Is it spring yet?!

Is It Spring Yet?!

According to the calendar....."yes" it is spring! However, on Good Friday which was the first day of spring we woke up to a wintery snow storm. Despite the blowing cold snow, we marched ourselves to the train on Good Friday to attend the church; La Rochette's Good Friday service.

The pictures above are taken from out of our kitchen window.

For Good Friday, our landlord and his wife had invited us to share lunch and dinner with them and their family as well (our apartment is an attached building to our landlords home). We enjoyed a delicious lunch of roast turkey, stuffing and green beans and then dessert......home canned pears with warmed chocolate that had just a little amounts of coconut in it!

After we enjoyed our lunch, we sat around the kitchen table and had a whole lot of fun learning some new board games, learning more about the Suisse culture as well.

Later that same day we were had dinner. A traditional meal served on Good Friday: hand picked dandilion leafs (usually...but, not that day because of the snow) along with hard boiled eggs and a home made salad dressing mixed all together. Along with that was served, fresh homemade bread and two different types of pates that you could spread on your bread and you could try some wonderful Switzerland cheese on it too!!

All through out the day we continued to watch as it snowed, snowed and snowed some more.....most all day, it was a complete white out when you looked out the window. We had a total of 18" snow fall on Good Friday! It still continues to snow...and it's Wednesday!

As we walk the streets of Neuchatel.....

As we walk the streets of Neuchatel........

Trace and I have grown very fond of walking through these quaint streets of Neuchatel. On the week-ends it's not usuall for us to take a train on a Saturday afternoon just to walk the city and then walk along Lake Neuchatel as well.

The top photo is the street were we go grocery shopping each week. We have become accustomed to using canvas bags and a pack-back to carry all of our groceries back to the train station. Gone are the days of using your grocery cart to your car and putting them into the back set of your car!

The second photo from the top, is my most favorite street in the city for two reasons. The first reason is; it's just plan fun and pretty....it is painted with a view of the ski with hot-air ballons ascending from above the Alps. We call this street "ballon street" (I know....it's not a very creative name, but it works). The second reason is; if I can't find the right street to begin to head back to take the next train back home, once I have located "ballon street" I can follow it up and it will bring me to the main street to get back to the train station.

The thrid photo is of a bakery shop (in French; une boulangerie). There are so many delicious bakery shops through out the city of Neuchatel. Our count of bakery shops so far is up to 10, I'm sure there are more we have'nt passed by yet.

The bottom photo is of a store we frequent most often to browse through, it's the one Christian Book store (in French; une librairie Chretienne) in Neuchatel!

~ Weakness ~

Thought for the Day!

The weaker we feel, the harder we lean on God

And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow.

Joni Eareckson Tada

This reminds me of a Bible verse I have placed with in my heart;

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

"How beautiful on the mountains...."

"How beautiful on the mountains......"

Isiah 52:7

This was the day we traveled to Zermatt, Switzerland to gaze our eyes upon The Matterhorn! There were countless times that we gave thanks to God as we marveled at the magnificence of His Mighty Hand of Creation! Our journey which began from the little village we live, took 4 hours and 4 different train connections to reach Zermatt! Once we arrived we enjoyed walking up the main street of Zermatt...there was one shop after another you could shop in....for ski ware and more ski ware, along with many different resturants along the way. As you walk from the train station through the village up this main road (which by the way has no vehicle admittance) and as you almost reach the end of the village "Voila" you see The Matterhorn!! Trace and I continued to walk up a small foot path and found a nice place to enjoy our picnic lunch we packed. We had a great time watching skiers go down the moutain tops as we sipped on our hot chocolate! Then we continued our hike, again giving thanks to God for the beauty in the creation, for the beautiful blue skies, for the mild tempuratures in the end of January! Our journey from our apartment started at 6 am to Zermatt and we returned back home that same evening at 9 pm. What a day!!