My 5 favorite reads of 2016

December 20, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Education, Contentment

2016 was a year of homebuilding, homeschooling, and hosting, but reading a good book is always time well spent. Here are my favorite reads from this past year:

Transforming Children's Lives: My Family's Simple Story of Compassion

June 27, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Contentment, Education, French Language Learning, International Exchange, Reflections on Parenting

When I was fourteen, my dad decided to sponsor a child through Compassion International, an organization that aims to release children from poverty and to enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults. Actually, my dad chose to sponsor three children so that my two sisters and I could each be paired with a child, writing letters to update and encourage each other every few months. My child--a girl from the Philippines--I and corresponded through my college years and into my early married years until she grew up. Now I sponsor another Filipina girl, Angielyn, and it's been a delight to watch her grow through annual photos and bi-monthly letters.

Running on Empty

June 06, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Contentment, Reflections on Parenting

Last March I completed my first half-marathon. It was simple, thankfully—a fresh morning race alongside the Columbia River with ample wildlife and enough other runners to keep it interesting. The next day I pinpointed a few other upcoming races to keep me motivated to stay fit, but to my great disappointment, I haven’t run since that half-marathon. Not once.

It’s not because I don’t enjoy running. Distance running has always been an enjoyable challenge for me, and even more so now that I can listen to podcasts and audiobooks along the way. Learning AND getting time alone? My INTJ brain type thrives on this!

But . . .

My Focus for 2016: Less Fun, More Joy

January 19, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Contentment, Home Management, Reflections on Parenting

January is more than half over but I'm still planning and gaining momentum for the year ahead. I'm grateful for the awe-inspiring blessings God provided for my family in 2015--a baby boy, an extended stay in France, and a plot of land (here in Oregon) on which we plan to build a home. That said, 2016 will be a work-heavy year for me as we get deeper into homeschooling, homebuilding, and parenting. Knowing this, my focus this year is self-discipline. That doesn't sound very appealing, does it? None of us like putting ourselves in painful situations or depriving ourselves of fun experiences, but that's not quite what I mean. Instead, I plan to focus on these two points in 2016:

3 Short Bedtime Questions that Help Me Understand My Children

November 23, 2015 by Michele Cherie in Contentment, Reflections on Parenting

Every parenting book and magazine seems to point out the importance of having a bedtime routine to help children prepare to sleep, but my favorite part of our children's bedtime routine is the part that helps me understand who they are and what they value. You see, I ask the same three simple questions every night, but hearing their unique and changing answers has taught me quite a lot about their interests, perceptions, and personalities. It's also helped me understand some of the tough emotional situations that I couldn't untangle during the day. Here's what I ask (in French, but also included here in English):

5 Brief Lessons Learned for Planning a Family Trip Abroad

November 11, 2015 by Michele Cherie in Travel, Contentment, Home Management

Here's a short summary of the top lessons I learned for taking our family abroad. So many parents would love to take their children abroad but haven't yet made it happen, so I thought I'd share the basic tips that I learned during this first stay overseas. I learned one of these tips the hard way, but thankfully you won't have to!

1. Open a separate savings account for the trip. We did this about eighteen months before we left on our trip, and the separate savings account was essential in helping us to be financially savvy and to visualize our progress towards our overseas stay. It was so encouraging to make our planned monthly deposits to this account.

Un Petit Mot from the Alps

August 19, 2015 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, Travel, Contentment

Bonjour les amis! I've just posted the winner of The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children, signed by author Kim Horton Levesque. (You can read the interview with her here if you missed it.) It was a bit tricky to post that information since we're currently in the Alps with no WiFi access! Honestly though, it's refreshing to finally be somewhere with almost no Internet access. Instead of occasionally checking email and social media accounts like Instagram, I'm taking walks with my children and my former host family, and cooking and cleaning and playing--you know, living, but with no online distractions.

Life in Lyon: Settling in as a Family

August 10, 2015 by Michele Cherie in Travel, Cultural Reflections, Contentment, French Culture

Bonjour, mes amis, from Lyon! it's been seven years since I was last in this city. It's wonderful to be back and to see Lyon looking vibrant with its squares and monuments restored. Because it's August, many residents are on vacation and tourists have taken their place, but still, the city just shines with its lovely architecture and views. Maybe it also shimmers because of the heat--It was 35-39 degrees Celcius all last week (95-102 degrees F) until a weekend thunderstorm rolled in and brought relief.

My husband ran the 100m dash this last week in the World Masters track meet--I'm so proud of him, and impressed that he ran it in 11.74 seconds despite the scorching heat! He'll long jump this week as well. The Masters' meets are open to non-professional adult athletes age 35 or older with an official mark to submit. Participants compete against others in a five-year age range. A few days ago, for example, I watched a a group of 85-90 year old women from around the world run the 100m, and they looked amazingly fit. It's so inspiring!