Doug and Liz

Nashville so far

2011-12-19T06:33:00.001+01:00

Yesterday we did some Christmas shopping, had lunch with Nana, and mom got a delicious looking apple cobbler.

Last night we went to the Stites for food, fun, and games- and lots of laughter! We love our Nashville friends!

Outing to Lexington

2011-11-26T13:33:00.001+01:00

Yesterday Doug and I met Daniel, Kate, Leslie, and Brendan at the Childress Bistro in Lexington. It was a beautiful day, good food, and lots of laughter. I'm so thankful for my extended Branch fam!

Thanksgiving Lupper

2011-11-25T04:40:00.001+01:00

Lupper= meal between lunch and supper.

Colorful fall table

Bountiful Buffet

Lupper time!

turkey carcass= neighborhood dog's dream

back for seconds!

Fall colors

2011-11-24T12:56:00.001+01:00

A couple weeks ago we went to Stone Mountain and hiked the Cherokee trail. The fall colors were beautiful!

Happy

2011-11-22T01:31:00.001+01:00

We couldn't be happier for this guy!

Dennis and Sherie (who made her wedding dress, by the way!) married on November 5th. After 37 years of friendship, God brought them back together at just the right time. The ceremony was very sweet and we were so glad to be able to be there. It was fun to see old Brooks friends as well as our CBC family!

Ho Ho Ho

2011-11-21T19:19:00.001+01:00

Started decorating this morning since we head to NC tomorrow!

Shower for Anna

2011-11-05T23:24:00.001+01:00

Last weekend I helped host a shower for Anna at Lana's house. She'll walk down the aisle two weeks from today!

Sarah's wedding weekend

2011-10-31T00:22:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago we spent the weekend in North Carolina for my friend Sarah's wedding. The weekend started with a bridesmaids luncheon at the Old Salem Tavern, then the rehearsal dinner at the Winmock barn, and of course the beautiful wedding with the beautiful bride. Congrats Sarah!

Bday dinner

2011-10-10T23:48:00.001+02:00

Babette's Café was Doug's surprise for my birthday this year. Due to several conflicts, we were a few weeks late in celebrating, but Babette's was worth the wait! Delicious!

Weekend in Nashville

2011-09-20T02:01:00.004+02:00

This past weekend we made a speedy visit to Nashville. It was rushed, but we still managed to see both of the grandmothers, parents, and a few friends.

Saturday afternoon I went for a walk with dear friends Elizabeth, Anna Rose, and Jessi.

We came back to a very happy Andrew needing some reading:

I keep telling Elizabeth he can't possibly get cuter!

après France

2011-08-27T19:58:00.002+02:00

A bit of info from the past month and a half...

On July 14, we returned from France.

On July 16, we went to NC for 6th week at CBC.

A week after camp, I went back to school from preplanning.

Yesterday finished my 3rd week of school... 3 down, only 15 to go until Christmas break :)

Doug started class at Mercer this past week.

He starts a practicum Monday at a high school in Lawrenceville.

We miss France (and the Hendrixes) like crazy.

Suisse

2011-07-16T16:56:00.004+02:00

A few shots from our trip to Lauterbrunnen with Arlin and Pamela...

Burgundy

2011-07-16T16:24:00.002+02:00

For our anniversary, Doug planned a trip to Bourgogne. We went to Beaune, where we saw the famous Hôtel Dieu hospital. We also saw wine barrel manufacturers working, visited the small village of Brançion, the once powerful abbey of Cluny, and drove through lots of vinyards!

Slow Tuesday

2011-07-05T21:48:00.004+02:00

Today was a pretty relaxing day... I didn't even leave Meyzieu!

Doug and I went for a long walk this morning around a park in Meyzieu that was a WWII German fort. We made lunch for Arlin and Pamela and two men (members of the Christian Church in Lyon) that are re-doing their kitchen. We were able to use some of the bounty from the Hendrix garden!

We spent some time outside and then Doug went to church with Arlin while I stayed home with Pamela and helped clean up and get supper ready.

Hugues, nine year old from church came home with them to spend the night. Now Doug and Hugues are playing soccer... no words being exchanged, but it looks like they are having fun.

First few days in Lyon

2011-07-04T19:28:00.004+02:00

First few days back in Lyon...

We arrived in Paris late Saturday morning, took an early afternoon train to Lyon, and made it to the Hendrix house by 5. The weather is beautiful! Saturday we had a light dinner and managed to stay up until 10 before going to sleep! Sunday we went to church, then drove north of Lyon to a farm-to-table restaurant for lunch with the Hendrixes. We walked along the Saone at an artisan market in Trévoux, then came back to Meyzieu. We relaxed at the Hendrix house, had a very light supper, then watched The Ultimate Gift. Today Doug and I went into Lyon, had kebab for lunch, visited a silk workshop,

had a snack at a WWII Resistance hang out,
and of course, walked along the Rhone!

Sisters of Joy... in Atlanta

2011-06-30T18:41:00.004+02:00

I was so excited that Brooke was able to come down to Atlanta to celebrate Holly's big birthday! Hudson is precious! Yesterday Eryn, Holly, Brooke, and I (and Hudson!) met for brunch at Alon's. I had only been there once before, on a Saturday, when it was packed. This was a much better experience. Great weather, great food, and great company!

Hudson hanging out on the floor

Doug and Hudson playing with toys

Holly's birthday desserts

2 weeks

2011-06-18T21:32:00.005+02:00

Nearly a year ago we left this beautiful city.

In 2 weeks we return!

Buttons

2011-06-03T02:46:00.002+02:00

How creative is this?! My grandmother had several quart-size jars filled with old buttons, many of which are VERY old. This is the second wall hanging she has made in the last couple of weeks. So clever to hang above family pictures! The black looks great with the iron key next to it. Way to go, MamaJune!

End of another school year

2011-05-28T16:53:00.002+02:00

The school year officially ended yesterday. It definitely wasn't the joyful last day of school that I was anticipating. There have been a lot of stressful situations causing us to be weighed down for the last couple of months and especially the last few days. Hopefully the sun and relaxation of summer will cure us. Tomorrow we head to Nashville for a few days.

Doug's birthday

2011-05-24T00:59:00.002+02:00

This year Doug wanted to go to a next-to-the-grocery-store Mexican restaurant for his birthday. I convinced him to go to Frontera's, which is a slightly more upscale version. We went to the one that I went to with my family and friends when we lived in Atlanta twelve years ago. So weird to think this is the third time I've lived in Atlanta.

We have 4 days left of school. I am ready for a break!

Two weeks

2011-05-16T23:55:00.002+02:00

Two weeks and I'll be done for the summer! Lots to do before the end of the school year.

Meanwhile, Doug started his summer session tonight. Fortunately he just takes classes until June 30... then France!

Things I miss

2011-05-04T00:24:00.001+02:00

Doug's pictures

2011-04-07T07:51:00.002+02:00

Doug has taken some really good pictures on this trip- see his facebook album.

what are the odds?

2011-04-06T22:22:00.002+02:00

What are the chances of running into someone you know in a city of 12 million people (not counting tourists!) ? Well, that happened today- I ran into a fellow Salud volunteer from Atlanta at Luxembourg Gardens!

Other happenings:

-beautiful morning at Giverny!

-lunch in untouristy Vernon

-afternoon in Luxembourg Gardens and Trocadero/ Champs de Mars

-supper at Café du Marché

-stroll through the Louvre (including an impromptu drawing contest between Doug and me... Doug won)

2nd try at Musée d'Orsay

2011-04-05T16:45:00.003+02:00

Today we tried to go to the Musée d'Orsay again. We still ended up having to wait in line for nearly an hour. It was packed, and the entire 2nd floor is being renovated, so all of the Impressionist pieces were scattered around the first floor. Oh well... at least we saw a lot of pieces in at the Impressionism exhibit at the Frist in Nashville at Christmas!

After struggling through the Orsay, we went to the Marais neighborhood where we had falafel and shawarma at Rick Steves' (and evidently also Lenny Kravitz's) recommended L'As de Falafel (Ace of Falafel). We ate our lunch in the courtyard of nearby Historical Library of Paris. We toured the Revolution section of the Carnevalet Museum... interesting.

