It’s hard to believe that I posted 10 days ago. Somedays I feel like I’ve been here for months, and other days it feels so short. In the last 10 days we’ve stayed busy mostly hunting for a permanent apartment! It’s no small feat to apartment hunt here. I don’t even know how someone who wanted to move here randomly would even know all of the documents they would need in order to complete their file that you must hand each agency if you’re interested in the apartment they’ve shown you. It’s very much a landlord’s market here. Basically the agent takes your file and gives it to the landlord, among other applicants, and they evaluate and decide who they want to rent to. If they don’t choose you, you have to move on. I feel like in the states anyone will take your money. Here, it’s not like that, and it can be exhausting and quite frustrating. We have given our “dossier” to two agencies so we are waiting now to hear from back either of them as to whether or not the landlord has chosen us. Hopefully by tomorrow we will hear something, but everyday that passes I’ve come to not expect a call. (not to sound emotionally defeated, just that everything takes so long here)

anyway! I feel like we are continuing to transition here as we learn our neighborhood, the language, the stores, etc. There are days that I really feel like I have a handle on things, and then I get lost for more than an hour with Asher. (it happened) Without a car I tend to feel trapped at times. Many days I’ve left the house in semi-nice weather only to walk for 15 minutes and it start to monsoon. You can’t prepare for the weather, you just have to pack the umbrella and hope for the best. Those are the days you wish you could hop into your car. 

Something that has been fun for us is taking Asher on morning walks to a nearby park. He really likes getting out of the little place we are in and being outside and since he’s up at 6 every morning we have plenty of time to get in a solid hour of walking and playing. It’s become our little norm and he really loves it. Plus it wears him out for his morning nap! Win.

Another aspect of French/Parisian life that I’ve enjoyed is the outdoor markets and daily trips to the store. They don’t really have large refrigerators here (ours is like a dorm size one) so we have to go to the store pretty often to restock, because it just doesn’t hold much. Although with weather and it taking time to get there by foot can be frustrating at times, there is something unique about making time to really create special meals. We’ve already had Potato Leek soup and a really yummy tomato soup. We’ve had salmon and salads and french toast too. Brie, Baguettes and wine are pretty much on the table regularly, especially if we are with friends. Can’t complain for sure.

There have been serious ups and downs the last three weeks. Tears have been shed, doubt has creeped in, anger and frustration have surfaced but the Lord has been really good to answer specific prayers. I feel like it’s really exposed how much we did life without him in the states. How little we had to trust him. Here, I feel like I need him hourly, and I should. I know that this year will shape me, Scott and I, and Asher in ways that wouldn’t be possible anywhere else and the Lord has already shown himself more than faithful to us. 

Would you pray for us this week? Pray that the Lord would even give us housing by Sunday. We feel like moving into “our” space would be a huge step in helping us feel even more at home here. All of our things are still packed in luggage and we kind of feel like we are living in a hotel. We would love to have a larger space for Asher to play and just a home to make our own. We know that it’s just four walls and a roof, but it gives us life to be able to fully be us in our home. Would you also continue to pray for Asher to sleep through the night? He still has yet to do that and it is wearing. We would love for him to be on a normal schedule! 

Would you also pray for our health. Asher is battling a little runny nose/cough and Scott has sinus pressure and is stuffy. We would all love to stay as healthy as possible! 

Thank you so much for staying with us as we do life in Paris. There are many days that we long for “normal” american life, and to be with familiarity, but we want to trust the Lord that this is where he has called us for a time. Many days we can’t say that we feel that, or want to even believe it, but we know we should and we want to want to! Thank you for praying for us! 

 

 

here are some photos of the last week or so! 

asher playing at our neighborhood park

asher and daddy on the metro

picnic with friends at the Louvre

a little parisian cafe

walking over the Seine

dinner with great friends