Kerri's Aixcellent Adventure

A Uganda update, at last! Or, Watch this video, you won't regret it.

2009-08-31T12:50:00.004+02:00

Hello friends! I apologize that it has been so many months since I have blogged. Life has been busy and full, in the very best way.

Not a day has gone by since I returned from my trip to Uganda in May that I have not thought about Uganda and my time there. Memories, faces, smells, stories are constantly popping in to my mind, my short stay in Uganda has left a deep impression on my soul.

I realized today, as a Uganda memory suddenly popped into my head, that I have not shared about my incredible experience with you, my friends. Over the next few weeks I will be blogging stories of how God moved during our trip to Uganda, and of the lives we encountered there. But for now, please watch this video we made of our trip. It will give you a small taste of my time there.

FranceToUganda 2009 from France Uganda on Vimeo.

Thank you so much, dear friends, for all your prayers for our trip. God moved in big ways, in my heart, in my team, and in the community we shared life with in Uganda.

i'm off to uganda!

2009-04-17T19:48:00.003+02:00

i'm leaving in just a few short hours for uganda. my amazing uganda team is gathering in my apartment right now, organizing huge suitcases full of clothes and shoes we're taking to bless juna amagara. we just looked out the window and there is the most incredible rainbow i've ever seen right outside. words can't describe it. it feels like a promise, just for us, as we head out.

i am so excited for this trip!!! i am so excited to see the ways that God is going to work in us and through us. please pray, my friends, that God will use this trip to do amazing things in our hearts and in the country of Uganda.

if you haven't checked it out yet, go to www.francetouganda.com to learn more about our trip.

goodbye for now. i love you.

sing and run. or, if you sing but then don't run, you could make some money.

2009-04-13T18:33:00.006+02:00

on friday i met up with heather, loni, and hilary to practice a song we were going to sing on sunday morning at iccp's easter gathering. after practicing, the four of us were walking through town, enjoying a few moments of sunshine and conversation before we rushed off in four different directions to get on with our hectic lives. we were chatting in the hotel de ville square, surrounded by french people leisurly sipping at cafes, when one of the girls (and i won't tell you which one) had the brilliant idea that we stand in the middle of this busy french square and sing the song we had just practiced. the other three of us looked at her like she had lost her mind. but before we could stop her she had pressed play on her ipod speakers, and we had no choice but to sing.

and so we sang. we filled that square with 4-part harmonies and jazzy riffs, and as we sang, all our awkwardness and embarrassment at what we were doing disappeared. we just enjoyed the music, and forgot about the fact that what we were doing could be potentially humiliating. we forgot, that is, until the song ended, and we realized several hundred people were staring at us, and the crowd that had gathered was waiting expectantly for us to sing another song. we didn't have another song, so without a word, the four of us grabbed our bags and bolted. we barely had time to register the confused looks on our fans' faces as we took off. we song-ambushed 200 people, and then disappeared into the crowd.

during our supremely bizarre exit, we did hear some applause, and through the cloud of awkwardness we remembered looks of genuine enjoyment on people's faces as they listened to us sing. we decided that our jazzy quartet was something that french people seemed to be in to, and we were going to use that to our advantage. the next day, while the streets were crowded with saturday shoppers, the four of us spent about 3 hours standing in different squares and singing. we put up a sign and laid a hat on the sidewalk, and let passersby know that any money they donated would go straight to the FranceToUganda trip and would support AIDS orphans in uganda. we thought that, even if we just raised a few euros for uganda, it would be worth it. we had no idea we would actually make a good amount of money. we made more money singing on the street for 3 hours than our entire team of 10 combined could have made working at minimum wage jobs for 3 hous.

the moral of the story: sometimes you have to get over yourself, take a risk, and sing on the street. also, sometimes you have to take your awkward moments and turn them in to ways to make money for the kiddos in uganda!

p.s. even if you didn't get to hear us sing, you can still support our uganda trip! it's really good stuff! learn all about it here: www.francetouganda.com

i love paris, i love love.

2009-03-30T22:40:00.005+02:00

i will never, never, ever get over the fact that i can hop on a train and, in 3 short hours, be in paris. i have vowed to take advantage of this fact as much as time and finances will possibly allow. i had that privilege this weekend. dominic had encouraged me to get away for a few days as i've been so busy lately, and i knew in my heart it was time for a trip to the best city in the world. highlights include:

**reconnecting with the darling katy, who lived in aix a while back and is now living and working in paris.
**vintage shopping in the marais
**quality time with three of my favorite aix ladies: heather, loni, and rebecca
**hole-in-the-wall vietnamese restaurants where the walls are lined with books, big bowls of noodles are 5 euros and pints of Leffe are 2, and friendships are deepened
**coffee with jeff, my hilarious friend on staff with ca in paris
**the european museum of photography
**listening to the rain pounding on the roof from within the cozy warmth of shakespeare and co.
**enjoying the sunshine in the luxembourg gardens
**conversations of jesus, life, and the church on katy's mini balcony
**one of the most incredible meals i've ever eaten. i highly recommend l'affriolé, a tiny fabulous restaurant in the 7ème, if you're ever in paris

yep. no matter how many times i visit, i'll never, never, ever get over paris.

while having a coffee with jeff, he was telling me a bit about the rhythm of vintage, the ca community in paris. it struck me that, though iccp and vintage have similar dna as they are both a part of the ca family, the rhythm of these two church communities are extremely different. listening to jeff, i realized how much i love the rhythm of life and worship at iccp. we're a community of people in process, and sometimes that looks messy, and we have a lot of growing to do as a church, and we're in transition, and we have ups and downs. but i find myself nothing but thankful that i get to do life with this community where jesus is the center, where grace is received and grace is extended.

as much as i love spending time in paris, this realization made me eager to get on the train sunday morning and head back to aix for iccp's gathering sunday evening. we worshipped together, we prayed together, together we experienced and were overwhelmed by the incredible truth of God's love. the presence of God in our community is beautiful.

i led our community in this song, and i haven't been able to get it out of my head. there's nothing as powerful as the love of our God, who became flesh and dwelt among us.

how about you, my friends? in what ways are you experiencing love and receiving grace in community? i'm praying that you are.

we are his portion and he is our prize
drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
if grace is an ocean we're all sinking
so heaven meats earth like a sloppy wet kiss
and my heart burns violently inside of my chest
i don't have time to maintain these regrets
when i think about the way
he loves us, oh how he loves us
oh how he loves us, oh how he loves

Uganda

2009-03-23T19:23:00.003+01:00

you may or may not have heard by now about this little trip i'm taking to uganda. now that the trip is just 3 weeks away, i at times have trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that i'm actually going. but at the same time, i'm beyond excited! i would really love it if you, faithful blog reader, would take a few minutes to read on and learn more about this incredible opportunity i have.

in 2007, iccp sent a team to uganda to work with juna amagara ministries, a very cool organization founded by some very cool ugandan nationals with a heart for their country. over 1.5 million children have lost their parents to the hiv/aids epidemic in uganda, and juna amagara exists to provide education, housing, and support to some of these children. iccp is so blessed to have a relationship with this organization, and this trip is a chance to further that relationship.

i am leading a team of 10 university students who are a part of the iccp community to uganda, to spend their 2 week spring break serving at juna amagara. we'll be doing construction on juna amagara's learning center, as well as working with the children, and doing all we can to bless juna amagara.

please visit our website www.francetouganda.com and learn a whole lot more about our trip, juna amagara ministries, and the need in uganda.

i am excited for the chance to encourage and support these incredible brothers and sisters at juna amagara, to learn from them as we serve alongside them. it is such a privilege to actively participate in the family of God in this way, to join in what God is doing in uganda. i'm sure God is going to challenge me and grow me in ways i can't even anticipate.

i'm also really excited to be leading a team of amazing university students on this trip. i've been working with these students all year, and it's been a privilege to share life with them, to encourage their growth in Christ as they are being challenged by their abroad experience. i can't wait to see the ways that God will use this trip to uganda to further shape and grow them.

this trip encompasses, in so many ways, my passion, and the reasons i am doing what i am doing here in france: seeing people experience God's grace in the iccp community, and then in turn going out and extending that grace to others; seeing university students encounter the radical love of God while abroad and, as a result, be changed forever; getting to partner with the church around the world; getting to serve and bless those in need.

friends, i would love for you to join with me in this. please please pray. and please think about supporting us financially. i'm proud of the ways our team has been working to raise money for this trip here in france, but we still need to raise more in order to go and bless juna amagara. all money raised will go directly to the children’s home, paying for building materials, lodging, food, and books for their new library. even a $10 gift will go a long way in uganda.

you can easily give a financial contribution on our website. you can also go there for updates on how to pray.

thanks for reading all this, my friends. and thanks for your friendship.

Stories from camp. Or, why I love youth camp even more now that I'm an adult.

2009-03-09T20:21:00.003+01:00

I love camp. I seriously think I love youth camp more now that I'm an adult than I did when I was actually a youth. I spent last week in the Alpes with a whole bunch of middle schoolers for iccp's second youth winter camp. Last year we had 10 students go to camp with us, this year we took 31. That's right, we tripled our camp this year. Triple the number of kids learning about Jesus for a week, triple the exhaustion for us leaders, and triple the awesomeness.

I love all the friendships and fun and laughter that happen at camp. And I really love watching God work in the lives of these kids while we're together for a week. I love watching them grow and watching them navigate difficult situations. I love seeing how God can take someone's inner-garbage and turn it into a growing experience and a chance to receive His grace.

Let me tell you one story of how God worked this week. One girl came to camp with a very hard exterior, and we watched as God gently peeled away that hard shell over the course of the week. One day she had an emotional breakdown, and confessed to me how little everyone thinks of her and how unloved she feels. God gave me the opportunity to speak Truth into her. As I told her that she was a daughter of God, that she was unconditionally loved, that she has value because God says she has value, that she was specially made, that she was bought with a price, I watched her heart soak up Truth. I watched her experience God's real love in that moment and over the last few days of camp, and she was a different girl when we left camp at the end of the week.

This is one story, one life. There are 30 more lives that experienced the love of Christ that week. 31 lives that are in process, like we all are. 31 people that are desperately loved by our God.

Thanks for praying, friends. Let's keep praying for these 31 precious lives.

There are lots of amazing pictures from camp. Check them out here.

An Ode to Joe. Or, If they had Trader Joe's in France I might never leave.

2009-03-02T19:56:00.004+01:00

i'm not sure why i enjoyed this so much, except for the fact that trader joe's is the greatest store on earth. and the fact that this "commercial" captures that ineffable california culture that i miss terribly and am so glad to be free from at the same time.

