Three Celebrations

Sunday, July 3, 2016

We have had a great week.  Once again Ed forgot his Canada tie behind while we were on the road but he did wear it to church today.  Of course, nobody celebrates Canada Day here but imagine our surprise when we were walking in Colmar and we saw a Canadian flag on a balcony.  Right away we stopped and began singing "O" Canada."  It was cool.  We were 4 Canadians in France who came across a Canadian flag on Canada Day.  

Canada Day wasn't the only thing we celebrated this week.  We had our 39th anniversary on Saturday.  We celebrated on the road beginning in Strasbourg where we were helping the missionaries get ready for their move to their new apartment.  We cleaned and organised for 2 hours.  Afterward we went to do some stork watching at the Orangeries Park and saw several.  We headed back  to Charleville with our car loaded.  We went out for an anniversary supper with Cheryl and Neil to "La Pataterie", a restaurant that serves many varieties of baked potatoes.  It was great, especially since Neil and Cheryl paid for it. 

Yesterday was also my brother Kevin's 60th birthday.  I had a great phone call with him.  He was quite excited.  We had arranged for Spencer to pick him up and then take him to 5 Guy's for supper.  Afterward they took him to New West Theatre's production of Jukebox.  It all went great we assume.

We actually spent the week with Cheryl and Neil here dragging them all over France.  We visited 2 castles, an old monastery, some parks, some old neighbourhoods in different cities and some great restaurants.  We introduced them to Kebabs and have since had them twice.  

Interesting name for a restaurant.  We chose a Kebab instead.  But it's very appealing looking.

Sedan castle is only about a 20 minute drive from our house.

Peeking over the wall to catch a glimpse of a jousting tournament in the field on the other side.

Couldn't resist this little/big guy.  We did NOT make him our appetizer.

Oh no!  We're under attack!

On Thursday we headed out to do a series of apartment checks and installations.  We visited Metz, Nancy, St. Dié, Colmar and Strasbourg.  In Strasbourg we helped clean and organise the missionary apartment in preparation for their upcoming move to a new apartment.  Neil and Cheryl said they wanted to do whatever we were doing as missionaries and we obliged.  Their nice tranquil holiday has turned into a working holiday.  They are helping out lots and we love having them here.

Of course, we have also seen some sights with them in all the cities we visited.  We saw castles, battle sights, ruins, architecture, old neighbourhoods, cathedrals, parks, storks, picturesque villages, restaurants, canals, squares and chapels.  They attended our district meeting and weekly activities, including Home Teaching, Family Home Evening, French Gospel Study and Wednesday Night activity.  It's amazing how many things/roadside sights you can pack into an apartment check outing.  Drive, stop/take a photo, drive, do apartment checks/work, see a site, drive. Repeat 5 times.  That was our 3 days.  Lots of fun.  And just a tad tiring too.

Montcornet Castle.  This beautiful remains are only a 10 minute drive from our house.

Ed is in the middle of morphing into something.  It looks like we time warped into a Harry Potter Movie.

Our District Meeting.  Our new Elder Hein on the far right.  The Sisters from Reims were getting their dish ready.

Just one of the many wonderful breads here.

Cemetery at Verdun

Just a cool picture of large loaf of Bread and the Reflections caught in the background.

St. Hippolyte.  Such a beautiful village.

Another one of St. Hippolyte.  

One more reading a sign of the German occupation during WW 2 in St. Hippolyte. 

Colmar Market.

We had a room with this view in Strasbourg

Ingredients for our Taboulé class

Putting in a couple of braids

They have been a great addition and a great example to our little Branch during the time they have been here.  We love having them here.

The Tour de France started on 2 July as well.  I doubt that we'll see any of it but it's exciting just the same.

Well, that's it for a busy week.
Au revoir de la France, 
Lyndi-lou and Eddie, too.