Today is Victory Day here in France.  70 years ago on this day an act of surrender was signed in Berlin that liberated France from the German occupation and ended WWII.  While is it a joyous day, France uses this day to commemorate the soldiers and citizens who gave their lives, or whose lives were taken, during the horrible years leading up to it.

Matthew is still sick, so we missed heading into town to the official memorials (because me taking three kids to a somber war memorials seemed like a terrible idea).  The war is still a hard topic here in France.  There are placards all over town, noting the names of people taken from the house or school to which the sign is affixed, the date they were taken and sometimes what happened.  The sign on a school downtown notes that two boys, aged 6 and 11, were taken to Auschwitz from their school because they were Jewish.  There is a large home just down the street from our school that is currently being remodeled into a retirement facility.  One rumor about town is that it used to be the SS hangout during the occupation.  It is sometimes strange, as an American who grew up on soil with little known historical significance, to be here and think about the ground I walk on and what transpired there.

Thank you for your many prayers, we have felt uplifted.  Even though Matthew is still sick, others are on the mend.  Please pray that the sickness doesn’t spread, but Levi seemed off today, so I’m wondering if he might be down next.  I’ll let you know.  I am grateful that today was off for everyone so that we could all rest a bit.  (Actually, I got extra study time with everyone else sleeping – woo hoo!)

Wednesday morning we drove over to Italy.  It’s only about an hour to the border, and another hour to Turin (or Torino, in Italian) from our house.  We’re still not used to this weird life…”just drive to Italy.”  The cost of the tolls makes it slightly prohibitive – like, we can’t go every weekend, but for a few days of much-needed rest after a busy week of traveling made it worth it.  We found a lovely cabin on airbnb that had plenty of space, and was very inexpensive, up in the mountains above Turin.  So, we went with my Dad, who had arrived on Tuesday evening.

Our airbnb host recommended a great spot for pizza and he did not steer us wrong!  It was so delicious, wood fired right there in the room.  The kids did great and the waitress was amused…we don’t speak Italian and she didn’t speak ANY English or French!  But, we made it work and ordered three pizzas, just guessing what they were.  We got one right!  Salami and mozzarella!  The other two were delicious, but we were surprised that one was anchovies and olives, the other was eggplant.  We wouldn’t have ordered them, but they really were tasty!

That night, we settled in, started fires in both the stone chimney and the wood cook stove (did I mention it was a rustic place?) and found our welcoming committee…  Amelia went into the bathroom and quickly came out, “Daddy, there’s a big scary bug in the bathroom.”  She wasn’t worked up, but Matthew went in to investigate anyway and I heard a very quiet voice say “scorpion.”  Oh, cool.  Or not.  Sure enough, a decent-sized black scorpion was hanging out on the bathroom wall.  Matthew took care of him while I went upstairs to get the kids’ bed ready…and found his partner!  Matthew took care of him, too, and we didn’t see any more during our stay there.  Whew.

Thursday we headed into the center of Turin.  It’s a little complicated because you aren’t allowed to just drive all over Turin.  Cars aren’t allowed during certain hours, and during other times you need a special permit, but we wanted to avoid all of it, so we found street parking (free!) just inside the city limits and took a tram into the old city center.  Sadly, we missed our (free!) scheduled time to see the Shroud of Turin, but as disappointing as that was, we aren’t too broken up about it.  We, instead, spent the entire mid-day at Europe’s largest outdoor market.  Everything is sold there and it was amazing.  The produce smelled so rich and was all so colorful.  We bought a few things for lunch and snacked in front of a store.  We quickly realized that English was not spoken by anyone, but we did okay with French, since a few people did speak that!  We browsed the vast selections of other goods and scored a few deals (my scarf collection grew, Levi got an Italie hat, and Amelia adores her new headband).  We bargained in French for all of it, so it was also great practice!

There was a little mall across the street from the four blocks that make up the market, and we spent some time in there, letting the kids run around, since it was fairly empty, and discovered discount clothing stores and got Matthew a great suit – something required for important meetings in Congo, but all he had was a wool one…so we left that behind in the US in hopes of finding something lighter in Europe and, despite the severe language barrier, we got a fantastic deal.

There is nothing like feeling really good about your newly acquire language skills like going to a place with a new language and being completely unable to communicate.  Oh well, it was an adventure!  And we did pick up a few words in Italian.  Even Axel was saying “Ciao” by our last day!

After wandering around, forgetting exactly which block our car was on, we drove home, stopped at the little store for some local foods for dinner, and cooked a great meal of ravioli, fresh bread, and zucchini.

Friday was a complete day of rest.  Matthew and I went back to the store for salami and provolone for lunch.  Afterward, we both took naps!  In hammocks!  In the sun!!!  It was like a real vacation!  The kids played outside ALL day and we went back to the same restaurant for dinner.  That time, we tried their bruschetta, some deep fried dough served with a ball of fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers, and a deep fried giant calzone, filled with more mozzarella, ricotta and salami.  It was amazing.  We ended the evening with a fire outside (after the kids went to bed, of course) of our little rustic cabin.

