first of the "lasts"

We're entering a new phase at our house.  It's a strange phase to be in where everything is "for the last time before we move."  This last week was the annual Fun Run at our kids' school.  Grandma and Grandpa were there (as usual) and it was hard not to think about how we will miss this yearly event.  The kids love running with Grandma and Grandpa (how cool are their grandparents?) and it's something they look forward to all year.


We'll be slowly letting go of a lot of things in the coming weeks and months.  It is a strange feeling really.  Like being awake in a dream.  It's not all sad though.  Over the past few weeks as this new idea has begun to settle in to our hearts, we have felt peaceful and sure of our direction.  We have also been blessed with so many kind words and heart-felt expressions of love and friendship.  And, just when we start to feel a little overwhelmed or discouraged by all that lies ahead of us, there is an encouraging email in our inbox, a perfect message in an Ensign article or verse of scripture or inspiration in a made-for-us Mormon Message.  


As they say in France:
"La vie est belle!"
Life is beautiful!

A song of hope....

The last two weeks have been particularily humbling...the best way I could describe this experience reminds me of a discussion I had not too long ago with a good friend at work who lost the most precious person in his life.

In our experience, while the loss of a life is not our particular trial at this time, we truly feel a loss of much that had become a great part of our heart. A home which had been a dream for many years, a career for a magnificent company that perhaps could have blessed our family for years to come, the comfort of so many "things" that brought a sense of security, the many friends each and everyone of you who have enriched our life so greatly, a community and ward which are filled with true brothers and sisters - for it is the way I feel about each individual and so much more....

The best we could describe this change of circumstances is that of a dark room where you know that somewhere, someplace, there is a door hiding a beautiful scenery filled with light but there is no way to see it until you find your way closer to it. You know deep in your heart that you have to go through this room but the darkness seems so overwhelming. All we get to have, through the goodness and love of our father in heaven is this small candle which provides enough light to be able to see one small step at a time. There is great hope knowing that the Lord has intended for you to be on this path but the walk is truly of walk of faith.....

And so we strive to walk, day in and day out, one step at a time with great hope for the beauty to come...knowing the beauty will never again look exactly like what we have been able to experience so far. But whatever it is that we will discover, we know...will be bright....

Today, Amie found this "Song of hope" in her long forgotten files which meant the world to us a few years ago when her and I were newly married, lost on the top floor of a very little appartment in France over a train yard.....hoping to start a family amidst the difficulties, challenges but unseen opportunities that would lie ahead. I hope and pray it will mean something to you if for any reason you too are...embarked on your own journey, holding your own candle not knowing the end from the beginning. It is a great reminder of what is within our own hearts if we will but just find and hang on to it.....

A Song of Hope

Rainbows remind us that life us

an endless journey of new beginning,

of miracles, of wonders and of

dreams. Hope is the free

Spirit that rides on the wings of

each of these dreams.  It's song is

of courage and tells us to believe

in ourselves, to reach for

dreams, and never give up.

Hope is a gift we give ourselves.

Once we have it, it will never

leave us for it becomes a part of

what we are.  And although it

may seem difficult to find sometimes,

it is always there for us,

somewhere in the heart.  Every

joy in life is only loaned to us

for awhile, so dream your dreams

and follow your heart wherever it

takes you.  Be happy and believe

that life is unfolding just

the way it is supposed to.

-author unknown

We are thankful for a loving father in heaven who loves us so deeply that he is providing us with this opportunity to walk on faith and grow. We pray and hope that we will prove worthy to see what's behind that door.....

I will go, I will do...

Those words have been repeated in our minds so many times over the past three weeks.  We are going to need to find some of Nephi's courage in order to take the next step in our life.  


As many of you know, it has been a couple of years now that we have felt unsettled in our current situation.  We knew something wasn't right and we thought it was all related to Roland's job.  We searched, prayed and searched some more for the answer.  Nothing was working.  Even when he was offered a job at exactly the place he had hoped for, in the department he wanted to be in, we felt sick about it and knew it wasn't our answer.  We carried on knowing that the Lord would reveal it to us in His time.  


