April 19, 2010

Back From France!

chateaublancblog 

We’ve been in France all last week for a Church mission trip! It’s been very exciting since this was my first time abroad and I’ve always wanted to go to France.  A dream come true!

I took plenty of pics so I could show you where we were and what we did.

This is Chateau Blanc in Thumeries, France. It’s a mission prayer house that is involved with various works and last week a team of us went to help maintain the building and grounds.

chateaugardensblog

This is the view from our bedroom, which you can see in the first pic, it’s the turret at the top :D

gardenworkblog

This is the bed we were clearing on the first day, it was pretty overgrown so we got to work weeding and chopping and re-potting.

chateaugroundsblog

This is the view looking from the grounds towards the Chateau.

There was much work to do including re-pointing, painting, gardening and more. We all shared out the work and enjoyed the fellowship with each other. In the evenings we went for walks and chatted (there was no tv which was really nice actually!) I really enjoyed the slower pace of life and even though we were working hard every day I felt so much more peaceful than at home trying to do so many different things.

This trip has been great for me in so many ways but especially it’s made me realise even more how I need to get my life in balance – which I’m finding very hard to do! More creativity and less busyness + a slower pace!

How do you create balance? I’d love to hear your tips.

Join me tomorrow when I’ll be posting more info about our trip and more photos.

nikisig

xxx

P.S Like the new look?

4 comments:

Tweets that mention New blog post: - Back From France! -- Topsy.com said...

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by vintageniki. vintageniki said: New blog post: http://tinyurl.com/y4hhxf9 - Back From France! [...]

linda said...

Wow, beautiful photos and looks like you had a great time...were you near Marisa in Paris by chance?! Talk about small world :) Great question, because I think finding balance is the hardest thing. I bounce from one thing to another...so maybe that is balance...not sure!

Niki said...

Hi Linda
Yes it is a small world, it's funny how we were 2 hours apart when Marisa was in England and then when we were both in France we were 2 hours apart and never met, shame! I would love to meet her.

Yes it is hard, I think I need to start setting limits with certain tasks so I don't waste loads of time on one thing. Niki xxx

The Vintage Artist - Niki Jackson Whimsical Mixed Media Artist Suffolk said...

[...] the last week since being back from France has been crazy busy with preparations for two exhibitions I’m in [...]