This is hard...

Everyone's asleep in the house. Everyone but me. I was on my way to bed, just now, and stood up in the dark living room, and stopped. I looked around, and it struck me, really struck me, that this is almost over.

I don't know how that is. I don't know how we are leaving. We just got here.

We just got here.

It's not really 2015, is it? It's still August 2012. My airplane just landed at the Ouagadougou airport.

I just walked out the front doors. I just had my first experience of being overwhelmed by Burkinabé rushing around me pushing phone cards and kleenexes and gum packets in my face.

I just drove down the airport road towards my new home for the first time. I just witnessed little children playing in a sewage ditch. I just passed a boy riding a donkey. I just entered my home and smelled that foreign unfamiliar new house smell.

I have lived here for nearly three years. But, I don't know how that can be because our time here has passed too fast, without my permission, and now we are at the end....

....and I don't know how to say goodbye. I don't know how to let it all go.

I am a very experienced mover, so really, this shouldn't be too hard for me. It's not new. We know how to move. But yet, this is harder. It's harder because before when a move was on the horizon, I knew what to expect. Not all the finer details of course, there is always navigating a new city and making new friends. But most everything else is the same. I know what to expect in the U.S. I may have moved to a different state, but it's all the same culture, same language, same stores, same expectations for living. But this. Life in Burkina Faso. This is, this was, different. This was new in every way. And leaving, leaving will be thousand times harder.

I don't quite know how to do that. This place has changed me. Changed my family. This wasn't some short lived two week vacation where we got to experience a little bit of culture and then go on our merry way. This wasn't like me visiting Paris where I got to dip my toes into the culture just a wee bit, experience some cuisine and observe some differences and then go home, back to life. Going home here, was Burkina. It was living with the vast differences in lifestyle every single day. Different language. Different culture. Different everything. Everything is different now. Isaak said a couple weeks ago, "living in Burkina has changed the course of our lives."

Yeah. It has. How could it not?

We dug our heels in deep here. Despite Isaak's job with the Embassy and my commitments at home with the children, but were really intentional about our time here. We wanted to get involved and minister and do life right. We realized that we only had three years. That's it. Just three short years to live here....and we didn't want to waste it.

I remember thinking that before we came. Saying that to myself over and over, and again all throughout our time here.

"Just three short years.....make 'em count."

And I think we have. I don't have any regrets. I don't wish we would have done more. We were able to do so much. No regrets. None. The Lord has blessed our time here immensely! He has opened doors for us to partner with friends who are serving here long term. He has educated us. He has placed mentors and incredibly wise people in our lives who have lived here much longer than us, to speak wisdom and knowledge into our hearts and minds. These last few years have been the greatest. The greatest of my life.

So, I don't sit here tonight sad, longing, wishing with regret that we had done more, lived better. I know we're not perfect. That's not the point. The point is not loving perfectly. The point is not whether we learned everything. Of course we didn't. The point is whether or not we followed God, if we were open to His leading, if we were flexible to bend and learn and grow and love and step outside our comfort zone and be used in the imperfect ways He asked. And...yeah, I can say we did that. Not in a perfect way. But in a way that we pleasing to Him. In a way that brought Him glory. In a way that challenged us and changed us.

And I am so happy tonight. So much so I can't put it into words. It's just too much. I am so happy that the Lord gave us this opportunity. A trillion words wouldn't be enough to sing on His behalf to sum up my gratitude for this opportunity. He is so generous. So magnificent. To let us live here. How can I ever thank Him? It would never be enough.

He blessed us with three short years. I wanted to make them count. We wanted them to count. HE wanted them to count, to mean something, to change us, to completely alter our lives down to it's very foundation.

And I believe they have.

This has been the greatest adventure of my life. The hardest. The most challenging. Living here brought me to my breaking point more times than I can count. But I'm so grateful for it all. Every. single. moment.

And that, is what I don't know how to say goodbye to. That is what I don't know how to leave behind. It's too overwhelming. Our whole lives here the last few years, everything that God did in our lives and through our lives....how do I leave this place?

It is not going to be easy.

But before I leave, I want to take some time each day to write a little bit more about life here. Some parts that I haven't written about. Some experiences we've had that I haven't written. Some stories that have gone unpublished. Share some pictures that have gone unseen. To share a little bit more, before it's over. I feel like, with only thirty days remaining....that's a good way to help prepare my heart to say goodbye.....

Spring Break

The girls spring break from school officially commenced on Thursday of last week.

It makes me super happy having all the kids home with me. Even with all the extra bickering and chaos around the house, I love it. I love having the kids around.

We have no plans this break to go anywhere. Last year we went to Pama with my mom and some friends. But this year, we're staying put. We leave now four weeks time and I want to make the most of spending as much time as we can with the people in our lives here.

Each girl has already had a sleep over with their best friends. With such little time remaining in country, we're trying to spend as much time as we can with our favorite people, kids included. So while the girls were spending quality time with their friends this weekend, me and Isaak were spending quality time with people dear to our hearts.

