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Source: America the Beautiful~
Beautiful photos!
Category Archives: Our Travels
Parking in Paris
bumper to bumper cars
That’s it. As far as the eye can see, cars sticking bumper to bumper. I am SO happy to not have a car while living in Paris. The Metro is just perfect, thank you. Or my own 2 feet.
I am fascinated with drivers in Paris…it’s amazing how little damage actually occurs as people get from A to Z in as little time, distance, and space as possible.
Some observations about parking in Paris, just in case you want to drive and park while here:
no limit except vertical walls
Motorcycles, scooters, bicycles…pretty much can park anywhere. They are supposed to follow normal driving rules, but motorcycles have a secret lane between the outside 2 driving lanes, and both motorcycles and bicycles will pass stopped vehicles and get in front of them to get away first when the light turns green. Or if there are no pedestrians…
Optional parking on top of cones
Your choice – between or on top of cones.
Space between vehicles is negligible
Bonus points are awarded for vehicles with minimal space between bumpers.
Accidents WILL happen.
Expect some slight scratches or bruises
Clever drivers will gently ease into tiny parking spots, avoiding major warping and scrapes on bumpers and fenders.
And my personal favorite trick for in city driving ~
Always carry duct tape.
It’s true. Duct tape can fix anything.
Despite these captivating photos, drivers in Paris really are amazing. There are few accidents, pedestrians remain unharmed, vehicles stay on the road, and traffic flows in seemingly flawless pathways. Hats off to the competent drivers!
Good-bye stuff.
He can't believe it all fits...
There it is. Before the door was put on. It’s amazing how much one can cram into an 8x8x4 container. At the same time, it’s amazing how little we are taking with us. And what we will (and already have wished we had) remember and wished we had added to our collection of stuff. It’s just stuff. Things that could make life easier and more comfortable. Months, ok a few years, of making lists and considering and asking what would be best to take…and this is what it boils down to. Yes, you do see TP (it’s a great filler, ok?).
To tell you the truth, by the time we receive these belongings (and haul them up probably several flights of stairs?!!), we will most likely wonder why we packed this, and this, and this…
Kind of freeing, not to have to worry or take care of stuff. 🙂
Collin & Chelsie - the light holders!
Kevin screwing the door closed
Both are amazed at how much stuff fit!
Bye-bye stuff!
Angie plus a permanent marker
Dorm 37
Look in the way back for the row of windows
If you squint your eyes just right, and look way in the back, behind the front buildings, you will see a bank of tall windows. That is dorm 37. The home of the few couples and the many singles…us being the oldest couple of all. I don’t know what that means, but I’m trying not to read ‘their age will help keep things settled down’ into that thought. This building (aka – the place of the flood, see previous article) is our soon to be former home of the last 2 months. What a wonderful time of meeting and greeting like minded friends – married and single.
Already, I am homesick for the close comraderie of the music, laughter, smells of cooking, singing, doors slamming, shared experiences…but especially the friends. It seems impossible to go so deep so fast in so short a time. But it’s true. Our common bond of belief in Jesus opens doors and hearts quicker than the blink of an eye. Or two eyes.
Take, for example, the numerous offers of wheels (a much-appreciated commodity here on our way-out-in-the-middle of not much campus) ~ even a spare key for use whenever! That is love and trust. Well, methinks pity for the old folks. Open doors, game nights, hanging out, sharing, ”do you have some____? fill in the blank“, mystery foods in the common kitchenettes, group worship, folding each other’s laundry…I thought I would miss being in a quad apartment, but the chance to live with even more family members was awesome. A very excellent thing about the dorm is the lower rate of germ abundance. We had some illnesses, but not nearly as much as the constantly recycling bacteria/virus pool in the quads. Pass the hand sanitizer please.
I hate that our time is over and we are being scattered to the four winds. To my new friends – and family – bon voyage. Until we meet again. With much love and prayers…
And for those of you who KNOW Kevin, he really needed the dorm experience. 😉
Way Back When
Look what I never published! It’s only a few months old…
My 2 Favorite Mission Friends
My bad! I haven’t blogged for numerous days…but who’s counting?
Kevin and I are preparing to head to Richmond, Virginia and Oklahoma City for appointment week. This week will be chuck full of meetings and gatherings and sharing…and commissioning for service overseas. It’s a bit overwhelming! One thing we will do is to prepare our testimony, which we will share at the appointment service. I was thinking back…
Way back when, our two children were preschoolers! Even before that, in high school, maybe middle school, I have had a love of the French people and the French culture. The extent of that was to perhaps visit the country one day, maybe study there during college (mission trip to France, yes, studied during college, no). Like my mom likes to say, I was born French, just in the wrong country.
