Alive In France

It’s 2026! wow. Already. It felt like only a few weeks ago that I was writing up the last Christmas update… probably because I have been so terrible at keeping this blog afloat. The other day, Andrew asked me how I was doing, to which I responded: “I’m alive.” He proceeded to tease me by saying: “I knew a blog that was once alive…” He’s right. I have neglected you fellow readers and I apologize for that. The last year has been one of the most stretching and exhausting years. It has been full of incredible blessings but, tiring blessings none the less. If you can spare fifteen minutes of your time, I’ll give you a full debrief of 2025, and, hopefully, it will explain (though not excuse) our silence:

Completing a master’s degree

When our daughter was just a few months old and we were in lock-down, I had the [insert ironic tone] brilliant idea of pursuing a master’s degree. It was distance learning and only part-time, but it was a bit of an ambitious goal… That said, it was one of the few things that got me excited following my postpartum depression, and it was a welcomed distraction from the humdrum of baby-chores. Anyways, one job, two children, four ‘breaks’, three moves, two continents, and five years later, I finally completed my master’s degree in Child and Youth Care studies! _{^{(awarded with distinction… is it less braggy if it’s in a smaller font?)}}

Boy am I grateful and relieved. To be honest, I’m surprised that I finished at all. By the end, I was so scatterbrained that I forgot to properly submit it, and then forgot to apply for graduation! Thus, I’ll only be graduating in the Spring, but at least that’s done, and thanks to the strength God gave me, and my husband’s amazing support, I can close that chapter of my life.

Moving out of town

Though we loved living so close to the beautiful historical centre of Nîmes, we were just not cut out for big city-life (“Me try fi get by“. Anyone get the reference?) Nîmes is not even a big city but the music, late night shouting, and constant noise of traffic was wearing me out. With our church being out of town, it was not ideal to walk 15 minutes with young children to get to our parked car, and having a limited space to host was also a sore point for us.

This time last year, I had a prophetic dream about purchasing a place, and Andrew knew that we wouldn’t be settled until we did, so we started looking for a house. But we’re picky, so it took a little while. Eventually, we broadened our search to the surrounding suburbs, and finally felt led to look exclusively in the village where our church is located – about 10 km out of town. For those who have known us since our Labounere days, you’ll know that Andrew and I have a knack for ending up in homes that are way out of our league. Once again we’ve been incredibly privileged and got a house that is beyond anything we could have ever dreamed of having in Europe – and at 22% less than the asking price (thanks to my uncle’s canny bargaining skills)! It’s beautiful, has a garden and pool, and plenty of space to host! So you know that you all have a place to stay when you come to visit us 😉

I’ve moved many, many times in my life and I can confidently say that I’m a bit of a Mary Poppins when it comes to packing, but I think this was one of the hardest transitions I’ve ever experienced (preceded only by the move from England to Switzerland when I was eight years old). Because of the lack of Aircon in town, we traveled around and stayed with family most of the summer. We then packed and move out of our flat in a week (which was no easy task considering that all our furniture entered in neat IKEA flat boxes, but had to exit fully-assembled through our balcony with a crane), stored our stuff in a container, stayed in an Airbnb in the new village so the kids could do their “rentrée” (start of the year) in their new schools, and THEN only move in after signing the papers on September the first. We counted that we had slept in eight different beds over a period of two months that summer.

As I was coming back from the notary with my car packed with camping essentials so that we could spend our first night in our new home, a lady crashed into the back of my car. Thankfully, no bodily harm was done but our car was so damaged that it spent six weeks at the garage!

We praise God for the many little graces that carried us. It turned out that the Airbnb was not far from the new house and walking distance from the schools. The previous owner had also left a bunch of mattresses in the house! The down-side was that I totally forgot that water and electricity are not provided by the government in Europe and hadn’t moved my contract over to the new address! So we did some actual camping for the first 24h. We are so grateful for church community because a friend took the kids for a few hours that week so I could tackle the pile of admin required to get water and electricity, and a dozen people rocked up that weekend to move all our furniture in.