A few reasons California is lovely. Or, Yes I was in California a month ago, I'm a terrible blogger.

2009-02-22T01:44:00.011+01:00

lovely sister/cousin time

sweet friends get married

there's nothing better than my fam at disneyland

frenchies come to visit

dear jet lag, why do you hate me? or, because i have absolutely nothing else to do at 4am.

2008-12-15T15:01:00.003+01:00

dear jet lag,

it is 4:37am and i am awake. i have been since 3:53am. this is not ok. why won't you let me sleep, jet lag? why do you insist on keeping my brain whirring with countless thoughts of all the things i need to be doing now that i am in california? are you trying to be helpful, jet lag? make sure i get everything done that needs to get done and don't forget the slightest little task?

and if you are trying to be helpful, oh jet lag, why do you make me so unproductive? why must i spend all day stumbling about in a hazy blur? don't you want me to spend time with my family and catch up with friends? or are you entertained when i say silly things and answer questions with ridiculous and nonsensical replies?

have you grown since you were last with me, jet lag? did you have a growth spurt? you seemed so much smaller last year, slightly annoying and inconvenient, but manageable. this year you are a force to be reckoned with. why are you trying to incapacitate me, jet lag?

i know you will be gone soon. i wish i could say i'll miss you.

dear fall, you have been lovely. or, why my blog has been silent for months.

2008-12-10T10:22:00.005+01:00

i'm more than just a little embarrassed that my last post is dated august. i can't believe it's already december. the fall rushed by in a blur...

it's been a blur of laughter. of new friendships. of discovering old friends in new ways. of meals shared. of reunions. of goodbyes. of tiny cups of coffee and big mugs of tea. of countless hours spent digging into the Word with sweet friends. of cozy kitchens crammed with people. of screaming vikings. of runs in the park. of big events and tiny gatherings. of making music. of worship. of heated debates over glasses of wine. of tears. of new life. of honest conversation. of growth. of life shared in community.

i'm thankful.

August in France. Or, Why my brain is not yet back from holiday.

2008-08-20T10:23:00.004+02:00

august in france is weird. the government must have socialized vacation as well as health care, because it seems like it's interdit to work during the month of august in france. the inhabitants of aix have fled the city and been replaced by hoards of tourists. i can't walk down the cours mirabeau without dodging a pack of japanese tourists trailing behind a woman holding an umbrella high in the air. so even though aix is crowded with people, the city has gone on vacation mode, so it feels like a ghost town. one of those ghost towns where tourists flock to take pictures of old buildings and imagine what the town was like in the days of yore, and vendors sell overpriced souvenirs and bottles of water marked up 300%.

i had a wonderful summer. it was exciting and action-packed, relaxing and refreshing, encouraging and inspiring. after two incredible weeks of camp, an iccp staff retreat to the alps, staff conference in hungary, and a vacation with friends in madrid, summer is winding down, and i'm ready. i'm ready to start planning and dreaming for the upcoming year. i'm ready for people to be around and things to be going on. i'm ready to embrace my new roles and job responsibilities. i'm ready to connect with people and be a part of their lives. i'm ready to grow and be stretched. i'm ready to see God work in big ways this year.

the only problem is that france is not ready. france will not be ready until september 1, the official date of "la rentrée" when everyone will return to work and school and normal life. and my brain, it seems, is so culturally adapted that it will not return to work mode until august is over. i'm ready to reengage, but my brain is still on vacation. so i'm not sure what to do: somehow trick my brain into thinking it's september and time to get movin', or just give in and let my brain have it's way with lazy mornings and afternoon naps?

Blast from the past. Or, I guess we've got a little Turtle Power here in our apartment.

2008-07-22T11:24:00.003+02:00

Do you guys remember Pogs? They were a favorite of mine, and I think of every kid growing up in the late 80s/early 90s. Everyone would bring their Pog collection to school and every recess was spent playing and trading Pogs. Well, my cat just walked into the kitchen carrying a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pog in his mouth. Where on EARTH did that come from?!?!

A picture is worth a thousand words. Or, 2008: A Photo Essay.

2008-06-18T09:31:00.004+02:00

i've finally uploaded a bunch of new pictures to my picasa album. you can now go see for yourself all the things i've been up to. photos include (but are not limited to) my band weatherbeat's concerts, the wedding of my teammate dominic and my former roommate hilary, easter festivities, and 2 weeks in the netherlands for training. click here to check it out!

tonight

2008-06-10T14:21:00.002+02:00

Learning to put down roots. Or, Happy Anniversary apartment!

2008-05-22T18:20:00.003+02:00

it's been exactly 1 year since i moved into my fantastic apartment on rue de l'opera. i realized that this is the longest i've lived in any one home since i moved out of my parents' house at 17. yes, the last 8 years have been divided between aix en provence, santa barbara, and thousand oaks, but i've been moving around within or between the three the entire time. i hadn't realized that my life was so transient.

it feels good to think that i'm finally starting to put down roots and settle down somewhere. but where i'm really settling down isn't necessarily aix en provence. i'm learning to settle down into God's will, learning to move with Him and plant my roots deeper into Him. it's a good place to be. it means that one year from now, i could be celebrating anniversary #2 in this apartment, or i could be anywhere else in the world. sure, i have plans and dreams about what i'll do, and where and when. but i love knowing that ultimately, my only plan is to serve my Lord, and i'll let Him determine exactly what that looks like. i'm part of a story that is so much bigger than myself. right now, at least, that means that the near and distant futures are more or less unknown, and i could end up, well, anywhere. right now, i really like it that way.

oh lovely day. or, teambuilding + rock and roll = best tuesday ever.

2008-04-30T18:42:00.004+02:00

yesterday was one of those fabulous, near-perfect days. one of those days where the glow stays with you for the remainder of the week.

my team spent the day getting out of town and our busy routines to have a team building day. it was so wonderful to be together with no agenda but building our relationships with each other. i adore my teammates! we spent the day at la fontaine de vaucluse, which is incredibly beautiful. pictures coming soon.

last night i got to be a rockstar, and it might have been the best night i've had in france. my band, weatherbeat, played a show at ipn, a club here in aix, and it was amazing! we rocked so hard and we packed the place out. i've still got the after-concert glow. check back on the blog very soon for lots of pictures, stories, and video clips from the show. for now, i'll leave you with our band photo (which was plastered on posters all over town for a week). i'm a proud mama, and this band is my baby.

i'm blogging right now from the balcony of my hotel room, overlooking the rooftops of aix and the rotonde fountain. no, i don't usually stay in hotels in my hometown just for the fun of it. but this weekend is my flatmate hilary's wedding, and the caterer (a friend from amsterdam) is staying in our apartment all week so she can do all the food prep. which means andrea and i get a little vacation in our hometown. we're enjoying it so much! and yes, getting ready for my big concert in the hotel last night made me feel even more like a rockstar :)

Back from the Netherlands. Or, Home is where my guitar is.

2008-04-23T09:43:00.001+02:00

my two week sejour in the netherlands is over and i am safely home in aix en provence. it was truly a wonderful time. hopefully i'll post some pictures soon. or even a photo essay, perchance?

the best part of the field orientation, hands down, was the daily "soul care" sessions with hud. (even better than sprinkles for breakfast, you ask? yes, i reply, even better! wisdom from hud is like heavenly sprinkles for the soul). hud is the psychologist/pastor on staff with christian associates, and each morning at fo he led us in thinking through what it means to truly develop in a relationship with Christ, peeling back all the layers of the soul and going deep, that we may be transformed. i think i get so much from hud because he is all about bringing together psychology and spirituality (my two favorite things!) in order that a person may find wholeness and experience the freedom that Christ as for each of us. hud shared a lot of really fascinating and important things with us, and i'd really like to post some of it here eventually, along with some things i've been processing.

fo1 and fo2 were both really wonderful experiences. i am so thankful that my organization values the spiritual health and personal development of it's staff above all else. even though there was a large amount of (great) input and it was emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually intense, fo was such a peaceful and refreshing time spent with my church planting brothers and sisters.

i returned to france (complete with suitcase, this time) late friday night, and proceeded to jump right back into life here. one day later i threw a bridal shower for my darling flatmate hilary, who will wed my wonderful teammate dominic in less than 2 weeks! the shower kicked off the whole two weeks of wedding festivities. i also have a couple things coming up soon that i'm over-the-top excited about (i'll just leave you in suspense for now...) so i'll be pretty busy for the next couple weeks. but it's the very best kind of busy.

Life in the Netherlands, or, Holland is lekker, Part Three.

2008-04-17T00:23:00.004+02:00

As un-French as you can get
the other day amy and i were enjoying some bagel sandwiches for lunch at my new favorite cafe in the hague. we were sitting at a four top, because it had been the only free table when we came in. we're halfway through our meal when a group of 5 comes in, and the waitress asks us if we'll move to a recently vacated 2 person table. we didn't mind, of course, but as i carried my lunch across the room, i was struck with the thought of how different holland is from france. in france, mealtime is a sacred event, and a waiter would never commit the cardinal sin of interrupting your meal and asking you to move tables.

Sprinkles for breakfast
i used to think that the only people who would legitimately eat chocolate sprinkles for breakfast every day would be young children slightly lacking in parental discipline. however, along with being every sugar-crazed child's delight, sprinkles are an acceptable and even typical dutch breakfast food. they are called hagel slaag and the dutch eat them on sliced bread every morning. you heard me right, people: sprinkles on bread = normal adult breakfast. in defense of the dutch, though, hagel slaag is chocolately amazingness and if i was allowed to eat it for breakfast every morning without judgement, i might do it too. it is pretty lekker sprinkled on a slice of peanut butter toast.

Life in the Netherlands, or, Holland is lekker, Part Two.

2008-04-14T23:56:00.002+02:00

Holland has the coolest pubs
the oude mol

Life in the Netherlands, or, Holland is lekker, Part One.

2008-04-13T23:54:00.008+02:00

hello all. i am in the netherlands right now. i'm right in the middle of my 2 week stay- i've been here since tuesday and i'm still here until friday. i'm here, along with 3 of my teammates as well as some other cool church planters from elsewhere in europe, for part two of christian associates' field orientation (you'll recall i did part one in october).

here are just a few musings from the lands of nether:

Monasteries are like college
ca puts us up in a monastery for our 2 weeks of field orientation. that may seem weird, but it's actually not bad- we all get our own room, it's right in the center of town, and there's no curfew. i really really love living in community with my dear fellow church planters for a few weeks. and it feels like we're all living in the dorms at college- right now i'm staying up late, wasting time on the internet and emailing with my teammate who is in a room right down the hall.

