Not My Plan...

So I had two zippers break on my brand new dresses.  This was very much not my plan.  It’s much trickier trying to figure out a new solution to even simple problems when you are in a new culture. 

Where do you go?  Who do you ask to fix it?  How much is reasonable to pay? How long would it take, not just the sewing, but the waiting for it to be sewn. And what on earth is the French word for zipper? (It’s une fermeture à glissière, at least according to google translate, but most of the people that I talked to just called it “une fermeture”). 

I met a lady in my neighborhood a week or so back who owns a little dress shop.  I decided to give it a go.  It turns out that “Not My Plan” is exactly “God’s Plan”.  I spent almost an hour in her shop talking with her and getting to know her.  God’s plan=my developing a relationship, getting more settled into the neighborhood, and pressing forward in my French and Wolof learning.  Not My Plan turned out way better than I could have planned.

PS.  She had her assistant fix the two dresses on the spot, she had my name my price (which was stressful, but I think that we were both satisfied), I learned much more about sturdy zippers and the various types of fabric that are here in Senegal. 

Language Learning Resources

Sam and I are currently in language school in order to learn French, which we will need in order to be effective workers in West Africa.  I am really enjoying language school, but I am an independent learner.  Like really, really independently motivated.  For example, I like to get my tests out of the way so that I can study more of the aspects of French that I am curious about.  (Yes, this does make me slightly nerdy.)

I stay motivated by varying the types of resources that I use.  And part of the joy of learning is connecting other people to the resources that I love. Here are the top resources that I've used for learning French outside of language school and living in France.

Youtube: I like to listen to good children's books good books being read by fluent readers. ( French is a smooth language.  So there should be no halting or pauses in between words.  Think R&B, not rap.)

I also like listening to praise and worship music, with the French words playing. (I avoid using English subtitles.  If they are on, I just read the English and ignore all of the French.)

Netflix, at least in France, has a setting that allows you to change most US programs to French.  I enjoy watching preschool-age cartoons, like Daniel Tiger, in French.  These cartoons are short, engaging, and mostly in the present tense.  It is easy to get the context of the story through the visuals, so even if you don't understand much of what is being said, you don't feel totally lost.

Duolingo is a site or free app that takes you through the equivalent of a semesters worth of college level French.  This site makes learning vocabulary and grammar into a game.

The languageguide this is my favorite site for learning vocabulary.  (I learned my numbers using this site.)  The vocabulary is organized by category, which you can click on as many times as you want in order to hear the words.  Then you can test your knowledge.

Please share in the comments any other resources that you've used for language learning.

Playground

Today smelled like spring.  It was warm and sunshiny so I took Hannah and Amelia to the park to play.  A little muslim girl, around 5 years old, joined us playing on the merry go round and then followed us over to the tree where we were playing "Indian princesses".  I started drawing in the dirt and invited her to join us.  So she spelled out her name for me to write into the dirt with my "bâton" (Now I know the French word for stick and learning it in context with help it stick!)  Her name is "Lina" (pronounced "Leena").  I could write it properly and pronounce it because of my phonetics training in language school.  (Check out this link if you want to hear the French alphabet:  http://www.languageguide.org/french/alphabet/).

I spoke with her French and she understood.  My French words and French thoughts came more quickly and with less effort.  Four months ago I did not even know my alphabet.  And now I could successfully have a conversation with a five year old.  I left the park feeling encouraged.  There is so much to learn, but I am getting it.  As my college French professor used to say, "Petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid".

Living with "A Pair of Ducks"

Greetings from sunny Colorado!  We made it!  My family and I are out here for a month of missionary preparation and training at MTI.  We are learning about phonetics (read twisting our mouth in goofy positions), cross cultural issues, and how to stay emotionally/spiritually health as missionaries.  Our girls are also being taught some of the same concepts, but at a much simpler level.

One of the things we learned this week was about a yellow ducky named "Yay Duck".  Yay Duck has everything good and exciting happening to him.  Some Yea Ducks for our family is getting to go to France, traveling, and making new friends. 