Whilst I’ve always done the physical packing and unpacking, in the past either my parents or Andrew did all the administrative steps of moving. Since we’ve moved to France however, I’ve had to take on more mental load due to the increased admin which only I can do because it’s in French. I think the reason this move felt so hard was because it propelled me into a new level of adulting.

Renovating our new home

The house was perfect. Well, nearly. It was a bit outdated for our taste, and because [insert sarcasm again] we just love complicating our lives, we decided to jump straight into renovations! So we only semi-moved in for the first term, then we packed up all over again, emptied the house and gave the keys to the builders whilst we hit the road to squat at my dad’s house in Switzerland during the autumn holidays (there are so many privileges in this, please don’t see this as complaint… but… I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t exhausting). Of course, as planned, the renovations took longer than planned, so we came back to a semi-renovated house. We camped some more, swept the dust out every day, managed builders’ projects, and only started moving our furniture back in early December. We are grateful that we didn’t have to do the work ourselves. Andrew did change a light bulb and nearly burnt the house down, so it’s probably a good thing we didn’t try.

A crazy Christmas

By Christmas, the renovations were almost complete and we could finally host our first home-group!

There has been an increase in our involvement in church-life, and progress in the development of relationships here. After seeing a great need for it, our church leaders opened two to three new home-groups around the city. With another couple, we co-lead one in our neighborhood which has been so awesome. This summer, I also stepped into the role of co-leader of the children’s ministry after the previous leaders passed the torch to another sister and me, following 30 years of faithful service. We have over forty children in our care and it’s been very exciting to participate in their spiritual formation. This summer, we gathered with our sister churches across France for a week-long camping conference. Our team had the privilege of hosting and teaching the seven- to eleven-year-olds, which was lots of fun and which bore wonderful fruit. We then always start the school year with a church-wide weekend away where we also spent time with the children. The most special part of these big events is to see the relationships that the children form between themselves. Whereas last year, our daughter was finding it hard to find her place, this year she is thriving! She is so excited when Sunday comes because she gets to see her closest friends. We are so grateful for church community and have seen in our children the positive effects of having a strong sense of belonging.

Andrew has also found a place to serve where the language barrier is not a problem: he has joined a ministry team of people who build relationships with foreign men seeking asylum in France. Some speak French, some English, but most speak neither so they bond over other things, like playing chess.

My favorite event of the year was at Halloween – or as we call it ‘Halo La Vie’ (Hello Life). We hosted a super fun games nights that included a show which we put on for the children. It was very moving and God’s tangible presence was felt during the performance. We then ended the night with a great big dance party. I don’t know who had more fun: the kids or the parents. We connected with a few guests from outside the church and hope to invite more next year by sending invitations out earlier.

Christmas time also came with lots of events and performances. I admit to have over-extended myself and my family. We went to Christmas markets, shows, charity events, and the children performed in our church nativity play. It was lots of fun but by the time we stumbled into our holidays with my family in Geneva, we were all exhausted and got wiped out by a nasty flu. The children were so sick on the 25th that they didn’t even want to open their presents. We had to cancel our son’s birthday with the family, and we postponed our return back home, missing the epic New Years Disney event organised by the young adults of our church.

Finding routine and relationships

Now that we have recovered from three weeks of various illnesses, put up our frames and books (that’s when you know), and the children are established in their new schools, we can finally work towards settling down into a routine. It’s funny because back in 2023, all we could think about was how much we didn’t want to live a life where routine and comfort became idols. It was one of the many reasons we felt prompted to leave South Africa. And yet, after a very turbulent 18 months, routine and stability is what we crave the most. Yes, we find our comfort in Christ, yes our joy must not be affected by our circumstances… but we are also created as creatures of habit. It is a lot harder to develop spiritual disciplines when your day and week looks different each time. It is harder to develop meaningful friendships when you don’t stick around long enough. It is harder to host when you’re half-way through a building project. We come from a culture in Cape Town that valued hosting and we were always encouraged to host around the Word of God whether we lived in a student dorm room, a security complex, or a township shack. I still hold to that value and believe that Jesus – who himself had no place to lay his head – was an exemplary picture of hospitality. Yet in the same breath, I recognize the need for physical stability in order to have the emotional capacity to develop friendships.

