Spring is coming!

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

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

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

Snowy Saturday

Quite a bit of snow last night...

Snowday

click to see the pictures.

Snow #2

Well just as the snow from Sunday/Monday had almost melted away, today we got our second big snowfall! It started snowing around 11 and we had several inches accumulation. It is supposed to continue through Sunday, so we'll see how much we end up getting!

Hotel de Ville dusted with snow

Jaime, Ryan, and Doug with Louis XIV

You can barely see Fouvriere Hill due to the snow and fog!

Snow!

It started snowing in Lyon on Sunday night and snowed on and off until yesterday morning. There was quite a bit of accumulation! Here are a few pictures Doug took at Parc de la Tete d'Or yesterday:

You can see a few others here:

Snowy Lyon

Alsace Trip

After our whirlwind trip to Nashville for Jessi’s wedding and Chrismas, Liz and I decided to take a trip to Alsace. We were both suffering from jet-lag, and the weather was less than desirable, but we had ended up having a pretty good trip.

We stayed two nights in Colmar, a small town just south of Strasbrourg, full of Venetian canals and lots of Alsatian charm.

We spent our first day walking around the quaint town, admiring the old-world architecture and bustling Christmas markets, which Alsace is know for.

We ate roesti at a winstub (German wine bar) our first night, which is a typical Alsatian dish made of potatoes, cheese, onions and Strasbourg sausages.

The next morning we took a bus to Kaysersberg and walked through the very tiny villiage, admiring a bridge from the 16th century that survived the Nazi occupation and a church from the 12th century that has a somewhat foreboding altar.

We then left the town and hiked up a hill to see the ruins of a chateau and tower from the 12the century before setting out on a 2.5 hour hike to neighboring Riquewihr through hills and vineyards.

Our trail was blocked for part of the way and we had to find our way through fallen trees and land transitioning from woods to vineyard.

We made it to Riquewihr and had a little picnic after getting some coffee, hot chocolate and bretzel, a pretzel coated in cheese and ham.

We went back to Colmar and intended on going out for New Years, but most restaurants were closed and we had to eat a sub-par meal at a cheap bar. We were the last people they served, so we were kind of lucky to find anything at all.

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and took a morning train to Strasbourg for the day.

We went to the extremely impressive red cathedral with a spire that stretched so tall into the sky, it was shielded by the low lying clouds.

We went to another area dominated by charm and canals and saw bridges dating back to the 16th century. We ate a pretty good meal at a restaurant in the canal area,

before heading back to Colmar to grab our bags and take the four hour train back to Lyon.

Next up for us is a trip to Brussels to see the Bundys, and also travel to Ghent and maybe some other cities in Belgium.

Here are our other Alsace pictures:

Alsace