Last weekend, I had to pop out to a little community about a 1/2 hour from here to pick up Dominic who had been celebrating a friend’s birthday. That drive took me to the heart of a teeny-tiny little French village, about as typical as they come, along the Vienne River…. (the same river that runs through Châtellerault). Today’s feature picture is from that village. Welcome to Bonneuil Matours!

Good morning from our backyard to yours!

Word on the street has it that some of you there in North America had to deal with snow this week. Thankfully, we haven’t had to go there just yet. In fact, today’s feature pic is one that I took Sunday morning as we were headed out the door to church.

Whereas snow is a sure sign that ‘winter is here’ back home, here… it’s mist. The further we get into winter, the more likely we are to see a cool mist hanging in the air.

It’s lovely and gives a bit of a magical feel to the surroundings… but I digress. Let me tell you a bit about this week…

If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen a post this week that mentions “Moss Season”. It’s another term I use to affectionately refer to the lead-up to winter and late Spring.

As much as the summer was drought-dry…. the last two months have seen us receive just under 2x the average amount of rain for this time of year. Besides gradually refilling the water table, the abundance of moisture – combined with cool temperatures – means that moss grows like a bad weed!

(Below you’ll see a pic of moss beginning to flourish on a tar & gravel roof at the university.)

At least that’s what it’s felt like…

Since last Saturday, our little Peugeot 407 wagon has clocked nearly 2,000km (1,200 miles), and have gone from the deep south, to the near-north of the country.

I generally love to drive and don’t mind letting the others relax, but when I got to sit back in a non-moving armchair for part of the day Thursday, I wasn’t disappointed! 🙂

Here’s a quick run down of the cool things that happened this week.

Mornings, of late, are down in the 9-12 degrees centigrade and the days are notably shorter – Wednesday, I even started teaching while the sky was still dark, although we “fall back” this weekend, so that should help the daylight situation a little bit.

The season is not just changing in the physical realm… but it feels like something is stirring spiritually as well…

There was a time not so long ago (…or was it?) when Liz’s Doctor asked her if she often felt tired or fatigued. Laughing, she responded “Fatigue is my constant companion.”

That pretty much sums up life for the Long family this week. Fortunately, in our weakness, He is strong!

Did you notice that I didn’t post last week?

Ugh! I don’t like messing with (or messing UP) the schedule but it just kind of worked out that way… and almost did again today, but I’m determined to not leave you hanging for two weeks in a row…

School…

I wish I knew how it is that one extra class can make such a big difference. Last week was the first week that I added an extra university course on Friday, bringing my total number of contact hours to 6 for the day. They fall back-to-back with no lunch break so by the end, I’m worn out.

Yesterday was the same. I taught for 6 hours, made my way home through highway snags and an intersection accident – nearly doubling my drive time. Thankfully it wasn’t anything major, but I then had to turn around and drive 3 more hours up to Melun for Bible School today.

Bible Study & Answered Prayers

Liz is continuing to do a home Bible study with Stephanie – a lady we baptized last year. They have a wonderful connection and we’re all really convinced that the Lord blessed them with each other.

Out of the blue, at the table this week, Sophie commented on how the Lord had really answered her prayer several times over. She’d been praying for opportunities to talk to other young people about Jesus and she mentioned several times, over the past two weeks, that people just “out of the blue” came to her & they had deeper than normal conversations.

I’m thankful that God is showing himself faithful to our kids!

New “Renters”

Although we rent… we’ve taken in 4 new renters… of the cute & fluffy persuasion. My friends out at Over & Above lent me a small incubator and we hatched out 4 Australorp chicken eggs.

It looks a little spooky at night, with the red heat lamp on them, but we’re looking forward to having very tame hens again (& hoping there are no roosters).

Surprise Date

I surprised Liz with a day out on Tuesday. We didn’t do anything too extravagant, just packed a pic-nic lunch and drove to the Chateau d’Oiron, about 45 minutes away. It’s a national monument that houses a collection of contemporary art.

I discovered that I’m really not a fan of most contemporary art, but the important part was just to spend some alone time with Liz. Since we both have an endless to-do list, even on Tuesday & Thursday when we both find ourselves home, we’re really not focused on each other. We may be together, but we’re focused on other things.

Time for a change!

We just took the day & went; walked around laughing at the ridiculous “art” and taking the odd selfie. Over lunch, we read some old Sicilian legends before eventually making our way back into town to collect the kids after school.

It was great to reconnect & focus on just us!

Enough for Today

It’s a Bible School morning, so I’m going to leave you with that. Please keep us in prayer in October. It’s going to be so busy that I’m a little apprehensive of it, truth be told.

I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks for stopping by & the Lord bless you richly today!

With all of the drone footage available on the web – through social media, news broadcasts and the like – it’s easier than ever to get a bird’s eye view of places and events.

Even if you’re looking at aerial footage of a familiar place, however, it’s not uncommon for it to take you a moment to situate yourself or identify the place in question. Why is that? … It’s because we’re used to seeing it from a different point of view (P.O.V.) and the view from above is unfamiliar.

I was reminded of all things P.O.V. this week and I’ll tell you more, but first, let me dive into the week that was, here in France…