A House Elf

Though he is a muggle raised by muggles, Bennett has been a very helpful house elf today.  Once we put on his cozy elf outfit, he was ready to tackle a little of holiday to-dos.  I'll let him show you how he got jolly...

Though it may look like I'm sleeping on the job, my mom loves when I'm snoozing through check-out at the grocery store.  We picked up lots of dairy products and 10 pounds of flour for my dad's baking projects.  We got the good stuff~ King Arthur APF.

I helped seal and stamp dozens of envelops so that the Ham fam could spread some holiday cheer snail-mail style.  I picked up an admirer at the post office who nearly followed us to the car~ quite alarming for my mother, but I just smiled.

Playtime!

I held glitter sticks and helped my mom with some top secret craft projects.  My hat is the coolest.

So much wrapping paper~ I thought I'd end up in a box under the tree (and I'm sure I have some grandmothers who would love to have me as a Christmas gift). 

I'm allowed to hold this present because it is a gift box with no wrapping paper.  My gift holding privileges were revoked the moment I started to gnaw on the corners (sorry Aunt Foo~ hopefully it won't be soggy when I give it to you).

I played with a felt snowflake.  It'll have to do until real snow comes, and I can play in it.

We enjoyed some pictures from a classic festive book.  I'm not literate nor do I speak English so I'm still a little fuzzy about this story's plot...

Since I haven't mastered any spoken language, I may as well learn how to wish you merry Christmas en français!

Alright, a year ago if you had told me I'd be transcribing blog posts for my 16 week old tot, I think I would have gagged a little.  Maybe when he stops being so cute, I'll get back to not doing so many cutesie entries.  It's bad enough that I derive so much pleasure from dressing him up, but one day he may grow up and learn that I propped and photographed him doing silly things.  He may not appreciate it as much as others... Until I grow in the self-control department, forgive my goofy Christmas baby entries.

Feeling Festive

Bennett dressed up today after helping me shop for presents and wrap them.  You might say he's getting into the Christmoose spirit....

No shame in making up silly holiday-inspired vocab.  Hope you are having a lovely time preparing for Christmas, too!

Here, There, Everywhere

Still feeling scatterbrained these days... So this entry shows some of what we've been up to.  Kyle gave me a lovely bird feeder for Mother's day, and it has been wonderful to have so many avian visitors (mostly cardinals, titmice, and chickadees if you're curious).  Well, the blessings come with a curse~ squirrels.  I had left the bag of bird seed on the porch.  A crafty little squirrel ripped into the bag and feasted on our seeds almost entirely unnoticed.  When I did spot him, I fussed like crazy.  Greedy little rodent...

The cutie bird feeder mounted by our t.v. antenna

The aftermath of that squirrel's binge

Caught in the act!  We need some sort of Gandalf to ward off these sneaky snackers a la "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

As I mentioned recently, Kyle and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on Monday.  It was excellent because Kyle had the day off work.  I love being married to him; he is such a good man and we have the best time together.  He's so smart, thoughtful, cute, fun, social, godly, and kind.  I love that we run together (well....not currently) and that he loves to cook and bake and that we enjoy being together in large groups of friends or just the two of us at home.  Being married is such a blessing~ there is no relationship like it.  He belongs to me and I belong to him; we get to be the best representatives of Christ's love to one another.  I think God spoiled me by giving me Kyle; I hope to be as good to him as he is to me.  Here's a little now & then....

Day 1 of marriage~ vows were just spoken and I became a "Mrs.".  I love how Kyle snuck his hand into my bouquet to hold my hand.

Day 365 of marriage~ we got fancy to see a play, but not before posing for a picture on our narrow porch in France.  I picked out that dress especially for our anniversary; oh how I wish I could wear it now.

Day 730 of marriage~ Kyle has his whole little (or big, depending on your perspective) family on his lap.  We were a lot more casual this year spending the day at my parents' house reading lots, watching Food Network, and napping.

