Bumper Cars, Paris, & Princesses

Eesh. It seems to get harder to get these blog posts updated on a regular basis. I have not forgotten you all, though, never fear! “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” :)

Callie & I after a good run on the bumper cars :)

Today is Halloween for most of you, but here in Germany it's not a formal “holiday”. We have Herbstmesse instead. It's basically a Fall festival. Tonight we're taking the whole middle school and high school to Basel, Switzerland to attend the celebrations there. Food booths, rides, and shops galore! I'm definitely planning on doing the bumper cars, and have formally invited the girls to take out their aggression and frustrations on me in the ring. I also warned them that with what measure it is given, it shall also be returned, haha. Should be a fabulous time. I'll let you know how it goes later on. (*Disclaimer: I wrote this earlier today, and since then I've come back from Herbstmesse. It was a fun evening! Loved the bumper cars, and got a Pumpkin Spice Latte for half-off at Starbucks! Treat!)

Winged Victory aka Nike

I had the privilege of taking a trip to Paris this past weekend. It was my 2^nd weekend off so far, and I traveled by train with 5 other RA's for about 3.5 hours to discover the beauties of the City of Lights. It wasn't disappointing! We stayed at The American Church in Paris with the pastor and his family. They have a daughter attending BFA, and her RA was among our group. We're so grateful for their generosity and hospitality! The location was awesome, too, being right on the Seine River, within walking distance of most places we wanted to go. So we did walk. A lot. Hours and hours of walking. But it was great! We went to the Louvre, the Musee de l'Orangerie, Le Petit Palais, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Saint-Chapelle, Champs Elysee, Saint-Etienne, Sacre-Coeur, and lots of bakeries, cafes, parks, etc. It was incredible to see so much that I never thought I'd actually get to see in person. A lot of stuff that I read about in my Art History class was right there before my eyes! I even got to see some of my favorites such as “Winged Victory” and the amazing stained glass in Saint-Chapelle. Hard to take it all in! I didn't have such a hard time taking in the crepes though. ;) The weather was cold but we braved it, taking warming up breaks at cafes along the way. I've posted pics on Facebook if you'd like to see them. So yes, it was a good weekend off. Not entirely restful physically, but a good mental break.

Stained glass in Saint-Chapelle

Trying to think of specific things to tell you about is kind of hard sometimes. For one, there is always so much going on between school, extracurricular activities, dorm activities, and other things the students are involved in that it's hard to choose something to talk about. And then it's not always entirely noteworthy, or something to put in a blog anyways. Some people (jokingly) ask if I ever actually work cause I just talk about fun stuff for the most part, but I guess that's because usually bed time, helping with homework, driving students around, preparing dinner, monitoring study hours and chores, and stuff like that aren't exactly things that seem super exciting to tell you about. Or take pictures of. Haha. It's life. It's work. But there's more than just tasks. It's being there from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, available to help and serve in whatever way I can. It's writing a card for someone who is feeling low. It's listening when a girl tells me about struggling with figuring out what to do after graduation. It's praying for the girls on a regular basis. It's trying to figure out how to do things better, and apologizing and forgiving when things are not done in the best way. It's trying to love each girl in the way they each individually need to be loved. That's my job. That's my life. And it's hard. It's also great. I'm so grateful that God has placed me here, at this particular time, in this particular dorm, with this staff and these girls. I wish I could teleport you all here for a day so you could just see what it's like.

Dancing away at Fall Party!

One thing that I can think of, which was fun, was the Fall Party that the high school had a couple weeks ago. Most people dressed up to go, and at the party (held in the school auditorium, gym, and cafeteria) there were different booths set up to participate in. My favorite was the Just Dance Wii station! :) It was definitely a chore to do it in my costume though... A group of us female RA's decided to go as Disney princesses, so I went as Giselle from “Enchanted.” Yay! All the girls' dorms have loads of dresses that have accumulated over the years, and I found the perfect one in our basement. Huge, white, and puffy! It was so fun to wear, though tremendously inconvenient. I had to tell many people, “Excuse me, could you get off of my dress please?” I also had to not trip on the stairs, rip pieces off by stepping on them while I was walking, or get it caught on nails sticking out in random places (all of which DID happen, I might add). The kids had fun, and so did we!

Group photo at the Eiffel Tower!

Please continue to keep us all in your prayers! November is notorious around here as being the worst month of the year for our students. It's long, dark, cold, homesickness sets in and it's hard to get through. There are some good things to look forward to as well, but I ask that you remember us before the Lord, asking for grace and strength for this second half of the semester. Thank you!

II Chronicles 20:17

You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.