Post #100!!

It’s hard to believe this is my 100th entry on this blog. In some ways it feels like just yesterday when we moved here to France and in other ways it feels like another lifetime.


As many of you know, we were burglarized a few weeks ago and they took my laptop and cameras (not my good one, thankfully) and jewelry. So this post will have no pictures.. and those videos I talked about editing and posting? Yeah, they’re gone. I didn’t have them backed up on anything they didn’t take.


I guess now we’ve experienced yet another side of France. Not necessarily the best opportunity to diverge into cultural differences, but it did bring to light several things we didn’t know. For instance, there are about 3 burglaries a week in our small village. Three. A week. That’s more than I thought… possible. So there’s that, and the fact that there really isn’t provision for punishment for petty theft, which all leads to the fact that the police come to write up the report so you can turn it into your insurance and fight it out with them and hope to get a little reimbursement. They're not really going to solve the case nor were they all that interested when I showed them where we believe they broke in.  Thankfully our relocation personnel will handle the bickering with the insurance company for us!


Since I don’t have any pictures loaded up and actually just got a laptop of my own to use, I thought I would use the opportunity for our 100th post to give a glimpse of our lives here after 18 months and how each of us has changed.


The boys are doing wonderful here. They are integrated into the local schools in our village and really love their teachers, their friends and the many outdoor activities that we are constantly doing. They are all skiing now, Piper is a beginner but E and CJ are able to run the ‘red hills’ with us! They love to ride their mountain bikes and E has become the in house bike mechanic when Kev’s at work. E is in football (soccer) here and loves it. CJ can’t wait to play next year. They start here at age 6 and it’s pure competition from the start! We are looking forward to hiking with the boys this summer, each year they can handle more and more and that is exciting. They don’t really love all the traveling we do, but we try and throw in some fun things for them along the way and hope that one day they appreciate all they’ve seen and not resent all the time in the van running around Europe!


Kevin is still the same in a lot of ways, and yet different as well. He’s still a little bit (ok, a lot) of a redneck, he has charts and graphs and powerpoint presentations of BFL that would rival a world class landscaper’s design. He is also quite adept in French, he loves the food here despite the fact that when we go out to eat he just gets hungrier after each course that fails to fill him up, and he is managing to live with only 2 combustible engines in our lives, ones we actually use and drive and arguably ‘need’ to get by with. Ok, I’m not sure if the last one counts since he is accruing a stockpile of toys in the US regardless of the fact that we live here. But he doesn’t actually have any to play with! He’s able to enjoy living in a place with a high population density because the payoffs of the beauty of the land and the opportunities to explore via hiking, biking, and traveling are worth it. He accepts the social system here (better get used to it we figure since it looks like the US is trying to catch up with France) and can appreciate the benefits of a society that can be content with life and focus on enjoying their family and friends instead of constantly trying to get ahead and keep up with the Jones’.


I feel I am the same in many ways, but I know that I think very differently. My life is still to maintain the home and take care of the boys and Kevin, but it’s so much harder here and I find I haven’t had time for ‘me’ here much. I think that’s ok, but then every now and then I just find myself crying on and off all day about menial things and realize that life is just harder here and sometimes I’m just not up for the challenge. Most of the time I can pull up the boot straps and think about all the things here I love and move on, but there are times when I just feel lonely and frustrated, unable to communicate and a little lost and lonely. Did I mention I get lonely?! I didn’t realize how needy I was until all the things I depended on regularly were taken away. I guess things is the wrong word. People – friends. Friends that are closer than a sister. And sisters too. I miss my family - even though they were a decent drive away, it’s still closer than a flight across the pond. But there are days that I’m also amazed at my strength. At my ability to cope and move on and fit in. They are rare and far and few between, but becoming more frequent as time goes on. Which means I’ve learned how to manage not just my family and household here, but my emotions and needs as well. My viewpoint is far more global and I realize how easy my life is as an American and how very ridiculously wealthy we are compared to the rest of the world. I want my kids to gain this perspective as well. I have become very introspective about my parenting and trying to maintain the focus on the heart issues in my kids instead of just curbing behavior. It takes a lot more time and patience… pray for me!


Overall, it is a good life, we are so very blessed. We love the mountains and the food and the culture of the French alps. We have a spring packed with visitors and trips. The yard is bursting with spring flowers and the trees are budding.

Pictures of our visitors in Feb and my girls' trip to London in March coming!!