"Wrapping up the summer" post

Sorry it has been a while since I have updated.  The last 3 weeks in France were crazy and we have had to hit the ground running here in the states.  I wanted to share the last bits of our family summer adventure.

Last 3 weeks in Marseille: 

1. The first week was spent with all 3 kids in an English church VBS.  They had fun and made some new friends.  Most of the kids only spoke French, though. 

(This picture is of the one play date Mei got to have with a sweet girl from the US she met at the English camp.  We were sad it was the end of summer that they met because they really hit it off as you can tell:)

Kevin and I spent the week between 9:30-3:30 exploring the city, poking around antique shops and having long lunches.

(This is "Francine from France" who owned the Antique shop right next to our apartment.

She was such a joy to pop in to see and try to talk to.  She does not know English and we struggled with French, but the love and warmth of her welcome did not need understandable words)

  It was a lovely week for us to reconnect after a long summer of having the kids around 24/7.  One day we even took a day trip to Aix.  It was a great day trip that included checking out the flea market and food market.  We grabbed lunch at the food market and had a very yummy picnic on a park bench on the main street.

Market in Aix en Provence

That Saturday we planned to go on a day trip with the kids and Justine to see the Lavender fields a couple hours away.  We even borrowed a car from Pete and Kevin braved the highway!  The problem was we hit very bad traffic because it was the weekend of a holiday weekend.  It took us 1 ½ hours just to get 30 min away and kids felt car sick and so did I.  So we stopped in Aix and had lunch.  While we were there, we heard that all the lavender fields had already been harvested!  So we decided to spend a few hours in Aix and call it a day. 

It is a good thing because that was the day I got some kind of stomach bug.  When we got home that night, my misery started. 

2. So the 2^nd (to the last) week started with me battling a very bad GI bug.  We were all planning to go on a over-night church history trip in the south of France but when it was time to leave Monday, I could not get 10 ft from the bathroom.  I knew it would slow them down so I stayed behind in the apartment alone for 2 days.  I mostly slept that whole week and took lots of trips to the bathroom.  By Friday, I took my first trip out to a French Dr.  She gave me lots of meds that I know the FDA has not yet approved.  I was very dehydrated and I could not keep anything in me most of the week.  Happy that the meds worked and I started turning the corner the beginning of the 3^rd (and last) week there.

So the last week we squeezed in some things we still wanted to do before we left like:

We lead a hymn sing at the English Church:

We got to go Cassis which is an hour further down the coast.  It is very beautiful!

(We rented a paddle boat and I took our kids and Mary Ellen out.  It would have been more fun if the water was not ice cold because it had a little slide.  Still very fun, though!)

We played volleyball one night at the beach with the interns and some people from the French church.

Mei practiced cartwheels on the beach

The sun does not set until close to 10pm at night so this was one of the only sun sets we saw all summer.

We went to Chateu eau D'If (think Count of Monte Cristo).  This is in Marseille and was very fun to go visit.  We watched the movie as a family before we went. 

We took a ferry out to it.  The kids enjoyed the ferry ride up top!

This was used as a fort, then a jail and now is a museum. 

We got to have a wrap up lunch with the team in Cassis:

One of the things we talked to the interns about in closing out their time was who they had to say goodbye to and what closure looks like.  For me, it was taking pictures of some of the favorite spots and people that we connected with this summer.  Francine at the Antique shop was on of those people. (above) and also our "pizza guy" at the corner.  We walked past his pizza truck every night and ended up getting the kids a pizza many nights:)

This is my favorite window in France.  Our apartment backed up to this building so I would see these women hanging out their laundry every day and I would see the cats jump up on the window sill.  I felt like a stalker taking pictures from my living room, but I wanted to capture the beauty of this everyday moment so kept clicking:)

This was taken at Cinq Ave close to where we lived.  When I snapped this, I thought of one of Robert Doisneau's pictures that is my favorite.  Robert took lots of pictures in Paris 50-60 years ago.  This reminds me of one his pictures of a women crossing traffic with a stroller from the 50s.

Then the interns left that last Friday in July and we took the train to Paris with the family.  When else would we be 3 hrs from Paris? 