Fast forward a few years. Bub and Bubbette (my dad’s nicknames for the 2 little Q’s) were not yet in school. I needed something to do with the kids on Wednesday nights at church, as nothing was offered. Our pastor suggested we try Mission Friends. Cool. That began my journey with missions. What awesome curriculum for preschoolers (and mom’s who teach it!). We studied cultures, foods, languages, people of the world, and missionaries and their families that lived and worked around the world to share the love of Jesus. With each lesson I prepared and taught, I fell more in love with being obedient to the call and serving wherever the Lord called. I didn’t instantly know that I was being called, but rather, grew into it. I’ve always felt a pull towards Western Europe, but thought it would be ‘in the future’ trips exploring cities and countrysides.
My babies!
A few years later, after writing for Mission Friends and Mosaic, the call to go myself, instead of just reading of others going, continued to grow. I went on several mission trips. Each trip confirmed the direction I needed to head. Kevin and I both went to Paris on a mission trip, where we served alongside workers in the city. That trip and the relationships we built confirmed the call for both of us, not just going, but the place and the people. Whoo-hoo!
To make a really long journey of manageable length for this blog, now we are getting close to heading across the water to live and work in east Paris. On June 27, in Oklahoma City, we will be appointed as missionaries. Please pray for us ~ it will be exciting and awesome! And we’d prefer not to experience any of their world famous tornadoes. In the northwest, we are used to volcanoes, wind, heat, rain, snow, dust…Not tornadoes. Show me the safe place please.
Following appointment week, we head home to prepare in earnest for living in another country. The house is gone, but too much of the stuff remains. You know, yard sale, storage unit, giving away belongings, lists of what to take (or not)…We will be at our church in Union Gap (13+ years) until December 28. We leave for orientation and training January 26th-ish, with hopes of being in Paris, going to language school, around the beginning of April!
The great news is we have years of experience…in English! The bad news is it will take us old folks longer to learn a new language! (We were informed of this wonderful tidbit.) That’s ok. I’m sure you can teach 2 old dogs new tricks – and words.
Look at how young they were!
Boise State
Kev & Ang pose for lovely publicity photo!
On the road again…We used to sing that to a college friend, who was ALWAYS on the phone. We just switched the words. “On the phone again, she just can’t wait to get on the phone again…”
But seriously, we are now off the road. Again. Just home from Boise State, where we realized we never told anyone except our two young’ins that we were going. Oops. Our brain slots were full.
We enjoyed a whirlwind trip to Boise State where the Utah/Idaho Baptist Convention had a huge gathering called Equip. Twelve missionaries participated in an opening night commissioning service. It was fantastic! Now, if one were to attend the rehearsal, one would not even dare to think the real thing would work. We chased lizards, as our leader told us, to tame them and remove them before the big night. Let me tell you, we had a whole zoo full of lizards (sound problems, equipment problems, equipment everywhere, people setting up, forgotten testibytes, confused wandering m’s…). They say that if rehearsal goes poorly (and we were not in line for any oscar’s, that’s for sure) then the BIG one will go great.
And it did! Not without lots of prayer, perspiration, and focus. The room was set up for at least 650, and I guess there were people lining the back wall. I was too ancy and focused to see them. We did perspire. The more crowded, the hotter it got. The worship music was contemporary and awesome. All of the m’s calmly (on the outside) gave beautiful and varied testibytes, Dr. Rankin gave a great charge, and the invitation had at least 11 responses of individuals and couples feeling the call to serve somehow. Neat-o bandito!
Kevin was really into his sharing, and almost teared up enough to stop him from talking. Now, if you know Kevin, that’s amazing…anything that’s gets him to pause from speaking…hmmmm. Which in turn, caused many of the other m’s to tear up (fortunately for them, we were again, almost LAST, so it was ok). We had a total of 250 words this time. I didn’t quite have time to get into the throw-up story (makes you wonder, doesn’t it?), but I gave some glimpses into it. Afterwards, we were put into our corners by region, and people came by and visited with us. Wow! Lot’s of interest in France and Paris. I was trying to recruit future mission team members. Hint hint.
All in all, it was a great time. Flew over Tuesday, worked all day Wednesday (walked about 4 miles, got lost), had the service Wednesday night, and flew home early Thursday. It was such a blessing to meet so many people and connect with them.
What’s next? Kev-ster and I are going to do something similar in Alaska at the end of September. I think we will actually visit some churches and see some of the beauty of the people and the state.
Sad part? Took my camera. Number of photos? 0. Imagine me looking slimmer and fine in my flouncy polka dot skirt and black tank and sweater-let. Slimmer, I said. Oh, and younger, younger… 🙂 With a nice suntan.
