Adam's Visit and Bruxelles!!

When Adam came he brought Texas with him in the form of Tex-Mex!! We have been enjoying it all week! Can you believe how much stuff he brought?!!

Here are the boys enjoying some queso. As I was melting the Velveeta I felt like I was getting ready for a super bowl party or something. It just felt so right :)


Yesterday was a holiday so we didn't have school. The three of us decided to explore Brussels since none of us had ever been there except to fly in and out of. It was an awesome day!

We thought it only proper to sample some waffles. Wow. I admit I broke my diet to partake, and it was amazing.

Can you tell that I was happy?


We checked out the Grand Place of course. Just as grand as expected.


We sought out the Manneken Pis, though I think it is gross. It is one of those things that you visit just to say that you've been. Well, world, I've been.


This house says that it is the smallest one in Brussels, and I want it! So cute!


We found my restaurant.


The boys and their candy store.


Such a fun day!


A sign of a good day in Brussels... a bowl full of empty mussel shells.


Adam appears to be enjoying his last day in Huy. I spotted him out of our apartment window. Belgian life is pretty awesome sometimes :)


We have so enjoyed having Adam visit us. He leaves tonight to meet up with his friend in Prague. Safe travels, friend, and thanks for coming to see us!!

Bonjour.

Last week, Rob called us and said, "I wanted you to know that I just finished college." Way to go, little brother!! His graduation ceremony was Saturday in College Station. I am so proud of Robbie. Not many men have his sweet, kind heart or his depth of character. I love you, Rob, and am praying for whatever God has next for you. Remember to seek Him first!!

Clint called during the ceremony and let me hear "Robert Louis Pasche" being called out as he walked across the stage. They also called later to let me talk to the new grad. It was awesome, and it meant a lot to me that they all thought of me way over here :)


Today was business as usual. Mondays are language school days, so I packed up my backpack (which totally labels us as Americans, by the way. No one else carries them :) One of our classmates drove by as I was walking and told me class was canceled! It is funny that even though language school is different from "regular" school, and it really IS beneficial to have class when you are trying to learn French, there is still that schoolgirl in me that thinks canceled class is the best thing ever (besides LOST). So I trekked back to our side of town and settled into a table at the Grand Place to do a little studying on my own.


Tea, a French-English dictionary, beautiful weather, church bells, and a nice waiter to help me sound out words= a great morning.

You may notice Clay's absence in the ramblings of my morning. He left early this morning to go meet Adam McQueen in Brussels! Adam will be visiting us this week on his way to Prague, and we are so excited! I love guests :)

Have a wonderful beginning to your week!

Today was a truly great, encouraging day.

1. It started out with some really good, solid God time. Sigh. I love mornings with him. I am reading the book "The Spirit of the Disciplines" by Willard, and I was challenged by what Paul said in Philippians: "So, whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead."(Phil. 3:10-11 LB) I want that newness of life! It was an awesome morning.
2. I was able to do laundry, which literally takes all day long. The wash cycles are really long for some reason, and then Clay was kind enough to walk all the clothes to the laundrymat to dry everything. He is such a helpful fellow :)
3. After lunch I ran some errands to the post office, the grocery store, to this special store to buy towels, and did some random window shopping. Just doing these routine things that wouldn't seem like so much back home, makes me feel productive and like I did something today, you know?
4. I had several "conversations" in French. "Conversation" means that I spoke atleast one complete sentence. It is seriously the best thing ever. One funny thing happened. "Foie" means liver, but "fois" means time, as in "next time..." Two meanings, one word. As I was saying goodbye to a clerk, and said "until next time," I felt my hand moving to my stomach and point to my liver. What is that all about?! My brain is so confused. When I say "time" I point to my liver! Great.
5. I made these cookies, and they turned out pretty good. Kind of biscuit-y (since I had to omit the honey) but they were bread-like and that was something to celebrate.
6. We went to a birthday party at the church.

So, a productive day. It was nice to have a day off from school to get some household stuff done. I had been feeling kind of backlogged. I am so thankful when God gives me days like this. He is so good to me. I am thankful to be his today!

Destino Needs Your Help!

Just over a year ago Megan and I got to spend a few weeks in Honduras with Rhonda Jackson and a whole slew of incredible kids at Destino Del Reino. Destino is now in it's forth year of operating a school for the children who live there as well as many of the kids from the neighboring villages. We've seen first hand that the school provides these children with an amazing opportunity and provides hope for poverty-stricken villages.

