France Pt. 1--Rennes

October has been a very busy and exciting month!  First, we welcomed several special visitors: Mom, Dad, Tim, and Christine all gathered in Rehoboth and we had a great time hiking, playing games, and visiting together.  Benji was thoroughly spoiled by all of the love and attention!

These visitors were especially generous, as they stayed at home with Benji while I spent a  wonderful week in France visiting my friend Genavee, who is a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Rennes.  So many special experiences were packed into those five days, I've decided to blog about the trip in three segments.  First, here are a few words that I would use to describe the city of Rennes:

1.  Beautiful!  With winding, cobblestone streets, medieval timber-framed houses, and canals criss-crossing the city, Rennes is truly a beautiful place.

One of my favorite parts of the town was the Jardin Thabor, a public park which included a wooded English garden, a manicured French garden, an aviary full of exotic birds, and a botanical/flower garden full of gorgeous blooms.  I think I could have spent the entire week in this park and been perfectly content!

2.  Delicious!  Genavee and I enjoyed several special dinners out in Rennes.

"Assiette fermiere"--filet mignon, andouille sausage, and pork over a bed of creamy mashed potatoes and vegetables

Raclette--melty cheese with charcuterie and baked potato

My very favorite meal was galettes and crepes, a specialty of the Brittany region.  My galette (a savory crepe) included ham, egg, cheese, and mushrooms; and my dessert crepe was topped with apples, salted caramel, gingerbread crumble, and ice cream!  Add a bottle of cider and it was a meal to remember for sure!

3.  Friendly!  One of my favorite parts of this trip was getting to experience "everyday life"--meeting Genavee's friends, visiting her university, going to church with her on Sunday, practicing speaking French...I found the people of Rennes to be very friendly and overall the town felt like a place that would be easy to call home.

Genavee's beautiful apartment

Rue d'Echange--the street where Genavee lives

Genavee goes to a Protestant church that meets in a lovely 19th century building (c. 1882).  Although the church building is old and sparsely decorated, it houses an amazingly young, warm, and living body of believers.  It was so encouraging to be part of the Sunday worship there, which included the baptism of a young boy and a communion service.

 I also got to meet several of Genavee's friends from the university; we had two dinners together (the second was an "American dinner" which included chicken poppyseed casserole and banana pudding for dessert: strange dishes for the French palate, but Genavee's friends were great sports!)  These evenings were great for my French speaking and comprehension skills, but more importantly they were a wonderful opportunity to make some new friends!

In addition to exploring Rennes, Genavee and I took two day trips to spectacular locations.  I'll share more about those in blog posts to come!

Christmas is Coming!

It's a busy but wonderful time of year, with  many Christmas activities and projects going on!   Here's a brief snapshot of what we've been up to these past two weeks:

After decorating our house for Christmas, we had our church small group over for the dessert portion of the annual progressive dinner.  I decided to give this delicious chocolate pound cake some holiday cheer by adding "holly cookies" around the edge.

Later that weekend, our middle school youth group was here for a little Christmas party.  We played a few games and they really got into Christmas Charades!

Last Monday was a big day at the middle school; we took 120 students to Wal-mart to shop for our Christmas Basket program (are we crazy, or just very optimistic??)  Back at school, the students wrapped gifts and packed up the baskets.  The whole day actually went very well and it was cool to see the middle school students in a spirit of giving!

 

Yesterday our house turned into a Peanut Butter Ball factory.  Turns out the recipe made *way* more peanut butter balls than I anticipated!  Four hours later (and with a lot of help from Jonathan!) we could finally enjoy the finished product.

 This afternoon we enjoyed a beautiful concert from the Rehoboth choir!  Jonathan accompanied some of the songs with his violin.  This was a great way to start the busy last week of the semester with an hour of peace and worship.

Next weekend we will travel to the East Coast for the holidays!  Until then--enjoy a wonderful Christmas season!

Both Hands Project

This Saturday we had the opportunity to help with a really cool service project called "Both Hands".  The Both Hands organization helps make adoption affordable for families by organizing a sponsored work project at the home of a window.

The idea comes from one of my favorite Bible verses in the book of James: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  (James 1:27)

 So on Saturday we helped work on the house of a lady from our church, to raise money for a family who is adopting two girls from Ethiopia.  It was so encouraging to see the family of God coming together that day in amazing ways.  Tons of work got done, and lots of money was raised towards the adoption.

In the morning, my main job was weeding the yard.  It was fairly easy and satisfying weeding, thanks to the recent monsoon rains!  However, my legs are still feeling the after effects...

Side yard, before

In process of weeding...

Back yard, after

In the afternoon I dusted bookshelves, washed windows, and patched a crack in the floor.  In the meantime, lots of painting and repairing was going on throughout the rest of the house!  Jonathan was busy as the official photographer/videographer of the event.  You'll see some of his pictures and videos here.

Bookshelf, before

Bookshelf, after

Painting the bedroom

Patching the crack (i.e. canyon!) in the floor

So, our weekend was full but fun and encouraging.  I also had fun trying out a new bread recipe that I found on this website and I think will become a staple in my kitchen.  Called "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day", this recipe is a genius idea of mixing a simple dough (without kneading!) and letting it sit in the fridge for up to two weeks.  When you want freshly-baked bread (at just 40 cents a loaf), you pull out a ball of dough, preheat a pizza stone in the oven, and bake your bread for 30 min.

When I tried my first hot, crusty slice of artisan bread, I was momentarily transported back to France...and I have no higher praise for bread than that!  :)  I highly recommend this recipe!