Paris

Well, I am on the last post of our European adventure. Thanks for sticking with me.

This trip was hard on me. It was a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but it was also a long time to be out of the country and I really did struggle with anxiety and sleep problems while there. Unfortunately, the anxiety and sleep issues followed me back into the country. This past weekend, my doctor here tried to put me on a long term anti-anxiety medicine. I learned some important lessons. One is that modern medicine doesn't cure everything. What happened this weekend was that I had a pretty bad reaction to the side effects of the drug: I couldn't sleep, was super tired, sore muscles, headache, nausea, etc. I basically ended up with a hangover on Sunday without the drinking. It was awful (actually, I am still not feeling wonderful). The second lesson I learned was to rely on God. I think He has been teaching me through this experience: the power of prayer, to find rest in Him, and to listen to Him. So often, I rush into things trying to fix them instead of waiting on the Lord. And I guess I am learning patience and trust. But, it's hard. It's a moment by moment, prayer by prayer battle. But He can still the waters. And He can still my soul. So, as hard as this has been, I am trying to rely on God, and on Jesus' redemption. 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7

Sidenote: I am not anti-medicine. I think God can work through modern medicine to save lives. However, medicine doesn't solve everything, especially matters of the heart. 

Oh, yes, I was talking about Paris. We took the train up from Limoges up to Paris, which took about 3 hours. It actually went really fast. After waiting a long time for a cab, we finally made it to our hotel. If you have been to Paris before, you know this about the hotels, but they are pretty small. We were actually upgraded to a suite with a view of the Eiffel Tower. Well, you could see the top of the Eiffel Tower and the suite was still only an average hotel room. Oh well. We were only there for a night. After getting settled, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower. We ended up on one of those double-decker tour buses. Which actually ended up being way too long and crowded, but it did allow J to see the sights since he had never been to Paris before. I really didn't take many photos, so all of these are J's. 

We saw a couple getting married.

The thinker's backside.

Notre Dame

The view from our hotel room.

After a cafe dinner, we turned in early. We ended up getting stuck in some major traffic on the way to the airport the next morning, and this cartoon pretty accurately describes how we were feeling. However, the plane was delayed, so it wasn't a big deal. We flew back on an A380, which I thought was super awesome and pretty comfy. Good trip, but it was definitely time to go home.

And that's it! You've reached the end of the story with me! My next blog post won't be about Europe. :)