Confidence

At the beginning of May Miss K had her big ballet performance. It meant long rehearsals and then a dress rehearsal on Saturday morning, a performance later on Saturday and two performances on Sunday. Miss K did a great job handling the long hours, the ride on the coach, keeping track of her things, and most of all performing on stage.

A friend asked her if she was nervous and Miss K's response was, "no, I am an expert." She has confidence and that confidence helps her through challenging situations.

With that in my mind I have been pondering confidence. For the Christian our confidence comes from God, knowing who God is, what he has done, and what he wants us to do. Confidence comes from knowing Christ.

I can have confidence in my life as I listen to God and know that what I am doing is what God has called me to do that day.  When we lack confidence we can have fear, we might not be doing all that God wants for us.

Live life with the confidence that comes from God.

Beth

Paris

I don't know if you can go to France and not go to Paris. This was the first trip to France for my husband and Miss K. The second campground was near Paris and had a bus that went there once a week so we decided that was the way to go.

We arrived and started walking. We had looked at a map and had a plan for the day. The first thing we were going to see was the Arc de Triomphe.

I had been checking the weather all week and it looked like it was to be a nice day. When we arrived it was overcast and cloudy. I was afraid we might buy umbrellas as souvenirs.

There is something magical about the first sighting of the Eiffel Tower.

Looking at these photos you can tell that it was overcast. Wait until you see what it looked like later in the day.

We had picked up some tourist information at the campground. One of the things we saw was Bato Bus, a boat that is a hop-on, hop-off. We decided that was a good way to get around and be able to see somethings while we are getting around. Our first stop was Notre Dame but before we walked t the cathedral we needed to find some lunch.

Aunt Bec had been telling Miss K all about crocque monsieur. So that is what Miss K ordered.
J and I had savoury crepes.

After lunch, while dad was working with phones and iPad to check-in for our flights which had to be done or we would pay extra, we went to the souvenir shop. Miss K got a snow globe and J a pack of cards. I bought an ornament. I went in a shop and bought 4 postcards for 80¢. I should have bought more there but that would defeat the project this summer of getting rid of postcards.

We wandered across the bridge to Notre Dame. We saw the pigeons and looked at the building. We decided not to take the time to go inside.

We walked along the side of the building as we headed back to the boat.

Our next stop was to get off at the Louvre.  We didn't have time to go inside and honestly I think before we visit we need to do some studying and planning so we know what is there and what we want to see. We took a break and had a drink at Starbucks.

Notice the colour of the sky. It was beginning to clear up and we did see blue sky. We got on the boat again and decided that we didn't have time to stop other places and so we headed back to the Eiffel Tower.

We took some more photos and then began our walk back to the bus. We were looking for a bakery to buy some dinner. We found one and had delicious sandwiches before boarding the bus.

It was a fun day and an overview of the city.

Beth

Sea Glass

Recently while we were on holiday at the beach. One of the things I enjoyed was walking the beach and collecting sea glass. Sea glass is made from broken glass that floats in the sea, is tossed in the waves, and pounded on the sand. It begins broken and jagged. It is trash. In the end after all that happens the waves and storms of the sea, it is smooth and beautiful.

What is broken becomes beautiful through the storms of the sea.

The same is true in our spiritual lives. The broken areas could be just not being whole, unfulfilled dreams, or financial struggles. We feel broken of no use but through the storms God is refining. He is making us beautiful and useful. Don't be discouraged if it seems like it is taking time. Refining takes time. As I walked the beach, I picked up some pieces that needed more time, the edges were still rough.

Allow God to take the brokenness of your life and refine it to something beautiful. "The Lord is near to the brokenherted and saves the crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18. In the storms of life remember that the Lord is near. You are not alone.

I enjoyed finding the sea glass and seeing how beautiful it had become. I found it encouraging to see how the storms in my life can be part of what makes me beautiful.

I don't know what storms you are facing but I trust that in those storms you know that God is working and refining you.

Beth

To Market, to market

I enjoy wandering through a supermarket when I am in a different part of the country or a different part of the world. I am relaxed and not trying to figure out what we need, what we will eat, how to stretch the budget.

I shared a bit about the supermarket I wandered through in Germany.

Recently when we were on holiday in France, I had an opportunity to wander through a small supermarket. The week before I had done most of the shopping at a small shop on the campground where we were staying. It was the end of the season and it was not that stocked. The same was true at the second camp that we stayed out but there I walked to town and wandered through a small supermarket.

I find it interesting to see the things in cans. I didn't see any brands here that I was familiar with but they looked familiar.

The cereal aisle in the USA seems to be a bit aisle full of lots of options from healthy to sugar and all kinds of things in between. I was a bit surprised at the size of this section. It wasn't a whole aisle or even half of an aisle but just a few boxes.

You cannot skip the chocolate aisle. Many of these looked familiar to us. I still thing of the delicious dark chocolate with hazelnuts that we got years ago in Ukraine.

Here is a bit more of the cereal aisle. I do see some things there that I recognise.

I think one of the things that we noticed in the crisps/chips aisle is the fact that in English they are called chips. The flavours were a variety of things we know and things that we didn't really want to try -- roasted chicken.

I thought of my parents when I saw the ice cream. When we visited this summer the Snicker ice cream bars were an evening treat.

It was fun to wander and see things in the supermarket.

One of the mornings we walked another direction and found that it was market day. Various people had stands selling their goods. It feels like you are shopping local.  These looked like they were picked.

The fruits and vegetables looked so good. Miss K did buy some garlic to use for our dinner. She used the little French she knows saying, "bon jour" and then handed him the money.

There was a stand selling all kinds of cheese. If we were staying longer, I would have bought some to try.

Of course a French village would not be complete without at least one Patissier. In these village there were at least two. I think most days we bought a baguette and ate the whole thing that day or for breakfast the next day. We did enjoy some other treats from there.

We enjoyed some delicious food some of which we cooked and some we ate out. Crepes were a favourite. Now we want to learn how to make them at home.

Beth