We bought tickets from an SNCF boutique for our day-trip to Giverny tomorrow. We decided to go scenic by riding the bus back to the rue Cler area. We got a little container of ice cream and ate it on the Champs du Mars.

3rd day in Paris

2011-04-04T18:14:00.004+02:00

Today we went to the "Manhattan" area of Paris, La Défense. The Grande Arche is so big that Notre Dame could fit under it. There was a good view of the Arc de Triomphe and other cool modern buildings in the Défense district. We went to Ile de la Cité for lunch- sandwiches which we ate in the Hôtel Dieu courtyard. We went to the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette was held (among over 2,000 others) before beheaded. We sat in a park for a while... then sat in another park for a while. We went to the Franprix grocery store and bought some (more) Haribo, then came back to the hotel to check e-mail. It was a relaxing day compared to all the walking we did yesterday! Tomorrow we plan to go to the Musée d'Orsay (since we didn't go as planned on Sunday).

Sunday stroll

2011-04-03T17:09:00.003+02:00

1) Note: don't go to the Musée d'Orsay on the first Sunday of the month when it is free

2) Note: don't go to the Panthéon while it is closed

So our first two plans didn't work out for us today, but we came up with plan #3 and it worked pretty well. We visited the Cluny Museum, where we saw 500 year old tapestries,

other Medieval art, and the famous Kings of Judah heads from Notre Dame (beheaded during the revolution, buried, and not discovered until 1977).

We then walked to St. Sulpice church, where we saw some Delacroix paintings, and missed the organ concert, but saw the famous organ player, Daniel Roth, as he was leaving. We walked to St. German des Près (oldest church in Paris), had lunch at a sandwich place, then did half of Rick Steves' Left Bank walking tour. We saw the famous "grand cafés"- Café Flore, Les Deux Magots, and Brasserie Lipp. We also saw George Sand's apartment and the hotel where Oscar Wilde died in 1900. We did a quick (15 minute) tour of the Delacroix museum, and ended our walk on the Pont des Arts over the Seine. We continued on, across the Louvre, to the gardens of the Palais Royal.

Supper was at an Asian restaurant on... rue Cler. We walked around the Eiffel Tower then walked back to rue Cler for overpriced hot chocolate.

Père Lachaise and Centre Pompidou (and La Tour Eiffel, bien sûr)

2011-04-02T21:07:00.005+02:00

(pictures in reverse order)

This morning we did Rick Steves' tour of Père Lachaise cemetery.

The weather was great! It was surprisingly not very crowded, even around the most famous graves (Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, etc.). We had a picnic lunch by the Stravinsky fountain (next to Centre Pompidou), then toured the permanent collection in Centre Pompidou. Thanks to our teacher passes from last year (which don't expire until the end of 2011), we got in free... that saved us 10 euros each! We had a "gouter" with the crowds in the big square in front of Centre Pompidou, and enjoyed a quiet moment in the "secret" courtyard of the Hôtel Dieu. We had dinner at a brasserie on Rue Cler, got some macarons from a bakery (also on Rue Cler) and then walked over to the Eiffel Tower and stayed long enough to see it begin to "sparkle" at 9PM.

Arrived

2011-04-01T20:37:00.005+02:00

We arrived in Paris about 1PM, which was 45 minutes early. The pilot came on the speaker to tell us that there was not any room for the plane at Charles de Gaulle, so they were going to have to take back off and land at Orly... which would end up causing a 2 hour delay! After a couple of minutes of everyone starting to look panicky, he came back on to tell us he was joking- it was for Poisson d'Avril- April Fool's Day!

We got to the hotel around 3, freshened up, and then went to the Marmottan Museum. The receptionist at the hotel hadn't even heard of the museum- it is evidently not touristy at all, but it has the largest collection of Monet's works anywhere.

After an hour at the museum, we found our way to the right bus stop to take us back to the Rue Cler neighborhood. We had supper at Café du Marché, where we have eaten several times before.

Today has been very surreal, but at the same time strangely familiar. We were reminded of all the sights, smells, and sounds that were so normal to us last year.

Now for the Haiti story:

We were at the airport about to fly to Fort Lauderdale, when we found out that we would have to cancel the trip and send the GAC students back home. Although we could get to Fort Lauderdale fine, our charter plane to Cap Haitien had been grounded. What we understand is that the company had recently purchased a jet in Europe and that all of the paperwork was not processed in time to use the jet today. The situation changed very quickly from what we thought would be a possible delay in Fort Lauderdale to having to completely call the trip off. Our Eternal Hope in Haiti Representatives worked relentlessly in Fort Lauderdale, negotiating with other charter companies and commercial airlines, but no realistic solution was available on such short notice. The good news is that we weren't stranded in Florida... or Haiti. The bad news is that the kids and adults are devastated. We are hoping to regroup and form a trip in June.

Disappointment

2011-04-01T03:44:00.002+02:00

Today was a very difficult day. Due to a situation completely out of our control, we had to cancel the Haiti trip... at the airport. LONG story. It was heart-breaking to watch many of the students cry as we told them the news. They have been preparing for months for this trip. And it has been terrible to receive so many questions from parents without being able to give answers.

I have been in shock all afternoon, but we wanted to make the most of spring break, so we decided to do something a little crazy...

We re-packed, came back to the airport, and we are leaving at 11:15PM for Paris.

Girl time

2011-03-31T01:34:00.005+02:00

This weekend was girls' weekend in Chattanooga. Elizabeth rented a really cute house for us. It rained all weekend, but we still went on a Saturday outing to lunch, coffee, and cupcakes. The rest of the weekend it was just fun to hang out, watch movies, cook, and relax.

Holly and I also got together with Eryn Thursday night for supper at Com Dunwoody, a Vietnamese-French restaurant (that happened to offer a Scout Mob coupon recently!). Check out our dessert: 3 layers- brownie, cheesecake, chocolate mousse!

When we returned Sunday, Doug and I went to a Haiti adult meeting, Haiti team meeting, small group, and then going-away party for Justin.

We leave tomorrow for Haiti!

We're off

2011-02-18T01:27:00.002+01:00

In 30 minutes we're leaving for Nashville (had to wait until after Doug's class). It is not nearly as exciting as last year's Winter Break (Holland, London, Scotland), but I'm glad we're going somewhere. Our year in France seems so unreal to look back on. Lyon nous manque!

Stone Mountain

2011-02-13T01:21:00.008+01:00

This is our third year to live in Atlanta. We see it everyday as we drive to school/work/church. Today we FINALLY visited Stone Mountain.

We started the morning with a visit to the German Bakery. It was good, but didn't compare with the pastries we had in Heidelberg last April.

Then we headed over to the park. We decided to do the "Walk Up Trail." It took about 25 minutes to walk up the mountain. The views from the top were great! BUT, it was VERY cold at the top! The wind was brutal! Afterwards we did a couple other short trails before heading home for lunch.

hard questions

2011-02-10T23:13:00.006+01:00

Why is this so hard?

Rich Young Ruler by Derek Webb

poverty is so hard to see

when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town

where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me

so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your s.u.v.
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor
what is this, hey what’s the deal
i don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
i want the things you just can’t give me

because what you do to the least of these
my brother’s, you have done it to me
because i want the things you just can’t give me

---

Our small group is currently reading Economy of Love, and I am finally reading Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution, so these things have really been on my mind lately. There are no easy solutions, but I am hoping for measurable and meaningful steps in the right direction.

Snow Days

2011-01-13T03:58:00.004+01:00

Tomorrow will be the 4th snow day in a row. Totally unprecedented.

My productivity has decreased drastically from Monday, when I was a cleaning/de-cluttering/productive machine. Now we are bored and ready to leave the house. Tomorrow I am going to the grocery, even if I have to go on foot.

Christmas in NC, New Year's in Atlanta

2011-01-11T15:34:00.005+01:00

We spent Christmas (and a few days afterward) in NC this year. We were surprised on Christmas evening with SNOW... and a lot of of it!

Doug enjoyed seeing his 15 year old cat, Hobbes.

On Tuesday we went to Winston-Salem, then to the Branches' for supper. The Kornrumpfs came too- Nathan is adorable!

