thé pour les femmes

women's tea

Car Tu es mon secours,

et je crie de joie à l'ombre {à l'abri} de Tes ailes.

-Psaume 63:8

Because You have been my help,

therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

-Psalms 63:7

 Beautiful decorations by an artist in the church.

 Leading worship by yours truly - always thankful to lead people to Jesus' feet.

 It's fun hearing all ladies' voices.

 The gals.

 Corinne translates into French for Mardee.

 Pretty nice turnout for a Saturday morning.

 I think everyone learned more about the lifeline that God's Word is in our lives.

 A few announcements by Nancy.

 Christine translates into French for Debbie.

 Nancy and I grabbed a whole pile of Bibles and books from the bookstore this week.

"We bring the bookstore to you" should be our motto.

 More beautiful decorations.

 Nancy, Debbie, Corinne, Mardee, Christine // the teachers and translators

And why not... "Lindsey, get in there for a picture !"  

I succeeded in getting an arrow through the head - yes - haha.

I'm really thankful for today.

I was reminded how important it is to read God's Word everyday and spend time with Him.  For without Him, what do I have?  Nothing.  He is my hope, my joy, my life, my peace.  I love my Heavenly Daddy.

If you'd like to listen to the teachings, they should be on this site within the next week or so.  Keep checking back.  And good news, it's in English AND French.

Love Linz

fruity

Well, it's no secret that I love the outdoor market here in Nice. 
I've already posted about it a few other times : here, here AND here.

 I love buying bowls of damaged fruit for only a euro... they make for great smoothies !

 This batch was a bunch of bruised peaches, so ripe, so yummy.

 Then I couldn't resist the strawberries, mini apricots, nectarines...

 cherries...

 pink lady apples...

watermelon and cantalope !  We're good on fruit for at least a week or so =)


I think I got called "ma belle" four or five times this morning... I love the market people.  They all think I'm beautiful... hehe !

Love Linz

leftovers

Since Tonio and I couldn't eat all 20-30 cupcakes {well, we could have, but it would have taken a week or so}, he took them to an annual church meeting called the "Assemblée Générale."  I wasn't present that night, since I covered for someone at the Bible bookstore late that day.

Apparently, Tonio brought them out at the perfect time, and they were a hit !  My sweet friend Elodie must have had a bunch of these perfume sample circles in her purse, so she had a few people write me thank you notes on the backs.  So thoughtful. =)

 Some in English, some in French, some in Franglais... I was blessed.

And for those of you who know me well,  you know I love notes.  I love to write them.  I love to receive them.  That's why I love snail mail so much !  AND if you know my lovely mother, you know where I get it from.  Thanks Mama for passing on the joy of the hand-written to me.

And thanks Elodie for making me smile really big when Tonio came home with this mini stack of circles.

Love Linz

tonio's birthday

My handsome husband turned 32 on thursday the 22nd of may

 German chocolate cup cakes with coconut pecan frosting

 We also went out to lunch with Pierre and Sebastien; Nancy was home sick =(

And Seb made us dinner that night - dinner and a movie in the living room =)
We're thankful for family - Seb, you really helped redeem the day - thank you.

For some reason, ever since i've known tonio, the actual day of his birthday is just blah... we make the most of it, but it makes me sad, because i'd love for it to be a special day - i guess it was "special" in that we got absolutely drenched walking into town in the rain... grrrrr! and brrrrr!

Last year was so bad we decided to celebrate it in July... that never happened =(

Thankfully, there is always the day after, and it seems to get a little better after that.
I love you mon amour !  You are loved despite the days circumstances.

Love Linz

our little bookstore

As you trusty blog followers know, I get to volunteer at our local Christian bookstore.  I still love working there - it's like a little sanctuary to me.  Since we are all volunteers, we all get to contribute.  I wanted to share a little bit of "Lindsey's touch" with you.

Here is our main section of Bibles, which doesn't even show them all.  There is one more shelf below and another shelf of adult Bibles in other section and another shelf full of kids Bibles.  I take care of organizing and labeling which versions go where.  Also, we had too many Bibles for the shelves (a great problem to have!), so I put all the ginormous study Bibles up top in a semi-circle with the verse Psalm 119:105 "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (in French, of course).  The rest of the team seems to be happy with this change.

And this is a temporary section for mother's day.  In France, it is celebrated on Sunday, May 25th this year.  It's typically a couple weeks after the states.  I had fun gathering cards, books, Bibles, and gifty things.

I'm thankful to contribute in a small way.  I know many of our customers are so thankful to have the bookstore here in Nice.  We really are blessed.  It makes me that much more motivated to help out.

Love Linz

Jewish passover meal

We had a team come from The Packing House Church in Redlands, CA last week.
One of the guys on the team, Pastor Bob, led us in a Seder Dinner (a Jewish Passover meal).  He's been to Israel over 40 times... this guy knows his stuff and his Hebrew.

 It might seem strange that a protestant Christian church would celebrate a Jewish tradition.


Well, the way we look at it... we are Christians, which means "little Christs," so we want to imitate how Jesus Christ lived.

 Jesus was a Jewish man, so we study and glean from His Jewish heritage.

It's so fascinating how each element of the Passover meal points to Jesus Christ Himself.

If you're interested in reading more about the elements of the meal, I found this site that seems to explain it pretty well.  In "the search for the Afikomen" after the meal, the kids were let loose to look for it.  Ben, who is pictured above, found it and got 5 euros - he was stoked.

I hope you enjoyed and learned something.  I sure did.
(And of course, Pierre did a fabulous job translating into French - thanks Pierre)

Love Linz

Italie

My last adventure with my friend Jessica.

Only took 3 pictures this day:

 Red.

Green.

Yellow.

Love Linz

Château Roubine

Roubine Castle

A visit to vineyards at a castle in the French countryside.  No, we didn't get to visit the castle =(.  Yes, still more adventures with my friend Jessica.

It's fascinating the whole process.  I now understand that when people say a wine tastes "oaky" they're not just making stuff up - ha... some wines are left in oak wood barrels to age.  Interesting.

Thank you to Jessica's friend who set this up for us.

Love Linz

L'Abbaye du Thoronet

The Thoronet Abbey

As I type, my friend Jessica is safely nestled back into her Virginia home, but I still have a few more adventures to share with you all while she was still here...

 After everyone left, we sang Amazing Grace.  The acoustics are a little slice of the heavenlies.  Unfortunately, I can't share it here, but if you are facebook friends with me, it's on my wall.

 The lighting and shadows made this place magical.  This saint agrees with a "Halleluiah!"

 Outside corridor.

 Jess in photographer heaven.

 BLUE !  Or in French, BLEU !

 Look into my eyes.

 Arches.

 Why do I see faces everywhere?

Olive tree grove just outside.  They are so peaceful.  Jess and I were talking about Jesus and the Mount of Olives.  It's no wonder He spent so much time there... it's just pleasant amongst the Oliviers, as we say in French.

Thankful for this trip.

Love Linz