Luggage is optional
since we're staying in a monastery, i decided to go with the simple living theme and go without all my luggage for a few days. actually, the choice for me to be without my stuff was not my own, but klm's, when they left my suitcase on the runway in marseille. oh, they quickly realized their mistake, of course, and put it on another flight so it would catch up to me that day, but they accidentally put it on a plane headed in the opposite direction. it all worked out well in the end, though. i got my suitcase delivered for me, right to my door. and i learned that i can go without clothes and everything for 2 whole days.
(interesting side story- my teammate teal's bag was also left behind. when we arrived in the hague, i told him we should probably go to the store to pick up a few essentials, since we may be without luggage for a few days. i bought a toothbrush and deodorant. teal bought a six-pack of beer. i guess men and women really do have different priorities.)

i have many more dutch musings to share with you, but my (tiny monastery) bed is calling my name. i'll post a few more over the next few days. goedenacht.

It's like I'm back in college. Or, a case study in procrastination.

2008-04-07T00:22:00.004+02:00

This is how you can tell I'm procrastinating- I'm writing a blog post. I just wrote one like yesterday. Normally I'm lucky if I can get one up every couple weeks.

I don't know what it is about me, but for some reason, when I have a large amount of work to get done and a very near and rapidly approaching deadline, my procrastination instinct kicks in. It's 12:30am and I've already spent hours browsing Facebook (darn you Facebook) and reading blogs belonging to people I don't even know. I've also cleaned the kitchen, brainstormed ways to keep the pigeons off our balcony, created 3 new playlists, drank several cups of tea, tried on my favorite turquoise high heels I haven't worn in over a year, and counted the exact total number of days I've lived in France (818).

The sad thing is, the work that is making me procrastinate is actually fascinating and enjoyable and stimulating. It's really really good stuff, and normally I would be thrilled to spend time doing the kind of things it's asking of me. But the fact that there is a looming deadline inevitably makes me think that counting the number of umbrellas we have in the apartment (there are 8) is more deserving of my time than intellectually and spiritually stimulating work.

(For those of you who are worried about me getting my work done, or not doing work that reflects my best efforts, don't you worry your pretty little heads. I learned in college that I truly do my best work under pressure, and I have never ever not met a deadline, even with my best procrastination efforts. Plus, I've done a lot of the work already, I'm almost done.)

Ok, I'm gonna go do yoga stretches in the living room.

Then back to work.

Easter = awesome. Or, how to celebrate Easter just like the early church did.

2008-04-05T09:57:00.007+02:00

Ok, I know I'm a few weeks late in recapping Easter on my blog (does that really surprise anyone?), but I love Easter, and the blogger in me couldn't resist at least a few lines to express how much I love Easter at [iccp]. We always come up with very creative ways to celebrate Easter. Like an outdoor sunrise service at the Barrage de Bimont. I guess it didn't occur to me that sunrise service means you have to be awake early enough to see the sun rise. And this year we decided to actually experience the rising of the sun by having our service outdoors. 6am when it is -0.5 degrees celsius is what I call a shock to the system. He is risen indeed.

Seriously though, it was beautiful. Almost 100 people came, and we sang lots of songs, and drank hot coffee from thermoses, and Darrin talked about Jesus giving his life for us and to us, and we huddled around a fire in a trash can. For real. It felt like raw church. And there is nothing quite like watching the sun come up over Mount Sainte Victoire.

We did lots of other cool things to celebrate Easter this year. Check out this video for a small taste of what it's like to celebrate Easter with the [iccp] family. I love this family.

Cool videos make up for tardiness, right?

(Thanks to Jeff Fountain for the video)

The rumors are true, he lives here. Or, I know you're all jealous of my life.

2008-03-27T08:39:00.005+01:00

The other day I was walking down the street, and I walked right by this face:

And no, I was not walking past a movie poster. It was the real life, flesh-and-blood him, walking down a street I walk down all the time. Just walking, all by himself. Just strolling around my little town, as if he were a normal person who is allowed to just walk down the street like a normal person.

Now, you may be under the impression that it is normal for celebrities to wander the streets of Aix on foot (if you remember my Rachael Ray story from this summer). Let me set the record straight- it's not. Normally, the most exciting thing to happen to me while walking down the cobblestone streets of Aix involves either a street performer (the guy with the guitar who will make up a song about me as I walk past, or the guy who wheels his full-sized piano to the middle of the sidewalk, or the statue man that I have never once seen be still), or narrowly avoiding a large pile of dog poo. Oh, one time there was a giant 20-foot praying mantis that was wheeled down the Cours Mirabeau for no apparent reason. And let me tell you, that praying mantis attracted a lot more attention than him walking down the street.

Everyone says I should have said something to him; struck up a casual yet engaging conversation. I, on the other hand, chose the suave approach of freezing in my tracks and staring at him mutely with my mouth hanging slightly open in shock.

3 weeks later and I still have the camp high. Or, this is why I do what I do.

2008-03-02T16:26:00.010+01:00

3 weeks ago Adam, Tasha, and I took a group of jr. highers to a camp in Grenoble for [iccp]'s first ever youth winter camp. It's taken me this long to blog about it, because I fear that my words cannot capture how amazing this camp was. Sure, I have plenty of stories I could tell you. I could tell you all about this amazing group of thoughtful, intelligent, fun jr. highers that I feel so privileged to share life with. I could tell you how God revealed Himself to many of the kids, most of whom are not Christians, while at camp. I could tell you about staying up late with the girls every night because they were so eager to hear more about God. I could tell you how two of the girls began relationships with Jesus. I could tell you about L* sharing with me, with tears in her eyes, how she was beginning to understand how much God loves her and what an incredible gift He has given her. I could tell you about learning to ski (something I had never done in my life! but by the end of the week I loved it, and was going down red slopes, go me). I could tell you about all the laughter, jokes, fun, tears, relationships formed, questions asked, realizations, new understandings, community created. Maybe I'll let a few pictures speak for themselves.

(check out all the pictures from camp here)

screaming vikings = pure awesomeness

How to get something repaired in France. Or, Sure, we can take cold showers in the middle of winter...

2008-02-07T18:24:00.000+01:00

you know, i am generally not one who likes to use her blog as a forum for complaining about the difficulties of cross-cultural living. even though at times i encounter challenges or frustrations living in france, the things i love about this culture always outnumber the things that make me want to scream into my pillow. but i do want to use this blog to give you a picture of what life in france is like, and the past few days have provided the quintessential example of how things work here. so read this blog entry, not as the rantings of a frustrated foreigner, but rather as an informative story to give you a glimpse into french culture.

it all started on monday evening, when i was feeling particularly chilly and tried to turn on the radiator in the living room. but the heat never came, and upon inspection i discovered that our gas heater, that provides our apartment with heat and hot water, was not working. i found this strange, as the very same heater had just broken down and been repaired 3 months prior. i decided that i would call the company that fixed it last time. although the repair hadn't lasted 3 months, they were friendly, cheap, and quick to respond.

the next morning, tuesday, i called the heater repair company. no answer. i called again an hour later. still no answer, although the voice message said they were open all day. i called every hour all day tuesday, with no response. andrea showered at her office. (yes, she has a shower in her office. is that normal in the french workplace?) we all slept under piles of blankets wearing 3 pairs of socks each.

wednesday, i decided to give up on them, after another unanswered call. so i pulled out the pages jaunes (yellow pages) to find another company that could come fix the heater. that, of course, was no easy task:

call #1: we don't want to drive into the city center
call #2: we don't want to fix that particular brand of heater
call #3: we don't do repairs on wednesdays
call #4: we're leaving for vacation on friday and don't want to take any more work before then
call #5: we're feeling rather busy today...

this continued until literally the 9th company i called agreed to send someone to our apartment. the repairman said he'd come that afternoon. i asked him what time. he said somewhere between 2pm and 6pm. i asked him if he realized that i had a busy schedule and did he really expect me to sit at home for four hours waiting for him. ok, i didn't actually ask that, but if i had, i'm confident his answer would have been oui.

repairman showed up, fixed the heater, and charged me twice as much as i was charged 3 months before. i asked him what had gone wrong. he said it was complicated. i asked him if it was normal that it should break down every 3 months. he said yes. i asked him what i could do to fix it if it happened again. he said there was nothing i could do, i'd just have to call a repairman.

wednesday night, i took a hot bubble bath to celebrate the return of the gas.

today, thursday, i went into the kitchen to wash some dishes and discovered that the water was ice cold. that's right, the gas heater has once again broken down.

i called the repair company and finally got a hold of the man who had "fixed" my heater the day before. i explained to him that it was not fixed after all. for some reason, he did not seem all that surprised. i asked him if he could please come back today and repair it in such a way that we would not have to go through this again on friday. he said he had already left aix and did not want to drive back into town today, he would come back tomorrow.

i guess i'll take a cold shower tonight.

(for similar stories, go to megan's blog to read about the 8 month-long mold problem in her apartment. this is the real france.)

and we're back...

2008-01-17T18:36:00.000+01:00

one month.

one month is admittedly too long to go without a new blog post. apologizing. moving on. starting to write again.

one month also happens to be the ideal amount of time to put one's life on pause, neglect one's blog, and journey halfway around the world to spend some much needed catch-up time with far-away family and friends. for this i do not apologize.

after almost a year in france, i was very ready to spend the holidays in california. the fact that i love my life abroad doesn't exclude me from missing my family and friends in california.

highlights of my trip home include:
--hot beverages you can take to go in paper cups with lids
--eating so much mexican food, i think i'm sick of it for a while
--hours of playing cards with my family, including a particularly spirited game of nertz in coffee bean and tea leaf that just may have disturbed a few other patrons
--honorary roommate status at lauren and laura's house in santa barbara
--spending time with my church families
--butterfly beach
--family dinner and game night at the guys' house
--paying for everything in dollars. and not paying for anything in euros.
--family. and friends. and family. and friends...
--sharing what God is doing in France with a lot of people
--driving up the 101, ipod blasting, watching the sun set over the pacific ocean

low points include:
--sitting motionless for 3 hours on the 101 because of an accident
--mom's broken ankle (what is with our family and christmas-time foot injuries?)
--accidentally attempting to "faire les bises" multiple times and causing a few awkward situations

of course, i could go on and on listing highlights, because it was a wonderful trip. i am so thankful to have spent time with all my dear friends and family members. to all of you- come visit me in europe! i'll return the favor and show you a really good time.

the weirdest thing to adjust to during this quick little culture hop, besides the huge cars and huge portions of food, was the realization that i've changed. as easy as it was to slip back into my old little niches in my california life, i know that the previous 10 months (and the previous 3 years, really) in europe have changed me. not in major ways. in subtle, hard to recognize, why don't i quite feel at home in my home ways. it's good to start processing out those changes now that i'm back home. and by back home, i mean back in france.

because i was a big-time blog slacker while i was in the states-
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEARS to all my wonderful blog readers! i hope you all passed a wonderful holiday season!

wow, it's 2008. here we go...

