We went over to France recently for almost a week to spend some time with Tim's Mum & Dad as we would not be seeing them over the Christmas holidays. We arrived on Thursday 8th & stayed until Wednesday 14th.It was good to spend time with them & to be useful to them too. We offered to paint their kitchen as they had not been able to do it themselves in the time since the kitchen fittings had been replaced. It kept us busy & hopefully didn't cause too much disruption! They choose this lovely sunny colour which will make them feel cheerful when they come down in the mornings.
Life is very busy in Blois at the moment with all the Christmas services to organise, visiting to do, as well as the purchase of a building for the church all about to go through. It is wonderful to see God's faithfulness in prayer in this.
On Sunday we went to another of the Churches that they pastor which is in a town called Romorantin, a few miles away. This was their Fete Noel so there was a Christmas service followed by a wonderful bring & share meal. Tim got involved & joined their choir for the day...Their were over forty people at the meal which included family & friends of church members - some of whom had never been to a Protestant church before. It was a day that really tested the limits of my French. I was actually surprised by how much I understood - once things were spoken slowly enough. Replying was a different story mind you but I got through it & there were a few lovely people who's english was far better than my french who willingly spoke to me in english, making life much easier. I was told that if I practice, practice, practice (2 hours a day) I will have mastered French in two years...hum we'll see!
After the meal we sang carols (in french - obviously!) It was interesting seeing which tunes I knew & which I didn't.... It was a good, fun day all in all!
In case you're wondering the kitchen did get finished, we even had time for dog walking, shopping, a Christmas Dinner and even some lounging about....