These last few weeks are going to go by too quickly.

This week is already filling up -with appointments, play dates, a trip to Yako is in the works to spend the day with Mike and Amy. We are having our 3rd and final big Easter church potluck at our home following the service on Sunday.

We have gone swimming every day so far. The pool is finally warm enough to swim in without freezing. It doesn't make much sense in a climate that daily reaches up to 100+ degrees most days out of the year that the water wouldn't stay constantly warm. You'd think it would, but it doesn't. Either that or we have turned into a bunch a wusses. I can't see myself again going to Hilton Head in November and going into the Atlantic Ocean. Uh uh. I refuse to be acclimated back to tolerating the cold so as to thinking it is actually warm. Like when we lived in Nebraska and we would have a 30 degree day during the winter and we'd go outside, strip our jacket and say, "This feels so good! It's warm today!"

Um, no. Never again. Je refuse.

But I digress.

Back to Spring Break. The girls are currently sleeping in. It's 9am and they are still totally zonked out. I hope they're enjoying their time away from school. My little ladies work hard. They are gone, en route to school and at school, for 8 hours and 15 minutes every day.

That is a long day for little children. That is what many adults work, and my kids are expected to adhere to the same long hours during the day. So, I'm letting them sleep for as long as their little bodies need. Recoup some energy.

I have not taken a single picture of anything so far. But I should probably dig my camera out and get at it. I don't want (or my kids) to forget these last moments here.

It's going to go by too quickly.

A big change of plans in our future.

We were suppose to be moving to Slovakia in August.

Me and Isaak were both very interested in continuing on with his current work position and this particular life path for our family, and we had a number of places overseas that we could have gone once our time in Burkina came to end this summer. We began talking about "what's next" well over a year ago and with all the places to consider, me and Isaak both felt very strongly, and we arrived at the same conclusion separately with the Lord's urging and peace....that Slovakia is where we should pursue.

We prayed and prayed and prayed over this next step, every step of the way. And there was total peace in moving forward.

We continuously prayed for doors to open and close at the Lord's will, and one by one, every door was opened for us to move there. And over the course of a year we felt such assuredness and peace that we were following the Lord's leading.

We were all incredibly excited for this new opportunity. We had not come to this decision lightly, but after lots of prayer, talking and consideration, we knew that like living in West Africa, Eastern Europe would be very different for us, but we were excited to embrace the challenges and change that would undoubtedly come with doing life there.

But here's the thing about following the Lord.....He's the leader.  

And if He wants to change the course we're on midway through the race....well, that's His prerogative.

We are still expected to follow Him no matter where He goes.

Even if it's different from where we thought we were headed.

And in this particular situation, He changed direction.
Abruptly.
He took a sharp right turn that we didn't see coming and instead of continuing on the path that led to Slovakia....He decided to lead us back home to the States.

We received some unexpected news in January on our vacation to the States, concerning Steven's health, and as a result, we were told that we need to return home.

It was a hard blow. Hard news to bare. We really didn't see this coming. Rarely, in life, do you see moments such as these coming. This new road we are on is not an easy one to walk.

But it is clear to me now, that going to Slovakia and remaining overseas was never God's plan for us. The plan, was and always is, to simply follow Him. Even if He asks us to step into the raging Jordan. Even if He asks us to walk out onto the water. Even if he asks us to stand up in front of a giant with just a sling and some stones.

"Follow me."
"Follow me."
"Follow me," he beckons.

He has asked us to stand in front of a giant that we feel ill equipped to defeat. But the battle is the Lords. He will see us through this.

And we will follow Him nevertheless. And right now we are following Him back home. For how long we don't know. Maybe we'll return overseas again someday. But right now, we need to go back. We found out officially on Monday that we have to be in the States in just five short weeks. So our time here is coming to a close sooner and with less notice than we anticipated.

But we trust in His sovereignty and goodness and provision to meet our needs as we embark on a new journey into more uncharted territory.

He led us to Burkina. Into this great unknown. He asked us to follow Him out onto the water, to step into the fast flowing Jordan with only the knowledge that He was with us. And in the midst of following Him here, to this foreign land, he has strengthened our faith, built our trust, taught us hard lessons, further shaped our character, and deepened our intimacy with Him. He has seen us through every obstacle, every challenge, every milestone made, every setback, every teary night, every joy filled praise, every broken prayer, every high and every low of living life in this country. He has brought us a son! He has given us community. He has unveiled our eyes to truth and needs and pain and a complicated beauty. He has burdened our hearts to share it. He has given us a responsibility greater than we feel capable to handle.

Sometimes, God asks us to keep moving forward, regardless of whether the end plan has anything to do with what we're moving towards. Sometimes, he just asks us to be obedient, just to practice walking in obedience. To continue the process of working out our faith. Even if he changes directions mid walk, even if he turns a sharp corner we didn't see coming. Even if he leads us down a dark alley that is not where we want to go. We're still called to follow Him. No matter which path He leads our life on. Left right straight sideways. The direction is up to Him.