My Life as a Rockstar. Or, Yet another reason I really love my job.

2007-12-14T13:40:00.000+01:00

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m kind of a rockstar. The absurdity of it still makes me giggle. But it’s true. One of my roles at [iccp] is, along with Adam and Tasha, to start a high school ministry from scratch. One way I decided to go about this was to start a band. Actually, this band is the realization of a dream that began years ago after observing that, 1. music is a powerful avenue for outreach because it speaks to so many people, and 2. we have some incredibly talented high school musicians in our community who were longing for an outlet for their musical gifts and for a place to be connected to something meaningful. A few years (and a bit of blood, sweat, and tears) later, a band was born.

Last weekend was our public debut, and we debuted in a big way. On Saturday night we played for a event that was organized for youth in the greater Provence area. Our (still nameless) band has been rehearsing for months and months, and I was so pleased with how well we clicked as a group for this first gig. We also had the opportunity to play on the Cours Mirabeau, the main downtown street in Aix. A large stage is set up at the top of the Cours as a part of the Christmas market, and our band was invited to play 2 sets on this stage on Friday night, and 3 sets during the day on Sunday. We drew a huge crowd both days and got really great feedback. I’m still not sure how to handle the attention (I don’t think I’m a rockstar by nature), but I am excited about the fact that through this we’re connecting with a lot of people and [iccp] is becoming better known in the community.

So we’ll see where this goes. Yesterday I got a connection to potentially play at IPN, a nightclub in town popular with exchange students that has started doing live music once a week. My job is so awesome.

It feels good to be legal. Or, a French bureaucracy Christmas miracle!

2007-12-13T08:55:00.000+01:00

I am a legal resident of France!!! And it’s slightly unexpected. The process to get a residency card in France is anything but easy- it usually takes a year before you have the card in your hand, and requires loads of paperwork, a doctor’s visit, hunting down a place to pay the required taxes, and multiple visits to the sous-prefecture office. I had to make one such visit the other day...

My récipissée (the temporary piece of paper saying that my residency card is in process, and allowing me to travel in the meantime) had expired, and I had to get it renewed so that I could travel to the States for Christmas. The average non-French resident has their récipissée expire and get renewed several times before their actual residency card is ready. Well, when the girl behind the window looked me up in the computer, she says, to my utter shock, “we should have your residency card here.” Somehow, (and it must have been either a complete and utter fluke or an act of God’s grace), my residency card was ready in an abnormally timely fashion, before I ever had my medical visit or paid the necessary tax. And normally the sous-prefecture would have held on to my card until those things were taken care of (which would probably require many more months of hassle), but when I explained I was traveling in a few weeks, he said, “ok, I’ll give you the card now, the rest will get worked out later.”

Extraordinary efficiency in French bureaucracy and a friendly, helpful government worker! Sometimes France really can surprise you...

So This is Christmas. Or, The carol service is over, I can have my brain back.

2007-12-12T00:36:00.000+01:00

Last weekend [iccp] hosted our annual Christmas Carol service in the big cathedral in Aix. It was especially significant for me this year as I devoted several months of my life to the planning of the event as one of the coordinators (along with the lovely Lindsey Pettyjohn). I must say that, despite my slightly elevated stress levels leading up to the event trying to keep track of more details than my brain could contain (I didn’t even realize how much it consumed all my brain space until it was over and I was suddenly able to think about other things), the event went smashingly well. The place was packed- around 1200 people were able to hear the story of Jesus’ birth in both French and English. It’s very cool that we have such a good relationship with the Catholic Church that they give us free reign of the Cathedral each year. Go to this link to check out a 360˚ panoramic view of the service. Hold down your mouse button and scroll around to have a look around the cathedral.

Once. Or, how to make an album for the ears and eyes.

2007-11-30T20:43:00.000+01:00

The other day I went to see a movie called Once (at the recommendation of Darrin Jones) that turned out to be really wonderful; I'd even venture to say it's shaping up to be one of my favorite films. It's a unique approach to film: instead of creating a plot and then layering on music to inject emotion, the entire movie is actually born out of the music. In fact, it's more a "visual album" than a movie; it's like curling up to listen to your favorite album and watching it unfold beautifully before your eyes.

The story is a snapshot into the life of an Irish musician who meets a girl while playing his music on the streets of Dublin, and for a few days they experiment in making music together and in the process, significantly impact each other's lives. Essentially, it's a love story, but not a conventional one: the bond that develops out of their creative partnership is so much deeper and more significant than a passion-filled romantic love. It's a love marked with respect, integrity, and self-control, with a deeper purpose than gratification of desires.

The story is fictional, but the music is straight from real life. The male and female leads (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) aren't professional actors, but musicians (Hansard is of the band The Frames, and both record independently; Irglova is to Hansard as Lisa Hannigan is to Damien Rice). This, along with the simple but beautiful cinematography, gives the film a powerful sense of authenticity. I love how effectively song is used as dialogue; one song portrays just as much emotion and movement to the story as ten pages of dialogue would.

So, to state the obvious, I loved this film! I'm certainly no movie critic, but I'm highly recommending it. It's not a grand film, it's simple, but it's incredibly powerful in it's simplicity. See (and hear) it.

Thankful. Or, How to celebrate an American holiday in France.

2007-11-27T18:22:00.000+01:00

I walked down the street on my way to the market early Thursday morning feeling extremely festive and thankful, and was a bit surprised when all around me were French people bustling about, on their way to work and school, as if it were just a normal Thursday, and not at all an occasion to be full of holiday cheer. I had an inexplicable urge to cheerfully announce to each person I passed "It's Thanksgiving!" For some reason, the complete lack of Thanksgiving spirit was making me feel exceedingly more Thanksgiving-y than I normally would. I reached the Cours Mirabeau and discovered that, coincidentally, the Christmas lights, which the Cours had been completely covered with weeks before but had yet to be turned on, had all been illuminated that morning, giving the whole street a cheery glow. I knew that the French were completely ignorant that it was an American holiday that day (and if they had known, most wouldn't have cared), but it made me feel that, even subconciously, the French knew it was a day to be festive.

That night I hosted a Thanksgiving celebration at my home. Hilary, Andrea, and I invited friends from all our different social spheres to share a Thanksgiving meal with us. We ended up with 40 people at our apartment, and yet still managed to have a sit down meal with a place for everyone (ok, so we had to bring in extra tables and chairs and pile all the living room furniture in our bedrooms, but we pulled it off). It was the first time I've ever done a Thanksgiving meal myself, so I was really glad to have Pat and Lindsey also slaving away in my kitchen all day. We managed to have all the elements of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, as well as some delicious international dishes (ever had paella and sushi for Thanksgiving??). Less than half our guests were American; the rest were from France, Spain, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and a couple more I'm forgetting right now, and many had never experienced Thanksgiving before. There were so many different groups of people, I wondered how everyone would mesh, but by the end of the night, there were loads of connections formed and new friendships made. It truly felt like one big family gathered together. Several people told me how happy they were to be so welcomed and included. This is Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving was asking people all night long what they were thankful for. So here's my own (slightly belated) Thankful in 2007 list:
**I'm thankful for the internet. Ok, I'm not acutally thankful for the internet, but it allows me to stay in touch with people I dearly love who are far away. And I am thankful that through the internet and a couple webcams, I was able to see and talk to my whole family (including Nana, Grandpa, and Vogel fam) on T-day. I'm very thankful for my amazing family.
**I'm thankful for my wonderful apartment that I can use to welcome many people, and for my wonderful roommates that make it home.
**I'm thankful to be doing a job that I love, that I am passionate about, that fits me well, and that is furthering God's Kingdom.
**I'm thankful that Ikea makes a product that tastes remarkably like cranberry sauce.
**I'm thankful that God blew me away with His extraordinary provision this year, and for the confidence that He will continue to do so next year and all the years of my life.

Playing catch-up on the blog. Or, the Catch-22 of traveling and blogging.

2007-11-16T18:19:00.000+01:00

I’ve been traveling like a crazy nomad lately (I’ve been in 5 different countries in the last month!), which means that I have loads of stuff to blog about, and I’ve had absolutely no time in which to do so! If only I were traveling less and had more time to blog... but then, I'd have nothing to actually blog about! I guess I’m going to have to work backwards or something to get my blog caught up with the present. Not to mention the fact that 2 weeks in the Netherlands for Field Orientation, plus the visit of a dear friend from California, plus a vacation traveling all over Ireland, plus a conference in Paris have provided so many stories, thoughts, and ideas that I need to get them down in writing before they’re lost forever in the depths of my long term memory. But before I launch myself into retelling my travel tales, let me share what’s going on in Aix right now.

1. It’s snowing!!!!! I’m not even kidding people. It is SNOWING in the south of France in the middle of November! And I’m not even talking about a little bit of slushy rain that melts as soon as it hits the ground. I’m talking big fat white flakes that stick to the ground and are perfect for making snowballs. I looked out my window yesterday afternoon and all I saw was a flurry of white. What is going on here?? The thing that baffles me the most is that nobody else seems at all baffled by this. Ok, I know I’m a southern California girl who doesn’t really know how to deal with snow, but I’m thinking that massive amounts of snow in the south of France in November should surprise anybody! Am I right? But everyone’s wandering around like this is perfectly normal. I guess I better buy some snow gear or something.

2. I got a kitten!!! Perhaps you remember hearing the story of the kittens that were born on our balcony on my birthday? Back at the beginning of September, our next-door neighbors’ cat was looking for a cozy, safe place to give birth to her 6 kittens, and decided that our balcony was the ideal location. The neighbors discovered this, brought the kittens back to their own apartment, but Mama Kitty courageously returned her kitties one-by-one to our balcony by leaping from her 5th floor balcony to ours with a kitten in her mouth. So when the kitties were old enough to leave their mama at the end of October, I decided to adopt one. I admit I surprised myself when I decided to get a cat, as I’ve always been an ardent dog person. But a dog requires a bit more commitment and effort than I can provide right now. I really wanted a pet, and I felt a special connection with the kittens that were born on my balcony on my birthday, so now here I am, a cat owner. And as it turns out, I love my kitten! His name is Fitz (short for Fitzwilliam, as in Fitzwilliam Darcy, as in the Jane Austen character…) and he is tiny and black and adorable. He’s the ideal cat for our extremely extroverted apartment, because he’s very social, loves to cuddle, and loves new people. And for some reason, he loves to perch on my shoulder like a little bird. While I’m at my desk working on the computer, he’ll sit on my shoulder for hours and stare at the screen. (I thought this was extremely bizarre behavior until I stumbled upon Jenelle’s blog entry).