This morning we packed up and watched the rain fall.  I guess that meant it was time to head home.  We did stop for one more Italian treat: gelato!  Again, delicious.

We are home now, having used the last night with a rental car to stock up on groceries.  We are trying to prepare our minds and emotions for going back to school.  We are also trying to tie up loose ends as we look to the end of the school year and our big move.  Did I mention we have real plane tickets with our names on them??  (I mean, not REAL tickets, because it’s 2015, but real reservations on a real airplane really going to Kinshasa.)  We are looking to finalize our shipment, gather the last paperwork needed to apply for our Congo visas, and figuring out all of the details of our final move for a long time (we hope/plan).  However, still looking at the now, my dad gets to stay with us for this whole week, so we are excited for that as well!  Arrivederci!

Our weekend in Paris with Matthew’s dad and his wife was a really great time.  We had an easy pace, perfect for the kiddos, and had some great adventures.  Friday we took it easy and simply had a picnic, except we had the picnic under the Eiffel Tower.  The kids loved running in the park and people-watching is a must.  We drove back to our little rented apartment (airbnb for the win again!) and grabbed dinner ingredients.  Since we had an apartment with a kitchen, we saved quite a bit of money by buying groceries and cooking in.  We found a great butcher and had the best lamb ever.

Saturday we toured Versailles.  The palace, especially the hall of mirrors, was amazing to see, since so much history took place there.  The grounds were lovely – and HUGE – but the wind was really cold.  We saw Marie Antoinette’s little house (we skipped her bigger house due to crowds and exhausted kiddos) and it almost felt normal in comparison.

Sunday was museum day.  Instead of trying to tackle the Louvre, we opted for two smaller museums, the Musée d’Orsay and Musée de l’Orangerie.  The kids LOVE museums and had a great time.  We got to see nearly everything in both museums, which held collections from our favorites (Matthew enjoys sculptures by Rodin and I’m partial to Monet’s colorful paintings) and had a great picnic lunch in between on the steps of the Orsay.

Monday morning we drove out of Paris, leaving behind Matthew’s family, and made the long drive back to Albertville.  We are happy to be home, but my Dad has arrived and Matthew is presently at the airport in Lyon picking him up.  Tomorrow morning, we take him out on a restful getaway.

Thursday is almost over, and we are so tired!  But, it’s been a wonderful trip so far.  Wednesday was a day full of remembrance.  We accidentally hit up three beaches in Normandy and two museums.  It was a mix up of the GPS and two museums having the exact same name, but they were at different beaches.  However, we saw Juno Beach, Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, visited two great museums, and, of course, visited the grand American Cemetery at Omaha.

We heard nearly a dozen languages at the cemetery, but my favorite highlight of people watching (because staring at the crosses is too intense for long periods of time) came when a group of US servicemen and their wives came through on a tour.  I stood close enough to hear their guide, an American military man, and they were having quite the good time – talking about the different medals and artillery used in specific battles.  It was a very cool sight (and I totally snagged a picture…for a later picture dump).

After dinner, back at our wonderful airbnb house, Matthew and I snuck away for our 9 year wedding anniversary.  We saw on the map a road that led to the water near our house, so we tried walking it, weaving through stone houses and little farms.  It was only about a mile away, and sure enough, the road ended at the English Channel.  We enjoyed the sunset on the rocks on the beach.  Matthew even brought enough materials to have a small fire, despite the glaring lack of beach wood (we found some random sticks). It was really romantic and quite quiet!

This morning, we got up and said goodbye to our lovely, quiet home in the country and drove to Bayeux to see a very cool tapestry (230 feet long!) that depicts the story of the Battle of Hastings and was made in the 12th century.  It was really fun and Levi especially loved it.  We then enjoyed lunch at a nearby café before hitting the road for a couple of hours.

We arrived at the beautiful gardens planted by Claude Monet at this home.  He used these gardens for many of his paintings.  Almost everything was in full bloom, so it was an ideal time to come.  The kids LOVED the flowers, even Axel ooohhed and aaahhed at the colors, mimicking the people around him.

Finally, we hopped in the car to head to our little place for the night.  And so, I say goodnight here to head to bed and begin our last few days on tour tomorrow…because we are finally in Paris!

Sunday was a glorious day at the Cathedral where we attended the service at the reformed church where John Calvin had served at 500 years ago.  After the service, which was decently attended and where we understood nearly all of what was said (gasp!), we walked around the grand building and marveled at the structure.  Cathedrals are amazing, really.

We then went to the Reformation Museum and the Reformer’s Wall, before heading back to our airbnb house.  It was a neat day of discoveries and seeing originals of things I’ve been seeing copies of for years!  What a fascinating heritage!