But the good news, is that every direction we follow Him on...still leads to Him!

It leads to a deeper, more authentic faith. It leads to a more intimate relationship. Because through it all we are learning to trust. 

I am choosing trust. He has proven Himself faithful to me, to my family, over and over again. I have no reason to doubt that He is standing with us and will see us through this next season of life as well.

Because that's the secret. The secret the Philistines didn't see. Goliath saw David, a boy, approaching the battle line with just a sling and some stones. But David knew the secret. He was really carrying something much bigger with him. He had the LORD Almighty standing with him on that field. And it is He who insured his victory.

I, too, have the LORD Almighty.  And I can rush toward the battle line with peace and confidence, like David, because God is with me.

The ebola crisis.

It has been a very interesting time to live in West Africa. To live here, during this specific time in history, a time in history that will go down as the worst outbreak of the deadliest disease currently known to mankind.

And we live here.

Here, near the borders of it all. 

Let me paint some perspective......

From Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, W.Africa to the borders of Guinea or Liberia where the outbreak is, it is approximately 1150-1200km. 

That is roughly 720 miles away from the center of the ebola outbreak.

Put that in perspective people in the U.S. can understand....

that is roughly the distance from Atlanta, GA to Dallas TX where the current cases of ebola in the US are being treated.

A short distance. An easy drive west on 1-20. 

That is the distance that separates us here in Burkina Faso from the outbreak in Guinea and Liberia.

The ebola outbreak here in West Africa where I live has to date, as of Oct. 15th, 2014, killed approximately 4,493 people with 8,997 people infected. 

The U.S.....1 death. 2 infected.

Hmmmm.

I was reading an article on BBC this morning concerning the situation, which we follow very closely. and it said former UN Secretary General Kofi Anna told BBC he was "bitterly disappointed" with the international communities response. "if the crisis had hit some other region it probably would have been handled very differently," he said in an interview with BBC Newsnight." In fact when you look at the evolution of the crisis, the international community really woke up with the disease got to America and Europe."

Bitterly disappointed is a good word. 

How sad.

Every time I read an article about the mass hysteria gripping the U.S. right now I am bitterly disappointed as well. It's downright ludicrous. 

People should be ashamed.

The media should be ashamed.

It sucks that selling mass hysteria and fear ups ratings and that people are so susceptible to fall for it. 

We have been living near the ebola outbreak for 10 months. Ten months. We have watched, carefully, followed the news about the rising number of cases, watched it go from 100, to 200, to 500, 700, Dr. Kent Bradley becomes infected, is flown to the US on August 2nd, the U.S. takes notice, to 1000, to 1500....before the world ever cared to catch on....then to 3000...the international community started paying attention, now to over 4000....and it's finally become 

Watched the concern when it reached Lagos, Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa, which is ~1000km (620mi) away from us (about the distance from Atlanta, GA to Miami, FL) reach its city center. 

That's how close we are. In American terms. 

We have been paying careful attention because the concern and the realities that this could spread to Burkina Faso is a very legitimate concern. With but the distance from Atlanta to Dallas separating us from the center of the epidemic where there are nearly 5000 deaths.....I think out concern over here is a bit more valid and justified, than the mass hysteria erupting in the U.S.....where there are two.

Americans need to calm down. 

Their fears are completely irrational.

"the people who say and write hysterical things are being irresponsible."

:Here are the facts:we do NOT have an outbreak of ebola in the Untied States."

"There is no ebola spreading in America. Best advice for you and your family....get a flu shot. UNLIKE ebola, the flu is easily transmitted. Flu along with resulting pneumonia killed 52,000 americans last year." Shephard Smith, news broadcaster

People can be so freakin' self absorbed to care about anything happening on a global scale unless it somehow affects them in their narrow minded thinking.

It's irritating.

For goodness sakes....we live here!

I have heard from a number of friends here about how church teams meant to come out here and work alongside them in their ministries have canceled plans to come here b/c of their fears for contracting ebola.

And Burkina doesn't even have ebola!

Zero cases! None. And we live very close to the outbreak, and I'm still walkin' around, going to the market, schools are up in running, people are shaking hands,

and in Ohio I read today that schools are being closed! W-h-a-t is. this. madness?!?!?

People, seriously,

double standards are never the right standards.

Lets all go live under a rock and pretend that our country, our city, our county, our home are the only things of importance.

Lets turn our back on the world b/c the world and all our fellow human beings living in it are less valuable than your life.

Truly sick.

It's situations like this that reveal the true nature in people's hearts. And unfortunately a lot of the reactions I've seen displayed as a result of people's fear of ebola shows a lot more people with sick hearts, than people with sick bodies.

Happiness is.....

....an unexpected Burkina rain storm in the middle of March.

My trip to Paris

I went to Paris.

