Random Thoughts

Random Thought #1:

It's so fun to celebrate Christmas again!  Here are snapshots of the kids by our Christmas tree (which smells AMAZING!).

I have to include this one too.  We have a photo of Lena at about age 3 kissing this dog ornament.  She remembered that, and decided to do it again.  There are lots of fun memories hanging on this tree!

It is just so much fun to get the Christmas photos and letters, to share gifts with friends and family, to see snow and play in snow again!  So fun!

Random Thought #2:

For some reason, I have been remembering things lately.

Remembering how Ryan used to be petrified of animals of all kinds.  Why was that?  Who would have guessed going to Camp Forest Springs would solve the problem forever.  I guess the Camp Forest Springs animal farm full of baby animals was the best place of all to lose all fear of animals.

Remembering when Todd was a baby and Lena was in Kindegarten in White Bear Lake.  I decided I wanted to walk, so I took the double stroller to the Mall of America to do laps.  Ryan was in the back of the stroller in the seat, and Todd was in the baby carrier in the front.  But, Ryan would NOT keep his hands off of Todd who was facing him, so I had to switch them and put Ryan in the front.

So, as I was walking around the Mall of America - trying desperately to get some exercise - Ryan was in the front of the double stroller swinging his body sideways as FAR as he COULD, again and again and again to entertain himself -- all the way around the Mall of America.  He was a big 3 year old.  His swinging with such force made it nearly impossible to push that double stroller!  What a little stinker!  He put an end to my walking single handed-ly.  Kids!

Random Thought #3:

A few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation between Todd and Ryan.

Todd: (He had the game Headbanz out, and he was holding a card with a photo on it.)  "OK, guess what this is.  Here's a clue.  It has an 'e' at the end of the word."

Ryan: "I have no idea what this is."

Todd:  "It has black eyes."

Ryan:  "I have no idea."

Todd:  "It has big stripes."

Ryan:  "I have no idea."

Todd:  "Guess!  I gave you 3 clues!"

Ryan:  "I have no idea.  It could be anything with an 'e' on the end of the word, black eyes and stripes!"

Todd:  "OK, it's a bee."

Oh, we laughed our heads off!!

Random Thought #4:

If we were in Paris still, we would have had a Christmas cookie bake with our friends last week.  I miss doing that!

Random Thought #5:

French in haunting me here in the USA.  Who knew that there was so much French here!  It is on tons and tons of labels.  Did you know that?  I certainly didn't, until I learned French.  If you buy a kitchen tool, almost certainly the label will be in French too.  Hair products, household items, some food (although you are more likely to find Spanish on food stuffs)...it is everywhere.

Just last week, I was in the bathroom at one of Ryan's basketball games, and this is what I saw.

Now look closely and what do you see?
 

I was standing there, drying my hands thinking, "NO!!!!  That horrible verb 'arriver' (to arrive) is haunting me in my home country!  It should not be doing that to me here!"

I learned an enormous amount of French vocabulary while overseas and really enjoyed that.  But, the struggle of 'how to say things' was with me all the time.  I would say things in French the way I say them in English, and that just doesn't work.  French people don't think the way we think.  So, quite often they didn't understand me very well when I spoke, even though I was using French words when I was speaking.

This hand dryer is a good illustration.  In English, it says 'disconnect from power supply before servicing."  Simple, right!

In French, it says, "Unplug the arrival of electricity before all maintenance."

See!  I would never ever think to put it that way!  UGH!!!!!

And, this is why I am so, so, so, sooooooo very happy to be doing life in English all the time again.

But, why can't the French just leave me alone?  I want to forget how hard you are, French.  Go away!

Random Thought # 6:

Today was supposed to be the last day of school before the Christmas break, but we got a wonderful winter storm which caused a snow day today!  Yeah!  It is so nice to be home, looking out at the white outside, and enjoying an unexpected day with the kids.

Random Thought #7:

This past Wednesday, Mark's Mom had open heart surgery to replace a valve that has been malfunctioning most of her life.  We are so very thankful that the surgery was a success and that she is on her road to recovery.  We anticipate that once she gets through the recovery (not an easy process), she is going to have a whole new lease on life!  Praise the Lord!  What a great Christmas gift for Kathy!

