an itty bitty country

Monte Carlo, Monaco

 café and a chocolat chaud on the terrace in the front of the casino...pinky's up

 lovin' life - car and people watching

back of the casino

too cool for school

"may i welcome you to my palace"

formula one cars race just to the left of my Daddy - crazy

"would you like a ride in my boat? i spare no expense"

driving miss daisy

low rider

mrs. toads wild ride

I found this little tidbit from Wikipedia:

"Monaco has no navy or air force, but on both a per-capita and per-area basis, 

Monaco has the largest police force (515 police officers for 35,000 people)."

in a span of just a couple hours we saw 3 different police writing tickets

 ♫ we all live in a... ♫

in front of the Prince's castle

i had so much fun with my daddy !

thankful he is here

Love Linz

back to the mother land

My Dad's trip to Norwich, England

Visiting Derek and Lyn.  They are the parents of my dad's nephew's (my cousin's) wife.

Are you tracking?  They're family, that's all you need to know.

All these pictures were taken by either my father or Derek.

I'd say they did a great job at capturing the charm of this area.

My Dad has turned out to be quite the world traveler.

He's been to Australia, Hawaii several times, visited me in Cyprus, a trip to Israel together, two times to France, a hop on over to England... Where will he go next?  (Probably Tennessee - love you sis!)

Love Linz

finished product

Pierre and Nancy's entry way !

putty, first coat, final coat
it's BEAUTIFUL !!!

Well done team.

Love Linz

a new season

Perhaps you remember when our first Pépinière student arrived in August...

Or when Tonio was helping the 2 students with their paperwork in October...

Well, it is with heavy hearts that we have had to close La Pépinière program due to some unforeseen changes and the sudden departure of some of the leadership.

I'm comforted by this though:

"To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven..."

 "La Pépinière closes its doors!"

Pierre and Tonio pray for Andrew before he returns to the states 

and for Hayley, who has already returned.

"...A time to be born,
And a time to die;"

Andrew's farewell with the guys group.

Thomas, Andrew, Tonio, Nathanael, Jean-Rémi, Rodhlann

"...A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted..."

-Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 

La Pépinière is "the [tree] nursery" in French,

so this verse sums it up quite perfectly.

We were hoping to plant, but for some reason, it's been uprooted.

Sure, we are bummed, but we are very thankful that God is our portion, our ever-present help in time of need.  And it has also been a blessing having my Dad here to encourage us during this difficult season.

Thank you for your prayers.

We do look forward to what God has in store.

Love Linz

 

sunday stroll

After church on Sunday, my Dad and I took a stroll along the sea.
Then we painted.
Then we sent him to Norwich, England for a few days to visit some friends.
Such a world traveler.
He's back now.
I missed him.

Love Linz

painting and surf racks

We thought we'd put my dad to work a little 

at Pierre and Nancy's house...

As you can see, the walls were in dire need of some attention.

As my dad always says, "a little putty and paint makes a carpenter what he ain't."

While the primer was drying, we headed downstairs to the garage for some fun.

My dad and Tonio moved lots of things around in the garage to make room for these sweet surf and snow board racks that my papa made.  It was a blessing that we decided to do this project, because we found a leak from the neighbor's above.  At one point, there were almost 10 people in the garage discussing the leak's source...

Since my dad doesn't speak French, he kept on working, by saying "pardon" and "excusez-moi" - drilling away into the concrete walls.  It was actually quite comical.  

And for those of you who know my dad, you can imagine =).

The next day, we painted the first coat of paint.

It's called "liège," which means cork.

SO much better than before.

Tonio and I are so blessed to have my dad here with us.

And being the world traveler that he is, 

he just got back from a quick trip to the "Mother Land" as he calls it. =)

Stay tuned.

Love Linz