I went to Paris for four glorious days. Me. I still have to pinch myself. I can hardly believe it. It was a dream. An absolute dream. A perfectly God-timed opportunity. A breath of fresh air and a chance to unplug and unwind. I will never forget this trip and everything that it meant to be there. I feel blessed beyond belief. And I am overwhelmingly grateful. Oh so grateful.....

So back in February my friend Kate asked if I would be interested in traveling to Bobo with Rebecca to meet up with her for a weekend for some special time away. Since my trip to visit her in Bamako fell through, this sounded like a fun opportunity to connect with her again. As I was chatting with her about the details online and figuring out possible dates, she interjected with an invitation to go to Paris with her instead. I very lightheartedly mentioned it to Isaak, like "hey, Kate just invited me to go to Paris with her," and he immediately without hesitation started looking up plane tickets. I wasn't even serious. I had no intention of going to Paris. I was perfectly content way down deep in my heart of just going to Bobo, Burkina's second largest city, and spending two days with her there. 

But Isaak insisted that I go. I think his exact words were, "hmmm, go to Bobo, or go to Paris?! I think this is a no-brainer!" I could see his point =) But I still wasn't sure.

Isaak is so great. He knows that I do not take very many opportunities for myself. In the nine years that I have been a mother I have spent a total of eleven days away from my kids. Eleven days in nine years. I am just not a person that gets away a lot. I don't take a lot of time for myself. I really love my family and enjoy spending time with them. And while it's nice to get away every now and then, it's just simply not something that I've done, or been able to do. It's not easy getting away when raising kids, especially when we've never lived close to family. I was forced to get away for five days a couple years ago when I had the radiation treatment on my thyroid. Me and Isaak took five days to visit NYC and DC for our 10 yr. anniversary. And when we were back in the States in December we took a day to get away just us. 

But that's it for me since having kids. And really, I'm okay with that. Been very content.

But Isaak did not want me to miss this opportunity. Isaak has traveled many places throughout the world, and he knows that I haven't, and he really wanted me to take this opportunity to get out and travel and explore and have fun out there on my own. 

So I went. And I'm so so so glad I did. I've never ever traveled alone internationally before, so I was a bit apprehensive about maneuvering my way through the airports and making my way into Paris from the airport. But thanks to great friends who gave me really helpful information...I successfully managed to get where I needed to go. All. by. myself. I was so proud. I felt so independent! For reals! Sounds silly, but traveling alone and having to figure out directions and taking the metro in a city as big and as busy as Paris....had me feeling a bit anxious. I could do it again no problem, but I was unashamedly nervous the first time. But now I feel like I've got Paris down pack. The metro is laid out so incredibly well, it's so easy travel, it took no time at all to figure it out.

Here is where I stayed, the Young and Happy Hostel. Yes, a hostel. And it was awesome! I loved every minute of it. Slept on a bunk bed for four nights in a room with seven other gals. It was great. It was just like a hotel accept we had to share a room and a bathroom. But it was really clean, cheap, there was a free breakfast each morning, an incredibly helpful and nice staff and patrons from all over the world....staff included! And the area we stayed in was a.ma.zing! Cobblestone streets, close to the metro, fantastic restaurants. Can't say enough good things about this place. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.

Day 1-Friday evening

I arrived in Paris late Friday afternoon, and as soon as I met up with Kate and we finished hugging it out on the corner of Rue Monge, we walked a few blocks to the hostel, dropped off my bags (first time in my life I packed light! I had a small soft weekend bag and a little backpack, all carry ons so I didn't have to waste time waiting for my luggage and have the hassle of dragging tons of bags with me on the metro)....and hit the ground running! I had been awake since Thursday morning, but I was not about to let a little bit of travel fatigue slow me down. I was in Paris! And we needed to meet up with the other three ladies in our group who were downtown visiting Notre Dame. 

(*This trip came about initially because Kate was going to be in Paris for a work meeting and invited some special women in her life to join her while she was there. So honored for the privilege to be asked to join her and share this time with her and some other dear women in her life as well. It was such a sweet gift for everyone. Three ladies were there the first three days of my trip, and then two more arrived my last day there, and then a couple others came at the end of the week. )

After connecting with the rest of our group we made our way on foot to the famous and original Angelina's Tearoom. This was on my "must do!" list and I was so delighted that we were able to dine here my first night in Paris!

This establishment is truly iconic to the Parisian culture of refinement and elegance. It was founded back in 1903 and since that time it has become a place for Parisian aristocracy, where the likes of Proust and Coco Channel would dine. 

(Kate D. Amanda, me, Kate O. Christina)

 It just so happen to be Amanda's birthday, so it seemed fitting to celebrate here with their world famous dessert!

We sipped their famous "Africa" hot chocolate which is made from the finest coco from Ghana, Niger and Cote d'Ivoire. It was wonderful, and oh so rich!

And I had their signature pastry, the Mont-Blanc, which is a delicious blend of meringue, whipped cream, and chestnut cream vermicelli. Oh my gosh, it was truly the best dessert I have ever, ever eaten, so mouth wateringly delicious.

