Jan. 2012 Departure & Re-entry.

As promised... here is the story of our departure from France and our re-entry into live in the States as we used to know it a year ago. Enjoy!

OK, so after a year in France, we packed up our apartment. We knew this day might come.

I had a mondo sized checklist for keeping things straight.

We got rid of almost everything (except 11 bags that we brought with us - 11 sounds like a lot except when it's a years worth of stuff or all you own). It was a whirlwind sort of experience trying to empty an apartment that had been passed on from student family to student family (at least 4 that we've been told of). Imagine trying to close out internet accounts in another language when you are not the name on the account - the original person had just passed it on from one resident to the next to make payment easier. Hmmph! It was easier to pay but harder to close the account. It's still open, btw. We're far across the pond & the internet service provider told us to just close our bank account instead. OK?? It worked. It's done. Check. (Did you know you have to save French check stubs for 10 years for tax purposes?)

Another thing on the to-do list... AT. THE. SAME. TIME....We also were ordering supplies online in France to set up house in Africa and get them shipped to the container (in the Mid-West of the USA) so they could be shipped to West Africa. *sigh*
I'd like to get a button to push that speaks to me in that computer generated voice: "That WASN'T easy!" You know, similar to the one that STAPLES puts out that calmly tells you "That was easy." I don't need my button to yell or even strain it's voice. It just needs to calmly state: "That wasn't easy." and then I can move on. So yes, we packed for Africa across the continents. It's done-ish. *wink* Check. And just so you know, if you plan to make a lot of purchases online from another country on Black Friday, the credit card sompanies will put a hold on your account!

Oh, and another thing we did all at the same time as these other busy checklist items were being tended to, was to start scheduling speaking engagements and lodging and vehicle borrowing for our future (now current) time in the States.

For a while my conversations with Brent would go something like this:

Have a place to stay for the first few weeks in TX?
Check.
Do you know where it is?
No.
OK. Fine.
Have a place for the next month in FL?
Yes.
Know where that one is?
Yes.
Good.
How about the month of March?
No. Not set up yet. No idea what we're going to do in NY. 
Hmm. OK.

So none-the-less, our check list for departure from France was ticked off with these three main events getting checked off simultaneously:

1. Empty Apartment.
2. Pack for Africa.
3. Schedule for Stateside.

It really helped us learn to plan and organize things down to the tiniest detail. Not my forté, but I learned how to do it better than I ever had before.
Thank the Lord!

So then we had a great trip planned to get us back to the States: We'd leave our apt and stay with French friends for 2-3 days and then take a bus to Lyon, stay the night in a hotel, shuttle in the morning to the airport and just have one layover in London before arriving in Texas. Doesn't sound as stressful as our trip that brought us to France a year ago, does it?

Well, all went well except...
I started with some stomach bug while staying at our French friends' house. Not a gross kind, just a painful kind that won't let you sleep well. Not too bad. Then Ethan got it. He only puked once. Then we got to the hotel with no problem. I couldn't sleep. Since moving to France was rough on me, I've struggled with travel anxiety a bit. Only slept 2 hours before we got up at 4am to get to the airport. Flew to London fine. Started feeling weak in the airport. Got that really twirly feeling. Thought I'd pass out. Made sure to get my low-blood sugar back to normal by eating something. Still had to have Brent take me to the plane in a wheelchair. It was embarrassing. I'm an otherwise healthy woman who gets bouts of low-blood sugar, but this time I was worn down from a stomach bug and exhaustion. The flight was great. I was comfortably settled in and Brent had taken care of the kids, and bags and everything! Then he sat with the kids while I had my own seat by the bulk-head (leg room! for the tall sickie).

Can I just say here, Don't I have a great guy?!? Wow. Way to step it up, honey. Thank- you.

Claire threw up in the airplane bathroom. Then she slept the rest of the flight. Ethan & Brent watched movies and tried to sleep. (Brent got the stomach bug a few days after we got back to TX. Thought I'd have to preach for him that Sunday, but he was ok.)

Back to the plane. I normally get motion sick, but because of my stomach thing I was taking meds for my tummy and couldn't take dramamine. So the ride got bumpy at the end and I felt nauseous - didn't toss my cookies though - Score! Then because of the wind, our double-decker big plane slammed down. EEK! Everyone thought we had crashed. We were fine. Well. most of us. We were the last ones off the plane since I felt like I was going to pass out and vomit all at once. EMT people came to take care of me while the kids checked out the cockpit (since it's a bit scarey for the kids to see mommy in an oxygen mask). I was able to walk off the plane with help and then I got wheeled around the massive 100+ person line for customs (my family got to join me!). Thank you, Lord! Only to get stuck in the line for agriculture since we had to declare a French orange, of all things. Thankfully this line was only 5 people long since they scanned all our bags again. Then we had lovely PBT people waiting for us to pick us up. He didn't even ask why I was in a wheelchair. We told him, but it was nice not to be asked. Then we ate some dinner at the house here and went to bed by 7pm (2am France time- I think.) It really takes 24 hours for each time zone you've crossed to get adjusted and not have jet lag any more. I really think it's like working night shift, you can change your schedule but in the end you feel like years have been sucked off your life. Jet-lag stinks! But we survived that too. Our heavenly Father was really with us through it all.

