A Huguenot Tradition - Advent Breakfast

The French are not big on breakfast. Often very light like a Croissant with coffee. However there are four breakfasts in the year which are exceptionally special. There is a Huguenot tradition in France of having a special advent breakfast that my father grew up with and then did with us, and that I am now continuing. It is often not a huge breakfast, mostly because we would otherwise be late for church, but it is always very special and unique. There are a few things that always accompany it, such as a tangerine with a candle stuck in it, as well as Papilottes (which we didn't have this time since you can't get them in the states. Papilottes are a Christmas-only chocolate that is wrapped in a foil with a joke inside and sometimes a little firecracker.)

Other than those, it varies from time to time. This morning we had eggs, toast, and breakfast sausage; a donut (with coconut on top), fruit cake, a slice of pound cake, a chocolate cigar, peanut butter cups, and hot cider (and of course the orange).

Here are a couple photos of our first advent breakfast:

Multae Mortes, Una Vita - The Mysterious Ways of God

The Easter service was glorious! In his sermon, Dr. Leithart talked about how Jesus was not abandoned to Sheol as it would have seemed to everyone seeing Him die. In the same way we will never be abandoned to Sheol. Though we pass at times "into Sheol," as David did, Christ went ahead of us, and was raised the third day. His death was not pointless, and neither are our "Sheol's," as we too shall be raised. A new paradigm is set: a seed must go down into the ground and die in order that it might be raised to life.

We sang, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way," which is one of my favourite hymns:

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Last Church Service in Old Building

A Big Surprise!

About three weeks ago we received in the mail an enigmatic letter signed "Notre Guide Mystérieux" (Our Mysterious Guide.) It was a coded message, with the instructions to send it back decrypted via email. The decoded message turned out to be an hour: 9 o'clock. Soon after replying with the answer, we received another letter. The answer to this one was a date: 11/11. After sending the response to this one, we once again received a letter, this time the answer being a place. So we now know the that this "guide mystérieux" wanted us in "Ternand," at 9 o'clock, on November 11^th.

We were clueless as to who it might be! The letter had all been in well written French, containing references to the Bible, and obviously very thought through! It took us a long time to decipher some of the messages. One part of the enigma translates well into English: It went, "I am a north-African fruit, that grows in clusters, and without seeds". The answer was a date! That's how we knew it was talking about the date of the event. We were understanding the messages, but were still clueless as to who it might be. I tried tracing the email address, but all I got was that they lived in Lyon, and used Wanadoo.fr as their ISP (The IP address led me to their mail server instead of their computer).

The day arrived, and we were a bit nervous. From something the last letter said, we suspected that it was some friends to who's house we were going to that afternoon.
We arrived at the place designated, a restaurant out in the middle of the beautiful Beaujolais region, and a man came out to us. We showed him the paper, and he said. "hmmmmm, yep, this is the place" (In French of course). He brought us inside where we found a table set for 21! Now we were completely baffled!

Daddy started wondering if it was one of those sales techniques where they get a bunch of people together, and try to sell you some kind of time-sharing condo! Then we heard a whole bunch of honking as a whole bunch of cars arrived. It turned out that Alex was our "guide mystérieux", and that it was the whole church organizing this as a goodbye and thank you party to our family! Daddy had turned the church over to Alex about a month before, so this was their goodbye to him as a pastor, also to our whole family as we will be moving to Moscow, Idaho.
It was not only a breakfast! It was-in French fashion-an all day event! They even cancelled our appointment with some friends we were going to visit that afternoon. We were completely surpised that it was they! We never dreamed it would be Alex or the church sending us these messages! After breakfast, we visited a chateau, and then went on to a Beaujolais winery, tasting some of last years "Beaujolais Nouveau," and getting to see how they make the wine! Following this, we had a long French style lunch with many courses that lasted until until 5 p.m.! By that time it was getting dark, and we finished the day by going to the medieval city of Ternand and looking at the view. Ternand is a historically catholic town. During the Huguenots Wars of the 16^th century, Ternand was attacked and defeated by Huguenots forces!