Claremore: Settling In

Today marks the one week point since our return to Oklahoma. It has taken me, as well as the children, a few days to adjust, but I am glad to be home and sleeping in my comfortable bed. For a day or two I felt like I was in someone else's house. Couldn't remember where I had left certain things. Couldn't figure out where I was when I would awake each morning. And the confusion when I would wake up to barking dogs rather than noisy trams was very odd. All that has passed now.

It is wonderful to hear the birds and watch the horses running in the morning sunshine. AND shopping at Sam's Club again was so fun! The man who works at the flat bed checkout and the customer service lady were glad to see us again. Several employees asked where we had been. It was a nice reunion. Getting behind the wheel was strange after four months of trains and trams. It is so much easier transporting groceries in the back of the Yukon than it was in my bright pink shopping trolley and children carrying multiple shopping bags through Basel.

Our flights home ran all ran on schedule. No problems at all! We were so surprised to be greeted at the airport by our fellowship group bearing balloons and silly string. Good friends!

Basel was a very good home to us for the time we were there. Some things I really miss are fresh bread, our friends, and walking along the river.

Almost everything is unpacked and put away. The boys are back to fishing at the lake, camping outside, and lawn work. Olivia has her playhouse all cleaned up and ready for guests. And I am beginning to think about school plans and other projects that need tending.

One last note: doing laundry whenever I want is not as exciting as I thought it would be. The four flights of stairs and assigned laundry days weren't so bad after a little adjustment.

Paris-The Louvre

Sunday, April 27, 2008



After our picnic in the Latin Quarter we headed for the Musee du Lourve. The palace that houses so many great masterpieces of art is a masterpiece itself. The official website of the Louvre is full of info-too bad I didn't look at it before we went. Here is the link directly to the history of the palace. http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/histoire_louvre.jsp?bmLocale=en Be sure to look at the virtual tours on the site. It is a free art history course.

Above is the view from the third floor of the museum out into the courtyard where the pyramid entrance to the palace is located.

It would take days to carefully examine every piece of art, artifact and sculpture in the massive palace. The few hours we had were just not adequate to see much. We did see the Mona Lisa. All of the Biblical related art was the most beautiful. Especially the Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Veronese from 1533.

Paris- Latin Quarter

Sunday, April 27, 2008

In the center of the Latin Quarter in Paris stands the Fountiane Saint Michael. It was created by French sculptor Davioud in 1860 and shows Michael the Archangel, considered the protector of France, slaying the evil one.

The Latin Quarter is filled with narrow winding streets, restaurants and small shops. The area got its name from the university students who would congregate in the area and speak Latin in their academic discussions.

Robert and Olivia napping after our picnic lunch.

This guy was part of the entertainment at an African themed restaurant. Two others dressed in ethnic clothing were playing music on the side.

These four young men had obviously spent hours and hours developing their street routine. The crowd they drew was huge. Not sure how much money was put in their hat when all was said and done, but they were very talented. Keaton said that it was unnatural for people to move their bodies in the way these guys did, especially the one white guy in the group.

Dinner in the Latin Quarter. As dinner time approached all of the restaurant owners in the quarter stood in the door ways of their restaurants trying to lure tourists inside. We decided on gyros-the Greek version of the Israeli schwarma and the Turkish donar kabop. The twist on the gyros here was the yogurt sauce and the french fries! And of course the Greek decor.

My Favorite Pianist

Sunday, April 20, 2008



Is it okay to take pictures in church? Hope so. I just had to! Keaton played the piano during praise and worship. And it is no surprise that his playing was wonderful. Grace, who leads worship, had asked him to play with the praise team. She had originally intended that he would gradually be worked in by first playing during the offering. When the two other pianist told her they would be out that Sunday, Keaton was in! He practiced and practiced. It was a wonderful day. I was so blessed to worship with Keaton on the piano and Haden playing guitar.

Weekend in Paris

April 26-28, 2008 I never understood all the fuss about Paris. That is until this weekend. The old part of the city is full of history and beauty.

We rented a VW van and armed with a map of France loaded the crew up and followed the signs to Paris. Getting to Paris was no problem. We had a few discussions about what various road signs meant and figured out the tolls by following the flow of traffic. Driving through Paris to reach our hotel is a whole other story. Have you ever driven through a round-a-bout in Paris? No order what so ever. The goal is to get off of it without getting hit. Lots of honking, yelling, accelerating and brake lights. (Leaving Paris we made three loops around the round- a- bout because we didn't know which exit to take! It was kind of fun. We were using our map quest directions in reverse. So it took a few loops to count the exits accurately. All the while the kids are laughing hysterically.) Thankfully we were able to leave the van parked at the hotel and take the train into the city center each day.

We checked into the hotel and caught a train to see the Eiffel Tower. It is enormous and beautiful and oh so graceful looking. The iron work reminds me of lace.

We walked around the city (partly because we were searching for the WC) taking in the architecture and loving the warm springtime weather that we haven't had in Basel. The flowering trees that lined both sides of many streets were in bloom. After a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, Asian noodles and vegetables we walked back to The Tower. Landon was happy to be eating ratatouille in Paris-you know the movie.

It was nearing dark by now and so we got in a very long line to buy tickets to ascend the tower. The closer we got to the ticket window the more of a chicken I became. We purchased our tickets and started to climb the 600 plus steps to the second level. I did not make it very far until I chickened out and abandoned my family. They have wonderful photos of the view.

That was day one in Paris.

Olivia really did not eat all that food. She had Robert's plate in front of her. She is quite a good little actress though!

Robert and I with our new biker friends. Keaton started to take a picture of the two of us when these two guys got into it. Then they took one of our family.

Blogging Again!

And I am so glad to be blogging again. I must admit that after our two weeks away from our apartment living in accommodations we lovingly call "the dump"and our Internet not working when we moved back into the apartment I just could not get blogging again because of my obsession that things be chronological and my lack of time to fill in all the blanks. Yesterday, I had a revelation that I could start from where we are now and then add the lost days in as I have time. To most folks not only would that seem obvious immediately but they would actually be able to carry through. It wasn't obvious to me and it took a while to be okay with an "unchronological" blog.

So from here on out, things might not be in the order they happened! I will post the date at the beginning on each post for those of you who prefer to know what order things happened in. There is much to tell about all that has occurred the past few weeks!

Up Date

It has been a while since I have been able to post an update and even this will be very brief. We are having a wonderful time with my dad here. I have many great stories and photos to post. Can't wait to get them up.

Currently we are in temporary living quarters and will be back in our apartment on April 12. A little oversight on the part of the agency we rented our apartment from. They failed to tell us that we would need to leave our apartment for two weeks during the world's largest jewelery show that takes place in Basel every year at this time. Our accommodations provided by the leasing company are economy to put it nicely. Did I not know and believe that God is in control of ALL things the situation would be worse. But knowing that, I know that He has given us an opportunity to show the love of the ONE TRUE GOD to our Hindu neighbors! They make being here purposeful. And they are the best cooks!! They cooked Indian food for us Tuesday night and we made Southern food for them Wednesday night-beans, rice, fried cornbread, fried potatoes and baked apples. Can't get much more Southern than that !

One morning we made biscuits and gravy for ourselves and Su mah, a young Indian woman. The rest of the Indian men are teasing her that she will return to India making Southern food for her new husband! She has only been married six months. I have lots of great pictures.

At the moment I am sitting in the stairwell- it is the only place I have an internet connection. The connection is too slow to get pictures up but I will do so a.s.a.p. My dad and Dayton leave Monday to return to the states. Please pray for their safe and unhindered travel.