Back Home

 Integrating back into family life after international travel is like jumping back onto a merry-go-round (that you never should have gotten off of in the first place), and trying to steady yourself as it continues its endless loops.

We arrived home in the middle of the night, exhausted from having been up for 24 hours. (There's no way around it - that trans-Atlantic haul is a doozy!) I was in desperate need of a hot shower and my own bed. But after just a few hours of deep sleep, it was morning and time to hit the ground running again.

We are winding down with school for the year. Elsa completed her 5th grade Language Arts course...

She can write a research paper, recite poetry, and diagram sentences like a pro.

A diligent year always pays off!

Another highlight from this month has been Soren's 13th birthday.

(Photo by big brother Roman)

I am now the mother of three teenagers! I made him his favorite breakfast: Scrambled eggs with peppers and mushrooms, alongside homemade cinnamon rolls.

It feels great to be back in the rhythm again. Paris was a beautiful adventure, but there's no place like home.

I was able to bring a little French flair back home with me.

The shops there sell authentic Made in France pillow covers that had me swooning!

In Versailles, the gift shop had a small selection of Marie Antoinette inspired pieces. I chose this embroidered pillow cover for my bed...

(Notice the M for Marie! 🌸)

Her style was famously lavish, and she loved florals. This was her bedroom in her smaller, more private chateau...

I could move right in, couldn't you?! 

😉

I also purchased, in another shop, these whimsical pillow covers for my couch...

I am just tickled over them!

To justify the purchase to Micah I tried pointing out how hard it is to find genuine decor in America. 

The pillows here are printed transfers, I explained. So you understand my urgency in buying these while I have the opportunity, right?

One could not argue with such clear logic.

It still feels like we were just there, navigating the metro... taking in the sights... (with a cafe creme in hand), but I couldn't shake the thought that, as fun as it is to visit, I wouldn't want to live there.

'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down

Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,

To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings -

But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!

My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be.

Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air,

And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;

And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;

But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.

"America for Me," by Henry Van Dyke

It's good to be home.

💐

~ Courtney 

Paris is Always a Good Idea

 Thursday, March 27, 2025

6:24am

"The house is quiet. I just finished my Bible reading and prayer. I slept well last night and feel rested. I also feel ready and at peace. I've experienced a variety of emotions in the weeks leading up to today... from giddy and excited, to fearful and nervous. Traveling abroad can take a toll on a person, and a lot can go wrong. But I have covered this adventure in prayer and trust the Lord will watch over us and protect us on our journey. I hope we can relax, enjoy, and bravely face whatever this trip throws our way."

Excerpt from my travel journal

Bonjour! We are back home safely from our visit to Paris, where we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.

💘

Paris was a dream, and I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have been able to experience it.

Even through my initial anxiety, the desire to go was irresistible.

After weeks of planning and researching, the final draft of my itinerary was jotted down in my journal:

Day 1 - Palace of Versailles/ Eiffel Tower at night

Day 2 - Cathedral day: Notre Dame mass/ Sainte Chapelle 

Day 3 - Walk and explore streets of Paris/ Bus tour/ Champs-Elysées/ Louvre museum

Everything worked out so smoothly, I am still pinching myself that it was real!

Long weekend in Paris, anyone? Oui? I'll take you through the days...

Versailles was incredible! You could easily spend an entire day here.

My favorite features of this palace were the Hall of Mirrors...

and Marie Antoinette's bedroom...

Have you ever seen anything so lavish in your life?

Saturday, March 29, 2025

"This morning we toured the Palace of Versailles and surrounding gardens. It is breathtaking! The weather started out chilly and blustery, but warmed up as the day progressed. We bought a sandwich and a soda for each of us, then found a comfortable place to sit by a sparkling lake for a picnic. It felt very warm then, and we enjoyed our lunch."

I had read once that the Eiffel Tower lights up at night, and twinkles on the hour for five minutes from dark until 11:00pm. 

I wasn't sure if that was true, or if we'd even time it right... (five minutes is over in a flash!) But we thought we'd jump on the metro and give it a shot. 

Glancing at the time every few seconds and murmuring to each other an affirming, I think we're gonna make it... we ascended the escalator up to the 7th arrondissement and took off full speed toward the tower. She began her twinkle show right before our very eyes, and we couldn't believe our luck!

It was a highlight of our trip, for sure.

