missing these guys and all our friends and family in the states!

Try to imagine this:

Walking through Carrefour (our grocery store that is about 300 yards from our apartment) and hearing this song on the radio.

I have definitely experienced things here in France that I never could have imagined!

We are pretty sure that we have made the first sighting of the next big boy band, 2nd Direction or U-Turn. The name is concrete yet. Anyhoo there were 5 boys (not all pictures) walking around the outside of the Louvre. Wearing pant suits in crazy patterns. Of course I had to get my picture with them so I smiled in front of a beautiful old building, and of course 2nd Direction.  Most boy bands have synchronized dance routines but not 2nd Direction.  No, these guys all wear crazy pant suits. They each have their own patterns and color scheme, but together they are
2nd Direction....or was it U-turn?

P.S. It was definitely a funny little blessing to be able to see these guys. It definitely made me laugh harder than I have in a very long time. I wonder what kind of songs they will sing.

P.S.S. a I will now have bits of One Direction songs in my head all day..... ughh

P.S.S.S. If they do come out as a real band I am totally gonna be able to sell these pictures for a lot! Hey, you might want to get these pics now before they go big.

I think I'm just gonna put loads of pics on here and let y'all look through them. There is so much I could tell you guys, I think it would take days. My mind is kinda mush when it comes to meaningful and insightful posts, thus Picture Puke #1. Sorry but that was the first thing that came to mind when I was loading all the pics into this post. I hope you like having an extremely large amount of pictures, I know I do. 

 So here are the pics of when we went into Paris on Tuesday. We decided to go in for the afternoon just to get a feel for how everything was set up and what bus and RER we needed to take.  We saw Le Tour Eiffel, L'Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame and The Louvre. Hopefully this way when we go to Paris to really look at things we know where we are going. If you have any questions just ask, I would love to hear feedback from y'all!

Voila! The pictures:

Love you guys!

Jana

 Here we are! In France! I dont really know where to start. I have experienced so much in the 2 days that I have been here! I had beautiful ideas of taking a video while we were traveling to keep all you guys posted while we were traveling, but lets just say that international travel isnt exactly the time to kick back and relax. Im learning that typing also isnt quite as carefree as it always was either. Please excuse my lack of apostrophes, I cant find them on this keyboard to save my life. If you look up what a French keyboard looks like you might understand my confusion. (note: I just had to rewrite that sentence 4 times, a lot of the letters on the keyboard are switched around here, most importantly the q and the a.)

 I cant begin to tell you all how weird/good it is to finally be here. It didnt really sink in that we had left and were now in France until we were all in a taxi and headed to our apartment. Thank God, He gave us an honest taxi driver who got us right where we needed to go and for 1/3 of the price we thought it would be. We were met by some people from our school who showed us our apartment and were super sweet. Then we went to the market, which is right down the street and got some food. I will try to post pictures and possibly a video as soon as I can but right now Im not on my computer, thus the lack of apostrophes.

Traveling went smoother than we could have possibly imagined, there were no delays, storms or hiccups. And, Jesse was thrilled because we all had personal tvs on the flight here.

Overall, God is definitely with us in a tangible way and ze we (the z and w are also switched) can feel all your prayers! We dont have internet at our apartment right now but we are working on it, so it might be a couple days till I can get pictures up.

Well, that was definitely a puke of words but that is kinda how Im feeling right now, a little overwhelmed and trying to figure out how I can communicate everything to you guys clearly. But to sum it up: We arrived safely, have all our bags, our apartment is great and we ove and miss you all already! Thank you all for your prayer and support!!

Love in Christ,

Jana 

Well, it's official. We have bid "Adieu" to our church last Sunday.  I feel so blessed to have been surrounded by this group of people for the last 2+ years.  A group of people that loves each other despite our differences and enjoy life together.  Dad preached his last sermon in the U.S. for the next 3 1/2 years, which is really weird to think about. After church we went to a local park, had a baptism and a time of sweet fellowship.  Partway through the afternoon it started pouring, which thrilled all the little kids to no end!
I will dearly miss this church and all the smiling faces that belong to it! We love you Generations!!

Love in Christ,
Jana

On a side note: this is the sign posted in the middle of the park. I wonder if the people who put this up realized that they were putting it up right next to a playground.... I mean what fun is a playground without some honest to goodness whistling, hissing and hollering? Okay, I'm not so sure about the hissing but still!!

 

Reckless by Jeremy Camp

~

Everytime I try to play it safe
Holding back just a little part of me
I find myself forgetting what
I say that I believe
The promise of Your Word
Is all I need
I'll lay my life down
And give it up
I'll give it up
[Chorus:]
I wanna be reckless
Cause You are endless
I wanna be shameless
And shout Your greatness
I will not be afraid
To surrender my way
And follow who You are
I wanna be reckless, reckless
I will lose my life
And just let go
Because I know this world is not my home
With fearless faith
I won't be moved
Unshakeable inside Your truth
You laid Your life down
And gave it up
So I'll give it up
[Chorus]
I won't waste any more time
My life's Yours it is not mine
Use me Lord no matter what's at stake 

~

I love this song!! Hopefully everyone of us can live like this for His glory!