A few weeks ago we had been particularly consumed with the subject of our future and what our next step should be.  We spent some time at my Aunt's cabin as a family and made it the focus of our weekend.  Still no answer.  The next day was Sunday and we came to church feeling humble and really searching for some glimmer of inspiration.  The Spirit was strong and we were both touched.  At one point during the meeting I looked up at Roland and in my heart, I heard the words "It's time to go".  I knew immediately what this meant.  It is time for us to move back to France.  We had our answer but it was so different than what we expected!  I felt so peaceful that day and I knew that peace was from the Lord.  Roland and I met in his office after the meeting and cried together as we realized what the next step would involve for our family.


Since that day we have felt peace and comfort from Heavenly Father helping us to know that even though He is asking us to take a step into the darkness, he will continue to shine the light ahead of us and we will find the place where he needs us to be right now.  


There is so much to do and so much to think about.  I will keep my blog updated through the whole process and even more once we get to France in January.  In the meantime, we'll just keep singing..."I will go, I will do the things the Lord commands!..."

It's coming...

We've been planting seeds and getting our yard ready!  Maybe Spring will come after all!

The kids were so happy to be outside that they didn't even mind doing yardwork.

I wonder how long we can milk this one!

at the {French} park

One day the kids were going a little stir crazy at Mamy and Papou's place and starting to drive everyone nuts!  I knew we needed some fresh air and some space to breath ASAP or else things would go from bad to worse.  One thing I love about Lyon (and probably other big cities?) is that there are little parks and playgrounds tucked in wherever they have small plot of unused space.  They are everywhere!  You walk for 15 minutes and pass 3 of them.  On this particular day I just took them to the small park right across from the apartment.  Roland thought it was too small, but the kids did NOT mind at all.  They were so happy to be free for a few minutes!  It was just what we all needed in order to be a happy (extended) family again!

back to France!

I still have so much to catch up on! Tonight it's more of our Fabulous, Fun, French Family! Unfortunately I could not find my camera in the dark, quiet room where our twin nieces were sleeping on the afternoon of the visit we had from Mamy's side of the family. Thank goodness Aunt Lucille forwarded her pics, but since they were all taken by her we don't have any of Lucille herself!

Flavio is Mamy's only brother. He has one son, William (did you notice that Roland has one cousin on each side?!). Flavio is a truck salesman. I love that he makes family a big priority. On the day he and Lucille and William were supposed to visit us there was a snowstorm. They live a couple hours away and when it snows in France the country just shuts down. He called to tell us that things weren't looking good, but rather than just give up he promised that they would hit the road as soon as they could. They arrived 2 hours later than planned and weren't able to stay very long, but they really wanted to see us and the rest of the family for Christmas. It was great to be with them.

Florent is Mamy's cousin. When they were younger, Florent was partially raised by his Aunt, Mamy's mother. He is like another brother to Mamy. He and his wife, Pascale also made a great effort to come and see us. There were so many people there that day and it was a little chaotic. Our only regret is that we didn't have more time to talk with Pascale and Florent!

While they were there, Emilie and Lydie were showing off their dolls and Aunt Lucille saw them and mentioned that she had some doll clothes at home that her grandmother had made for her when she was a little girl. She had been saving them all these years not knowing who to give them to. When she saw Emilie and Lydie with their dolls she knew they needed to have those clothes! I couldn't believe it. 50-year-old handmade doll clothes! And, the amazing thing is they fit perfectly! These pics are the ones I took to send to her of the dolls in her doll clothes. Lucille is someone who always tries to do good. I had a great time visiting with her!

A great day!

We are so proud of Eric and his decision to be baptized today.  It was truly a great day.  We are so grateful to all the friends and family who have influenced our sweet boy and supported our efforts as parents.

Lego love

This year is special for many reasons. 

One of them is that Eric had his first friend party. 

Above is the Lego centerpiece, Lego-guy-head treat bouquet, and the guess how many Legos game. (there were 300 and Brayden won!)