Sunday morning we dressed for church and walked a block from our hotel to Notre Dame Cathedral.

We got in line at 8:15 to attend 8:30 mass. It is free and open to the public. I couldn't believe how quick the line went and how easy it is to just walk right into this famous, iconic cathedral. 

The service was beautiful, reverent, and over in 45 minutes. We Baptists aren't used to getting out of church so quickly, *wink... so we decided to stay for their hymn service at 9:30. The French gentleman standing next to me was singing along splendidly and seemed to know exactly what to do, so I tried to discreetly copy him. When he sat, I sat. When he stood, I stood. When he sang, I tried to sing along. (Practically impossible. It was all in French!) 

He then turned to me, offering his hand, a head nod, and the word, "Peace." I nodded in return and realized the entire congregation was engaged in this hand-shaking ritual. The little girl directly in front of me, who was being held by her father, reached her little hand behind his back and toward me. I took her tiny hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. She looked at me and said, "Peace." I smiled in return. 

One does not need to be Catholic to appreciate this unique and worshipful experience.

That afternoon we visited Sainte Chapelle, and what an amazing encounter that was! 

I've never seen anything like what we saw there!

We Americans cannot wrap our heads around a structure that is a thousand years old. It truly blows our minds! This chapel in particular was the most ornate, intricate, and colorful building I've seen in my life. Stained glass windows, carved stone pillars, hand painted walls... It was a feast for the eyes everywhere we turned.

We learned it was designed and built by King Louis IX to house Jesus's Crown of Thorns.

We left in awe.

As the afternoon grew later, I decided I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower from the perspective of my travel journal cover picture...

We found this charming street that offered a strikingly similar view...

A nice lady was willing to take our picture together in this spot.

(It's funny to me seeing this photo...)

(When Micah travels he likes to be casual. When I travel I like to dress up.)

😊

Monday was full. We spent hours walking around the city, taking in beautiful sights of the people, window displays, tall buildings, and cafes. The area around our hotel was quaint and quiet. 

But we noticed a difference when we explored the famous Champs-Elysées. This avenue is high-end and bustling! 

We hopped off our tour bus for a photo...

Monday, March 31

"We lunched at a darling outdoor cafe before walking across the street to the Louvre. I apparently didn't know what I was ordering because I was served warm milk with honey and a plate of raw salmon on a bed of potatoes. Can't say I've ever had a lunch quite like it before! I offered up a nervous prayer over that raw salmon!"

Finally, to the Louvre we go! The lines were long. I was so glad we had a pre-paid reservation.

This museum is enormous! We got lost a few times looking for Mona Lisa, and accidentally wandered into this wing...

The Louvre was the original palace for French royalty before Versailles was built. So happening upon these rooms was a happy mistake, and my favorite area in the museum.

But we wanted to find Mona Lisa! You know, to see how she's doing. So, we decided we could enjoy a nice wander once that was checked off our list. She was a little difficult to find. We checked our map and asked several guards for directions.

Monday, March 31

3:00pm

"Louvre museum - 60 degrees and sunny outside. The glass pyramids must have a greenhouse effect, because the inside of the building was so hot. We roasted! We battled a shoulder to shoulder line and inched our way up to view Mona Lisa. Very crowded room, and we were sweating. I used my paper map of the museum to fan my face as we waited. This is not for the faint of heart. But we did it!"

Ambling among the many carved statues, I thought of my 12 year old Soren. He would appreciate these tough guys...

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

8:13am - last entry

"Final morning here. We fly home today. This has been a wonderful trip. We got to see so many iconic sights. There is no city like Paris! Everything's magnificent here! Our hotel was perfect. We've been so pleased with it. Great location. Clean and safe. Our room faced an inner courtyard, so it was very quiet at night for sleeping. 

What I want people to know about Paris?... Paris is safe! Everyone should visit! French people are placid, and not at all rude to Americans. Maybe that's an outdated stereotype, because everyone we came across was friendly and spoke English with us. 

 Thank you, Lord, for answered prayer. You blessed us with a smooth, happy, healthy trip."

"Be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you."

- Deut. 9:3

I'll echo what Julia Ormond said in that 90's remake of Sabrina...

"Paris is always a good idea. I was happy there. You would have been, too."

💐

au revoir!!

