when they steal your camera, buy a disposable and keep having fun

this probably should be a post about the amazing trip that tim and i just had the opportunity to take to france, and we were beyond words blessed to get to experience. 

and it will be about that some...

but mostly it should be about my amazing husband and best friend.

if ever you are looking for tips on the right perspective and attitude and heart to maintain when on the first day of your international trip your bag, including all your clothes and camera, your only suit and tie, your four favorite pairs of shoes, favorite running shoes and shorts, favorite undershirt {you know, the things you can't replace easily} and everything else that is your favorite that you take on a special trip...is stolen...talk to my husband. exemplary. model. jesus-like. he is amazing.

for the rest of the eight days he wore what he left our house in bixby wearing.  he did get to borrow a pair of jeans for a few days from a friend we had there.  {and he honestly did smell great}.  otherwise, he rinsed his clothes in the sink and hung them to dry. he borrow a suit from someone we know for the wedding he was officiating in the french countryside. he wore a pink dress shirt for a fancy dinner {because that was all our friend had} and i think i've convinced him to buy a pink one for himself - he never would have done that otherwise, but even he agreed...he wears it well.

we bought a disposable camera and took pictures we couldn't look at right away.  that was an adventure.  we did it like we used to in high school...got our pictures developed at walgreens when we got back to the US and being impatient we flipped through the stack sitting in the car in the parking lot.

i see how amazing and selfless tim is on a daily basis, but in situations like the ones we walked through in france, its hard to take my eyes off him, the peace and patience he holds onto when its tough. it was even fun and adventurous filing a police report in the little office in the train station in lyon. the police officer practiced his english on us, and we all laughed as he told us a few stories about when he was a kid. priceless moments.

oh, and france was amazing. 

train ride to lyon. preparing for a wedding. making new french friends who {thanks to facebook} we've already re-connected with from our internet connection to theirs. kissing once on each cheek. picking flowers in the fields in the french countryside for the wedding later that day. a wedding at a castle. a party at a castle. learning the customs. train ride to paris. celebrating. melding french and american ways and people. paris. montmartre. french art. sacre coeur. eiffel tower at night, watching the city wake up for the evening. iced coffee outside a cafe in the art district, reading our books. 

our hearts did break to miss silas.  that was hard. but he was blowing bubbles and building with clay, and at the jenks aquarium, and taking walks, and making art from the leaves he picked up while on his walks, and watching thomas the tank engine, and being loved on so much by his noni and pop and bono and daddad, no kid could ever want for more.  but the reunion was truly reuniting and like letting a breath you'd been holding out...

so an amazing time had by all...even the guy who is wearing tim's favorite clothes now, somewhere in france....