 

After dessert we went for a night walk in the direction of the Champs-Elysées.

 I saw the Eiffel Tower from afar lit up on our walk. It was magic. I squealed with delight!

We made it to the Avenue des Champs Elysées, famous for its theaters, cafés and luxury shopping. The Arc de Triomphe is seen in the distance where the famous avenue ends.

And boy was there ever luxury shopping! The road was just dripping rich! It was lined with high end shops like Tiffany's, Mercedes-Benz, Chanel, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton, to name a few.

I, however, was only impressed with the Disney store I passed! Oh my gosh it's Disney in Paris!!! Magical!! Granted, it's not Disneyland Paris, but I'll take a Disney store any day! Oh yes I will! Of  course I had to go in and buy a little something to commemorate my trip- I am now the owner of a Mickey Paris doll.

After a pleasant mile long walk we finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe. Here I am standing in the middle of the street to get my photo! It was colossal. I couldn't believe I was standing here!

It was quite surreal, to stand under the arc where Napolean Bonaparte's remains passed under upon his body's return to France, and where Victor Hugo passed under following his death. I had many moments like this, where I just couldn't believe I was actually experiencing this in person.

We capped our evening by grabbing dinner at....eh hem, McDonalds. Which, for the record, we don't have one in Burkina so I was super happy to eat there. And also for the record, McDonald's in Paris is waaay better than McDonald's in the U.S. Because it's in Paris.

Day 2-Saturday
We all had different things we wanted/had to do this morning, so we split up and did our own things until lunch time. This morning me and Amanda made our way to the Louvre! Which was probably the highlight of my trip. Of course I had many many highlights....but this was at the top!

The Musée du Louvre, housed inside the Louvre Palace, the former royal palace before they moved to Versailles. And now the most visited museum in the world. It is massive!! This picture does not even get a fifth of the palace.

 *photo credit Matthias Kabel/stock images of Louvre

(**Here though is an aerial view of the Louvre to show just how big it is. My photo above and below is taken next to the pyramid...but the palace stretches way far behind and to the front. On our boat ride later that day the speaker said the Louvre is so big it would take a person four months to see all of it. Whoa!)

The Louvre Pyramid, sits in the main courtyard of the Louvre Palace and serves as the main entrance to the museum.

Inside the pyramid! You descend into an underground lobby and then re-ascend back into the Louvre's main buildings. We only had about two hours to spend at the Louvre before we needed to meet up with everyone, which is not a lot of time ( I could have spent multiple days there, there is just so much to see!) so we grabbed the pamphlet that had the top 12-15 things to see and went to those to make the best use of our time.  

Here I am with the Vénus de Milo, dated from 120BC.

SO many incredible sculptures. I am a lover of sculptures.

And the Louvre has a huge collection of some amazing pieces!

 Including Michelangelo's Dying Slave (~1513-1516)

 So many of the paintings are just ginormous!

Every inch of the palace, every room, just boasts elegance and artistry. Such attention to detail. It was overwhelming in the best way to experience the Louvre. It was magnificent.

And here is the Mona Lisa. She sits on a wall all to herself, behind a special bulletproof non-reflective glass. Over 1,500 people come into this room every hour to view Da Vinci's famed work. It felt like it too! I had to elbow my way to the front, because there are just throngs of people all trying to get a good glimpse of her. No where in the Louvre is it prohibited from taking pictures, which was a huge gift for me, who is a photo junkie. The only thing prohibited was the use of a flash, but I could photograph to my heart's content! 

The Wedding at Cana. 

The largest painting in the Louvre's collection, weighing over 1.5 tons. It is massive, as the child in front clearly indicates.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace (also known as the Nike of Samothrace), from the 2nd century BC. One of the most celebrated sculptures in the entire world. Incredible.

Me and Amanda is Napoleon III's apartments. Lots of gold and crystal. It was breathtaking.

His dining hall.

Mmm nom nom nom. My lunch following the Louvre. That is a crépe gyro I'm holding. Best thing ever. It's from this awesome little Greek restaurant on our street that was ranked 251 out of over 13,000 restaurants in Paris. Top of the top. It had a line into the street every single night, with people waiting over an hour to get their hands on one of these. Worth it. So totally worth it.

*French faux pas! I became quickly and embarrassingly aware, as I sat on the metro eating my giant crépe gyro ( because we were in a hurry and eating "on the go" is a totally accepted American norm) that French people do not eat on the go. They do not walk and eat. They do not metro and eat. They sit and eat and savor their food in a respectable venue and do not stuff it down in a hurry like this American. My bad. Lesson learned. Cultural observation noted.)

The Eiffel Tower followed. It was dreamy. Commence with the pinching.

Looking into the belly of this spectacular iron beast.

Watched some free entertainment and shared in some cotton candy!

 My many Eiffel poses. One can not have too many when visiting this iconic tower.

 

A masterpiece of architecture.

