I believe in miracles...

Despite all the wonderful things that happened, this past week was one that I would not choose to repeat. This was largely due to Benjin being gone at a work retreat and me being crazy anxious about giving a lesson in French at church on Sunday. Anyway, Tuesday Gideon got to have a lunch date with daddy at McDonalds. Gideon could not have been more thrilled, and it freed up Pierce and I to be able to go on a little date ourselves to the park. Pierce loved how the slower pace allowed him to walk and peek in all the shop windows, wander down to the bois, throw pebbles in the lake and talk to the ducks.

Unfortunately for Pierce the slow pace was just a momentary indulgence because on Wednesday it was back to full speed ahead with Benjin gone at a multi-day work retreat. Benjin spent the rest of the week at a Chateaux with his colleagues eating Fois gras/killer patisseries, singing karaoke, and playing “baby foot” (foosball)…ok there was some work stuff in there too like giving a big deal presentation….

While Benjin was gone, the boys and I used our adventure day to go back to one of my favorite museums. Unfortunately we timed naptime poorly and Pierce was like a crazy wild animal running all around trying to knock over prized possessions while Gideon (being a strict rule follower) attempted to stop the tornado and burst into tears when Pierce refused to listen. Needless to say, we did not last long in the museum. So, I tried to save the outing by suggesting that we walk down the Champs-Élysées to look for Christmas decorations. There were fun parts about it, but I have determined that the Champs-Élysées is one of my least favorite parts of Paris. It is just not my scene. It wasn’t my scene when I was a somewhat young and hip young single adult and it is certainly not my scene now that I am leading the charge of two little hoodlums. But, we made it through without breaking anything and only got yelled at once… so, I count that as a win. That night we got to go to the tree lighting ceremony for our town. It was so fun to be there with all our neighbors. We drank hot chocolate and ate madeleines while we looked at the twinkling lights and gigantic tree. The boys put letters to Santa in the big red mailbox and we even ran into two of Gideon’s friends from school, which he LOVED!

Thursday Pierce and I spent a lot of the day walking back and forth to and from Gideon’s school, but during one of our breaks Pierce and I raced up to the metro where we met up with our friend Roselyn. She then took us to the famous, “Angelina’s” for hot chocolate. I honestly can’t describe what a blessing it was to get to just sit, drink hot chocolate and chat while letting Pierce gorge himself on pain au chocolat and croissants. Pierce was in heaven and so was I!

Friday, we made cinnamon ornaments so that we could decorate our tree (since we didn’t bring any decorations with us.) It was a little bit stressful with Pierce and Gideon both trying to “help” which meant cinnamon was flying everywhere and Pierce was constantly trying to sneak the knife that we were using to cut out the ornaments. Somehow we survived.

Saturday morning Benjin got home and we went on a cold, soggy walk to try and find a Christmas market, to no avail. But, we stopped at a thrift store and took turns taking the boys in to let them each pick out a gift for the other. I got to take Gideon and was super impressed by how much he thought about what Pierce would like. He picked out his gift, paid for it with the money he earned emptying trash cans, and then said, “mommy, why do we have to wait for Christmas? I want to give it to him right now!” Gideon was so excited by how thrilled he knew Pierce boy would be when he saw the gift.

In the afternoon we went to the Mari (townhall) for a scavenger hunt that was put on to raise money for kids’ medical bills. The language barrier added a degree of difficulty to the hunt, but we eventually made it. That evening we wandered all around Saint-Mande to find a Christmas tree, but eventually got one, carried it home and decorated it with all our homemade ornaments. I LOVE Christmas trees!!

The next day was Sunday. The day I had been dreading! And actually, it wasn’t just me that was anxious.  Gideon was worried about a primary activity where he would be singing in French at an assisted living center. So, we had spent the whole week saying prayers that we wouldn’t be too scared on Sunday. Sunday morning Gideon asked, “Mommy, but how is Heavenly Father going to help me?” This gave me the chance to talk to him about miracles. I said, “I am not sure, but I am kind of excited…” He looked at me like I was crazy. “why?” “Because, I feel so scared that it is going to take a seriously big miracle for me to feel ok and I like seeing miracles!” Gideon was very intrigued, and we talked a little more about what miracles might look like.

At church I found out that there had been a misunderstanding and the class Benjin and I were teaching this week would be Priesthood prep (rather than Temple prep) and that the students who would be attending all understood Spanish or English! The logistics were still hilarious because we had to teach in both English and Spanish and then let the Portuguese speaker share his thoughts in French. Then I or the other French speaker in the class would translate the French comments to English for Benjin who would share them in Spanish for the other students. It was wild, BUT, I didn’t have to teach in French! On top of that, the Lord miraculously softened my heart by helping me see the goodness and humility of the students in our class. They all had stories of immigration and how being lost an alone in a new place had brought them down in order to direct them toward the Lord and his gospel.

That evening Gideon went to the primary service event at the assisted living and stood up with the rest of the kids while we sung Christmas carols in French. He was still nervous, but he did it and afterward the combination of refreshments and a sweet little French girl playing with him, meant that when he got back home he declared, “MOMMY! That was SO INCREDIBLY FUN!!” I immediately wrapped him in a big hug and said, “You know what Gideon?! We got our miracle!” He smiled and gave me a big hug back.

We sure love seeing miracles around here! Maybe next week the miracle will be me actually giving the class!

Love, La Famille Facer