"Moving Mountains"

This morning at approximately 4:40 am Kristen and I were suddenly awakened as our apartment shook back and forth for about 5 to 10 seconds. Still dazed and confused from our slumber, we didn't realize that we had just experienced our first earthquake. I'm sure there are plenty of people who have gone through larger earthquakes but when you have never been in one they can be quite scary. After 30 minutes of my investigating possible scenarios like planes crashing or boilers exploding, I had come to the conclusion that we must have just been in an earthquake. Then right after we laid back down to "faire un grosse matinee" or sleep in for you english speakers, there it went again. The aftershock was nothing like the original quake which I later found out registered a 3.71 on the richter scale, nevertheless still a bit scary for us. There was obviously no structural damage to anything and it wasn't even big enough to make the news I don't think but I will say that it did provoke some thoughts in our minds. I can't imagine what the people in Pakistan felt about three weeks ago when around 40,000 people lost there lives to the devasting earthquake. It makes us realize just how quickly things can change and how little control we actually have over our lives. Without warning we were totally out of control. We felt helpless. Today we are grateful that we serve a God who takes care of us and tells us that we don't have to have everything under control in this life. We just need to surrender to him and trust him completely.

Thanks to everyone who has been posting. We love to hear from all of you. Keep checking back for new posts. If anyone is interested, we had the opportunity to go to Paris and we will post a few pics from that trip. Keep in touch.

Joel and Kristen

La Belle Etoile

Pictures of our recent hike on La Belle Etoile. This is about a 15 minute drive from our house, then about a 2 and half hour hike of the mountain. You can see Mont Blanc which stands right at 3,800 meters and sits on the border of France and Italy. You can also see the city of Annecy which is about 45 min drive from us.

"En Classe Nous Parlons en Francais"

"In class we speak in French" is supposed to be the rule now after 1 month of class and we pretty much stick to it most of the time. However, there are times when you just can't find the french or maybe you brain has been "french fried" as I coined the phrase. It was good to be able to begin the year with already having some french and we are are learning a lot, but now we realize how much french we do not know. It can be frustrating at times but we will prevail. We have a total of 11 people in our class from different countries like Australia, South Africa, Germany, USA, and Brazil who are all at different levels of french. Class is very often like a roller coaster ride. Sometimes you get everything and you feel like your at on the top of a mountain, then there are times you feel totally lost and everything seems downhill and you will never be able to speak at the level you desire. However me being the optomist I am, I believe our comprehension and speaking has progressed since we have been here. Also you have to remember that we are trying to cram about 8 years worth of language learning into 10 months. Maybe we should have learned to speak english correctly before we started trying to learn french!

"Bon Anniversaire" Happy Birthday"

Happy birthday Mom! We can't wait to see you in April. Have a Great Day!

Flower in the Night

This has absolutely nothing to do with anything, except the fact the I like the way this picture turned out. I thought I would share it with all the other aspiring photographers out there. By the way, in french the person who "takes the picture" ( prends le photo) is called the Photographe, and the camera is called "un appareil de photo".

Lac D'Annecy and the Ville

Here are couple of views and the Ville of Annecy along with a couple of nice views of the lake. I don't think you can see it in these photos but they often have 50 or more people paragliding at the top of the mountains. We will actually go back to Annecy this Thursday for a school field trip designed to practice the french we already learned!

The Best "French Fries" of Annecy

I love this picture. I took it in city called Annecy which is about a 45 minute drive from Albertville. Annecy is a really neat city that boasts about its fine french cuisine like Tartare and the fact that it has the purest and most beautiful lake in all of France and some say all of Europe.

Notre voiture d'occasion (Our used car)

This is our ticket to freedom in France. We got a really good deal on this car and we really feel it was a great decision for us to go ahead and get a car. They don't have a transportation system here in Albertville, so we would be doing a lot of walking if we didn't have this. Also it gives us the freedom to travel about the France and other parts of Europe when we have time. Many thanks to everyone who helped us be able to have a ride. By the way it is a 1996 Renualt Megane. A very popular car here in La France.