soirée louange

worship night à chez Calvary Chapel Nice
vendredi, 28 janvier, 2011 (friday, january 28th)

slowly, it is becoming easier for me to worship in french

i miss english worship, but God is making Himself real to me in french, too

alexandre playing the violin, raphaël the clarinet, carole singing, tonio on guitar

and lindsey on the overhead slides...i play them well =) ha!

it's a great way to learn the songs

--L

worship practice

at our home
tonio gets to lead worship at church
sometimes alone or with a few others

this is preparation for a special worship night tomorrow (jan 28, 2011)

i sang with tonio, nathalie, and carole
(as 4 guitars would have been a little much)

learning familiar songs in french is helping me with pronunciation

currently, i'm not using the guitar much

please pray that God shows me how He wants me to use this gift

i'm excited to see what He has

nathalie and carole - these girls are precious to me

above, one of my favorite songs in english,
and becoming a favorite in french

"at the cross" by brooke frasier - hillsong

another song called, "comment expliquer"

i'm so thankful to have such an incredible husband 

and wonderful friends

--L

italy for the afternoon

tonio is the best husband
he met me at the train station after my french class on friday,
then we hopped on the train for a 45 minute ride to italy

 here is about 30 seconds of our journey - have fun
you can pause it, then wait for it to load
for a smoother viewing

 train to vintimille, italy

tonio on his iphone

i'm taking pictures

pretty classic

 villefranche, france

 i can see why so many take vacations to come to the south of france

 playing again...

 welcome to ventimiglia!

the italian way to say it

 a bit chilly, but gorgeous

 we walked up some stairs for a better view

 old par of town - the buildings are beautiful

 shutters make me happy

 italian coastline

 we're married!!!

just in case you forgot ;)

 not a bad view

sound italian?

sunset from the train on the way back home to nice

we hope you enjoyed your mini italian tour

--L

official paperwork

last week, we sent all our documents to the french embassy in los angles
we are "officially" married in california

next project...to be recognized as 'married' in france

 (here is tonio closing the envelope just before sending it
from our local post office here in nice)

please pray our documents arrive at the embassy safely
and for a speedy processing
after this...visa application...and lots more
thankfully, God is in control
He has been so faithful with all the documents thus far
And I need to add that He is ALWAYS faithful, no matter what happens =)

--L

animal withdrawls

so, i didn't get a picture WITH the dog, but here's the story:

nancy and i were in a hardware store with tonio last night
i saw a cute little white fluffy dog in a shopping cart,
and asked nancy to ask the lady if i could pet it
in french, nancy said something like,

"ma'am, my american friend is far from her animals,
and she was wondering if she could pet your dog."

the lady was so kind and excited to let me pet 'bushka' her 3-year-old mini poodle

i needed a fix - such a cute dog - i miss bandit, bailey, and cody

after the dog shinanigans, nancy and i tried out the patio furniture

--L

salut seb

we had some friends over on sunday night
dinner and a puzzle

 tonio, seb & marie-pierre

 nathalie, elodie, and dio

we're married - crazy

 dad, i'm wearing the shirt you gave me from northrop - thanks!

 most of us lost interest in the puzzle

not nathalie - she spent a couple hours on it

great work nat!

that's right - it's STILL not done - ha.

we'll miss this face

seb left for the canary islands for a few weeks

please pray his journey is safe and enjoyable

thank you

--L

j'y suis!

at church today, i was talking with sebastien, tonio's brother and a few girl friends - they were looking at pictures that seb had taken...i saw them a few minutes earlier

one of the girls handed me the pictures to look at, and i wanted to say "i already saw them" in french, so i scrolled through the canyons of my french brain compartment, and said,

"j'ai déjà vu"

then a lightbulb went on...that's where the term deja-vu comes from!
voilà...a peek into my actively learning brain.

[and the title of this post "j'y suis" is a way to say "i got it!" literally, "i am there!"]

i included these pictures of me and tonio as kids because....hmmm....i prefer text with pictures, and they are just cute...tonio is wearing a mischievous face and i look like a nerd - perfect!

--L

treasures

yesterday, i hung out with my belle-mère, nancy
belle-mère is mother-in-law in french
i'm so thankful for tonio's family
being far from my family, it's a treasure from the Lord to have such love here

we walked to old nice to a cute café

these pictures are just a few of town on a gorgeous, non-rainy day

fountains, waterfalls, any kind of moving water makes me happy

town...and beyond

i read this verse the other day,
and it always encourages me that God cares for us

"What is the price of two sparrows - one copper coin?
But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.
And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
So don't be afraid;
you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows."
--Matthew 10:29-30

Today, may you know how much you are cared for by God.

--L

walk to school with lindsey

i hope you enjoy a little slice of my day
tonio walked me there the first day to make sure i knew how to get there
he's such a great husband!
it takes about 20 minutes, not far at all

 out the front door after saying 'see you later' to tonio

 

 down the stairs - we are on the second floor, which is actually the 'first floor'

our first floor in america is the ground floor here - still getting used to it - makes sense, though

 leaving the apartment complex

 it's probably 8:35am - this is our street

 round the corner the next street

 in with the crowds of people - i like that everyone walks everywhere

it's possible in a city like nice, since everything is pretty centralized

 allez - go

 walk through the marketplace

 lots of construction going on around town

 most days i take different streets - keeps it fun and fresh

 a very popular and practical mode of transportation: scooters and bikes

 coming in june - yes!

 heading toward the train trestle

the train went over right as i arrived and continued while i walked under

for those of you who know me from montana, 
you know what a blessing from God this was

i love trains, and God has always used the train to
remind me that He cares for me

it made me smile

 another street

 here, i didn't turn, but continued straight across the cross walk

 market on the corner of the street the school is on

 here we are! rue de paris

 this café is diagonal from the market

in cyprus, the surf spot was called helios, so this also, like the train, warmed my heart

 and the alliance française is at the end of this street

 voilà

 

 main office door

 classroom at 8:57am

one of my classmates offrerred to take a picture of me before class

i thought you might like it ;)

next to me is a classmate - really sweet gal from saudi arabia

she has lived in france for 2 years now with her husband and 2 little girls

 view from where i sat today

and back home after studying french for 4 hours...ahhhh

it's probably 1:25pm

 the glass windows are to our living room terrace

it's covered and insulated, which is great

welcome home! - you can watch the video above to see

our mailbox...i always check it...sometimes 2 or 3 times a day =)

"hutchinson" is just in case we get mail with this name, so the mailman knows that it is, in fact, the proper box

i do hope you enjoyed this little tour - i enjoyed taking you on it

at the end of my school day, it's always a blessing to come home to my incredible husband

--L