A Blip on Your Radar

I don't have tons of time to write now, but thought I'd give a little message to the readers while we're in our very bare living room.  Bleh white walls from an asylum...  Anyway, we are nearly at the end of the visit with the full Ham fam~Kyle's parents, brother, and sister.  We have had some major road tripping in the last week hitting some awesome cities (Paris, Reims, Verdun, Normandy, Nancy....) and eating delicious food (quiche, mussels, crepes, pastries, duck, fish....) and taking in some amazing historic sites (WWI & WWII museums, battlefields, cemeteries, and the only concentration camp the Nazis built in France).  It's been unreal.  I've nearly cried over how snug the waistbands on my pants are getting as well and the range of emotions one can experience at sights from war torn Europe.  On top of it all, I've gotten to know Kyle's family better and better.  We're having a really wonderful time.

Tomorrow... it's our last day with them and then we set out for a night in a hotel by the Hahn airport.  Bright and early Monday morning we are flying to Rome for our fancy honeymoon.  We have been waiting 1 year, 3 months, and 20 days to do it all up.  The weather forecast is looking good with highs in the low 80s!  I need it since this week fall pounced on us after a terribly short and mostly cool summer.  I hope we are back in Georgia before their fall starts, too.  I love the heat of the South.

For now, I'll just say that there will be so many stories to tell and pictures to show after we get back that the ad-French-ure won't be over until it's all published online.  I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from this trip....

Kyle turned into a wild photographer to snap this shot of me, Kelly, and Susan in front of the cathedral in Reims.  As Kyle laid on the sidewalk, I worried whether or not he'd soil his top from either bird or dog... presents.  As his laundry lady, I don't want him to be a dirty shutterbug.

Lots more to come.  Let the adventure continue!

365 Days in Metz

Kyle and I made the decision to move to France back in the Fall of 2008.  At the time the economy was plummeting into something frightful, and we were certain it would be a challenge to both have a wedding and move abroad in 2009.  For so long it felt like we were in preparation mode.   We were on track to have the great adventure~always saving, always packing, always praying it would turn out how we hoped.  What a miracle it was when we finally got on the plane with our buddy passes and were comfortably seated in business class.  Miracle upon miracle!

Kyle and I love on Moonpie right before heading to the airport.

All our belongings and the remnants of the coffee & croissant that sustained us in our journey

 We had very little difficulty once we were in France making the trek from Paris to Metz (minus a finicky turn-style and those stairs between Gare du Nord & Gare de l'Est... we'll be happy to recount that to you another time).  Metz!  What a beautiful train station placed so closely to so many more beautiful buildings.  A short bus ride later, we found Metz Technopole 2000~a city of the future.  With such an impressive name, it certainly appeared to me like a tired office park with too many "a louer" or "a vendre" signs in the windows.  Kyle and I shared our first meal at a kebab shop as many university students from America have been known to do.  We moved into the dorms and quickly rearranged the furniture to make it more like a home.  We made new friends~Kyle started classes in French full-time while I prepared English lessons for dozens of small French children.

Kyle and I pose in front of Jean de la Fontaine~my main primary school.

Kyle spent the better part of his GTL career in this room.

The fall turned quickly into winter, and winter endured for months.  My southern spirit felt oppressed by damp shoes in the snow and hours spent waiting to catch the next bus.  Kyle stayed positive and kept us happy and healthy with all sorts of treats from our tiny kitchen.  His creativity didn't cease with food; he made a wonderful workspace in the kitchen and expanded our flavor by making a small garden for our porch.  With my additions of cute knick knacks in our bedroom and living room, Kyle and I had created our first home.  Even the gray cold days couldn't ruin our sweet abode for us.

Snow covered boots and frozen puddles

Bountiful and delicious foods in the comfort of our home

We ventured to cities and countries I had only heard about.  Kyle helped me add Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and (soon) Italy to my list of places I've been while my dear friend Audrey from home made going to England a reality.  We've learned about history and become more proud of our American heritage learning how many men and women sacrificed so much to make this area where we live so special.  Our desire to learn has grown exponentially, and we are reading more than ever.  Most important we have grown in our faith in God who has given us so much here in this place far from home~friends, a church, good jobs, education, excellent food, adventure, and abundant joy.

A veritable winter wonderland

Reading and naps go hand in hand

What a life we have had in just one year.  In my heart I know the adventure doesn't end when we leave France in a few weeks, but it will have a completely different feeling.  What will marriage be like without France?  Sometimes I think I'll have to muster more courage for going back to Georgia and everything that is comfortable and busy than it was to cross the Atlantic for Europe.  Neither Kyle nor I want an ordinary life, and we'll have to discover what that means when we are back to what we are used to~Starbucks, commutes, English, and television.  It will be a greater challenge than navigating the yogurt isle, riding bikes, understanding difficult accents, and living without luxuries like dishwashers and walk-in closets.  Only time will tell, and like this past year, we'll take it one day at a time.

