Christmas and beyond...

well that wonderful time of the year has now come and gone. For Christmas this year (or Noel in France) we had the eve with Emmanuelle (our cooks) family. Their tradition is fondu and presents as most French families actually do our family version of Christmas on Dec 24th instead of the 25th. On the 25th Kristin and I got up and opened our presents. We bought each other gifts and were given a bunch of others by our families and friends. Plus we bought each other 10 euros of stocking stuffers which provided ample opening entertainment for Christmas. Afterwards we proceeded to make beaded gifts for the Reeves children and read the Christmas story. We did that most of the afternoon inside our warm and cozy decorated house. Then in the evening we hosted a Christmas party with the staff from camp as well as an old friend from camp Charles (some of you might remember him from last Christmas in America...he visited LCA). All in all it was an AMAZING Christmas. It was different than home, but it was in it's own way one of my favorite Christmas' because of how crazy it ended up being. God was sooo good this holiday season. Thanks to everyone for their prayers about this. This holiday has allowed me once again to just see how God pours out his blessings and remains steadfast. What an amazing thought to think he sent his only son to die so that I could really LIVE. I love Christmas and the message it brings to us all.

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As for right now. Well we're back to work. We have two groups here. One is another BAFA (counselor training) camp and the other is a large family (about 35) here to ski for vacation. It's kind of crazy with a few added couples on top of that, but we have lots of help and it's been good so far. The best part is that some of our friends from past years have been st0pping in to visit and we have been getting to hang out with some other friends from camps that we have attended. AND the best thing about these past two weeks is that Kristin and I have been skiing. We went on Friday and it was a bit crowded due to holidays, but the snow was great and the weather warm and bright. We're headed back out at some point this week as this minute snow is dumping on the mtns.

With all that's been going on around here I have not had time to update everyone back home much. To sum up life right now I would just say the word joy.

For a long time work here was pretty rough and it was hard to be so far from friends and family. We lacked understanding of French and thus it was also hard to get spiritual fulfillment through church. Wow have things changed recently!

First off we have begun to both understand significant amounts of french. The speaking portion is coming much slower, but we're doing our best. With this understanding we have found that we can now understand our church services and have begun to connect with some of the people we see there each week. We both have fallen in love with french worship songs and I'm on the hunt for a few great french worship cd's...harder than u might realize. There is no French WOW.

In regards to work some of the difficulties have been solved and the staff seems to have really begun to bond. It has begun to feel like we are a family. Please pray for this connection and unity to continue and prosper as it will make these next three months the most fulfilling of our time here! Also please pray for our friend Verena as she is the other roomate in our chalet at the moment. Kristin and I have become pretty close and so far have had no trouble letting Verena into the friendship, but it can be intimidating when you try and break into a friendship as close as ours. Please just pray that we remember this and the three of us continue to bond as we will be sharing the house until April. So far so good!

Life is soo good right now here. I guess to sum it up I feel like France is home. I no longer feel strange when I go out. I've learned to fit in as best as possible, to try and speak my very broken french and they will help me as best they can, to smile and nod and pretend you get everything, and just feel at home here. It is very different and many people have told me that when you move to a different country there is a stage of culture shock. Mine lasted until about last week. yea...thats a long time. I mean parts of it has left long ago, but at the same time I wasn't as comfortable here as I was in America. It felt alien and foreign everytime we went anywhere. There are still some things that throw me every once and a while, but by and large it feels comfortable now. From the architecture to the cars to the liscense plates (we live in 38 for the record...we watch the ski cars to see whos a local and whos visiting...we're locals :) ) A large part of this is due to our ski passes. Because of this we have been getting out of camp much more and meeting people. We have also been exploring more and getting involoved at AWANA's. These outlets have allowed us to see France not just from the inside of the bubble that can be camp and have allowed us to adapt much more to the lifestyle of France. I wish you could all come see this lovely place and meet the amazing people I have come to call my family. I love France and now that I find I can adapt to living elsewhere will probably be back...scary yes, but also a fact. For a while it was hard to come to grips with the idea that my little world that was all I had ever know wasn't going to be all I knew in this life. I was happy with my life and I liked it quite a bit (still do), but God had some bigger plans than I did. I'm still grasping just how big, but I do think France is still going to be playing a role in those plans yet to come. But first of course BIOLA....wouldn't want to forget that!

Probably won't update until the new year so I wish you all the best. For those of you back home may you all enjoy your new year (brians or wherever u find yourselves)! May it be all that your dreaming of. For us here we will be having a little evening soiree with some friends from Froges after we serve the group that will be here. And for those of you still traveling and such may you find people to spend the new year with as well. Enjoy! And God Bless you all!

-ERK

Well here's a sum up of vacation thus far:
Monday afternoon:
picked up ski's and boots with Mike and Kritin
went to a fancy fondu restraunt where we were treated by Doris' uncle to an amazing dinner of meat, cheese, and chocolate fondue...mhmm.

Tuesday:
Slept in
Said bye to Mike as he headed back home for break
Headed to the mtns with Kristin, Buan, Blain, Allan, and the pastor of the church in Bringoud for a day of some skiing. It was the most beautiful and epic ski experience I have ever had. There was sooo much snow, no ice, the sun set perfectly over the mountains, and I got to pick up right where I left off last season. Yes for quickly remembering how to ski. Plus they all ski super fast and well and it was sooo much fun. I finally accomplished one of my lifelong (thus far) dreams! We took a bunch of pictures and will be heading back out later this week at some point.
Came back home for the Talent Show AWANA night.
Babysat and watched a movie at the Reeves house.

Wednesday:
got up super late and got an email from Jonny saying he would be here any moment
got groceries and then missed picking him up at the gare so we met he and sam at camp
made crepes

and planned for tomorrow some sledding with Jonny up in the mountains and a little crepe party here. So life goes on beyond DEFI. It's actually been a pretty smooth transition and hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be originally.

Hope you are all beginning to enjoy your own vacation!

DEFI departs...

Ce matin the last of DEFI headed out. Justin will be back after Noelle for another month of equipier goodness. Other than that we all hope that someday we will be reconnected at some point here on this earth and if not well its gonna be a great party when this family gets to heaven!

It's been a hectic and also pretty sad past couple of days. Not only has DEFI been slowly heading out, but our other equipiers are all headed home for the holidays or are finished working here. It's really over. I guess I need to once again get used to things ending. I hate endings. I need to go dig myself a hole if I ever want to get away from them, they are everywhere all the time. And my other friends back home are all heading back home from their colleges. I want to see them all and my family soooo much. I guess I'm home sick. For one of the first times since I've been here I kinda want to faire ma valisse and catch the next plane home to ya'll. I think I'll go to Boston. Think I need a sunrise, tired of the sunset. Yes I stole that.

I read a quote by Donald Miller in my new favorite book Through Painted Deserts (which for the record I recommend to anyone who is literate). He says "It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out. I want to repeat one word for you:
leave
Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."
I love it. I really love it. I know I needed to leave. I'm not sure I think everyone needs to, but I needed to have my own adventure, see the world a bit. I have. I'm glad I did. I'll never be the same. Yet I want home now too. I guess it's true that home doesnt change, people do, but home doesnt, at least for me. I'm going to go back and it will be mostly the same, it's me that will have changed.

Yea tonight we had another fete this time for the church we attend. We decorated the Grange super fancy and then served dinner there. It was really fun. It's nice to be included in the church body. My favorite part was when we all had to become the manger scene. We had adults pretending to be sheep. It was a great night. Now we're all slowly heading to bed...kinda. Tomorrow is our last day of work before we get vacation until the 26th. Fun Fun.

Well that's about all the news I have right now. I'm gonna go dig a hole or something. Maybe I'll settle for my bed. Our room smells a little like a hole right about now. Our heater basically exploded with water....hmm. I have no idea either. But it did. Nice story right?

On that wonderful note. Sleeeeeeppppp

another night in the french alps...

today i literally painted all day. it was amazing. the apartment we were working on is finally done!!!

on another note tonight was AWANA's so off we went through the terrible rain and traffic to Grenoble. My kids were crazy tonight as everyone is sick and had tons of verses to recite because they have spent a bunch of time sitting at home due to sick days. Also two of our students are leaving saturday for america. It must be really strange to pick things up and leave with a company like caterpillar. They moved here 4 years ago, have learned french and settled it, and now here they go again back to america to another new town. How hard that must be? I never want to be a miliatry brat or move around for work. I realize with how the world works I could end up doing just that, but I really don't want to. I want to live in a community and town and never move. Or move, but for missions and come back someday. Either way they're leaving got me to thinking hoe short our time here is and how this group of kids are all moving around. This place is one that they all call home for such a short period of time and then they are off again. so hard to accept, but then again thats the life nowadays i suppose. alright we're all sick so bed time for everyone is in effect. night.

Another concert. fun fun.

Today was the day of our final Christmas concert. I had breakfast this morning so up I got (it was still dark this morning!) and set up petite deg stuff. Then off to church with defi. We got there early and had a little time to rehearse before the concert. It went uneventfully until about halfway through when Cecil our "import" (she comes for the days and then leaves) left backstage and seconds later we heard a giant THUD. Turns out she had gotten overheated...how I have no idea because in all honesty the backstage area was the size of a closet space and it was frigid! Either way she fainted on stage...we all thought it was part of the sketch. It wasn't. So our three nurses (well ones a widewife, but we'll count her anyways) rushed to the rescue and fixed her up. She's fine now, but she spent the rest of the concert sitting. That was basically the climax of the concert and then we sang some more and were done. It was good, but not as good as our first concert. I think the late night viewing of Runaway Jury and crepe party we had last night could have played a role. Most people were kind of lethargic and so the singing in front of tons of people thing wasnt high on anyones list today. Yet we did it and then come back home. The rest of the day has passed pretty normally. We are all sitting in the salle cheminier and we've turned the couches so we can look our the windows. Hannah is reading a book about how to be a christian lawyer next to me--HAHA--and the others are watching disney films. Crazy kids. Tonight we have another crepe soiree with Juniho and his fiancee. I think Sam and some other friends are also coming up for the evening. And that is a sum up of today.