A couple of French lifestyle things came up this week.  We have friends who receive a share of fruits and veggies from local farmers who sell their goods weekly at outdoor markets.  We were offered their helpings from two different farmers' markets~one in Chamblee and one here in Norcross.  Well, we only ended up collecting the Norcross one (thanks Rusty & Kirsten!)  Why is this like France?  We went to markets and even a nearby farm to collect fresh produce to enjoy what was in season.  Here's our plunder!

Leafy greens, yummy potatoes, baby carrots, and a very tiny onion~ how cute!

Another French thing (for me) is being artsy.  We didn't want to put holes in our dorm room walls in France, but they were too white and bare to hang nothing.  I ended up painting (admittedly very amateur) water colors and using putty to fill our home with some color and life (I shouldn't fail to mention that my students & card senders also filled our walls with art).  I haven't painted anything since we came home from France; we really haven't even found placed in our apartment for the paintings I did abroad.  For lil Mr. Hamilton's nursery I wanted to make something cute especially for him.  I copy pretty much everything I ever paint so no originality points for me, but I ended up feeling pretty happy about my cute recreation....

Colorful birds in a blue tree to match his nursery colors

I couldn't overlook my sweet husband; he deserved a little watercolor.  I copied this little piece from a card I saw in Southern Living.  I think it's too cute!

Little lemons love to lock lips!

If I haven't gone all over the place already in this entry, let's do one more random thing.  Ready to see my pregnancy progress?  Baby boy is growing right on track according to our OB visit last week.  We are officially going ever two weeks!  Eek!  He'll be here in no time!

29 weeks~ can we really get any bigger?

This baby enters every room before I do.

There you have it!  My thoughts and pictures are more scattered than Waffle House hash browns.  Hope you are having a wonderful start to June!

Have I earned Mother's day?

At 26 weeks pregnant, Kyle blessed me with my first Mother's day festivities.  It raises some interesting thoughts; mainly what does it mean to be a mother?  It's clear that I have not endured many of the obstacles that make Mother's day a real treasure to moms (labor, caring for a sick child, clothing and feeding a growing little one, discipline, helping with homework, interminable sports practices or music lessons, etc).  I haven't even arrived at one of the most intrinsic responsibilities of parenting~ naming our son.  So is it fair to qualify for this fete?

A card from Kyle's mom

It boils down to a more serious question: if I believe that my son is real, alive, and human from conception, what else could I be but a mother?  I fear the trend of diminishing how real a baby is before it is born.  For instance, I take surveys online to bring in a little extra income.  In a typical survey they gather information about my household like my gender, age, and marital status.  On one I got terribly tripped up because I answered that we had a child under the age of 5 living in the household.  Honestly, I have a child who is living inside me that meets that criteria... well, I struggled to complete the survey because it asked more questions specifically about my child.  From now on I should answer negatively to those kinds of questions, but it is hard for me.  How can I deny the existence of my little one when I can feel him kicking me as I answer questions on why I don't shop at Zales or how many times in the last six months did I visit a Panera?

No room for baby to move on Mother's day because we ate big at Mary Mac's for lunch

I believe at the moment his life began, I became a mom.  On the day we learned we were pregnant, everything changed.  I had never been so eager to visit a doctor or cut some of my favorite foods out of my diet (farewell, sashimi and cold pepperoni).  I slowed down initially on my runs because I was afraid I would hurt my tee tiny little baby.  I started reading like crazy what I should and shouldn't be doing.  Since then I have learned that being pregnant is like a training season for motherhood that only could have been designed by God.  For one, nine months is really a generous amount of time to prepare for his arrival both physically (nursery decorations are going slowly...) and mentally (it's not just the two of us anymore!).  Moms also gradually yield more and more of their own desires and wills to those of the baby.  I thought giving up 3 cups of coffee a day was hard; thank goodness I didn't know about the difficulty I'd have sleeping once I started feeling baby kicks.  I am in the early stages of having my whole range of motion dominated by the baby.  Maybe that sounds dramatic, but I can't get up from bed or off the sofa easily with my compromised abdominal muscles, and I lose my balance and goofily stumble in to door frames more than I'd like to admit.  You could say I've gained a deeper understanding for Newton's 1st and 2nd laws based simply on our combined weight gain.

