Home Sweet Home!

We arrived in Paris for a "quick" (stress: quick!) minute of site-seeing before our flight left for home. Charon's knee, which had been hurting up until now, "popped" or "snapped" - something NOT GOOD - which ended her site-seeing abruptly and sent her to bed. The next morning we were able to get her a wheelchair at the airport, and the 5-star service that comes along with that, and we were ushered to the front of many lines like celebritites. Poor Charon was a trouper throughout the whole miserable thing. We had some slight delays but nothing earth-shattering and we landed home, safe and sound, about 9:30 Weds night. We are tired and will be thrust right into the holiday hoopla at warp speed but we had a great trip, we learned a lot about working in another culture, how "hard" average daily life can be, how REAL spiritual warfare is, how much our brothers and sisters around the world NEEEEEEED our prayers. We'll have pictures to share, stories to tell, and prayer needs - look for us this week, give us a big hug, kiss both cheeks and welcome us home! Thanks for praying for us while we were gone - it made a HUGE difference! Au revoir!

Food Glorious Food

The Journey Begins to End....

Here we are, Monday morning, cleaning the center and getting ready for a farewell luncheon. Yesterday was church day then dinner with our hosts - it' s exciting to see everyone praising God in their own language, drums beating, all ages, all colors, all nations. It really broadens your mind and your heart when you realize God speaks French.....and turkish...and arabic...and swiss...and English! Two little girls dressed in angel wings sang a song about the birth of the savior- their little brother was to join them but suffered from a late night and a minor meltdown at singing time :) Sound familiar?? We are off to a quick day in Paris- a trip on the bullet train, now there is an adventure. A peek at the Eiffel Tower, hours of de-briefing, asking the hard questions about God's involvement in our lives and our trip to France and what we'll be taking home with us in our minds and hearts. Then home sweet home- back to the Christmas rush in the USA, back to piles of work and no breakfast croissants... Just don't be surprised when we kiss you on both cheeks and spend 2 hours eating lunch and drinking mint tea! Au revoir for now- we may or may not post again, depending on the internet situation. Pray for a safe trip home-getting stuck in Detroit a week before Christmas would be NO FUN!! Love to all - Cindy & the gals (oh, FYI- I am trying to stop Lisa from wearing her jingle skirt in the airport - she thinks it would be a good way to keep track of everyone - LOL)

More Pictures!

Photos!

Quickly (church is about to start!) - the Fete de Noel was a HUGE success - more people came than have come in years, the rooms looked beautiful, the food and hospitality were delicious, and a bunch more stuff happened that I can't share :) but God was faithful to bless the efforts of those who worked so hard to make this night a success. We got to bed well (WELLLLL....) after 1am, tired but satisfied. We begin the packing process in earnest tonight - yikes! I will add as many pictures as I can before I am pitched off the computer! Hugs to all - we miss you and look forward to sleeping on the plane (ha!) and seeing everyone!

Friday in France

Bon Jour those of you sticking with us so far. Thanks for your comments- they are a bright spot from home! We are doing well- the last few days have been spent working around the center. Just like any urban location, everything is "harder" here - buying groceries, doing laundry, taking a group in public transportation. We painted a large room and a back room - not as exciting as Kory's beautiful murals- which by the way, little Joshua, 18 mos, loves, loves, LOVES the camel and the ark - he points at all the animals and laughs - sooo cute.... but clean and bright and much appreciated. We have a boatload of work to do today and allllll day tomorrow - cleaning top to bottom, then decorating top to bottom, baking well over a thousand cookies from scratch (you should see the calculations from grams to ounces, etc- hilarious - and trying to figure out the ingredients- imagine buying your baking soda from the pharmacy - ha!) cooking up a storm (moroccan chicken - yum!) then hosting many guests and cleaning it all back up again for church on Sunday, probably welllll past midnight.

But this is our main task here so we are excited to help and to see what the future brings as these relationships with friends and neighbors blossom. Again, the workers here are on duty night and day, a very fast pace - a lady (from Italy) wandered in last night around 9 pm as we were finshing cleaning and we invited her in for tea and ice cream and a nice visit! The workers make friends with everyone so we visit the shopkeeper next door, the hardware guy, the souvenir guy, the bakery lady - the nice one AND the grumpy one. Just like their logo, they are a lighthouse in a very dark place. Lift us up over the next few days- this event is huge for our friends and while it is a lot of work, it is a blessing ot serve! Missing you and looking forward to coming home soon!Awesome photos coming, I promise!! Hugs, Cindy

Thursday Update

Our schedule is pretty wild so we update as we can- let me try to think back on all we've done..... We did another day of the thing I can't tell you :) and that was good. That night we had a very french dinner - most things were delightful but the blood pudding and (very) stinky cheeses will not be missed - lol. We drove down to the south of France past all the vineyards and the olive trees-even in the windy rain/snow it was a beautiful sight. We then toured what could be called a dungeon or prison tower, truly a castle-like structure used to imprison early believers. Mary Durrand was a woman who was imprisoned for 38 years in this cold, stone prison-google her story, it is fascinating. The early Christians paid a high price for the freedom we enjoy today. We also saw some cathedrals and the palace of the Popes-more stops on the journey to religious freedom. I will post the names and some photos as I get the chance.

Today we are painting the front room of the center and baking a million more cookies for the big party on Satuday. Lift up the Christmas party- many many friends have signed up to come. This is a HUGE opportunity to interact with many cultures and leads to long-term relationships. Lift up the workers here - it is very expensive, very complicated, very dark, and the enemy is always trying to defeat and discourage. We are all doing well, getting along with each other and with the team on-site. Charon's knee is not good but she is quite a trouper. Kristen continues to be the constant- she never gets lost, never gets annoyed, never lags behind, never complains, ALWAYS wears her hat and helps old ladies cross the street - she will NEVE R be voted off the island! What a blessing she has been to all of us:) We are mastering the fake-french accents and have many silly jokes that keep us in a good mood. We can take the bus and tram and metro, we can "almost" shop competently, we can find the bathrooms, and read many signs- we have mastered "pattisserie" which is a bakery:) and the front desk lady at the hotel teaches us a few french words each morning. Several girls washed our clothes at the Indian laundry down the street:) There are many chinese here as well - certainly more of a mix of cultures than I was expecting.

Thanks for following along with us - we appreciate your prayers! Thanks for the nice comments from everyone, especially those from Pastor Brian which did not at ALL make us feel guilty for leaving the office short-handed at a busy time:) Feel free to say hey, it tickles us when we hear from our friends and family back home! Au revoir until the next time!