Me and Eiffel, one last time.

Old and new. Like the Louvre with the Pyramid. I like it. I like the blending of different centuries artistry and architecture. Art is interpretive and personal and unique to the individual and always evolving. There is no right or wrong way to create art. I think the artists of old would appreciate the art and architecture and visions of our century and more recent generations as much as we appreciate and admire theirs from the past.

Here, the word peace is written in eight different languages on each of these pillars at a modern art display nearby.

 Later we took a boat ride on the Seine River and took in all the sights from the water.

It was also fun to people watch. It was a nice day, the sun was shining, so many people were out strolling along the river banks....

 

 sitting close with a favorite person...

 having a drink with a friend...

lounging in a hammock...on the banks of the Seine. 

If I lived in Paris, this would be my spot. When I was a little girl growing up in Michigan our house was across a little road from the Kawkawlin River and I would walk across the street all the time and just sit on a rock near the edge of the water. Thinking. Dreaming. Just watching the water. It was my spot. I loved going there. If I lived in Paris I would come here and this would be my spot. I'd sit like that man hunched up against the wall near the waters edge and just....be.

Next we went to Eglise St.-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris dating back to 558AD.

Incredible. This was the first church/cathedral I went in and I was blown away by its beauty. This church holds one of my favorite memories from my trip.....about five minutes after we entered the church, we were standing in the back looking around, taking pictures, when a man stands up at the front and begins to introduce a six person youth choir. They were performing at churches all through the city, and this evening they happen to be performing at St.-Germain. Then three girls and three guys took the stage and began to sing the most powerful a cappella songs in Latin. 

The sounds would drift up and echo through the chapel, filling the space with glorious music. I sat in a back pew and just listened, letting the music wash over me. It was such a moving moment. The performance gave me goosebumps. To sit in a church that was built and dedicated to the Lord almost 1500 years ago, and have the opportunity to worship Him and pray to Him and give thanks to Him for everything, while the choir sang....was truly a moment I will never forget. I had to blink back tears. It was just a really special personal moment.

Afterwards we had a little pre-dinner bite to eat at the famed Café de Flore where the likes of Picasso and Hemingway used to come and sip their coffee and champagne. It was fabulous!

We capped the evening with dinner at a French restaurant down the street from our hostel. It was superb. French know how to do food.

Day 3-Sunday
Sunday Kate had her half marathon, so the rest of us gals set out in the morning to explore until it was time to meet up later in the day.

As an unexpected surprise, we can across a local farmer's market set up in the square near the metro of Place Monge. By 10am it was booming with business. They had to of been up at 5am getting this place set up, because it was loaded!! Venders galore with amazing produce, delicious food, jewelry, flowers, cheese, flavored honeys and specialty mustard and jams. Heaven!!

I felt like a true Parisian....as only locals were there. (Never mind that I had my camera and was taking pictures like a tourist! Ha!) This was such a special treat. We lingered for a while, meandering up and down the paths checking out all the different venders, sampling produce, smelling the flowers, admiring the jewelry. I bought some gloves, as the last trip I was on in NYC I bought some gloves from Bryant Park. So I felt it necessary to buy some in Paris. Just really special and a fun treat to be able to check out and enjoy a French farmer's market right around the corner from our hostel.

After our pit stop at the market we continued to make our way just down the street a bit to see the Arénes de Lutéce. Again, love the neighborhood we stayed in! So much to see and walk to within just a few blocks of where we stayed.

This is one of the most important remains of the Gallo-Roman era in Paris.

 Constructed in the 1st century AD this amphitheater could once seat over 15,000 spectators.

 It was used to present gladiatorial matches and theatrical productions.

(the oldest thing my butt may ever sit on!)

Only this portion of the arena remains as the rest was lost to buildings in the current neighborhood. There are three grilled animal cages that open directly to the arena floor. I felt like I stepped into the Mark of the Lion books and was about to watch Hadassah's fate! Incredible history! 

This is now used as a public square where people can come to sit and read or play soccer. I love how they have incorporated antiquity into modern times and allow for the continued use of such ancient remains to be enjoyed by future generations. 

I really loved this day. We weren't in a hurry, and just strolled through the town, down back roads and alleys, at a leisurely pace, soaking up being in France and getting to walk the streets of Paris.

We finally made it to one of the most famed cathedrals in all the world.

The place that I couldn't wait to see! The place the girls were the most excited for me to go to!

 Notre Dame!!!!

In all her magnificent glory.

*I talked to the girls via phone skype that morning and told them where I was going and after Sydaleigh said over and over "You're SO lucky!!" Marvelly asked, "are you going to see Quasimodo?!" No honey, he's not here anymore.
"If Quasimodo's not there....who rings the bells?" in her most serious voice.
 I think somebody else rings them now.
"Well, are you going to see Quasi's friends and the gypsies?"
Probably not any gypsies, but I will see his friends, the gargoyles! I'll take a picture of them for you.
At that she was satisfied. =) 

Pretty surreal! It was incredible to see this in person!

