Jana's Faith: France

d-day | remembering a cold day in december (a few days late)

9.6.14

so one time my wonderful aunt and uncle visited us for christmas before we left france.

and they wanted to visit normandy, so we packed up on christmas eve at the crack of dawn and drove for a while, in a tiny french car.
after a pitstop at a french gas station, which is an interesting thing, and arming ourselves with oreos and chocolate milk, we were ready to face the bitter weather.

i have to say that there is something incredibly sobering about standing out on that beach and thinking about all the lives that were lost, fighting for what they believed in.

when you walk over the hill and turn the corner to see the cemetery, your heart just skips a beat.

thousands and thousands of crosses, row and row after row.

"to these we owe the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live"

after seeing normandy, i don't think i can ever think or look at the things that happened there quite the same as i did before.

---------------

by the way, i do have a little bit of an excuse for this being a couple days late, internet was making flowing molasses look like lighting and i was incredibly busy, so yeah…

but it feels amazing to be able to post good, nice pics about something, even if it has nothing to do with burkina or where i am now.

it's kinda crazy to think about how many places i have been in just the past 7 months...

France

12 Days More!

16.12.13

(only 9 days till Christmas!!)

In 12 days I will be getting off a plane and stepping onto Burkina soil, I can't begin to tell you how excited I am!! Sure there are moments of panic when you think "Okay, we're starting our malaria meds tomorrow and I'm gonna be in Africa in 12 days..okay that weird" but I have such a peace about finally being where I know God wants my family and I. We have this week of school and then 6 days to re-pack our suitcases and enjoy Christmas with my Dad's Aunt and Uncle that are flying in. It'll be a whirlwind I'm sure!
(That would be the reason for a lack of posts and falling behind on the photo challenge....oops!)

The weather has definitely got a lot colder over the last couple weeks. Every morning there is frost on the sidewalks and if it's in the shade, it stays all day. We're enjoying our fuzzy sweaters and jeans before heading to the high temperatures in Burkina. Which actually, haven't been very high at all. This morning it was down to 63 Fahrenheit at night!! We were all doing a jig, that's like unheard of there!! So we're thankful for low temps but it'll be a shock to our systems going form the 30's to the 90's. I'm sure I'll have plenty of funny stories after the fact! I know that you guys in the U.S. have been getting pretty chilly weather also, are you keeping warm?

Our French has greatly improved and the thought of only being able to communicate in French when we get to Burkina has really helped with practicing more!! Mom and Dad are having final tests and wrapping up classes in the next few days so your prayers would be greatly appreciated!

I would love to be able to get your contact info before we leave. And if it's possible I really want to Skype or Facetime with you so I can see y'all before we leave reliable internet!! Just leave a comment or an e-mail and we'll figure it out!

Prayer Requests

Transition to go smoothly as possible
Continued language learning
Traveling mercies for the next 2 weeks
Being able to say goodbye well to all our new friends at school
Everything to go smoothly when we first arrive in Burkina and that everything will be accomplished that needs to be before we drive the 8 1/2 hrs. on African roads to our new home

Thank you all for your prayers, love and support!!

Love in Christ,
Jana

Family

Le domaine de Marie-Antoinette

13.12.13

▴ Mike the Muskrat

▴ We were all quite worried about these pigs, they were so fat that their stomachs were dragging the ground...

▴Holly!

The grounds at Versailles are truly massive. I think we walked around for 3 hours and there was still so much to see!! Le domaine de Marie-Antoinette is the little hamlet that she had built for herself for the weekends. It was charming, but definitely overboard. I now fully understand how right the French people were to be upset at how Royalty lived compared to the average person. It is beautiful but so extravagant!