leaving paris...

in 3 hours, i'll be on a train to brussels, belgium. i'll spend 24 hours with my family there before flying back to the homeland. whoa.

it's crazy to think that i've been gone 5 weeks! in some regards it seems like a long time, but to another extent, it seems like i have been here that long. i'm sad to leave the Feria's and Paris. they've been so hospitable towards me, the kids are so great, and Paris... well, it's a beautiful city full of so much history and life. it's been exciting living here for a month and experiencing Parisian life with them. however, i'm definitely excited to return home and see my family and friends and share stories and pictures (22 gigs worth!). (tomorrow! it's only a day away!)

i'll try to post some more pictures later! now, i'm going to eat breakfast and chill with the kids before i take the train!

grace & peace.

just a little taste of the gorgeous sunset from the other night! my computer has not been a good friend to me the past couple days. by some miracle it is a bit workable right now. nonetheless, i can't promise many updates before i leave... on wednesday! just a few more days here. the time has gone so fast. it's crazy.

grace and peace.

yesterday i witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets i've ever seen... and that's just because it was in paris. God is so glorious.

today i bought red shoes. check.

right now i'm babysitting some cute kiddos. (don't worry... they are sleeping!)

tomorrow we're having a family day! L'Orangerie Museum, dinner and ice cream downtown!

Paris is good. God is better. I have one week left. crazy!

a view from the top... (almost)

today was a good day in paris. i started it off with family sunday at church. this was a great laid-back service. they had a guest speaker who was american, but he preached in french. it was easy to understand him :). afterwards there was a lunch and i had two extended conversations with some adults in french. they were so patient with me and really were taking the time to talk with me and help me. plus the food was good!
after lunch i met up with two girls from my french class - katie & wanley. we went to the picasso museum together and then walked around the 3rd district for a while. wanley left us and then katie and i spent another few hours wandering - eating ice cream, grabbing a coffee at a cafe, taking pictures - it was really fun. we had some great conversation, too. it's been fun to get to know her. we're going to try to connect again this week.
after katie and i parted ways, i buzzed over to the eiffel tower to meet up with the texas group! and tonight, ladies and gentlemen... i climbed the eiffel tower (almost)! the lift to the VERY top was closed by the time we got there, but we were able to go up to the 2nd floor, or the middle of the tower. it was gorgeous. and it was really special to experience it with some other people besides just myself! i can't wait to go alll the way to the top :)

anyways... i had to quick write-up about my day just because it was wonderful.


thanks for your love.
grace & peace, jenn.

samedi (saturday)

my day consisted of baking, children , crepes, and texans. i didn't step one foot out of the apartment today... and i didn't care. a group from texas came to help out with passion: paris and passion: london (thursday). and of course, in typical FERIA fashion, we had them over for a french meal tonight. tomorrow i'm going to the eiffel tower with them! woo!

i kidnapped a kid today... kind of. a few days a week nicole watches a girl (maria) from emma's class after school. well i was on pickup duty today. nicole didn't mention anything about picking up maria - just emma. however, when i picked up emma, maria started to get her stuff together to come with us. now, maria is french - she doesn't speak english. i had to think french fast. i asked her if she was coming to emma's house today. "oui." i asked her if she was sure because emma's mommy didn't tell me she was coming over. "oui. je suis sur." after a few minutes (and no sign of her mom) we started walk back. i asked again, clarifying that today is thursday in case she had her days mixed up (i certainly don't know what days she comes over!). her answer was the same.


i returned to the apartment with the two girls. "nicole, was i supposed to pick up maria?" "no. why?" "oh, because i have her with me. she told me she was supposed to come today." whoops... fortunately, the teachers told maria's mom that the [stupid american] girl who is helping with the feria's picked up emma and maria. she wasn't too worried and took the extra time to do errands anyways. oh well.

tuesday, wednesday, thursday

it's going to be a cool evening in paris tonight. the sky is cloudy - threatening rain. i'm hoping to enjoy a good parisian sunset before i leave... but we gotta get these clouds out of here! not to be boring and talk about the weather, but the weather in paris has been pretty moody. you never really know what the day will bring (kinda like michigan...), so when you're out for the day, you probably want to bring a jacket and an umbrella. the times i bring my umbrella, it doesn't rain and the times i don't bring it, it does rain. thanks, murphy. anyways, i like to take advantage of the blue skies when they grace paris with their presence. the sky really makes a difference in my pictures!

tuesday night was the Passion World Tour stop in Paris. i really enjoyed the evening and i hated for it to end! it seemed like a quick 4 hours! there were about 1,000 in attendance which was great because at the beginning of last week there were 200. at any rate, this was the largest known christian college event that paris has ever seen - praise God! it was pretty cool to have a translator for louie (giglio) and french words for the worship songs. my prayer is that there will be an obvious impact on the city because of this event and my prayers also go forward to london where the passion team is tonight!

wednesday began round 2 of classes for me at the alliance francaise. this week is an oral workshop. again, i am really pleased with the teacher and my classmates. i wish i could take more classes! after class i had lunch with another american, katie. i had a really good time talking with her over sandwiches. she has a pretty interesting story. i'm praying that i'll have the chance to spend time with her. she mentioned that she wanted to go to the picasso museum while she was here - which ironically (or, divinely?) is on my list! it'd be cool if we could go together! i like crossing paths. after lunch i wandered around the 6th & 7th districts (Paris is divided into 20 districts) until i stumbled upon Saint Sulpice church - an amazingly large and ornate cathedral that has been around for hundreds of years. i took the opportunity to look around there for a while and sit and reflect. pretty cool. i headed back to the apartment around dinner time where i was on childcare duty! al & nicole went out for the evening with some passion leaders while i watched the kids for them. i think they enjoyed getting away for a bit and i was glad to help :)

today was a good day. part of my "internship" with al is cultural immersion. this includes a variety of things from going to the market to visiting a museum to watching the news. one of my 'jobs' is to see a french movie. so this morning, i headed downtown to catch a flick. after doing some research, i found that a morning show is "only" 5.90 euros - translate that into USD... i won't be seeing any evening movies here! anyways. after the movie, i wandered the streets (my favorite thing to do!). today i saw part of the luxurious fashion paris that is famous around the world. i felt like i couldn't even walk by with my jeans and flip flops on! haha - i don't think i'll be doing any shopping in those neighborhoods, but it is sure fun to window shop!


grace, peace, and love.

thirty-one years...

...and counting! happy anniversary, mom and dad! love you :)