But there is another duck.  This duck is not so much fun.  His name is "Yuck Duck".  He has been through a lot.  Some of our family's Yuck Ducks are moving, saying goodbye to dear friends, and missing our church family.

We have some really awesome Yay Ducks and some really hard Yuck Ducks.  Yay Duck and Yuck Duck always swim together.  They are inseparable. Where one is you will find the other. Together they make a "pair of ducks" or a paradox (Yes, I know.  It's cute and punny, and there was a lot of groaning when the teacher said it.).  But it is true.  We are living with a "a pair of ducks".  We have good, we have bad.

So here is our "Pair of Ducks" update.

Hannah's Yea Ducks

• She loves her "school".
• Her teacher's name is Hannah too.
• She is making some wonderful friends, and she has told me that she is good at making friends and wants to make some more.
• She is learning how to express her emotions by talking through them.

Yuck Ducks

• She feels nervous when meeting new people and trying to make friends.
• She misses her doggie, Chai girl.

Amelia's Yea Ducks

• She is potty trained!  And now she has her first set of big girl undies, complete with cartoon characters.
• Since she is potty trained, she was graduated from the 1 year old's classroom to the 2-3 year old classroom.  (They have cooler toys and crafts.)

Yuck Ducks

• She is teething and not sleeping well and cranky.  She also knows what she wants, but cannot always communicate that to us, and then gets crankier. 
• She misses mommy and daddy.  This is the first time where she's spent the majority of her day away from us and it is hard on all of us.

Jen's Yea Ducks

• We get to live in one place for a month!
• I am gaining perspective on my children and getting to see them through a different lens (This also counts towards a Yuck Duck).
• I am learning amazing tools, like how to twist my mouth and tongue to make sounds not found in English, to help with my language learning process.
• I am meeting and connecting with other missionaries.

Yuck Ducks

• I miss my home, my family, my friends, and my church.
• I miss a quiet rhythm.  (We eat all our meals in a dining hall together, which is very noisy and over stimulating.)
• I know that more hard goodbyes are coming up and that each month that passes takes us closer to saying goodbye to loved ones for three years.

These are the "pair of ducks" that we are living with right now.  There are many Yay Ducks and many Yuck Ducks.  And it is okay.  They go together and it is okay to feel both.  So Dear Reader, if you could pray for us about our Yuck Ducks and rejoice with us about our Yay Ducks, we would be so blessed.

I know that I am not alone in this, so what are your Yay Ducks and your Yuck Ducks today?  How can I rejoice with you and pray with you?

Creative Endeavors: Our YouTube channel

Sam started a YouTube channel.  He is editing a lot of little family videos into short stories.  We are both taking turns filming and then he works at putting them together editing the sound and lighting.  So far we are focusing on two different types of videos, family videos and videos of fun activities that we find on Pinterest.  The family videos such as "Mushy Peas" where big sister Hannah feeds Amelia her first solid foods and Pinterest videos  such as "Cool Cornstarch" where we make bouncy balls out of cornstarch.  Watch, like, and subscribe.

Almost Famous

Last month Hannah, Amelia, and I made the trek into town to attend Story Time at the Wellsboro Green Free Library.  Story Time is something that we look forward to all week.  Its a chance to restock our pre-bed/nap time books, get out of the house, play with other children, and socialize with  other moms.  This week was a bit different.

Sara, from the Wellsboro Home Page, an online local news group that seeks to highlight the positive news in our community.  Sara explained that they were doing a piece on Story Time and asked permission to us footage of us.  I agreed, very thankful that everyone had clean faces and semi-brushed hair!

Video of Us at Story Time

February in Photos: Part 1

February has been a cold month for us here in PA.  A few mornings ago my thermometer registered -20!  Brr!  I love end of the month reviews.  Here is what we were up to in February.

Hannah being cute

Amelia loves her tongue!

Our suit at the retreat we attended.

This is seriously bigger then some of the apartments I've lived in!

Amelia had a fun time with the mirrors and pretending to be an only child for the weekend.

That preacher went a long time, again.

All Babies and Dollies tucked in for the night.

Ready for sweet dreams.