This coming week is going to be crazy. We have one day off and then we work straight through till next Monday. It's going to be a long week. We're trying to get all the work done so we get a break for Christmas. Then this coming weekend we have a party for defi and than they leave. Sunday is the Brigoud Christmas party and then Tuesday we finally go on break. Basically our last week with DEFI will be caotic. I hope we have some time to spend with them. Lately we've all been staying up till forever all hanging out. A typical bed time right now is about 2 or 3 AM. Not good if you're getting up for breakfast at 7 AM. :( Either way it's almost over.

For Christmas Kristin and I after tons of decisions have decided to stay here. We were debating going to visit a friend, but she lives pretty far by train and its rather expensive and the times of the trains due to holiday travel are pretty terrible. So thus Christmas at camp. It won't be that bad, we're going to the Reeves and we decorated and it will be nice to relax. It's going to be nice to just have a few days to do nothing. I havent done nothing in...ummm i can't remember the last time I did nothing actually. Plus our friend Jonny is coming back from school in Wales and our other friend Matthew is coming home from school in America so we will be visiting with them for a bit as well.

Right now the sun is setting outside the window. It's 4:30 and the sun is setting. It didnt even rise till about 8. Depressing. That's what that is.

We're probably going skiing this Thursday. My first ski experience in the French alps. I have waited for my whole life to accomplish this dream, hard to believe it could happen Thursday!!!!

and on that note...im going to go do something productive. This doesnt count. Bonne soir.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Yesterday I went to the store. AWESOME right? Right now your thinking wow she has such a booming social life. Actually this is of some note because one I was getting christmas gifts and two on a spontaneity buy Mike and I got a christmas tree!!!!!! We were about to leave and saw that they were cheap and since my rents had just sent christmas lights we thought well why not? So an hour later there we where in the chalet setting up a tree in a little wood block the french people put them into. We put on lights and then wrapped our doors like Christmas packages like college kids tend to do. In the evening I made paper chains so basically the chalet is decorated and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Tonight we were planning on going to a lighting ceremony in Lyon, but because some of us got the amazing idea to talk till 5 am this morning we have vetoed that idea. Too bad.

In response to a friend here who says my last two posts have been too depressing I wanted to say that no I am not depressed in the least, life is good. I just love song lyrics. the end.

and now back to hanging out with defi on our day off. nice. i walked into the room a minute ago and totally walked into a fort that they had made with the reeves kids. we're not enfants i promise, we just tend to act like that :)

Rest in Peace Casey

There once was a guy named Casey. He was the guitarist for a band called Hawthorne Heights, but to many he was more than just a guitarist. He is remembered because of his laughter, his quirky personality, and his love. He had a wife and many friends and fans who he left behind. He was a big supported of an organization called To write love on her arms. A group I support. I just wanted to remember this man and the people he left behind and those whos lives he touched. I loved his music and mourn the loss of such brilliancy.

three sleepless nights
this isn't how it's supposed to be
but you're so good at taking your time
to give back to me

i will wait for you forever
if you would just ask me
i thought that i could change you
but you changed me

but it doesn't feel right
holding someone else's hand
together on phone lines
and living at two opposite ends

it scares me to think that you could find takers
other than me
and better than me

but your head is elsewhere
and i'm talking enough for both of us
when will you see it's not so easy for me

but you're careless
and whisper
insulting
and bruising

tied off
and you said
thanks for improving

these laces are untied
but my feet are walking away
away

i never thought that you could say these words
is this really happening?

i never thought that you could say these words
is this really happening?
(don't say...)

i never thought that you could say these words
is this really happening?
(don't say that we can...)

i never thought that you could say these words
is this really happening?
(don't say that we can still be...)

i never thought that you could say these words
is this really happening?
(don't say that we can still be friends)

how can you take
(what is inside me?)
all these things
(what have i done?)
and throw them away
(is this the only way that you'll notice me?)
as i sit here waiting
([?] all this is sung)
for you

and if you're still pretending
(and i'm saying lines)
this is what's right
(until stars hit the sky)
why can't you look at me
can't you only see one side
(knowing what side can't)
your side can't take away

walk away from me
this night is done


we've all agreed it was one of those james blunt, emery, and goo goo dolls days.
i just sat out under the stars wrapped in a blanket for a couple hours. it was amazing. then i warmed up with some tea and talking with the girls. i love girls and talking. and chalets. and space heaters. and that is all...because once again i have gotten into the typical attitude around here that u dont need to sleep...until 4 am. yes bad habit. no wonder im sick and tired. i need sleep. so here i go...actually no. first im going to finish talking to people back home. then bed. maybe. night.

Christmas Concert and exploring the land of european skiing...

Well yesterday was quite interesting. First off it was the day of our Christmas concert in Bourg St. Rice (je pense). So at about 3 in the afternoon we all piled into the van with Buan and Allan (our amazing co-pilot and driver) and headed to the alps. Yes I know we live in the alps, but we live in a valley where we can drive a bit down the hill and see the alps as a nice draping background. The town we drove to was about 2 hrs away from here and is literally in the alps. You are in a valley where you crane your neck to see the tops of the mtns. So no more beautiful view of the outline of the alps like were we live, we got the full affect of being inside them. This town is literally the end of the road, to get out there is only one way...weird. So we arrived in the evening and had a brief stint of waiting for Blain to get together gouter then headed to have gouter avec the students at a beautiful little chalet apartment thing. After we had our snack we headed into town, literally a 2 minute walk, for the annual Christmas tree lighting. It was beautiful, a whole little cobblestone street lined with shuttered houses and shops covered in lights and christmas trees. They even served a heated wine with orange peels...interesting taste. So we walked around looking into shop windows (discovered that the direct translation of that word in french is licking the windows) and drinking our little glasses of wine. Not only was it a quaint little town all lit up and filled with locals, but it was a nice little ski town, so imagine the cute little european ski village and that's basically where we found ourselves.

It was sooo nice to see DEFI again! we all freaked out a bit when we all saw each other after only three days. It was nice to get to catch up and hear about their weeks.

Then off to our concert. We practiced and decorated a little room and then we sang for a bunch of people. We all dressed in black with really pretty christmas colored scarves and sang a series of christmas carols and other french songs. We ended with everyone in the room singing Born Again and He's got the whole world in his hands...complete with hand motions :). A good concert, but the dessert afterwards was by far the best.

We got to serve and eat really yummy french snacks and talk to some of the people at the concert. I met a bunch of teenagers who are in essence being ski bums this year at the resorts in the area. They are through a program in Britian called Masterski and I totally want to do it! They are a christian group that sends teens to either the mediteranean for watersports or europe for skiing. They train you and then you work mornings and ski evenings. Most end up doing a whole year before or after college and they jump chalets working and countries following the weather patterns. SOOOO neat. Anyways I spent the whole evening talking to them and hearing about their experiences thus far. I love how these types of conversations go...a sample here:

Bonjour.
A few seconds of rapid french. Then silence. Someone says something in english. AHHH you speak english too. A discussion about where everyone is from, the languages they speak, the accents we all have, and then usually an agreement on which language we will continue the convo in...strange world of european gapies (the name for gap year kids). The rest of the convo will probably continue in german, english, or french and consist of why are you here, how are you paying for your year, and what kind of work are you doing. Then an exchange of info and probably a new email friend with updates each month as to how the other gapies are doing over there in ski bum land. I love connecting with other gapies.
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As I finished typing that last bit the bell outside began ringing and the buses pulled in bringing DEFI home. We have this tradition that whenever they get home we all run out and greet with huge hugs and laughs at how funny we all are for missing everyone after only a day!
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But back to yesterday. We then piled back into the van and continued with another bus ride back to camp complete with christmas songs and leftover jambon sandwiches. What a night.

..and that was our grand christmas concert. But now I'm off to hang out with DEFI since the family is finally home! Game night tonight!

Christmas season is officially in swing.

So I'm sitting in the salle d'equipier getting quite frusterated with my stupid computer. I have now typed this silly update TWICE...no not once, TWICE. It keeps deleting. This is my last attempt then I give up. Right now I'm watching gilmore girls and eating some yummy Tabole left over from dinner. Ramone is cooking (he's our crazy french chief) who cooks with tons of dairy. Basically I live in the land of cheese and wine and I can't/ don't have either. Horrah!

On another note Christmas is around the corner. Yes it's only the 28th of November, but already we're beginning to celebrate. Yesterday we plastered, sanded, and cleaned the villa to the wonderful music of the Trans Siberian Orchastra. We have been listening to 103.3 everyday as it's begun the seasonal streaming of non stop christmas music. Sure it get's old and by christmas everyone is ready to give a sedative to dominic the donkey, but its still festive. If you didnt know or didn't yet realize I LOVE CHRISTMAS. I love the cheesy holiday stuff, the decorations, the whole message of Christmas, and just everything. Thus the excitment at the premier of the christmas season once again!

Justin...see I mentioned you. Happy?

Right now the DEFI kids are also getting into the spirit of the holidays. They are practicing their christmas pageant thingy in the salle cheminer. It's great. They dress up in crazy middle eastern esque clothing and then prance around singing and talking rapidly in french. Meanwhile Meghan and I sit and watch laughing hysterically. I'll post some videos of the performance later.

Yesterday we had PJ AWANA night. Pretty crazy. Then chorus where we practiced for the last time before the christmas concert. It's gonna be crazy! Tomorrow DEFI leaves for their week of evangelism. They are going to be traveling around performing and ministering and such. Actually I have no idea what they are doing, i guessed. On a really cool note yesterday in chorus Lisa like usual talked only in french...we are in france after all...and I understood everything she said. Kinda weird because I actually didn't think about it I actually didnt realize they were speaking in french. I just understood. Yes for progress. I love understanding something, even if I still don't get the whole morning devo thing I do understand some.

