Why is it we are never satisfied with what God has given us?

Sophie gets told on a daily basis how beautiful her hair is, yet she has been known to sprinkle water on it and comb it as flat as possible.  "Mommy, how do you like my hair", she asks.  I try not to make a big deal about it either way so I always say "looks fabulous".  She asked me the other day "do you like my hair curly or flat'?  I said "oh curly for sure".  She said, "I knew you would say that".

She already longs to "fit in", to be mainstream.  I sooooo don't want that for her life.  Yes, I want her to have the social skills to get along with most everyone but I want her to be different.  To stand out in the crowd.  To make a difference in this world.  She is a follower at this point but has the capacity to lead.  My prayer is that God will instil in her the confidence to stand up for what is right, to draw people to her and to set the example.  I pray she won't get stuck between the cracks of "moral decay" in our culture.  I know it is a tall order and I know that she is only six but I can already see that little girls get stuck in this area.

Max on the other hand is perfectly fine with hanging out with a friend or playing in the playroom for hours on end.  He seems to have this confidence and knowledge about himself and doesn't feel the need to "fit in" just yet.  His relationship with God is so sweet and such a friendship.  It is a beautiful example for me to see him communicate with Christ and share his life with Him in such an open and honest way.  If Max has a need, he brings it before God.  I have had the privlege to hear his sweet prayers while in his bed (when he thinks I have left the room).  What a gift.

So to all my friends and family reading this, let's be grateful for what God has given us.  Let's embrace our curly or straight hair along with all the other things we focus on and dislike about ourselves.  Let's just "own it" and be grateful.  I will try and do the the same and hopefully my little girl will see this in me and "own" her beautiful curly hair!
 
 
I like to feel that I am in control of something.  Ha.  I know, "are we really in control of anything in our lives?"  Since we have no definate dates for Paris, no apartment, no school, etc.  I thought I would kick it into high hear and start getting this house ready to lease.  I love "staging" a house for it's big debut.

I conquered the kitchen this weekend.  Can I tell you that Dan thought that our white cabinets were just faded a lovely yellow patina until I scrubbed them down?  It was pretty bad.  It took all afternoon but they look so shiny and happy now that all the grease and grime are off of their pretty faces.  I cleared all the counters and put some lovely unconventional knick knacks on top of them.  Everything looks so nice that I don't want to cook for fear of dirtying my sparkling kitchen.

Part of "staging" is taking down a large part of who you are so the new leaser can envision themself in your home. I had to take down the many pictures of Max and Sophie and our family.  There are a lot of bare walls at this point .  Some furniture has been removed and I  am on my way to lease this house.

I conceded and called a cleaning service because after a few days of trying to wipe down baseboards, walls and doors, I realize that I cannot tackle this house on my own.  I am lining up our window cleaning guy along with our gardener to trim every hedge and plant some new flowers.  Kind of late in the season to plant flowers, wouldn't you say?  As soon as all of this is complete, I will call a couple of realtors and have them walk through and tell me everything wrong with the house.

By the way, the kids are loving school and I was just fine today.  Happy to send them off to school and happy to pick them up.  Oh, one more thing, Dan woke this morning and told me that one of Maxwells fish died.  No kidding.  What is it with the Johnson's and pets?
 
 
Today was the big day.  The first day of kindergarten.  I have to say that as I type this my feelings are so raw so excuse me in advance for any dramatics.  I have been looking forward to this big day along with the kids but now that it is here and they are away, I feel so weepy.  This is a new chapter in our lives.......a good one....but I feel like my little chicks have flown the nest.

I headed upstairs around 7am to make sure they were awake and they were already well into "their routine".  We have had "their routine" since they started pre-K last year and I was happy to see that it transitioned into this new school year.  They looked so cute all sleepy eyed with their new clothes on, brushing their teeth.  We ate breakfast and piled into the car.  A few times Sophie said "I am getting nervous Mom", Max chimed in "me too".  I heard Sophie whispering to Max "would it be ok if we hold hands at school today?"  Max replied, "sure".  The traffic was unbelievable and we saw bunches of kids sitting in clusters waiting for their school buses along the way.  Once we arrived at school, it was mini van pandemonium.  The poor gal trying to direct traffic with all of these parents and children nervously trying to figure out where to go.

