December Photos
Bonne année et bonne fête! It is 2015 and in just a few days we will be celebrating four years with MAF! Wow!!!
Tomorrow we head back to our regular classes, the kids go back to school, and we hit the ground running to learn all the French. The break has been nice, but in many ways it was so busy and full of work that it will simply be different, but not busier, with school. We have spent the last two weeks celebrating festivities with friends, food, games, and late nights, but we have also been working to prepare for new students. Now that nearly all of the new students have arrived and we (all of the “old” students) helped them get settled (hopefully), it is time for the fun of language learning to begin…it IS fun, but it is work and a challenge…and fun.
So, to celebrate the new year, here’s a bunch of random pictures from out December in Albertville! Voila!
This is the view out of our living/dining room – you can even see the window frame. We love it!
A blurry photo of a family trip to the grocery store – Levi’s first on his bike.
My view of the same grocery store run. You can see the Alps on both sides…
Axel’s shenanigans…he’s not walking, but everything else is fair game.
There was a city-wide Christmas festival and they gave out lanterns. Real fire. Real paper. Real children. It was awesome.
Our little advent calendar and a local Christmas treat – papillotes – chocolates filled with glorious-ness that cannot be described.
The kids had a school program with lots of songs and a visit by Père Noël – a very creepy version of Santa (no, not all French Santas look this way…I think it was someone’s Dad)
Remember my friend, an MAF wife going to Eastern DRC, who had her baby at home? Well, this is me and my awesome friend Shannon (an OB who is also going to Congo and helped with the delivery)…we did most of the clean-up and at 4am this is how you deflate a birth pool.
Last Saturday nearly two feet of snow fell in 24 hours…this was early in the day with the kids’ Christmas present from Grandmom!
Our view, after the snow stopped and the sun came out…trés magnifique!
As always, check out our instagram feed for lots of pictures that you may or may not want to see…happy 2015!
Merry Christmas
One day late, but who can be busy blogging on Christmas Day? We had a lovely Christmas. We went to the Christmas Eve service at the local Protestant Church and sang carols (even a few verses in English!). We opened our presents that evening, some over Skype with my parents.
Christmas morning started out right with everyone sleeping until 9!! Then a cinnamon roll breakfast, stockings, and food prep. Finally, we joined some of our Congo teammates for a huge feast with roasted lamb, pineapple ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, homemade egg bread, bacon-wrapped green beans and many pies. It was amazing. And, since we had two sick babies and a four-day-old, it was chaotic and messy and festive. (Only one of the sick babies was ours.)
That night, after kids were sleeping, we played games until 1am with friends.
Tomorrow we might even see some white – our first this winter!
If you are ignoring our Instagram feed (see sidebar of the website), here are some of our highlights…
We are also wearing coordinated clothes...
Downtown Christmas Eve, I stopped to get a photo of the kids with the giant Santa...and this happened!
My homemade egg bread (Challah)
Les Vacances de Noël
We have begun our two weeks off for Christmas and New Years. We don’t have any major plans, but might come up with something. Matthew has been busy on campus helping to fix up some building issues. It is what he loves, what he’s good at, and keeping him busy! I have three littles and need a vacation…or at least that’s how I feel sometimes…ha ha!
Wednesday evening it felt like we kicked off Christmas week with a hymn sing at Dave and Ashley Petersen’s apartment downstairs. They are also with MAF and headed to Eastern Congo. We had a lovely time with everyone who is going to Congo (minus one) enjoying tasty treats and singing carols.
Thursday was the Grande Menage – a cleaning/work day on campus! Many helped outside freshening up the campus, trimming hedges, raking leaves, etc. Matthew continued some projects he started in a vacant apartment to ready it for a new family next week and I took advantage of three hours of an empty house to do some deep cleaning. It was wonderful!!
That afternoon, Levi and Amelia had a singing performance at their school. It was fun to hear the songs – two of them in English, even! The kids were very excited to see not only their parents (us) but also several friends, fellow Congo missionaries, there as well. We have an awesome family here.
Friday I had class as normal, but Matthew’s class baked some traditional French Christmas cake rolls (bouche de Noël). Friday afternoon was off to prepare for that evening – the graduation!
About half of the student body started in January (and a few before that) and are done with their studies. Friday night there was an official ceremony celebrating their accomplishments. It was a festive occasion, but with some sad good byes as well.
Saturday was fairly laid back, market shopping for Mommy and Amelia, some random chores and even a nap! We had planned a movie night to watch Home Alone once the kids were in bed, which did happen, but shortly afterward Dave and Ashley became new parents!
It’s not my birth story to tell, but I was very honored to be invited to attend and help with Ashley’s birth, a planned home birth, and she was so awesome! Welcome to sweet BIG Daniel!
Please pray for our family’s health. Levi and Axel have been battling colds. Please pray for snow – yes! We want our final winter to feel like winter – it’s warm here, despite being surrounded by the glorious Alps, it has rarely dipped below freezing. But we love winter and it’s a small thing, but it would be nice.
Thank you for your Christmas cards – what sweet reminders!! We miss you all and, if you don’t hear from us again before Christmas, then we wish you all a very merry Christmas!!!
We Passed!
Matthew and I have both passed our French exams! Starting tomorrow we will move up, Matthew to B1 and me to A2. We are very excited to be progressing and learning all the French!
It is a little sad during this time of transition on campus. A few families, including friends and the neighbors below us, have already left and several more are planning on leaving soon. We expect new families to arrive during the Christmas/New Year break. Included in the “new arrivals” will be MAF’s newest MK (missionary kid). Dave and Ashley Petersen, who live in the same building and are headed to Eastern Congo, are expecting their first baby any time now! I’m super excited for that!