Alright this post has gotten long and random. A sure sign that I need to stop. The end.

A French Thanksgiving.

Today was beyond words one of my favorite days here. Ahhh it was just that good. This probably had something to do with it being the day we choose to celebrate Thanksgiving!

First we began the day later than usual because DEFI was tired . yes for DEFI. so Kristin, Noelle, and I spent the morning hours navigating the Casino nearby for all the supplies necessary for food prep this evening. It took us forever to get everything. My purchases consisted of 2 chocolate santas...because who can pass up dollar santas with cute chubby belly's and little fuzzy beards? not me. there are now two sitting on my kitchen table mocking me for spending 2 euros.

The rest of the day looked like this:
Petite deg.
Cleaning Chartreusse.
Cooking.
Morning Meeting. The funniest one yet.
Chorus. We all had such ADD today.
Painting the apartment and villa. ended with more paint on us than on the walls...nice one mike
Cooking. Painting. Cooking. Painting. EATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we had chicken (shh he thinks hes turkey...or a hampster depending on who you asked), stuffing, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, green beans with garlic, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and home made wipped cream and gravy. We went all out. After all for half of the group this was the first Thanksgiving dinner they had EVER attended. We sang and we ate and we talked. We had a few guests from staff and from Grenoble. They enjoyed the evening too je pense. I guess Blain has it best when he says that each group is differnet that comes through here. Our group is categorized by two words...well three I guess: family, love, quirky. That's us and I wouldnt change it for the world. Only 2 weeks left. :(

Then cleanup. This part almost needs a paragraph in itself. GREAT music tonight and of course that led to some scottish jiggs performed by none other than team equipier '07. That's right we all had a dance competition in the middle of the kitchen. It rocked everyones socks. Did I mention that I love these kids...well they arent really kids, but I love them still.

The rest of this week will consist of two more days filled with paintbrushes and hammers to take apart tile. AND THEN...ready for this...4 days off!!!!! Saturday night we have our big christmas concert in the alps and we're all heading up there for an awesome all nighter. We've been practicing for months and are excited to worship with some other people now. Kristin has a solo in one of the songs and it sounds soooo sooo good. I'll leave her to tell you more about how the concert goes in our next email update...coming soon. With pictures from tonight. Perhaps a video even!

Um...other than that. Life is amazing. I love this song. Our Love is Loud--David Crowder Band. This is a great song. If you don't know this song than you are no longer my friend until you do. Just kidding. But seriously go get the song and listen to it...it will blow ur mind. Make sure its loud.

I am great at random. I live randomly and so my writing tends to be the same. In keeping with this randomness...

I read this quote in a blog yesterday that I loved and can't stop thinking about. It's from one of the bloggers at BIOLA who's a Junior this year and being paid to write once or twice a week by the admissions office. Here it is (sorry it's so long):

"It seems that in life, we often are living for sometime that we will have freedom. I hear many people, and I myself, have said things like: “I am just holding out for the weekend…for when this test is over…for Thanksgiving…for Christmas break and summer…for graduation…for marriage…” If I jumped to this weekend, how many things would I miss? How many smiles, embraces, moments of fatigue, sleep, good conversations, laughter, thoughts - would I miss? It’s true I am excited for those things, some of them, but I am not ready for them yet. I am ready for today: for a shift in a cubicle, for dinner at six, for another shift in a cubicle, for homework, for a group meeting, and for sleep. I am ready for that. I do have a multitude of things going on in my life right now, but I don’t long for them to end, I desire to enjoy them. I have homework, arguments, tired eyes, emotional issues, bad days, and all sorts of things like that - but that’s life. Why not dig it and live off that stuff? That’s where I am at right now…and where I want to remain."-Andy Pandy Biola Junior

I guess he sums up how I've been feeling and thinking lately. So many times I catch myself thinking wow I can't wait for BIOLA, or for the Christmas season, or for this weekend, or my four days off, or Paris, or just life beyond France even. Because I am thinking ahead like this I tend to miss some things or even if I'm not missing I'm not appreciating the here and the now. Like right now. Life is quiet. Kristin is killing people with Justin on the computer...dont worry the people are villagers from the 1900's, Mike is reading, Verena is reading, Doris is making tea, Megan is talking to her mommy, and I'm writing and talking to friends, meanwhile as we're doing all these things we're listening to a mix of worship songs and when one comes on we all know the room fills with song. It's moments like these that I wish I could freeze time. It's times like these that I can't stop and thank God enough for, for these people, for this place, for everything. Life is very regular and it's these moments I want to remember forever. O and did I mention that we've been having acoustic guitar worship nights...this might be my new favorite thing to do with my time. I dig the acoustic guitar. That said I'm ending this blog to go and enjoy Life in the here and now. Have a good evening all. Or day for those of u silly people in differnet time zones a good afternoon. All my love to ya'll.

What I do with my spare time...when i have some that is :)

Nothing to really report from champfleuri today. A pretty lazy day for everyone, after classes we ALL took naps and then watching gilmore girls in the early evening. Soon we'll have dinner and then we're having a girls movie night of Phantom of the Opera. Yea for girl time!
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But on another note. I have tons of music stuck in my head. In fact thanks to Justin I can now recharge my ipod once a day from the chalet and thus listen to double the music! I'm a little obsessed. I figure I'm getting ready for my concert series that begins as soon as I hit LA next fall. So here's this weeks playlist:

1. Jumper-Bedlight for blue eyes
2. Let's get married-Archie Star
3. Inside Outside-Delirious
4. Iris-Goo Goo Dolls
5. A boy brushed red living in black and white-Underoath (hardcore)
6. Day Late Friend-Amberlin
7. I've always loved you-Third Day
8. Toi et Moi-French worship song? (yea for chorus) woot. woot.
9. Goodbye-Audio Adrenaline
10. Hands and Feet-Audio Adrenaline
11. Boston-Augustana
12. Poor Man's Moody Blues-Barclay James Harvest
13. Stained Glass Masquerade- Casting Crowns
14. 18 Forever-Brand New
15. Lindsey Quit Lollygagging -Chiodos
16. Indescribable- Chris Tomlin
17. Choose the one who loves you- Copeland
18. Lyrical Lies- Cute is what we aim for
19. Our Love is Loud-David Crowder Band
20. Breakfast at Tiffany's- Deep Blue Something
21. No Rain (acoustic)-Dispatch
22. 100 Years- Five for Fighting
23. Hey Kid, I'm a computer, stop the downloading-Five Iron Frenzy
24. Emily-From First to Last
25. Sydney (acoustic)- Halifax
26. California- Hawk Nelson
27. This is who we are-Hawthorne Heights
28. Here in your arms-Hellogoodbye
29. Tell the world- Hillsong
30. Bruised- Jack's Mannequin
31. Banana Pancakes- Jack Johnson
32. Work- Jars of Clay
33. May Angles Bring you in- Jimmy Eat World
34. In the sun- Joseph Arthur
35. Crosses-Jose Gonzalez
36. Je cours- KYO
37. When I come home-Keepsake Summer
38. Can't stop- Leeland
39. I wrote this song-Making April
40. This Time is the Last time-Mae
41. Nothing Left to lose-Matt Kearney ( off that free cd we picked up at soulfest last year...funny!)
42. Jamie all over-Mayday Parade
43. Something Beautiful- Newsboys
44. We are broken-Paramore (we saw this live...yea)
45. Sidewalks- Story of the Year
46. Wonderwall- Phish (better than oasis)
47. An Ocean Between- This Providence
48. Talking about a revolution-Tracy Chapman
49. Drops of Jupiter-Train (regular radio version or live acoustic, either is good)
50. World Spins Madly On-The Weepies (they're from boston originally!)

I guess I'll stop there. They are in no particular order because who's organized to do that. Besides I can only lose so much time to blogging each day :) AND because no one is actually going to listen to all of that, besides maybe my sis. Because she's cool like that. Ha. But either way some good songs, some good bands, some crappy songs, some crappy bands, but what ive been hearing lately. Told you I was obsessed. Poor Nimon.

Dieu vous benisse.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First off I want to wish everyone back there in America a very happy Thanksgiving holiday. I hope you all enjoy your time home and spending every available second with your families and friends :) I miss ya'll a whole lot and wish I could celebrate with you...alas that is not to be. Enjoy the parade and eat some turkey and pie for us!

Today was strange. This is the first holiday I have ever spent One: out of the country, Two: not with my family, Three: didn't actually celerate, Four: not on vacation.

Don't get me wrong it was a fine day here at camp, just really normal. I had today off from work, but with bible classes in the morning, lunch, chorus, and afternoon activity we really didnt have any time off today to cook so couscous and tomato farcies made up our Thanksgiving feast. Tonight we will spend some time saying what we are thankful for, but no meal, no family, no celebrating my parents anniversary, no silly board games with my uncle and cousin, no formal dinners by candlelight in Shrewsbury, no sorting out antiques with the rest of the clan, and of course no sleepover with the cousin and sis tonight. All those things I took for granted. I appreciate them now. Kinda sad. For those of you that are not home today. I feel for ya. For BCD and Beth who I know will spend Thanksgiving without their families and all the others out there.