3. I’ve got loads of good stuff going on right now with my job at iccp, so I’ll just give you one highlight—youth group! Adam and Tasha and I have been planning all kinds of fun activities lately. On Halloween we took our middle schoolers bowling—in full Halloween costumes of course. Halloween is a pretty new thing in France, so we attracted a lot of attention walking down the Cours Mirabeau in crazy costumes and wigs.

The next week (during school vacation) we took the youth group to the OK Corral, a “western” themed amusement park not far from Aix. A western amusement park, complete with cowboys and Native Americans, in the south of France, is completely hilarious. We had a hilariously good time. (Check out pictures of both of these events here.)

Ok, travel stories coming very very soon. And please hold me accountable, friends. If it’s been too long without a new story, feel free to get on my case.

Bye bye Aix, hello Holland. Or, travel for work makes you cool and important.

2007-10-09T08:31:00.000+02:00

Hey there friends! I'm off to Holland for 2 weeks for Field Orientation with Christian Associates. So I'll be in Amsterdam for one week and then The Hague for another, learning about what God is doing in Europe, how to share His message of love in a postmodern European culture, and how to do what I do more effectively. Yay, fun stuff! I'm a little bit sad to leave Aix right now, there is so much going on right now. But I love that I get to go to such cool places for work. It's like a business trip! Doesn't that make me seem so cool and important? I always thought "business trips" are cool and important-seeming. I'm also excited to hang out with Teal, Adam, and Tasha for 2 weeks, along with many other super-cool CA people. (I believe I've told you how super-cool my fellow church planters are?) Good times are sure to be had. My virtual-self will miss all your virtual-selves for the next 2 weeks, but you can look forward to lots of good Netherlands-y stories upon my return to Aix. Loves!

one last christina update

2007-09-27T02:08:00.000+02:00

if you're interested, you can get all info and updates about christina's situation here.

Christina update

2007-09-24T02:11:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the delay... I've been waiting for an update and it just came! I'll cut and paste some the important stuff from the email written by Christina's mom:

Our dear Christina came out of her very long surgery, in very fine condition. My greatest hope was that Christina would have no impairments--mental or physical. She was smiling and talking and moving her arms and legs 30 minutes after surgery. By the time I got to see her in ICU she was still very peaceful and smiling.

The doctor got most of the tumor out--the first biopsy determined malignancy. The next biopsy will tell us what kind of cancer and how aggressive it is. There is nothing to be done until we have more information from the pathology report (probably Tuesday), and then the next step will be the research to find the best treatment for whatever she's got going on in her head.

He described the surgery and I am amazed at what God seems to have done during that time. Once they saw Christina's tumor and realized it would not be the easy to remove meningioma, he planned on just removing a small section for biopsy. He did that and then stood there for awhile. He then decided to remove one more small piece that seemed safe to get at. He then stood there for awhile more and decided after studying the screen (of the fancy piece of equipment to show the exact location of the tumor and his tool) he decided to remove another piece. He continued in this manner until it was nearly all gone. It seems he did more than he intended but with all the skill necessary to do no damage to any good brain cells. I am so thankful to God for being so present, so powerful, and so merciful in this whole procedure. Having so much of that tumor gone will relieve some of Christina's troublesome headaches and maybe even help her vision to get back to normal.

Christina has asked for prayer that her pain medication does not affect her very sensitive intestinal tract. She is quite worried about that. (She said to put that one out there for much prayer).

Just saw Christina today (Sunday) and she is doing so well! She got out of bed, went outside and has all her tubes and iv's and stuff removed! God is so good. She should be able to come home Monday or Tuesday!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, and please keep praying for Christina as the severity of the cancer is determined and treatment begins. It's so cool to see the body of Christ all over the world come together to cover our sister in prayer.

My dear friend Christina. Or, Please pray.

2007-09-20T20:37:00.000+02:00

I want to share with you my dear friend Christina Ahmann's story, and ask all of you who may read this blog (whoever you are) to please lift her up in prayer.

During the four years I spent at Westmont College, Christina was one of my best friends. We met day one of freshman year (along with Erin, Kaitee, and Delight), and for the rest of our college careers, the 5 of us girls were inseparable. After graduating from Westmont, Christina moved up to Portland where she started a massage therapy business, and she's been there happily for the past 3 years.
(Erin, Kerri, Kaitee, Christina, and Delight above the Westmont campus)

Several weeks ago, Christina went to the doctor for some weird symptoms, including headaches and double vision. Her weird symptoms concerned the doctor, who told her to get an MRI, and they discovered that Christina has a very large tumor (about 6cm across) on the back right part of her brain. The doctors were pretty amazed that her symptoms weren't much worse, based on the size of the tumor, but they said that due to the size, she's at a high risk for seizures, and there's no way to tell whether or not it's cancerous until they remove it.

Christina is scheduled to have brain surgery on Friday, Sept. 21. It will be a two part process: today (Thursday) she'll have an angiogram to slow the blood flow from the artery that is feeding directly into the tumor, and then the procedure to cauterize the blood vessels in the tumor (2 to 3 hours). This will lessen the risk of bleeding out because these kind of tumors tend to be pretty vascular. She will be under general anesthetic and then will be in the intensive care unit through the night because they are concerned about brain swelling. She will then be taken into surgery at around 7:30 a.m., Friday morning to remove the tumor. That surgery should take 5-6 hours. She will then be moved back to intensive care. The rest of the treatment will depend on what they find.

It has been so amazing to witness Christina's incredible faith as she's faced with this great unknown. Here are some of her thoughts, in her own words:

So yes, this is scary and sudden and a big deal, but really I have not felt so absolutely peaceful in my entire life. I'm not overcome with fear, I'm not worried about all the awful possibilities and even the fact that my life may now be drastically shorter. God is sovereign and He has known about this tumor since day one. This is not a surprise to Him... and that is so comforting to me. Whatever direction my life takes, I only want to do it walking with the Lord. Anything else is so insignificant to me. God has been doing big stuff in me this summer letting me learn what it means to be desperately dependent on the Lord, just me and Him with no one/nothing else being my support. This summer I could barely get through a worship set without tears. I had know idea what that was about, but I could sense Him drawing so close. I know now why is was so important for me to be at such an intimate place with the Lord. I wouldn't survive this without that... emotionally, spiritually, physically... Ah but He is so faithful and knew what He needed to do to prepare me for this.

I share all this with you, my blogtastic friends, so that you may be encouraged and inspired by Christina's unwavering faith in the face of this circumstance, and so that God may be glorified. I also share this with you to beg for your prayers. Please please pray for Christina, especially now as she's in the hospital undergoing these procedures. Here's the Bible verse God gave to Christina's mom this morning:

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Christina and her momma

Here are more thoughts from Christina, in her own words...
(it's long, but amazing, and well worth a read)

Dear Friends,

How can I thank you enough for your prayers! My heart is overwhelmed with the amount of support my family and I have received this past week. Phil's sermon this past Sunday on unity in Christ has truly become my reality as people from all over the world--from Portland to Port Angeles, to countries I could hardly pick out on a map--(embarrassing as that is!) have contacted me to tell me they are praying for me. I am completely floored. And I just want to say thank you. Your prayers are what has made this experience one of unnatural joy, peace, and absolute rest in His sovereignty. Your prayers have already produced opportunities for amazing conversations with surgeons, nurses, people in waiting rooms, etc, they've allowed details to fall into place effortlessly. They've allowed me to feel healthy and full of energy this week as I spend time with family and friends... which has been so incredibly sweet. Most of all, your prayers have surrounded our house in a protective bubble... so real and so tangible, we like to call it the house of peace. Welcome to the house of peace. I wish I could have you all over to experience it... maybe we could play a board game? Cranium anyone? Heh heh.. sorry;)

I want so badly to share my heart with you all, but I easily convince myself that I am inarticulate, insignificant, and there are a billion stories more important than mine. I am learning that that is a lie... and the devil would like nothing better than to find some way to shut me down and waste this God-ordained journey. So here I am trying to be obedient, sharing my heart, my prayers, my hopes and fears with you. May your heart be drawn closer to God. That is my only prayer. And THAT makes all this worth it.

This is an excerpt from my journal last night – it’s an unrefined prayer... raw, but most definitely straight from my heart..

Oh Lord,
I love you with all my HEART, SOUL, and STRENGTH... Never have I experienced such desperate dependence on you. Never have I been in a more difficult place. But Never have I felt so at peace. Never have I experienced such richness in worshp, in conversations with those around me.... and in the intimacy between you and me, that cradles my head to your heart. Thank you Lord for all these "nevers"... I wouldn't trade them and I never want to go back!

Heavenly Father I give you full control of this situation... because I KNOW it is ordained by you... and I know my own personal strength would have failed me the moment I caught a glimpse of that crazy huge tumor up on that screen! Oh Lord, I need you. And I love to need you!

One of your blessings that blows me away every day is how you've chosen to surround me with SO MANY amazing people! 1) who are pouring themselves out physically and emotionally to the max but 2) also have a total reliance on you which gives them supernatural strength to minister to me! How blessed am I??? Thank you for pouring faith, peace and joy into my parents and family, the Hansen's, Kim, my Aunties, Linsey... the elders, my loving friends at Solid Rock and IBC and beyond. Lord thank you for taking care of those I love. That is my biggest thank you, and that brings tears to my eyes. Thank you for speaking through people in their phone calls, cards, emails, and scriptures. They encourage me and reflect you. I know you speak through them and it penetrates deeply into my heart... what a gift!

My number one prayer Lord, remains the same. I pray that this situation touches all who encounter it for your glory. I have no idea why the story has spread so far and wide for little old me... but to become shy and timid about that would almost be disobedience and not trusting your sovereignty. I trust Lord that this happened to me for a reason, and it happened at this time for a reason--and so many people are involved in this for a reason! I ask, Lord, for boldness in conversation with everyone I encounter from family and friends, to doctors, nurses, receptionists. I pray that I never have to search for words, but you pour them from my lips saying exactly what you need to say to people to touch them in their own lives. I pray that my body and presence can be a beacon of your light that radically changes people as only you can do. No matter the outcome after the surgery Lord... I pray this never changes. Somehow even if I am severely altered or hurting physically, I pray your JOY and PEACE never leave me. Nothing of my own strength can accomplish that Lord..... and so here I am again on my knees desperately dependent on you.