Then the good part began. Getting to see friends we haven't seen in a year. Having to use a calendar to book times with people because so many wanted to see us, meet with us. Not to mention physicals and dental appointments too. Busy time! Note to self: Next time plan more time in the Texas area. Three weeks is not enough!

Oh, now for my favorite part of re-entry:
We got to go to church in ENGLISH for the first time in a year- yay!  We had the opportunity to share with churches about our time in France.

Here are some highlights we shared:

- Shared the "good news" with a friend from India. Told about our Father's power of healing and being led by dreams. My friend wants to get a copy of "The Good Book."
- Gave a Chinese copy of "The Good Book" to a follower so he could read in his own language. (He only had a few pages before).
- Shared with an Austrian atheist lady why "The Good Book" is alive & important to me.
- Talked to the Father about a French sister being plagued by nightmares for 2 years. She was delivered!
- Taught a French Sunday class of 7-11 year olds  about work on the field & fed them an African dish.

We were so blessed this past year & it was a blessing to share that with so many people in Texas. It's a little odd to be back to American ways and speaking in English. It feels good. It feels sad. We miss our friends and life in France. It wasn't a vacation. It was work and everyday life. It was good. We're so thankful for those who made it possible. Now just to raise funds for a vehicle so we can work in West Africa. In the mean time I'll be telling stories about what He's done & catching up on all the bowls of Cheerios with good milk & all the Mexican food we've missed.

Next stop: Florida for a month. Going to see family! Yay! Hang out with my dad who's fighting cancer (see first blog entries) and share at churches.  Not a bad re-entry. Weird and parts of it I would not like to repeat. All in all not bad.

Cherish the Magic Moments - Cleaning House Simplified

 Ok, I've been looking online for ways to de-clutter and to maximize my time. I'm not good at time management so I decided I had better start working on it. *sheepish grin* It's hard to keep a home running smoothly with two young kids when time management is not my forte.

#1. I found some great tips at Hannah Keeley's website http://hannahkeeley.com/
(Magic Moments in her mom's free 3 Day Boot Camp).

#2. I found more tips at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's website: http://beautyandbedlam.com/speed-cleaning-join-me/ . (Setting a timer for 10 or 15 mins of productivity = so effective!). 

#3. A pin I found on Pinterest (ok, I know what you're thinking. I already check FB and Blog & now I got sucked into another online time consumer! but pics online are less physical clutter in my home and I find joy in it. I just be sure to limit my time usually. I'm off from school this week so why not!) The pin had a pic of a list: 40 bags in 40 days. You can find it on my Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/
Or from Little Lucy Lu's website: http://www.littlelucylu.com/2011/03/40-bags-continued.html

#4. Also some great tips from the Fly Lady's site: http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_CrisisCleaning.asp
(How to clean quickly. I like a shiny sink. It really helps.)


So I borrowed a little from each of these sites and have been rockin' it in my own home (or at least it feels that way for me. *smile*).

Some of the links above are self-explanatory, but here's a description for the ones that might not be so clear.

So the Magic Moments from Hannah Keeley: I've been doing this tip. You basically try and do a little here and there and mentally count it as a Magic Moment. Her concept is to get rid of negative thoughts (about how I can never get this house clean and be a good mom). Replacing negative ones with positive ones is key. I liken this to taking every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).  To put it into practice, for example, I would now think: I have just had a Mom's Magic Moment = I picked up those dirty socks I kicked off in the middle of the night and put them in the hamper on my way to do something else productive for my family. Yay for me! I add my own little theme song when I realize I am doing this and it helps me feel giddy (which is one of my cherished sentiments, btw). Theme song: This Magic Moment by the Drifters. *wink*

The pin of 40 bags in 40 days from Pinterest and Little Lucy Lu: is basically a list of spots where clutter collects in one's house and an idea to de-clutter in forty days. You pic a spot on the list and grab a bag and start filling. I adapted this a bit in my own home. (We have to get rid of everything including furniture by Jan. 2012 since our apt. is listed as unfurnished). I sat and made a list in like 15 minutes flat. I listed all the places that clutter collects and where I could find things to toss or recycle or donate. Then I picked a spot and started. Since we still need some things before we move out of France back to the States, my list will be gone over twice at least. I call this the double purge! I put a dash next to each of the items I've already de-cluttered. Next time through I will place a check on top of the dash to say that area is completed (or emptied in our case). This list idea works well for my family. My husband and I can pick some different areas to tackle and we feel less over-whelmed. My hubby loves organization and this is a simple way I can help fit that bill. Glad I didn't have to come up with it on my own. Not my area of creativity, but could begin to be. Hmmm. Art in organization and de-cluttering? I like it!

