A Cup of Jo!

Have you...

...seen us on A Cup of Jo?

Thank you to Lina and Joanna for being completely lovely throughout the entire process.  We were relieved to discover that we adore A Cup of Jo even more now than before. (You know how it's super scary to meet someone you've admired from afar?  I'm always afraid that I'll be so disappointed. We can assure everyone that these two are a-okay and more.)

Keep reading each Monday for a new story of American mothers raising their families abroad!

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Friday List!

Jill's List:

I would so rather be blogging away vs. doing what I've been doing with my computer time lately - studying for the GREs...  Ugh.  What a good way to ruin a summer vacation.  Today, as my family lazes by the pool and I spend more hours humiliating myself with Magoosh quantitative practice questions, I appreciate this essay.  For example:

The GREs (Graduate Record Examinations) are harder than the SATs, and about as amusing as getting mugged at an ATM. If you are good at taking standardized tests, you will probably not have a problem with the GREs. If you are bad at taking standardized tests, the GREs will be considerably more difficult. They will make you frustrated and anxious and dry-mouthed and dizzy and unreasonably furious at people who use words like "flocculent" in casual conversation.

Image from here.

A great article on Kinshasa's sapeurs, answering the question, "How do they afford those designer duds?"

Image from The Africa Report.

Duh.  That's all I have to say about this fantastic op-ed by Nicholas Kristoff.

"Can you name a miracle food that is universally available, free and can save children’s lives and maybe even make them smarter?"  Image from The NYTimes.

So much news the past couple of weeks on babies, birth, and how to do better.  Like this article on delayed cord clamping - front page of the NY Times!  And this shocking synopsis of how the steep cost of having a baby in America doesn't necessarily buy a safe birth.  Al Jazeera asks why it's still so dangerous to have a baby in Africa.  And then, there's Cedars-Sinai's "Rock and Roll" birth program.  Yep.  Read more here. (Also, I just noticed that Alice has linked to all of these.  If you are interested in maternal child health news and aren't already following her on Facebook/Twitter, you should...)

Image from "Study Finds Benefits in Delaying Severing of the Umbilical Cord", NYTimes.

Speaking of photographers...I was re-entranced by Sebastião Salgado this week.  He's been a favorite for years (thank you Aperture - a subscription my husband has stubbornly kept up for me for the past 12 years - even when we totally couldn't afford it), and his new project, "Genesis," is stunning.

Image from Paris Photo.

Hilarious and brilliant.

Image from Trendhunter.

And. Nervous about the return flight to Congo as I think after a 3 day delay getting to Phoenix this week, airports have officially lost their glamour for my little frequent flyers (or maybe that's just transference).

One benefit of all the waiting?  I discovered Humans of New York.  Like this genius quote:

“I know a thousand wise things. And I’m not going to tell you one.”  
Image and words from Humans of New York.

Johan and I were...wait for it...20 when we got married.  Super interesting write up about why it's kind of great to grow up with your spouse. (And, there's a rebuttal.)

From our super fancy "engagement pictures" series, taken on the cheap by our
then-amateur-now-uber-fancy photographer friend, Conrad.  Look how fresh faced we were!

We visited the Congo in Phoenix today.  The kids played the drums to ward off homesickness. (Seriously, the Musical Instrument Museum is world class.)

Pictures from America this weekend.

And.  Follow us on Blog Lovin'!


Sarah's List:

Did you catch the 500th episode of This American Life this week? My love for Ira Glass really cannot be measured. How This American Life Made It to 500 Episodes and What Makes a Perfect Episode.

Image by Adrianne Mathiowetz from here.

Beautiful postpartum bodies. (Link lifted from Motley Mama. Check out lots of other great links over there too.)

By Jade Beall, from here.

Man these people really have it together. The Secret to Finland's Success With Schools, Moms, Kids - And Everything. Sounds good to me!

A child in Finland being happy as usual. (Kasper/Pempel Reuters) from here.

Just got back from a week at the beach where we happened upon these great scooters. Charlotte couldn't really get the hang of a Razor or other kid friendly scooters. But these are so light and smooth and turn incredibly easy. And we got a great discount off the floor models so we got one for each kid.

Kickboards!

And Jill and I still can't believe this happened. But here we are outside Cafe Cluny with Joanna Goddard herself and the amazing Lina Perl. The American Mothers Around the World series starts today!! Keep checking Cup of Jo every Monday for the Mama Congo post.

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Exciting News!!

We have barely been able to contain ourselves. A few months ago Mama Congo got an email from Joanna Goddard. You heard that right.

If you are in the slight margin of people who have yet to discover her blog, A Cup of Jo, please check it out. She is our blogoddess, if you will. We've spent the last few years referring to her as if she is our friend. "Did you see what Jo's talking about today?" has started many-a conversation. I'm pretty sure I read her blog more than I read Mama Congo, so you can only imagine our excitement when her email popped up in our inbox.

Beautiful blog header from here.  She just put up a post on pretend shopping.  We are officially kindred spirits.

Her good friend/assistant for the series wrote to say that she and Jo "could not stop reading" Mama Congo.

We could barely breathe.

You see, a few months ago Joanna put up a post looking for parents abroad. Some of our loyal readers forwarded it to us (as if we would have missed it!) and we replied.

Since then, Jill and I have been emailing back and forth with them working on our very own Mama Congo post which will appear on A Cup of Jo sometime in the near future.

We've reached the point where our husbands can no longer pretend to be excited, so we wanted to share the news with you.

And please help us become a real blog by following us. Over there, in the upper right-hand corner. We recently discovered the concept of "followers" at a BBQ when someone asked us how many followers we have. And we said, "Huh, wha? Oh, tons!" Then we looked it up and saw only our parents "follow" us. So we've put it on our homepage to make it easier for you to find! 

**Update: So it seems a lot of you follow us anonymously. That's cool too. You don't have to admit it. 

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