Two Sundays, Two of Jon's Churches!

While we were France, we were able to attend two of the churches Jon had attended as a child and of course where his parents worked. As I know they will want to see some of the pictures of the people we saw (because we can't remember their names!) here they are!

Massy:

 (This is the front of the church, which was Jon's dad's first church in France)

(The older couple babysat when Jon was a baby; the man on the right remembered when the Jerdans announced he was coming!)

(The church is in like a half-basement type - here's Jon with the sign)

(Jon's pastor in high school)

Montpellier:

(Very lovely people who miss the Jerdans! Jon looks very tall)

Keeping the Forest Wet

I may have blogged about this analogy before, but it is worth blogging about again!

During our pre-marital counseling at some point or another, we were told to always keep our "forest" "wet" - aka, keep our relationship always saturated with encouragement, trust, and support, even when we don't really "need" encouragement, trust, or support. That way, when the "lightning" of life strikes - conflict and hard times, the forest is so wet it won't go ablaze; the relationship will be able to sustain the numerous strikes being thrown its way.

We have taken that to heart over this past year and have consistently (not always admittedly) made sure to keep our relationship a safe and welcome place for the other person, where we can be encouraged. It has been sappy and, for many, perhaps somewhat nauseating to be around us, however we have been determined to practice this "wetting" of the forest.

These past few weeks we now are beginning to see what our counselors were talking about- life's storms come. Between loosing Ticky-Tacky, travel through several states, a cell phone debacle to end all cell phone debacles, a crisis in a close friend's life, and the many other things life has thrown our way in the past few weeks, our relationship has not gone up in flames.

I know without a doubt that it is the Lord holding us together to Him through His grace and mercy that He has displayed to us through each other over the past few years. That said, I'm so much more committed to making sure the "lulls" in life are used to prepare for the "storms," through continued encouragement and strengthening of each other through words and quality time. With the hustle and bustle that has been the past month, it has been hard to sneak in quality "us" time, but we have had reserves to draw upon that have kept us from smoldering.

So, I write this as a reminder to my future self to keep pursuing and strengthening our relationship, to you all to encourage you in your relationships, and to Jon for all his compassion, encouragement, and hugs which have been in abundance for the past few weeks!

Oh no! I'm one of THOSE people!!

You remember when you were a kid, and there were people (normally friends of your parents or relatives you didn't get to see that often) who would see you and then not see you for some time, and then when they'd see you again, they'd go on and on about how big you've become, how much you've grown, and on and on? And you're thinking "Well, duh, I'm a growing boy. Seriously, what were you expecting, that I'd look like an 8 year old for the rest of my life?" Remember those silly people?

At age 26, I've become one of them.

The Kepley family was a blessing to Calvin's Mu Kappa chapter. They always opened their home to us for meals, retreats and a variety of other activities. Especially us leaders spent a lot of time getting to know them. After I graduated, I stayed somewhat involved with Mu Kappa and also got into a mentorship relationship with Mr. Kepley. Thus, from 2002 to 2008, I got to know the Kepleys, including their daughters, VERY well. By the time I left Grand Rapids, those two fun, sweet, little girls who always had fun with all the college MK's who kept coming to their home, were (I think) 11 and 9. And that was the last time I saw them for over three years.

On the way back from Charlevoix on Friday, we stopped in Grand Rapids to have lunch with the Kepleys. They were excited to meet this girl I met in Maryland and eventually married. But I just couldn't imagine what Rachael and Emilee would look like as teen and preteen. They'd always been little girls! So when we got to that familiar house of so many fun memories, I was shocked to be greeted by two smiling, big girls. They're starting to become women!

I believe part of that has to do with the nomadic lifestyle I've led. I've never spent more than 4 years in a row in the same home. Life moves on, and families move to different horizons (especially ours, maybe), and with time contacts get lost. My longest friendships I still maintain somewhat frequent contact for date back to college, and all those people are around my age, so our lives have been developing in similar stages. I'm not used to having people know me for most of their lives.

So it suddenly struck me as weird that, when I got up to get seconds and Sara commented, "He eats a lot," the 14 year old replied with a smile, "Yeah, we know him." Obviously, I've been in this teenager's life pretty much as long as she can remember! How odd!

But that's a good kind of weird. Familiarity with good friends is nice.

"Grant"ed a Visit!

This afternoon we had a nice visit from Grant, a friend of Jon's from college. (hence the title of the blog, he-he) Also a fan of soccer, he watched the World Cup Women's Final (Japan vs. US) with us. This turned out to be a brilliant game, and I believe Jon and I are now interested in following Women's Soccer. The game is simply cleaner than when the men play - there's less faking of injuries and drama about bad calls. This game seemed to be two ridiculously good teams, with tremendous teamwork, playing a good game of soccer. They all fought hard for the victory, which Japan earned in penalty kicks, and played ferociously. The women handled themselves professionally both on and off the field.  By the end of the game, I'd say the future of women's soccer - taken seriously-  - is very bright.

Grant also will be taking a trip to France soon, and wanted to learn from Jon's expertise in this matter! Jon propped up a map on the door to our balcony, and I couldn't help but take a picture :o)

Delving into the map of France:

Jon pointing out the roman ruins: