A long overdue update

Blogging is like exercising: both are addicting while you're in the rhythm, but once you slack off for a few days it's hard to get started again. Several weeks have passed since my last post, so it's probably best if I work back into it slowly. Perhaps just a snapshot of September events will suffice for today.

La rentrée - School started again for Lindsey on September 3. Although still difficult, things started off much better than last year. She has a good grasp of the basics of both the French language and culture, which helps tremendously. Our high school graduate, Lori, has also been staying busy this month by taking French lessons at a private language school and getting one-on-one art instruction from a friend from church.

Church - The ICCL also had its own rentrée this month, greeting lots of new international families and students from places like India, Japan, Peru, Colombia, England, and Sierra Leone....just to name a few. But we're also sad to be saying goodbye to people returning to their home countries. Such is life at an international church! I'm incredibly thankful to be a part of this dynamic and diverse group of people who are connected by their common faith in Jesus Christ.

Saying "au revoir" to Jennifer and Marcia

Visit from the beau-père - My wonderful father-in-law came for a 2-week visit shortly after school started. We all had a great time showing him around the beautiful city of Lyon, in addition to Geneva and Chamonix in the French Alps. Greg and his Dad journeyed to Normandy by train and visited several WWII beachheads and museums.

La langue française - Improving my French has been one of my focus areas for this month. I'm taking advantage of a couple of free conversation groups and a one-on-one language exchange. Additionally, I'm supplementing my learning with websites such as Live Mocha, DuoLingo, and TV5Monde.

Exercise - Working out is another priority activity for me. I don't go to a gym; I prefer to exercise outdoors or at home on my yoga mat. I stumbled across a great "online trainer" named Sean Vigue, who motivates me with his challenging power yoga, pilates and conditioning workouts. 

And speaking of exercise, to expand on the analogy I used in the beginning of this post, I don't want to pull a brain muscle so I think I'll stop here and pick it back up again another day!

Entering their world....through the TARDIS

My husband and kids freely admit that they are sci-fi nerds. They enjoy watching movies based on superhero comic books, and one of Lindsey's dreams is to attend Comic Con. I'm a nerd in other ways (I enjoy logic puzzles, for example) but I don't get into sci-fi or fantasy fiction. However, to build communication with my teens, I try to "enter their world" from time to time and at least feign interest in the things that they are passionate about. So when they choose a superhero movie for our weekly "pizza/movie" night, I try to stay awake and not roll my eyes too much. Greg shares the nerd gene (I'm sure he's the one that passed it on to the girls), therefore he happily joins them on the couch to watch re-runs of Doctor Who. I admit, I had felt a little left out during conversations centered around Daleks and Regenerations, so I decided to check out this classic TV show for myself.

Before watching my first episode, I got a primer from the girls. In a nutshell, the show is about a "Time Lord" known only as The Doctor, who is able to travel through space and time in a machine called the "TARDIS" (which stands for something, but I can't remember what). The TARDIS looks like a blue police call-box on the outside, but is much bigger once you're inside. Doctor Who has been around on an on-again-off-again schedule since the 1960s, and over time there have been 12 actors who have played The Doctor. Every time a new actor takes over, the Doctor "regenerates" into his new form. He takes human companions (usually beautiful girls) with him on his time-and-space journeys, and together they fight battles against space monsters, solve intergalactic crimes, right injustices, and have fun traveling all over the universe. For those of you who are "non-nerds" like me, sitting through one of these shows probably sounds like hell. Admittedly, some of the episodes are pretty bad. The villains known as Daleks look like they were made with someone's spare kitchen utensils, and they probably were, because I'll bet that the original series had a tiny special-effects budget.

However (this is so hard to admit), I've come to really enjoy many of the modern-era Doctor Who stories. The writing is often brilliant, the actors are witty and likable, and the emotional tugging-at-heartstrings factor is high. If you want to give Doctor Who a try, here are three episodes I recommend:

• Midnight - Doctor #10 (played by David Tennant) gets trapped with strangers in an enclosed vehicle during a sightseeing excursion in this stand-alone episode. The script is tense and tight, and it plays on the universal fear of being stranded. It's a great commentary on interpersonal dynamics during a stressful situation. Fans of Twilight Zone will like this one. 

• Blink - Another David Tennant episode, this is also one that works well as a stand-alone show. Your head will spin trying to figure out the overlapping "timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly" time streams, but it's a lot of fun when the Doctor speaks to complete strangers through a video, reading from a script the listeners created in the future....nevermind. You just have to see it. This episode easily deserves the 9.8 earned on IMDB's viewer ratings due to the way it builds up tension and fear. You'll never look at an angel statue the same way again.

• Vincent and the Doctor - Matt Smith plays the 11th Doctor, and his quirky sense of humor and tender heart makes him my favorite. In this show, the Doctor and his companion, Amy, travel to Arles, France to meet Vincent Van Gogh. This episode is mixed for me. The plot involves a silly monster that is supposed to be scary but looks like a giant chicken. But the sweetness of the friendship formed between Amy, the Doctor, and Vincent is more than enough to make up for it. At one point they're laying in the grass looking at the stars, and you enter into Vincent's imaginative inspiration for Starry Starry Night. At the end, Vincent gets a glimpse of the legacy  he's left behind. Just try to keep a dry eye.

So there you have it, my journey into my kids' world through the TARDIS. I guess I'll have to join the nerd club after all. Comic con, anyone?

Images shamefully ripped from the web. 

Notre petite église

After a month long break, our little church resumed services on August 31. Being an international congregation, we experience a lot of comings and goings as people from different countries move into and out of Lyon. In May, June, and July we shed many tears as we had to say farewell to lots of folks from our church. Thankfully, now it's the season of "hellos" as the beginning of a new school year brings a whole new batch of people.

We didn't know quite what to expect as we reopened the church doors this Sunday. Would everyone still be on vacation? Or too tired from back-to-school shopping to come to church? After we swept away many cobwebs (and the spiders which accompanied them), we waited to see who would show up to worship with us. Our waiting was rewarded. Besides the many familiar smiling faces of the seasoned "regulars," we welcomed:

• A family of 5 from the UK who just moved to Lyon for a short-term job opportunity. Their lovely children included a sweet-natured preschooler with Down's Syndrome, and two shy elementary school aged kids. A game of "Simon Says" in Sunday school broke the ice, helping them to get to know some of the other kids.
• A sharp-dressed university student from Holland who is eager to meet other international students in our "Refuge" university ministry.
• An older lady from Ireland who wanted to go to church while on vacation in Lyon and found our website. After the service she said that Greg's sermon on "working for the Lord" spoke right to her heart, as she's currently dealing with a difficult work situation. 
• A refugee from Sierra Leone whose strong faith is sustaining her while she tries to get assistance and housing from the French social services. Fortunately, we were able to get her connected with two other people from our congregation who have a lot of knowledge in this area.

Sometimes we wonder if our little church is making a difference in Lyon. We long to serve the community, and we see so many needs. The lyrics of a contemporary worship song echo the desires of our hearts: "Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city." But we could tell from the smiling faces on the newcomers as they left our humble building that they were encouraged, refreshed, and renewed. Not because of me, not because of Greg's sermon, not because of the worship music, but simply due to the sweet fellowship of believers gathered together to glorify the name of Jesus Christ.