In the French culture, trust is not given over easily. It is built up and earned over time. You have to show up every day at the school gate for multiple weeks before you are acknowledged by other parents. It’s not wrong. It’s just different. People are more likely to open up when they know that you own the house in which you moved into because they think: “Okay, you’re in this for the long run. Your child and mine will be at school together for a while.” We’ve experienced this shift as we’ve moved out of town, known for its transient population, and into a village where people are more rooted and connected. We are getting to know the parents of our children’s school-mates (who all live a walking distance from us) and are starting to invite each other over (which is more than anything we experienced in town!) It’s been overall really positive and you can pray that we continue to develop these neighbourly relationships.

Our friendships in Christ are also growing and, in some cases, have deepened significantly. Since Christians are not spared the sorrows and complexities of life, we have walked alongside others this year as they navigate trauma, grief, and brokenness.

Incredibly, the other Anglophone family who also moved to France in faith around the same time as us, bought a house in the same village just a few months ahead of us, and subsequently joined our church! It’s been amazing living in such close proximity. Through them, we met an Anglo-Swiss couple who are missionaries in the region, and then by coincidence (or not), we also met via Facebook another Franco-British faith-filled family who have just moved from the UK into the neighbouring village! God is on the move and seems to be bringing all these families to this area… we don’t know why yet but we are expectant!

Establishing foundations… and a foundation

The word I have felt for our family, not for 2026 but for the next three years is: ‘I am establishing you’: God is building a root system – so that when turbulence comes (which seems more and more likely as geopolitical tensions are rising) our family will not be uprooted.

It’s been hard to keep my eyes off the news, but the new year has brought a new level of faith. We entrust Him with our lives, our future, and that of our children.

Speaking of children’s future, following what I’ve felt in prayer and hope to be God’s prompting, I am in the process of establishing a non-profit foundation in Switzerland. Its mission will be to support the emotional and spiritual formation of marginalized and vulnerable children. Please pray with me for the development of this exciting and daunting project, that God would guide me clearly, stop what is a distraction, and bless what He desires to accomplish. More on this to come.

Much love,
The Phillipses

Answered Prayers and Requests:

• Administrative breakthrough: Praise Jesus we have had so much favour! We are all legally in order (Andrew even got his French driver’s license when it’s been complex and sometimes impossible for most foreigners). I now need breakthrough with tax breaks. It’s a minor glitch in the complicated bureaucratic system, but it could save us quite a bit of money.
• New Home: God has been so faithful, and so lavish. We are just missing a few bits and bobs, but my prayer is that we do not get distracted and that we are now faithful in using it to host. May many people meet with God’s presence in this space.
• God revealing Himself to our new neighbors, and my family. This is a constant request (my brother and cousins are particularly on my heart these days).
• Our children: This has been one of the greatest answers to prayer. Our daughter, who was struggling with anxiety and loneliness, has found her place both in her new school and in church. We pray that our son would now feel more settled. He is currently not a fan of being away from us and I think is battling to find his place as the youngest in our family and in school.
• Our marriage: Considering all the turbulence, it’s doing okay but is not in the best place. We will be intentionally investing in it this year. Please continue to cover us in prayer.
• Our church: God has definitely answered our prayers as there has been a deepening of relationships and community. We ask for continued accountability & vulnerability among the members, as well as spiritual protection over our leaders. We have (from afar) witnessed the devastating effects of moral impurity in church leaders, and we know that they are a target for “strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter”. May God lead them ever so strongly and may they humbly stay accountable to one another.
• France and Europe: For those who reside at the tip of Africa, you may not be feeling the rising tension that is being felt in the northern hemisphere. Though often in the news, the topic of war is not often brought up in our personal conversations because no one wants to really face the idea, but when it is discussed, there’s a quiet anxious acknowledgment that this is possibly a reality we may one day have to face. For those who reside in Christ, we are comforted by the knowledge of His sovereignty (I particularly like reading the book of Ecclesiastes to keep my thoughts from spiraling), but how many do not know the peace which comes with knowing the God of All Time… Please keep us in prayer with regards to this. May the Prince of Peace reveal Himself to the European people.