We walked into their classroom and it was so quiet, too quiet.  All these little five and six year olds looking at each other but not saying a word.  The kids found their little hooks to hang their backpacks.  I gave them a big smooch and told them to have a fabulous day.   They just smiled and looked at me like "I guess this is it".  Dan lingered a bit and then we walked out of the classroom.  All of a sudden, my eyes welled up with tears and I looked at Dan and said "I can't believe they are starting kindergarten".  I just about started boo whooing when I ran into a friend (thank goodness) and pulled it together.  On the way to the car I put on my sunglasses and the tears came rolling down my cheeks.

Once home, Dan jumped into his car and headed off to work.  I walked inside the house in a fog and smelled the sweet smell of sausage and syrup from our breakfast.  I headed to the bedroom when the house alarm started blaring.  Whoops.  I forgot to disarm the alarm.  I need to snap out of this.  I let Otis inside and made a cup of coffee and headed outside to thank God for an amazing six year with Max and Sophie.  What a blessing to be able to stay home with them during such formative years of development.  Developing their minds and most important, their hearts.  What an honor it has been to instil Christ's values into these little sponges.  Thank you God and I pray for favor during these school years that are stretched out before us. 
 
 

Funny thing.  I have been having the hardest time sleeping this week.  Ha!  I am completely exhausted from our California trip and all that coming home entails.  Not to mention our "new news".  Dan has come home every day this week with something new about our move; "it will definately be one year, maybe more", he says .  "How much more" asks Gina, "possibly three years", he says.  Gulp, my stomach flips a bit and I secretly think to myself "can I do three years in another country?"  To late now girl!  This experience is going to stretch and grow me.

We have decided against telling the kids just yet since Sophie has decided she wants to live in California because Nana and Papa live there along with the rest of our family.  Max tells me every day how much he loves our house and Texas.  Hmmm.  This is not going to be easy.

To add another wrinkle into our life and on my face; we told Sophie (after her third cat died.....in a year), that when we got home from California, we were going to get her a new hamster.  This was before we researched hamsters and found out how time consuming and unpredictable they were.  We moved on to guinea pigs.  She was stoked.  This before Dan researched that guinea pigs require even more work than a hamster and they need tons of attention.  We moved on to turtles.  This before we researcdhed turtles and found that they contain salmonella and not the best pets for kids.  I know, I know,....."do your research BEFORE telling the kids."  Thank goodness I am a master at knowing how to get my kids excited about something new because this morning I started (pretending) to brainstorm and fell on fish.  "OH.....A FISH",  I said.  "I always wanted a fish, oh that would be so cool, maybe you could get two, you could call one bubbles."  "Yes, Mommy, yes".  "Can I get a fish?"

So after breakfast at IHOP, registering Max for t-ball, running to the sport store to get his required bat, batting helmet, glove and balls......we went to Petsmart.  We actually had a great time picking out their fish (Max got some too).  They now each have their own little aquarium (if you can call it that) along with three fish each because of male/female habits that is too boring to go into.  We now have six new members in our family; fin, ocean, shiny, shredder, cutie and sweetie.  Why did we get six new fish when we are leaving the country in four months?  Your guess is as good as mine. 

 
 
You will have to bare with me as I am learning this new "blog thing".  I realize now that I was quite vague with my first post.

Here is the scoop.  Dan works for a French company called Sagem, which is based in Paris.  Safran is it's parent company and owns many companies all over the world.  Dan was asked to go to the Paris Air Show in June.  At this show, he met with a number of people from Safran and we were told that there was a possibility of him going to Paris to work for a year or two and then return to Dallas.  I was jumping for joy upon hearing this news but we were under the impression that it would not come into fruition for another year or so.  Wrong!

Fast forward to this week.  A number of senior executives from Safran were in town and told Dan that he needs to be in Paris by January 2010.  We will be in Paris and "get this" the south of France for the next one to two years.  "Someone pinch me please."

We have a lot to do between now and then......let's see........we need to lease our house in Southlake, find an apartment in Paris, what do we do with our cars(?), what do we do with Otis (our dog?) , find a school in Paris, learn French (although the first three months Dan will be working half day and going to language school the other half), obtain visas, get all our important paperwork together, find a property management company, open up a bank account in France, the list is endless.  Breathe Gina breathe.  

I hope I answered some of your questions I received via email.  See, I love this already.  One quick blog and I cover all my bases.  Fabulous! 

 
Cleaning house 09/06/2009
 
 I wanted to let everyone know that I am reorganizing my blog.  I realize now that I set it up incorrectly.  Let me know if you are having trouble with it in the future.  Thanks much.