Our lovely French apt bldg that we have to leave in Jan. Time to De-clutter!

Anyway, I just thought why not share the wealth, right?
I love finding helpful hints for household management! Hope you enjoy & join our family in cleaning out the negative clutter in our minds and the clutter in our homes. Making Home Happy for all the people I Heart.

Homeschool Management - Organized School Books

Organizational Tip/Activity: (good for the kids and my sanity!):

Let's face it, life at home runs better when it's a bit organized (I know some of you are cringing!) and when there's less visual clutter.  At least life runs better in my home this way. *smile*


Well, for each school year, there are a ton of books that come from Sonlight (this is the curriculum we plan to use in Africa - it's easy to mix with other things, so we've heard - you can find the link at the bottom to see for yourself).

WELL, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THOSE BOOKS?


To keep the chaos to a minimum, we color-coded our books (another helpful home school tip I learned from a Sonlight mom). This helps us keep track of books we're currently using and ones we're done with for the year.

It helps keep clutter at bay when the kids can easily help put things away.


The kids can even help put the stickers on. This is where those lovely dot stickers (pictured above in the egg crate counting game) come in handy. You can get them in a lot of colors. If you want to do more than maybe 6 colors you might consider using the white dots and having your kids color them certain colors - we put clear tape over all the dots to help them stick to the book binding.

Here's How To Label Your Books:
Each reading level (or grade level) gets it's own color sticker with the grade number on it. At the end of the year, if the next child is not using that level, you put all the grade 2 books in a grade 2 box, for example, for storage until the next child reaches grade/level 2.

Our  Level 1 (basic little kids read to me books/ just learning to read books) ended up with a yellow sticker.

Our Level 2 (I can read for myself but might need help books) ended up with a blue sticker.

Our Level 3 (I can read simple chapters books) ended up with a red sticker.


And so on... You decide what categories work for you.


This color coding helps the little kids be able to help put books back in the right place too. They don't need to know numbers to help put books back on the shelf. They just put the yellow dotted ones in the same spot and the red dotted ones next to other red dotted ones. It's great! Here's a pic of some of ours. 

This might sound overboard for some, but if you literally end up with hundreds of books - it helps!

Disclaimer: The books pictured above are not from Sonlight. We started labeling our own collection and had it done when the box of Sonlight books arrived so it wasn't as overwhelming. This idea of color-coding books could work well for any library for home-schooling though.

If you want to see what Sonlight is like you can check it out for yourself: http://www.sonlight.com/

We have not started the curriculum yet - two years worth of it, for each kid, is already packed for Africa (ready to go into our shipping container)! We got lots of recommendations for this one from fellow missionaries.

Homeschool Management - Easy Labeling Tip

Easy Labeling Tip: (stop the squabbling over home school tools)



Our kids need to feel a special ownership over their home school items. Kids who leave the house for school have special stuff (backpack, pencils, lunch box, etc.) why not home schoolers too?

Well, someone a long time ago on a blog shared with us a nice way to help our kids feel a sense of ownership and keep track of their items too. It involves colored electrical tape. Bizarre, I know - but it works.

(Again, sorry and thank-you to whoever came up with this. I'm going to start paying attention to who writes what in order to give credit on my blog.)


Each kid gets their own color tape (we bought ours at a home improvement store in the States).  Every school item, pencil, tape, scissors, notebooks, etc. gets a strip of their colored tape. They learn their color and recognize their items around the house. They feel happy to see their color and know it belongs to them. It really helps with squabbles over whose is whose too.

Claire's color is purple - This is her pencil.

For older kids, there's the possibility of building even more responsibility for their items when the items need to be monetarily redeemed from the Lost & Found basket. If an item is laying around, it gets picked up by a parent and put away in the the L&F basket. When the child finds he/she needs it, they have to pay a nickel to get it back. Our kids are not old enough for this yet, and we have not yet introduced ways for them to earn money, but when they are older we might try this. For now, we simply say, "It has your color, you are responsible to put it away".