. . . SnOw Up In ThE mOuNtAiNs . . .

It has been really rainy here lately, and finally the sun came out today. We can now see the 2nd snow up in the mountains : ) It is so beautiful! Also, the little video clips are a look through my eyes and a quick guide on how to keep warm. . .fire and cocoa! ( You can even see the steam from the cocoa..mmm) :)

My room before I rearranged it : )

. .A weekend in LoNdOn . .

Me & Ben- He needed a little 'pick-me-up' : )
Westminister Abbey
The London Eye
Stephany & I outside Buckingham Palace
Changing of The Guard..it only happens once a day..we made it just in time to see it





They are starting to decorate for Christmas!
Amy and I waiting in line to get tickets to the Broadway Musical "Wicked" . It was about the Wizard of Oz. I loved it! : )

These were porta-potty type things all over the city for men...kind of weird..definitely not something I've ever seen in the States!

The song in my heart . .

*Random fact- I am heading to London tomorrow, for the weekend- please pray for safety!*

Well, it seems that God has given me a little tid-bit of information as to what I am supposed to do. Although, I do not know what the future holds, I know that I am to trust Him in all things. I will post more of the feelings from my heart as to how He is leading me in a couple of days, but for now- I am going to post the song lyrics "Knowing You" I found that this song was on my heart today- the verses just kept repeating themselves in my mind over and over again- that I am to count all as loss- but to know Christ as gain . . .

All I once held dear, built my life upon

All this world reveres, and wars to own

All I once thought gain I have counted loss

Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Knowing you, Jesus

Knowing you, there is no greater thing

You're my all, you're the best

You're my joy, my righteousness

And I love you, Lord

Now my heart's desire is to know you more

To be found in you and known as yours

To possess by faith what I could not earn

All-surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh, to know the power of your risen life

And to know You in Your sufferings

To become like you in your death, my Lord

So with you to live and never die

La Nuit Des Femmes

Ladies Night!!
My friend(another single gal living on my hall) Amy, and I planned a night just for the ladies at the Centre! There were about 15 of us ladies there. Some of our professors came. It was a night planned for food, fellowship, and fun : ) We had a great turn out- we started around 8:15pm on Friday night, and finished our movie at 12:45am : )It went longer than expected, but you know how ladies are..we love chatting!! Here are some pictures from the night : )

My almost to the top. . . hike! : ) (This was probably the first real mountainside hike I've ever been on & it was in the French Alps..how cool)

Oh man! What a day yesterday was : ) I got up and led the ladies first prayer group time, which went well! As soon as we had finished with that, I had to run up stairs and change and leave immediatly for the hike. We had to drive about 45-60 minutes to reach the starting point. By the time we got to the starting point, which was up above the tree line in the mountains, I was nauseaous. The road up to the top climbs back and forth and back and forth- so it is a lot of gas and break and gas and break! I thought if I ate something before I began hiking it would help the feeling go away, but as I continued to hike, it only got worse. Also, they say that with altitude change, that can make you nauseauous as well. We changed altitudes of about 8000ft. Needless to say, I did not make it up to the top. It was a three hour hike to the top. My friend, Julie, stayed with me, and we hiked up about an hr. or so, and then just sat there up on some rocks on the mountainside for a long time. We slowly made our way down back towards the car, taking our time and enjoying some fellowship. After I had sat for over an hr., it seemed that I felt much better. There was some snow up on the mountain, Julie even threw a snowball at me : ) After the rest got back, and we were just waiting for a few others to return, a couple of us decided to help make the load down the mountain easier on the van. We walked 7km to the bottom of the road, where it begins it ascent up to the top of the mountain! It was a great day! The mountains, as you will see in a moment, were majestic and breath-taking (literally : ) )

Nine of us crammed into a small minivan that holds 6. It was a great ride up and back : )

The busyness of life. . . what to do with it?

