Alrighty. Whirlwind 2 weeks! We enjoyed our time with Clay's parents so much. Family is incredible. That we can go so long without seeing eachother and still just slide right back into place. Belonging. It felt really good.

Phil and Tracy had already been in London for one night when we arrived, so we headed to find them. It was the happiest reunion. Oh how I love a good hello! Goodbyes were made for them.

After we settled down we turned to go inside, but in all the excitement we had all been locked out of our apartment!

Never fear, Phil to the rescue- and on the 2nd floor, too.




Lots of talking, just so happy to be together.



I didn't know I missed Tootsie Roll Pops until they pulled out the bag. Oh my heavens.



We walked Hyde Park and talked and talked some more.




There is an animal theme to the whole trip. We fed a lot of them. You will see.






We enjoyed several meals in our apartment and it was so nice to relax together. And drink Dr. Pepper. With lime.



A little Mexican food...



And then some Mother's Day Phantom! We had a blast!



In all of our travels McDonald's is everywhere. Guess what isn't? McDonald's BREAKFAST! The rest of the world just doesn't do breakfast like we do, fellow Americans. Sigh. Well, our cousins in England get it. They get it real good. Never has salty grease shaped into food tasted so good.



After some fun days in London, the crew hopped a train on their way to Belgium.



Stay tuned.

2 weeks

London, Belgium, Paris

Hellos and goodbyes

A video project thrown in at the end

Back home again

Head still spinning

The cherry blossoms are blooming!! They are the most gorgeous things I have ever seen.




I remember from reading the Mitford books that one of the characters' dream was to "go see the cherry blossoms" blooming in D.C. I get that now. I cannot get enough of these incredible trees. They are made even more beautiful since they only bloom for like 10 days. Wow. The streets are already littered with piles and piles of pink petals. It kind of makes things magical.

Speaking of things magical, Clay's parents just arrived in Europe. We get to see them tomorrow!! We are 4 very excited people that can't wait to spend some good time together. It's been a long time since we saw those 2. Over a year now. Tracy brought ingredients to make some of our favorite meals from home. I can't wait! How am I ever going to sleep tonight?? Remember this kid from the Disney commercial? That's me :)

In the meantime, we're keeping busy. We expats know how to cinco-de-mayo-it up. Yum.

Pumped up.

Just a quickie: Go read this post by a woman that has been inspiring me lately.

Read about what God is doing in her family's life and how it can inspire all of us to live the kind of lives God desires from his people.

I am blown away. Read back in her blog for the full story. Her words are challenging and good. Praise God.

I am laughing.

Laughing because for the last 10 minutes I have been pining for.... the Brazos River.

I have never in my life even thought about the Brazos. Today all I want is to see it.



Sigh. Muddy Brazos, I miss you.

It is true that we have pretty cute rivers here.



But I do miss my Texas.

(Of course, sweet faces like this help take the edge off :)

Kevin.

It's been quite a week around these parts. Few things rock our Belgian boat more than when a teammate leaves, and Kevin's 2 years were up this week. On Wednesday we waved so-long to our dear friend.

He had his rounds to make saying his good-byes, but we made sure to snag him for some last-minute team time. We spent a lot of the afternoon talking to airlines and checking flights wondering if he was going to be able to get out at all with the ash cloud hype. Such stress. We had a good time just being together though.



A few months ago I found some really pretty white beans at the grocery store that I used as little place cards for one of our weekly team lunches. I since planted Kevin's bean which sprouted into the cutest little beanstalk which then became a most appropriate centerpiece for our going-away lunch. The rest of us, you will notice, are left as beans. We have a little while longer to call Belgium home.



The church youth group had a going away party for Kevin as well. Here he is with our friends Katrine and Pascal.



Parties here become costume parties more often than not which explains Kevin's monk robe and shaved head. Clay and I decided to attend dressed as "Americans."



One last barbeque together.



