Welcome to our humble abode!

Since our apartment was so squeaky-clean today, I decided it would be a good time to give you an idea of what our new home is like...Be warned!! It is tres petit, but never fear! It is also tres chic!! We really love it here, and are thankful to have a place to call home that can also feel like home. We've had a couple of visitors so far, and they've all expressed the wish to live in an apartment "just like this one." Unfortunately, we only pay for it, we didn't do anything to make it so quaint!

The door (which I think is very pretty) is usually open, unless of course we're not home...

The tall, funny-looking thing on the left is our closet. Although only two feet wide, it is very deep, quite tall, and actually fits most of our clothes. We also have some little shelves "upstairs" where we keep the rest of the clothing.

Living/Dining room. Yellow was not my first choice in color, but hey, I didn't pick it out! Actually, having yellow in Paris is very nice, as it rains quite often and can feel rather dreary. This is our little "get away" in the midst of the big city. We really do appreciate the blessing of living in such a lovely place.

Our kitchen, which has taken some getting used to, but which we also enjoy. We've had to get creative with meals, having no oven, no appliances other than what you see, hardly even any cooking utensils (discovered today how much we need a can-opener), but nothing's been terrible so far!

A larger view of the kitchen. See the water-heater? (how could you miss it!!) The ladder on the left goes up to our lofted bed, and the curtain on the right conceals the double doors that lead you into the apartment.


The bathroom. Yes, it is as small as it looks, but serves its purpose and fills our needs! Oh, and the shower nozzle DOES mount on the wall (thank goodness! Most bathrooms across Europe do not enjoy this Western luxury...) but it's leaky when not in use.


Hey look, we're so Trinitarian! 3-in-1!!! Upstairs is our bed, and no, I cannot sit up completely straight without hitting my head on the ceiling!! :-)


Thus far, we've enjoyed many lovely evenings in our little retreat!!

Well, that's the grand tour!! Hope you enjoyed it, and that you'll stop by some time. Honestly, we're desperate for some company!!!!

First Ice Cream and an Evening Stroll Along the Seine

Last night, after a somewhat arduous day of cleaning, doing laundry (1.5 hours for ONE LOAD!) and catching up on sleep, we decided to take the night easy and go for a walk in the Latin Quarter in search of some ice cream. Elodie, our French friend here in Paris, recommended a little place called Grom. So off to find Grom we went. When we got off the bus (which we've been trying to take more than the Metro lately, like any good Parisian!) and arrived in the Latin Quarter, we saw that we were in for a beautiful evening. The sun sets very late here, even since we've been here the hours of daylight have grown longer. It was a very warm evening, no need for a jacket, and beautiful colors and whispy clouds filled the sky. We walked all around until we finally found Grom, which was very delicious (though personally, we didn't think worth the 5,50 Euro we spent on it! That's quite a lot for a very small bowl of ice cream!)



We decided to keep walking through the Latin Quarter to enjoy our ice cream, and eventually made our way back to the Seine river to take in the surreal evening...

This is the view from the Pont Neuf, a very beautiful and famous bridge that crosses the Seine. You can see what I mean by "surreal," the sky and scenery could've been part of a movie set. Underneath the bridge and along the Seine is where a famous dance scene in the movie "An American in Paris" (Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron) takes place.

You can see what a lovely area it is from this photo that Andrew took. There are hundreds of people, mostly students, sitting along the sides of the river and enjoying the evening. Many people bring picnics, complete with a bottle of wine, or they skip the food altogether and just sit around drinking (in public, which is perfectly acceptable here!) We'd like to come have a picnic, but not on a Saturday night when there are lots of noisy people around.

We walked around quite a bit, and took some photos. Andrew really loves our camera, and he did a little "photo shoot" with me, which was fun!

We'd been walking around for about two hours, and when we got far enough down the Pont Neuf, which is a fairly long bridge, we finally saw the Eiffel Tower! I looked at my watch, and saw that it was almost 10pm, at which time the Tower would not just be lit, but would literally sparkle and flash for 10 minutes (as it does every hour on the hour!) It was truly beautiful!

I wish we could've taken a video of it to show you! Pictures just really don't do it any justice. These photos were taken from very far away, as you probably noticed because you can only see the top of the Tour.

This one's rather out of focus, but I love the way that the lights look!