If something happens Lord that takes me from this earth, I pray for that same that same peace and joy to surround and never leave my family and friends. As Dan wrote me tonight... when it comes down to it, healing is truly the worst option, because the other option is paradise. Haha. Awesome - Oh Lord how true! I hope for no dreams that are my own creation because they are empty without you. My only idea of a happy and fulfilling life is one spent walking side by side with you on this WILD ADVENTURE! Bring on the adventure Lord!!

You have created me "for such a time as this.".. and I accept it and embrace it only in your strength.

I pray for protection from fear, self-awareness, pride, and believing any lies that the enemy will undoubtedly throw at me. I am yours, Lord. I am in the protection of your arms surrounded by angels. There's nowhere else I'd rather be. My heart is smiling! I love you!"

Oh sweet family of believers.... thank you for surrounding me.
Let me share a scripture that has been particularly encouraging to me...

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent."

(this is where I like to exchange "he" for "she"... because it's fun:)

"Because she loves me," says the Lord,"I will rescue her; I will protect her, for she acknowledges my name. She will call upon me, and I will answer her; I will be with her in trouble, I will deliver her and honor her. With long life will I satisfy her and show her my salvation"

(and then I like to exchange "she" for "you" and say it again because it's downright awesome and gives me chills...:)

"Because you love me, says the Lord,
I will rescue you;
I will protect you, for you acknowledge my name.
You will call upon me, and I will answer you;
I will be with you in trouble,
I will deliver you and honor you.
With long life will I satisfy you
and show you my salvation."

Psalm 91

Thank you Jesus for your promises.

Big Hugs and Shiny Bald Heads,
Christina

How you can tell you've mastered a language. Or, because all blog posts can't be happy- that's not real life.

2007-09-17T23:26:00.000+02:00

So I've discovered that my French is at it's best during the most unpleasant of situations- the argument.

Rockin Rentrée. Or, These amps go up to eleven.

2007-09-10T23:15:00.000+02:00

This weekend iccp had our big Rentrée party. Rentrée is the French term for that time of year when everybody goes back to school and work after months of restful, sun-filled summer vacation. And it's an excuse to throw a party. It's iccp tradition to kick off the new school year every fall with a huge BBQ out at the Anderson's gorgeous home at the foot of Mt. Saint Victoire. We had over 100 people gather on Sunday, many familiar faces reuniting after months apart, but also a bunch of new people that were really fun to connect with. It was international to the extreme, with people from France, the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, I don't even know where else, it was a beautiful mix of people.

My favorite part of the iccp Rentrée tradition, believe it or not, is not the multitude of people I get to hang out with, nor is it the refreshing dip in the pool after soaking up lots of sunshine, nor the harmonic blend of laughter that floats around all afternoon on the warm Provence breeze. It's not even the delicious spread, complete with Anderson-BBQ'ed chicken. Nope, my favorite part of Rentrée is enjoying live music all afternoon. I'm always a fan of being in a space where music can speak to my soul or get my toes tapping, especially if I get to be involved in that expression. So this year's Rentrée was extra wonderful because I got to lead the band that rocked out all afternoon. Our band, Vinyl Tap (also known as Weiner Tap (pronounced Viner, ok?), after our dear drummer Sébastien Weiner), was totally awesome, if I do say so myself. We ended our final set with a rendition of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, how rock and roll is that?

There's nothing like a Rentrée party like that one to get me thoroughly excited for this year and all that it will hold. (It also got me excited to be a rockstar, but we'll see where that goes).

You can see even more Rentrée pictures here.

Hellos and goodbyes. Or, my attempt to summarize Connect, Vienna, and saying farewell to Andi.

2007-08-27T23:27:00.001+02:00

It's been a rather eventful couple of weeks since I last blogged. Since my last post, I have traveled to 2 countries I had never before been to, reunited with a few hundred of my favorite people, celebrated the engagement of 2 dear friends, said farewell to one of my dearest friends, and finally finished unpacking since moving into my apartment 3 months ago.

I had a wonderful week at CA's staff conference (newly named Connect) in Hungary! It was a week so packed full of great stuff that I could probably write a novel, so I'll try to give a few highlights:
--reuniting with so many cool CA people that are serving Jesus all over Europe. It was so great to spend an entire week hanging out and hearing their stories and laughing and learning about how God is moving in all these little corners of the world.
--worshipworshipworshipworshipworship. In a related note, Kendall Payne is awesome.
--The concert of prayer (which was completely organized by Andi, Teal, Darrin, and Julie- way to go friends!). It was an incredibly powerful time, all of us joining together and pray that God would move powerfully in Europe.
--the women's lunch. After a delicious Laina-catered picnic, we broke into small groups. Praying, crying, sharing our hearts, and spending time in the presence of Jesus with the women of the Aix team was one of my week's highlights.
--late nights outside on the patio. (and that memorable late night life-size chess game).
--a refreshing reminder that God is not finished with Europe!

After Connect, the Aix team spent a few days in Vienna for a little team bonding. We've been apart all summer, with half the team in the States, so it was so wonderful to reconnect and spend a few days just playing together. Highlight: the first night in Vienna, my teammate Dominic and my flatmate Hilary got engaged!!! So we had an awesome two-day engagement celebration. (By the way, I am in love with Vienna. I think it's one of my new favorite European cities.)

I've been back from Vienna for a week now, and it has been simultaneously an extremely fun and horribly sad week. This week was Andi's last week here in Aix. For those who don't know, Andi is one of the original Aix team members, and after four years of serving at ICCP, is moving to Portland to continue her education. So we've been doing lots of fun activities this week to wish her farewell. Andi has been a significant part of my life ever since I moved to Aix for the first time in 2003, and words cannot express how important she is in my life and how hard it is to see her go. She has been my friend, roommate, confidant, discipler, teammate, and so much more. And she has had an enormous impact on the lives of so many people in Aix over the past four years. It is so hard to say goodbye, but God is very clearly calling her to spread her wings and move to the next adventure. She will be dearly missed.

As jam packed as the past 2 weeks have been, it's only going to get more crazy from here on out. It's still August now, but as soon as September rolls around, everything starts up. I'm super excited about everything we'll be doing this year, especially a few brand new shiny ministry opportunities I have this year. So hold on tight, there's much more to come...

I'm off to staff conference! Or, Connect, Connectfrence, Connect Four...

2007-08-11T08:31:00.000+02:00

today i leave for CAI's annual staff conference. this year, we church planters from all over europe will gather in sopron, hungary for a week of encouragement, connection, prayer, dreaming, and refreshment. i'm so excited! i'm excited for the obvious reasons, like getting to spend a week with all the super super cool CAI people. but i'm really excited that this year we've traded a conference center in amsterdam for a sweet four-star hotel in hungary. and that the aix team is spending a few extra days at the end of the conference to play in vienna. hooray!

youth camp was

2007-08-10T02:44:00.000+02:00

extraordinary. God moved. in big ways.

i've written many words lately about the youth camp experience, but right now, it seems next to impossible to put into words just how amazing it was to see God at work in the lives of these 20 jr. high and high schoolers (and us 6 staff, too). a long, wordy blog about youth camp will probably find it's way up here eventually, but for now, maybe pictures can capture what i can't quite manage to put into words right now. go have a look! i've posted a bunch (though not nearly all) of them here.

my television debut. OR, why fabian should pay me to promote pasta cosy. OR, how i became bff with rachael ray.

2007-08-01T11:17:00.000+02:00

so the other day, my family (who was here visiting) and i were walking through the big outdoor market in aix when we noticed a camera crew filming someone who was strolling through the market. we look closer, and suddenly my sister yells out "it's rachael ray! it's rachael ray!" (my sis is a big fan of 30-minute meals). we figured she was in my wonderful town of aix-en-provence filming an episode of her show, tasty travels. the fam and i had just eaten a fabulous meal the night before at pasta cosy, our favorite restaurant in town owned by our friend fabian. thinking about the phenomenal white truffle ravioli we'd eaten the night before, lauren said, "let's go recommend pasta cosy to rachael ray!" she's heading away from her camera crew at this point, so lauren and i head over, and lauren says "rachael! she lives here, we want to recommend a restaurant to you." rachael looks at me and says "sure! can we film it?" so before i even know what is happening, there's a camera in my face and i'm talking to rachael ray about why she should go eat at pasta cosy. true story people. rachael even said at the end that next time she's in provence, she'll come cook in my kitchen. ye-ah! so i'm thinking, if i actually get pasta cosy mentioned on the food network, fabian is gonna owe me free desserts for the rest of my life. i'm talking unlimited chocolate springrolls, yeah?

i'm off to camp! or, why i'll need an extra dose of energy this week

2007-06-30T06:59:00.000+02:00

since literally the very first day i arrived in france, 4 months ago, we've been working hard to plan iccp's first ever adventure camp for jr. high and high schoolers. so it's hard to believe that we actually leave today! i'm so very excited to build relationships with this really great group of students; to do awesome fun stuff like white water rafting, spelunking, ropes courses, etc.; and to see how God will move this week! please pray for us this week, if you're so inclined, that we'll have safety, that everything will run smoothly, that we'll build good relationships with these students, and that God will work in their lives in a big way! oh and wish me luck keeping up with all these jr. high and high school crazies for a week.

these days. or, taking a yellow highlighter to the story of my week.

2007-06-21T01:11:00.000+02:00

yesterday we did a lot of hard work out at anderland to get ready for kids camp (which is just a few weeks away!). i did manage to get in a fight with a giant tree branch and walk away with only a few scratches on my face. you should see the tree. to reward ourselves for our labor, we indulged our inner children for a few minutes and played with a giant parachute (see below).

today i can't stop listening to pedro the lion's achilles heel.

tomorrow is fete de la musique, which means lots of bands and music everywhere and people in the streets. can't wait. it will be magical.

right now i'm reading an amazing book by shane claiborne about a little group of dreamers living in community and being the church in philly. just found out there was a 7-alarm fire at their community house in philly, destroying their facilities and the homes of many of their community members. you can learn about it here. please please pray for the simple way. this radically missional community is blazing trails, and this is a part of the story we're all in.

somehow, i think grace is even more beautiful when it is acted out among our fellow less-than-perfect humans. i am so thankful for my team that allows me to be the really real me, embracing all the beautiful and ugly stuff in my insides. i love how we're learning to create a space where we can share with each other and truth reigns.

also: homemade mint tea. lunch in park jourdan with dear andrea. 80s dance party. internet at home. those awesome jones' wisdom on discipleship. one week until sister arrives.

some day, i'll blog again. or, a few pictures to tide you over.

