5 Favorite Biographies that Changed my Life

In seasons of hardship and trial, I find that reading biographies of faithful men and women is one of the most important ways I can keep the faith and keep perspective. Sometimes it is so hard to see outside of our circumstances, and diving in to the life of those who persevered through chaotic and evil times helps hold me up within my own set of challenges. Each of these met me in a time of great pain, and through their faith, I was buoyed in my own. 

When I say I was changed by the stories of these men and women, I mean it! Praying they will encourage you in great way! 

1. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Corrie has been my lifelong hero since I was a little girl. My mom first read this to me as a girl, and I've reread it about every 5 years or so, always walking away refreshed and encouraged by her great trust in the Lord amidst much evil. Corrie's family hid Jews during WWII and were finally betrayed to the Gestapo and put in a concentration camp. Corrie survived the camp and lived to tell about the amazing miracles she saw during this time. 

2. Tramp for the Lord by Corrie Ten Boom

I have most recently read Corrie's follow-up book to the Hiding Place, called Tramp for the Lord. In it, Corrie talks about how God took her all over the world after WWII, speaking of God's great love and forgiveness to people all over the world. One particular story has her coming eye to eye with a guard in the concentration camp, and having to trust the Lord to help her forgive him. It's a powerful book. 

3. Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose 

This book wrecked me in a powerful way. A young Darlene set out to be a missionary to Papau New Ginnea in the late 1930's, eventually getting caught up in the fight for the Pacific during WWII. She is captured and put in a POW camp, and the stories of her time there are miraculous. I walked away with tears in my eyes at how faithful our God is! 

4. A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot

This book follows the life of Amy Carmichael, a young women from England who hears God's call for missions and obeys. She travels by boat to Asia, eventually ending up in India where she starts the  Dohnavur Fellowship, a home for young girls who have been abandoned or who have been rescued from being sold to the temple. Her dedication, love and perseverance still impacts me to this day. 

5. Any Biography from the series called Christian Heroes, Then and Now by Janet & Geoff Benge

 (But especially the one on George Muller) 

Christian Heroes, Then and Now is a whole series of missionary biographies written by Janet and Geoff Benge. I collect them to read to my children, but I am always the one crying when I read them. They are SO good. Their book on George Muller is especially incredible. George Muller started orphanages in England, and through the miracles of God, fed and clothed and sent children to school. He never asked for a penny, and God always provided! I came away with refreshed vision to truly PRAY for the needs of my children and my community after reading this one! 

Now it's your turn friend! I'd love to hear some of the biographies that are ministering to your heart!! 

Links to all our France Accommodations

When I started sharing on IG that we paid $0 for two weeks of accommodations in France, people kept asking me HOW.

When I shared we used Home Exchange, people asked me for all the links of the homes we stayed in! 

So....I wanted to take a few moments and share the links of the amazing houses we stayed at on Home Exchange. 

Remember, anyone can sign up for Home Exchange. Upon signing up, you receive quite a lot of guest points, and can literally start using those guest points to immediately to stay in other's homes. As a reminder, we do not live in a tourist town, and yet we get SO MANY inquires each year of people wanting to come stay in our home. You just never know who is coming to your town that needs a place to stay! Many of the people who have come have family in my town, so don't count yourself out if you feel like you live in the middle of nowhere haha!! 

So...the first 10 days of our trip to France we stayed in the region of Provence. We stayed 5 nights in the first Provencial Farmhouse, and 5 nights in the other one. Both houses are within minutes of Avignon, but were on either side of the city so we got to experience 2 distinct places. The last few days we stayed in Nice, in a lovely apartment set in the trees upon the hill overlooking the city! It was a 10 minute bus ride in to Nice! 

Avignon House #1- Rochefort du Guard 

This home was absolutely stunning. We couldn't get enough of the yard, with the gorgeous pool, blooming bougainvillea, and blue shutters on the stone house. The family who lives here was so kind to us, left us a basket full of goodies, and even met up with us before we left. An incredible experience staying here! 

Avignon House #2- Morières-Lès-Avignon

This truly was a dream house for a larger family. Every room of this house was gorgeous, not to mention the courtyard where we ate every meal. It has a swing and turtles that the kids loved playing with. The family was so kind and also left us gifts:) 

Nice Apartment

Sadly, I didn't even snap one picture of our time in this lovely family apartment. The family who owned it was beyond kind, and left wrapped presents for each of my kids, as well as presents for Kevin and I. We felt so spoiled. We got to meet and get to know them before they took off on their trip to Scotland! 

 I Never expected to make such lovely friends from this experience, but we did!! 

If you're interested in Home Exchange, click the link below to check it out and make a profile!! You never know where it will take you....

HOME EXCHANGE LINK

Happy Adventuring!! 

Kid Friendly Activities in Provence, France

 

As you know, we just returned from a few weeks in Provence and Nice with our family of 6. We have four very young children (ages 7, 5, 3, and 1) and knew we had to combine a mix of sight seeing with some very kid friendly activities. This was THEIR vacation too, so we wanted to devote some sweet time to doing this specifically for children. 

Don't get me wrong, the majority of the trip they spent exploring local hill top villages and market towns, as well as swimming in the mediterannean and soaking in the sun on the French Riviera. But we really loved giving them a few special days to do some specific kid related activities...So, without further ado...these were our favorites....

Avignon Aquatic Center  (Stade Nautique d'Avignon)

It was HOT in Provence, and the kids asked multiple times if we could find a place to swim. Since we were staying in Avignon, we found this amazing aquatic center. The kids loved it. Aside from regular swimming pools, they had water slides, splash pads, kiddie pools, and a whirlpool. You have to be a certain height to ride the big slides, so only our 7 year old could ride down. But our younger kids loved the smaller slides, and we could ride with them too. One hilarious sidetone is that men have to have a speedo to enter. Kevin clearly does not own a speedo, but never fear, they have a vending machine, and for $14 you too can get yourself a speedo haha! (As a side note, if your kids are a few years older, these is a fantastic waterpark called Wave Island. You have to be a certain height so only one of my kids could have done it now. But if we go in the future we want to check it out!) 

Piratland

I thought this was going to be quite ridiculous, but to be honest, our whole family loved it. It was perfect for our kids ages. They have bounce houses, rides, trampolines, and a small water park area. You buy gold coins (in keeping with the pirate theme, haha), and then use them to spend whatever you want. So it's free to get in which is nice. Most of the rides are only 1-3 coins, and the water park is 5 coins. We bought the 100 coin option and ended up with way too many coins, so you could get away with a smaller package. For reference, we stayed a full 3 hours! 

Le Bois de Lutins

We honestly didn't know much about this fairy/troll land before going, but it was truly a delight. Nestled in a woodland area were layers and layers of themed fairy and troll playgrounds. Treehouses with canopies and bridges, huge blow up tires to run inside, trampolines to bounce on, and a fairly large water park area. Our family favorite was the luge...you sit in an inflated ring and ride down a track. It was so much fun. We literally spent ALL day here, time flew! My only complaint is that it is up and down hills, so a little tricky with a stroller. But we did it, and it was fine! 

Aix en Provence

As I mentioned in my last blog post (which you can see here), Aix en Provence has so many kid friendly activities around town. They have the iconic carousel which the kids rode on a few times, and then they have a little kids activity center (across from the carousel) which has trampolines for the kiddos to bounce on (and other activities). Everything is so cheap. The carousel was $3/kid and then the trampoline bounce was $5/kid (in American this would be like $50). 

Ok...so tell me, what did YOUR kids love in Provence?? What else should I add to this list?