The day wasn't all bad though. In fact today was a pretty good day. For one thing no dishes, Chorus was great fun, and my roomates and I had a cafe party. Either way in keeping with traditions here's a brief list ( i am terrible at being consice) of what I am thankful for today. I'm sure I'm forgetting things. I lift these thanks to you Lord:

1. My roomates here. i couldnt have asked for any better, nor would i want anyone else. to walking into closets instead of the bathroom. to endless tea parties. to dancing in the rain. to pounding out songs on our thin walls. to german/franglish convos. to cleaning lists. to hairbrush concerts. to running to breakfast. to killing alarm clocks. thank you.
2. peanut butter with oreos...my thanksgiving treat to myself :)
3. not having to work today
4. sleeping in...till 7:40
5. bible classes in english!
6. french worship. i love french worship songs. especially 'toi et moi' when sung in parts by DEFI and the equipiers.
7. BIOLA blogs...and knowing some of the people who are writing them! So exciting!
8. Family
9. Gifts that make dreams possible. Thank you.
10. BIOLA.
11. my friends back home. the old, the new, and those still out there i have yet to meet!
12. reconnecting with old friends. especially those that have been living out in the middle of the mtns camping and i havent talked to in months!
13. I've Always Loved You by Third Day...I have a God who has always loved me and always will, what better news could there be?
14. gilmore girls for reminding me of home.
15. music lists created by my little sis
16. my family redoing my room to surprise me when i went home.
17. the seasons. i love watching time go by.
18. blankets. i have a really pretty soft one deb made for me.
19. good books "borrowed" from blain: the irresistible revolution, blink, blue like jazz, redeeming love. to name a few from this past month.
20. people who have this uncanny ability to make me laugh. even when i really dont want to.
21. DEFI students: for sledding, for laughter, for practical jokes, for late nights of breaking curfew, for snow dances, for chorus, for circus training, for sore thighs, for licking the bedsheets of life, for teaching me french, for being a family when we all needed one the most, for singing, for raiding the costume closet and playing narnia. thank you all and big hugs.
22. for AWANA's. and my boys.
23. for those of you back home keeping us in your thoughts and prayers these past months and those to come.
24. to an amazing chef who cooks me special meals everyday so i won't die from dairy. thanks emmy.
25. for the bible. my lifesource these past four months.
26. for church.
27. for snow. and warm heating so when the weather outside is frightful inside it's so delightful.
28. for packages and letters that make me smile and then die laughing.
29. for such a blessed life thus far and the amazing people and memories we have all made that will stay with my throughout this life.
30. for sunsets and warm days to enjoy being outside under the stars.
31. and last, but not least. for the friendship Kristin and i have. who would have thought we would end up best buds. only God.

So today as you gather with your loves ones just remember God is so good.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Don't You Know I've Always Loved You?

Today we went to class for the first time with DEFI. We are studying Hoseas, one of my favorite books of the bible with the director of a Christian organization from Sweden. He spent the morning going over the history and themes presented in this book. It was so interesting. There isn't much I love more than opening up my bible and just going through and learning about the background for the writing and who it was written to and why. For those of you that don't know about Hosea it's about one of the saddest and yet most compelling love stories in the bible. There is a man named Hosea who is called by God to go out and marry a prostitute and bring her home as his wife. He does this and the story goes on to tell of their very hard life together as this prostitute resorts back to her old lifestyle time and time again and Hosea waits upon the Lord and continues to love her despite her many failings. It is a parable to us about God's unfailing love and yet his manner towards us as we fall throughout our lives. That's it in a basic synopsis. It's actually much more complex and indepth than that, but that's about all I'm going to write on that now. Either way I took 10 pages of notes on one mornings lesson. HA.

In the afternoon we worked and then we slept. Then we worked and had a raqulette party. Now we're finishing up a movie and than heading to hang out withe DEFI for the evening.

O and I also fell sledding and pinched a bunch of nerves in my neck. Pretty painful. Either way if you could keep me in your prayers that would be much appreciated.

Alright and I'll leave you off with our favorite song here at present. It's called I've Always Loved You and is by Third Day.

I don't know how to explain it
But I know that words will hardly do
Miracles with signs and wonders
Aren't enough for me to prove to you
Don't you know I've always loved you
Even before there was time
Though you turn away
I'll tell you still
Don't you know I've always loved you
And I always will

Greater love has not a man
Than the one who gives his life to prove
That he would do anything
And that's what I'm gonna do for you
Don't you know I've always loved you
Even before there was time
Though you turn away
I'll tell you still
Don't you know I've always loved you
And I always will
la, la, lala, la, la
Don't you know I've always loved you
Even before there was time
Though you turn away
I'll tell you still
Don't you know I've always loved you
Don't you know I've always loved you
Even before there was time
Though you turn away
I'll tell you still
Don't you know I've always loved you
And I always will
la, la, la
I've always loved you, oh, oh,
And I always will

Sledding!

Sometimes all I can do it sit back, look at my life, and thank God for each and every little thing. Each breath, each meal, every person I pass on the street, everything. I have been so blessed and love to remember the great creator and God who has blessed my life is so many ways. These past couple days have been filled with laughter, singing, joy, and spontaneous adventures, each better than the last. Once again God is pouring out His blessings here in France. Here's a little update about life lately:

Yesterday we had a red light day. That means that our electric company lets us pay triple the price on everything on these days and tons less than everyone else on every other day. Thus to beat the system we of course use no electricity...or very little these days. So we had a candle light dinner and cooked without lights and the whole deal. Not to mention the chalet decided to have its heaters die yesterday. It was so much fun, although I'm sure I won't find it fun after 30 days of it. They are really random and come without warning, but they could last potentially for a whole week at a time! ahhh.

Today I had no work. I have the weekend off. Nice. I got up about 2 thanks to Mike who was pounding on my bedroom door telling me to come sledding with the group. So up I hopped and went along. We all raided the costume closet for clothing and boots and then found some floor paper to use instead of sleds. We drove up into the mountains to Les Adrets gaining snow as we gained altitude. Weird. Then we all got out and hiked a bunch till we got to a huge hill where we proceeded to sled for hours. My most dangerous sledding experience ever, but my most entertaining also. I think I might have gotten a slight concusion from my first slide as we went over a bump and I landed on my head and then rolled all the way down les adrets haha. So much fun! After sledding we had a snow fight, made snow angles, and went for a most beautiful walk through the snow covered woods. We took some great pictures that I will post as soon as I get my camera back from the students. Came back for hot chocolate and a late dinner. Then game night and some family guy right now. It's really cozy and we're all wrapped in blankets stuffed together on the couch. Strange to think the family will be broken up in a month! AHH that is the worst thought ever. I can't believe these days are going to end and DEFI is going to actually leave. It seems like they have been here forever. Tomorrow we have a presentation at church and then the day off! I have no idea what type of adventure is in store. This next will be super busy for Kristin and I. We're taking the class with the students as it's en anglais. Then in the afternoons and evenings we're working a full day. Gosh it's gonna be insane. I hope you're all enjoying ur time back home and breaks. Have some turkey and pie for us!

Had us another night of dancing. Here's a video of Mike and I learning a Scottish dance. So much fun!

Equipiers breaks alliance, soaks boys with water.

well today consisted of very little time because it was my day off. I slept almost all day after going to sleep the earliest since september, a whopping 9:30!!!!!!! I actually fell asleep at our evening meeting with defi. so when I did get up today I literally didnt leave the house all day. meanwhile kristin worked. then this evening we had a water fight. kristin started it. thats about it. right now we're watching hotel rhawanda. so I'm getting distracted. what else is new.

Annecy with the Ladies

Today was so beautiful here. A perfect fall day. So off we headed to Annecy, a little village about an hour and a half from here. I went with Noelle, Joelle, Lisa and Laetitia all smushed into a little french car. The ride was beautiful, between the clear crystal blue day and the final peak of fall here it couldnt have been a more amazing day for sight seeing. We of course got lost and had to ask for directions...what else is new? We finally got there and spent a few hours just walking around the lake and little village. The lake is absolutly incredible, with the mountains in the background and the leaves littering the ground, the boats, and the golden color of the trees right now. We even paused long enough for Lisa and I to start a most marvelous leaf fight with the others. Sadly for her she was wearing gel in her hair and ended up spending the rest of the day picking leaf particles out of her hair...i think it was worth it! We ate lunch at a petite cafe in the village and had warm chocolate crepes pour dessert....sooo yummy! Plus we got to feed these super cute little birds that were everywhere. Then we did some shopping...I bought tissues haha. They where super cheap so I couldnt pass them up! Plus I thought we could use them eventually! Joelle met up with her friend and we all went for gouter to a little tesan place (tea house) for cafe and pastries. Then I ran into a friend from camp named Diane. I keep doing this. Wherever I go I don't tell anyone I'm going and then I end up running into the only person I know who lives there, in Paris it was Charles and now Diane in Annecy! Guess I'm special like that! We ended the afternoon by a nice walk long the lake again and some singing, plus a carousel we found. Then another car ride where Lisa, Noelle, and I took a lovely little nap, getting home just in time for a warm dinner of quiche, salad, and pumpkin spice muffins from Theresa! I love coming home at the end of a long nice day. It was so nice to come home and have people waiting with dinner and to a warm house and friends. I love that feeling! Alright and I'm already feeling like I'm missing stuff and I've only been typing for a few minutes so it's back to the group pour moi. Salut!

Just an article we read today. Thought it was interesting.

