Franglais

Addie's French has really started to take off. In fact, some days she seems to speak more French than English (which is really exhausting when she wakes up at 6 am and for the next hour asks me for things in French). And she is not slowed down by not knowing a word either (she's her daddy's daughter). I think sometimes she thinks "hmmm...I don't know if this word is French or English...let's just try it" and then what comes out of her mouth is...

"C'est un computer" (insert French accent) or

"Je suis strong" (again, insert really cute French accent to all words, including the English one).

She is her daddy's daughter.

..........................

Addie parle beaucoup en français maintenant. En fait, parfois, il me semble qu'elle parle plus en français qu'en anglais (et ça c'est très fatiguant entre 6h et 7h du matin pour moi!). Et le manque de connaissance d'un certain mot en français ne l'empêche pas de parler (elle tient de son père). Je crois qu'elle pense parfois "Je ne sais pas si ce mot est français ou anglais...du coup, je vais l'essayer!" et puis, elle dit quelquechose comme...

"C'est un computer" (avec un accent français) ou

"Je suis strong" (encore avec un accent très mingon pour tous les mots, même le mot anglais).

Tel père, telle fille.

Sermon - 31 Janvier

This past Sunday, I was able to preach on the subject of the importance of God being worshipped by people from all nations and how this theme is found from the beginning of the Bible until the end. In this sermon (which contained quite a few ideas from John Piper's book, Let the Nations Be Glad), I tried to present the idea of how evangelism is an extension of worship. If we truly value God and consider Him to be more precious than anything or anyone, then how can we be content in a world where people mock Him and consider Him irrelevant.

Ce dernier dimanche, j'ai preché au sujet de l'importance que Dieu soit loué par les peuple de toutes les nations et comment ce thème se trouve dès le debut de la Bible. Dans ce predication, j'ai esseayé de presenter l'idée de comment l'evangelism est une extension de notre adoration pour Dieu. Si on aime Dieu et le considére plus precieux que n'importe quoi ou n'importe qui, comment on peut être content dans un monde où les gens se moquent de lui et le considérent être sans importance.

Voici le lien:

The McNuggets/Les McNuggets - en version originale et version française

Wayne gave me a free afternoon today, so I decided to head to the mall to see a movie. The mall near us is nice because it has a big theatre and lots of matinees, but the only problem is that the movies are always dubbed in French (sometimes we can go to a movie that is just subtitled in French). Well, feeling pretty daring today and not too tired (and being a sucker for sports movies), I decided to go see Invictus, a movie about the South African rugby team just after the election of Mandela. I don't know anything about rugby and don't particularly enjoy it (probably because I don't know anything about it), but the movie was great. And I was feeling really good about myself for having watched it in French (I know I missed one joke when everyone laughed but me, but I think that was about it). Feeling pretty proud of myself, I walked around the mall for a while, bought Addie a present, and generally just tried to blend in with the rest of the French shoppers. I was doing pretty well (as long as I left my jacket on and didn't show my Chicago Cubs t-shirt), that is until I stopped for dinner.

Normally, I don't have trouble ordering food in a restaurant here. I can pretty much figure out how to pronounce things from the way that they are spelled. The problem is that I wasn't eating French food, I was at McDonald's, and I didn't want a Big Mac (I know how to pronounce that with a French accent), I wanted nuggets. I briefly thought about ordering a BigMac, just so I wouldn't have to figure out how to pronounce "McNuggets" in French, but I really wanted the nuggets. So I gave it my best shot, the lady at the counter gave me a really funny look and said "pardon?", I tried again, and finally she said "Oh, McNuggets!" (of course with a French accent) and I said "Oui, avec coca."

So I learned today that I should be careful about being too proud of myself, and I always need to be ready to laugh at myself (because I'm pretty sure others already are).

Wayne m'a donné un après-midi pour moi-même aujourd'hui, et j'ai décidé d'aller au théatre. Normalment, quand on voit les films au théatre, on les voit sous-titrés en français parce que c'est plus reposant pour moi. Mais aujourd'hui, je n'étais pas très fatiguée, du coup j'ai osé de voir Invictus en version française. J'aime bien les films du sport, et ce film est excellent. C'est à propos de l'équipe de rugy de l'Afrique du Sud après que Mandela a été elu président. Bien que je ne comprenne pas le rugby, j'aime ce film (mais je n'ai pas pleuré comme d'habitude dans les films du sport!). De toute façon, le film m'a plu et j'étais très fiere de moi aussi parce que j'ai compris quasiment tout là dedans!

Alors, j'ai parcouru le centre commercial, tout en etant très fiere d'être "si française" pour avoir vu ce film sans problème en français! (Je n'ai pas enlevé mon manteau pendant que je marchais parce que je pense que le t-shirt du Chicago Cubs aurais dit que je n'étais pas française) Mais peut-être j'étais un peu trop fière de moi, parce que dès que je suis entrée McDo's, je me suis rendue compte que j'ai eu un problème. Je ne savais pas du tout comment prononcer "McNuggets" en français. Je sais prononcer "BigMac" en français, mais je ne voulais pas un BigMac, je voulais des McNuggets! Je savais le dire en anglais, mais j'ai toujours du mal à prononcer les mot qui sont anglais mais qui sont utilisés en français. Alors, j'ai pris mon courage à deux mains et j'ai dit "Je voudrais un menu McNuggets", et elle m'a dit "Pardon?" Alors, j'ai essayé encore, "McNuggets", et après quelques secondes (pendant lesquelles elle sûrement se disait "elle n'a ni dit BigMac, ni hamburger..."), elle m'a souri et m'a dit "McNuggets?" auquel j'ai dit "Oui, avec le coca." (je sais dire coca!)

Donc, j'ai appris aujourd'hui de ne pas être trop fière de moi et qu'il faut rire de moi-même parfois aussi! Mais je me suis regalée avec les McNuggets! Tout bien consideré, c'était une bonne journée.

Our Big Girl

Something amazing happened last week. Addie wanted to go to school.

Now she hasn't been doing awful, it's just always made her a little nervous, and so she never went very easily, was usually very clingy to the teacher when she got there, and there were often a few tears on the way (and a few tears after on mommy's part). We had been mercilessly bribing her with chocolate (and not just any chocolate, Swiss chocolate), and it was working for the most part. There were days when we could tell that she wanted to be there, she was just a little nervous while going and when we dropped her off.

Then a week ago, Wayne had taken her to school and was hanging up her jacket in the hallway when she walked off without him into her classroom, turned around and said "Au revoir papa!" like it was the most natural thing in the world! Ever since then, she's been hopping up in the mornings saying "Mommy, I need to eat so I can go to school!" and hasn't had any trouble at all! She says now that she is a "big girl" and that's why she doesn't cry when she goes to school. We are so proud of her and so happy with the change that God has brought about in her. It is such a joy for us to see her happily marching into school, smiling the whole time.

She now tells us too that if we are a big girl and a big boy and don't cry when we go to school, we can have chocolate too. I haven't told her that I already treat myself to Swiss chocolate, even on days when I cry :)

Just because I think they're cute...

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma! Since we can't be there to celebrate with you, we celebrated here for you. We love you and can't wait to see you soon!

By the way, Addie was a little offended that Wayne ate your cupcake after we sang. I told her we'd make you some more when we visit.

Dancing Queen

Apparently they learn more than just the alphabet in French preschool.