mom volunteers helped students shop and then wrap the gifts while the children watched, elated at their purchases. Chatting with them about their gift selection while wrapping that day was just plain fun! You could see the pride on their faces as they thought of the person that would be receiving the lovingly purchased gifts.

My daughter shopped on Monday and then R on Tuesday. Upon seeing her Monday evening, she immediately told me I would just love her gift. She exclaimed, "Mommy, it's something you love. Do you want to guess? Well, can I just tell you? It starts with a 'p'," all in one breath. So I tried to be a good mom and ward off her temptation to tell me by changing the subject or talking about someone else's gift. (Even though I already knew what it was by process of elimination since I worked there all day Monday.)

We then placed her gifts under the tree, and this did help distract her mind from the excitement until tonight when we ventured out to pick up the gift R bought for her. Apparently it was too large to send home on the bus, so I received a note Tuesday saying I needed to pick it up tonight. While dealing with this, she brought back out the gift for me, placed it on the kitchen table and said, "Mommy, why don't I just tell you what it is and you forget that I told you?!" How can you say 'no' to that comment? What a great idea!
So, this wrapped gift below is...

Some of this type of stuff called polish pottery. Yes, I do love it and have already been to the Netherlands with girlfriends to purchase some decorative serving pieces. Boy, kids don't miss a thing!

So, I probably could have won an Academy Award with my reaction to her spilling the beans, and I'll hopefully win another when I open my forgotten about present.

Note to friends here: I know you're wondering, "Who would be getting rid of polish pottery????" Well, I lucked out because this brand new gift was donated by our PTP because it was a silent auction basket that didn't receive a bid. I'm not quite sure why, but I'll take it!

What I've Been Up To

Does the sign look familiar? We had a Scholastic book fair at the kids' school and it was a blast!!! A little stressful (I helped with the organizing), but it was pure fun. Our goal for the 2 days was to sell books in English to students at school that might be otherwise difficult to obtain since English bookstores aren't in abundance here. We ordered and shipped the books from the U.S. so we aren't able to return any books left unsold. Along with the exchange rate, we had to pay for shipping fees as well. We carefully chose the items and prices for the books because of that. In the end we came out in the black instead of red, so it was a successful event!

It just so happened that the theme this year was "Read Around the World" - how appropriate for us!!!

We also don't have access to those wonderful rolling bookcases in American schools, so we had to improvise and display our books our way!

Helping with this event and another with the American Women's Club has put me a little behind on the blogging side of life, but I'm excited to get some pictures up of our recent trip, Thanksgiving, and many others.

It was all worth the time and effort when a little boy peeked over the counter as he paid for his books and asked, "So, do I get to keep these books forever?"

"YES!!!" he exclaimed as we shook our heads, smiling. We were exhausted at the end of the sale, but thrilled that so many people could enjoy such wonderful books.

Cute comment: One of our friend's daughters exclaimed, "Mommy, I think 'LeBron James' is French because you know 'le' comes before lots of french words," as she displayed to her mom the NBA book she bought at our book fair!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, today is our first Thanksgiving away from ALL our family! We're handling it pretty well by celebrating 2 times this week with our adopted families, but the kids are going to school today with a noon dismissal for all those US families. K and I are driving separately to our friend's house so he can stay late watching football while Mom brings two kids home for bed since we still have school tomorrow. Don't know how much these two toothless turkeys will eat since they can't bite off much. (Wouldn't you know J has to keep up with her older brother by utilizing her tongue all day yesterday wiggling free a loose tooth. She can't let her big brother get too far ahead you know!)

All I Want for Christmas is...

My Two Front Teeth!

Then I could wish you Merry Christmas!!!!

We've been working on these for a few weeks. You can see the permanent ones coming in already as he's been letting these things dangle like a snaggle toothed kid forever.

The Highlight of our Trip!

We just returned today from our eastern Mediterranean cruise to Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and Greece over the week long fall break. Let me just tell you about the best day of our trip! R has been interested in being baptized for a few months, but living in Belgium has presented a different approach than what we would have taken in Indiana. During Vacation Bible School week he claimed he was ready and desired to commit his life to the Lord. We wanted to make sure he understood this commitment and was truly ready, so we contacted our youth minister from back home and asked for his input. Together we completed a small packet explaining to R exactly what being baptized meant. He understood and decided he was ready! Just in time for our Holy Land cruise we just so happened to be taking on October 31st. On the itinerary was stopping by the Jordan River to one of 3 likely sites where Jesus was baptized.

As we hopped in the car for the excursion of the day, our driver discussed the agenda and informed us that some people are still baptized at this location. K and I glanced at each other as I said, "Well, if we have time and it's okay with you, our son would like to do that today." We brought the bathing suits for K and R just in case this could actually happen, and we're so thankful it did! K baptized him on November 4th in the Jordan River and we even have the certificate to prove it!

While J and I were waiting for the guys to change into robes and swimsuits, we noticed the enormous crowd of huge catfish. I told J not to say anything to her brother about those things...she agreed. That might be enough to make him change his mind! (You have to click on the picture to see them even closer!)

This is the area they've made accessible for people to enter the Jordan River.

R smiling while K asked if it was his desire to follow Jesus.

Get ready!