We returned to Atlanta on Wednesday and began the process of unpacking, putting away, cleaning out, etc. On Thursday, I took the plunge and got about a foot cut off my hair for Locks of Love.

On Friday night we went to see Amy's concert (plus Matthew Perryman Jones) at Eddie's Attic. It was a fun way to spend New Year's Eve- of course we didn't actually stay up until midnight- we went to the concert at 7 and went to bed by 10:30 :)

On New Year's Day we hosted a brunch and had a bunch of friends attend. It was a nice way to start the new year!

Frist and Family

2010-12-21T22:00:00.004+01:00

Saturday we went to Centerville for several hours. The highlights were:

MamaJune's new iPod

and live music at the Chamber of Commerce on the square

On Monday we went to the Frist Center with Nana to see two exhibits. We saw the "Birth of Impressionism" and the Chihuly exhibit.

back in Nashville

2010-12-19T02:07:00.003+01:00

We arrived Thursday for a week in Nashville.

Friday night we went to the Stites' home for a potluck.

girls

serious

cup of good cheer

precious

Mmmm

2010-11-26T00:57:00.001+01:00

October-November

2010-11-23T19:54:00.003+01:00

A few happenings...

We had a baby shower for Abigail in October. It was at Gail's house and she did a phenomenal job decorating. She thought of EVERYTHING! Here are the pictures:

Abigail's Shower

The last weekend in October we had some friends over for chili, and the next night was Funival at church. Here are some pictures of our favorite church kiddos:

Chili Supper and Funival

The Nigerian quadruplets (and their mom, Ose!) returned home the first week in November. Here are Ose and me at the Funival:

Their last Sunday at church with all of the volunteers:

And here we are at their going away party:

Their story is here: http://osebabies.blogspot.com/

Update

2010-10-14T23:55:00.003+02:00

Pretty flowers from the Williams... they go well with our tablecloth!

Things have been going much better the last day or so. The nausea is completely gone, I can walk fine, I am getting my energy back, and I have begun easing off the pain meds. I still have a few things... tightness in my chest, residual cramps in my stomach, and chills. Hopefully that will all be gone in a few days.

Today was my first day back teaching. The students (and teachers... especially the science teachers) were very curious about my Black Widow encounter. Most wanted to share with me their own spider stories... which I don't really care to hear right now! After hearing a number of Brown Recluse stories, I guess I am grateful I wasn't bitten by one of those, since that evidently causes your skin to rot (yuck!).

As Mom already mentioned, we won't be decorating for Halloween with spiders anytime soon!

Liz vs. Black Widow

2010-10-11T01:02:00.004+02:00

Well I was thinking I would post about our 10 year reunion when I got back to Atlanta. However, the Saturday afternoon event takes precedence!

Saturday afternoon at approximately 3:20PM, Doug and I were watching TV at his parents’ house, when I felt stinging under my arm. My first thought was that it felt like razor burn, but it was so bizarre to have razor burn when I hadn’t shaved since that morning and it hadn’t bothered me at all earlier in the day. Plus it wasn’t really my armpit- just outside my armpit. I looked down and saw that it was pink and swollen… then I saw her. (I say “her” because Wikipedia says that male black widows don’t bite). Of course I didn’t know it was black widow at the time. I just said “Doug- it’s a spider- kill it!” He gasped and when I asked what was wrong, he said nothing and told me to go splash cold water on my arm in the bathroom. When I returned, he was in the process of trying to catch the spider in a water bottle. I was very annoyed that he didn’t just kill it, and when I asked what he was doing, he just ignored me. After a minute he caught the spider and went downstairs with the bottle.

I could hear serious voices talking downstairs. I followed a couple minutes later and he was showing his parents. They all pointed out the red hourglass and said that we needed to go to the hospital. Although you can't see it in the pictures, the red hourglass was really clear.

I thought they were overreacting… I mean my arm was just stinging- it didn’t really hurt or anything. I suggested going to a Minute Clinic, but they insisted on the ER.

While we were in the car, my arm started aching… kind of like after you get a flu shot. About 15 minutes later, it started hurting- stronger than aching- and had moved down my side and down my arm to my fingers, so that it was difficult to even sign my name. While in triage, my stomach started cramping up, as well as my back. Since Doug had the foresight to bring the spider bottle to the hospital with us, we were able to go back to a room right away since the hospital staff could clearly see it was a black widow. Once in the room, they hooked me up to a monitor- which I still thought was a little overkill based on the pain I was experiencing.

(at this point it was hurting, but I was mostly just annoyed at all the inconvenience I was causing... I think I still thought I would be out of the hospital in a few minutes)

Within another 15 minutes, though, the pain in my stomach and back was excruciating, as well as pain shooting down my legs, tightness in my chest, dizziness, etc. They did and EKG scan, took a urine sample, took blood, gave me morphine and Ativan, then put me on oxygen. When I started shaking a few minutes later, they put warm blankets over me, gave me an IV bag, and moved me to a room where they could more closely monitor me. As my pain continued to increase, so did my drowsiness (three more rounds of morphine and Ativan!), so between writhing in pain, I dozed off. They did a series of tests on me, most of which I don’t remember because I was so out of it.

(now I was reeeeeeally miserable)

Doug was so good- he stayed by my side the whole time, calling my parents and sis to keep them informed, holding my hand, rubbing my back (the pain in my stomach and back were the most unbearable). Finally a little after 11PM they said that my vital signs had stayed strong through the most critical period, so I could be discharged. I was shocked when I realized that my legs were so weak that I couldn’t even walk on my own. I hobbled out holding onto Doug and his mom. I ate a couple bites of pimiento cheese sandwich when we got home and then fell asleep until 2AM. At two the pain was back, but it was another hour and a half before I could take another dose of the pain medication. I tossed and turned and was not able to get comfortable. Even after I took the meds at 3:30, I had a hard time going back to sleep. It was so hard to get in a comfortable position when every part of my body was hurting. The nurses told us at the hospital that once the venom is in your bloodstream it attacks muscles all over the body.

We had intended to attend South Fork this morning, but considering I couldn’t walk (or eat due to nausea), we decided to go ahead and head back to Atlanta. Not a fun ride between the hurting, on and off splotchy skin, and nausea! We picked up my prescription for pain medication and for antibiotics at CVS, and to top it all off, the nurse practitioner at the Minute Clinic confirmed what the Dr. had warned might happen- a bladder infection caused by the venom breaking down in my system.

So now I am just hanging out in bed… but I’m not very comfortable! And all I have eaten today are two small yogurts. On the bright side, my legs are doing a lot better this afternoon and I can walk from one room to the next without holding on to things.

The doctors said I should be doing better in a couple of days, so I won’t be working tomorrow, but hopefully I’ll be able to go back to work Tuesday.

So, not the Saturday I would have imagined, but I am thankful to be home and to be getting better!

10 years?

2010-10-08T00:40:00.010+02:00

Tomorrow morning we go to NC to visit Doug's family and attend my 10th high school reunion.

10th? Really?

Well I guess it has been a while since...

...cheesy senior class playground picture

...Daniel on retro day

...little Katie Jean and Lilly

...visiting with Kendra and Kelli on one of their visits home from Lipscomb

...retro Halloween dance

...birthday party for Daniel

...exploring Dad's knife collection

...Homecoming queen Sarah

...little Jess and Les

...Kendra's favorite dining establishment, Ronnie's

...quite possibly the scariest picture ever

...and it was another before until I met Doug, but here he is as a Senior, playing in the homecoming band :)

Saturday night

2010-10-06T01:19:00.010+02:00

This past Saturday we invited three Lipscomb friends who now live in Atlanta over for supper. Eryn and her husband, David, Ashley (her husband was in TN), Holly, Shawn, and their two cute boys came over. Fun was had by all :)

Busy weekend

2010-09-20T22:52:00.002+02:00

The last few days have been filled with lots of church-related activities...

Thursday night I went over to help out with the preemie quadruplets. They are all so tiny! There are some pictures on their blog you can see here: http://osebabies.blogspot.com/

Saturday morning was a Time2$ave coupon workshop at church.

Saturday evening there was a fish fry to benefit NETworks Cooperative Ministry.

