La bonne vie.

Rue Blaise Pascal - part of our route home from Massillon. I enjoy peering into the quaint bookstores (les librairies) and antique shops along with smelling the aroma of freshly baked bread (le pain).

On our way home from Domino's Pizza one Friday evening. We met Freddie in Place Delille and took a nice stroll home through the old downtown area. Dusk is my favorite time of day and this is my favorite part of Clermont so it made for a wonderful start to the weekend.

Place de la Victoire - located adjacent to the Cathédral and another point on our route home from school.

Cathédral Notre-Dame de l'Assomption - aka "The Gargoyle Church" to Joshua and Sophia. Whenever the bells ring Sophia thinks the gargoyles - also known as goblins - are being released.

Cathédral Notre-Dame de l'Assomption

Picture of a Thursday afternoon demonstration near our apartment and Place de Jaude. Protesting and demonstrating are very common here.. it is fascinating to Joshua and Sophia and made quite an impression. Every time we pass this location on the way home from school they make a comment how all of those people aren't here today.

Life seems to be coming together and becoming more of, well, a new life - a good life. This is contrasted to where I was two months ago when I felt my world was tumbling down before my very eyes. I was talking to Freddie yesterday on our way to Vichy about how I finally felt ok... somewhat settled.. and like this is now "home" (albeit temporarily). I can now find a substitution for cheddar at the grocery store (cantal jeune for those who ever find themselves needing to know) along with cream of chicken soup and cream for my coffee. I can successfully back out of our claustrophobic-like garage and drive without hitting another car's bumper, another car's side mirror, running a red light (yellow lights don't count) and/or hitting a pedestrian (although I have come a little too close). I can have two year old like conversations in french with the person at the check out counter in Carrefour and the little old lady on the corner of Rue Blatin and Rue Bonnabaud although I am not sure if she is telling me that my children are beautiful or they are going to choke on Cheerios. From the "belle" and choking like hand gesture and pointing I gather it is a little bit of both or she is telling me Emily has beautiful Cheerios - which I doubt. Yes, with these small victories I feel like I can survive (cue Gloria Gaynor except my "love" was Starbucks, lots of personal space, the English language and the occasional 70 degree winter day... and they didn't abandon me... I willingly left them - ok, it totally changes the meaning of the song but you get the point :-).

Through this trial, I have learned a lot about myself - my character.. my likes, dislikes, perceived "needs" and my depraved heart condition has been revealed so I now have beaucoup de issues to work on... which, aren't so much fun but I know that on the tail end of this I will be one teeny tiny step closer to the woman God wants me to be... well, that is the hope, at least. At times, I find myself being very resistant to God's calling for me to change. If you know me even a little bit, you know that I tend to be a slight perfectionist and I don't like to be wrong, do anything wrong (although, if you know anything about my past or even present, for that matter.. you will find yourself saying "hmmm?") or have fault of any kind. Which is so ironic because on the flip side of that character trait, instead of pride (although, I am sure it is there, too), you have someone who can almost be self-loathing, at times, with regards to my faults and mistakes. I have found myself thinking "Who is this person?" and then the stark realization that it is me... always has been me but this particular issue just had not been revealed. On one hand I find myself thinking "Geez, God, you really let me go on my entire life acting like THAT and not realizing it?" and then I start feeling shameful about my sinful self and THEN I usually come around to being thankful that he has revealed the sin to me and for his sacrifice and forgiveness and then I am able to start working on it... sometimes I ignore - not conscious defiance but more out of not knowing how to change or what it even looks like to be different - and sometimes I take heed.. usually life is better when I start making steps to change. It is one of the many examples of the necessity of being dependent on the Lord and not on ourselves. That is one of the biggest life lessons I have learned so far. I am still trying to grasp onto that truth and not let go.

Yesterday our family took a little road trip forty-five minutes through the rolling hills of the french country side to Vichy, France. It is, as far as we know, the only place in a 60 mile radius (maybe all of France?) where there are shops and restaurants open on Sunday. It was Freddie's first time being on the open road in our new little très chic and hip (if I do say so myself) station wagon. He is zipping down the road at 110kph only to find a little Peugeot on our hiney. It is a winding two way road so we aren't sure what to do as it is quite nerve wracking, not to mention dangerous... we have yet to really figure out road signs or what the closely spaced dots mean versus the widely spaced dots so we aren't sure when he can pass. It is a little disconcerting because if we even tap on the breaks a little he will probably crash right into us. We head into a little town and the car behind us slows down considerably so Freddie takes it as a hint that maybe we should slow down, too... just in time to see the little flash of the automatic camera that will result in a ticket in our mailbox. Nice. Oh well... we will know better next time. So, we get out of this little french speed trap and the car speeds up again right behind us. Freddie decides to slow down just a little to let them know they are welcome to pass us. They take the hint along with the liberty to flip us off as they speed by. Sweet... nothing like getting flipped off with three young children in the back seat. Then, as we exit the next round-a-bout and they continue on... we get the hand gesture yet again! I wonder what is the heart issue HE needs to work on?

A few shots from the past two weeks and our wonderful family outing yesterday.

My handsome almost FIVE year old.

Three of my favorite people in the entire world!

Sweet Sophia and some lady with too blond hair.

Joshua and Daddy enjoying un chocolat chaud (a hot chocolate) et un cappachino.