What if you had one year left to live?
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Dr. Michael Seabaugh


Imagine this. You visit your doctor for your annual physical. Strictly routine.
She studies your lab work with her usual casualness; you are already thinking about the dry cleaning you have to pick up. All at once, you notice that wrinkles are appearing in her forehead where Botox had seemed to permanently remove them.
The tapping of her pen on the desk is increasing staccato; it isn't a Barry Manilow song she is drumming.
And then it happens. She looks up at you over her glasses. She tells you what you always feared you would hear but never really thought you would.
"You need to get your affairs in order," she says, delivering the line probably like Meryl Streep would. Only this is no movie. You are going to die.
It is hard to imagine, to really feel. No more sunsets, nor more pina coladas, no more hugs from your loved ones or smelly kisses from your dog.
What if you had one year left to live?
Stephen Levine, a remarkable poet and healer, has pondered this very question up close and personal. Not as someone who has an actual deadly diagnosis, but as someone who has decided to dedicate a year of his life to the prospect of "one year to live."
In his book with that title -- "One Year to Live: How To live This Year As If It Were Your Last" -- he notes that in most cultures and spiritual traditions, it is considered "an act of wisdom to prepare for death throughout life."
One person he talked to, who actually had this death sentence, reported: "I felt not as though my life was being taken away but as though it had been given back to me. I was going to die and my life was completely my own."
If you had only one year left to live, what choices do you think you would make about how to live your remaining life?
I would like to think that I would not worry about paying bills, getting a tummy tuck or figuring out how Donald Trump does his hair. I would hope that I would do something meaningful, significant.
Maybe I would devote myself to all of the good works I have dreamed about doing, but never gotten around to.
Perhaps I would really rather spend my last year blowing all of my sep-IRAs and credit cards on a yacht, sailing around the world with the best wine Santa Ynez has to offer and a few other unnamable pleasures.
In his book, Levine says that the question of what to do with our last year of life reminds us of how much we have forgotten.
"A part of us begins to panic at the thought that we haven't had quite enough time to leave something valid behind. There have been so few moments when life was all it was cracked up to be. So much that might have been different had the heart not been
We tend to become immersed in the flow of our lives, rarely pausing to reflect on how we got so far down the "river of life"... and so fast! We don't pause long enough to really see, to take a hard look at what remains unloved and unloving in our lives.
Why wait for a terminal diagnosis before opening up to the opportunity to heal that which needs healing, to forgive that which needs forgiven, to find gratitude for all that we have to be grateful for?
So few of us can afford to put this work off any longer because almost no one knows the day on which the last year begins.
If you had one year left to live ... what would you do?
Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh is a Cape Girardeau native who is a licensed clinical psychologist in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, Calif. Contact him at mseabaugh@semissourian.com.






and to continue with random thoughts i give you some song lyrics. by copeland. because they are amazing.

Quiet now, your voice seems miles away
Yet somehow, I hear your song resound
A little bit softer each day
And from my tired heart, a little bit farther away
I’ll sing along
The whole day through
Just do your best to hear me
It’s all you can do

You have my attention
Like you’ve had all the while
Since that first day when you made my heart smile
With loving eyes and tired sighs that flow

You have my attention
Like a shout through an empty sanctuary
Speak but a whisper
I’ll hear a sermon
I’ll sing along, the whole day through
Just do your best to hear me
It’s all you can do
I’ll sing along, the whole night through
While you sleep safely
I’ll be thinking about you
You have my attention

No I won't eat an elephant with you--Justin

So we've gotten into learning German. I can now sing head, shoulders, knees, and toes in German as well as say No I won't eat an elephant with you...thank you Justin.

Today we had a staff meeting and talked about how much BAFA loved it here. It's a real testiment to the type of community we all create as many of the atendees are not Christians and thus see the image of Christians for the first time through us. I loved them all sooo much and had such a good time talking with them and laughing at all the silly things they did throughout the week.

In the morning and afternoon we stuffed envelopes with our new brochure. We have one for DEFI and for Champfleuri. The best part is that Blain wouldnt let us see it until now and it turns out we're in some of the pictures. Doris and I are in the DEFI one...kinda comical considering we're not actually students, but I guess we fake it well :)

So after 4000 letters had been stamped, stuffed, and addressed we made lunch. It was 2. We had pancakes with everyone. It was a little pancake party here. Plus we have free reign in the kitchen so we had rasberries and fruit and tons of lovely goodness....i.e. nutella! I love pancakes. I'm not ten I can make complete sentences, but it's getting time for dinner so I keep getting distracted. We got a space heater for the salle déquipier and so everyone has moved to hanging out in here. Plus now we're cooking in here for the week so it smells AMAZING! Nimon is such a good chef and Justin and I are such entertaining helpers ;)
Today we made kibbee and salad for dinner so we got to roll out tons of dough almost like we were pizza chefs. Sadly we were lacking in the cool hat department. Anyways now it's time to go set the table and have some dinner. Tonight is salsa night. It is also Sam's birthday! Yea for turning 18.

ooooo and last night we went to the christian college group in Grenoble again for crepe night. I love them because I feel like they live in the real world beyond camp...its refreshing sometimes to get outside. Either way we ate tons and Sam's friends from church (who also happen to be everywhere we go lately) where there so I got to hang out with them. They basically refuse to speak english avec moi so we parle francaise only! Ahhh, especially late at night. After crepes we learned a new game and got a little into it. The Germans in our group at one point where arguing with the french kids in another language! Yes for multiple language games haha. Last we ended the evening talking to Miles (named after miles david, because his rents are that cool). He's an international students at Uni of Grenoble from BU in Boston! He's also going to Sem at Gordon Conwell when he's done and speaks pretty decent french. It was neat talking to him as he not only goes to BU, but also attends Park Street Church's early service and loved HUGIE!!!! Yes for finding a hugie lover across the ocean from Boston. He also told me the process of becoming a member which when I get home if I'm there for any time perhaps I will consider doing...hmm. To end the evening we got lost trying to find the moter way back to camp and ended up driving around Grenoble backroads listening to the who. Yes for Austrians that know their music. :)

On that note...dinner and some salsaing. Have a great evening!

Dance for your food ;)

Today's theme is dancing. Literally. We made BAFA do the cotton eyed joe to earn their meal....and they did. They ended up making a country congo line around the room. It was beyond amazing! Besides dancing we've been getting some new music and going crazzzy in the kitchen. In the words of Noelle, a student here "Life has become a song and we're all dancing along".

DEFI's break began today so Justin and Noelle began working in the kitchen with us, thus the dancing. It's funny what a change two positive people can make in our team. Right now we're all sitting in the salle cheminie on our own laptops tagging the hundreds of photos we put up for champfleuri. It took so long! This afternoon after we've had gouter (which is cake made for us by BAFA) we're going for a walk in wigs. We thought a walk would be a good idea as its an absolutly B-E-A-utiful day here, but we decided that was just too boring, so wigs it is! Mine is pink. Don't worry we'll take pictures.

Now I'm gonna go listen to this amazing cd Mike found and read the new book I found lying around. New books are like gold around here, there is already a waiting list. On that note The Irresistible Revolution is amazing. I read it this past week and have now passed it along, but would recommend it highly to all of you also. Some of the thought is a little new agey...okay a lot, but still pretty good. I loved it. I especially loved the part on community as it talked about some of the things we've been thinking/ working on around here. More salsa lessons planned for this evening :) wicked syched!

Recap of BAFA week

Well it's been a crazy week. Since I'm tired and still have to serve dinner tonight I figure a short week summary should do for ya'll. Basically this weekend was great as there were 40 extra teenagers our age hanging out here. They also had to be super entertaining as they are preparing to teach camps for little kids. BAFA is a week training camp for future french counselors. Thus they spend the week learning and also putting on plays, playing games, and just dressing up crazy! Each meal was interupted by one of the 6 groups dressed in various costumes and with different dinner theater. Life has been anything but boring lately. I went to the store today with a few equipier and Justin from DEFI and we came back to find all the students of BAFA sitting in a big circle dressed in costumes with face paint surrounding a guy with a huge fake beard and wig stirring a cauldren...AND they were chanting!

Besides the entertainments BAFA has brought us we've been getting into a schedrule we're calling the chalet ladies. Basically we've been taking walks in the alps each afternoon, spending some time working out together, and planning a bible study. We've also decided in the coming week to make some colorful posters to adorn our rooms as we've been inspired by the blessing posters we made with DEFI this week. Anyways all that to say that this week I took a walk with Doris into the mtns. We told the guys we would be fine alone...although they doubted this completly :) haha well it turns out they were correct. Doris and I ended up in the most beautiful area. A little stone bridge with ivy hanging off it overlooking a waterfall and its really close to camp, the issue of course was that we decided to try and continue on the path that ran alongside the river and ended up climbing the side of the mtn with no path, thorns, and mud. It ended with us both tumbling down almost into the river....oops! By this time it was almost completly dark and we luckily ended up finding our way back to camp, but there was a moment or two I think we both doubted our ability to retrace our steps.

Halloween in France was also pretty neat. DEFI decided we all had to dress up for the day so we pulled out our costumes from the camps closet and had everything from a detective to a hippie. I was a dutch maid and Kristin was a milking maid (the equipier decided to go with the theme of serventhood). In the evening we even had a bunch of cute little kids come to the door and ask for candy during dinner service. So Mike and I put out gouter snacks for them! What's better than getting a loaf of bread for halloween anyways. :)

Hmmmm....trying to see if I've forgotten anything else of any consequence. Tons of late nights with DEFI this week. We've been watching a series of Brittish shows, playing some MAFIA, and trying to get through this last week before their pause. Today is the last day before their week long break. This means that the next week will be a ton more relaxed. Sure there's still work around here, but if they are planning an activity we are allowed to plan our days around theirs. We also dont have to have meals served as we will all take turns cooking and eat together in the salle d'equipier. Only 4 or 5 of the students are actually going to be here as the others will be touring around Europe during their time off. That's fine with me. I'm looking forward to hanging with Justin, Joelle, Noelle, and Lisa.

Ahhh I've thought of something else fun we did this week. There were a lot of good times this week so they have a tendency to blend together, especially when I'm tired and really not concentrating all that well due to silly people distracting me ;)

We went to a party at Sam's. He's turning 18 really soon and so he has everyone to his guest house for the night. We couldnt stay the whole time due to petite deg in the morning, but we went for the evening...okay until the morning, but we didnt sleep there! Mike, Kristin, and I went over having no idea what to expect. Turns out it was a bunch of our friends including some from camp STEVE and TED. It was neat to see them again and also neat to see our church friends. Sam has been really good about introducing us to a group of really strong christians from the area...we love them, they make us laugh! So it was basically a dance party complete with lights and a DJ. The best part is it was some of the same dance music from home, just add french kids that are incredible dancers (americans u have no idea how good they are...take any idea you have and multiply it by 10 and u get them dancing). Basically they taught us some stuff and we had such a great night complete with the YMCA and even a pudding fight! Like I said, these kids are crazy cool.