Destino is looking for people who can partner with them in this ministry by sponsoring a child's education to provide them with a chance of a lifetime. Check out this video to find out more about the school and how you can be a part of it!

London= <3

Ok, last weekend took the taco (did I really just say that? Puh-leez tell me someone else out there has seen Ghostbusters 2). It really was awesome. Our Austin friends Treeta and Robbie made a special stop over in London on their way to Africa to see us!! They got to London Saturday morning but we hit the town Friday afternoon. Ah. English!!

We ate at a restaurant called The Embassy of Texas. What's great is that when I saw the place for the first time 2 months ago, I actually had to pause and think "Do we really have an embassy?" Yes, Texans are probably the only statesmen who think their own embassy is a realistic possibility :)

We really enjoyed ourselves.... I cheated on my diet a little bit, I admit :) They had Dr. Pepper, people!!


At one point the guy at the table next to us heard we were from Texas and started asking us questions, the best one being "What IS a tortilla?" Oh brother... where to begin on that one! We guaranteed him that his life was going to be a little more complete after he finished his meal. He and his friend (one from the UK, one from the Netherlands) also shared with us that most people view Americans as being very friendly, which I must say is a sweet relief after all of the bad press we have gotten in the last few years. Rest assured, there are those who really do like us out there! :)

One of the cooler things about the restaurant is the building. Ok, get this. The building currently occupied by the Embassy of Texas used to be owned by the same company who owned the Titanic! Right there by the front doors, under those trees in the picture, is where the company posted the lists of who were lost at sea. It was RIGHT THERE that people gathered to see if their loved ones were lost. It was kind of a somber moment. Such a big deal in history, and there it was.


Our hotel was amazing! Right off of Trafalgar Square, which is one of the most important and coolest squares of London.


Right after they got there on Saturday morning, we headed to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. We THINK we saw it, but we are not so sure. There were 1000s of people surrounding the palace, and we just joined in.


Here is Treeta being awesome. Friend, you certainly DO march to the beat of your own drum! I love you for it.


We also did one of those bus tours around the city. It was perfect for our jet-lagged friends, who did extremely well adjusting to the time change, by the way...


It was fun to just watch London whizz by. Such beautiful streets.


We saw Westminster Abbey.


Hey, we're tourists! Oh, how we laughed!


We checked out the Winston Churchill War Rooms Museum, which was AWESOME. I never knew much about that man, but I am impressed and greatful to him.


One of my favorite parts about exploring London is what you see when you make this one turn towards the Thames....

I love their reactions to it.

You just cannot get any better than this. The picture doesn't even do it justice. Big Ben is so huge! And just magnificent. To me, it is one of those rare things that exceed your expectations for it.


We also took a ride on the London Eye, this ferris wheel type of thing that gives you a wonderful view of the City and beyond.


Other activites included taking massives amounts of photos. The weather was so beautiful- the colors were amazing!! (I am going to make a plug to my photography friends and say you MUST get a polorizer. It changes everything. I promise.)


Some of my favorite shots from the weekend:








And some bird friends :)




Clay, Robbie, and Treeta had the obligatory fish and chips...


And a traditional English breakfast was served as well. Yes, those are baked beans. Very traditional, huh? :)


Thank you, friends, for coming, and for loving on us so well. What fun travel companions. We love you so!


And thank you, also, Austin friends who sent all of the goodies with them!! It was so overwhelming and wonderful! Seriously. I cannot thank you enough. We love you!


Oh, and P.S. Coming to the UK, late 2009... my dreams are being realized one by one :) I cannot wait.


Sigh. The weekend was amazing. Thanks for letting me tell you about it :)

We found a Bed and Breakfast just down the STREET!!

Ok, people. You have no excuse now. You must visit us.

This bed and breakfast is literally less than 5 minutes from our door and is right off the center of Old Huy. I found it online a couple of weeks ago, and we went to check it out. We didn't go inside, so all I have to go by are the pictures on their site, but it seems like it would be a great place to stay. It definitely seems better than other couple of hotels we have seen in the area.

And the best part is that it is RIGHT DOWN THE STREET!!

Of course, our home is available to one and all (I am sure there are exceptions to this, but we will take that case by case ;), but if you ever want to visit and would like more privacy or comfort than our couch in the living room, you now have another option.

