Variety is the Spice of Life

 

This week Gideon started back at school and miraculously there were no tears! Benjin and I were both so impressed by how far he has come and what a big difference the passage of time, a good teacher and a super brave boy can make.

On Wednesday we returned to our usual adventure day tradition by setting off for the natural history museum at the Jardin des Plants (which we hadn’t been to in quite a while). We got there by way of the Bastille and walked from there along the canal so that we could see all the boats. We found a playground with a giant boat to play on and pretended we were pirates, which Gideon loved. But, Pierce was more in awe of the actual boats and insisted that we press on along the canal. We walked from there down to the Seine were we saw more boats as well as the beautiful Notre Dame looming in the distance. It was pretty magical, apart from being mildly on edge that Pierce was going to try and jump into the river at any minute! We walked from there over to the Jardin des plants where we ate our lunch and explored the evolution museum and the rock museum. From gems and golden nuggets to whale bones and stuffed giraffes, it was so fun to see the amazing variety of all the beautiful creations in the world!!

On Friday we took advantage of the free night at the Louvre (pro-tip: you can skip the crazy line if you bring a kid in a stroller -- thank you, Pierce!) One of the favorites was seeing the French crown jewels! After a little while Benjin took the boys home (by way of Paris’ new Krispy Kreme) and I got to stay and explore to my heart’s content. It was such a treat to wander without a goal of getting to any particular artifact or celebrated painting. By wandering, I stumbled upon so many treasures. And once again, I was struck by the variety! Isn't it just incredible that human beings have been able to make such a spectacular variety of artifacts and we have been doing it for thousands of years!! 

Saturday I got up early and headed to the temple, which was lovely! I then took a train to meet up with Benjin and the boys at a crazy cultural event. I don’t even know how to accurately describe it other than it was a combination of state fair, trade show, food fest and mosh pit all rolled into one. It was wild! There were about 7 different huge (airplane hanger sized) buildings FULL of people, booths, animals, etc. Some of them were animal focused like the ones with the cows and pigs. Some were plant focused. Some were food focused. Everywhere we went to had to push our stroller through the mosh pit-esque hoards of people. Every once in a while a parade of cows, horses or sheep would push their way though the crowd as well leaving lovely poop piles trailing along behind them. Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed, but Gideon and Pierce were in heaven. They loved petting the sleeping bunnies, tasting octopus, doing pig puzzles, watching horses races and getting free swag. From there Benjin set off for the temple and I eventually took the boys home.

On Sunday on our way to church we talked to Gideon about how today was fast Sunday. He then asked me if I was going to share my testimony. Inspired by his prompting, I determined I would. I gave a very simple testimony, and felt so grateful to look down at all the people in the audience. It was delightful to see their variety. The variety of languages, experiences, backgrounds, ages, etc. What an absolute miracle that we were all brought together by a common purpose --- to testify of Christ. After church we got to teach our last temple prep class (we had a number of students missing), but again, I was struck by what a beautiful group of people we get to associate with. From there we made our way home, but because of a bunch of race traffic, we ended up bailing out of the bus mid-route and just walking the rest of the way though the woods to the metro... just another day living the carless life in Paris! In the evening we had our two elders over for dinner and despite my fears, miraculously had enough cheese to feed everyone one of our favorite French dishes --- galettes. 

Sometimes we have a certain image of Paris involving a beret, baguette and the Eiffel Tower, but something we have loved about living here is how we get to experience variety. We have gotten to meet people from all over the world. We have gotten to see treasures from across history. We have gotten to walk through some of the classiest buildings as well as embrace the mosh-pit madness of drunk state-fair crowds singing at the tops of their lungs! There is so much to experience in this world of ours and we are so grateful for the spice it has added to our lives. 

Love,

La famille Facer