Acceptance

 Funny blog name for a blog title, huh?  But it has been my (Austin) journey of the last few weeks.  Learning to (finally) accept all circumstance in my life that occur.  Learning to live happy and joyful when things don't go as I plan.  Learning to give preference to others, namely Kindra, whom I have struggled to do that very thing.  And yet the mercy of learning the practice of acceptance of the realities of the current moment has opened an exciting new adventure for us both.  Since leaving London, and taking a car ferry to France, a whole new season has started for us.  Well, first of all, it is spring in France!!  That means, no more snow, no more sub-freezing nights where we can see our breath like smoke at 7 pm.  Instead, the French countryside is full of blooming yellow flowers, peaceful green pastures, and best of all: sun!     We had our first short sleeve shirt day a few days ago, in the beautiful Loire valley, and it was soooo nice.  Not quite shorts weather, but awfully close.  Apart from climate, our new season is one of love.  Kindra and I have fallen madly in love again since entering France, and so much of it has been me learning to release selfish heart patterns and be attentive to Kindra in each moment.  Of course, Paris, French countryside, crepes, and the French culture in general have definitely helped!  It is a Renaissance of our relationship, and it is not short term thing; it keeps blooming and developing, even in difficult circumstances.  One of these was our car getting stuck in one gear repeatedly, and our dealing with that (fortunately, when we thought we may have to abandon the Multipla, it miraculously regained gear function, which was a total gift from God).  However, overall, our journey through France has been unproblematic and spontaneously special.   For instance, we pulled off the road in the hamlet of Chambord, hoping to see a spectacular chateau in the morning.  When we woke up in our car (our home of the last week) and stepped outside, we were parked twenty feet from a riverside walkway to this chateau (French for castle), which was goldenly amazing!  Totally unplanned,. totally perfect.  Another time, we were looking for a place to park for the night, and ended up parked right next to a flowing waterfall by a scenic bridge, complete with picnic bench (the French cater to travelers like us, lots of free campsite like spots).  Oh, and the best, an Easter festival we stumbled upon in wine country town Amboise.  What was going to be a momentary town drop in from Rick Steve's recommendations turned out to be an all day affair, as we ate fresh crepes from street vendors, enjoyed live French/reggae/Chocolat soundtrack music from a local band, and wine tasted to tippsiness for free in a castle.  What a gift!  By the way, wine tasting in France is a must, its usually free, and the wines are unbelievably good and usually quite affordable.  And its romantic.  So in sum, God has given us a chance to enjoy this place and each other in the awesome goodness that is his character.  And France is definitely on the radar as a potential settling down place for us in the future (apparently Kindra has dreamed of living in France most of her life, what a potential answer to that dream!)

French countryside :)

To finish it all off, we arrived at our new WWOOFing home in the Pyriennes foothills, at an old pig farm turned farmer's market level commercial produce farm.  Beetroot, turnips, LOTs of eggs (and chicken laborers), and the most beautiful WWOOFing location yet.  We were practically in tears driving the road to the small town of Izaut-l'hotel (trying saying that with no French language experience like me, and you'll get a good giggle).  Snow capped mountains, bubbling steams, waterfalls, and WWOOF hosts in the smack middle of it all.  To boot, Karen and Lee (our new hosts, a British married couple with a eightish year old son named Rowan) are the sweetest, hippiest (like us), tendered hearted people of the journey yet.  They are rather relaxed and unconventional, a live a very simple, peaceful life.  Lee is a man of my own heart: he loves hiking, rock climbing, adventures, trekking, hitchhiking; and he is not fond of eating meat or lots of sugar (he has been a consistent vegetarian since birth).  He also comes from a corporate computer savvy background, but appears to much more enjoy the simpler, outdoors life.  We are meeting the coolest people on this trip!  Our accommodations are comfy and isolated (we have our own one room house), and the first work day today was chopping wood and digging out a water drain that lets rain water out of the field.   We are so looking forward to our next month here!

The view from right outside our current living quarters.

In other meditations, we are wanting to use the internet less and be more present where we are, so we may not be checking email more than once or twice a week, but we would love to get any feedback, thoughts, encouragments, what have you from those of you following along!  And hear how you are doing.  Feel free to post on the comments section provided or shoot an email our way.



Take care!

Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117860913937238604610/France