All in all, it was a lovely evening and special way to end our week! We're so blessed to have each other to share these things with, and that we can share them with all of you!

p.s. - If you're wondering about pictures of me with my (*ahem*) best friends Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, they're coming! I actually don't have any yet, as we weren't allowed to have any taken during our training. It may be a while before I get to, um, spend time with them again, but as the French LOVE to say, "Patientez" ("have patience!")

Happyness!

Well, this post will deal with a few things, all to update you on recent developments...

Firstly, we've found our church! It is the French parish of "La Sainte Trinite," meeting in the Crypt of the much larger Russian Cathedral of Alexandre Nevsky. Church in a crypt? Yes, but it isn't "spooky" by any means, more of just an absolutely gorgeous underground chapel. We went on Sunday with high hopes and shaky nerves, hoping that our experience this Sunday would be better than last. We were not disappointed!! The service was very nice, and by the end, the church was full! Full of a nice, healthy, diverse community, even some adorable children. At the end of the service, the Priest greeted everyone with "Christ is Risen" in various languages, and was met with full, hearty responses! We were happy that we could participate in this. Suddenly though, one of the choir members yelled across the parish "Christ is Risen" in an African dialect, and the Africans (standing right next to us) shouted back "Truly He is Risen"!! Apparently, the Priest had forgotten this particular greeting! When we went to venerate the cross, the Priest remembered me from when I went up for Communion. He asked (in English) our names, where we were from, what was our jurisdiction, why we were here...and he said "You are very welcome here!" We were so happy to hear that. We proceeded to look at all the beautiful fresco icons of the walls, when an older man came up to talk to me about one of them. He was very friendly, spoke very good English, and invited us to coffee hour! By this point, we were "giddy" at having found someone who was friendly, English-speaking, and inviting! What a blessing! With new confidence, we walked over to the coffee hour...

The kind man, who later introduced himself as Phillippe Alexandre, came and found us and made sure that we had coffee. He wanted to know all about what we were doing here, why we had come, would we be coming back to the church again? He told the people standing around that we were nice Americans, here for nine months! "Nine months?" That seemed like a long "visit," so many more people began talking to us about it. Phillippe Alexandre's 14 year-old son, Antoine, was also very friendly, although he kept asking if we know Michael Jackson, and later pretended to think that Andrew was Michael Jackson...very odd, but funny!

The Priest is Fr. Alexi, and his wife is named Anne. Anne speaks very good English, and is also very kind. Father told us that there is a young adult group here that meets every month--joy for us! He asked where I work, and when I said "Disneyland," he jokingly continued "What, are you Minnie there? Daisy?" When I said, "No, Cendrillon!" [Cinderella] he was caught totally off guard! Everyone was supportive of Andrew's efforts to learn French..."Well, you speak English today, but tomorrow, you say words in French!" We went home so very happy, and finally felt "at home"!

Secondly, I am officially Cinderella and Princess Aurora! Hip hip hooray!! The gowns I get to wear are so very beautiful! I think I have the best job ever: I get to be a beautiful princess, every little girl's dream, and play dress up all day! :-) We start going into the park on Thursday, which can't seem to come quickly enough. In the meantime, we're learning all about being our characters, their habits, mannerisms, signatures, expressions. This week we'll also be taught how to do our "Princess makeup" and learn our positions for the parade--I CAN'T WAIT!! I really hope I get to be a princess at least fairly often.

Thirdly, we had a marvelous time celebrating my birthday. I didn't feel like it was my birthday, except that I found out that I got to be a princess and wear a beautiful dress, but other than that it was a pretty ordinary day (though being a princess is old news for me...ha). I was a little sad coming home, I thought "This is probably the only time I will ever have a birthday in Paris, but it doesn't feel like my birthday at all!" To help me feel better, Andrew took me out for a lovely dinner on the Ile St. Louis, just us two. It much improved my mood, and it was lovely to just enjoy his company!

Andrew took this very artistic shot of me on the Ile St. Louis. This area is so cool!
The spire in the background actually belongs to a boy's school!

We went to this really cute (and slightly touristy) restaurant with Medieval decor. Inside, you thought the place was going to just collapse at any moment...not sure if it was just meant to feel this way, or if it actually, um, was this way. We had a delicious 3-course + kir and wine supper! The best course by far was the salad course, which was a warm salade de chevre (goat cheese salad). This was no "ordinary" goat cheese. It was SO fabulous!! We sort of half-thought of asking the waiter if we could just have another round of it for dinner...and dessert! That's how good it was!

