I am, je suis. Nous sommes, we are.
Whether it's followed by Charlie, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, United, the Capital of the World it's there.
There's no escaping this blog post, I live in Paris, my home is a city that last week suffered at the hands of terrorists.
You've all seen the news and know what's happened, in all honesty the pictures on the news is the extent of what I've seen from the attacks too. I live literally on the other side of Paris from the trouble.
But I've seen the aftermath, I've collected my children from school whilst an armed guard stands watch, my bag is getting checked just about everywhere I go, I've seen the march and heard stories from it and I've seen just how one city reacts to such an event.
I've also seen different people's reactions, I won't talk about them, not my stories to tell. I'll talk about my reaction though, I refused to let the terrorists scare me. Paris didn't stop so neither did I, it would be wrong to say life went on as normal but I didn't stop living. Looking after two very aware children was a test; they knew what was happening so I had to do my best to answer the questions thrown at me including 'what do we do if you get shot Kate?'.
I also chose not to go on the march, 1 million people went, I would've been one face in the crowd. A face that hates crowds. I did my bit though; I taught the 10 commandments to the young boy who told me we should kill all the baddies at Bubbles during the morning service. I also did that completely typically British thing of taking coffee and biscuits round to the police standing in the cold. See the church is right next to the British embassy in Paris, Sunday (march day) this was where all the officals congregated (pretty sure I saw DC in the AM). So there were LOTS of lovely policemen hanging about all day. I was hanging about at church in between services and didn't have much to do, so avec Natalie and Katie we wander round handing out hot café to the police. The policemen were completely shocked and taken aback by our small gesture, it was nothing to us but obviously quite something to them (we even got given a police nationale badge for our service. Favourite. Gift. Ever)
And I did something bigger than any of these conversations and gestures; I prayed, lots. I wasn't afraid of my religion nor did I hide it. It's times like last week when I'm shown just how amazing my God is and just how much I can rely on him. I am proud that I put my fear and pain into the hands of mighty power and I will NEVER be silenced or scared of being a Christian.
So to all you that have asked this week of I was ok? I am ok, je suis ça va.
Whether it's followed by Charlie, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, United, the Capital of the World it's there.
There's no escaping this blog post, I live in Paris, my home is a city that last week suffered at the hands of terrorists.
You've all seen the news and know what's happened, in all honesty the pictures on the news is the extent of what I've seen from the attacks too. I live literally on the other side of Paris from the trouble.
But I've seen the aftermath, I've collected my children from school whilst an armed guard stands watch, my bag is getting checked just about everywhere I go, I've seen the march and heard stories from it and I've seen just how one city reacts to such an event.
I've also seen different people's reactions, I won't talk about them, not my stories to tell. I'll talk about my reaction though, I refused to let the terrorists scare me. Paris didn't stop so neither did I, it would be wrong to say life went on as normal but I didn't stop living. Looking after two very aware children was a test; they knew what was happening so I had to do my best to answer the questions thrown at me including 'what do we do if you get shot Kate?'.
I also chose not to go on the march, 1 million people went, I would've been one face in the crowd. A face that hates crowds. I did my bit though; I taught the 10 commandments to the young boy who told me we should kill all the baddies at Bubbles during the morning service. I also did that completely typically British thing of taking coffee and biscuits round to the police standing in the cold. See the church is right next to the British embassy in Paris, Sunday (march day) this was where all the officals congregated (pretty sure I saw DC in the AM). So there were LOTS of lovely policemen hanging about all day. I was hanging about at church in between services and didn't have much to do, so avec Natalie and Katie we wander round handing out hot café to the police. The policemen were completely shocked and taken aback by our small gesture, it was nothing to us but obviously quite something to them (we even got given a police nationale badge for our service. Favourite. Gift. Ever)
And I did something bigger than any of these conversations and gestures; I prayed, lots. I wasn't afraid of my religion nor did I hide it. It's times like last week when I'm shown just how amazing my God is and just how much I can rely on him. I am proud that I put my fear and pain into the hands of mighty power and I will NEVER be silenced or scared of being a Christian.
So to all you that have asked this week of I was ok? I am ok, je suis ça va.
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