Just wanted to share our fun find. If you ever are interested, just let us know and we can walk down and get a better feel of the place for you, or even help make reservations. Oh, how fun!

Love to you!

A relative term.

Some of you may know I have temporarily (Oh, Lord, please make it temporary!) adopted a sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free diet. This is an entirely different way of cooking and eating, and when I DO find recipes that work, often times the ingredients are hard to come by here. Yesterday I got serious and started digging for more recipes online. I posted some of my favorite food blogs to the right if any of you are interested.

Last night I tried this vegetarian shepherd's pie. I had to do a little tweaking to make it "work" for my diet (no tomatoes or jam, etc), but it actually turned out pretty good. As I type that, I am realizing that "tastes good" is such a relative term. To me, this was good, but to you, bless-ed sugar-dairy-gluten folks, it might just seem like a big mistake :) Oh, well. Maybe some of you will like it. Either way, this quest to find good foods that I can eat is what is filling a lot of my down time these days.


I also had plans to make some yummy apricot jam muffins (Recipe a la Janie Peltier. Have any of you HAD these? They are so good.) for my language class this morning. Let's just say I am still figuring out my combo microwave/oven. Sheesh. I turn my back for one minute and end up MICROWAVING my batter for 10! There was some serious smoke... and now there are a lot of burned, dried out muffins in the freezer for Clay to eat (the man is the least pickiest eater I know, and I am so thankful).


So, a yummy shepherd's pie and burnt muffins.... I'm 1 for 2. But, never fear, I'm still in this game.

Way to go, Dad!

There was a little graduation reception for Dad in Houston before the big ceremony at DTS in Dallas. Check out the twinkle in their eyes! Oh, how I wish I had been there to laugh with them!

And OH, how I love these 3!

le weekend

Friday was a school holiday, so the church had a "car rally." I wish I could tell you what exactly a car rally is, but, even though we did it, I cannot exactly tell you :)

We were on a team with Jean-Francois and Isabel, and the 4 of us drove around for FIVE hours completing the different requirements of the game. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt, mixed with trivia, and I SPY. Yes, it was intense.

At times it reminded me of a Fall Festival TBC-style. It was just that the game booths were spread all over Huy. Pretty cool for two Texas kids who are really into seeing as much of their new town as possible.

Join us as we rally...


This video may not make you laugh as hard as me, but I shall share it anyways. My favorite part is when it pans to the left and you see how many people are watching our progress. I laughed so hard!


This is Jean-Francois. This picture makes me LAUGH! Oh, we had so much fun.


Isabel schooled us in most of the events. Clay and I kept commenting that this rally really was MADE for Rob Pasche. All of his random gaming talents and skills would have really shined. Wish you had been there, brother!





One of the best parts was our team mascot, little Caleb. Oh my gosh. Just LOOK at him.


At church the next day we found out that our team got 2nd place! Not bad. The BEST part of the rally for me was the fact that the church did this together. How awesome is that? After the rally, all of the teams met back at the church for a spaghetti dinner, and I just felt so content. Church family is one of the biggest blessings we have on this earth. I am so thankful we get to share in it here in Huy.


On rally day, I also realized that it is quite possible that we do, in fact, LIVE in Catan. Click on this picture, those of you who play Settlers, and tell me if you do not agree. (It appears that we would be able to trade you pretty much anything for an ore :)

Speaking of Catan.... dreams came true on Saturday. Settlers in the Grand Place. Not many things compare.


After church we actually chose a walk over a nap (I will pause to allow your gasp...). We ended up walking for almost 3 hours through some of the prettiest country I have seen yet. We also discovered a petting zoo (yes, my favorite thing ever). It was closed for the day, BUT some of the animal pens were along the fence line. We made some goat friends. Animals are great because they don't speak French to me. All I had to do was pick some grass for this goat, and he loved me.


I don't think I ever appreciated spring like I am this year.


Oh! Oh! Oh! Guess what?! Kerrie and Nanny (some of our Louisiana family) sent us a package! WITH FLAT SHEETS!! And chocolate. What a wonderful surprise and treat! I pretty much couldn't contain my excitement. Mail already makes my day, and knowing that I don't have to sleep under a curly fitted sheet anymore is the best thing I can imagine right now. We got them today, and they are already washed and on the bed. I can't WAIT to go to bed :) Thank you Kerrie and Nanny!


A happy day to you wherever you may be!