During our Christmas Break, we had the incredible opportunity to live out 'The Holiday' as we swapped houses for the week with a family living in the French Alps!
The trip was a gift from God - as we couldn't have expected or planned this on our own. The family we swapped with was a friend of our current neighbor, someone who thought we had no connections to. But even that surprised us how God showed up in the details as we learned that she had been a student of Brian's father and in the same Community that Brian grew up in. It was amazing to see how God was working in all the details...
We said 'yes' to doing the house swap right away when we learned it was it was near Southern France. Two years prior, we had tried to visit apparition sites of St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, but were unable to. Now was our chance! We have been praying to St. Joseph for a special intention, so we could see God's provision and gift in allowing us now to visit this holy site! Brian and I began a novena to St. Joseph so that we could consecrate ourselves to him on the Feast of the Holy Family when we could be in that place where the Holy Family appeared.
We quickly realized that there would be many other holy sites that God would allow us to visit on our trip. In addition to that, we later learned of the housing accommodations - an after-thought for us - but turned out to be the corner property of a castle, the house was at least 300 years old and was standing at the time of the French revolution. More importantly for our kids, their kids would be leaving behind their rooms filled with playmobils, stuffed animals, and dress up clothes -- needless to say, it was an amazing opportunity!
Our first full day in France, we drove 1.5 hours to the town of Ars where St. John Vianney lived and is buried. You can read more about the site here from The Catholic Travel Guide. We got to see his body, but not his heart - as it was on tour in the USA at the time. Thankfully one of my friends had been able to visit his heart on tour in Washington, DC, to pray for our special intention -- so when I was praying before his body it was neat to think his whole body and heart had now been prayed before for our intention :)
The trip was a gift from God - as we couldn't have expected or planned this on our own. The family we swapped with was a friend of our current neighbor, someone who thought we had no connections to. But even that surprised us how God showed up in the details as we learned that she had been a student of Brian's father and in the same Community that Brian grew up in. It was amazing to see how God was working in all the details...
We said 'yes' to doing the house swap right away when we learned it was it was near Southern France. Two years prior, we had tried to visit apparition sites of St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, but were unable to. Now was our chance! We have been praying to St. Joseph for a special intention, so we could see God's provision and gift in allowing us now to visit this holy site! Brian and I began a novena to St. Joseph so that we could consecrate ourselves to him on the Feast of the Holy Family when we could be in that place where the Holy Family appeared.
We quickly realized that there would be many other holy sites that God would allow us to visit on our trip. In addition to that, we later learned of the housing accommodations - an after-thought for us - but turned out to be the corner property of a castle, the house was at least 300 years old and was standing at the time of the French revolution. More importantly for our kids, their kids would be leaving behind their rooms filled with playmobils, stuffed animals, and dress up clothes -- needless to say, it was an amazing opportunity!
Our first full day in France, we drove 1.5 hours to the town of Ars where St. John Vianney lived and is buried. You can read more about the site here from The Catholic Travel Guide. We got to see his body, but not his heart - as it was on tour in the USA at the time. Thankfully one of my friends had been able to visit his heart on tour in Washington, DC, to pray for our special intention -- so when I was praying before his body it was neat to think his whole body and heart had now been prayed before for our intention :)
Two days later, on the Feast of the Holy Family, we drove about 3.5 hours south to Cotignac to the apparition site of St. Joseph and Our Lady of Graces. You can read more about the apparitions and these sites here from The Catholic Travel Guide. It was amazing to be where the Holy Family had appeared! Maybe second coolest to being in Bethlehem and other places in the Holy Land where they had lived :) It was very special to collect the healing waters from St. Joseph and to once again entrust our special intention with him.
Our Lady of Graces Church about 15 minutes away:
Lovely picnic with our family outside the Church. It was a warm 55 degrees down here (only about 35 degrees where we were staying).
We then drove about 30 minutes to the town of Saint Maximin-la-Saine-Baume where St. Mary Magdalene had lived and where the tomb of her skull is in the crypt of the Basicilica in her name. You can read more about this site here on the blog Strange Remains. It was a blessing to be able to pray here for our friend who has taken St. Mary Magdalene as her confirmation saint!
The following day, New Year's Eve Day, we drove 25 minutes to Grenoble for an afternoon of fun! We rode the Grenoble-Bastille cable car (aka, Les bulles -- "Bubbles") from the city center up to the Bastille, a former fortress overlooking the city.
Back in the city, we had a blast at the park and riding the carousel. Riding the carousel was the kids favorite part of the whole trip! :) I think Brian and I stayed awake until 8pm that New Year's Eve :)
We were staying in the small town of Crolles, about 25 minutes from Grenoble. I only got a few pictures from the house we were staying in...
Here's the view from their master bedroom - such a gift to wake up to this view!
Here's a view of the front of the castle property -- the house we were staying in is in the far back left corner.
This picture was at a nearby park -- you can see the mountains that the front of their house faced in the background here:
Stay tuned for Part II, which will include our visit to the original Kartause and an amazing Marian apparition site high up in the French Alps!
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