Last but definitly not least we had some missionaries from Hong Kong here for the end of the week. There were 6 of them plus a little baby girl Ava. They were all super nice and very excited about what's happening in Asia in 2008. They are encouraging us to all look into missions in Asia. Sadly I don't think that's exactly where I feel my heart is called. BIOLA is defnitly next in my order of adventures. Still it was really neat to hear about their adventures and get to talk to them a bit about their future plans during this coming year.

Alas I'm having a super hard time concentrating...due to some wonderful people...so im going to go play MAFIA and do dinner service.

we're back

Kristin and I just wanted everyone to know that we've returned from our travels. Our return was somewhat crazy between late trains, the air france strike, and a lack of ride upon arrival. However, here we are safe and sound back in France. It's been so nice to be back getting to see everyone again. The DEFI kids have been amazing welcoming us with a special sign and just being their incredible selves. Today was Sunday and so we went to a special church service in Grenoble for a bunch of churches in the area. It was in the skating rink so that everyone could fit and I sat next to Justin, which allowed for a running commentary throughout the entire service (very entertaining). Then we were late getting out and ended up being late back to serve lunch...oops. Luckily everything went smoothly without us. All in all a very full day of work and it begins tomorrow once again at 7 AM with petite dej....o the joy. :) anyways off for some games as Sunday night is game night with DEFI, fun fun. Ahhhh and for those of u lovely new englanders its winter here....no silly 85 degree days anymore haha.

3 MORE DAYS!!!

Alright well it's been a few days so heres a summary:

Sunday--served 65 people with 3 of us...fun fun. Then had a soiree in the evening with the whole equipier, staff, and some friends from Froges. I learned how to make crepes the real french way minus our little technological crepe maker back home. We had the meal crepes and then Junhio's fiance and I made dessert crepes for everyone. Also my mom, dad, sis and of course mel (because she's basically one of the fam anyways) called and I got to talk to them for the first time on the phone since I've been here. Yikes I am bad at calling/ talking to people on the phone! Then if the evening wasn't amazing enough Monica was at Dana's church to lead youth group and I got to talk to her on skype!!!! I had forgotten how happy I can be when I'm with my friends or even just talking to them. Mike was sooo surprised how excited and energetic I got. He says that I never act that way here! Well for those of you back home I guess that's some kudos to u all...u make me happier than anyone else possibly can:)

Monday--We slept. Actually I slept and Kristin made pies. Because she is amazing and I totally got her into it...teheh. There are two canadien girls here and it was Canadien Thanksgiving, so being the bright one that I am I decided we had to have a special meal. Sadly we were going to a meeting last night so it turned into a pie gouter kinda thing. Then I also ended up sleeping through the entire making of the pies and got up just in time to sit in the salle d'equiper with Mike smelling and yummy pies cooking away! In the evening we went to Grenoble for a dinner and presentation by the local Intervarsity type program. David decided to drive a group of us so we would have more space and we ended up having a little adventure on the way. I love these kids soooo much! So first we decided all the tall people would go in the littlest car...great judgment we all have! So Mike, Doris, Justin, David, and I crammed into the clio and headed to Grenoble. Only one issue, none of us knew how to get there. We almost missed our exit and ended up trying to follow Blain (who drives like he's from Texas...o wait he is) and crossing 4 lanes of traffic to get to our exit! The truck driver we cut off was really happy, especially when all of us turned around and waved! HAHA. As you can see the evening was enjoyable for all involved. The ride home wasn't that boring either, between having to negotiate our way home and not being able to see anything because o yea we broke the heat/AC in the clio! When we got back we watched a movie and we actually went to bed before 2 AM, for the first time in 2 weeks!

On today:
Plans for Paris are underway. Emmy and I spent the entire morning cooking lunch and dinner for camp and also planning exactly where Kristin and I must visit. It's neat to have the perspective of someone who really knows their way around and knows exactly what to see if you only have a day in Paris. I'm actually getting excited for Thursday. Before today I was just dredding having to lug everything through the city and just kinda stressed about figuring out Paris on top of flying home, but not anymore!
We also cleaned all of chartreusse today and had a most entertaining lunch. I love mealtimes here. I've heard complaints about how long the French eat, yet I love it. I love sitting forever and just talking to everyone. I'm also actually getting to speak french at meals. The dinner we ate out on Monday night we only really spoke french!
Right now we're sitting and checking up on emails, writing an update for ya'll and cleaning the salle d'equipier! The students have three classes today which is sad because we're leaving for AWANA's this evening. I am sooo excited! I love my kids sooo much and I love making Lewis speak with his scottish accent!
As I was typing both Jonny Garrett ( a friend from camp) and Dana came on skype. This led to about a 2 hour break and some long conversations. I love talking to people from back home! Anyways on that note I'm going to go do a devo and hang out with Mike and Doris as they just finished work for the day. Hope all is good back home and we'll see you all in three days! It's pretty funny to think that this weekend we will be with you all. It's especially weird as we're sitting here in France talking in french and looking out on the french alps...strange. Tomorrow we pack and then Thursday it's off for Paris and Friday home to America! It's going to be an insane two weeks!

Singing in the rain...and practicing our chinese

Today could not have gotten any better. Mike and I had to do tons of work, but since we were working together and we turned today into Christmas in October the work flew by. In the afternoon the students took off for a camp out in the middle of nowhere so we have the camp to ourselves again! Which of course means an equipier adventure, so this evening the four of us--Doris, Kristin, Mike and I headed to Bringoud. We thought we would get crepes, but got distracted by the chinese restraunt and ended up eating there instead. It was tres drole to be eating chinese food, french chinese food mind ya, in France with american 80's pop disco playing in the background. I tried my first bit of duck at the persuasion of Mike and Kristin who said it was just like chicken...they lied. It's not. Afterwards, we decided to do dessert at the creperie. So to get there we had to walk a little bit and we did a wonderful rendition of singing in the rain, complete with our own improvised dance moves! For dessert we split two amazing chocolate, ice cream, and hot chocolate syrup crepes. They were the best crepes I have ever had and then we just sat for an hour or so and talked and talked. It was so nice to get away from camp and hang out as a littler group. When we got home Mike of course being the guy had to work off all the food we ate and started a game of tag in the parking lot which ended with us all completly feeling terrible due to stuffing ourselves silly. Basically another random equipier night over here in France. Tons of fun and some strange craziness on the side.

P.S.--There was a dog under the table in the restraunt we ate at!!!! It's legal here!

And that's all folks...off for some family guy with the kids :)

Airports :)

I've decided that I cannot wait to fly home today. I had the day off and thus this evening Kristin and I decided to watch a Nooma video. We watched Luggage which is set in an airport and talks about forgiveness. Another great Nooma which really made us think, but the whole video all I could think of was flying as it's set in an airport! I think why I love to fly is because of airports. I love getting there, seeing all the people rushing to and fro, sipping dunks as you wait for your plane, buying a cheesy book to pass the time, guessing where everyone is going, and just waiting. So often I get caught up in the rush of life in America that I don't stop and just look around. Airports have always been a time of yes rushing, but also stopping and getting a chance to look around for once.
Last year I flew to Calvin with one of my best friends Sarah Hathaway. When we got to the airport in Manchester they immediatly postponed our flight due to a huge snow storm and thus we didn't actually take off until 3 hours later. This gave me some time to just sit and enjoy the airport. My favorite thing is when it rains and you're able to sit inside knowing you're about to leave the rain behind. Sometimes you're going someplace with equally dismal weather...such as Sarah and I ended up doing, but other times you're heading to Florida or California. Our adventure didn't end here, Sarah and I ended up having to reschedrule our trip back due to a HUGE snowstorm which blew into the area the day we were schedruled to depart. When we finally got home I must admit that I didn't want to fly for a long long time. Yet here I am sitting in France and all I can think about is flying.
All year whenever my friends and I saw a plane we played a game. We would ask each other if we were on that plane where would we want to be going. For me the answer was definite. I knew that I wanted to be in France and every plane I saw I wanted to be heading there. Now it's funny because once again I look up and find myself playing this game with myself. A lot has changed since I've last played. My friends are scattered across the whole country and world. Everything I once thought certain has now changed. Things I thought unbreakable are now broken. I have discovered which friendships are going to last and those who I will lose due to distance and just the differences in our lives now. I have learned to live seeing what's going on from the outside, getting the updates here and there, but basically almost watching life going on without me. This is not to say that I have stopped living, in fact I have learned to live in a different culture and adapt to a much different manner of living and I find that I like it. So now as I watch the planes fly overhead here in France I am struck with not having the answer to where am I flying anymore. There is a part of me that says I want to be on the next plane home to you all, to Boston and that dirtyyy water. I want to have my starbucks and sit in barnes and noble watching the leaves change and snow fall. The other part of me still screams France. I want to sit here with Mike, Kristin, and Doris forever. Recently I guess I am facing this game everyday as in a week Kristin and I will be flying on back to good old Boston. I'm excited and yet not. I want to see everyone, go back to "normal", to drive with music blaring and my car windows open, to just be free and not have to work every second, I want to laugh so hard my stomache hurts with my girls, I want to go out to dinner dressed up, I want to go to Cosco and load up on american food, I want to go into Starbucks and order a tall hot chocolate and have them actually understand me in ENGLISH and I want to sit in my kitchen holding my cat and hearing Helen play piano. Yet I don't want to leave France, I never ever want to leave France. There's a part of me that could and will live here forever, and yet I think even if I did live here a part of me will always be more comfortable in America. So yea...thats basically what Kristin and I have been discussing lately. It's going to be sooo strange to go back to America. It's going to be exciting and so nice to be home, yet the whole time I'm home I'm going to wish I'm in France because it's home too now. And all this from watching a silly Nooma video set in an airport!