Sunday afternoon was the Walk for Honduras to benefit Predisan.

And finally, Sunday night was small group.

A busy, but fun and fulfilling few days!

Terre

2010-09-04T03:12:00.002+02:00

Terre Conner, the wife of our dear CBC director, Denis, went home to God last night. She had cancer for nearly 12 years. Here is a song that she wrote and the Brooks Avenue praise team came to sing at their house a few weeks ago.

Terre was an incredible example of faith. She will be missed!

the prosperity gospel lie

2010-08-28T20:40:00.003+02:00

CBC

2010-08-21T22:39:00.004+02:00

This summer was my 15th year in a row at CBC. Doug has been going longer than me, but he has missed a few years. Every Saturday morning, we get a warning message from Geoff:

And each week ends with the awards ceremony... Allena is quite the award-winning crafter!

little update

2010-08-13T01:06:00.001+02:00

-We've been back in Atlanta for 2.5 weeks
-School started this Monday
-Doug's orientation at Mercer is next Monday
-STILL NO INTERNET AT THE HOUSE (I am NOT happy with AT&T)

Trends we missed out on while in France

2010-07-28T20:17:00.004+02:00

After spending a week at camp with 150 teenagers, it has become apparent that we missed a few trends while abroad:

1) Bieber fever

2) Silly bandz

3) Zumba

Moving day

2010-07-18T15:39:00.004+02:00

We were so blessed to have help on moving day!

Last days in Lyon

2010-07-17T16:31:00.005+02:00

During our last week in Lyon, we visited a chateaux for lunch and the Gallo-Roman museum in Vienne with the Hendrixes and with Nathan, an American studying French in Lyon during June.

We had our last church potluck.

Wandered the beautiful streets of Lyon for Fete de la Musique. (see album pictures below)

Fete de la Musique

We closed our bank account.

And had our last bike excursion to the park.

Then we had a day of airplane food...

and a few long hours in the Newark airport, comforted by our first frappuccinos in a year...

Nashville

2010-07-16T23:28:00.011+02:00

We were in Nashville for about 2 weeks between moving back from France and moving to Atlanta. We visited with friends, saw new babies (precious Andrew, for example!), and visited Centerville. Our other highlights were...

Cooking Class

Our first day back from Lyon, we went to a cooking class at the Curious Gourmet.

Mom was an expert crepe maker!

Doug enjoyed having a tasty meal after a day of airplane food.

4th of July...

family picture

Nana's layered dessert

Mom and her teacup that Nana decorated for her 16th birthday party

The 4th of July menu:

-Barbeque Marmalade Chicken

-Oil and Vinegar Potato Salad

-Baked Beans

-Sliced Watermelon

-Corn muffins

-and, Nana's layered dessert!

We moved!

2010-07-16T05:29:00.003+02:00

Well we are all moved (mostly!). We were so blessed that Shawn and Holly came over on Tuesday and helped us unpack and put together beds. So now we have unpacked everything except for books and office stuff... which we'll tackle when we get back to GA. Right now we're in NC visiting Doug's family and then for a week at camp.

Tonight marks 3 weeks that we have been back from Lyon. We miss it terribly!

Anniversary #3

2010-07-09T16:02:00.005+02:00

For our third anniversary, we went to the Mad Platter. It is absolutely delicious! It has a great atmosphere and is more like a European restaurant where your courses are spaced out well and you don't feel rushed. It was a 5 course meal with soup, salad, appetizer, main dish, and dessert.

The third anniversary gift is leather, so since Doug's Bible got ruined in France (long story, but it fell in a bowl of water and then started stinking), I got him in a new Bible. Coincidentally, he also bought me a new Bible! Great minds think alike...

Au Revoir to All That

2010-07-06T04:54:00.003+02:00

I finally gave Doug his birthday present (over a month late, oops! oh well, he had a big birthday week anyway!). I got him a book that was on his Amazon wish list, Au Revoir to All That. The book is about evolving French culture and society, but I thought it was kind of fitting, since we are saying "au revoir" to this chapter in our lives, and moving (literally) on to another. We will miss our year-long adventure, and our lives seem extremely boring right now. Hopefully once we get over the move we will have some energy to start planning something exciting.

First week

2010-07-02T00:29:00.002+02:00

We have now been back in Nashville for 1 week. We've seen some friends, spent time with my parents and grandmother, gone to the pool a couple of times... but not much else. It still seems weird that we are back for good. Maybe this is just the calm before the storm... the next few weeks are going to start getting really busy with looking for a place to live, moving, a week at camp, visiting with Doug's family, and then I go back to work at GAC on August 1st.

year in review

2010-06-29T13:48:00.006+02:00

our school year in review
Travel and Visitors

-September 7 leave for France

-September 9-11 Geneva, hiking up to Becs de Bosson, Switzerland

-October 23-24 Williams arrive, tour Lyon, Paris, Normandy, and Perouges

-November 12-15- Meet Bobby and Bonnie Grigsby in Paris

-November 26-29- Emily Branch and Grant Cornero visit us in Lyon

-December 13- Geneva for the day

-December 16-25- return to Nashville for Jessi's wedding and Christmas

-December 30-Jan 1- trip to Alsace: Colmar, Strasbourg, Kaysersberg, Riquewihr

-January 21-25- trip to Brussels to visit the Bundys and Ghent... and another visit to Paris

-February 5-7- Francophone Europe ladies' retreat in Aix-en-Provence

-February 12-13- trip with Hendrixes to Pont du Gard, Nimes, Uzes, and Roquemaure

-February 16-25- winter break trip to Haarlem, Zandvoort, Amsterdam, Delft, London, Glasgow, and Edinburg

-April 2-5- visit Emily in Heidelberg; also visit Strasbourg and Karlsruhe

-April 10-21- spring break trip to the Cinque Terre, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Volterra, and Florence

-May 12-15- Francophone Europe churches Ascension retreat in Ardeche

-May 27-28- trip with Hendrixes to Minerve, Carcassonne, Lastours, and Sete

-May 31-June 9- Anna Rose and Jessi B arrive in Lyon, tour Lyon and Barcelona

-June 10-17- Mom and Dad in Lyon, Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer, and Monaco

-June 24- return to Nashville

Last Day

2010-06-23T20:00:00.002+02:00

The last 2 weeks have flown by... first with my parents here, then with packing and running around trying to get everything finished up. Additionally, the Hendrixes had to make an unexpected trip back to the US this morning due to a death in the family. So, things have been busy. This post will solely be dedicated our our last day.

This morning we got up EARLY to take the Hendrixes to the airport. While we were there, we were able to reserve our seats for our long flight tomorrow. We came back to the house and I went back to bed for an hour. Meanwhile, Doug was being sneaky making breakfast and cleaning the house. We ate breakfast and I went for a walk while Doug packed. We finished cleaning the house and then went to our favorite restaurant for lunch. The owner and employee greeted us with kisses and handshakes. We had a delicious lunch then walked over to FNAC to see the I-Pad, which we still had not seen in person. Then we got Velo'v bikes and rode along the Rhone river up to Parc de la Tete d'Or. Since it is Wednesday when school is only half-day, and since the weather is BEAUTIFUL, there were LOTS of people at the park. We rode for a while then dropped off our bikes and headed back to the metro. Before getting on the metro, we went by a little grocery and picked up our favorite French candy, Haribo (basically they are glorified gummy bears, but quite tasty). We got back to the house, finished packing, ate leftovers, then spent some time outside reflecting on this year. We are really sad to leave. But, instead of saying "I don't want to go home," Doug decided that we will try to be positive and say "I can't wait to come back."

So, beautiful Lyon, a bientot... we can't wait to come back.

Visit from the Harding group

2010-06-14T22:01:00.005+02:00

Last week the Harding group (McCready family of 5, plus 5 students) visited Lyon. The puppets were mysteriously missing, so Arlin made some last minute puppets for the puppet show... each with their own personality:

the audience enthralled

blond/blue eyed Joseph

Thursday for lunch the Hendrixes hosted the group on the patio.

Doug arranged the cheese platter.

I made a strawberry pie... on the sweet side, but still good!

Anna Rose and Jessi in Lyon

2010-06-10T22:07:00.002+02:00

Here are pictures from our adventures in Lyon...