Us in front of the cute lil' restaurant with the AMAZING salad!! Mmmm!

So that was my happy birthday! Happier because it seems to be my birthday week: Sun. church, Mon. I got to be a princess, Tues. got home and our broken (we thought!) computer was working (thanks to my husband's dedicated crusade to find a new Mac powercord!) Who knows what tomorrow will bring in my birthday week!?

My handsome husband...awww!

First Week Working for Disney

Well, week 1 is finished! WOO! I made it!

This job is so much more difficult than I would've ever thought! It's also much more fun, and I'm discovering that there is lots of opportunity during my stay here...

Everyone who works at Disneyland Paris as a performer plays Atmosphere/Fuzzy Characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, etc...) So even though I was hired as a Face Character (i.e. Princess), I don't find out until Monday if I even will officially be approved to play any of these characters, and if so, which ones. Being employed in the Character and Parades department here at Disneyland Paris means that you perform as an Atmosphere and/or Face Character, doing Meet-N-Greet sets in the park, Photo-Location sets, Dining experiences, Parades, and sometimes shows (there's a Sleeping Beauty show that I really want to be a part of!!!) At this point, I just really want to be a Face Character...every time I see a Princess, I think "I cannot WAIT to do that job!" I sincerely hope (and even pray!) that I get the opportunity to. Otherwise, I'm in for some REALLY toasty work over the next 8 months. I had a mandatory medical exam today and discovered that I've already lost 5 pounds...I hate to think what I'll look like in 8 months at this rate! There might not be enough of me left to return to California, as I will have sweat it all off.

Well, Disneyland here in Paris is quite different from Disneyland at home. I really, really like it though! I have yet to see the whole thing, and even to learn my way around, but so far, there are many parts of it that I actually prefer to Anaheim. Some comparisons...

1. Attention to detail here (on the attractions and around the park) is incredible! The buildings, roads, decor, landscaping...everything seems just perfect and so very artistic! It's very clear that a lot of thought and effort was put into making this park aesthetically pleasing for a specific yet broad audience. At the same time, I feel like the detail put into the performers and their performances are not as good of quality as at Disneyland in Anaheim. I'm really interested to see how a handful of Americans with a very different work ethic will affect this type of presentation. As a newcomer to Disney and to Paris specifically, I was not necessarily expecting to be coming in somewhat on top. Yet from what I've seen, it seems like a lot of people do this because it's a job, and not because it's something they love or even enjoy. I'm hoping that I can keep a positive attitude during the duration of my contract, and remember why I'm here in the first place!

2. The size! It's fabulous, and really perfect! Andrew and I went to Disneyworld for our honeymoon, and we agreed that the Magic Kingdom there was just sort of, well, clumsy. As if they had a mentality of "bigger is better", when in reality, bigger is just bigger! We're used to Disneyland, which is quaint, original, but also bursting at the seams!! Disneyland Paris is much more spacious than Disneyland in Anaheim, and understandably so, being only 17 as opposed to 55 years old. I feel that here though, one has room to breathe, to navigate, appreciate, and enjoy all aspects of the park. While I have yet to experience a truly "packed" day, I don't think that this place could ever seem overcrowded, as Disneyland Anaheim has seemed to become over the past couple of years.

3. The interesting thing about Disneyland Paris is that it really has to cater to a certain type of audience...a people with a history. Now you may not realize, but Disneyland Paris is set up in the same way as Disneyland Anaheim, complete with Main Street USA (very UN-French), Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Discoveryland (the same as our Tomorrowland). So, while it has the same basic outline, what is inside each of the lands provides the contrast from what I'm used to. At Disneyland back home, I've always experienced a kind of whimsical "other-world" feel from the each respective land/area of the park. But in Disneyland Paris, one experiences a kind of whimsical "other-time" in each land, where history seems to have left a mark on each and every aspect of that area in a unique way. In the Castle walk-through, for instance, instead of looking at animated scenes made with mirror tricks (like at home), the story of Sleeping Beauty is told through stained-glass windows and tapestries! VERY French! These things will have meaning for and affect a European audience in ways that Americans would react very differently to. Fantasyland itself feels like an actual Medieval town! The Carousel, rather than boasting the gallant white horses of Anaheim, shows off fully armored and ready-for-war Steeds, surrounded by coats of arms! I expected knights in shining armor to appear at any moment...