We have been planning this trip since the Spring and I was so excited to take them to one of my favorite cities!  The last time Kevin and I were in Paris, it was the week Amelia was born in China! 

We did not know that at the time, but I have a journal I wrote to her before we got her and I have entries from our Paris trip in 2004 and it lines up with her birthday.  It was a dream to take her to Paris one day.  I never dreamed it would even be possible when she was 7!  We stayed close to my favorite street, Rue Cler.  Rick Steves’ guidebook got me hooked on this street many years ago.

There is more I could say and may more pictures I could edit to put up if I had time.  We had a great adventure as a family.  I am pretty sure the kids will remember this summer by the sea.  I hope they remember seeing how God works in different places.  God IS at work all over the world and I love that we got to expand the vision of who God is for our children. I also pray they focus on remembering our family time together and all the fun we had.  I am so grateful we had this summer together especially now that we are back in our routine of school, sports, homework and fighting to have time together as a family.  The days are long, but the years are short to I have to treasure the moments we have together.  

Thanks for following along on our little adventure this summer by the sea...

To God be the Glory 

  

Week 5 in Marseille, France

This week was "English Camp" week.

Kevin took Cooper with him early every morning and came home around 6ish every night.  The interns and Kevin ran the show and it was a big hit.  I took Isaac and Mei over one day for a few hours, but we felt it was better for them not to be there since it was for jr. high kids.  I did get some pictures the day I was there and at the end of camp.  The last day they had a presentation for the parents.  They showed off the English words they knew, sang some songs and showed the parents some of the dances they learned.

Cooper was kinda of a star because he knows english and how to play kick ball.  He loved it and made some new friends.

Here is one team lined up to play kick ball.  The French know all about soccer, but baseball, ect is just not played here at all!

Everyday at camp, they focused on a different city in America.  Then they would learn things about that city.  On the New York day, Claire taught them a hip hop dance! 

This sweet boy was a big fan of all the intern girls.

I got to talk with some of the moms at the end of the week and I heard over and over again how much fun the kids had.  You can continue to pray for these kids and the families.  It was a lot of work but it seems very successful.  God is working even if it was not a "VBS" type of camp.  I know the kids felt loved:)  I know my husband was wiped out every night, too!  I heard some comments about how great he was with the kids.  I wish I could have been more involved, but I had an important job to do...

I was the entertainment director for this girl....

and this boy!

They kept me running around all week.  We made several trips to the beach and the park and even rented go-cart bike things one afternoon!

That was a fun adventure!

Towards the end of the week, we started preparing for Isaac's birthday!  The boy is hard to buy for so we took a few adventures to toy stores, but the best thing he got for his birthday was a trip to the...

WATER PARK!!! 

 He told me several times that day that it was the funnest birthday ever! 

We took Pete and Ruth's daughter, Mary Ellen with us.  She is a year older than Cooper.

The boy does not really like cake, which is good because a cake mix is pretty hard to find here.  He did get ice cram at the park and later I made him a big chocolate chip cookie and put a couple candles in it!

I can't believe he is 9 now!

The past 2 weeks we have gone to the English church that meets on Sunday night.  Our home church meets at night so we love it!  Last Sunday, Cooper had a fever so Kevin stayed home and I went.  It was the first church service I have understood in a month, so it was a breath of fresh air.  I did enjoy going to the French churches, but it is so hard to sit through if you do not know the language.  It is hard to get my boys to sit through an English church service, much less a service all in French.  I am happy we have had these experiences here this summer, though.  I am praying it will open all of our eyes more fully to the beauty of how God has made people and cultures so different.  Each culture has some wonderful things to bring to God and the world around us.

  I have been thinking about that idea tonight, because I did not get to go to church because Cooper had an upset belly.  Kevin took the other two and I stayed here and listened to a great Tim Keller sermon on "Culture".  He was talking about cultivating is like culture where you take the raw materials you have been given(like in a garden) and use them to make something beautiful.  He talked about using your gifts and knowledge to do something, like taking a music for example.  You take the raw material of notes and put them together to make a song.  "Cultural activity means to take the raw material and draw out the enormous potential for the good of human beings and human activity."  I love this idea and the many ways that it fleshes out with people and their gifts.    One of the things I think the French are very good at here is food and entertaining.  It is an art.  You do not just grab a quick bite, but you feast for hours.  

