MaustsOnToast

Forgive My Enemies

Drew — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:02:45 +0000

Watch this powerful video about a village in Cameroon who was attacked and had their homes burned down one week before the dedication of the Gospel of Luke in their language. What effect did the gospel have?

One week before the dedication of the Gospel of Luke, three hundred homes in the village of Bambalang, Cameroon, were burned by a neighboring village. But hearing Scripture in their own language has brought comfort and forgiveness.

Tata and Tonton

Drew — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:49:21 +0000

Are we up for having visitors? Yes, please! Just ask Aunt Sarah and Uncle Newton who stopped in last week on their way through. For their first visit to Europe, we had two days and two nights to show them around our corner of France and serve as their European orientation course before they proceeded on to Germany. We did our best to treat Snewt (Sarah + Newt) to local bread, cheese, recipes, architecture and public transport, although they insisted on sleeping quite a bit–something to do with crossing time zones and flying through the night. They were, nonetheless, in top form for taking the French language for a test drive. Uncle Newt bought two bus tickets while Aunt Sarah learned the word for lollipop, sucette. I’m sure if you quizzed them today, they’d still be able to pull it off. Thanks so much for coming, guys! We loved hosting you!

At 8 Months he is Getting His Second Tooth

Emily — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:20:45 +0000

The photo below was taken on May 2nd, the day Henry turned 8 months. Within the past week he has really started pulling himself up to his toy box, the couch and even the coffee table. I have also seen him stand alone for about 2 seconds. He is actually quite daring and often holds on to things with just one hand while he looks about himself. Tonight is the first time Drew and I have really seen him cruising. I think he was so tired and desperate to get to me, that he cruised along the couch from where Drew was sitting until he got close to the living room door.

I’m convinced that when the time comes for Henry to walk he will instantly become Poppy’s little shadow. He watches her every move. It’s so cute when you are holding him and he looks over your arms to watch her, his little body darts about on the spot as she runs around the room.

TIDBIT ABOUT SISSY: Today in the car I was asking Poppy some random questions like, what is your favorite color? What do you want to be when you grow up? What is your favorite fruit? Whats your favorite food? Then I said “Poppy who do you love the most?” and she said “Henry”, in all seriousness. After the initial hey what about Mummy it was so lovely to remember that Poppy does in fact really love her little brother.

Back to Henry. Two days ago my Mum pointed out that she could see his second tooth ready to pop through. Sure enough it’s getting clearer and clearer to see . Henry is a drooling machine right now and has a terribly runny and stuffed up nose so its probably all due to this second tooth.

Drew nicknamed Henry ‘Tator’ from the very beginning (after Tator Tots if you are wondering). Well since he got his first tooth we have been calling him Tator 1 tooth. It’s a shame that the second one has appeared so soon cuz Tator 2 teeth doesn’t have quite the same ring

What else? His hair is getting super long and comes over his ears now. He’s nice and chunky as you can see in the photo. He eats lots of fruits and veggies, chomps down on baguette, enjoys Gerber puffs sent over from America by his Grandma. And without Mummy knowing and agreeing, Daddy fed him some pain au chocolat the day before he turned 8 months!!
And to my joy Henry is still nursing, our goal is to reach 12 months.

Henry is such a happy and content little boy, full of the most heartwarming smiles. It’s something in his eyes, they just sparkle. I caught him by surprise in this photo though Look at his wide stance…teehee so cute.

Lily of the Valley

Drew — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:50:13 +0000

According to centuries old tradition, muguet, or Lily of the Valley, is gifted on May Day in France, the sole day where anyone can sell bunches of the fragrant flower without permit or collection of tax. Self-proclaimed vendors appear in the streets offering sprigs of muguet to passersby. A smile and 2€ landed a participant a fistful of flowers in our little town. The bunch can then be offered to a friend or loved one as a token of good luck.

Twirly Whirly Poppy

Emily — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:07:31 +0000

For a while now Poppy has loved spinning. She doesn’t go around and around continuously, she just does one nice and clean twirl on the spot. She has actually gotten quite good at keeping her balance and stopping without tumbling. She now incorporates the ballerina arms above her head, so it’s even sweeter.

Well, a couple of weeks ago she started insisting that she ONLY wear skirts or dresses that flare out when she twirls. And you better believe she knows exactly which skirts and dresses those are. Multiple times I have brought out super cute outfits–dresses, nonetheless–and she has outright refused them and gone to pick out her own outfit saying “no, that one doesn’t spin properly”. I should be happy that she’s getting herself dressed and expressing her individualism but she’s missing out on some super cute spring dresses! When I think about it, she hasn’t worn jeans for about a month now and will only wear leggings if she has a skirt or dress over the top. I’m sure it’s just a phase and I’m hoping the novelty will wear off soon and she’ll be back to wearing whatever I pick out.

