Châtellerault is the LAST place I’d expect to find Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia on public display…. but I did! Keep reading to find out where…

Family Time

As you know from last week’s post, Liz’s parents were here visiting from Belgium.

It was their first time to visit us here in Western France and the first time that we’d had a bit more of a prolonged visit since our arrival in Europe last January. We visited Châtellerault, walked through Île Cognet and shared Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday.

Note re. Thanksgiving…
Canada = 2nd Monday  of October
USA = 4th Thursday of November

Liz’s dad also helped me one afternoon down at the church doing some landscaping at the church to help “dress up” the front of the building.  We planted a boxwood hedge accented with lavender in front, cypress trees on the ends and two miniature apple trees that we’ll train into standards. The bowed out center section will eventually be filled with roses or some other flowering shrub. (see photo)

Finally, we took them on a short jaunt to Angle-sur-l’Anglin. It was one of the warmer days during their visit and we walked down to the lower part of town (near the river) before gradually making our way back up. Tourist season is over, so the little village was pretty quiet.

Taste of home

While Liz’s parents were here, we also tried out a special little restaurant for the first time: Le Caribou Café.

The atmosphere is built around tons of Canadian icons… cedar strip canoes, a framed RCMP uniform, old Quebec license plates, skis, snowshoes… etc. And the bare wood walls & floor make it feel like a good ol’ fashioned cabane à sucre (maple sugar shack).  Speaking of which… lots of their dishes feature maple syrup (like the tiramisu I had), and it’s the real-deal… O. my. word. …So good!!!

Three funnies we saw there:

1. “SVP enlevez vos caoutchoucs” sign (literally: “please remove your rubbers”). It’s funny because here they’d definitely translate “rubber boots” or “bottes en caoutchouc”.
2. Rather than “hamburgers”, they serve “hambourgeois” (Jr. High French immersion joke). The French here, unlike the Québecois, would normally just go with the English “hamburger”.
3. A hockey jersey was on display… but it was from the Toronto Maple Leafs (hockey fans will understand the irony). If anything, I’d have expected to see a Habs jersey.

Residency is in the bag!

It wasn’t so much a question of IF it would happen but rather WHEN; it was just a matter of working through the paperwork and red-tape. There were a few minor snags along the way but here’s how I felt on Thursday night:

 

No Comparison…

To be honest, there are times when I struggle with what to write you. A quick scan of social media gives instant access to great reports from across the globe; miracles that God is doing, new ones being baptized or filled with the Holy Ghost, etc. It is wonderful to experience, but when you’re looking on from the outside, it can be a bit intimidating due to the temptation to compare.

At this point in the life of our little church in western France, life is pretty quiet. We are not seeing the “highlights” mentioned above, and we deal with the challenges of a small congregation. On one hand I’m dissatisfied by this particular quiet but I also know that God does His work in His time, so we simply do our best, knowing that we’re in His will and avoid the temptation to compare.

Tonight:

Liz is off to a Tupperware party in Poitiers… bring on those bowls & lids! It’s being hosted by one of the ladies from our church and it’ll be a great chance to meet some new people.

Thank you for being a faithful reader.
Let what you read inform your prayers for us, for the church here and for France.
God bless your day today!