After weeks of snow limiting our outside play, cabin fever has set in.  What's a mom of two to do?  Head to Pinterest of course!

I introduced Hannah to the wonders of Pinterest.  We looked up a few things, and settled on making Bouncy Balls.  I had no idea that you could make such things, and out of so few ingredients.  We both enjoyed the process.

It wasn't too messy and the process was easy.  The first batch I added a bit too much corn starch, but other then that things went smoothly. Next time I will look up recipes for "gack", which is a slimier version of what we made. Hannah kept trying to treat the "balls" like play dough and had more fun breaking them into small pieces then smoothing it into an actual ball.  

Mushy Peas Please: How Daniel Tiger Helped Us Choose Amelia's First Food

Daniel Tiger became a big brother a few months after Hannah became a big sister.  His mom had the baby in one episode and by the next baby Margaret was eating solid foods.  Mushy peas to be exact.  (No wonder Hannah was a bit confused why her baby sister had to wait so long to start solid foods. ) In honor of Hannah and her love of Daniel Tiger, Amelia's first food was mushy peas.  Hannah helped to make it for her and gave Amelia her first real taste of food.  Daddy Man made a edited their adventure into a short video (Check it out).

Hannah working the food processor

Amelia's not so sure

Hmm...

What is this?

Amelia has yet to be convinced that mushy peas are the bees knees of food.

Hannah, on the other hand, LOVES eating her sister's food!

Hinge Moments

Jon Acuff writes (in his book Quitter) about "hinge moments" in our lives that change our direction.  My first hinge moment occurred back in the sixth grade when Raymond Degorge stopped me in the hall on a cold winter day and confronted me.

Raymond was a hulking sixth grader.  He was not one of the popular ones nor was he on the same educational track as I was.  He also was not an overly morale teenage boy.  But he confronted me on how I was dressing.  That day I had on shorts with stocking.  (I know, I know, but this was the nineties and apparently that was the style of the moment.)

I don't remember his exact words, but he told me that I was not like the other girls and I needed to stop trying to act like them.  I remembering feeling a tad bit embarrassed, and a whole lot convicted. But his words took root and impacted me.  I stopped trying to dress like the other girls.

Over the years I would go back to his words and I would remember.  I don't need to try to make myself like what I think others are like.  I need to be who I was
created to be.

Fast forward to 2014 to a conversation with my hubby where he lamented the fact that we did not have a way to play together.   We began listening to the podcast "Ear Biscuits" by Rhett & Link where they interview interesting people from Youtube.  As we listened we learned about the creative process of others and how they made their dreams into reality.

We started kicking around ways that we could work together creatively. Enter my new hinge moment.  He decided to start making youtube videos and I decided to start a blog. So check us out.

What's a hinge moment in your life?

T-shirt Skirt Dresses

I tackled 3. Fold Fabric & Store in Craft Closet on my list and realized what a shame it was that she'd outgrown so many shirts.  I also realized that she was almost out of dresses that she could wear.  So onto Pintrest again to search for some ideas.  I wanted to make a pillow case dress, but then I saw t-shirt dresses.  Brilliant! My inspiration came from this blog http://lemontreecreations.blogspot.com/2011/08/tutorials-i-tried-and-loved.html.   I could use Hannah's too short shirts and make dresses with the pretty scraps of fabric from my stash. 

I got out my sewing machine and during the span of two naps I got churned out  2 very cute, very thrifty little dresses.  

 Dandelions are everywhere!  So while I was gathering them to dry out for dandelion gallbladder tea I wondered if I could batter and fry the blossoms.  So I hoped on Pintrest, read some recipes  and got frying! 

 I made some using Italian bread crumbs and some gluten free ones for Hannah.  Not only were they yummy, but Hannah nommed them all up!  And then asked for more!  Score one for raising a baby on a dime!  And for those who are wondering this little weedy flowers contain lots of vitamins and health benefits.  Win-win!  

Homemade Wheat Thin Search

I am in search of the perfect cracker, specifically wheat thins.  I love them, but I don't love the price.  Where I live they are 2-4 dollars a box!  I also am not a fan of things with a long shelf life that contain mystery ingredients and mystery processes.  And I just like a challenge.  So in the past two weeks I've tried four different  recipes.  None are as good as the boxed wheat thins nor the recipe that I had tried and lost a few years ago.  

