With the Resilience of a Rugby Champion!

Highlight of the week: Friday night we rode the subway down to concord where New Zealanders were swinging poi and doing the Haka and hordes of French people were rocking out to a French pop artist. Yep, we were at the pump-up party for the Rugby world cup!! As far as venues go, it doesn’t get any better. They had blocked off the huge concord round about so that the performers were in the shadow of the giant obelisk and then on the other side you could see invalids and the Eiffel tower! Anyway, later that night France trounced the All-Blacks… So, in honor of France’s rugby victory, here are a few of this week’s wins and losses:

WINS:

-          Gideon got a library card for the Saint Mande library. As Benjin said, “it just feels so good to have library books in our home again!” (but surprise surprise it appears there are only two English books in the entire library… and they are actually bilingual).

-          Wednesday is our “adventure day” because Gideon doesn’t have school. So, we went to check out the museum of evolution where we got to learn all about narwals. We stopped at our favorite bakery for some delicious bread for lunch (near the Jardin des plants) On top of that a bunch of kind people helped me carry the stroller at various points through the metro (totally a win!)

-          Gideon completed his first full day of school!

-          Had a lunch date with Gideon at the Zoo where we ate our lunch RIGHT next to the Monkeys who were also having their lunch too (the boys LOVED it!!)

-          Had some really good quality 1:1 time with Pierce boy who has developed a strong love of books and a hilarious sense of humor.

-          Benjin going to a work lunch at a swanky French café.

-          Our family friend Julian Waters stayed with us before flying back to BYU and we got to show him around Saint Mande and eat delicious chocolate!

-          Gideon getting increasingly comfortable at riding his bike all by himself (without training wheels!)

-          Me finding my new favorite local running spot (around a big lake with row boats and swans) It’s gorgeous!!

-          Benjin gave a great talk at church!

LOSSES:

-          Walking all the way to Aldi and picking out all my groceries only to have all my cards declined at the register.

-          Pierce throwing his shoe out of the stroller and not realizing until we got home (… but then the WIN was that we went on a long hike to try and find it and miraculously found it right as we were turning around to go home!)

-          Pierce dropping same said shoe down the toilet.

-          Having Gideon cry at school because he couldn’t find the bathroom and wanted his mommy. And then when I picked him up for lunch he didn’t want to go back.

-          Using a translator to meet with a French bank to get a new account set up, while our children screamed because it took 10x longer than we expected and it was naptime.

-          Me partnering up with google translate for HOURS to try and figure out what all Gideon’s back to school papers said before signing them.

This week I have been thinking a lot about RESILENCE. So many people have told me, “don’t worry about Gideon not liking school, he will be ok. Kids are resilient!” I sure hope so! But, it just continues to be hard to take him to school and have him look at me with those big nervous eyes and say, “but, mommy, I’m scared!” It is hard to have him tell me that and then I (knowing full well he is completely justified in feeling scared because he is not going to know what anyone is saying all day long.) have to turn around and walk away. Is he really going to be able to get over this?! Am I?

At the same time, the struggles of this past week have given us an extra excuse to hug Gideon a little tighter, to talk through his fears and to pray before dropping him off and ask God to comfort him. As a result, at one point this week Gideon was saying a prayer over our meal and after he finished, he said, “Oh! Mommy I forgot!” Then he re-bowed his head and said, “and Heavenly Father, please help me learn French. Amen.”

It breaks my heart every time I have to drop him off at school. It is hard to know whether I am doing the right thing or not. It is hard to not be able to fully express myself to his teachers. It’s hard to struggle getting to know the other kids or even really know what the expectations are. It is hard to watch Gideon clearly feel alone.

But, part of me also knows that because of the struggle both Gideon and I have increased in our appreciation for prayer. We hang on hoping that God can help us both be resilient.

Tonight while putting Gideon in bed he said, “mommy, what does ‘A-HET’ mean?” I asked for more details, and he said some kids at school said it when he was doing something they didn’t like. “Ahhh. You mean ARRET!” I responded. “That means stop. So, now you know when they say that you should stop doing whatever you are doing and if you don’t like what they are doing you can say, “arret” to get them to stop.” Gideon thought about this for a moment and then responded, “can I say it my way? ‘a-het!’”

Finally, today when I dropped Gideon off, he did not want to go in and started to cry. Lots of other kids were also crying. So, I looked at him and said, "Gideon, do you think you can try to make one of these other kids smile? Maybe you could make a silly face or give them a toy or something? If you try and make someone else smile today I will give you a treat at the end of the day. With tears in his eyes he said, "will you give me a treat even if I don't?" I realistically responded, "probably." But, at the end of the day he ran to me with a big smile and said, "mommy! I tried to make a kid smile!! I did a silly face!" That kid didn't actually smile as a result, but the point was that Gideon made the attempt. And the chocolate tasted great! 

So, good luck being resilient this week and remember, when in doubt, just 'a-het' and try to make someone else smile! 

Bisous!! 

La famillie Facer