Recovering from the weekend

Fete National in France – 14th of July was on Thursday so we got a 4-day weekend!

Wednesday was the last day I had to look after Alice and Stanley. We went to the cinema and watched ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ in French…Alice sat on my lap the entire movie…she is not very cuddly normally so I know that meant something. We talked about how I was leaving and that there would be someone else coming to live in my room. They asked why I couldn’t stay longer (always a possibility, but as my future has not been made clear yet, I was not going to suggest that.) We are very close now, the kids and I. We have fun, we talk about things they don’t talk about with their parents. We talk about Jesus.

On the way home from the cinema, in the rain, (yes, after the heat of Tuesday it rained, and rained…and rained) they collected over 30 snails in the empty popcorn box and then deposited all of them outside the front door…poor snails! (Thankfully they didn't suggest cooking them!)

Wednesday night, an American friend, Lauren had a little soiree at her place, various friends – awesome company - great (vegetarian) food, wine, and, bizarrely a raid on her wardrobe which resulted in some of us dressing up, fake moustaches, dancing, 3am finish. Thanks for a good night, Lauren!

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(Oh and for those who are interested… this is my lovely Frenchman, his name is Jean-Baptiste:)

Missing one very special person, though. Betsy, we love you!!!!! 

On Thursday, I was woken up far too early, but seeing as sleep-deprivation is the norm for my life now, I got up and had breakfast with the family. Then we all cycled into town to watch the Bastille Day parade-thingamyjig!

It looked like this…

There was also a fly-past but it was blink-and-you-miss-it!

We then went to the park and took photos:

They looked like this…

We then had lunch and after I went home and had a nap…  before going with JB and Matthias to their family home to meet some of their family…

And then much later we had a little party at Matthias’ house, and on Friday I was even more tired…are you getting the pattern? Good day

On Friday afternoon, I went into town with Alice and we spent about and hour in a huge toy shop and I bought the children presents. Little did I know, they’d brought me presents too! In the evening, with all the family they also gave me pictures and cards that they had made and it was really sweet and I nearly cried.  That night I stayed in and had dinner with the family!

On Saturday morning early, the family left for Paris and I said a tearful goodbye to Alice and Stanley before going back to bed for the best lie-in ever! I did not get dressed till 2pm!

Spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with a friend, Angie, buying wine, and making a slightly strange cake with JB… but by the time the four of us (Matthias joined us for dinner) came to eat it I think we didn’t really care what it tasted like! Really good evening with good food (thanks Angie for cooking!) and staying up far too late again… though we made it to church in the morning!

Sunday was lazy.

The family came back last night with just little one and I realise that there are only two weeks left here. The time has completely flown. 6 months ago, I was about to leave to do a job I had no idea how to do, where I knew no one. Now I have little brothers and a sister, amazing friends, and have experienced how wonderful life can be when you let go and let God lead. His love is everywhere!

<< Mais en tout cela nous remportons la plus complète victoire par celui qui nous a aimés. Oui, j’ai la certitude que rien ne peut nous séparer de son amour… rien ne pourra jamias nous séparer de l’amour que Dieu nous a manifeste en Jésus-Christ notre Seigneur.>>
Romains 8:37-39 

Grab your opportunities, friends, you might just find something amazing!

With love xxx

Tuesday: the day my parents arrived in Nancy :)

Yes, the time is passing fast, but this has felt like a long week!
Lots of things have happened. There has been very hot weather and very wet weather. There have been children, and an apartment empty of children. There have been friends and there has been family. All in the space of 6 days. It feels like about a month has passed since cake and beer in Germany.

On Tuesday, after my English lessons, I helped Betsy move out of her old (tiny!) university residence. Although she hasn't been living there for 2 months, she still had to keep it on as she had signed a contract. We had a bit of a fuss with the office people about how much she owed, but we walked away from it feeling pleased that the job was done. Also feeling sad as it means she has to leave soon... She is one of the best friends I have ever had. I know I say this a lot, but she really is amazing, and I will miss her so much!
Afterwards we had lunch and exchanged back rubs back at her place before I headed back to get ready for the arrival of my parents!
Sadly it was pouring with rain as their train pulled into Nancy. Not the most wonderful first impression, but it was amazing to see them there in this city I now call home. Unfortunately, it was getting close to school run town, so I took them to their beautiful hotel and dashed off to get the children. Thankfully they were good that evening, and I got them all down with no problems. Straight after, I headed down to the Place Stan and met with Betsy and Matthias before meeting my parents at one of the brasseries. We all sat outside under the canopy and talked for an hour or so. I was so happy that Mum and Dad got to meet some of my friends and vice versa... showing them some of my world here! I think it was also really great for my friends to meet my parents too as they are obviously a huge part of my life! Afterwards, we parted ways and Mum, Dad and I chose a restaurant on the Rue Gourmandises (As - I think - it is affectionately known). We had a really lovely meal,  catching up and me talking far too much about everything here in Nancy! I am so fortunate to have such amazing parents and it is amazing to have such a good relationship with them now I am grown up!
Afterwards, I took them to Les Artistes for a nightcap, and we parted ways...