To me it's a beautiful illustration of two things.  First, my body is making a physical transformation that my will and daily life will have to make once the baby is born.  As his little body requires more from my (seemingly overwhelmed) body, I have a perfect visual in my enormous belly of his needs becoming my full-time occupation.  His well-being is my top priority now, and I gradually get to learn what that means and how best to serve him with each coming season.  I know my responsibilities are simple now, but I'm excited about the challenges my little family will face together once "real" parenting begins.

I'm so glad Kyle is my partner in parenting~ I couldn't imagine facing all the ups and downs of having a baby without him.  I seriously can't wait for the sleepless nights because it means bonus quality time with him.  Crazy?  Probably...

The second illustration relates to my faith in God.  When I first became a Christian, I knew it meant a change in my life, but I didn't know how to go about changing.  Just as I'm not required to be supermom at the moment of conception, I also wasn't required to be the best Christian in the world upon confessing that Jesus was my Lord and Savior.  God graciously designed my body to progress gradually in pregnancy; he also lovingly led me through changing my life at a pace that was right for me.  As he and I tackled areas of sin in my life, over time it became easier to accept the responsibilities he calls all believers to.  And it didn't come without great rewards!  God gave me hope in his assurance of accepting me as his own.  For the first time in my life I had hope that I could do great things, love people well, marry a godly man, become knowledgeable about the Bible, and even have eternal life with him.   Hope is holding on to the promise of things to come, and what better way could I describe pregnancy than a season of hope.  What a blessing it is to anticipate meeting my son and waiting to discover who he will become!  The hope I have for my son's life is a blessing, and it fulfills me like the hope I had in the new life I received by becoming a believer in God.  

The friendly lady at Mary Mac's gave all mothers a pretty carnation.  You may know her as the one who will visit your table and give you a little shoulder rub.  She's half the reason we love to go there!

It's a mystery and a wonder how it works, but I believe good parents understand this~ as your responsibilities to your child increase and the work of parenting becomes more difficult, you also accept the blessing that it is to be charged with so great a call.  Miraculously, working for your family becomes a joy you wouldn't trade for any self-gratification or easy life without your child(ren).  A relationship with God is very much like this.  Though he requires me to love, repent of my sin, forgive others, serve with a glad heart, give generously, and so much more that I am ill-equipped to do on my own, I am continually blessed by who God is shaping me to be.  I wouldn't trade my God for the life I had before I knew him.  Before, I served myself in all ways and by all impulses.  How could submission to another be better than that?  All I can say is that it must be like being a good parent.

My first Mother's day present~ It's a bird feeder for our porch.  I'm going to require a bunch from the birds who visit our home; I'll sing baby to sleep and they'll have to greet him with their cheery songs in the morning.

I guess I rambled in my answer for the title question.  In short, perhaps "earn" is the wrong verb.  Am I a mother?  I believe it with my whole heart!  Next year I'll likely feel more bona fide as a mom.  Thankfully this year I got to reflect on what it means to be a mom and be grateful to God that I get to be one.

Happy Mother's Day!

What a wonderful weekend we had at the Ham home!  I'll post more on our activities in the days to come, but I wanted to share some fun photos of my mom on this day. 

Hope my sisters won't hurt me for sharing this one~this is our church portrait from 1996 or so.

Can you believe that's my big sister KHud graduating from college?  She looks like a baby!  In this picture, I thought my mom looked like she could be BHud's mom (he's the fella married to my big sis).  I think it's the curls.

My parents took me on a lovely trip to Florida the week after I returned from living in Spain for 4 months in the spring of 2006.

This is just a cute picture of her with what appears to be some kind of gift tissue in the foreground.

Miss Foo, Mom, and me by the waterway in Florida.