~ Courtney 

How Books and Magazines Guide Us

 The Easter bunny has made his annual appearance in our home.

I like to place him here, at the family table along with a few other things.

The empty tomb and homeschooling magazine were recently given to me by friends.

I like to keep a seasonal magazine on the table at all times. I've been amazed at how useful it is in generating meaningful conversation at meal times with the family. Once we're all settled in at our places, I will open to a random article, begin to read (showing the corresponding pictures), and almost like magic we're off to the races - each person talking over the next. 

It was in a Victoria magazine earlier this school year where we learned that C.S. Lewis's home in England is open to the public for tours. The home is meticulously preserved and still includes his writing desk - complete with the typewriter his brother used for the original manuscript of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

It was also in a Victoria magazine where I decided the Palace of Versailles absolutely must make the cut on my Paris itinerary. 

While I have enjoyed thinking up my must-see dream list, I've come to realize that Paris can never be exhausted. The city is enormous! We simply cannot see and do everything! So I've decided to select a few sights/ places, and do them well.

I ordered this book to help me...

Written by a lady who visits Paris every year, it organizes the city into categories: Paris by food, Paris by interest, and so on... She includes this helpful map of the Arrondissements, which aided us in choosing our hotel.

She explains that in order to really do Paris well, you must embrace the art of flaneur... a French word that means to wonder, take in, and observe.

I've also been enjoying creating my packing list.

French women are known for being chic and elegant, and somehow pulling it off in a natural and effortless way. My vision is a neutral color palette, with mix and match pieces, along with comfortable walking shoes.

Maturing is realizing you don't need new outfits and items for every occasion.  But I am not maturing, apparently, because it's been all I can do to resist the add to cart button.

Facebook has been a terrible person to tell I'm going on a trip to. It gossips to its work buddy, Algorithm, who makes sure you see every super awesome travel product you never knew you needed! I didn't realize all the products out there to help with long flights. Did you know they make anti-nausea bracelets, memory foam neck pillows, and jet-lag medicine?

 I've even learned there are special shoes for walking on cobblestones in Europe. 

(I have to counsel myself almost every day that I don't need those shoes! I've fallen down the rabbit hole of selecting color, style, and size only to get to the checkout and think, wait a minute... what am I doing? I've never had trouble with my feet, I don't need these shoes!)

So, as you can see, putting my packing list together has required some self-control, and asking myself if I can make do with what I already have.

The only real exception has been finding a good book for the flight.

I asked some friends for recommendations. Nothing self-help or horror, I said. Just a light, feel good story with a European flair. 

Totally judging a book by its cover, I picked these two because they looked the most charming.

I've already begun The Lost Bookshop. It's thick, so I think if I read it slowly I'll still have plenty of reading left for the flight. I'm hoping these books will help put me in a European state of mind.

This morning in my quiet time I read this:

"The Lord went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night, and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp, and to show you the way you should go." Deut. 1:33

I added the verse to my travel journal and prayed God's protection and help over our Paris adventure.

How amazing it is that the books, articles and verses we read all work together to shape and guide us.

What have you been reading lately?

📚

~ Courtney

Day-Dreaming of Paris

 I'm supposed to be working on my Saturday chores, a routine I usually find very stabilizing and comforting: restoring order after a long homeschool week. But my heart just isn't in it today. I'm too distracted day-dreaming of Paris!

What began as a silly way of taking my mind off this harsh winter, jokingly dropping hints like, Everybody dreams of springtime in Paris... (But never truly believing anything would transpire as a result) actually became reality. Maybe it was my cheery greeting of, "Bonjour monsieur!" one morning that sealed the deal, I will never know, but shortly afterwards I received this text from Micah: "Hope you were serious. I booked flights."

And now I'm incapable of thinking about anything else.

It's been exactly twenty years since I've walked the streets of Paris.

The pictures I have of Paris are terrible quality. I did not own a proper camera, so I used a disposable camera (remember those?). Not to mention 2005 was long before any of us had ever imagined taking pictures with our phones!

It's kind of remarkable, if you think about it, how massively different we conduct our lives today compared to twenty years ago. I remember driving to a Barnes and Noble several weeks before my trip to Europe and purchasing a travel book on France to study in preparation. But the only real way of getting the inside scoop was to speak to someone who had been there. Now, I watch 3-minute YouTube videos on how to order a coffee in French, (my phone propped up in my bathroom as I go about my morning routine) and another video on the French girl style while doing the nightly dishes.