Our first night of AWANA

TODAY WAS SOOOOO AMAZING!!!!! Kristin and I just got in from our first AWANA meeting of the year. For those of you that don't know what AWANA is it's a youth group type program for kids ages 4-16ish. They have a service, games, and most importantly spend time learning and trying to understand the bible. One of the stresses of this program is learning how to memorize bible verses, which is always important for kids to learn! I still remember many of the passages that I learned at this program and I think I only recently realized how much I actually remember from those crazy wednesday nights all those years ago. Not only did I learn tons of verses and make some friends I've still got today, but I also became a christian at AWANA's!!!!

So back to tonight....

When Kristin and I were asked by Allan Pavey (a missionary from america) to help out with AWANA I got sooo excited. Not only was it all in english...a bit of a different for us, but it's also a group of youth which is what I will be studying in college. It was neat that this opertunity was presented to us while we're here and so we decided that although we would be missing some of the work going on here Tuesday evenings that it was worth it. So tonight when Gudren took the kids to AWANA we went with them. We began the evening with an intro, a short message on the rapture, small groups, and then game time. I have my own small group! At first I was kinda freaked to be given a group of 6 7-11 year old boys, but they were actually really nice and sweet! I also have the Pavey's son so I knew one of them. Since I had done AWANA's as a kid I knew how to lead the lesson and memorization time. I am soooo proud of my group of guys, they together learned 8 verses! Pretty impressive for 30 minutes! It hit me during game time how original this group actually was. First off during have you ever one of the questions was who speaks another language other than french or english and more than half the group moves...ahhh! Plus half the people there have moved from America because they are missionaries or their husbands had to move for work. It was just so normal and everyday after living here at Champfleuri in this seperate world for soooo long. I guess what I'm trying to articulate is that it finally felt like we were able to reach out beyond our little bubble up here and meet Christians in the area. It was so nice to just speak english, to understand the little everyday conversations that were going on around us, to have people give encouragment and be positive. The people working there were so nice and friendly, they made Kristin and I feel right at home and the kids were so incredible. Basically it was a great night and I realized how many Americans and missionaries there really are living around here. It was so neat also because it just felt like we actually truly live in France. I mean of course we do, but sometimes it doesn't actually feel like that since we never leave camp. Alright and ending this random tangent AWANA was great and we are going to be heading there every Tuesday from here on out.

Conclusion of September

Well in keeping everyone updated I thought I would write a brief conclusion for the month of September. There's been a lot of activity around here lately and most of it I have yet to write anything about...or if I have then I have also forgotten! So here goes:

This past month has been the craziest of our time here. We have faced some of the many trials that missionaries face during their times abroad. For a little while Kristin and I have been praying together or sharing some prayer requests with each other. In a matter of weeks we have watched God open doors, close doors, and just overall answer our prayers. Some of the answers were not always the ones we wanted, but it's been really nice to see answers and pretty clear ones at that. Some I will share and others we have decided to keep between ourselves.

One of the things we had been praying for was anyone that would bring an air of optomism and get us laughing again. In the words of our camp director Blain "It's hard to be positive and upbeat all the time when you're cleaning toilets". He was right. Just two weeks ago by way of a guy named Jeremy we found laughter again. I know it sounds weird to word it that way, but in all honesty one night Kristin and I found that we had stopped laughing. Gasp I know you all think it's crazy that I would ever stop laughing, but I did, life was just not as funny anymore. So one weekend when we were a bit short staffed Thierry called a friend of his to come fill in for the weekend. The friend was Jeremy, a friend from this past summer. I had actually been praying that this same guy would come back to work here as I remembered how he had connected the summer equipier team and also kept us laughing nonstop. He is also a close friend of the family that worked here in August and we had been telling Kristin tons about him. It was neat for her to get to meet this guy we were all telling stories about. It was also pretty neat because there is no other way to put it than God clearly answered the prayers of both Kristin and myself. And it didn't stop here. Lately we have been praying for a way to worship. It's hard to get to church when you're serving groups on the weekends. This past Sunday we finally got the chance to go to Brignoud with the DEFI students. We also began attending the DEFI chapel and meditations that happen each morning after breakfast. Another answer to prayer was Mike. Mike is from England and besides having a hilarious english accent (yes mike this is me making fun of your accent for the world to see) he is crazy funny. He makes us laugh, jokes around with us, brought some amazing movies and family guy, brought new music on cd!, and is super outgoing. Roll all this into one and he was the type of person we needed to connect to the DEFI students. For a while now we have been mingling and hanging out with the students, but it was not until Mike came last week that we began to become like family. Now we hang out all the time, they ask to help with work, we all spend the evenings playing games and learning to dance and we eat all our meals together. It's so nice to have them here and they are such amazing people. It's neat to mix all the different personalities and see what happens. It's also neat to mix all the countries and see the differences and similarities between us all. My favorite story would have to be Friday night. We had finished work and had joined DEFI for a game of maffia. It was after a very crazy game, probably a bit too much sugar, and some coffee that we decided to learn to dance. Mike knows how to salsa, Hannah knows how to cha cha, Kristin and Justin knew how to waltz. Put them all together and we had a group of pretty decent dance teachers. Of course add the fact that it was midnight and everything is funnier at night and it was a truly amazing evening...and now I can kinda salsa too :)

There is so much other stuff that has been going on around here. Yet as I am beginning to realize unless you live here or talk to us daily there is no way for you to understand everything going on in our lives. Life is sooo busy and there are so many new people to meet and hang out with around here that I feel like I cannot begin to incapsulate everything into a blog. Basically life is incredible, God has been so good and we are seeing his many daily blessings and we continue on...I'm going to include a video and perhaps some pictures from our night of dancing.

O and on another note, it snowed in the mountains the other day. Real legit like knee high snow! I took pictures of course!

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend and are having a good transition back into the work week. For all of you who went to homecoming or participated. Congrats, way to beat Bancroft again!

We want to see...we want to see Jesus lifted high!

One thing I love about this place is the conversation. Last night Kristin and I watched the ''rain'' nooma video which led to a 4 hour discussion keeping us up till about 2 AM!!!! Then this evening as Junior was eating dinner in the salle d' equipier he asked me how I ended up in France at this camp and I asked him about how he got here. I would like to share his story with you.

Three years ago Junior was working at a company that manufactured cars in Brazil. He was making good money and very good at his job. He was basically one of the masterminds behind some of the cars we drive on a daily basis. He began learning french and to increase his conversational french he decided to meet some french students online. One of the people he met was a girl named Gabrielle She lived in France and they began to talk regularly. Soon they began to pray together about the connection they had made as they both felt it was very special and could become something more than an online conversation relationship. After a year and a half of prayer Junior quit his job and moved to France! He began working at Champfleuri and using the money he had saved began university here studying buisness and such. He also began to get to know Gabrielle on a regular daily level. They had tons in common and within a few weeks began dating. Throughout this whole process they just kept praying about what God had in store for them. He explained to me how difficult it was to leave behind his family and friends to come to France to meet a girl! Imagine moving an entire country because you met a girl online and God told you to leave and go now, completly incredible. After two years of dating Junior proposed to Gabrielle this past week and she said yes. After about three and a half or four years they are finally going to be married February 12th of this year. How incredible and exciting is that? It's one of those stories that just makes you believe in true love, even despite distance and completly different lives. It's also such a statment to their faith. It has been so exciting seeing him get more and more excited about the upcoming marriage and engagment. It's been a long process for them both, but finally in God's timing they are going to be together. It's obviously not going to be the end of their story, but I think it's definitly a great beginning.

There's tons more from the past couple days, but it's time for a night movie with the girls! A bientôt.

Another Weekend at Champfleuri...

Well once again we have finished a rather hectic weekend here at camp. As I type the 160 people who where here for lunch and gouter are slowly beginning to leave. This weekend Sam's church came to camp. This means that since we have visited his church and youth group we knew most if not all of the people invading champfleuri. It was sooo nice to see them all again. One of the funniest parts of the weekend was when everyone arrived we greated each other by kissing both cheeks (bisoux) if you know the person. So turns out Kristin and I now "know" the whole church so we spent a good portion of yesterday kissing random french people on the cheeks! A bit different for us, but yet when we don't do bisoux it's actually beginning to feel strange. When some of the DEFI students got here and were not french I knew immediatly as they didnt do it!

The most exciting part of the weekend was seeing Laura from camp STEVE who recently moved to Grenoble for university and who also attends this church. Basically everyone we know goes here...once again that small christian community that is france! We got to spend all afternoon catching up and just talking. It felt pretty strange to talk to her again not at steve and yet to be at camp, but it was stranger for her as she was actually going to sleep in the same room and same bed as camp! I love this church so much because more than half of the church are teenagers Kristin and my age and most of them are girls that I already know or guys that I met through Sam. We got to play a bunch of games, attend a wonderful church service (where they served communion in glasses that we all drank from and it was real wine...oops haha), sing, and hang out with everyone again. I love this church and all the amazing people. It's funny but I feel so at home with them, maybe more at home than In New England sometimes. They just greet you and then try so hard to communicate with you...its really nice.

Of course the whole weekend was filled with practical jokes, some dancing, and never ending singing! I love working with the groups on the weekend. There's tons of work, but Sam makes me smile so it's all good. I love hanging out with Sam and Jonathon. It's funny but in just a couple weeks I feel so comftorble with them. Sam now takes us to his church and is still trying to get us to his youth group again. He is taking us shopping and is amazing! Basically the best petite frere in the entire world. Right now he is going to dance for us...yes!