Anna Rose and Jessi come to France

Barcelona

2010-06-06T17:54:00.002+02:00

We returned yesterday from 3 days in Barcelona. We got to see a lot of neat things and try new food items. Barcelona was fun, and it was interesting to experience Spanish culture.

Here are the pictures:

Barcelona

Au revoir, Ketty!

2010-05-31T20:58:00.004+02:00

Sunday was Ketty's last week at church. She will be going to the US for 2 months and then possibly moving back to Guadeloupe.

She has been so fun to get to know this year- she is really outgoing and witty.

les 3 amies

Emilie, Linda, Ketty

(and Antoinette's baby, Chrismyrne... 4 weeks old on Sunday!)

What a week!

2010-05-29T18:14:00.007+02:00

This has been a very eventful last week!

Saturday, Doug and I went to Ile Barbe with another assistant...

afterwards we stopped by Bellecour for the big Petanque (Bocce Ball) tournament...

Sunday we had lunch with Loic and Mikaela...

Monday, Erin had a girl's get together at her apartment...

Tuesday we had a picnic on the Rhone after church... Erin decided to dip her feet in the water...

Wednesday, I met a few other assistants at the Opera for a free lunch jazz concert...

Thursday we left for an overnight trip with the Hendrixes to the Languedoc region. We had lunch in Minerve...

then spent the night in Carcassonne...

and then went hiking Friday morning around the ruined Chateaux de Lastours...

and finally enjoyed oysters (first time for Doug and me) on the beach in Sete...

more pictures from the trip:

2nd visit to Languedoc

Atlanta again

2010-05-26T09:49:00.005+02:00

It is official: we're moving back to Atlanta.

Atlantans, see you at the end of July.

Doug's birthday week

2010-05-21T20:45:00.006+02:00

Doug's birthdays always seem to last several days... this year no different!

Monday: the arrival of his big birthday package including some of his favorite things!

Tuesday: lunch out with the Hendrixes at El TexMex and then homemade icecream at Nardone.

Wednesday: Hamburgers and chocolate pudding pie at Doug's request!

Thursday: outing to the Gallo Roman Museum followed by a picnic in the Roman theater and a walk down Fouvriere Hill

Happy 27th Doug!

Ascension Retreat

2010-05-15T21:52:00.004+02:00

Tonight we got back from our 4 days (Ascension holiday in France) at the French church camp in Ardeche, the department southwest of Lyon. It was nice to see people that we already knew from other events and to meet others as well. The retreat was pretty laid back with a lot of free time in the afternoons. So the first afternoon we went on a short hike up a "suc" (the name for the mountainous rock formations in the region) near the camp.

We were planning on going for a longer hike on the second day, but when we woke up, it had snowed 12 inches over night! Even the locals were surprised to get so much snow in May!

We ended up helping out in the kitchen on Friday... Doug especially liked slicing the huge bread.

Here are our other pictures from the weekend:

Ascension Retreat

Our next trip is in about 2 and a half weeks when we go to Barcelona with Anna Rose and Jessi!

A few things

2010-05-11T16:05:00.003+02:00

A few things we have done lately...

For Cinco de Mayo we invited some assistants and a couple of girls from church for Doug's favorite meal, Mexican Fiesta.

On Friday of last week, we went to the Resistance and Deportation Museum of Lyon with two other assistants. Lyon was the capital of the French Resistance movement during World War II and the museum is located in former Nazi torture Headquarters in Lyon. Afterwards we rode bikes along the Rhone river down to Parc Gerland, near Lyon's big soccer stadium, and had a picnic.

Today Doug and I went to the museum at the Lumiere Institute. The Lumiere brothers, the inventors of modern cinema, were from Lyon. Their family's art deco mansion holds the museum. I liked the peacock ceiling lights (look carefully) in the winter garden room.

An early magic lantern

Doug in front of the mansion

Tomorrow we leave for a retreat at the church camp for francophone Europe. There will be about 150 people there from churches in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Thursday is a holiday (Ascension), so most people also get Friday off work, so the retreat is Wednesday night through Saturday.

Brrrrrrrrr

2010-05-04T15:50:00.001+02:00

After a week of temperatures in the 70's and 80's, it got REEEEEEALLY cold all of a sudden!

Come back, summer weather!

Beginning to say goodbye

2010-05-01T19:05:00.005+02:00

Since we finished our teaching contracts this week, several of the other English assistants are heading home soon. Sarah and Katie had assistants over on Wednesday to say goodbyes.

(in the back: Maty, Jaime, Charlotte, me, Erin, Sarah, Adan;

and in front: Katie, Emily and Lesley)

It has been fun to get to know other assistants! Fortunately, they are not all leaving right away.

We still have another month and a half in Lyon, and we are very glad that we will have 4 visitors before we leave! We already knew that Anna Rose was coming, but this week, Jessi Brimm, and my parents also booked tickets to come! We look forward to showing our visitors la belle France!

Last day of work... last day of the long commute

2010-04-27T16:01:00.004+02:00

Doug has two more days of work, but today is my last day. I should be excited since I am now on summer vacation (and about 3 weeks earlier than normal!), but instead I am worried. Worried since we don't have jobs lined up... worried because we don't know where we are going to live... worried that we won't find jobs. I know that God will provide... it is hard to be patient, though.

On a different note, I have a feeling that one day we will look back at this year in France and be amazed by our commute to work. It is long and tiring, but it is also good exercise and reading time.

our commute to work:
step 1: less than 5 minute bus ride or car ride to tram stop (or 15 minute walk)
step 2: 22 minute tram ride to Gare Part Dieu (the main train station in Lyon)
step 3: 35 minute train ride from Gare Part Dieu to Belleville-sur-Saône
step 4: 20-25 minute walk from the Belleville train station to the high school or middle school in Belleville.

Now you might be thinking, "oh come on, its not THAT bad," but because there is only 1 train per hour from Lyon to Belleville, we have to take the train that arrives an hour before our classes begin to allow enough time to walk from the station to the school.

Take this morning for example.
5:40AM left house
5:45 tram to Lyon Part Dieu
6:22 train to Belleville-sur-Saône
6:59 train arrived in Belleville
7:20 arrived at school
8AM first class

and because there is only one train an hour, it also works against us on the way back...

5:45PM finish teaching
6:10 arrive at train station (therefore missing the 6PM train back to Lyon)
7PM train leaves Belleville to go back to Lyon
7:35 train arrives at Lyon Part Dieu
7:40 tram to Meyzieu
8:02 tram arrives Meyzieu
8:05PM arrive back at house

Whew! I will definitely NOT miss Tuesdays!

Chorale Harmonie and Renaissance Festival

2010-04-24T16:58:00.007+02:00

Last night the Marseilles chorus had a concert in Villeurbanne.

Although they sang mostly in French, they sang a few gospels in English, including this male-only number:

Today there was a Renaissance Festival in Vieux Lyon (old city center).

there was acting...

flag throwing...

music...

a parade...

human chess...

and sword fighting...

and BEAUTIFUL weather!

Italia!

2010-04-22T20:07:00.004+02:00

We got back last night from our spring break trip to Italy. We had a GREAT time! Here was our itinerary:

Tues-Thurs- Cinque Terre

Fri- Pisa and Lucca

Sat- Siena

Sun- Volterra

Mon-Tues- Florence

Cinque Terre was our favorite since it was SO beautiful and the hiking was really fun. Volterra came in second because it was quiet, relaxing, and also very beautiful!

Pisa was quick (only a couple of hours), but fun to see the Tower. Lucca was nice... the highlight was biking the ramparts. Siena was a pretty city. Florence was great for the culture... we went to 4 museums on Tuesday!

Here are our Italy pics:

Italy

Today we have been catching up and relaxing. Tomorrow night the Marseilles church chorus, Chorale Harmonie, is performing in Lyon. We're hosting a couple of the members at the Hendrix house.

One more thing... tons of people told us that they would come to visit if we moved to France... only a few actually have (the Williams, the Bonnie and Bonnie, and Grant and Emily)... but, we have big new news: MISS ANNA ROSE ANDERSON IS COMING TO VISIT at the end of May! This is VERY exciting that we have a visit to look forward to.

