FRIDAY
Since Friday is a free day for us, we took time to explore the culture/country like I mentioned in my last post. Daniel and I couldn't help but notice the sharp contrast between the dark spiritual climate we have seen in our first week here and some of the beauty that we discovered while exploring Etretat, France. Gods handy work is so evident yet people choose to ignore it.
Etretat is about a 2 hr 10 minute drive from us. The drive was mostly countryside.
Honestly we didn't know much about the place. We wanted to "discover" as we went. We pulled up around 10am and found parking right away. There was a chill in there air (okay lets be honest unless it is super hot outside, I am always chilly :)).
After getting the kids out of the car and bundling them up, we made our way over to the walkway that lines the beach and were immediately struck by the cliffs that bookend either side. Breathtaking is the first word that comes to mind.
We took the kids for a short walk on the beach which was covered in large pebbles that Eli found to be a convienent source of throwing material (he seems to have quiet the arm like his Dad).
The cliff to the left had a path a few people were walking/climbing up. We wanted to climb up the trail to the top of the cliffs, but quickly realized knowing our Eli that we had to find some way to keep him from making his way off the cliff, so I (Magen) rather akwardly put Eli in Caleb's harness and walked up even though Eli opposed this decision. I might add that I twisted my ankle the day before which made carrying Eli (a heavyweight) quite the experience. Daniel was also quick to lovingly point out my poor choice of footwear (flip-flops :)).
After making our way about 1/4 of the way up, we began taking a few pictures and successfully found a frenchman to take our family photo (which included a few awkward stares and pointing to finally realized he was offering to snap a shot for us), we made our way back down.
By this point the sun was heating things up nicely and what was a largely empty beach before was teeming with people taking in the beautiful weather and picturesque scenery. side note: We actually realized on our drive back that the sun was so strong we all seemed to get a bit of a sunburn.
Next we set out to find some lunch which Daniel was able to successfully order in French. I tried my hand at ordering chocolates, but unfortunately it ended in me pointing to what I wanted and the more mature lady responding in French to which I didn't understand.
After lunch we spent some more time on the beach letting Eli strengthen his throwing arm by tossing pebbles into the English Channel for a good 45 minutes without a break while Caleb entertained himself with putting pebble after pebble in his mouth. Even with this marathon session for Eli, he was still upset when we told him it was time to move on.
We then made our way for the cliffs on the opposite side of the beach. After asking two different people who spoke little to no English and getting all opposing answers about whether we could drive up the cliffs on the right, we ran into some Brits who graciously told us about the tourism building that had maps on how to drive up the cliffs. We were glad to find that we were able to drive up this time to enjoy the view without the effort of lugging the kids up the hill. I want to interject here that I was a nervous wreck the whole time on this cliff staying FAR from the edge. Daniel should receive all credit for the pretty pictures as I was too chicken to make it out much further than the walking path. I was very protective of the boys too and honestly would panic if one of us did not have a hand on the stroller at all times. The wind was just so intense I was afraid the stroller would blow away.
There was a beautiful abandoned church which is indicative of France where a church is more likely to be a tourist site than a place to worship the Lord.
(there are more pictures on Facebook)
It was a great experience and we learned a great deal about what France and the french are like in a different context than we had experienced before.
SATURDAY
Saturday is our other off day during the week. We spent most of it hanging out with the Powell's (who we mentioned in the previous post). One of their children was having a birthday party which we visited a butterfly museum ate ice cream cake and then later that night ordered pizza while the kiddos played their little hearts out. We have pictures, I just haven't loaded them yet :)
SUNDAY
Sunday we went to the Church Plant in Guyancourt, France. For various reasons it a can be quite difficult to find a suitable site to have church. This particular church plant is held in a conference room at a local hotel. Most notable about the experience is hearing God being worshipped in another language which always reminds us of the diversity present in the body of Christ and the greatness of our God who calls those from all nations. It is a beautiful thing to see God build his church in this dark country.
After Church we headed to lunch with the Boggesses and some of the other members of the church.
Alright, I covered a lot (sorry this is long) just wanted to make sure you have an idea of our days.
Here is to another week!
Happy Monday!!
Mae
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