l'hiver in Grenoble

The latest winter adventure at the FEU was a night hike this past weekend. About 15 students bundled up (after crashing the night at the FEU) and headed out at 4 am to catch the sunrise from one of the three ranges that encircle Grenoble (the Vercours). Bitter wind and a fair amount of snow made the trip challenging, but a bit of skiing and some toboganning made it all worthwhile and everyone returned wet, tired and extremely content. 

Sunday night crepe nights continue to be a hit at the FEU. This particular night included Dutch Blitz, always a crowd-pleaser, and a demonstration of Hang drums.

The last few photos are of a road trip Rich and Keith (our friend from Canada) took to visit a pastor and his family in Napoli, and then the last 3 are shots of us in a town not far from Grenoble--Vienne (we were making the most of the rented car from the Italy trip!). 

Vienne, a fairly small French town with a long and colourful Roman past  (which includes the lives and deaths of  a number of early French martyrs). 

back in the saddle again...

We're back in Grenoble after a summer of visiting friends, family and churches, camps, weddings, a conference and lots of driving (in Canada and Europe) and we're getting ready for another September and another year of being with students from all over the world.



Our friends Magali and Gilles were married in Lyon and we had our first experience being guests at a French wedding (which was a great three day party).








We also did a road trip to the Netherlands to attend another wedding celebration (friends Jon and Ariel) and got to see some students from last year (our road-tripping partners from the fall 07) who are back in Germany finishing their studies.





We're thankful to be back in France. It wasn't an easy thing to say 'goodbye' again to everyone in Canada but this is where we fit.

We'll post some more photos in the near future (we have a computer again--youpii) and maybe some pregant pics as well, for those of you who've been asking. There's no hiding it now! (not that we'd want to)

nouveau an

Pray love rest a while
tell a story of buds in winter
when the simplest of kind words
will cause our throats to catch
and all things light and beautiful
dazzle for just a moment
but what a moment

Pray peace rest a while
and we’ll smell the wood smoke on the wind
when the smallest of mercies
fill our eyes to brim
and all things sombre and mysterious
find their place in the world
they still have a place

Pray joy rest a while
and move gently, gently across the room
when the longest of days
is weight on feeble shoulders
and all things splendid and gracious
must fill our ears with glad tidings
and what glad tidings

So we have officially welcomed in the new year and are enjoying the start of the second semester. The Christmas vacation was a time of hanging out with people, but lots of just the two of us relaxing, reading, watching movies (we tried to stay with French only, but we broke down OK?!), being active, and that was a good thing.




We're ready to jump back into a semester of being at school full time and at the FEU, yea, you could say, full time. We've come to the conclusion that people are our life. You may be reading this and thinking 'that's always been everyone's life', but for us it's something quite mind-shaking. Even more than when I was teaching, even more than when we were students in Edmonton, people are what fill our days. And we know it's good. There are times when we wish for a miraculous osmosis-like-process to get a handle on the language, but we are still able to find a purpose in the midst of feeling feeble. That is evidence of grace.

We are thinking that this is where we need to be for next year as well, so we're starting the Visa process all over (another small forest worth of paperwork) and praying that what's supposed to follow will. It's kind of like all the things you feel you're supposed to be getting ready for for the first 25 years of your life, a house, a stable job, a mortgage that you can cherish, knowing what your 5 year plan is, all those things aren't really dictating who we are at this point. And it feels a bit like floating in outer space and foolishly detaching yourself from the ship. Although really, we are more thankful than scared, more attached than not!

The pictures in this entry are all from a snowshoeing trip we did with a group of students from the FEU (the drop in where we live, which is supported by a number of local churches). We headed into the Alpes and did some hiking and eating and fellowshipping. The are is called The Vercors, a plateau with some stunning scenery. We slept in a shepherds' hut, which is used in the summer by real shepherds with real sheep. And perhaps goats. Not sure. The Alpes are shocking to us. We keep expecting to see the Rockies in them, but everytime we are amazed at how much they are not the Rockies. It's hard to pinpoint why, but if you come to visit, maybe you'll see what we mean.

Day Trippin'

So we've done a few day/couple of day trips in the last 3 months that we really enjoyed. They've given us great chances to explore the country and culture a bit, but as well to hang out with some great international and French students. The first one we did was to Avignon (jam packed with history) and Orange.

The aqua/viaduct outside of Orange (2000 years old)









































The Roman amphitheatre in Orange




















The second trip was a road trip with some other students we hang out with at the FEU. A very kind family lent us their minivan and we headed to Nice and Monacco--where you can nearly forget it's winter




Downtown Nice which is very nice. Sorry...







The Nice beach (which is actually rocks and not at all saned) from the hill/garden in town.




Rich enjoying the jellyfish (les meduses) that were floating their way into the beach that we stopped at between Monacco and Nice.



Heading home






















We went with Gilles and Magali to Lyon for the Festival of Lights. The city was full of super-creative light displays.






















Celebrating the light in a more traditional vein




Looking back on the old Lyon, as we walk to the tram


So far, so good. We've thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sights here. We feel like we're in a pretty stunning country.