the streets where we live

We took the girls for a walk today and I took some pics of our neighborhood in the city.

The big green thing below is a glass recycle bin and the white sign post next to it is for the library bus (think book mobile) that stops in a few places around the neighborhood so the kids don't have to go all the way to the big library.

The mail carriers here only deliver mail.  If you want to mail something you have to take it to the post office or put it in one of these yellow mail boxes.  

Even the fire hydrants are different 

apartments and buildings are everywhere

below is our neighborhood flower shop.  Every neighborhood has a flower shop, a bakery, a butcher, a post office, etc...

the girls love looking at all the different doors!  There are so many cool colors and great old door knobs!

One of my favorite buildings in the neighborhood is this corner one with those cute rounded balconies

In some of the larger French cities (like ours) you can rent bikes at stations like this one.  You can pick up the bike at one station and return it at another so it's very convenient and not very expensive.  

This is just down the street from the school.  It's a sight we see everyday!

We're definitely not in Lehi anymore!

Ecole Francaise

Eric and Emilie inside their school.  I didn't get many pictures there because it was kind of chaotic that morning.  It has been SO cold here and we cannot go anywhere without hats, scarves and gloves.  

Lydie loved her little school!  This picture is just outside the door to the classroom where 

they hang up their backpacks and coats.  She thought it was so cute. :)

This is the hall inside her little old school.  Her classroom is the first door on the left.  

Everything is bright and happy in her school.  

This is not the bathroom I talked about in the first post.  The other one has little walls between the toilets and the toilets are even smaller than this but this bathroom is closer to Lydie's classroom so I took a picture of this one.  I think it's so funny.  I have no idea where the toilet paper is.  Oh dear.  

I'll have to make sure she goes potty before school. :)

This is the hall from the other direction.  The door at the end is where the kids come in.  

coats all in a row

this is outside Lydie's school.  Isn't that door great?  And those shutters so charming?!

This is outside the big school.  It is so old (I'm going to have to do some research to find out when it was built.) that there are two doors one for boys and one for girls.  When it was first built they kept the boys and girls separate.  Now, they use both doors for everyone but I think it's charming anyway.

This one shows the name of the school a little better.

 How cool that they get to go to school in a building like that!!

The playground is in the back.

They all had a good first couple of days.  Emilie even got to make crepes at school!  Eric helped feed and take care of some crickets and Lydie learned a new song.  They are all so brave and we feel  blessed that they have been able to handle the change so well thus far.

the begining

I have no pictures yet because we've been so busy with details but I do have an update!  Let me just say that we have been blessed thus far! (This will be a long post because I know there are some who want details.  I'll try to use less words and more pictures in the future).

First, although our flight was delayed by a couple hours due to a mechanical issue, every other thing we were worried about with the journey turned out to be no big deal. We did not loose any children in the airports, we managed to make it to and from our flights with all four children, 7 full-size suitcases, 6 carry-on suitcases, and six full backpacks with relative ease!  When we arrived at customs to enter France they didn't ask a single question about why the kids had American passports, in fact they chatted kindly with each of the kids and sent us on our way (wishing us luck with our large load).  And finally the drive to Lyon was perfect. somehow we missed the most direct road that takes you right through Paris which was a huge blessing because we also avoided the crazy Parisian traffic.  We had perfect weather (even though we were told it would snow) and almost no traffic whatsoever.  Roland and I had to stop at a rest stop to close our eyes for a few minutes so we didn't fall asleep but otherwise it went surprisingly well!

We rested on Sunday and tried to catch up on some of our sleep.  This jet-lag thing is a bummer.  Today we began the registration process with the schools.  First we had to go to the local mayor's office.  Lyon is divided into 9 "departments" or neighborhoods and each one has it's own mayor.  Everyone must register at the mayor's office for everything.  It was so strange to me that we had to go there to get the kids registered for school.  They looked at our "family book" and entered a few things in their system, printed out a registration page and sent us on our way.  After the mayor we stopped at the grocery store where I found some whole wheat bread and a few other little things that made me happy! :)

This afternoon we took the kids and their registration pages to their schools.  I was really nervous about this because it was new to all of us (except Roland) and I did not know what to expect at all.  I was pleasantly surprised.  At the younger school where Lydie will be, the director lady was very kind and affectionate with Lydie (if you know Lydie, you'll know that the fastest way to her heart is be affectionate with her!).  The little school is perfectly charming!  I will post pictures soon.  It's a little old building with weathered white shutters and a big wooden door.  Inside was colorful and happy.  Lydie had a good laugh when she saw the bathroom.  It's a big open room with itty-bitty toilets down one wall (there are stalls without doors!) and down the other wall are itty-bitty urinals (also in stalls without doors!).  There are three big round sinks in the center where the kids can stand around it to wash up.  So funny.  She met her teacher and saw her classroom with it's cute old-school desks.  I could tell she was feeling much better about things by the time we left.

Next it was on to the the big school which is right next door.  It is also an old building with a lot of charm (it even has an old winding staircase!).  While we were talking with the director there, Eric's new teacher came in and introduced herself.  She is married to an American and lived there for 10 years before moving back to France!  She speaks English very well and was so sweet with Eric.  She took him to see his classroom and the whole time she was saying things like "don't worry at all!  Everything is going to be great.  It's fine if you don't always understand everything.  It will take some time but we'll work it out.  You're going to love your class.  The kids are so nice and we have lots of fun."  Since she had been through the experience of moving across the world with her children a few years ago she was very understanding and told him to be patient with himself.  I was so glad to know that she speaks English!  She told me to please write her a note (in English) anytime I have questions.  What a relief!

We did not get to meet Emilie's teacher yet because they haven't quite figured out what level she will be but she was really excited to see the school and the cool old desks!  It was fun for Roland because it's the same place he went to school and not much has changed since then.  He was surprised to see how small everything was because it was all so big in his memories. :)  The kids will start school on Thursday but they will be on vacation starting next week so Thursday and Friday will be a little practice time for them before they go for real in a couple weeks.

Overall, I have felt much more peaceful and calm than I anticipated.  Each little miracle has been so encouraging.  I know the Lord is aware of us and knows our concerns and worries.  He is making the way smooth and for that I am so grateful.

Can't find the words

I've been in trouble lately for not keeping up with the blog.  It's not that I don't want to.  Or even that I can't make the time.  It's just that I've had a hard time figuring out what to say.  The word we have used most often to describe our current-life situation is "weird".  But, that doesn't really explain it at all.  We've been busy sorting out all the many details that come with moving across the world but none of that makes a very interesting blog post.


I suppose the reason we can't find a better word is because there isn't really a way to explain how we are feeling.  We are full of hope and anticipation yet full of sadness at the same time.  One thing I have really appreciated about all of this is that although it is a very emotional process, all those emotions reaffirm to us that we have so many people to love and so many people who love us.  We have been forced to examine our relationships with our friends and family and find out how deep those feelings are.  It's kind of a silver-lining.  We have so many eternal relationships (both friends and family) that we can take with us. Just knowing that gives me strength and comfort.


So, for now, I'll just embrace the emotions (and the daily tears) for what they are.  A reminder of how blessed we are.  If there is one thing I've learned from selling everything we own and getting back to basics, it would be that our relationships with others truly are the only things we can take with us.  What a great blessing!  Family relationships as well as dear friendships can last forever if we let them!  That's what it's all about and that's what this process has taught me!


p.s. maybe I'll get back to normal, happy, picture-laden posts sometime soon! :)

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!..."