Finally a day off!

Today was my first day off since last week. It's strange to be working at a Christian camp and not have Sunday's off, but on the weekends we have huge college groups in the hundreds there is no way we can have anyone take off the day. Therefore we each get two days off per week except for last week as we had a longer weekend. So here I am finally at my day off. It feels so good to sleep in. I actually slept through breakfast...and lunch! I have been suffering from a seasonal cold or allergies or both. I was reminded today by Hannah that last year around this time was when I get my famous death plauge during XC. So perhaps this is the same sort of illness, sure feels like it. It is of course magnified by the lack of sleep and constant working, which I'm sure is making me feel sooo much better!

I went to the doctors yesterday and he gave me a prescription for two antibiotics which I am now taking. Hopefully one of these will work some minor miracle and I will be able to breath a bit more normally. The doctors was quite an experience for me. First of all I hate doctors, always have and probably always will. They are the people incharge of the needles, its really that simple. Who likes the person who's stabbing them in the arm with a little sharp medal thing? Not me that's for sure! Needless to say add the fact that in France going to the doctors means setting a personal appointment and I was a little bit freaked. Luckily Lorraine went with me as she speaks pretty decent french. It was good I brought someone to translate for me because he spoke pretty good english, but not enough that I was able to explain to him how I felt. I think the constant sniffling and lack of breathing probably gave most of my symptoms away. Either way the long story shortened is he gave me drugs and although I don't feel any better yet they should start working soon...I hope!

As for around camp. DEFI kids have a project that they must do for this coming week. They have to read all of Romans and than have been assigned a short project on a certain portion for which they must give a brief presentation. Gosh I miss school. This project actually makes me want to do school work, how messed up is that one! You can tell you went to LCA when...

Either way today Kristin and Doris cleaned all of the dorms and cooked three meals. Pretty impressive from my point of view. Work is getting a lot tougher around here. We now begin at 7 AM for breakfast prep, eat breakfast with the group as we serve, clean up breakfast, clean around camp, make lunch, serve and eat lunch with group, clean around camp, prepare dinner, serve and eat dinner with students, clean up dinner, wash kitchen, wash floors. When all is said and done it's about 10 PM, and you've gotten not a single break since 7 AM!!! It's kind of crazy lately, thus why I appreciated sleeping and having time to do my full devotion today. I actually got to sit in the field down the hill with some of the students in the afternoon which was neat.

Also a cool "God moment" of the day: Lorraine is tudoring a village woman in english and in return is being tudored in french. This woman told Lorraine that she would come for the meeting to the camp, but she is worried because to her this place is a cult and she thinks that we are all members. Basically she was trusting Lorraine and hoping that she would get out of here alive today! So she shows up and is having gouter on the patio with Lorraine, and the students (who don't know her or anything about her) come out to join them and ended up talking about their classes and the camp and such with her the rest of the afternoon. They made her feel sooo welcome and she left completly relieved and actually liked Champfleuri. You can bet she's going to tell everyone she knows that we're actually a nice group of people and not at all the crazy freaks she thought we where :)

I just got back from dinner with the students. I like dinner on my day's off because I am free to listen as they speak french while not having to worry about serving. It's nice to listen to them speaking because as they are mostly non native speakers who have just begun to study more french they speak nice and slowly and with different, but recognizable accents making it much much easier for me to understand. Tonight's conversation ranged from the different styles of money in each of our different countries to a broken shower head that the girls room broke by accident and the story of them explaining to Blain en francais how exactly this happened!!! It was very funny to listen.

Although I love the conversations at dinner with the students I missing those days when meals were our breaks as now even meals are a time when we are working! Basically all we do right now is work, from the moment we get up at 6 to 10 PM when we finally get a moment off to write emails home, watch a quick numa or one tree hill as a a group, quickly take showers and maybe (depending on the time) have a tea party in the chalet before we fall asleep. I like the days here and the students, but it's easy to understand that this type of day clocking this many hours can get old real fast. If this day looks bad add for Kristin the fact that she is creating meals for a bunch of people. All I have to do is aid the kitchen, not make the menu and come up with ways to make the food! Basically life is kinda crazy here right now and every moment off is valuable time. HAHA I just heard a huge crash from downstairs and now it's completly silent in the kitchen. Probably a good time to go and make sure everything is going okay down there. To leave off check out 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, really great passage!

Our weekend

Well Saturday was great, between seeing Jeremy, Sam, Claire, Thierry, and Emmy again and getting back into the swing of having poeple around. We have 110 people here right now and so it's always a little caotic at meals, but we're moving really fast because everyone has worked here before at some point so everyone knows what they are doing. I love this group of equipiers because many of them have been here working with me at some other point of this summer. I feel like they are almost my family in a way. Last night after work we had such a long dinner together and told tons of funny stories from our lives. It was nice to actually understand the french that was spoken. It still seems strange to me when someone is telling a story in french and I actually find myself understanding most of what they are saying! I guess I should add a finally to that sentence, I finally understand some of what they are saying. After dinner we watched a french movie with english subtitles. This is one of the best ways to learn and improve your french they say because then you are hearing more of the language and also reading it in your own. Luckily despite the extreme fatigue I found that about halfway through I had actually stopped reading and was beginning to follow the dialogue! Yes for progess!

Last night was long. We went to sleep about 1 and only slept till 2 because I have been suffering from a wonderful cough and sore throat, which led to me not breathing o so well. Needless to say Kristin was pretty freaked at being woken up by the sound of me choking in my sleep. A cup of tea and tons of cough drops later and we both tried to fall asleep again. Sadly we only made it to about 5 when once again I could not breath. It's a pretty scary feeling especially because there isn't any medicine that we have for a cough or my throat. This morning I ended up finally falling asleep as actually slept through the breakfast and cleanup waking up just in time to watch them set the last dishes on the table...guess being sick does have some perks haha. Needless to say there is a visit to the doctor in the coming future :( ugg i hate doctors!

Right now Sam, Jeremy, Allan, Thierry, and Juniho are all playing Urban Terror. It's basically this game where we all run around in a cyber world shooting each other! As you can imagine with all of us playing on our own computers in seperate rooms around camp it adds a most comical element. Kristin, Doris, and Emmy are preparing lunch and today we will be eating outside as the weather is absolutly gorgeous here.

This evening the students will arrive and we still have a bunch of stuff to clean in order to have their rooms ready, sadly we have to wait for the current residents to leave before we can clean thus the sitting around playing on the computers that has ensued.

Last night as we were all sitting and talking together we counted that we had 5 counries represented, and 9 different languages at our little table. You know you're at Champfleuri working equipier when...haha. It's been great to hang out with some different people and to get to meet more of the extended camp family. It seems that in the christian community of France everyone is related! The church here from Albertville actually has some people that I know from this summer and from around the area! And with that Sam just totally killed Jeremy and they are all celebrating...guess its time to go play myself!

And the Fall season begins...

Well today marks the beginning of the fall season over here. In about an hour 120 people will be arriving as well as 4 more equipiers to work with us this weekend. Jeremy my friend who's a missionary in Africa is coming back to help! Super excited about this one as I havent seen him since July and he's pretty much hilarious. Plus he has the entire new worship cd from hillsong so that also makes me pretty happy! Then sunday night DEFI will begin and students will begin arriving! It's going to be getting pretty busy around here, but it's going to be a nice change of pace after such a calm end of the summer.

Random note: Right now Junior is teaching me how to tune a guitar. I really want to learn how to play...I think I might try and take up this project when I get to BIOLA. After all there must be someone who can teach me at such an artsy school!

Well the mass of people just began arriving so I will finish this post fast. Emmy returns today so we stop cooking for ourselves. Euget, Daniel, and Henri leave today as they finished the kitchen work this morning! So exciting! Yet at the same time it will be sad to say goodbyes all over again. Henri was so cute, he cut each of us a rose for the breakfast table. They smell absolutly incredible...i love roses :)

Well the bigger news of this past week is that Kristin and I where able to get out of the camp for a day on Thursday to visit Lyon and our friend Jonny from camp TED/STEVE. He lives just outside of Lyon and gave us our own personal tour of the city. To get there was quite it's own adventure. For those of you that don't know France uses buses to get everywhere. So early in the morning Kristin and I took the car and drove to the bus stop, caught a bus, took the bus to the train station and caught another bus to Lyon. Then we got to the train station in Lyon and discovered that um yea in France they are a little like our airports and resemble malls. Luckily Jonny found us! We bought tickets for the subway and except for a few mishaps (i.e. jonny getting stuck, jonny getting lost, jonny almost losing his ticket, jonny taking the wrong subway) we had a pleasant trip. Jonny showed us the opera, the river that runs through Lyon, Roman ruins, a Roman museum, and an absolutly amazing church on the hill with a view of the entire city! This church was built by the Catholic community of Lyon to thank the Virgin Mary for saving them from the plauge's that where haunting the area. Basically it was the most incredible church I have ever seen. It was filled with huge stained glass windows and gold leaf and smelled like candles and old polished wood--a great combo--and was so peaceful! Kristin, Jonny, and I took a ton of pictures. Then we toured the grounds and saw some of the gardens. It was pretty because here it is the beginning of Fall and so the leaves are changing and falling. I love the smell of fall, it is going to be so nice to get to go home for a real new england fall with all the colors and smells. I can't wait to hit up Richarsons apple farm and get some of those yummy apple donuts and hot apple cider! Alright back to Lyon... We had lunch overlooking Lyon and ended up just talking for a few hours. It was so nice to just stop, relax, and get to talk about the summer, fall, next summer and just the future. The day ended with us running back to catch our bus, that ended up actually being a train because our tickets where messed up. Luckily the man incharge was super nice and took pity on us and let us go for free! Yea for saving money!

Hope you all are enjoying the beginning of Fall as much as we are! Wish us luck, life is about to get rather hectic around here!