Sorry for the blurriness

On Commence le Cinquième Mois

Drew — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:37:56 +0000

April concludes our fourth month here in France. We’ve now been through French school one-third of our scheduled time. On the one hand, it’s sort of scary to think that we’ve only got about eight months left to get up to comfortable fluency; on the other hand, it’s exciting to see how far we’ve come. We’re now able to express ourselves in ways that we had no way of doing four months ago when we arrived.

This weekend was an especially good ending to our first four months. On Friday night, Poppy spent the night with Granny and Grandad while Emily, Henry and I went out for Chinese food. A Chinese friend at school had recommended the place as one that serves authentic cuisine from the orient–thus, it wasn’t exactly what we were used to eating in the fine buffet establishments in America. All the same, it was Chinesey and delicious.

On Saturday morning we met with our conversation partner who continues to graciously welcome us into her home every week for tea and a healthy inundation of unscripted French conversation. At noon we headed to our professor’s house for a farewell party in honor of two families who have completed their time in France and are departing soon. Good time, good hanging out and, of course, good food. We can say that this was where we first had hotdogs in baguette buns, the hotdogs being the perfectly picante merguez sausages from North Africa. We will be having these puppies at home in the near future.

Then yesterday we had the joy of entertaining a newly engaged couple from church–our first time hosting French folks in our home for a meal. We made ham and potato soup–served with baguette, of course–and served a homemade apple pie for dessert. We spent the afternoon chatting about all sorts of things and I even got to bust out a newly acquired flash card phrase: le réchauffement de la planete “global warming”! I probably won’t use it again, but one time made it worth learning.

In the evening, we explored the château up the hill which turns out to be a fully functioning escargot and dairy farm. Surprisingly, seeing the snails do their thing (i.e., nothing) made us want to try them. How can you live in France and not try snails, right? One day…maybe…

Fish Pie

Drew — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:33:56 +0000

Henry has already sampled dishes that didn’t reach my palette until I was well into my twenties. One such dish his Granny G enjoys making for him is fish pie. After visiting the UK earlier this month and discovering ready-made fish pie in the baby food aisle, Henry’s Granny found a recipe for a pint-sized portion online at netmums.com–”mom” spelled with a “u” just so you know it’s British in case that they’re putting fish in a pie didn’t tip you off. The little guy loves the stuff! which isn’t terribly surprising given the fact that his father does, too (the grown-up version that is). So, go on, below is the recipe for Granny’s Fish Pie. Make it tonight for a small person whom you love.

Granny’s Fish Pie

200ml of whole milk
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 prepared cod fillet
½ a cup of peas
generous pinch of parsley

Place the cod, potatoes, carrot and parsley in a saucepan. Pour over the milk, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add the peas and cook for an extra 5 minutes. Puree or mash to the desired consistency.

*Allow me to apologize for three things in the video above: (1) starting off by speaking in a super high falsetto [wow!], (2) appearing to jerk Henry up by his arm–what you couldn’t see is that I also had a hand on his crouch to push him up, and (3) he now has a new high chair which he can’t slide out of.

Poppy Asks For A Pet

Emily — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:16:32 +0000

I’m writing this down because I just don’t want to forget the first time Poppy asks for a pet. Tonight we were watching a little bit of TV and there were some children holding chicks. Poppy suddenly pipes up and says “I want a chick”. Haha! Drew the Jester says, “Me too! Maybe in the summer we can keep some outside on the balcony”. Yea, imagine that in the future, people standing at the bus stop opposite our apartment and look up to see chickens clucking around on our balcony! Bahaha. Cute though, aren’t they?

Every Day Trying That Much Harder

Emily — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:28:19 +0000

Henry is so close to being ‘on the move’. One day, a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in our living room having a nice cuddle with him when I found myself holding him just that little bit tighter and that little bit closer. Having watched one child reach and glide through these stages I knew the day was imminent when Henry would push against me, bend his body over to the side and try feverishly to get away from my hold. That day was closer than I thought

Oh my how we love this little boy!

A good friend once said, “Children ~ give them roots, then give them wings”. I like that.

It’s like his heart says go but his head says no

ALWAYS with a smile on his face!

Kiss the Bride

Drew — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:07:10 +0000

Last week we had the joy of returning to the church where we were married–seven years ago this June–for a celebration of the wedding of Emily’s sister Sally to our new South African brother-in-law, Elrick. The wedding day was superb and packed with chatting, laughing, singing, catching-up, dancing, and eating and more eating. Since Emily was a bride’s maid and I was occupied with making sure flower girl Poppy made it down the aisle successfully, we weren’t actually able to take any pictures during the service. We did get some at the reception, but looking back we wish we had taken more.

What’s more, Poppy fell asleep in the car on the way to the reception and didn’t get crackin’ with the party until well after the main reception meal. At least Mummy and Daddy were able to sit and enjoy the delicious lamb though! But this also means that we didn’t get many pictures of Poppy looking like a perfect princess. Next to the bride, she and Emily were the two most beautiful ladies there!

We ended up partying until well after 11pm, with live music and barn dancing. All in all, it was a wonderful day and we look forward to getting to know our new brother-in-law more and more in the future. Congratulations, you guys!