2007-06-11T17:00:00.000+02:00

i know, i know, it's been forever since i've written a blog. life = super busy. so this isn't even a blog right now, just an apology that it's been so long and a request that you don't give up on me. i promise an amazing blog is coming soon, including stories and pictures of my trip to london, my trip to paris, our teambuilding weekend, crazy youth group stories, and the adventures of moving in to a new apartment.

in the meantime, here are a few pictures of my new apartment! hooray!

my bedroom

Tom's Amazing Journey. Or, The best reason to throw a pool party.

2007-05-07T16:30:00.000+02:00

Let me tell you about my friend Tom...

Tom is a French guy who started hanging out with the iccp community about 3 years ago. He got connected with us when he and a friend met two American girls in a bar one night, and these girls invited them to a thing called Aix Forum (a weekly dinner/discussion group hosted by iccp). Tom and his friend were eager to practice their English, and they thought these girls were cute, so they came to Aix Forum. They got to know some cool people, and kept coming...

When Tom first started hanging out with us, he made it very clear that he thought we were all a little crazy for our beliefs, and that he had absolutely no interest in our faith or anything God-related. He’d ask us questions to try and trap us, or aggressively debate us for hours. He tried his hardest to shock us or back us into corners, but we just kept being his friends and loving him...

Some time last year, Tom hit rock bottom in his life. He felt that life was completely hopeless and there was no point in living. He decided he had two options- he could end his life or he could give a life of hope a try. He had developed close friendships with Darrin, Andi, and Dominic by this point, and he had experienced firsthand that they led lives of hope, and he knew where this hope came from. So Tom called up Darrin and told him he knew he wanted more to life, and knew he needed Jesus.

Saturday afternoon a group of us gathered at the Jones’ home to witness Tom being baptized. Standing beside the pool, nervous and excited, Tom shared with us that as he had studied the Bible and met regularly with Darrin, Dom, and Andi over the past year, he had become convinced that this “hope thing” he was trying out was the real deal. He told us that he had invited each of us to his baptism that day, because we had each loved him and shown him with our lives what real faith was. He told us he was ready to proclaim his new life. Tom came out of the pool to lots of cheering, and we spent the rest of the afternoon in celebration at the Jones’ home.

It was so moving for me to see firsthand how Christ’s amazing power can make people whole and alive. It is evident to anyone who meets Tom that he is forever changed. Three years ago I met an angry, hardened man, and yesterday I celebrated with a man who is full of hope and joy.

A couple good reads. Or, A snapshot of the culture in postmodern France.

2007-05-01T09:42:00.000+02:00

here are a couple of articles that i think are worth a read. they may seem unrelated, but i think together they do a good job of illustrating the culture i'm living in here in france.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117631918714166684-lMyQjAxMDE3NzE2MzMxMTM5Wj.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6547881.stm

to me, these articles speak volumes about what i'm doing here as a church planter, and how we are doing what we are doing. there is such a great need for our expression of church here in aix en provence, france, to be completely different. we're not here to do something that is boxed in by the stereotypes of traditional religion, or is typically "american." we're here to create a community of Christ-followers who are not going through the motions of irrelevant traditions, but who are living out their relationships with God and each other in a real, vibrant way that is relevant in a postmodern world.

We totally know how to celebrate holidays here at iccp. Or, Why I needed 2 weeks to recover from Easter.

2007-04-19T22:20:00.000+02:00

so easter weekend was 2 weeks ago already, and i'm just now getting around to blogging about it. this is because it was such a crazy jam-packed weekend (in a good way!) that it has taken me this long to recover.

(see pictures of the entire weekend here)

iccp kicked off our celebration of easter on maundy thursday. i have no idea what a traditional maundy thursday service looks like, but we used the occasion to create a prayer labyrinth to allow people to experience and reflect on the reality of Christ's death. we had stations set up all around the room, each portraying in a sensory manner a different element of His last days on earth, and then guiding people through prayer and reflection. for me, it was extremely powerful and moving to reflect in this way- to use all 5 senses to experience the reality of my Lord's sacrifice.

saturday, the day before easter, ended up being a beautiful sunny day in provence, and we held an all-church picnic/easter egg hunt. we had a ton of people hanging out together at the park, and all kinds of fun stuff going on, including an easter egg hunts for every age. we had a bunch of our jr. high and high school youth group kids come, and we set up an entire easter egg hunt challenge for them. believe me, this was no normal easter egg hunt, it began with each team searching for the extremely well-hidden eggs in their team's color, before moving to an obstacle course that concluded with a dizzy bat race to a limbo finish line. watching 15 teenagers dizzy bat their way to a limbo line- how can that not be hilarious? i think the picnic was a highlight of the weekend for all of us, as it was a really great time of connection with a ton of people, especially since a lot of the youth group kids brought their families who would never normally come to church.

easter sunday meant waking up really early (at a time the human body was meant to be sleeping) for an easter sunrise service. it's early, but man is it a beautiful way to celebrate Christ's resurrection! we then headed to the french church's easter service, then an ecumenical service where all the churches, catholic and protestant (and us...), gathered to declare Christ's resurrection. the staff rewarded ourselves for all of our early morning work by enjoying an incredible 4 hour lunch (feast!) on the outdoor patio of an amazing restaurant out in the country. (and just to be sure that we squeezed all the celebrating we could into the weekend, we had a birthday party for hilary that night.)

the monday after easter is a holiday in france (and they claim to be a secular country!), so the iccp tradition is to hike mount saint victoire en masse on easter monday. exhausting. and so fun. of course, having my dear friend erin (from westmont) and her fiance mike here made the weekend even better.

ok, i'm exhausted again just thinking about all the stuff we crammed into easter weekend. or maybe i'm just exhausted after my work day today, which consisted of driving around southern france and repeatedly getting lost. definitely another story for another blog. this job is like no other...

What do Easter, dog sitting, and baguettes have in common? Or, my very late-night ramblings.

2007-04-07T01:45:00.000+02:00

ok, so i'm not so good at the regular blogging. how on earth do people blog every day? i don't understand it. a few people have been not-so-subtly urging me to blog more often (ahem, lc, ahem). so here you go. due to my current lack of mental energy (and the fact that it's 2:30am), it'll be of the stream-of-consciousness genre. (p.s. i love how the french use the word genre. we definitely have not yet discovered the full potential of this word in the english language. they use it in so many different ways and it's brilliant).

we're right in the thick of easter weekend. i love easter. i love taking 4 whole days to celebrate the most amazing act of love the world could ever know. i love the traditions, all of them, from start to finish. (i also love the easter package with the cadbury eggs i got from my mommy today). but easter is busy. i work at a church. this is busy time.

today i discovered that french people, who are stereotypically rude in customer service-type settings, are excessively helpful in situations involving a dog. today i was dog-sitting Talli, my teammate Dom's dog. i'm walking Talli through town and we're right in the middle of the place de la mairie when all of a sudden she stops, sits down on the ground, and starts throwing up. then she starts violently trembling, and falls over on her back. i think she was having a seizure or something. do dogs have seizures? well, i'm freaked out and have no idea how to care for a seizing, barfing dog, but immediately at least 4 people rush over. two immediately drop to the ground to see what's wrong with her while the other two are inundating me with advice on how to care for her. one french guy was actually on his hands and knees, massaging Talli's stomach. well after a few minutes of lying there trembling, she hops up and starts to walk around as if nothing had happened. and she had no further problems for the rest of the day, so i guess she's fine. but i share this story for all those of you who are convinced that the french are so rude. it's just not true.

i'm rediscovering how wonderful it is to live in this city! a few of my new favorite things:
place to eat lunch-- on the steps in front of the palais de justice, soaking up the sun. i've enjoyed this lunch spot the past 2 days in a row. i bet if i eat lunch there again tomorrow, it will turn into a regular habit.
cafe-- la madeleine. delicious coffee, and i could sit there for hours. when you're inside you feel like you're in paris.
bakery at which to buy my baguette- emile bec. i went on a quest for the perfect baguette, and the winner is without a doubt the baguette at emile bec. it's important to get a baguette with the right consistency, not too dense, not too crusty, light and airy but not lacking in substance. trust me on this people. i was a psych major- i'm trained in research methods and statistical analysis. this was a systematic study- the best bread in aix is the emile bec baguette.
mode of transportation-- walking. if i ever have a lot on my mind, by the time i walk home i've had a chance to process it all out. how did i ever get any thinking done when i had a car?

blogs soon to come (i promise!): stories of all our easter festivities (and there may be one entire blog on the easter meal i'm going to have that i can safely predict will knock my socks off); blog including lots and lots of pictures of our awesome super fun youth group- it's growing and thriving, we do crazy wild fun things, but also have been having some really amazing deep conversations; and a blog about how i'm revolutionizing france with the game telephone pictionary.

An AIXplanation of pronunciation. Or, The life of a church planter is hard, we have to make ourselves laugh somehow.

2007-03-27T19:15:00.000+02:00

Before I moved here, I would get a lot of confused looks and questions when trying to explain to non-French people where in France I would be living. "Aix? What's that? Is that a word? Oh, it's a city? How do you pronounce that? Ox? Aches? Ikes?"

No, it's Aix. Like X. Like X marks the spot of where Kerri will be living in France.

To clear up any confusion on the pronunciation of my beloved city, let me share with you an email exchange between several of our team members regarding the planning of our Easter service:

Apryl,
For Easter, if Katrina and Megan play violin and Kerri plays flute...we’ll have our own orchAIXtra!!! It will be a great AIXperiment, and I’m AIXtremely AIXcited! Hopefully no one will take AIXception!
(AIXcuse my AIXtraneous email :))
Dom

Ah, Dom, that was AIXcruciating!
Apryl

Dom, I would have AIXpected this from Apryl, but not from you!
Kerri

Please stop using such AIXplicit language!
Megan

Thankful for the roof over my head. Or, A post to assure you that I'm alive and well and not homeless.

2007-03-23T13:44:00.001+01:00

A blog update is long overdue, seeing as I feel like I’ve been in France for ages and so much has already happened! I was waiting to get the internet working at my apartment before I updated my blog (more on my current living situation to follow), but seeing as I was told that en principe the internet would be up and running by next Wednesday, I figured I should go ahead and update now.

