Approaching the end :)

Hello again! Sorry for the delay in this update. The last two-ish :) weeks have been quite eventful!

Last time I wrote, I was still in England preparing for a family night with the Cunninghams. :) We had a nice time together that night eating, playing UNO, and watching one of my favorite films.

Saturday, we again did a street outreach downtown, and Mr. C was able to make contact with a few people he has been building a relationship with there. I spent a while at home later preparing music for the service the next day. Some close friends of mine from home were also getting married that day, so I also watched Facebook very carefully for any little photo update I could find. :) I had some good time Skyping my mom that day, and then baked a special treat for the C's after dinner--a recipe that Debbie had shared with me earlier in the visit.

Not much to look at, but super yummo :)

I woke up to a very rainy Sunday, but I was excited to go to church. Debbie's chemo continued to be very difficult to deal with, so she was unable to attend that Sunday. I led the music by playing my violin and was able to offer two more special music songs for the people there. My friend Josh from school again recorded an accompaniment for me to sing along to, and I got to sing Dan Forrest's "Lord of the Small" for them. It was a very sweet time with God's Word and His people. I said goodbye to the church people that day after their tea and biscuit time. When we got home, I helped Mrs. C with lunch, and we all took it easy together. We watched another "Essential Virtues" session in the evening and then had other fun family times together.

After cleaning up and packing my things Monday morning, I said my goodbyes to Debbie and Robert. It was very hard to leave Mrs. C knowing how hard everything is going to continue to be in chemo. Mr. C and David drove me to the Manchester airport, and we made it one time without any issues. Again, I was quite sad to leave the Cunninghams but excited to get back to France and help Kristi. She picked me up at the airport, and we got home around 7. Even though the flight itself is only an hour, it had been quite an exhausting day.

Now that I was back with Kristi, our next project was to pack up her apartment. She is leaving on a 5 month furlough a few days after I leave France, and when she comes back, she will be working in a new place of ministry near Paris. She hasn't found an apartment there yet, so for right now, she needed to put all of her belongings in storage. It made packing rather complicated as she had to decide what she needed for furlough, after furlough, and after actually getting a new apartment. Tuesday we packed, and I made some sugar cookies for some neighbors she wanted to say goodbye to. She was also hoping to give their kids one of her "Stories of the Bible" CDs. It was great to be baking yet again!

After braiding Kristi's fringe "curtains" :)

:)

On Tuesday night, we had prayer meeting, and Kristi showed a recent "Dispatches from the Front" DVD about the work of some missionaries she knows in Morocco. The church in Rouen does not have much interaction with missionaries and their work, so it was a very special time for the people! Kristi was hoping it would help in continuing to open their eyes to how God is spreading His Word around the world. 

Wednesday was another day of packing, and I also did some grocery shopping for Kristi and myself. We delivered the cookies to one of the neighbors that Kristi was hoping to see, but the other wasn't home. We had a good conversation with the couple and their little boy though, and were able to give them one of the CDs. In the evening, Kristi held a "goodbye" for a number of her friends in Rouen that are not from church. About 10 people came, and it was all very French. I had a nice full conversation in French with the first lady to arrive, which was encouraging after being away from the language for a few weeks in England.

We all talked and ate together for a few hours. There was one younger person my age there, a college student named Maxime. He and I had a great time talking in French and English! Near the end of the evening, I got to sing a few French songs that I've studied for my major at school, and they loved them. I also sang "The Power of the Cross" in French, and it was very meaningful to get to testify of the Gospel to these people. Please pray for these friends of Kristi's.

You'll never guess what we did Thursday! Packing! :) We also had lunch with one of Kristi's Muslim friends, Miriam. She is Algerian, so she made us some amazing Algerian food. Oh, so good. I got to tell her about where I'm from in PA and about the Amish people. She was very interested to see pictures of them. She then showed me photos of where she's from in Algeria as well as her wedding photos. They were amazing! It is a tradition to wear at least 7 dresses on your wedding day there. She looked like a completely different person in many of the photos! :)

The view out of Miriam's apartment in Rouen

After lunch with Miriam, I went downtown and had tea with a friend of mine, Robert, whom I had met earlier in the summer. Next was more packing and more packing! :)

Speaking of... Friday was the marathon day! Kristi and I packed for about 14 hours straight. She needed to move most of her things into storage on Saturday, so this was our last day. We had a blast though... listened to lots of music, TGC women's conference sessions, Focus on the Family radio theatre of Little Women and Narnia, Adventures in Odyssey, etc. etc. :) I also got to try out making some homemade French vegetable soup that I had learned to make at the camp. Unfortunately, we couldn't blend it and make it smooth because we had already packed most appliances, but it was still very tasty. :) 

Noticing a theme for photos in this post...? 