Saturday stroll

2010-04-10T17:43:00.004+02:00

This afternoon it was really pretty so we decided to take a walk near the Grand Large lake in Décines (the town right next to Meyzieu).

We're enjoying the sun!

Weekend en Allemagne

2010-04-08T17:51:00.005+02:00

We spent Easter weekend in Heidelberg, Germany visiting Emily Branch. As soon as we arrived, she took us on a 2 hour hike up to the top of the mountain behind the Pepperdine house! After our hike we had schnitzel for supper. On Saturday we did all the touristy things (churches, University Library, University Prison, bridge, etc.), including the monastery with a working farm and restaurant/shop where we bought some homemade cherry-apricot jam. Saturday night we had bratwurst. Sunday we went to an Easter egg hunt at the castle, then hiked up another mountain with Emily, and went to the "Haus Church" with the other Pepperdine students Sunday night. Finally, Monday we came back through Karlsruhe, where we saw the palace, pyramid, and had lunch by the zoo. Here are pictures from the weekend...

Easter in Heidelberg

The Hendrix garden continues to bloom... some of the flowers and colors are breathtaking!

The day Doug planned...

2010-03-28T14:22:00.010+02:00

Saturday morning Doug made Arlin's famous biscuits...

It was quite a success... he couldn't get over how picture perfect they turned out!

Then Doug then took me to lunch at a yummy Asian restaurant near the mall/train station... then a bike ride... in the rain.

It started pouring as soon as we got to the park, but we ended up doing a lap around the park anyway. I hid for a minute under a tree to try to stay dry.

We stopped by the bakery on the way back to get a gouter... I got a sable praline and Doug got a religieuse au chocolat. Mmmmm. Then we came back home and watched a movie. For supper I made a cheesy eggplant-zucchini bake. It was very good!

Diner Méxicain

2010-03-21T13:25:00.006+01:00

Friday night five other assistants came over for a Mexican-themed potluck. It was delicious!

Afterwards we played Telephone Pictionary...

And the Celebrity game...

and although Erin's celebrity was the most well-known, she had a tough time guessing:

The Hendrix garden continues to bloom! Just over the last few days color has popped up everywhere!

Spring has sprung!

2010-03-18T12:00:00.007+01:00

It has been beautiful weather this week!

The week started off with a delicious Caribbean potluck at church Sunday.

Ketty sets up the appetizer table...

The STAR of the show... the dessert table!

Yesterday several assistants organized a St. Patrick's Day Picnic in the Park at Parc de la Tete d'Or. Over 20 assistants ended up coming!

Just getting started...

huge strawberry...

the whole bunch

The Hendrix yard is starting to bloom, bloom, bloom! See flower pictures...

Nikki Hendrix... so excited about spring

and more flower pictures:

The Hendrix garden

Teacher Strike/ Protest

2010-03-12T20:23:00.004+01:00

We've been reading for a couple weeks about the big teacher strike and protest this Friday. So, since we don't work on Fridays anyway, we decided to go see what a teacher strike was all about. Such a foreign (literally!) idea to a couple of American teachers. We joked about the scene in Oceans Thirteen when the guy goes down to work in the dice factory and then ends up participating in the strike and yelling "You can't keep treating us this way!" We didn't actually yell or hold up signs, but we did walk alongside the teachers for 10 minutes or so to get a better idea of the experience.

Snow... again

2010-03-07T18:15:00.004+01:00

It started snowing after church this morning, and at first we didn't think it would stick, but it is actually starting to accumulate a little bit...

kiwi vines covered in snow

plant on the porch

Doug, being the serious runner that he is, decided that snow would not get in his way of an afternoon run... see serious face:

he came back cold and snowy, but happy

This is trust...

2010-03-06T11:09:00.006+01:00

before...

during...

snip, snip, snip...

and clean-up (yes, that is a vacuum)

Working in the yard

2010-03-03T17:16:00.003+01:00

We survived January and February... spring is almost here!!!

Doug has helped Arlin with some yardwork as the Hendrixes prepare to leave for their big 2 month trip.

Review of the UK

2010-02-27T16:58:00.002+01:00

Here are our pictures from London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow:

London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh

UK highlights:

-Evensong service at Westminster Abbey

-Dinner at Bothy's with Kelli and AJ our first night in Glasgow

-Organ service at St. Paul's Cathedral

-Strolling the Jubilee Walk by the River Thames (tons of random street performers)

Review of Holland

2010-02-26T13:59:00.003+01:00

We really liked the Netherlands. The people were really friendly and spoke English amazingly well. Here are pictures from the cities we visited there:

Haarlem, Zandvoort, Amsterdam, and Delft

Some Holland highlights included:

-St. Bavo's cathedral in Haarlem

-Corrie Ten Boom house in Haarlem

-Flemish fries in Zandvoort

-Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam

-Delft (a very cute town!)

Freezing in Edinburgh!

2010-02-24T17:59:00.002+01:00

Today we went to Edinburgh, and unfortunately it was the worst weather of our 9 days of travel. It was snowing and really windy (the kind of wind that inverts your umbrella) the whole time. We walked up the Royal Mile and saw the castle then we spent most of the rest of the day inside. We went to the Giles Cathedral, the National Museum of Scotland, had lunch at the Elephant House (the "birthplace of Harry Potter" as JK Rowling used to write there), the Writer's Museum, the National Gallery, then we went by the Sir Walter Scott monument and headed back to Glasgow. Tomorrow we head back to Lyon and we are very ready... we are so tired!

Glasgow

2010-02-23T21:53:00.002+01:00

Today we started out at the Hunterian Museum where we saw an interesting collection of deformed stuffed animals, coins, and a little art... then we headed over to the Kelvingrove Museum, another interesting but random museum of fine art and natural history. We briefly caught up with some other assistants also traveling in Scotland. We ate at a Scottish restaurant near Kelvingrove, then we headed over to the East Side to see the St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Art and the St. Mungo's Cathedral. We finished up the afternoon at Starbucks in the City Center. We cooked for AJ and Kelli tonight... Doug made his yummy broccoli pecan pasta and I made a salad and apple cobbler. Tomorrow we'll see Edinburgh!

more London and now Glasgow

2010-02-22T21:05:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we started the day with a visit to the Natural History Museum. In case you don't know, Doug has a little-boy-like fascination with dinosaurs, so he was very entertained. Next we went to Buckinham Palace (which is kind of a letdown if you are expecting Versailles). Then we headed over to the British museum where we saw everything from the Rosetta Stone to mummified cats to Blue Willow dishes. Next we went to the London Tower and Tower Bridge. After that we went to St. Paul's Cathedral for an organ service. We had supper at another English restaurant and then came back to the hotel to pack.

This morning after a big breakfast we took a LONG bus ride to Stansted airport, where we had a delay because it was snowing a lot in London. We finally arrived in a very sunny Glasgow. Kelli showed us around a little bit and then AJ picked us up and took us back to their "flat." They took us out to a nice restaurant for a very yummy 3 course Scottish dinner. Tomorrow we'll explore Glasgow and then Wednesday we'll see Edinburgh!

Westminster and more

2010-02-20T22:04:00.002+01:00

On our first full day in London we started out with Rick Steves' Westminster Walk. We saw the London Eye, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and more. We had lunch in the Cafe in the Crypt at St. Martin in the Fields church. We returned to the Westminster area after lunch and strolled the Jubilee Walk where we saw tons of street performers. There were a few of the standard paint-yourself-a-metallic-color-and-pretend-to-be-a-statue, a few random dancers, people in random costumes, a few musicians, and the weirdest were probably the lady with over 6,000 piercings and the man walking around with a live snake around his neck. We went to Westminster Abbey for the Evensong service, which was really neat to participate in. For supper we went to another English restaurant... I'm not so impressed by English food, but it has been nice to have CHEDDAR CHEESE!! Anyway, we're very tired but still have a big list of things to see tomorrow!

London!

2010-02-19T22:00:00.003+01:00

We'll against all odds we made it to London! It only took 3 trains (on one of which we stood for an hour) and an hour and a half on a bus. We checked into our hotel and went out to a Rick Steves recommended English restaurant for supper. Tonight we are taking it easy... tomorrow we'll see the city!