More on the rest of the week tomorrow!


God bless xxx

Visiting a strange country...

Randomly, Betsy and I decided to go to Luxembourg at the weekend. We booked train tickets and a hotel the week before, and on Friday evening, about 8pm, we set off on a train to Luxembourg. The first thing that happened is that we struck up conversation with a very friendly French guy. However, when he got off the train at Metz, we refused to give him our details. This seems to happen too much! The second thing was that when we crossed the border into Luxembourg, our phones had no reception. They just didn't work at all. We really were in a different country! When we arrived into Luxembourg, it was just about dark. It was strange too, everything was written in English, French or a strange Germanic language - presumably Luxembourgish! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourgish). It was all rather funny, seeing as we'd just spent less than an hour and a half on a train and it felt like a totally different country. We used the google map I had printed to find our hotel. When we got there they were just about to shut up for the night - thanks to God we got there in time! We started to speak to the woman behind the desk in French, until we heard her discussing with her colleague in English and realised that she spoke that better! They realised that they had upgraded our room to a 'suite' by accident (hilarious as we had paid a fairly small price for the room!) We decided not to head out and to enjoy our suite as we had it and it was already pretty late. We had some wine from the mini-bar and sat on the windowsill of the hotel and chatted. Later on we had some prayer time together and hit the hay!
I just want to emphasise how much we both appreciate this friendship we have together. It is so completely blessed and I know we will miss each other so much when we both leave Nancy. I think we have become better friends through the situation! We spend so much time together and can really talk about everything and be completely ourselves!

The next morning I had a bit of a nasty cold - again. I think its a combination of being tired all the time and the kids! Anyway, we had an amazing breakfast - which was included in the hotel price - and was basically a bit of an all-you-can-eat opportunity. Luxembourgish breakfast consisted of: pastries, cereal, fruit juice and yoghurts with cold meats and cheese and boiled eggs. Interesting.

Anyway, we headed out into the city, grabbed a map and started towards the old town. It was, again, a really lovely warm day! There seemed to be a massive street market on that day, so we did a bit of browsing through the stalls. Later we came across the Old Town. Its sort of built around a valley, and this bit of town was in the valley. It was really beautiful and quiet. Lots of narrow cobbled streets and nothing at all like busy Nancy. To be honest, we weren't really feeling being hard-core tourists, so we just lazed around on some grass under a bit of a gorge and I made a daisy chain for my hair because I felt like being a bit of a hippy. Later on, we found a bit of a food fair thing, and ate burritos, french fries, chocolate covered pear and drank Sangria. Quite the mix!
What else did we do? We found the old city wall, decided not to pay to go into the crypt, saw the Abbey, sat with our feet in a fountain and just generally enjoyed wandering around the city. It was really a lot quieter than I imagined and really multicultural. We found a really beautiful square with lots of restaurants and a big band playing in the bandstand where we stopped to listen and dance and sing long inappropriately! Then we wandered back through the market and bought a load of sweets. we shared a huge long snake, wandering along with one end each in our mouths and really not caring how we looked! We then had a really great time chilling in a park and praying about things. I guess we both have a lot to think about future-wise an praying about it together is really great!
Then we went back to the hotel to get our stuff. The guy on the desk said we could have the drinks from the mini-bar for free so that was a bonus! We decided to eat on the nice square and picked a Mexican place and shared some yummy food while listening to another band playing a great variety of music...including a medley of Phil Collins! It was a bizarre multi-cultural experience. We noted as we sat there drinking coffee that:


"We are drinking Italian coffee in a Mexican restaurant in Luxembourg, listening to a live band playing Gershwin. We are speaking French although we are English and American, but there are so many other languages being spoken."


It really was a very cosmopolitan place and great for a visit. We both felt though, as we arrived back in Nancy at 12:30am Sunday morning, that we were coming home. And how good that felt.

We also had a really awesome day on Sunday. A group of American people with Down Syndrome (the STARS) have arrived to stay for a week with people from the church, to attend conferences and sing with our choir. They were at the church in the morning, and we had a celebration service for them later on in the afternoon with testimonies and music and aperitif afterwards. The stories were truly inspirational and I think that we're going to be really blessed having them here. I love our Church here in Nancy. It is such a great family, and such a blessing.
After that, the normal bunch headed back to Betsy's and we sung gospel songs on the way back. In fact, we kept randomly breaking out into song through most of the evening as we ate together and played games! It was a really nice evening, but again a late one. After dropping the children off at school today, I came back and slept for most of the morning. Sleep really does get pushed to one side when you've got more fun things to be doing, but I must make more of an effort to get a few early nights in the next couple of days! However, I feel very happy to not be in the situation I was in last year, finishing my degree.