I tried two gluten free recipes for Hannah, one that require mostly flax seeds and cheese, which while intriguing wound up tasting like fishes horse biscuits.  The other type used sorghum flour and an all-purpose gluten free type, they were had a nutty flavor and good bite when rolled about 1/8th of an inch.  Any thinner than that and they didn't have a good bite, but instead feel apart on crumbles.   

The wheat thins were flops.  Some of the problem was rolling them too thin, but mostly they just lacked the good wheatty flavor and firm texture that I love so much. So I will keep searching and trying and pinning new wheat thin recipes to try till I find the perfect replacement for the box.

Flax seed crackers

Attempt at Wheat Thins

Ten Day Challenge Update

The challenge is going well!  It is actually serving its purpose, which is to provide motivation and direction to my day.  I have tackled 5 out of 10 items on my list.

Craft Closet Before:







(I've included a few blurry action shots of my little helper sorting the piles for me.)

When I was folding and sorting the fabric  the perfectionist in me got really excited and proclaimed that I should sort by color and fabric type.  The Realist in me burst out laughing and I realized that I should just settle for getting them folded.  I desire to have organization not perfection.  I did however also organize them by heavy fabric  flannel, and other.  It works.

10 Day Challenge

1. Gather the Yarn-remember it is scattered to the four corners

2. Organize Yarn into bins

3. Fold Fabric & Store in Craft Closet

4. Organize Linen Closet  

5. Sort Hannah's Shirts-this girl outgrows so quickly!

6. Round Up Lurking Trash

7. Round Up Donations & Donate them!

8.  Sort 1 Basement Box

9.  Sort Box of Pre-Baby Clothes

10. Blog & Photograph it

Ten Day Challenge

Moving 8 times in 8 years really changes the way that you keep house.  For example when you live somewhere for less then a year, do you really need to wash your windows?  Answer: Nope!  You just move to a place with cleaner windows.  So I could tell that I was really starting to settle into my home of 1 year 5 months when I broke out the Windex and cleaned my windows! 

Another thing that hasn't happened in years is getting everything organized.  I have had my life functional, but things haven't been really organized for several moves.  For example: my knitting and yarn can be found in every room of the house.  That is not organized!  And because everything is everywhere nothing is being used and enjoyed to its fullest potential.

My first plan was to jump on one of the preexisting "cleaning/organization" challenges that are filling up the Pinterest feeds.  There are only a few problems with that.  A lot of those challenges are for long spans of time.  One blogger is doing a 52 week challenge!  52 weeks!  I have moved 2 times in 52 years, clearly this challenge was not designed for me!  The other problem with a long challenge is that I know myself and I wouldn’t stick with it.  I really, really like starting projects.  Its like starting a new relationship, all roses and chocolate and no problems.  Once a cleaning conflict arises or I bite off more then I can chew, I am apt to blot.  (Thankfully this only pertains to projects and cleaning, and not relationships. I've been happily and successfully married for almost ten years and have worked through my fair share of issues.) 

While the shorter challenges lacked that problem, they still didn’t fit.  After all they were designed by people who have already settled in and who were actually looking to clean.  I needed something for me to tackle that addressed my needs.  Where would I find that?  Umm…

So I decided to develop my own list of 10 things to tackle.  They had to be small projects that I could complete in an hour in order to keep up the motivation and they had to be things that I don't normally do as part of my house cleaning routine.  I am giving myself a month to complete these challenges and will document some of them to help with the motivation to continue. 

10 Day Challenge

1. Gather the Yarn-remember it is scattered to the four corners

2. Organize Yarn into bins

3. Fold Fabric & Store in Craft Closet

4. Organize Linen Closet  

5. Sort Hannah's Shirts-this girl outgrows so quickly!

6. Round Up Lurking Trash

7. Round Up Donations & Donate them!

8.  Sort 1 Basement Box

9.  Sort Box of Pre-Baby Clothes

10. Blog & Photograph it