The expression en principe is so perfectly French. You’ll have the internet en principe by Wednesday means that it should be working by Wednesday, but don’t be at all surprised if it takes a month and a half. En principe the meeting starts at noon actually means that the meeting is just as likely to start at 1:30. If you’re apartment hunting and are told that en principe you’ll be approved to rent an apartment, well, you very well could be couch surfing for a few more months. Just last week we had a discussion at Aix Forum (a weekly dinner/discussion group that ICCP hosts as an outreach to university students) about how language is shaped by culture, and I think the phrase en principe is a perfect illustration of life in France. (The same goes for the word normalement).

I couldn’t be happier to be back in Aix en Provence, and it’s been quite easy to settle in and readjust to life here. So easy, in fact, that it almost feels as if I never left! I was blessed to stay for a with my wonderful friends Andi (who was my roommate last time I lived in Aix) and Andrea (a dear friend from Westmont). As fun as that was, I’m happy to now be temporarily renting a room from the Pettyjohn’s, a young couple who has been on the ICCP team for about 6 months. It’s great to have my own space and be able to spread out a little bit, and I love getting to know Pat and Lindsey as teammates and friends. They have been wonderfully hospitable and so helpful as I've been settling in. Lindsey even made an Ikea run with me so that I could get a bed. We discovered on this trip that Ikea bedframes don't fit in the church van. But we also discovered that we're capable and independent and don't need men to tie bedframes to the van roof. I’ll stay chez Pettyjohn until Andrea, Hilary (another Westmont friend) and I find an apartment for the three of us. We’ll be like Westmont Alumni: the Southern France chapter.

Lots more to share, but this will have to do for now. Coming soon: posts (including pictures, hopefully) about our awesome youth group and the fun things we get to do with them like Chicken Bowling and iPod Idol, Melanie’s baptism and getting a glimpse into the awesome ways God is working in Aix, a few triumphant French moments, and lots more cool stuff that God is teaching me.

My jubilant homecoming! Or, How to write a blog while extremely jet-lagged.

2007-03-10T18:01:00.000+01:00

I'm in France! I arrived at the Marseille airport on Wednesday evening to loud cheers and waving signs from my entire team. I think all the onlookers in the airport were trying to figure out which celebrity had just arrived. They had planned an entire evening for me, which began with an apero at the Jones' beautiful new house, then an amazing dinner at Pasta Cosy, and finished with a digestif at the Pettyjohn's. It was such a fun night. The team welcomed me back into their family, and I feel so blessed to be a part of this wonderful community again.

It is so great to be back in Aix en Provence! And it's great to jump right back into ministry at ICCP. We've started planning an adventure camp (through True Life Adventures) for jr. high and high school students to happen this summer. I also helped Andi put together a fundraising party on Friday night to raise money for an 8-person team that ICCP is sending to Uganda in a few months. Hilary and Dominic did some great live music, we raised some good money and had a great time!

I've only been back in Aix for a few days, and already I've been able to see how God has carved a niche for my ministry here. The best part about coming back has been renewing old connections with people I knew before. When I was an exchange student in Aix in 2003, I purchased my cell phone from a French girl a few years older than me. It was one of those pay-as-you-go plans, so I had to keep going back and buying more minutes, so I got to know this girl pretty well. I'd run into her around town, and she was my "cell phone girl." Well on Friday night at the party, a French girl came in. Darrin (my team leader and our pastor) told me she had helped a lot of our staff members get cell phones last fall, and some of them had developed friendships with her, so she had been hanging out at a lot of our community gatherings. She looked so familiar, and after a while I realized she was my "cell phone girl" from 2003! I got to talk with her for a while, and we made plans to go have coffee sometime soon. I'm excited about developing this friendship with someone I met so many years ago.

On Friday night I also bumped into a kid that was involved in the youth group when I led it 2 years ago. Back then he was a squirrely 15 year old French kid who seemed mostly uninterested in the youth group. 2 years later, he has grown up, learned English, and become very involved in the ICCP community. I'm so excited to see his involvement in our community and see how his faith has matured.

Coming down from the "I'm-back-in-Aix euphoria" means adjusting to my new life. That includes not-so-fun things like trying to find a place to live and filling out the mountain of paperwork to make sure I'm "legal." But right now, I'm still in the honeymoon phase.

Three cheers for the Family. Or, How to say goodbye without falling to pieces.

2007-03-05T05:32:00.000+01:00

I’ve been at my parents’ house in Thousand Oaks for a few days, and I’ve spent pretty much all of that time sorting through boxes and boxes of all my worldly possessions. Normally I hate the sorting and organizing and packing of things like this, mostly because as soon as I open a box, I’m compelled to look at every single item within and relive the corresponding childhood memory. It’s quite a lengthy process. But this time it has been good, because as I’ve been sorting through boxes, I’ve had a lot of time to simultaneously sort through all my thoughts and emotions.

(A warning: this will probably get sappy and sentimental very quickly. I apologize.)

I’m trying to figure out the appropriate way to say goodbye to one’s life and to finish that life well without emotionally detaching or becoming excessively sentimental. How do you prepare for and look forward to the next chapter in the story while enjoying and appreciating the chapter that is coming to a close? (For all you international types- has anyone figured out how to do this yet? Or is it just supposed to be gut-wrenchingly hard to say goodbye every time you leave a place?)

I was incredibly blessed to experience true community in Santa Barbara for the past year. As I try my best to say farewell, all I can do is be thankful. I’m thankful for my friends who challenge me to grow in my faith, who push me to follow Christ even when the path is hard, who listen with love. I’m thankful for my homegroup who journey into the Word of God each week with me, who encourage me to reflect on the Scriptures in a fresh way, who share honestly, who faithfully pray for me. I’m thankful for the family that is Family Dinner, who have taught me how to break bread together and how to live as a family. I’m thankful for the roommates who have authentically lived their lives alongside mine and encouraged me in the quest for Truth. I’m thankful for the coworkers who have taught me so much about being a part of an amazing team. I’m thankful for the many laughs and all the joy that has been my life in Santa Barbara.

I will never ceased to be amazed by the way Christ uses His Family, that is His Church, to grow us and shape us. It is in part because of the encouragement and support of my family, friends, and church body in Santa Barbara that I have arrived at this place of returning to Europe, to bring the refreshing truth of Christ to a land that is dry and thirsty.

I realize these aren’t new or unique thoughts I’m having, but I think that, as Christ has chosen His Body the Church as the vehicle for the working of His grace in our world, I’d be remiss if I did not pause to give praise for the blessings of my community in Santa Barbara. Here’s to you, SB.

How to enjoy your last days in Santa Barbara. Or, "I'll trade you two sheep for a brick."

2007-02-19T09:34:00.000+01:00

I’m leaving for France in 2 weeks, and though I’ve been sorting through a heap of complex, conflicting, and intense emotions while preparing to leave, the most prevalent has been an immense sadness at leaving my wonderful friends in Santa Barbara. A blog entry about my community in SB has been a work in progress for a while now, mostly because it’s such a challenge to put words to how fantastic these people are and what they have meant to me. In the meantime…

I spent my second-to-last weekend in Santa Barbara (I’m big on the countdowns) checking things off my list of Things I Must Do Before Leaving Santa Barbara. I walked downtown and enjoyed the Southern California sun on State Street, spent some time at Butterfly Beach, went hot-tubbing, enjoyed some authentic Mexican cuisine (trying to get as much of that in as possible before I go!), visited the Santa Barbara Mission and Natural History Museum, fellowshipped at the ever-awesome SB Community Church, ate at In N Out, and played a game of Settlers of Catan. Actually, I could probably write a whole blog about our game of Settlers. Why is that game so awesome? Anyway, it was such a wonderful weekend of just existing in this wonderful place.

I also spent a lot of time reading Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies this weekend. More accurately, I’m kind of devouring the book—I read about one-third of it just today. I can’t believe it spent so long in my queue of books-to-be-read; I should have bumped it to the front of the line long ago.

On the agenda for tomorrow: second-to-last day at work (there I go with the countdowns again) and the most lovely thing to ever happen to the dreaded Monday—Family Dinner.

Lessons learned on the 101. Or, Getting your mom to hoodwink the French government.

2007-02-17T08:37:00.000+01:00

My little Honda Civic knows the road from my house in Santa Barbara to 10900 Wilshire Blvd in LA by heart, having traveled this route 3 times in the past 2 ½ months. I know what you’re thinking- so many trips in such a short time seem rather excessive. But this increase in my car’s odometer reading tells a story of how our awesome God works in the details of our lives.

My first trip to the French Consulate in LA took place in late November for my appointment to apply for a long-term visitor visa to France. I worked hard preparing my application for many weeks leading up to this appointment, and as I drove down the 101 I was confident that I had all the necessary documents to procure the much-desired visa. This confidence promptly vanished when a French woman held my application in her hands and I saw the look on her face. One of the most important documents in my application is a letter from Christian Associates stating that I am employed by CAI and they will be paying me a monthly salary in France. This letter was written by Joanie Cole, our wonderful Director of Administrative Services, who, coincidentally, shares my last name. So this French woman glances at the letter (without bothering to actually read it), and says to me, “Who is Joanie Cole? Is she related to you? Because it looks like your mother wrote you this letter.”

Yes. That’s right. I’m trying to pull a fast one on the French government, so I had my mom write me a fake letter and then sign her own name at the bottom. That’s exactly what I did. Do you think it will work?

I tried to explain that Joanie is a legitimate employee of a legitimate organization, but at this point the woman had decided I was shady and nothing I could say would convince her otherwise. If she had merely read the letter, all the confusion would have been cleared up, but instead she chose to make up her own story and stick with it. Hey, at least she was creative! So she sent me away, without accepting my application, and told me that if I could gather some more documents to prove my case and jump through some more hoops, I could come back to apply again.

Several weeks later, I found myself again driving down the 101 towards Wilshire Blvd, this time not filled with naïve confidence, but rather with sheer determination. I knew I had all the documents she required, and if she came up with a new arbitrary reason to reject my application, I was prepared to force it upon her. After minimal hoop jumping (and a quick jog down the street to the local Bank of America), they accepted my visa application, and told me that it would take 2-3 months to process. I was so thankful my application was accepted, but I felt a twinge of disappointment that it would take so long to process and further postpone my departure date.

I’ve never liked to worry about little details like this, but I am so thankful that our God is so good and is God over even the littlest details. On January 8, a mere 2 ½ weeks after my application was accepted, I got a phone call saying that my visa application was accepted and my shiny new long-term visitor visa was waiting at that office on Wilshire Blvd for me to zip on down and pick it up.

This time, driving down the 101, my heart was overflowing with thanks and praise to our great God.