I've already secured the two main items for my Parisian uniform: a long trench coat and a silk scarf. Everything else is easy... jeans, knit sweaters, white blouse, pearl earrings...

This is what I wore in 2005...

You can see me clutching my handbag for dear life, haha! That's because I had been warned that pickpocketing was a real problem there. I never had any trouble because I had a secret... I was wearing a thin crossbody bag no bigger than the size of a wallet underneath my buttoned up jacket. It held my money and other personal items. I'm sure the larger bag held more easily replaceable items: water bottle, sunglasses, tissues, snacks? I don't remember exactly, except that I know for certain I had brought along a notepad and pen. 

Settling in on the terrace of an outdoor cafe, I ordered a cappuccino, withdrew my journal, and people-watched for a while. I jotted down what I saw around me, what people were wearing, and other observations. 

I tore my house apart earlier this week looking for that notebook and couldn't find it! I sure hope I didn't pitch it. (I've been known to have ruthless purging spells when I think my house is getting too cluttered.)  I just think it'd be charming and fun to see it again.

I plan to take a journal this time, too. I think one like this would be perfect...

Don't you just love the name? Paris is always a good idea... I couldn't agree more!

💐

~ Courtney 

Getting Through the Winter

 I once heard a homeschool mom pray, "Lord, please reveal to us what you have for us today." 

For some reason it struck me.

Sort of a Give us this day our daily bread prayer for homeschoolers.

I've since adopted this prayer for our homeschool mornings, and it's amazing how many times I open my Bible to read and see a connection to something we've been studying. 

For example, we recently made the jump from 2D to 3D in our geometry course. We've enjoyed taking a 2D image on paper, like a circle or square, and then comparing it to its 3D match, like a globe or a tissue box. We discuss what a difference it makes adding that third dimension - depth. The kids then practiced tracing complex geometric shapes like icosahedrons and dodecahedrons. (Who has ever heard of such shapes?!)

This morning in my quiet time, I read Romans 11:33, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements, and His paths are beyond tracing out!"

I thought it was beautiful how I saw the kids' recent math assignments in God's Word. 

I read the verse to them, which then opened up a conversation... As hard as it's been for us to grasp some of these math concepts, we can at least trace over some of the more intricate shapes, causing us to become more familiar with them as we learn. But God's paths are beyond our tracing. To which one of my teenagers pointed out that humans are "bounded," and God is "unbounded" - another math concept from this week.

Homeschooling older kids has been a tremendous blessing in my life. They are capable of such profound discussions.

This winter has seemed extra difficult.

Combining prolonged sub-zero temps with a high maintenance puppy has been a challenge.

While our property is ideal for energetic kids and dogs, it's been too dangerously cold. So we've all felt a little cooped up.

Cash stole one of my mittens and tore it to shreds. It was a beautiful handmade mitten that Micah bought for me in Alaska probably twenty years ago! It had two layers, warm wool with a soft fleece lining. 

When I arrived to the crime scene, it was too late to save it. So I resigned to letting him finish the job. 

Giving its untouched pair to Nola so she could use the fabric for a craft, I sighed disappointedly, and muttered under my breath, This is why I'm a cat person....

Nola is a sensitive soul, always slipping me little notes and drawings whenever she senses I'm upset. Like this poem she wrote to cheer me up...

We'll be climbing up out of the negative temps over the weekend, though, which will be a welcome relief. I've been passing these cold winter days by going back and forth between quietly reading under my electric blanket, and passive-aggressively dropping hints to Micah that I wish to be taken to Paris next month for our anniversary.

Like randomly texting links to Paris hotels, or casually bringing up in conversation that I happened to come across my passport recently and it doesn't expire until 2027... in case he would need to know... *wink

I can't help that I'm fascinated by recent attempts to clean and restore Notre Dame Cathedral since the devastating fire. I've watched videos of the work that's been done, and it's just so cool. Using all volunteers, and original materials, (like iron) they've managed to bring it back to life and reopen to the public in only five years!

I'm obsessed with the thought of going to see it for myself... tres excitant!

Unlikely, I know. But a girl can dream, and in the meantime pray, "Lord, please reveal to us what you have for us today," to stay content in this hard winter.

😊

~ Courtney