As for Christmas, we don’t have any concrete plans as of yet, except to stay home and rest as a family!! And maybe study some French… 🙂
What This Photo Isn’t
This is 100+ postcards that I finished this week and are headed out today. These postcards took a bit of time, careful selection, and quite a few hand cramps. BUT they represent so much that it is quite unequal to what they mean to us.
But what they DON’T represent are the hundreds of people who have prayed for us. They do not represent the people who welcomed us into their homes, had us for dinner, invited us to their churches, their small groups, or into their lives. They don’t even represent all of our last four years (almost!) with MAF and everyone who has given financially.
They do stand for each person or family who gave to our ministry this last year, but please know that we are so grateful for each and every person who is on our team in any capacity! It means so much to us!
Super Easy
This blog title is not about our exams. Ha ha <– awkward laugh
This is the annual blog post where I pull the Missionary card and remind you that the easiest way to make a missionary's (holi)day is to include them (cough*us*cough) on your Christmas card list! Seriously, there will be much rejoicing on whatever side of the world your missionary resides.
Oh, random thought, because I'm not dropping hints or anything, our mailing address is 50 chemin des Galibouds, 73200 Albertville, France.
Exam Week
Today is a break from Exam Week, since it is our usual Wednesday off. It’s really not as scary as it sounds…four days of testing on each and every aspect of French. Okay, maybe it is a little bit scary. But, so far, we’ve survived and even thrived!
Each aspect of French is tested for our levels. The results of the exam will determine if we are ready to move up to the next level or need to review and repeat our present level. The levels are based on the DELF – A1, A2, B1, B2, C1…the EU’s standardized measurement of fluency in a language. I am in the A1 class and Matthew is in the A2 class. We are both hoping to move on, of course – me to A2 and Matthew to start B1 (B1 is two trimesters long…).
For both of us this week, different days, in morning and afternoons, we have been tested on the various aspect of French. Can you understand what you hear? What you read? Can you answer questions about it? Can you write it exactly? Can you provide answers to questions using correct grammar? Can you have a conversation? Can you write a text in a given scenario? Can you read a text aloud and pronounce the words correctly? Matthew also had an additional section examining his knowledge of Biblical vocabulary.
So far this week has gone well for us and we have been getting lots of sleep and studying in. Next Monday we find out the results of the exams and, of course, we will share if we are moving on or spending a bit more time at our present levels. Either way, we are learning French to pursue relationships in Congo…on y va!
99.5%
We received an email last night that made us shout (quietly, since the kids were in bed) and dance around the room a bit. Thanks to the Lord’s amazing handy-work in so many of your lives, we are 99.5% supported! This is the support amount that will sustain us – people giving regularly, either monthly or annually, to keep our ministry sustained financially. We are so thankful for everyone who has prayed and given and committed to future giving!
If you are wondering about that last 0.5%, we have one church who has put our ministry in next year’s budget and a few people who have expressed interest but haven’t committed yet, so we are confident in God’s continuing leading on people’s hearts and budgets.
Meanwhile, in the midst of our first exam week (descriptions to come in a blog post), we are grateful that the season full-time support raising has come to an end and we can fully focus on language learning!
THANK YOU!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Of course, here in France, it is only Thursday, November 27th, and not at all a holiday. We are in frantic panic review mode for our exams next week, but I just wanted to pop on over to this [temporarily] ignored blog to thank all of YOU for your generosity, encouragement, prayers, love and support on this day set aside for giving thanks. We could not be here without you and we are so very honored to be doing this hard work to God’s glory. We are thankful for His provisions and sovereignty! Have a joyous Thanksgiving and beginning to the Christmas season!!
On Learning French
I have thought quite a bit about this whole thing, about learning a new language. It’s very strange. I will be going down the street, hear some kids speak in French (because, duh), and think – well, if those kids can do it, so can I! Then, of course, I realize that this is silly…most people can speak a language just fine. Actually, many people speak more than one language. So what is the big deal?
Fast forward a few minutes or hours and I am sitting in class, and I am staring at a white board filled with the rules of French prepositions, articles, conjugations and I think…nope. Not I. I’m not discouraged, but I do think I will not speak well and I certainly won’t be able to pull the information I need to make a fantastic French sentence when I need to.
Fast forward to another situation, and I am listening to something in French and I am giddy with excitement…I understood! I understood the gist…I understood the sentences…I understood WHY the person used that particular article or conjugation!! I did it!
And then I circle back…again and again…yes I can, no I won’t…I know I will do fine…I just don’t know how well I will do.
And then there’s Levi – who is an external processor (read: he talks A LOT).
“Mom, I need to spend more time talking to my French friends [at school] so that I can learn French so that when we get to Congo I will be able to talk to my Congo friends in French.”
The point exactly, buddy. Thanks for the reminder. Because I need a reminder on most Sunday nights, after I finish my weekly take-home exam that I’ve kind of crammed for and see the gaps where I need to study.
It’s not about a grade, it’s about doing well so that we can communicate in Congo. It’s not about making sure I used imparfait instead of passé composé when I need to, but rather so that I can understand what someone is saying while they speak to me.
So, pray for us as we continue to learn these new verb tenses (fun fact: there are 15 tenses and two participles), vocabulary, and articles (OOOHHHHH the French and their ARTICLES).
Our first exams are in two weeks – these exams are a week-long extravaganza of various methods of testing in order to decide if we are ready to move to a new level. It will be stressful, but we can be reminded of the purpose of our language learning is greater than that one week of exams…and really, if those kids can do it, so can I, right?!
The Lind Family 