Onze (11) Snow in France
27 janvier
It’s been a good long while since we wrote. January has been an interesting month full of ups and if I’m honest some downs. That’s life isn’t it?!
We have been working away at our language classes and meeting interesting people along the way. One Saturday, a few weeks ago we drove to a town not too far away to meet a contact. At one point she was one of the largest distributors of our tracts in France. We tried to contact her at different times and couldn’t seem to get a hold of her. So we tried the old-fashioned way of just showing up. She was very nice and welcomed us in. We met her two young girls and we visited. It was nice to finally meet her. She works at a school for the handicapped not far from our home. So we invited her to come over any time. We went to another contact but it didn’t work out to see them. Such is life! There is a couple in Alsace, France that Tyson has been communicating with. She has invited us to see them, and I think we probably will soon. Here is a link to see: Alsace France
We continue to pass out tracts, and they continue to disappear from the places we leave them. We are beginning to make little connections here and there with people in our town. An opportunity to help our neighbor arose the other day…. And an opportunity one day for a neighbor to help us! Now, when we pass each other on the street we wave and say “Bonjour” :). Some of those opportunities come with time and do not happen just right away, even though sometimes, we wish they would!
Clark and Nicole (Tyson’s brother and his wife) came in on the Eurostar from Amsterdam on January 17th. It was a blustery snowy day and it was neat to watch Arie, their little son play in the backyard with Sterling and Bella in the snow. I think we got close to 4 inches, they were enjoying it. We made snow cream and watched as they made snow angels and threw snowballs. :) All too soon we were wishing for green grass to begin showing again. The snow melted off last Sunday and now it’s back to normal. :)
I sat in the backyard for a little while the other day…a few days after the snow melted. It was one of our rare sunny days, (( thankfully it seems they are becoming more frequent! HURRAY!!.)) The sun was shining brightly and I noticed little flowers growing! They were about 1 1/2 inches tall and their little yellow faces and white petals stretched longingly towards the sun. They were perfect little daisy-like flowers, probably 100 or so of them spread out through the yard. How had they made it through such adversity? They had been under a thick blanket of snow; cold and dark just a few short days before. It made me think of the word resilience. ((Resilience: the capacity to withstand or recover from difficulties)) I had many thoughts on this, as I sat turning my face to the sun, imitating the little flowers. I like those little lessons that God teaches me through nature…
Clarks stayed with us from Wednesday the 17th until the next Monday and they headed to Paris on the Metro for a few days! Tyson and Sterling picked them back up in Lille on Wednesday evening. They stayed a few days longer and we did a little sightseeing with them! Then they were off to Amsterdam for a few days and then home to California! Following are a few links to some places we went.:) Most of the fun was just being with them and talking but we hit a few touristy spots as well :) We enjoyed their visit, and we made a lot of good memories!!
Vichy, France-Canadian War Memorial
Chocolate Factory in Brussels, Belgium
There have been widespread farmer protests throughout France this week. We could hear the loud honking of the cars on the freeway from our house. When we went out and about we could see large stacks of tires, rock piles with dirt and boards mixed in, lying in the middle of the road blocking traffic. In some places in a different area which we did not personally see, they were lighting the tires up and also dropping loads of imported vegetables on the road. The flashing sign today said: MANIFESTATION! Road closed to Paris! So you know things are getting serious!! It’s right in the middle of the Spring fashion week there and I am sure its causing massive problems! Here is an article about the protests. I see now that the government is beginning to make some concessions to stop the protesting.
We think on Sunday we will head to see Bruno and Marie again. We stopped in at their house when Clark and Nicole were visiting but they were not home! Which was disappointing!
Hope you are all doing well and that January has been good to you! If you think about us message us! We like to hear from you! :))
p.s.! I can’t believe I forgot to mention that our new friends Bart and Annet from Belgium stopped in this week! What a nice surprise!
-lydia-