Thanks Mom for being so great from setting a godly example in my life to spoiling everyone with delicious food to always encouraging a love for books and music in our home.  I hope as that I can be a great mom like you!

Cadeau Empoisonné

The French have this expression~Cadeau Empoisonné~ which translates to poison gift in English.  We learned what a poison gift was from a very friendly Delta employee in Paris, who said our buddy passes were both a blessing and a curse.  They're a blessing because they give us discount rates on international flights, but a curse because there is no guarantee we could get on the flight we wanted.  We definitely experienced both of those things on our return from Metz.  Since then, I have found some other applications to such a useful expression (is there seriously no parallel to it in English?  Perhaps the old~don't look a gift horse in the mouth...).

Well, since being home we've found a few other good examples of the poison gift.  As (sort of) newly weds, our families helped us out with lots of home furnishings to fill the gaps in our home.  My family gave us a white microwave.... that didn't work any more.  They gave us another microwave they had stored in the garage... that also didn't work.  As it turned out we had to buy our own microwave (no biggie), but then dispose of two useless metal boxes.  Kyle's mom set us up with a really fantastic fake Christmas tree.  I know I know~fake tree?  I have serious allergies and can't always tolerate living in close quarters with conifers.  Shameful~I agree.  Anywho, on extracting said tree from it's box, we find there is no tree stand.  Do we really want to invest in a fake tree stand or just purchase another tree?  We are now the proud owners of two artificial arbors.

Do you have examples of cadeaux empoisonnés?  We're not talking something a gift you got that you didn't like or want.  Both the microwave and tree were things we really could use, and we were grateful for receiving them for free, but they turned into unexpected tasks or inconveniences.  Perhaps you have been more fortunate with your gifts.  I hope so...

Christmas in July!

Kyle and I loved sharing our first Christmas together last year.  We even kicked off the festivities early (as you can see here).  Part of the Heim-Milligan family tradition is enjoying monkey bread on Christmas morning (or as we call it, Christmas morning bread because it is seriously the only day of the year we eat it).  My mom sent us 2 packs of the essential Jell-O butterscotch pudding mix last fall, but the bread only calls for one pack.  We had been holding on to the other so that we could celebrate the holidays all over again in the summer like those crazy discount mattress stores or used car dealers back in the U.S.

We always forget to buy the nuts... by December I'll get this down.  By the by, those yeast rolls were homemade by one Mr. Hamilton on Saturday night.  He's too good to be true sometimes...

We didn't go all out~our little tree stayed in its box under our bed, and we didn't plan to give each other gifts.  It was mostly to enjoy a big breakfast before church and listen to Randy Travis' Christmas album all day.  Well, surprisingly our friends provided the gifts for us.  All of France basically goes on vacation for the months of July and August.  Since Kyle and I will only be around for a bit of September, a good number of our friends wished to say goodbye to us now (even though we'll be seeing them again before the big departure).  These lovely gifts were provided by Nyanza, JP, Su, Jack Mac, and Joanne from church.

They were heavy.  Here's why:

A book!  It's all about Americans in Meuse~are part of the Lorraine region.

More books!  From left to right~a Lorraine cookbook, a Metz calendar for 2011 with all our friends' birthdays marked in it, and book full of photographs of Metz.  We have the most thoughtful friends!

Kyle continued our Christmas in July with some tasty snacks.  We bought this kind of pastry dough that is good to fill with yummy fillings (mostly cheese oriented).

A French cheese filled pocket

Pastry filled with spinach, swiss cheese, and mushrooms

There you have it.  My lactose-intolerant little self is starting to feel ill at the memory of eating so much dairy yesterday afternoon... bleh.  It was totally worth it, though.  To top off a very stellar day, we rooted for Spain in the World Cup final and had our wishes fulfilled (though after a really really long game).  ¡Felicitaciones Espana! ¡Feliz Navidad!

Hope you are having a merry July where you are.  Later friends!