No need to worry; there ain't no hurry cause I'm on my way back to Georgia.

Thank you for accompanying Kyle and me this past year by visiting the blog.  I've loved sharing our lives through pictures and writing.  Since the adventure isn't quite over, there will be more to share soon.

Countdowns & Downsizing

This weekend Kyle and I made huge progress getting the apartment ready for a serious cleaning before we move out.  We had all this furniture in the way, and thankfully our friends took a bunch of it off our hands.  We still have so much more to give!  Alas, let's take a look back at the first transformation that turned this dorm into a home and what it looks like now!

The kitchen~outfitted with one hot plate, an oven, and the largest cutting board that would fit in our apartment.  Kyle's first home improvement project was building the spice rack/knife holder.

What was once a pantry & cupboard is now merely a bookshelf with a microwave and everything edible in our home.

A bit of a throwback, but this was our cozy and inviting living room.

All that remains is a bookshelf with a small number of belongings.

I'm not even going to show you the bedroom because our Dr. Seuss comforter was pretty much the only interesting thing about it.  Without it, it's just two twin beds pushed together a la Dick Van Dyke & Mary Tyler Moore.  To reward us for all our hard work, Kyle and I had saved some very special instant chocolate pudding that his parents sent to us ages ago.

Nothings says a job well done quite like a cup-o-purding (as Miss Foo would say).

Anywho, as we simplify our home, our schedule has filled up.  The Lord has been good to us by providing time to really say goodbye to a lot of our friends.  There really isn't a day where something isn't planned.

I couldn't kick the colored pencil habit after school let out.

We visited the Pounds family Saturday night and had a delicious meal and played fun games.  Yesterday we spent a lovely time with our church family here: Jack, Claudine, Bridgette, JP, Su, Nyanza, Dalip, Joanna, and our Iranian friend (his name is difficult to pronounce so I won't even try to spell it) as well as new friend, Anna.  Only Vincent & Cole were missing... Jack and Nyanza had little surprises for us, which is ridiculous since they gave us tons of gifts back at our Christmas in July celebration.  Nyanza spent the better part of her summer in the U.S. volunteering in Seattle~plus her big sister got married earlier in the summer...

I love a postcard.  My friends Zach  and Evan used to send them to me all the time~my favorite one was from Roswell, and it depicted some creepy alien thing.

A small token from Kahindo & Emmanuel's wedding~we become friends in Strasbourg at Nyanza's birthday bash weekend.

Meanwhile, Jack wanted to help us to keep the gospel close while still practicing our French yet not making it too difficult.  Thus he found the perfect gift~seriously, I have never been so surprised by a present ever.

This is the Manga (re: anime) version of the Gospel (I believe according to Luke) written in French.  When the culture of the Japanese, French, and Israelites combine, it produces something quite spectacular.  That hunk with the long flowing locks in the upper left corner~that's the angel Gabriel.  The best part is the tag line at the top~"Has he come to destroy the world or save it?" So epic.

This whole entry has felt a little like SHOW & TELL, but I am thrilled to bring back this element of the blog one last time!  As I promised long ago, I want to share with you our wall of cards.  Thanks to your thoughtfulness and willingness to seek the appropriate stamps, we were able to have lovely wall art for free and make our dorm feel more like a home.  Kyle and I are so thankful to have friends and family who sent us nice things while far from home~thanks yall!

This would not have been possible without the Hamiltons (extra points for Susan for homemade cards!), the Milligans, the Hudsons, Miss Foo, KDub, Alli T, K8, Lindsey, KHam, my Aunt Pam, Nyanza, and various Globalscopers.  I hope I didn't forget anyone~please forgive me if I did.

 The final item I'd like to share was a drawing from my friend Julie.  She just turned 7 last week and invited me to her ballerina birthday party.  Since we'll be moving so soon, she gave me a little picture for me to remember her.  I'm going to miss her and her family (with whom we do a weekly Bible study) so so so much.  Thankfully we'll see them one last time on September 29th~our last day in France.

Julie and me playing in her yard.  It's fun to be the same size as a 7 year old (she's the brunette & I'm the blond).

The artist's signature

There you have it folks~ as you may have seen from the calendar, we have a good deal of activities going on this week.  On Friday we set out to Paris with our friend Vinod to meet the Hamiltons on Saturday.  If you're the praying type, please lift up safe travels for the whole Hamilton clan flying over on September 10th.  Everybody gets a little uneasy around this time with air travel, but we have high hopes that nothing will be amiss.  Also, there are protests in Paris this Saturday~ The Islamization of Paris has been in headlines a good bit this week.  We hope not to get caught in the fray while sightseeing.  It seems every time I go to Paris, something a little wild his happening.  Last time was in the spring of 2006; there were riots about changing labor laws.  What do you know?  This story has its own wikipage!  I'll be praying all the excitement we get is climbing the stairs in the Eiffel tower and enjoying some ridiculous food with the fam.  I'll keep you posted....