This week all 3 kids will be in an English camp everyday all day we hope..pray for no more sickness.  Kevin and I could use some time together to eat a meal and have some exciting adventures without the 3 children who have been with us 24/7 for a month:)

We are starting to talk about coming home in a few weeks!  crazy!  The kids really miss their puppy.  I miss zumba and friends/family and Baja.  Kevin really misses air conditioning!  

Good night from France!

Week 4 in Marseille, France

If I had to come up with a subtitle, this week would be called the "Sick Week."

We started out last Monday planning for the English camp at our place.  We decided we had to go by supplies at a place that was close to the Ikea.  This seemed like it was going to be a very fun afternoon, because I love Ikea and I knew some of the supplies would be there and at a good price.  So we started making our way there.  Of course we had to take a Tram/Metro and Bus there, like we do most days.  This area of town was about as far away as we had gone though.  Everything seemed fine most of the afternoon, but Mei did not eat much lunch.  After our time at Ikea, we made our way down to the "Giant Casino."  the Casino here is not a place to gamble, it is their store like Super Walmart.  By this time, Mei started complaining that her belly was hurting so I sat at the front of the store on a bench and a bag of stuff from ikea.  One of the interns that is here long term had just moved apartments and had bought a big mixing bowl at Ikea.  It was in my bag so I got it out and put it on the bench next to us just in case.  Then I called our missionary team leader to talk about a few details while we waited. Amelia was on my lap facing me and I was only on the phone 5-6 min when I noticed that now the bowl was in between the two of us.  I had to cut him off because then she started throwing up in the bowl..in the grocery store and no one on the team was around.  So I waited til she seemed done and picked up the bowl of yuck and carried it to the toilet with her.  I called Kevin in the store to get a roll of paper towels for the long ride home on public transportation.  It was a long ride home.  We had to wait at the bus stop in the hot sun, then hop on the metro.  It was a day I really would have loved my car here to not have to wait with a sick kid, but we survived.  I am thankful that when she threw up on the bus in the bowl, it did not start a chain reaction of throw up with a packed bus!

We stayed close to home for a few days after that to let her recover.  I could not have been more thankful for the apartment with the boys, movies, ect for those days.  I big blessing to us!

On Thursday, we finally felt like she was back to normal and we could go to the beach.  Kevin was still busy all week planning with the interns, but he was able to meet us later in the day at the beach.

The wind was crazy this day and those windsurfers were racing back and forth on the Sea so fast that their sails looked like little bug wings racing on top of the water.  Marseille has this big wind from the North that swoops down certain times of the year and when it does it bangs open windows and causes all kinds of problems.  These surfers love it and my kids were enjoying the waves where it is normally very calm.

 We stayed down there and had dinner at a McDs kind of place called "Quick Burger".  I found a place on the beach that served real pancakes and syrup!  Then we rode the Ferris Wheel on the beach, at least 3 out of 5 of us did.  Isaac inherited his fear of heights from his dad!

We had a very beautiful view of Marseille from up here!  We could see for miles in all directions.  There was a loud howl from the wind up top, which was kinda crazy!  I really want to go back and ride it at night with the kids, but since it is not really dark til 9:30 or 10pm I am not sure that will happen this summer!

After dinner, it was time for a big concert to start on the beach so we stopped by.  This is a big deal for Marseille.  It is the first time there has been any evangelistic out in the open.  The church we are helping had a booth and the interns helped with kid activities and prayer team.  The French love "gospel" music so there was a draw for the unchurched to come check it out.  Lots of music and there was a preacher that gave a message.  Please pray for the good news of Jesus to take root in the hearts from last weekend.  It is sad to think about this very large city and the very small handful of churches that do not get filled up on Sunday mornings.  It is amazing to think about the martyrs that died in this region years ago and the rich church history.  

Here is Cooper in sumo dress up in the kids activities.  Our kids enjoyed the activities Friday am while our interns were there.

