And all the pieces fall together!

Today has been rather amazing, I must say. All the pieces have fallen together on one day. Our completed contract for our apartment arrived (YEAH!), we got our kids enrolled into public school (YEAH!) and we found temporary housing for the 2 weeks between this coming Saturday (when the missionaries who live in this apartment return from the USA/Canada) and September 12th when we move into our own apartment (YEAH!). To add to the fun, we bought appliances today. Phew! No wonder we are exhausted. It has been a FULL day and we are praising God for answering our prayers about these many details of life.

I'll comment on a few of the items above. First, our apartment is now finalized - we got the completed contract in the mail (our landlord lives near Bordeaux). This contract opens many, many doors for us in maneuvering within life in France. It's a super big deal and represents the answer to many, many prayers! Thank you God!

Second, registering our kids for school was really interesting. We had to bring birth certificates for all of our kids, our marriage certificate, our kids' immunization records, the contract for our lease and a letter from Avant that states our salary. They converted our salary to Euros using the current exchange rate, and then assigned us a number. Our number ended up being "6." Then they gave us a pay schedule with a very large "6" on the top of the page. That 6 indicates how much we pay for everything...school lunches, activities in the community and probably many more things that we'll discover in due time. But, the whole idea is that you pay according to what you earn. Very interesting.

Our kids were placed in a school that is about 3 blocks from our new apartment. We will know by the end of this week or early next week (EEK! School starts on 9/3!) if the kids are invited by the director (principal) to join the school when the director finally returns from vacation. It seems very likely that there will be space, but the Mayor's office (which is where we register) would not confirm without the director of the school confirming first. One thing we have come to understand is that the French have "their system" and you just have to follow it. All very interesting, I must say! But, we are really praising God that our kids are registered and will begin school along with all the other children here!

Third, our temporary apartment. There are some really big positives to this place. 1 - it's right by a metro stop making it very easy to commute to the kids' school until we finally move into our permanent apartment. 2 - believe-it-or-not, it's literally above a really large mall! Wow! It's also right above a Carrefour Market - which is a big grocery store that has lots of reduced priced items. This is a big plus. The downsides, is that the apartment is tiny. It's also pretty, well, not like home. I think you might be able to read between the lines here. It's fine, but it is rather stark and not really well kept, but it is clean. It is also owned by an Arab couple. They were really nice and will be a joy to interact with, but we are entering another cultural experience for 2 weeks! We are praising God for providing for us, because we've really been biting our nails about this one. It hasn't been easy to find something to rent for just 2 weeks.

Our trip to buy appliances was pretty normal. After we did the work of selecting the washer, dryer and fridge that we wanted to buy, Mark went to place the order, pay and arrange for delivery. The kids and I wandered around the store. We saw a few things we've never seen before. Like this appliance:
Believe it or not, this is a dishwasher with a stove on top. We also saw a refrigerator over a washing machine...all in one unit. Very interesting, indeed!

To top off this amazing day, Todd learned how to ride a bicycle without training wheels! We went to visit a language school and while Mark and I talked with the director of the school, Jim (our team leader) took our kids into the courtyard of the school where they had a little bicycle that Todd decided he could ride! Wow! Way to go Todd!


The kids were already really excited to get the shipment from the USA with our bikes on it, but now they are OUT OF THEIR SKINS excited! I'm glad school starts soon, though, because I'm a little nervous about Todd on 2 wheels all over the hills of our city. EEK!

On the note of language schools, we've looked at about 10 schools on the internet, and visited 2 in person now. I think it's pretty clear which school I am going to go to. It's a Catholic Language school that has semester based courses. Assuming I enroll in this school, I will begin classes on September 28th (M-F from 9-12, and 2-5 two afternoons of the week). I am super excited and also very nervous! Please pray that I can learn this language well! And quickly! I am really thankful that I can devote a couple of weeks to helping our kids get settled into their school schedules and then work on getting our home in good working order before my language classes begin. God's grace is amazing in how He has worked all of this out!

Finally, I will include photos from some recent sight-seeing trips. Two Sundays ago, we packed a picnic and ate in a park. Then, we walked up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. What an amazing place!

Here's a view up the road we were walking on.

Unfortunately, all of us forgot to go to the bathroom before we left church, and low-and-behold, we needed "to go." In the middle of the Champs Elysees, we found a really, really, posh mall which had a sign saying "the cleanest bathrooms in Paris." Who could resist? Especially when you really have "to go." Well, it cost us 5 euros to use the bathroom as a family. The bathrooms were clean, and they were posh. Here's a photo of the toilet paper in the bathroom I used.

This was NOT the toilet paper we were allowed to use, but it was in a glass case just above the toilet. Too funny!

Here's a photo of the Arc and Lena. :-)


We went up to see the view. It was well worth the climb. Here's a view down the street we just walked.

In the next photo, I zoomed in to get a view of the Louvre Museum. We are planning to go to the Louvre the first Sunday of September because it is free on the first Sunday of the month.

Then, we found this arena built around 100 AD about 12 blocks from the apartment we are staying in right now. The kids loved it...especially the boys. I think they could instantly envision sword fighting and animals vs. humans fighting just by the way it was built.


And, there were dangerous places to climb. Even better! (Can you see our children high up on this wall? They got there in a nano-second!)


Then, I decided to go for a walk last night. I (stupidly) went without a camera, map, or cell phone, but managed to find my way to some amazing sights I had no idea were so close! (I also managed to find my way home rather easily, thankfully!) I came home raving to Mark about these amazing places I had seen. So, tonight he went for a walk to see them. I made him take a camera and here are some of his photos.

This is the Pantheon. Quite a building.
Across the place/street is the mayor's office (see photo below) for the 5th arrondissement where we are living right now. Not bad, huh! I'd be happy to work in this place!

Then, not too far away is the famed Sorbonne University. The place is MASSIVE! Pictures just do not do justice.
Here's the Sorbonne as you look down the street at the side of the building:

For you Northwestern graduates out there, this is the school where Dr. Easterling studied French. Quite a place, for sure.

Well, that concludes our post. Thank you for your many words of encouragement and prayers for us! I'm sure we'll be out and about a lot on the next 2 weeks (escaping our tiny apartment), so I'll keep the photos coming! Bonne nuit! (Good night!)