After the 14 hours............

.............satisfaction and exhaustion

We finished so late on Friday that we decided to stay in the apartment one more night rather than moving to our next location like we had planned. We kept joking about how it was like camping. :) 

I actually did not help with the move on Saturday. Instead I watched three little cuties from church, so that their dad could help with the move. :) Anne Marie, their mom, had to work, so I was the designated babysitter. :) So instead of 14 hours of packing, I had 14 hours of non-stop French with people who basically speak no English. That was a challenge, but very good for me! The girls and I watched cartoons, made bracelets, colored, played games outside, and looked at photos of my family and cats. :) 

Around 6:30, Alexis, their dad, returned from helping Kristi. We all had dinner together around 9. Out of all the families from church, I have connected most with Alexis and Anne Marie. They were at the camp for church elders as well, so we've spent quite a lot of time together. Love them very much. After dinner, Kristi and I headed to the Blanc's house--where we're living for the next week. If you were reading my blog earlier in the summer, this is the house where all the elders and their families came together for lunch on a Sunday in June. Stephane, Carolina, and Ahna are on vacation for two months visiting Caro's family in Columbia, so they offered for us to stay here during this transition. It's a gorgeous home out in the countryside with the Seine being just a few 100 metres from the house, so it's been quite like a resort getting to stay here!

Sunday was kind of a hard day for Kristi and I, as we were both so exhausted, but it was so good to be with God's people at church. I said goodbye to many of my dear friends there. We went to Evelyn's for lunch... an older lady in the church whose daughter and her kids also attend. We had been there before this summer, so it was good to be back! :) I had an interesting experience with the food there. Besides a sort of "pie" main dish made out of crepes and various smoked fish, I also had a very special French delicacy. I don't remember the French name, but it was a paste of duck liver. Thankfully I didn't know what it was when I ate it, or I'm sure I wouldn't have kept it down. Needless to say, I had about one bite. That's the last time I trust Kristi... :)

the fish thing...ehe

 We then went to the apartment to do a quick renovation job that needed to dry before Monday, and then headed home. We both took naps that evening and tried to gather our strength for the next day. :)

Monday was our big painting day. We first shopped for a few things at a Home Depot sort of place downtown and then prepped and painted the kitchen at the apartment. It was another fun time complete with Narnia radio theatre! Here are a few crazy photos we took.

We just loved our protective get-up.

We did a few other odd jobs and also started the cleaning process. One of Kristi's friends from town, Jessica, whom I had met once before, joined us for the cleaning. Around 8:30, we decided to call it quits for the night and go downtown for dinner. Kristi was very gracious to treat us to this special treat! We went to a French restaurant on one of my favorite streets downtown and had a quiet, restful time together. I just loved the ambiance of the restaurant, and it was the perfect little encouragement in the midst of a long week!

Kristi and Jessica

I loved all the art that was for sale on the walls! 

Fondant chocolat avec creme anglaise

Tuesday morning we took a little break from house stuff to work on Kristi's new CD. She is doing another recording of Bible stories for children in French, but this version is more geared toward European French-speakers, rather than African ones. She has to do quite a bit of editing yet with the sound engineer, so we went to his studio to work. It was very interesting to watch them work and give a little input here and there about sound effects. The man doing the work is not a Christian, but he and Kristi had some very interesting conversations about spiritual things that day. 

:)

After grabbing a baguette at a boulangerie for lunch, we headed back to the apartment to finish it off! After cleaning and loading and cleaning and cleaning... we finished! YAAAY! :) Kristi had me celebrate by walking over to the Carrefour grocery store and buying some ice cream as a reward. I found little Ben and Jerry's minis, and they were just the perfect snack for us! :)

Me and the ice cream :) (Kristi is rightly represented in this photo outside of her CLEAN and EMPTY apartment) :) 

We then ran over to prayer meeting and joined in a very heartfelt meeting. It was refreshing to slow down and pray with these dear believers. I again said a few more goodbyes to some of them before we headed home. We further celebrated by watching a little bit of "Up" before bed--Kristi hadn't seen it yet.

And then that brings us to today! :) I was planning to go out with Kristi on her errands today, but we decided it might be better for me to stay home and catch up on a few things like writing this :), school planning, and other details of the return home. 

On Friday we leave for eastern France to do a music conference there. I will be leaving from Paris on the 29th. I so appreciate your prayers as I finish out! Kristi especially needs extra grace during these next few days, as she is also leaving for the States a few days after I do. May the Lord's grace surround you today, and may your joy be found in Him!