The Great Tortilla Experiment

Tonight, I made home-made tortillas for the first time. Why, you might ask? Well, thank you for asking. The thing is, buying tortillas here is a bit complicated. Usually my local grocery store has them, but sometimes they don't. And, it seems that when they don't is when I was counting on them the most. They also seem like they're pretty expensive compared to what I vaguely remember paying for them during my UNC years. But, most of all, I've started reading labels more and more. You'd be astounded at how many unpronounceable chemical-sounding ingredients they can put in a stack of tortillas. Especially since, when you make them, the recipe is: flour, salt, oil, water. That's it.

They turned out OK. A bit thicker than the store-bought variety, but very definitely edible, and very definitely tortillas. The hardest part was peeling them off of my kitchen table once I had gotten them rolled out. The result bore only a remote resemblance to the perfectly-round tortillas that come in a bag. These were definitely more...amoeba-shaped. Some even came complete with holes.

I'm torn as to whether it was worth the time and effort. I figure I should try it at least once more because, hey, surely I'll just get better at it the more I do it, right? In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, be sure to let me know!

Not Just Another Busker

If you care about music, art, and beauty, and have a few minutes, you HAVE to read this article!

Little Cabin

More Ordination Picts

To see some more pictures of Thomas's ordination, click here. Thanks, Jean-Marc! :)

School Days

So it begins. Yesterday, we were at the municipal playroom. 3 other moms, whose children are the same age as Alina, were sitting and chatting. The topic of converstation? What school their child would attend in the fall. None of the moms lived in Melle, and there were some who would be putting their kids in the little school of their town, and some would be going to school in Melle anyway because that was more convenient because the mom works in Melle.

Then, a mom turns to me and says, "Alina will be enrolled in Melle, right?"

"Well, um," I hesitated for a second before saying, "We're not actually sure we'll be sending Alina to school in the fall." She looked at my incredulously, but I had my excuse all ready, "We figured that with the two languages, it was maybe better to keep her at home to let her advance a bit more in English." The mom still looked skeptical, then her expression changed to a sort of patronizing, know-it-all look. She said, "You'll see, once the new baby is here, you'll be glad to have some peace and quiet." (She has older children as well.)

Certainly.

There will certainly be days where I will ask myself, "Why on earth did we not enroll Alina in school?" But, to be honest, I was thinking, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? SHE'S NOT EVEN 3, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

At least she's potty-trained. None of the other children in question, who will be in school in the fall, are.

I can understand that for families where both parents work, school for their 3-year-old is a much cheaper solution than daycare or a babysitter. But should this be considered normal?

I can only imagine the looks I would have gotten had I said, "Well, actually, we're considering homeschooling, in which case she wouldn't be going to school at all."

Pastor Thomas

Sunday was Thomas's official ordination as a pastor/missionary, as well as the official retirement send-off of Marc, who he's replacing. It was a really neat, good time. We figure there were probably about 50 people in attendance, which is a far cry from our normal 15. We had invited a lot of our personal friends, including Jean-Marc, Thomas's ex-colleague from the Christian bookstore in Paris, who made the train trip specifically for the event. There were also 3 pastors and 2 retired pastors from our sister churches, along with a few "members" of the church who we rarely see. The service was followed by a meal at a local community center. God surprised us by working out a detail: We had rented (and paid for) a smaller room, knowing that we would be pretty cramped, but being unwilling to justify paying the price for the bigger room. Well, due to a heating problem, we were "unable" to use the smaller room, and so got the big one for the same price! I think everyone had a good time. I'm hoping to get some better pictures from one of our friends who is a professional journalist, but for now, here is what I managed to get:

Happy 2009!!!

Happy New Year's, everyone! We were invited to a New Year's Eve get-together last night. It was a lot of fun! Here I am, ready to go. This is supposed to also be a pregnancy shot, but I guess you don't really see much belly.

Who was that masked man?

And, who's that cute girl?

Hope everyone has a great 2009!