Sunday night was restful and included a walk for just Matthew and me to the shores of Lake Geneva from our rental at sunset.  Lovely!!!

Monday morning our hosts invited us for breakfast so we could swap stories.  What an amazing connection!!  This couple has served as missionaries for years in Germany and studied the Bible in so many languages.  They have an interesting story and we are excited to have met them.  At the end of the meal, he offered several laptops to be sent with us to be put into service in Congo – wow!  God works in amazing ways!  I hope to give an update on this turn of events once we get there!

After breakfast we hit the road and drove for most of the day.  The countryside of France is vast and the terrain is lovely.  We stopped for lunch at a little town and enjoyed some delicious food and a walk in the hot sun.  While it is normally rainy this time of year, this week is exceptional and we are not complaining!

We arrived very late to our destination, just an overnight during our journey north.  However, this little town, called Bourges, is quite beautiful and offers a really interesting cathedral.

Our airbnb was, again, incredible.  Very artistic with lots of color and everything we needed.  We all slept great, the kids loved the giant yard.  Personally, my favorite part was waking early, enjoying my shower, and heading out before anyone else was awake in search of the local boulangerie.  I returned victorious and breakfast was delicious.

We went out after breakfast to view the cathedral and tour a little bit of the city by car.  Soon, we went back, gathered our bags, and hit the road again.  We really didn’t stop until we arrived for our next part – Normandy and the history here.  We have a fantastic airbnb spot – a four bedroom “servants quarters” with a huge courtyard and big iron gate.  It is so great!  We got to enjoy a relaxing evening and will start on some historic sightseeing tomorrow.

We are tired, but really enjoying this break.  It is much needed and, by staying in France, we are speaking plenty of French.  Getting directions, texting our airbnb hosts (I’m doing that – it’s great practice), finding information, reading signs…it all adds up and counts as homework, I think!

School ended this week, for our last two-week break (gotta love the French system), so we hit the ground running right away.  Matthew’s dad and his wife arrived on Thursday.  They’d been “hanging out” in Paris since Tuesday, burning through jet lag by suffering at the Louvre, and arrived in Albertville to see our small town life.  We (mostly Matthew) cooked a traditional Savoyard dinner Thursday night called Tartiflette.  Friday was a school-wide cleaning day, but since I had spent the previous several days cleaning in spurts and Matthew had spent the last two breaks fixing apartments and hanging flower baskets at the start of spring a few weeks ago, we opted out and instead spent the morning packing for our grand adventure and then drove up to the medieval city to tour around for a few minutes while the kids were still in school.

After lunch, the kids had a carnival with the rest of the district’s classes – the kids were all dressed up as various things (each class had a theme) and we paraded around town, all the way downtown and back another route.  It was great fun and, for the first time, was incredibly hot (it was 74F) and we all got a little pink.

That evening we celebrated with a traditional Congo dinner, because there is a local African store where we can get all of the proper ingredients (there is NO good replacement for the neon orange pressed palm oil or pili-pili, but we CAN get it in Albertville).  We stayed up too late and had a great time.

This morning we had a gentle pace getting out of the house and beginning our trip by simply heading downtown to the regular Saturday market.  There, we gathered all of our favorite cheese and some fruit and a quick stop at our favorite café for coffee, which is conveniently located across the walk from a playground, so we sat outside and watched the kids.

We began the drive toward Lake Leman, better known as Lake Geneva to many of you.  We passed through Geneva and headed back into France where we arrived at our first airbnb.

Since Matthew’s dad and his wife booked the whole trip, we really didn’t know much about where we were staying, but we arrived there was a Christian sign on the outside of the home (rare in France).  The woman here didn’t speak French, but English among other things.  Then, we walked in and saw literally walls of literature about every. single. religion.  Then, in one bedroom, was a wall of Bibles, over 700 of them, with almost as many languages (no, not really, but probably over 100).  So, we asked…what is your story?

She came from somewhere (I missed because someone under 3ft tall had to pee, or got chased by the rooster, or something…) and landed in Germany as a missionary to work with university students.  She met her husband there (who is from this area, again, I missed that detail, because kids) and they were married.  We then volunteered that we are missionaries with Mission Aviation Fellowship.  She was astonished!  She had lived in Indonesia, in Papua, for one year and had flown MAF at least once a week!  She felt like some MAF staff were family!!!  What an amazing “coincidence” of us staying here for a few nights.  They even bought a baby bed after we asked about one…what graciousness!

So, tomorrow is yet another grand day planned…so off to bed we go…

In finishing, thank you for all of your prayers.  After my last post and Matthew’s prayer email, you all outpoured your love with notes of prayers and encouragement and THEY HAVE BEEN FELT.  We are feeling uplifted, as well as the general feeling with our friends.  Don’t stop now, but thank you!