Wednesday, July 6, 2011

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.








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