I hate to admit (especially on this "happy Disney" post) that I'm a fan of Eddie Izzard, who is a rather crass but also extremely hilarious British comedian. However, he brings up a good point and perspective when talking about the Disneyland Paris park, and that's what I'll leave you with so you may better understand what I'm trying to say:

"I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from.  Oh, yes.  You tear your
history down, man. "It’s 200 years old, let's smash it and put a car park
here."  I have seen it in stories. I saw a program on something in Miami.
"We've redecorated this building to how it looked over fifty years ago!"
People are going, "No, surely not! No! No one was alive then." We've got
tons of history lying about. Big old castles.  They just get in the way.
"There's a blasted castle, I'll have to drive around."  Disney came over and
built Euro Disney.  They built the Disney castle there.  Everyone was like,
"Make it bigger, they've actually got them here…and they're not made of
plastic." We've got tons of them. You think we all live in castles and we do.
We've got a castle each.  We're up to here with castles.  We just long for a
bungalow or something."

Les Photos!!

Here are some Paris photos (at last). This is what we did over the weekend...

Behind the beautiful Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris. The park
and garden behind it is so peaceful!

Andrew with the Apostles...we think St. Andrew is the 3rd from the right...
(he is holding an "x" shaped cross).

The nearly-deserted courtyard in front of the Notre Dame. During the day, there
would be hundreds of people swarming around. THE crown of thorns is here (purchased
by King Louis IX from the Emperor of Byzantium about 800 years ago!) and you can venerate
it the first Friday of every month!! THE CROWN OF THORNS! We will pray for all of you when we go!

Andrew looking pleased outside the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up because the
line was about 3 hours long, but we'll definitely see the whole thing some time
in the next 9 months!!

Outside the Palais de Chaillot. I love the art-deco statues!

Andrew at the Pont Alexandre III, a beautiful bridge that connects the
left and right banks of central Paris.

Andrew took this beautiful photo...the flag and statuary are on top of the
Grand Palais...an old, Art Nouveau styled gallery.

A not-so-beautiful-day-turned-very-beautiful-day...typical for Paris!

Hope you enjoyed the photos!! More to come later on. I'll be posting about my first week at Disney soon.

Love and miss you all!!

Of Markets and More...

I'm sitting here with my feet up after a long day of walking (sometimes in the rain!!), enjoying a delicious cup of hot Earl Grey tea, listening to the light drizzle outside our door. As this entry officially starts, allow me to say one thing: THE FRENCH HAVE A FAULTY REPUTATION!!! "Let me 'splain...no, there is too much, let me sum-up..." (If you're confused, go watch The Princess Bride)

Everyone has to eat, right? So everyone has to go shopping for food (unless you eat out all the time), right? Right. And everyone and each culture has their own way of accomplishing this task, understandably so. Well, until our move here, I had a very different impression of the French-style errand of shopping.
- I had heard, read, and learned that there are various types of food shops ("Fromagerie" - Cheese shop, "Charcuterie" - Butcher, "Boulangerie" - Bakery, etc...) where Parisians would go to collect all the individual elements needed to put together their fabulous meals and diets. This is true...we have all these types of shops and more just on our street.
- In addition, there are within walking distance from our place at least 5 outdoor farmer's markets that operate on various days of the week at varying times. There are probably close to 100 of these throughout the city that take place over the course of the week. Also very "French," and expected here in Paris.
- We also, however, have all these shops with interesting names in our neighborhood: Monoprix, Franprix, Simply Market, G-20, Ed...they are all supermarkets. The funny thing is, a supermarket in Paris can be anything from a small room that sells fresh breads and freshly made meals (sandwiches, salads, etc.), to a 7-11 type and size shop, to a fair-sized and very well-stocked supermarket.
- Finally, there is Auchan, the French Costco. It is unbelievable - c'est incroyable! (more to follow on this...)

We experienced all four options today. Do you see why we are confused????

Started out this morning by picking up some Croissants for breakfast and a Baguette for lunch from the Boulangerie next door. They were both tasty!! There are hundreds of these bakeries all over the city, sort of like the frozen yogurt shops that have recently multiplied like rabbits over Southern California. Except multiply each of those many times over and you'll get my drift. Each has a unique flavor, but all are relatively the same inside. They are friendly neighborhood places, with friendly people working there. Everyone has a favorite...we have yet to find ours!