Declaration of Independence

Freedom!  No more school for a while for me... I meant to share the School House Rock video I showed to my students.  It's fantastic especially for the little frenchies because they recognize the Statue of Liberty at the end of it.  They knew it was a gift from France to the U.S. to celebrate liberty as well as the centennial celebration of America's independence from King George (the tyrant, of course!)  Enjoy...

First last day

Since I work at two school on different days of the week, today was my first last day of two.  It seems like the moments one wants to savor most vanish within the blink of an eye.  To say that my last day with some spectacular children went by too quickly would be an understatement.  I thought it fitting that today's theme should be American Independence Day since the little ones will be experiencing liberty from school in fewer than 24 hours.  They saw their first School House Rock video, experienced a live banjo performance (my sweet husband took a long lunch break to entertain the little ones), and learned that their fete nationale is not too different than ours.  I shamelessly provided paper and hearts for them to make notes about what they liked best about English.  These are most treasured items that I'll have to put in book form when we return to the US.  Kyle's mom, Susan, sent me tons of beautiful paper hearts for Valentine's day, but I was unable to use them at the time due to an unexpected and highly debilitating migraine.  Thankfully I found new life for them at the fin d'annee.

I also made brownies from scratch to share with my teachers.  They were all a bit too shy with them~I guess they are trying to stay lean for swimsuit season.  They surprised me with gifts!  It totally shocked me and was so sweet.  Behold my new treasures.

Never mind the juice, Bibles, and Speedo resting on juice~ the little flower candle holders are my new treasures.

Up close~fleur et bougie

As I mentioned recently, they think I'm a big book dork at work.  They gave me "A daily positive thought" so I could have something to read everyday to remember them.  It's a beautiful little book.

I also have SHOW & TELL from Tuesday that I have delayed posting...

Lukas from Marly drew me a profile view of a cute gal with bangs.  I have a weakness for anime kids~my little sister was one, and she ultimately went to a fantastic art school for college.  This is Lukas' first contribution to my collection despite me begging him for something for ages.  I love it.

Goodness, I wish it weren't over.  I'm going to miss the little ones so so much.  I counted it up; there are 157 children to miss.  Le sigh....

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the Hamiltons!

A lovely card to remind us what Easter is all about from my parents.  I just imagine Linus reciting this with his blue blanket.... is there a Charlie Brown Easter special?

Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
Lovingly He greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
Let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;
For her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.

Friends * Food * Fish

Boy oh boy these three things sum up perfectly what this last week has been about.  Monday afternoon I met Kyle at the GTL computer lab after our school days.  He surprised me with news that he was taking me out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants here~Kefan.  Kyle is such a fan that he is now following their page on facebook; that is serious commitment.  Kyle enjoyed his favorite curry chicken while I scarfed some serious sushi.  We made the grave error of ordering pork raviolis as an appetizer.  I don't know what we were expecting... maybe something like pot stickers.  What we got were weird and not so great.  We'll stick with the spring rolls from here on out...

Wednesday we enjoyed Lost lunch with our friend Peter.  He blessed us with his rendition of sloppy joes.  They were the first we'd eaten since we departed from the mother land and they were glorious!  Kyle served them up with a side of home hash (hash browns, that is.).  It was superb with our mind blowing episode featuring a Jin & Sun story.  For dessert, Peter impressed us yet again with some highly coveted and oh-so delicious Cadbury cream eggs.  It was heaven wrapped in tin foil.

Each Thursday we have dinner and Bible study with our friends at the Pounds home.  God filled Kyle and my CCF void for sure with this all-star line-up of social time over food and then digging into the word of God.  Vicki made cheeseburgers and fries.  It was an all American treat for sure.  I got to hold their precious baby Alicia throughout dinner and keep her little fingers away from my tasty burger.  She doesn't know what she's missing out on yet.