Early on Wednesday morning, our little team shivered all the way to Kevin and Josh's house to say our last goodbyes. The boys had stayed up all night packing Kevin's bags, so Kevin shared a little quick-energy secret with us: 2 raw eggs, honey, and a little milk will apparently have you ready to rock n roll in no time.



And with that, he was gone. There is a void now and we miss him. 2 years well spent. He reached into the church and the community like no one I have ever seen. He taught us a lot and went through a lot with us. We love you Kevin. Eat some American food for us. Punk.



I must note that amidst all the sadness, several things made this week pretty fun in other ways too.

One, we figured out how to make pretty darned good breakfast sausage. A seemingly small thing, but trust us, little patties of gold they were.



Also, there were fun animals to brighten my days:

Sam and Nathalie's goats.



And a curious milk-cow at the farm. (The farm where Amy took me to buy raw milk that tastes so close to American milk that I want to do nothing else but drink glasses and glasses of it all day long.)




So, quite the week. A tough one but a good one.

The rest of the story.

Last week Josh and Anna were here. I just got a hold of the pics Josh took during their trip and I LOVE them! Here are a few of my favorites. Thanks Josh for documenting that sweet time for us.



I love this next picture because I is so "us." Me with my REI purse, North Face jacket, and my wild short hair, while Anna's sporting Anthro, a lady-like handbag, and gorgeous locks flowing down her back. Such friends! It makes me laugh! I am so thankful for her and the way we compliment each other.



Someone at church commented after meeting them that Josh and Anna are like the "opposite Clay-and-Megans." They are both tall with a lot of hair while Clay and I are two little guys with no hair! I am still laughing.

Lots of eating and just hanging out went on that week.



And Clay really enjoyed getting share his love of Belgian beer with Josh. I think they managed to try every Belgian Trappist brew- even the elusive Westvleteren.



I just liked having my dear friend there every time I turned around. Even doing the dishes is fun when you are talking a mile a minute.



Lots of games of course. We love those Peltier gamers.



We enjoyed showing them all around Huy.




One of my favorites. Aren't old friends wonderful?



Love you guys!



Sincerely,
Your Little Opposites

Ew. Alien egg.

Well,



I recently cracked my first egg with 2 yolks inside. It made me kind of sad... Twins! A little grossed out, too.

Have any of ya'll back home ever seen this?

Yesterday we went to an outdoor Belgian history museum with Sirin and Xavier. I get really into museums. This one was super fun.



There were lots of houses and barns to peak into. And you never quite knew what might be looking back out at you!



Sirin was very brave at the chicken coup, though I can now totally condone her fear of chickens. Where she grew up in Denizli, Turkey the chickens grow to be about waist high! No more teasing her. That is a legit chicken.



Clay made a new friend.



And I did too. Only I would stand so far away from a chained goat. When Clay took the picture I imagined myself looking a lot braver.


This a dog wheel outside of one of the houses. The wheel is connected to a big butter churn inside the kitchen. American dogs have no idea how good they have it. Look at the little doggie gate at the bottom- can you imagine? It made me laugh.



I think Clay's favorite part were all the neat fireplaces. That boy sure likes his fires.



One of my favorite parts was the felting lady. There I was thinking that felting was this new American trend. Turns out it's been a craft for like 1000s of years. I wanted those red shoes on the bottom left so bad.



Here's Sirin and Xavier walking up to a house that was actually brought from the village where his grandmother is from. Wow.



Such good pupils.





I am so thankful for our friends who bring us along on these fun little trips. It is so much fun to learn things about Belgium with Sirin since we are all foreigners here. And it is so great to do it all with Xavier who can share so much with us about his country. Dear friends. Fun day.

A little trick.

I've been hunting silverware at different flea markets over the last year and recently noticed that my little stash had tarnished (Be careful what you store your silver NEXT to. Lesson learned.)



I found this trick online and gave it a whirl.

One sizzling sink later...



...and pretty forks again! They aren't perfect, but, like most things, they kind of look better that way anyways.