Well, I think that's enough for today.  I am off to do fun things with the kids.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Pictures Tell the Whole Story

We moved when our daughter was entering 7th grade and our sons were entering 5th and 1st grade. 

For our youngest, there wasn't a ton of worry about his making friends.  First graders are still pretty accepting of whomever. 

However, for our 7th grade girl?  Well, we knew it was anyone's guess how that would go!

For our 5th grade boy?  We prayed sports would help him connect quickly.

So, how has it turned out?  These pictures tell the story best.

Lena among 7th grade girls who have already become great friends!  It is almost as if she has always been among them.  A total miracle!

Ryan chatting with some of his friends.  More are on their way.  Check out this next photo.

These boys have a great time together.  And notice, Todd, is right in there entertaining the lot of them.

We are just so thankful for the grace of God which has allowed our kids to find great friends - and fast!  God is good!

So proud of you, Todd!

I've been wanting to include the "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" photo of Todd for a little while now.  This seems like a good time to do it because in today's post, I want to write about how proud we are of Todd.

This fella has done amazing things.

Let me explain.

When we moved to France, Todd went to all day preschool in the French public school at the age of 4.  We had no choice as to which class he was put into or how long his day would be, he just joined the class where other kids his age would go for all day preschool.  As it turned out, he was young for his class.  Those full days of school in a foreign language really tired him out!

Our second year in France, Todd was in Kindegarten.  This was the year he really swallowed French.  (I just don't know a better word for it.  Swallowed is the best.  One day he just became fluent in French.)

Our third year in France, Todd was a 1st grader.  By the time we left France, he was reading AT GRADE LEVEL, along with his French classmates.  He had zero American accent.  He was getting all satisfactory marks doing school completely in FRENCH.

Then we moved to America.

In America, Todd would be the youngest person in his grade if we had put him in 2nd grade this year.  That, combined with the fact that he could not read in English, made it an easy choice to have him repeat 1st grade, but this time in ENGLISH.  To add to that, in Indiana the cut off for school is the 1st of August.  Todd was born on the 19th of August, so in Indiana he would be a 1st grader.  We said, that works perfectly for Todd!  Put him in 1st grade.

So, Todd began school this year on August 15th and a 1st grader for the second time.  He didn't know how to read anything in English except for three words:  "no", "I" and "zoo". 

Why he knew "zoo" is beyond me, but he did.

I looked at the list of sight words his new 1st grade teacher sent home and I began to worry.  There were about 60 words on the list and I knew Todd could only read two of them.  (Zoo was not on the sight word list.)

Since we were so consumed with figuring out our own lives, we didn't do much beyond send Todd to school and figure the staff there could work everything out.

It didn't take long before we woke up.

We finally remembered, Todd can only read in French when school began.  In fact, Todd has only ever done school in French.  Perhaps he needs a little help.

I started tutoring Todd after school each day.  We did his homework together.  We did phonics flashcards together.  Over and over, we practiced those tricky vowels which are EXACTLY OPPOSITE from French.  (In French an "i" is an "e" and an "e" is an "i".  This is VERY confusing to re-learn!)

I have to be honest and say there were days when I thought he would never read a book in English!  It just seemed like his brain had been too programmed in French.

We reasoned, "if he manages to get to 80% of where his classmates are by the end of this school year, we'll be pleased.  He'll catch up finally in 2nd grade."

But, no.  Todd didn't need a full year to reach 80% of his classmates level in reading.  He has caught up in just over 3 months of school!!!!  Who would have guessed this squirly, so-happy-to-do-anything-to-make-another-human-being-laugh goofball would learn to read in English in just 3 months?!?!?  He did it!

It is just pure joy to hear him reading in English.  It is just pure joy to see him read by himself, understand, and then laugh at the funny things Morris the Moose does.  It is such a joy to hear Todd comment on signs on the highway or in the stores - signs he never payed any attention to before but now he is reading on his own.

"Todd, you have done well.  You have joined the world of readers!!!  We are so very proud of you!!!"

And, a big thank you to Todd's teacher who is obviously doing several things right.  We celebrate this victory with you in our minds as well.

Ah.... one more hurdle passed and one more prayer answered.  Praise the Lord!