“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
(Psalm 40)
« J’avais mis en l’Eternel mon espérance ; Et il s’est incliné vers moi, il a écouté mon cri. Il m’a retiré de la fosse de destruction Du fond de la boue ; Il a dressé mes pieds sur le roc, En affermissant mes pas. »
In my music time with the kids this past week, we talked about where we see God in every day things. One of the girls said that she sees God in getting what she doesn't’t deserve. Her sister for example, took more cookies than she was allowed and was given another one in addition instead of getting in trouble. The passage that I read in Psalm 40 this week is about that – getting the extra cookie. It’s one of my favorite words in the world Grace.
It’s not a favorite word because I am particularly great at receiving it, but rather because Grace is what has lifted me up time and time again and set my feet upon a rock. This past month I saw a lot of God in the international students that I’ve gotten to know this past semester. Yesterday I took my last exam….whoo hooo!....and my semester is officially over.
The picture above is of the international student dinner that took place at my apartment this month. I invited everyone in my French class to come to my house on a Friday night and for each person to bring something to share that represented their county. The students in this picture are from China, Turkey, Norway, Kazakhstan, Japan and Korea. We ate very well! I've put some more pictures in a photo album called "International Student dinner" so that you can see what we ate :)
Some of my favorites were plantaines and guacamole made by my Columbian friends and sushi made by a Japanese friend. One highlight were the banana-rhubarb tart that my French professor made and brought to share. Also, a Japanese friend from class brought a tea set and performed a Japanese tea ceremony for us. We asked each other questions about the food that we'd prepared and talked and listened to music. My contribution was bagels with cream-cheese and blueberries!
We enjoyed some sunny weather at the beginning of May. My friend Naoko helped me to organize a class picnic. We met at a park called Château de Vincennes and walked past a chateau to a big open space. Living in a city as big as Paris, from time to time getting out into nature is a must! I got my first sun burn of the summer! I was the one who insisted that we sit in at least partial sun, but the sun envy got the better of me :) The students in this picture are from Japan, Columbia, China, France, and Brazil. I love the different perspectives we all. I'm constantly learning from these students.
Thanks so much for all of you who were praying for my exams. I felt good about how they finished over all and will get the results in about a week.
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