Appointment Week
Wow! We are here, and things are moving along quite nicely. Very, very busy…except this morning when I have time to borrow a lap top and blog and add some photos. I could blog in the library, but those are secure computers and they won’t recognize my camera. Oh well. Jerod and Rebekah were nice (or gullible enough) to lend me their technology.
Where to begin? So far, the biggest thing we’ve done is to have dinner with and meet with our regional trustees. They are/were the ones that approve or deny our application. It was a great time where we shared our testimonies and call to France. They asked a few questions, prayed for us, and affirmed our call. It was very encouraging. There are only 4 of us headed to Western Europe at this appointment week – Jared and Rebekah Motley, from Okra-homa, and us, the Q’s from the beautiful and not humid northwest. (As a side note, in February, when we were here for candidate conference, this was not an issue. My hair is at least 6″ wider in Virginia in the summer humidity! I am NOT joking. I have mucho product on my hair to keep it to a width appropriate to fitting through doors!) The formal approval will be Friday night during the commissioning service in Oklahoma City.
The rest of our time has been full, I mean really full. Meetings, meals, planning, paperwork…friends, new and old. The great news is being able to see how much God is working among our lives and the lives of the ones we are meeting and talking to. We are blessed to be here when the emeritus (retiring) missionaries had their services. Kevin and I carried flags for the flag ceremony portion of the service. We enjoyed worship services together, and then the emeritus laid hands on and prayed for us. We’ve spoken with many who used to work and live in France, and they were very encouraging and said how much they loved the people and their jobs. 🙂 Good to hear!
Here we are at the International Learning Center. It’s been pretty warm and humid. At least for this NW girl. There are several from the NW here, including Chad and Miriam, right from the Yakima Valley. We’re pretty sure they will be here with us in January, after their baby is born. 🙂
The greatest thing is hanging with all of our friends who are going through the same thing (like learning how to share 2 minutes modules, or 155 word count testimonies, or how to crate belongings and figure out how to get the crate -about 8′ tall- out of a house). The sad part is missing friends like Tess and Chris, who we LOVE and want to have here with us. They will have their turn! Sell house sell.
We, the northwest, have a couple here from the Gresham area, two couples from the Yakima Valley, and another young lady from our area. So there are 5 new m’s at ILC from the northwest! Wow! That is great news…
Oh, you should see the lighting bugs! Like little floating Christmas lights. It’s so neat. And the blue birds, red birds, long tailed robins, some other kind of bird like a miniature magpie, squirrels,…and deer. I just know there are deer. We have a river/lake right near us, with open fields and trees all around. Just haven’t seen the deer yet, but I know they are there.
On to the next meeting. Love ya!
Grand Canyon
Ok, this is turning harder than I thought (and I have done, what, ONE entry?)…Every time I want to sit and make an entry, something else comes along. Sigh. I hope there are no expectations for daily entries. I can tell you that that is a fairy tale dream (and not mine!). Maybe weekly, or bi-monthly. We’ll take it slow.
I did download (upload?) a great picture of the Grand Canyon I took last spring. It reminds me of the comment I just made about trying to sit down to write and something comes up…I lived in Arizona for 9 years while I was growing up. Did we visit the Grand Canyon? Not on your life. Mom had reoccurring nightmares that one or all four of us (maybe whoever was in trouble most that day?) fell off the edge. Sorry, mom, you had to hear that story. Again. So, we did not see one of the world’s biggest wonders.
Many years later, after Kevin and I were married and we had 2 children of our own, we were on our way to see the Grand Canyon. We had already visited Disneyland and were looping over to Arizona, staying in Palm Springs along the way. We received an emergency call about Kevin’s aunt, so we detoured back to WA state, missing the Grand Canyon. So close, but no dice.
In the spring of 07, Kevin and I took off on a 3 week trip all alone, sans children. Fun and exhilarating, although trusting teenagers alone…I’m sure we still don’t know all that happened. And voila’, we finally made it to the Grand Canyon! It is totally amazing! Flat, high, desert, and then, bamm, a ginormous hole in the ground. WAAAAAYYYYYY down to the bottom. If one was even slightly disturbed by heights, not a good place to be. Or someone with young children that run around or don’t listen to parents…maybe plan a trip alone. But what gorgeous desert beauty. Awe inspiring beauty (and heat). That God has such imagination and creativity. We were only able to spend one day walking along the south rim. But I plan to go back one day, prepared for hiking to the bottom. And ride the donkeys back up. Yep, that’s my plan. I’ll do the easy part, the donkeys can do the hard part. We had striking thunder clouds, and I can imagine that winters are serenely and starkly beautiful.
So, try, try, try again, and it will happen. The writing and the Grand Canyon. What’s next?
Paris.
Love, Laughter, and Life 