Good Friday was very very good.  Kyle and I have been fasting on Fridays throughout the course of Lent; it has been interesting for us to focus on a discipline in our faith together.  Our fast ended early this Friday when we shared communion with our church family here.  After the Good Friday service, Nyanza invited Kyle and me over for a traditional Haitian lunch (though she's Swiss and Congolese...).  It was amazing~we had a red salad full of potatoes, cheese, carrots and beets all mixed into a mayo mash up.  This was our first ever tasting of beets; they were pickled and very good.  Nyanza definitely did not "shrute" up this beet flavored & colored dish.  Then the main course had a very bony fish and a veggie side with cabbage, carrots, creme, celery (not the stalks but some mysterious other form...perhaps a root?).  The 4 C side was very yummy, but Kyle hastily took a big mouthful of fish with bones and all before noticing them.  He spent a good 2 minutes pulling out nearly 10 tiny little bones.  I hope he didn't swallow any!  Nyanza is a fabulous cook.  We'll have to have her over again and make something a little more impressive than the pancakes we made for her back in February.

Our appetites were back before dinner time and thankfully we passed Friday night with Michael and Lauren on their traditional homemade pizza night.  They had a special topping that kept us excited the whole night~PEPPERONI!  That stuff does not exist here.  If there were no bacon, living in France would be a nightmare.  Michael & Lauren's family had sent the best pizza topper in the mail, and we were grateful that they shared.  For dessert, Lauren made a delicious strawberry and rhubarb pie (did I mention she's a professional pastry chef?).  It was insane delish.  Kyle and I had never had rhubarb before either.  It was a culinary adventure trying beets, celery root (?), and rhubarb for the first time all in the same day.  How magical!

Beets, bears, Battlestar Galactica

Celery... seriously?

Rhubarb~tangy and delicious!

Today Kyle and I were left to ourselves in the kitchen.  We had some tomatoes that needed to be eaten, and Kyle recommended BLTs.  Yes, these are delicious especially on a baguette, but I wanted them to be a bit more interesting.  Tonight we invented the BrieLT!  That's right~we melted some of the famous French cheese onto the baguette and added the typical toppings to it.  I recommend it big time.  It was scrumptious. 

Well, I've gabbed a good bit about friends and food, but aside from Nyanza's osseous ocean treat, I really haven't addressed my fishy fun.  Perhaps it's the change in season, but our lake has become a veritable fishing hole for tons of the locals.  They have so much gear and camp out all day, yet neither Kyle nor I have spotted anyone making a catch.  It's strange but they don't really cast their lines into the water.  They have super long fishing poles that they mount on the shore, and then they just watch and wait.  Some hit the booze and pump the jams on portable radios.  It's a peculiar sight, and hopefully one day we'll see somebody reel in a big one.

Fishing fellas on Lac Symphonie

Last, but certainly not least~April Fool's day is all about the poissons d'avril (April fish).  Like our pranksters back in the U.S., the children here create tons of paper fish and sneakily try to tape them on other peoples' backs.  Think of the hilarity of  a "kick me" sign on someone's back, but more silly because there are multiple little senseless fish taped haphazardly all over someone.  At first I had dodged every effort by my students to fish me last Thursday.  Then I saw how some of the other teachers embraced it~they were literally covered from their shoulders down.  It occurred to me that this would be amusing for the children and I wouldn't have to awkwardly survey my back with my hands to make sure I hadn't been fished.  Let me tell you, I came home with a school of fish made by my school of children.  They are so cute that I hung them all over my wall.  I think I love poissons d'avril!

They kind of blend into the wall... I love a colorful fish.

While we're on the "F" theme, I might as well include a final comment on footwear.  I have been looking forward to the day when I could dispose of the boots that made me miserable throughout winter.  They soaked through whenever their was snow, and the zipper is permanently jammed because of the water damage that snow inflicts.  They were my warmest shoes even though they couldn't face all the outdoor elements, but I am happy to finally be free of my feet's foes.  Behold for one final time my boots...

Bad boots be gone!

Farewell for now friends.

Hope you have a happy Easter~remember the Fisher of men!

I know I will if I can distract Kyle from his studies for just a bit!