Stunning. Incredible craftsmanship. The absolute precision and attention to detail just blew me away. Thank God, truly, for talented people!

 Beautiful stained glass

After I made my way through the cathedral I met up with Amanda and Kate D. and we waited in line to ascend to the TOP of the bell towers!

For some reason I thought there would be a lift to take us to the top, like there is in the Eiffel Tower. Nope. You gotta climb to the top all on your own...and it's not an easy climb! Super steep and narrow spiral staircase with little teeny pie wedge shaped steps the whole way up. It was a hard climb. But so so worth it! Over TWENTY stories high! 20 stories to the top of the towers. I did that! Oh yeah! It was rough going, but we made it!

This is on the first landing looking ahead straight and to the left you can see the Seine river and the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Looking to the right you see the Sacré-Coeur on the hill in the background where we would go the following day.

At the top of the towers! There is the most incredible view of the city up here....

Some of Quasi's friends.

So much detail on every surface of the cathedral. 

 Over twenty stories high! An amazing view!

 The back of the cathedral. You can see the cross shape of the building.

My favorite picture. It's so Parisian. I love the little ladies walking along the sidewalk in their high heels and colorful coats. I love the quirky buildings all mashed together. The church with the arched windows. The tiny chimney's. The cobblestone street.

I had to. Everyone was doing it. =)

In the evening we went to tour the Catacombs of Paris. Back story of the catacombs...in the 17th century the cemeteries in Paris became so overcrowded with graves that they were determined to be a health risk to the public. Their solution to the over packed grave sites was to move all the human remains from all the cemeteries to a series of underground abandoned limestone quarries far beneath the city. So over a period of twelve years they excavated all the bodies and transferred them to these tunnels to make more room for new burials.

You descend as deep as FIVE stories below the surface where there are over 200 miles of tunnels snaking their way throughout the city. It was SO cool! You're so far underground that the ceilings leak water onto your head while you walk, and the walls and ground leak water as well. It's very dank and humid.

After weaving our way through the maze of tunnels for a while we finally made it to where the ossuary began....

The ceilings are really low and the passages narrow. The further you go, the colder and wetter it gets as you make your way deeper and deeper.

"This is the empire of the dead."

 Ah! I see dead people!

See, low ceilings. This is probably not the excursion for you if you are uncomfortable in deep dark narrow places far below the earth filled with millions and millions of human bones. Turns out I don't have a problem with any of that so I had a blast!!

It was so interesting. This is considered the largest ossuary in the world, and there are so many bones that they are stacked ten feet deep in most places.

This was definitely the most unusual but also incredibly fascinating place I visited.

Day4-Monday

My last day in the city of lights.

We started the day with a visit to the Sainte-Michel fountain. A lot of the fountains in Paris were turned off, due to the winter season, but this beauty was still on.

We then stopped by Shakespeare and Company. The original Shakespeare and Company opened in 1919 and was a popular gathering for Hemingway and his contemporaries, but closed during WWII and never re-opened. This bookstore opened in 1951 and was named after the original as a tribute. I loved this place so much! It was so quaint with little reading nooks throughout, and I could have stayed in here all day, being the lover of books that I am. I didn't have a lot of room in my one bag to bring anything back, but I bought three soft cover books for the kids, as a memento of my time here. Of course one of them had to be Madeline! Now we have a Madeline book from Paris itself!

I found a Gerard! Whoop whoop!! Family name! In the Galerie Lafeyette. A really swanky department store where they probably sell $300 socks. I had been on the look out for family names while I was there. We are total Frenchies! My moms whole family history on both sides is French, Gerard's (her dad's side) and Thibault's (her mom's side, though some in the family changed the spelling to Tebo to make it easier.) And half of my dad's side of the family is french. His Grandma on his dad's side was a Lemieux (I don't want to brag but I will because I am totally related to Mario Lemieux. Awesome!!! Hockey lovers dream!) While my grandma is English. That's a lot of French  ancestry.

Moving on...here is a view of the medieval turrets on the Conciergerie, a former prison (where Marie Antoinette was killed) that is part of the former royal palace, Palais de le Cité (the royal palace before the Louvre). Along with the prison was also the Palais de Justice, and Sainte-Chapelle. Unfortunately the Conciergerie was closed to viewing do to a Alexandre McQueen fashion show being set up for Paris Fashion Week.

 *Conversation with the girls when I got home as we were looking at pictures....

"Mom, did you see the House of Justice? Did they really kill people there?"-Marvelly

"Yes, I did see it but I didn't go inside because it was closed. But they did kill people there, it was a prison too, and they would kill people there for their crimes. That's where Marie Antoinette died."

"Oh, I know why! Because she always ate cake!"-Marvelly

"No, it's because she didn't take care of the poor."-Syd.

 Seriously...my kids are awesome.

 Since we couldn't tour the Conciergerie we went to the chapel next door....