Amsterdam and Delft

2010-02-18T20:27:00.003+01:00

This morning we checked out of Haarlem and headed to the big city of Amsterdam. We did Rick Steves' Central Amsterdam walking tour (which included sampling raw herring!) and then went to the Van Gogh museum. After the museum we were pretty tired, so we hopped on a train to Delft. Delft is SUCH a cute town! And our hotel is really nice and in a great location! So we dropped off our bags and strolled around for a while, stopping by a grocery to pick up some Dutch specialties, including some delicious looking little cakes. We came back to the hotel for a while and then we went to an Asian restaurant for supper (Rick Steves' said it was popular with the locals and he was right!). Tomorrow we head to London (HOPEFULLY!)... the Eurostar is not running all the way to Brussels because of Monday's accident, but we are hoping to get on in Lille. The service is extremely limited (1/3 normal service), so we'll see!

We made it!

2010-02-17T18:29:00.002+01:00

After 8 trains and 14 hours, we made it to Haarlem late last night! Because of the train accident on Monday, all of the trains between Paris and Amsterdam were really messed up. So, instead of taking 2 trains (Lyon-Paris, Paris-Amsterdam), we took 8 trains (Lyon-Paris, Paris-Lille, Lille-some random town in Belgium, some random town in Belgium-Brussels, Brussels-Antwerp, Antwerp-some random town in the Netherlands, some random town in the Netherlands-Den Haag, Den Haag-Haarlem). Whew! So, today we stayed around Haarlem in the morning, then we went to a nearby beach town in the afternoon. Pictures coming soon!

Weekend in the Languedoc

2010-02-14T21:08:00.007+01:00

So I thought we were going to Provence this weekend, but we actually went to the region west of Provence called Languedoc. On Friday morning we first went to the Pont du Gard. WOW!

Doug said the water wasn't that cold... but in the end, he did not get in

In a nearby tunnel, Doug found some extraordinary icicles...

Next we went to Nimes and saw the outside of the Maison Carrée (built in 19 BC),

had a nice (big!) lunch...

and a visit to the Arena (best preserved of all Roman arenas, built first or second century AD)

and we visited the Tour Magne, part of Roman rampart ruins

Then we headed towards Uzes to our LOVELY bed and breakfast. It was so nice!

Saturday we had a yummy breakfast and then went to Uzes to the market. We also visited the duke's castle and cathedral.

Then we went to the village of Roquemaure their annual Valentine's festival.

We also saw the relics of St. Valentine (maybe) which were brought to Roquemaure from Rome in 1868.

What a fun weekend! See all the pictures here:

Languedoc

Yesterday there was a group of 18 from Harding at church. We had a big potluck afterwards and got to talk to many of the students. They were very interested in the assistantship program.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Paris-Amsterdam-Haarlem. So, next update will be from Haarlem!

Retraite des Femmes

2010-02-08T19:46:00.005+01:00

This past weekend was the ladies' retreat in Aix-en-Provence. It was actually at a former monastery about 30 minutes from Aix. It has recently been redone and the rooms were really nice. I shared a room with Lia, the girl we met a couple of weeks ago at the Bundys'.

It was nice to get to know women from Beglium, France, and Switzerland... many of them I had met before either in Geneva or at the ladies' retreat I attended in 2006.

ladies from Paris teaching a song in Créole

an attempted group picture

We returned to Lyon Sunday after church and potluck in Marseilles. The Marseilles train station is really pretty and has a nice view of Notre Dame de la Garde.

Visite Médicale

2010-02-02T11:07:00.005+01:00

We have now been in France for nearly 5 months, but it wasn't until yesterday morning that we became official temporary residents.

Upon arriving in France (in September) we sent all of our passport copies, visa copies, work authorization copies, and necessary forms off to the OFII (Office Francais de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration). We waited, waited, and finally a couple of weeks ago we got our notice with our required medical visit scheduled for February 1st.

So we went to the OFII, not really knowing what to expect, except for a few things we had heard from another assistant, Erin. We showed our appointment papers to the secretary, we waited in a room for a while (with many people of many nationalities), then I was called out first. I was weighed and measured (with my big coat and boots still on) and then given an vision test. The nurse asked if I had diabetes, if I had a problem with weight, and if I wanted to have a bloodtest. I answered no, no, and no, and then she told me to go into this tiny little dressing room with a door on the other side and she said something quickly that I didn't understand... something about my "soutien-gorge" (bra). So I asked her to repeat it, and she told me to take EVERYTHING off the top and then go into the room through the door on the other side of my tiny little room. So, I followed her instructions, peeking out the door into the big room. There was a lady talking on her cell phone who gestured me to walk over to a big machine. She didn't seem alarmed that I was topless, so I was glad to know I had understood the first nurse correctly. After a chest x-ray (she talked on her cell phone the whole time!), she waved me to go. So I put on my clothes and went out to the waiting room. Doug came out shortly after me and we confirmed with one another that we had similar experiences. We then waited for a while and then I got called out by a doctor. He took me to his office, held my x-ray to the light to show me and told me my lungs were perfect (not that I would have been able to tell if anything was wrong by looking at the x-ray!). He asked me a few medical questions- any big diseases in the last year? The diabetes in the family? The mother's breasts okay? The high blood pressure? I told him I thought my father had high blood pressure and he advised me to not eat too much of the salt. He grabbed my neck (kind of strongly) and told me to swallow and told me my thyroid was good. He checked my blood pressure and said it was perfect and pushed around on my stomach (which was terribly uncomfortable because I had drunk 2 big cups of tea before we came and really needed to go to the bathroom!). He listened to me breathe with a stethescope and then told me everything was good. I went back to the waiting room for a while longer. Doug got called out next. A while after Doug returned, we got called to the desk and gave our proof of residence and were told to go to a different waiting room. So we waited a while longer and then were called back to an office where a lady asked a few questions confirming name and work, and then put a new visa sticker in our passports. We also got to keep our chest x-rays, by the way, and were advised to keep them for 10 years... Doug said he will frame his.
So, all together, the process took about an hour and a half... well 5 months and an hour and a half :-)

Deux Mieux en Mieux

2010-01-31T17:41:00.004+01:00

This weekend was the Hendrix marriage seminar “Deux Mieux en Mieux” (Two better and better). It was the tenth time they had given the seminar, but the first time they had actually done it here in Lyon. Many members (both single and married) of the Eglise du Christ and also the Eglise Chretienne came. The seminar is very similar to Marriage Matters by Jerry and Lynn Jones, but it has been translated, adapted to the Hendrixes’ style, and adapted to fit with French culture. It was funny and also very practical. I understood almost everything, and Doug was able to follow along pretty well.

Discouraged (brace yourself, this one is long)

2010-01-29T20:22:00.010+01:00

"Intimacy with another country is ripened by pleasures but also by loneliness and error... it is nurtured through long wet winters as well as radiant days."

-Shirley Hazzard, "Italian Hours"

January has been a month of discouragement. We have had our fair share of loneliness, error... and it sure does seem like a long, wet winter.

It began with our long trip back to France on December 26th... once again leaving family, friends, familiarity... not to mention sunshine.

The weather is discouraging... cold, gray, sunless skies... short days... rain, freezing rain, snow.

Transportation has been an issue for us this month with the snow, train line work, and strikes. We have a long and tiring commute.

With our contracts ending in April, we are beginning to feel very weighed down with the decisions we must make... do we extend? Do we renew? What if we can't find jobs in the US? What if Doug doesn't get into a PhD program? Where will we live?

But above all, the heaviest burden has been the sudden changes in our current living situation. Once school resumed, our "once a week roommate" started to show up unexpectedly at different times of day. It has been unsettling to not know when someone might pop in... including her parents (our landlady and her husband) who dropped by a few weeks ago and informed us that rather than their daughter staying once a week, their son would begin staying at the apartment at the beginning of February... not once a week, but permanently. Which means we can no longer use the "living room" area of the apartment because that will be his room. We will also not be able to use the coat closet (where we also store our luggage), because that is also in the living room. We also found out that he is a smoker. This was obviously NOT in our lease, and we have been very disappointed, but we also want to try to preserve the Hendrixes relationship with our landlady and family, especially since they are not (yet) Christians.

