My petit "Tour de France"

Today was an unexpected pleasure. I called Jaqueline last night and she was more than happy to come and pick me up for church today. Not having to walk somewhere was already a good start-I even left my big, snow-coat at the hotel. The service was great, and afterwards everyone chatted with me-lots of kissing going on. And the ever-so-kind Jaqueline gave me her French Bible to borrow-whether talking or reading, everyone is always insistent upon 'when in France, it should be French.' After that, she suggested that I might enjoy hanging out with a younger family than with an older lady like herself, so she introduced me to a very nice family who invited me to lunch. Sure, who would refuse?

The couple has five children, but the only two at home for the afternoon were a baby girl and an 18-year-old boy (along with his friend). We had pizza with tomatoes, goat cheese, and kalamata olives. Yum! (More things to put on my list of things that go well with goat cheese.) They told me they always have lunch together at home after church on Sunday afternoon. I'm really learning how to spend a good lunch-relaxed, not shoveling food in your mouth, and enjoying good fellowship. They didn't know much English, but somehow we were able to hold conversation; they told me I spoke well for an American:)

After lunch, I hung out with their son and his friend. We talked and listened to music while enjoying cups of coffee his mom delivered on a tray. He just pushed 'play' on his stereo and it was Mercy Me! I knew a lot of the music he had; mostly Christian. We had fun conversing about things everywhere from the typical American stereotype of a French person and learning how to play the piano (which he is currently doing, and is at this point amazed that I can play using two hands). And we only had to use the dicitionary twice in order to explain something.

I wasn't sure when they were going to take me home, but I had the day free, so I decided to not worry about it and have fun with my new French fam. A little later, the dad came in and asked if I wanted to take a bicycle ride. Ok....sure, why not? Good thing I wore pants to church-always the safe choice-I mean, you never know when you're going to be participating in extracurricular sporting activities afterward. The wife gave me her tennis shoes to use-we wore the same size-as well as a sweater and a rain jacket (just in case because it was overcast outside...yep, mom's are the same everywhere!). So with my right pant leg rolled up, exposing my chic black hose with tennis shoe look, I followed the crew out the gate of their house, mounted on my bike (I was given the good black one, while their son's friend had to ride a pink one).

We rode through the Mediterranean-style neighborhood, through some streets, and got up to their high school. We stopped there for a second, so I thought-'that was a nice post meal jaunt; i feel refreshed.' However, little did I know we had just reached the trail we were going to take. By trail I mean the bottom of a mountain. This ain't no Silver Comet, folks! I was on rugged, rocky terrain, pedaling by the beat of my heart. Can't complain, though-it was wonderful exercise and I couldn't have demanded better scenery. When I rode around one bend, the father said, 'Look to your right;' it was a vast, expansive vineyard-rows after rows after rows. Then we reached the top and I could see down into a valley with a river, horses tromping on other trails, and a chateau in the distance-wow! I had to be in a movie set.

Once down the mountain, we had a steady uphill climb back to the house, but the reward at the end was once again worth it. I walked through the front door and was greeted by a warm, sweet aroma. Was it true? My day held more surprises? Yep! The wife had stayed at home while I traversed through the wilderness and made tartes aux pommes (apple tartlet). "Perfect timing; it just came out of the oven," she said. Oh man.

More chatting followed the good snack, and then the time came for the other friend to leave-so I hopped on that ride and came back to the hotel around 7pm. A full day's experience with a real French family. A very nice one at that. I'm now more appreciative than ever that my parents were always happy to have us bring in stray friends and have them stay for as long as they wanted. I experienced this same display of God's love today.