It definitely had a "wow" factor! Check out the incredible stained glass! This chapel houses one of the most extensive collections of 13th century stained glass in the world! It is jaw dropping beautiful.

The chapel was originally commissioned by King Louis IX to house his collection of Passion Relics. King Louis IX relics included the crown of thorns he received from the Emperor of Constantinople in 1238. The crown of thorns (which in all likelihood is not a first class relic) is now preserved in Notre-Dame.

The glass sections depict books from the Bible, mainly old testament. As our group was standing around talking about the glass a young woman approached us excitedly saying, "Would you mind telling me about the glass? I'm not a Christian, I'm a Muslim and I can see that you know a lot about this and I don't know anything about the bible but I'd love for you to tell me!" So, we shared with her some stories near the bottom that were easier to see, and she asked questions with so much enthusiasm and it was just a really cool exchange. I hope that short interaction stirs up in her a hunger to learn more and that the Lord puts more and more people in her life to continue to witness to her about His story.

Lastly was the Montmartre neighborhood where the Sacré-Coeur Basilica sits up on a hill overlooking the city.

Out of all the churches I visited, this church I found the most architecturally impressive. Not ornamental like most of the other churches. It lacked a lot of the fine details throughout like Notre-Dame or super impressive stained glass like Sainte-Chapelle, but the architecture was phenomenal, in my opinion.

This was also the only place in the entire city that I visited where I couldn't take pictures. This place also made me the angriest! There are signs posted throughout asking people to not take pictures in order to respect that this is a house of prayer and to remain silent so as to not disturb the worshipers. Absolutely. Of course. No problem. But then....you see all of these souvenir coin machines placed throughout the church, where you can pay two euro to buy a souvenir Sacré-Coeur coin to commemorate your trip. So the whole time, all you hear echoing throughout the basilica is  

clink clink clink clink clink .

As people drop their money in to buy a token. Um, can we say hypocrisy? We can't have you taking pictures because your camera shutter might disturb the people praying, but go ahead and drop in some money, that's music to our ears right there. The whole, Jesus flippin' over tables in the temple comes to mind right about now.....just sayin'. (I won't even mention the fact that they charge TEN euro just to light a prayer candle. You can't even take it with you! Just to light it!) Can I flip over some tables?? So I secretly took some pictures in protest....

St.-Pierre de Montmartre, one of the oldest churches in Paris. Built over a Roman temple to their god Mars.

We explored the Montmartre neighborhood the rest of the evening. It's really bohemian and a hot spot for artist, both presently and in the past. Many famous artist lived and worked in this area including Dali, Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh and Matisse. That's some big names right there!

An open air artist market.

So many talented artists still working here...

Montmartre.

On our way to dinner I mentioned that I'd like to stop by Moulin Rouge to take a picture since it's in the neighborhood. What I didn't realize is that the Moulin Rouge is right in the middle of Paris' blazing red light district. Ummm, whoopsie! I can honestly say that did not even occur to me (why, I don't know!) I thought it was going to be tucked away in a neighborhood. Don't know what crazy pills I was taking! It wasn't! As we were snaking our way through the streets to get here, our iphone gps dumped us out near the very beginning of the street....so we got to walk a long way down the red light district before we got to Moulin Rouge. Leave it to me to lead a bunch of missionaries through a street lined with sex. Yup. So, that happened. My bad.

To end the evening, and my portion of the trip, we ate at a fondue restaurant. You are smooshed into the long tables like sardines so you have to climb over the tables to even sit down. The drinks come in baby bottles. It was just so much fun.

A great place to end my time. Great atmosphere. Good food. We dominated that pan of cheese! So much laughter! Hilarious night. Happy heart. These ladies were such great companions. Going into this trip I knew that Kate(O.) was the only initial common thread between us, so I had been praying over this trip for a few weeks, just asking that the Lord would bless our time together. That all of us women would hit it off and be able to connect right away and have a great time together, find common interests between us and just thoroughly enjoy our time together. And we did! I can count all these women as friends now. Amanda and Kate D. are both missionaries in Germany. Christina lives in the U.S. now but was previously a missionary in India. The Brittany's each live in Romania and the U.S. We were able to share so many great conversations over the days about living overseas, the pain of learning a new language, the Lord, our families, our ministries and work and all that God is doing in our lives. Sharing about our pasts, and just bonding through the streets of Paris and on the metros and over food and in our no privacy hostel! It was a wonderful few days away. The Lord really spoke volumes to me through this trip about my worth and value after a trying year. We were all just able to encourage each other and enjoy each moment and I left feeling so blessed and filled up. I am so grateful to Kate for inviting me to come, to Isaak for encouraging me to go and live it up! and for the Lord for truly orchestrating it all. It meant so much to everyone sitting around this table, to be here. I was just one of many who was blessed by this trip and is walking away with incredible memories.

To an unforgettable four days. I look forward to going back! Twenty year anniversary with Isaak!! I . can't. wait!!! (maybe sooner if I can help it!)