Next, it was off to the outdoor market at Charonne...about a 5 minute walk from our place. We got there very late because we slept in, but we were there more to explore than to buy anything, so it didn't matter much. After visiting this fair-sized market, I feel like I know what a market should be. There were over 100 vendors, but they just seem to extend forever. And not just food either! We also saw stands that sold shoes, clothing, women's undergarments, light bulbs, and (my favorite) African masks. Yeah, we were confused, too! With the foods, we're not talking just fresh produce and meats...there are wine and cheese stands, stands offering Lebanese, Greek, Italian, or African cuisine, all types of meats. These markets are very crowded...I can only imagine what they must be like when they open in the morning! About a third of the stands were closing by the time we arrived, and there were still people everywhere. The vendors literally shouting at you as you go by, trying to entice you toward their individual products...which are, consequently, not so individual after all as there are at least 10 other vendors (except only one African mask stand) of the same type, some right across the way! People are varied, all ages, all types, all ethnicities...this surely is city life!

We were too nervous and overwhelmed to buy anything at the outdoor market, but we wanted a couple items. Instead of going to Franprix, the market that we have visited a couple times now, we decided to step into Simply Market, which is even closer to us. What a wonderland it was! I just couldn't believe this place was a grocery store!! They just have so many different kinds of food, not as much of everything, like American grocery stores, but a much larger selection of each type of item. For example, the cheese selection - GINORMOUS!!!! And yogurt, don't even get me started! I didn't know so many kinds of yogurt existed--the French LOVE this stuff. Not to mention that in the bread section, nothing has preservatives, and there are these delicious exotic-for-us, everyday-for-them options. Really just all kinds of things.

Now let me just tell you about Auchan. This place is why I feel so "deceived." Auchan is outside the Peripherique, which is a giant circular highway that surrounds Paris-proper. We had taken a bus to get there, but it let us off at the last stop where, lo and behold, no Auchan. What were we to do? We just started walking around...in the rain...across the Peripherique! We found Auchan, across the way from where we were, but there were so many roads, most without signs, and hardly any pedestrians about. We saw a sign that seemed as if it could lead us to Auchan, which it eventually did. Auchan is inside of a large mall, on top of an American-size parking garage. Basically, if you've ever seen the movie Idiocracy, when they approach the ridiculously large Costco, that's how we felt!

None of these pictures do it justice, but maybe you can sort of see...

When we walked into this superstore, we were both completely overwhelmed. I mean honestly, Lewis Carroll must've dreamed up this crazy place. AND IT'S FRENCH...that's the funny part!! Everyone was ploughing around with overflowing carts, people were everywhere. I mean, I cannot describe this store enough to help you understand...we just walked through the endless aisles in a daze and dumbfounded. I felt like a little girl again, I just couldn't even digest this place. The lower floor is grocery only, and the moving ramps (for your cart) that take you to the second floor lead to a whole new expanse: housewares, clothing, technology, luggage, and I don't even know what else. The place was almost like Costco on the bottom and Walmart on top, but bigger and better. As I said before, the difference between this place and American markers was the selection...so many of each type of product, unlike our Costcos where there are 8 million of the Kirkland brand to "choose from." And this wasn't all just generic stuff, either. The "Auchan" brand was by far the best deal, but there were rows of selections for artisan cheeses, wines, huge sections for fresh seafood, meats, baked goods, produce, etc. And remember the yogurt thing?? Ok, no joke, two GIANT rows of yogurt! Just yogurt!! A huge row for just butter and milk, and I have no idea how much cheese was in the place. So French, and yet so NOT!

This is the GROUND COFFEE aisle, not including the instant coffee aisle, and the kind in the little individual servings...I mean seriously, people! This place is CRAZY!

Ok, and here's the best part of all this. Last night, we dropped our mop-head in the toilet accidentally. It was hilarious, actually, because this happened at about 5am when we'd both been up from the jet-lag for about 3 hours already!! So the main reason why we went to Auchan was to buy a new mop-head or mop....THERE WERE NO MOPS IN THE ENTIRE STORE!!!!!!!

Apparently, Napoleon was wrong when he said "L'impossible n'est pas francais" (Impossible is not French)!

All I have left to say is that I will not ever let a French person give me a hard time for the "American" part of me that they seem as consumerist, because their culture is pretty much just as bad!!

