Officially, school only just ended a couple of weeks ago (July 10th-ish). Practically speaking though… they were done weeks earlier, but with the uncertainty of COVID-19 hanging over their heads in terms of whether they’d have to return, what other work they’d have to submit, etc.

The balance of July was really a true break.

Unlike the past three years when there were trips to North America planned, this was our first “stay-at-home” July since then. It kind of felt good actually.

Now… we’re beginning to switch ever so slowly back into “thinking about school” mode. However, we’ll save that… let’s look at the week.

Last Sunday, Liz & I celebrated our 23rd anniversary.

23 years of kisses & great coffee.
23 years of moments we’re proud of… & some less so.
23 years of hopes… & sometimes disappointments.
23 years of trusting in a faithful God.

Today I’ll tell you a little bit about our anniversary getaway and one of the lessons that we were reminded of in the process.

There are two good reasons to use this picture of honey jars as the feature image for today’s post… but I’ll get to those in a bit. Let’s go back to the beginning of the week…

I’ve been having a hard time finding my blogging MOJO of late.

I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I have a hunch… it’s related to a blog post that’s in the works but not yet published. I was hoping to have it out 2 weeks ago, but that didn’t happen and I’ve come back to it a couple times, but am just not quite satisfied yet.

Perhaps the MOJO will return when that post is up… but in the meantime, here’s a more recent glance into France…

Very often, photos on my phone are a starting point for my posts. They remind me of what was important that week; what I wanted to remember. Not always of course. There are other important things that never make it to the camera roll, but things on my camera roll are often the starting point for my posts.

Today’s post will be a bit different – and it will be longer (you might want to throw on an extra pot of coffee 🙂 ). You see, not too long ago I hit one of those milestone birthdays. So for the past couple of months I’ve been in reflection mode...

Ready? Let’s go…

The third week of June has always been “Birthday Week” as both Dominic and Sophie celebrate their birthdays. This year they also share a (rather unique) graduation experience, given the combination of the French system and COVID-19.

I saved up and will tell you a bit about all 3 special days in today’s post.

Death & Taxes… so they say.

Well… we didn’t experience death this weak, but we did stare down French income tax filing.

First though, a look back to…

Several weeks ago, when all of you in North America were posting pics & messages about the amazing mothers in your lives, I wasn’t not posting on purpose… here in France, Mothers Day is tomorrow.

It’s always a bit of a challenge for us to keep things straight. While Fathers Day is the same date in Canada, Belgium and France, Mothers Day is not – Leaving us, each year, trying to remember which holiday is on which date in which country.

Spoiler alert: It usually leads to a Google search, just to be sure!