Shattered Glass

Hello all,

Pourquoi the odd headline? they asked. We've been going through the wine glasses around here like they were kleenex. So far we count 2 little ones in the dishwasher, one big one on the table when Ben pulled the tablecloth, and another big one that Kathy was carefully handwashing at the time! Plus a glass bowl that cracked in the dishwasher and finally had to be pitched. Then this morning I was carrying a little pyrex bowl with Ben's breakfast in it, bumped a chair and it hit the floor and shattered. Five minutes later, Kathy mishandled a small empty glass yogurt jar - same thing. Makes you wonder what God is trying to tell us! ;> "Butterfingers! Be more careful."

Besides, it's catchy.

I can't even remember what happened last week, things have been moving so fast. I test-drove the Honda a second time on Sunday. We told the seller we plan on buying it. Just a few things hold up final purchase/driving:

• Where are we going to live, en Suisse ou en France? Makes a difference for the license plates!
• Assuming we live in France, we're waiting for our French cards. Can't get plates without them.
• Payment - turns out our Capital One card is good for more than groceries. Apparently I can transfer money to a bank account, no fees. (That's how you pay people around here, not with a personal check, but by transferring money directly to their account.) However, the card is currently maxed out (put the holiday airplane tix on there by mistake), and electronic bill-pay is turning out to be not quite the technical marvel they make it out to be...
  

Re: housing, the Segny house was offered to us at a lower rent - 100euro/month less. Still we had questions. But then the next thing you know they had another couple interested in the house - for the original price - and we haven't heard from the landlords since. That was a bit of a blow. But through much diligence and elbow grease Kathy is turning up many new leads all over the place. So we're trying to sort through what our priorities are. What trumps what?: distance from CERN/Ben's appointments/church, cost, roominess, a view, lighting, charm, storage, country/city, landlord dynamics, etc. etc. etc. We appreciate your prayers for guidance, and for trust, and for wisdom, and for God's hand in our planning and decision-making.

Meanwhile, our living situation has gotten all the more interesting. One of our roommates has found a girlfriend, who is also now living with us. So we have quite a full house now.

Re: the view, and the weather, it has turned colder here, cold enough for snow on the mountains. It finally cleared up on Monday, and the results were stunning! Forthwith some pictures of the Jura Mountains.

...bright in the morning sun (on the road to Point 5)

...and then later in the day (outskirts of Meyrin, Switz.)

The snow makes the Juras look more dramatic than usual. They're really only about the size of the Appalachians. The real mountains are in the other direction, and farther away. From Tuesday (the big daddy, Mont Blanc, lurketh beyond in the shadows, undetected)...


In fact, we're getting some snow here in Ferney tonight.

Ben continues to attend his therapies, and make advancements in feeding himself and other areas. We interviewed a potential speech therapist for him on Monday.

And as mentioned previously, we have the broad outlines of our holiday plans: fly back to the states on Christmas Eve day (Dec. 24th), arriving Minneapolis in the evening. Fly back to Geneva from Minneapolis on Jan. 21st. Within that period we have yet to determine the precise dates of our Pennsylvania trip, but we hope to have that finalized as well within a week.

Take care,
-PKBD