So, Life is busy. It always presents things that tend to be unexpected! Right now, I am sitting here trying to figure out what to write about and in what order, while I am listening to Christmas music and drinking .5L of coffee! That's right, I am already listening to Christmas music! I love Christmas. . .and maybe it is because we've already had the first snow up in the mountains here. . . snow puts me in the mood for Christmas, or so it seems! Anyway, I decided I am going to divide what I'm writing about into three categories!

1) School Activities

Things here at my school have been keeping me extremely busy. While trying to stay on top of my french studies, I am also taking one online class from Grace University in Omaha, NE. My days are filled with lots of studying. I am enjoying my class, I am beginning to feel more comfortable speaking French. . I still speak quite slowly, but can express myself and my thoughts quite well, with time. Despite all the time spent studying, I do find time to fit some other exciting things in. . . such as the hike I am going to take on Wednesday morning! We are going to hike up the Alps, it is supposedly a 4 hours hike. . which probably means it will take me 6 : )Time will tell. Also, as most of you know, I love planning things! The other students here at the Centre(that is what we call the school) appreciate me planning things and love to participate. There is also another girl who likes to decorate and plan as well, and so together, we've created some different activities! We had a parents night, where all the single girls babysat, so that all the parents could go out for a couple of hours. That is a great sucess and a ton of fun! We had 17 children in all! : )This Friday night, we are having a Ladies Night. It is going to be a night of fun, food, and fellowship. . .cheesy line, I know. But : )I am really looking forward to it, because generally the married ladies with children are not able to get away and spend time with us singles, or even with each other, because they are busy tending to their families, so the goal of this particular night is to create an atmoshpere, where we can all fellowship together! We are also going to watch some girly movie, who doesnt like to do that? : )I am going to bake lots of goodies for this night. I've found that I LOVE baking!! It seems that everything I make disappears by the next day, if I leave it out for the other girls to eat :) (Random fact: Last night, for really the 1st time...but maybe it was the 2nd time.. I made homemade lasanga! It was soo good. .and there were NO leftovers! We had our Sunday night meal together, yummy! It was good) Anyway, needless to say I put some of my time into planning activities for those here at the Centre. We are working on trying to plan something special for Thanksgiving- time will tell!

2. My Language Partner, Audrey!

The school recommends that each student get a language partner. I've finally found one. . . actually she kind of found me : ) A couple of weeks ago when I was helping at a youth group event, she was there. Her and her husband, both help with the youth group! She is close to my age, and her name is Audrey! We got to talking, and I found out that she spoke English, but she said that she needed to practice. . .(Insert sound of a door opening) : )So, I asked if she'd be interested in meeting to practice English and French, she agreed! We are meeting twice a week. One hour + we spend in French and then on a different day, we spend 1 + in English! I am really excited about this, and pray that God will bless us with a good, longlasting friendship!

3.Praying about the future. . .

I've been thinking about a lot of things lately. It seems that my mind gets preoccupied with a lot of things sometimes. Potentially, I am coming home at the end of December, and will be taking classes at Grace in the spring, but finances are somewhat of an issue, so I am praying about what God wants me to do. Possibilities are always endless of different opportunities or of different options, so I am just praying that God will give me a clear sense of direction. I would like to ask that you pray for this too! I want to feel His hand in my life, I want to be sure I am doing what it is that He wants me to do! So, please pray that He will guide in the direction I should be going!

Well, I suppose that is all for now. . . I will try to post more often than I have been, sorry about that time between the last messages! I hope that life for you is going well and that you are able to feel and sense God in ALL things! :) No matter the size of the role that you have planned in my life, I'm so thankful for you! Yes, YOU! Without the support of my family and friends, life would not be the same! Thank you for keeping up with me and for keeping me in your prayers! Hope you have a blessed week!

The 1st Snow...

So, this is still not the promised update...but I had to post pictures of the first snow!! It started to snow up on the mountain tops yesterday. As it rains in the city of Albertville, the snow falls on the tops of the mountains...here are some majestic pictures : )

Post to come!!

Bonjour Mes Amis!! I am still alive and doing very well. I have been staying extremely busy, which is why I have not written in over a week, but I promise a nice sized post is soon to come : ) Just know for now that I am doing well : )