Thinking of everyone with exams and deadlines this week. Keep strong everyone, push through, it will soon be over! Praying for you.


I hope everyone has a really great week!

Lucy xxx

Colonie weekend

If I've found out one thing since being in France, it's that the French know how to eat! ...and I have more than happily entered into the spirit of it! 

On Saturday lunchtime, before heading off to Colonie, I was sent off to the boulangerie to get some cakes for our desert. 

I came back with these...

Needless to say, they were delicious! 

After yet another fantastic Saturday lunch, we all set off in the car towards the Vosges. (Hilly/mountainous region to the South East of Nancy.) And everyone fell asleep - peace!
We arrived there to this big house set in farmland and next to woods. The countryside was so beautiful, and after seven weeks in the city, I just stood and breathed in the fresh air and smell of the grass and trees and felt so happy. 

There were about 10 other families at the weekend - around 50 people in total. When everyone arrived, we had a 'gouter' - lots of cake - and the leaders got us to all introduce ourselves. There was a slightly awkward, but hilarious moment when one man looked a bit confused as to why F had two women with him, but we quickly established that S was his wifre and I was the 'fille au pair'! One of the leader guys, Laurent, got out his guitar and started teaching us some songs - very camp-esque! 

We then played this crazy game in family teams. It was a bit like monopoly but we had to claim rooms in the house and get money that way! it was good to find our way around the house and to meet the other people, and we actually won! 

Afterwards, we all found our little dorm rooms and I was sharing with Alice. Then there were arty activities and helping to prepare for dinner. We all sat down on a long table to eat - very French - and sung grace. It was about 8pm by the time we started eating and the children were almost falling asleep in their plates! It was lovely to be there with the family, though. It made me feel more a part of it, and it was just great to spend some quality time with the five of them in such a relaxed, community atmosphere.

For dinner, we had: (for those who care to know!)

Celery soup with fresh bread. Loads of homemade pizza, quiche and this amzing pizza bread from Alsace with onions, lardons and creme fraiche with a great salad all finished off - thankfully - with a fruit salad.

Afterwards, S took the boys to bed, and I stayed with Alice and F for the evening 'activities'...

...which turned out to be hilarious! We all sat on chairs in a big circle and some of the leaders taught us songs, dances and games. Difficult to describe what was going on as it was all in French, but it was great fun with lots of laughs! Helped me to put my french to the test too, and I learned lots of new words, including the names of the suits in a pack of cards!

Later, a time of prayer was introduced. It was rather Catholic (I refuse to pray to 'Santa Maria'), but they also pray to Jesus, and it was nice to see Alice joining in and listening. She really has grown up the last couple of weeks, and especially over this weekend. She has been so helpful at ho Careme me, with Toby, and has been really very considerate. A lady came round and told all the children about 'Careme' - Lent, on Monday at school, and Alice has decided to be kinder to her brothers, and help with clearing the table. Even 4-year-old Stanley has decided that for lent he would like to be kinder and share more. This has opened up some good discussions in the family. F and I want to pray and read the bible more and S is giving up coffee and chocolate. 

Anyway, after the prayer time, it was nearly 11, so I took Alice to bed, as I was also tired, while others stayed for dancing.

In the morning, there was an informal breakfast which included lots of cake! We got to talk to more people, and the children played together. After 2 weeks of sunshine, it was raining, but S, Alice and I donned our walking boots and waterproof coats and joined some of the others for a walk in the woods. It was quite warm despite the rain, which eased off, and it was a great time to talk and enjoy the countryside.

Vosges country...

Les randonneurs!

When we got back, there was the morning service, which was, again, fairly Catholic, but some good songs and  I even understood the sermon! I think the children enjoyed it too!

Afterwards we had an 'apero' (drinks and nibbles in our family!) where we had a kir, and the children had coca cola. I chatted to lots of people, and some were very eager to practice their English, but it was great for me to speak French!

Lunch was something else...

We again sat on a big long table, but this went on for over 3 hours! It was amazing, so relaxed, lots of chatting between each course, and songs and everything!

I felt like I had never eaten so much, but spread over such a long time, it felt ok! The children all went off to play and the adults could linger over the courses!

We had a starter, main, then cheese, desert, ice cream, coffee and cake! It was crazy! ...but one of the reasons I love France!

When this was over, it was pretty much time to go home...! Took so long to say goodbye to everyone as the French love to kiss everyone individually!

All in all, a great weekend!

Back to school this week, and I must say I'm glad... it's good to get back into the swing of things!