So the apartment search began... but it is not really the time of year to be looking for apartments as most are filled for the school year... and we got more scam responses than anything else. Otherwise the apartments were too small, too expensive, or too far.

From the beginning of our own little "housing crisis," the Hendrixes were so very generous to open their home to us. We feel like God is leading us in this direction (by pretty much shutting every other door!), so, we made the decision today to take them up on their offer. Sometime next week, we will be moving in. Not only will it save us from sharing an apartment with a smoking stranger, but it also makes sense because we will be gone for 2 weeks in February for winter break, and they will be gone for nearly 2 months in Guadeloupe and the US... they will have someone watching their house while they are gone, and we will save several months of rent.

So, our new address will be:

9, rue Paul Gauguin

69330 MEYZIEU

FRANCE

In all of our discouragement this month we have really enjoyed "escaping" in our travel to Alsace and Belgium. The Bundys were so good to us last weekend and our spirits were very lifted spending time with them.

Looking forward to more travel and praying for "radiant days" ahead!

Brussels, Ghent, and Paris

2010-01-27T11:38:00.008+01:00

Our trip began Thursday evening with a train ride to Paris. We got to Paris late and left Friday morning, so we stayed at a hotel near the train stations. We have had great experiences in the past with Rick Steves recommended hotels (Hotel le Bayeux, Hotel Turenne, Hotel du Champ de Mars, Bed and Breakfast Arles, etc.), but not this one! Never again will we stay at the Sully Hotel! Our room had wallpaper peeling off the walls, questionable bedspreads, a big stain on the floor, holes in the bathroom walls, and mold in the shower. YUCK! We actually left earlier than we needed to Friday morning just to get out of there! Rick Steves might be getting a letter from me… who knows, maybe management changed since his last book?

Getting ready to leave!

(trust me, it was worse than it looks in the picture)

Our short train ride to Brussels flew by and before we knew it we were there and meeting up with DeeDee. It was a beautiful day in Brussels! We did the Rick Steves Grand Place walking tour and Upper Town walking tour. Here are a few of the highlights:

St. Michael's Cathedral

Notre Dame du Sablon Church

Place du Petit Sablon

Tour d'Angle, part of the 13th century city wall

it is evidently good luck to rub this statue of a former mayor (who, by the way, in 1356 bravely refused to surrender the keys of the city to invaders, and so was tortured and killed)

Friday night we had dinner in the Bundys’ beautiful home. DeeDee made a Flemish specialty, Carbonade. Saturday morning we ended up hanging out at the Bundys’ apartment for a while and then took a train to Ghent. It was cold and rainy, but it was still neat to see the Old Town.

Saturday night the Bundys took us and Lia, another girl staying with them for the weekend, who teaches English in Liege, and Rey, Lia’s boyfriend who lives in Brussels, to their favorite restaurant near the Grand Place. It was delicious! Sunday morning we walked around St. Catherine’s, the “village within the city.” Not much remains of the old fish market than just a lot of fish restaurants. We enjoyed seeing St. Catherine’s church- it was really different than other churches we had seen. We went inside for part of the mass, which was interesting.

We also saw another interesting church and part of the old city wall.

Sunday afternoon we headed back to Paris and went to the Orangerie Museum. We really enjoyed it!

That last painting, called "Les Trois Soeurs," reminded us of the Bumpus sisters. We decided that the top right sis was Elizabeth, to the left was Meggie, and on the right, Caroline.

Next was supper at Le Pain Quotidien,

and then waiting in the COLD train station for the last train to Lyon of the night.

We didn’t get back until 12:30, but we were able to get really cheap tickets by taking the late train.

Click below to see our other pictures from the weekend:

Brussels, Ghent, and Paris

The next 4 weekends will be packed: the Hendrixes’ marriage seminar in Lyon, the Ladies’ Retreat in Aix-en-Provence, a trip to Nimes and Uzes with the Hendrixes, and then our big winter break trip to the Netherlands and UK.

Spring is coming!

2010-01-23T21:53:00.004+01:00

We saw the sun shine 3 days this last week in Lyon!! It was a great change from the normal gray skies this time of year. We have also been able to tell a difference in the length of days the last few weeks... when we leave work on our "long days," we still see a little daylight!

Here are people of Lyon enjoying a sunny afternoon on the Rhone:

A few thoughts on Haiti

2010-01-21T16:30:00.014+01:00

In the fall of 2002, my sophomore year in college, I went with a friend to the Lipscomb Missions fair, and ended up signing up for a mission trip to Haiti. I didn't know anything about Haiti except that it was a French-speaking country and the missionaries in Cap-Haitien, Mark and Cathy Pearson, were former members at South Fork, our church in Winston-Salem.

March 2003

Dr. Mark Pearson and LU students set up a clinic after church.

I played with the girls while their parents are being seen by Dr. Pearson... an "aha!" moment for me was realizing they understood my French!

The trip ended up being a major life-changing experience in so many ways. Haiti completely changed my worldview, I came back and changed my major, and I started really rethinking the consumerism of our culture... and I knew when I left that I would return... sooner than later!

So, as soon as we got back to the States, I started working on a plan to go back. I, along with another girl from Lipscomb, Leslie Gomer, went for about 3 weeks that May. We stayed with the Pearsons and helped out however we could.

May 2003

Cap-Haitien Children's Home

When I left at the beginning of June, I fully intended to return in March of 2004. In the fall of 2003, I was asked to co-lead the trip, so I planned, coordinated, and recruited a team. In early 2004, civil war broke out in Haiti. The Pearsons decided we needed to cancel the L.U. trip. I was devastated, but began praying that I would have an opportunity to go back to Haiti.

In 2005, Lipscomb decided it was still too risky, and Jeff Fincher asked me to lead a new trip to St. Martin. I accepted and absolutely loved St. Martin (Doug and I have now been 6 times!), especially as part of our work was with a Haitian church on the French side of the island. But the whole time I was praying for a chance to go back to where my heart really was.

Not long afterwards, the Pearsons made the decision to return to the States. Now my main contacts were gone. Chances of returning weren't looking very good.

In the fall of 2008, Melaney Cost announced at a missions meeting that volunteers were needed to help lead a trip to Cap-Haitien, Haiti. GAC would be teaming up with a group of nursing students, led by Twilla and Angie Haynes from Eternal Hope in Haiti. After many prayers, Doug and I decided to take a sabbatical from our work in St. Martin and to help with the Haiti trip. We spent most of our time with the kids at the Hope Haven Orphanage. God was amazingly present the whole time we were in Cap-Haitien. Every student (35 of them!) came away changed.

April 2009

Susie Julian (nurse and GAC mom) with 3 month old (but only 4lb) Ana, rescued at a clinic

the slums of Cap-Haitien
sweet Rosemanie showing Doug how to play the hand-slapping-game
Precious Rosemanie

Doug and Ti-Paul

I have been thinking so much about Haiti the last 8 days. Although Cap-Haitien didn't experience any real destruction, the whole country is devastated and paralyzed. See this post from Cheron at the Hope Haven Orphanage.

I've been thinking about the song, Mother India, by Caedmon's Call... it was written after returning from a mission trip to India. I think it fits perfectly with Haiti as well... see the slightly adapted lyrics:

Father God, You have shed Your tears for Haiti

They have fallen to water ancient seeds

That will grow into hands to touch the untouchable

How blessed are the poor, the sick, the weak

Father, forgive me, for I have not believed

Like Haiti, I have groaned and grieved

Father, forgive me, I forgot Your grace

Your Spirit falls on Haiti and captures me in Your embrace

There's a land where our shackles turn to diamonds

Where we trade in our rags for a royal crown

In that place, our oppressors hold no power

And the doors of the King are thrown wide

There is so much that is needed...

if you want to help, see these posts by Lauren, Austin, and Twilla.

Our Saturday

2010-01-16T16:42:00.006+01:00

Walking through Vieux Lyon...

lunch near Bellecour...

Doug had been wanting to try "Kebab," and today was the day

eager to dig into his "sandwich kebab frites"

"not bad" says Doug