<-- Andrew wondering how there could possibly be NO MOPS in the store of all stores...













And finally, "la piece de resistance" (and my personal --> favorite!): FROZEN BACON CHEESEBURGERS in a French market! Take that all you Parisian snobs...this is YOUR TOWN!

We are here!!!

Bonjour tout le monde!! Nous sommes ici a Paris!

We both had somewhat difficult times this morning, especially meeting up with each other, but I'll just spare you the details. The biggest thing is that we are HERE, TOGETHER, and we are SAFE. Thank you all for your prayers. Especially being without cellphones this first day on separate flights and meeting from separate parts of Paris, we definitely felt those prayers this morning!

We saw the most beautiful sunrise today. I think it must've been second only to the original sunrise debuted at the beginning of Creation. This one had literally every color of the rainbow, and we both had the benefit of seeing it from the plane (in different parts of the world because of our separate flights). It started with deep green and aqua hues coming out of the sky in a giant rolling cloud, with rich purples and blues. From there, the dark colors began to fade, and in there place...pink! Pinks in every shade and type, with oranges and yellows all around. So rich! I wish I could've photographed it for you, or painted a better picture with my words. We saw it through a sea of small puffy clouds, and each moment, the colors became more marvelous and rich, at last culminating in a great burst of gold!

The point of all this was that it proved the perfect start to a perfect Parisian day, "la vie en rose"! Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. It reminded me to seek to see the best in everything. The beauty in creation, the good in people, the truth in the world. I feel like that will be quite a challenge at times here, as anywhere, but one that we want to face with strength!

Today was an relatively easy day to do that. It was easy to love the French countryside, the sprawling fields of cornflowers. It was easy to love the city, but we haven't seen its nasty side (yet). It was easy to love the new workplace I got to visit for the first time today, though I was not yet under the stress brought on by the work. Pray for our strength when it's not so easy to do these things as the weeks and months pass by.

Finally, I ask for your prayers for me specifically in the workplace. I'm working with a really nice, friendly, healthy bunch of "kids," but we are theater people, so there is inevitable and aimless drama! Thankfully, I have already begun to make friends, especially with two sweet girls, Emily and Casey. Emily especially is very dear, and she has a standing invitation to come to our apartment in Paris for tea anytime that she needs to escape the drama! She has a friend here who works for Campus Crusade for Christ...I told her about my grandfathers being involved in founding that organization. Small world!! She told me she's been praying for a friend, because she also had the expectation of drama with our coworkers.

Well, we love you all, and hope that we'll hear from you often!! Please do keep in touch! Keep Andrew in your prayers in about 12 hours as he has a job interview!! We'll let you know how it goes in the next post.

We Will Miss You!!!

To all our dear family and friends who will follow our adventures,

We will miss you so very much! We've been saying many, many goodbyes recently, but especially during this past week. Goodbye to coworkers, my students, our friends, our parish, our family members, our homes where we've been comfortable all our lives...Andrew put it well while we were getting ready for a last visit with Greg and Suz, saying "this may be the last time I'll see my dad for the next nine months!" I admit that I've been thinking in these terms, but have just recently come to a full realization of their actual meaning. With all but a very small handful of goodbyes, that is the thought: "this is the last time we'll see you for nine months!"

I know that it really isn't that much time...we're kind of thinking of it as an extended work-cation. However, having lived the entirety of our young lives in relatively the same communities in the Orange County area, nine months can seem rather daunting at times.

I hope you all realize how much we truly do appreciate your support. As I've written previously, we're anticipating one of the most difficult aspects of this new journey being the lack of a visible and present community. We are, of course, ever-grateful to have each other, with God as our Leader and reliance, and a network of, well, you all, to back us up. But the thought of not seeing family, of missing the birthdays, the birthDATEs (especially of the seven babies soon to be born of seven dear friends from church), the events, the holidays, families growing older, the changes...it makes me very sad, actually! To think that we'll be missing all that.

On the other hand, we will be in Paris. But Paris, romantic as it seems, is not by any means a vacation destination for us at present. I think if we can keep a perspective of reality, with our dreams in the distance, well, I think then we'll be alright.

Please do keep in touch with us. We'll be thinking of you often! We're always an email, facebook post, phone call, blog comment, or letter away! I guess that's not so far when you think of it. I suppose we're actually blessed beyond measure to have this experience in the 21st century!