  Kevin and I even slipped away for an hour to grab a quick lunch while the interns hung out with the kids for a few more minutes.  It is a good thing we slipped away, because when the kids got back, Cooper had spiked a fever!!  So from Friday mid-day through the whole weekend, Cooper had a fever.  He never got sick like Mei.  Not sure if it was the same thing, but praying everyone is fine now and we have no more of that.

One more thing I did last week was go back to our other apartment and make sure it was all clean and the sheets were dry, ect.  i also took my camera to take some pictures of the place and area where we spent the first weeks.  

Please pray for our English camp that is going on this week.  Cooper gets to be a part of it because it is a jr. high camp.  Kevin is working hard with the interns all week.  Pray for strength for them.  I am just hanging out with the other two kids going to the beach, park, ect.

Week 3 in Marseille!

Bon Jour from France!!  

Hope you all are finding your rest in the finished work of Jesus on this Sunday!

Here is a quick recap from our 3rd week in Marseille:

We had a several days of planning and prep for the English camp that will take place the week of July 4th for the church.  The interns will run it and so there is lots to do to get everything together!  It is like a VBS but also teaching middle schoolers how to speak English.  The theme is USA.  The church has an ongoing English Club for adults through their church throughout the year.  They have made some wonderful connections in the community this way and many of the kids coming to English camp in a couple weeks are their children!  The end of the year celebration for the adult English Club was this week on Thursday night.  The interns worked hard on presentations for the VBS week and shortened them for the adults Thursday night.  The theme for the party was USA and we decorated with red, white and blue.  The interns were very busy Thursday cooking a very "American" meal.  They had BBQ, potato salad, green bean casserole and cornbread.  It was a lovely evening!

Claire and Mei

English Club celebration dinner outside the church

Justine and her "host" family

Katie and friends (some of her Host family)

Another neat thing that happened this week that I did not document is the Festival of Music on Tuesday night!  Every summer, Marseille has one night to celebrate music.  It is a big deal here and you can find people set up on most street corner playing music, even if they are not the most skilled.  

Early in the night, Pete set up a place for us to sing.  Basically, it was an outdoor area in the middle of several shops.  Kevin played hymns on his guitar and we sang some Indelible Grace songs.  It was fun and we even had some super cute little girls that decided to dance while we sang.  It was in an area of town close to the church.  We had a few people stop to talk to Pete!

Later that night, we heard people at the end of our street setting up music, so we let the kids stay up late and we went down to enjoy.  Some people were playing along with a cd.  Kevin asked to join and play electric guitar and they let him!  They played a blues song and everyone enjoyed it!

On Friday we packed up everything and cleaned our other apartment and moved into our new place for the month of July!  We are so thankful for the family letting us stay here!! They have 2 boys, age 8 and 4 and they have a beautiful place!  They even have toys and english books our kids can read!  Yay!  It is amazing how content 3 kids can be with toys when they have been without them for almost a month!  They have a cool mat on the floor that looks like a city and trucks and cars and people to make-belivie.  This new place has more room so we do not feel like we are stepping on each other and it also has fast internet! Yay!  That is how I was able to upload more pics this time!

On Saturday, we took our day off and took the one hour train ride to Avignon.  We left at 8:15am because we have a book about flea markets in France and heard we had to get there early because they pack up around noon!  The book was right about that and right about how AWESOME it was!!!  I could have looked all day, but we only had a couple hours to comb through it.  I took lots of pics to give you a taste.  Toward the end, we had to bribe the kids with popsicles because they had already used the 10 euros each to keep them busy.  So worth it though!

Notice the Castle in the background!

Katie

Claire

It went on for what felt like 2 football fields!  This flea market is here every Sat. so if you are ever in the area, you should stop by!!

City walls of Avignon

Palais Des Papes

Justine on the streets of Avignon

Candy store in Avignon

Isaac and his cool hat he got here

Mei in Avignon

Isaac on the train back to Marseille

Flea Market finds

A view from our new balcony

Orange Freestyle Cup Skateboarders

This is a free competition that was going on down on the beach this week.  It was fun to watch!  The finals are this afternoon and Kevin took the kids to watch.  There were even some Americans here competing.  

Hope you have a lovely week!