One Year Ago..

 One year ago, I was traveling on a plane to a place I've grown to love. A place I've helped build and contribute to. A place where I've laughed, explored, and met new people. A place that is a safe haven for the few followers of Christ that live in the beautiful country of France. 

I miss that place. When we left the first time, I was told "a piece of this place stays with you. You'll want to come back." and I although I thought it was sweet, I never thought I'd return. But I did go back, and it was so wonderful to walk the streets of La Rivoire and hills of Camp des Cimes once more. Even though I have doubts that I would be able to return again, maybe one day it'll happen. :)

Home Once Again

Hey guys, I'm home. After a short but wonderful work team, we flew back into the States last Saturday. The trip went all too fast and I'm wondering where the time went. Maybe French time is faster? I have a busy few days coming up but I'll be sure to share more about our adventures when I can. I do have pictures of other adventures to share in the meantime :)

This was what we finished with..a lovely looking second floor, beams & forms for the cement sidewalk, and a very tired crew! 

We Are Going Back..

 .. to Camp des Cimes!! In two weeks I'll be leaving for France once again. :) In the fall of 2011 I fell in love with this camp and I never thought I'd get to return.. but just another proof that God's plans are sososo much better than ours! We will be there for twelve days working on getting the camp ready for summer and also continuing work on the addition we started in 2011. We have a team of 7 and we leave May 14th. I know we'd sure appreciate your prayers for safety while traveling & working. Like I said.. I am just so excited. So enjoy a few pictures I pulled out from the last time.. :)

... fourteen days and counting!! :)
If you have any questions..just comment with them! I love talking about missions trips. It's one of those subjects that bring me to life. 

France - Paris Day 2

Our second day in Paris we went to the Arc de Triomphe, and then walked down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre.

To get to the top of the Arc there is a lot of stairs. 284, actually. I did it in four minutes flat.

Panoramas are my favorite!

Birds are another favorite. This guy was the bird whisperer!

The Louvre. My thoughts? It was cool. However, I realized that I'm not much of an art appreciator. 

Poor sphinx was missin' something important! 

Despite the fact that these fellows were missing their noses, they were my favorite.

I was informed these pieces were from the "broke" period of art. :)

Looking for fire-breathing Jack Russel Terriers? Then you've gotta get to the Louvre!

Me with some cool statues with mostly no clothes on. Cool!

Bet'cha didn't know the Mona Lisa has glowing red eyes.

Photoshop? What's that? I would never..

Don't you hate it when you're Jesus and you start glowing? 

tip: when you're in a place that's been photographed a million and two times.. find a new angle or try to get details.

The Champs Elysees at night.

Last but not least, the Eiffel Tower again, BUT this time.. at night.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Despite the sarcasm, crowded Metro, and cost-my-arm expensive food, Paris really was awesome. France in general was really awesome. It was a hard and long missions trip but one with great blessings for the whole team. :)
*to the blogs I linked with today, I'm having issues with buttons/links. Sorry for not linking up!

France - Paris Day 1

Since you've probably seen enough pictures from the Alps to last a life time, I suppose I'll finally move onto the last leg of our trip - Paris. We stayed with missionaries about an hour out of the city and went around Paris for two days. In said two days we saw most of the iconic "Paris" things and had lots of fun!

Team picture with that big tower thing.. what's it called again? Well, we went up to the top of it, yes we did!

Montmartre with lots of sky. I love negative space.

Find the important landmark! Hint: Not the Eiffel tower.

We went all the way up to the top! 

The Seine river. 

A little b/w love for the Effiel Tower! 

This amused me. When I took the picture originally I thought she was shirtless, but looking at it on the computer I realized she is indeed wearing a shirt, yay clothing! 

Notre Dame.

Important people doing something that looks important in an important church.

Tomorrow? The Arc de Triomphe & the Louvre. So come on back and check it ouuuut!
:)