They were each given the same little set of Legos in their party bags and they had a race to see who could put it together first.  Zach was the champion this time!

For this game they each picked a partner and had a bowl full of Legos.  They took turns carrying their Legos on a spoon to an empty bowl across the room.  They all finished really fast!  Charlie thought is was so funny to watch them.  He was giggling and giggling. :)

Eric is lucky to have such great kids to call friends!

Brayden, Chase, Josh, Isaac and Zachary

The cake was not very pretty to look at (I was trying to do too many things at once today and the frosting suffered for it) but it tasted good!

Hooray for friends and parties and especially FRIEND PARTIES!

The BIG birthday...

How we got to this point I'm not exactly sure. But, we're here. Our buddy boy is 8 years old. He was invited to Cub Scouts yesterday (one day early!) and I just couldn't believe it! How can I have a Cub Scout? My brother is a Cub Scout, not my son! Oh goodness.

Things we love about Eric:

his creativity

his tender heart

his sense of humor (and his great laugh to go with it!)

his appetite!

the way he treats his siblings (most of the time)

the way Charlie already adores him

the way he adores his Dad

We love you, buddy boy! Happy Birthday!

French family part II-Papou's creche

Every year when Roland was a child he remembers helping his Dad set up their very special nativity.  His Dad made the little houses from medicine boxes.  It is a tradition we have in our home too.  When they heard we were coming for Christmas, Roland's parents saved the nativity so that the kids could help set it up with Papou.  They loved looking at all the pieces Papou had made so many years ago.



Fabulous, fun, French family!

This is the first in a series of posts about our loved ones across the sea!

This is Roland's Aunt Annick and Uncle Marc. Their son (and Roland's only cousin on his Dad's side) is Dimitri who plays the saxophone and Dimitri also has one son, Nani. I love visiting Annick and Marc's home. Annick has a great sense of style. She loves all things retro and when you walk into her house you feel like you are walking back to the 1960s. Marc is a poet (doesn't he just look like a French poet?) and he is so kind and always aware of others. I like to visit them because he makes sure that I am always included and that I understand everything. Annick always has gifts for the kids (actually, everyone we met had gifts for the kids!) and since she has such great taste and a love for shopping, the gifts are always to die for! Annick is Papou's sister and I think she has their mother's Greek genes. Isn't she pretty?

This one was taken while they were visiting us the day after Christmas and Lydie kept Annick very busy with her dolls. Lydie had no problem communicating and reaching out to everyone!

Nani was the first child that we spent time with while we were there and it was so exciting for us to watch Eric use is French skills with him. He just took off and never once asked for help. Even Emilie had very few problems! I guess all that driving I've been doing has been worth it. :)

We interupt our regularly scheduled programming...

...for this sweet face!

I still have a bunch of pics from our trip that I have not posted but I just couldn't resist posting these pics of our Charlie boy!

French cemetary...

I had told the kids before our trip that the cemetery in Lyon was really scary. They have all these little houses where the keep the remains of entire families. There are rows and rows of these stone structures and it's very different. I would not want to be stuck there at night! Creepy!

even the carousels are more charming

Maybe it was just because we were in France.  Maybe it had something to with being at the Christmas Market in France.  I'm not sure. BUT, this carousel was adorable.  The kids were so excited about it and didn't care one bit that it was freezing cold.  The Christmas Market is completely charming that way.

The cathedral on the hill

Fourvière is the most famous cathedral in Lyon.  It sits on a hill that overlooks the city.  The hill has been used by the religious for thousands of years and is known as the "praying hill".  The cathedral is surrounded by the ruins of religious structures from as early as the 6th century.  Fourvière itself was built in 1896.  Something that amazes me about these famous churches is how tourists are allowed to come in and take pictures while people are trying to pray and worship.  I almost felt bad walking through with the kids (we even had the stroller).  They have signs that ask for respect and reverence but it still felt weird.

One of the many beautiful stained-glass windows

This is the view of the city from the courtyard of Fourvière.  Very pretty!

And below, a shot of the kids outside the cathedral just to prove there were people on this trip! :)