A New Year

I realized a couple of days ago that we will reach the new year before many of you do. We will start the New Year somewhat the same as last year, sick. It was the flu that was making the rounds this time last year. I have had small fever and been congested and coughing for a couple of days now and a couple of the kids have to. Angie received her drivers license in the mail today, as soon as I feel up to it we will go get them translated, so that we can exchange them. Attached is a picture of the boys in Batman gear they received from a church in the states. We were really blessed to receive several offerings and gifts from others. We pray that you have a happy New Year. God Bless, JASON

Anniversary

Just a quick note to say today marks 1 year since our arrival in France. Thanks for the prayers and keep them up. God bless, JASON

Christmas Day +1

On Christmas Eve, Lilia brought a devotional about Christmas and did a wonderful job, then Angie read a pop-up book to the kids about Christmas. We let the kids stay up watching "White Christmas" which all but Andrew lasted through. We had a wonderful Christmas Day. The kids were spoiled of course, but not too bad. Everyone slept until 8:00 which was nice. This year we handed out the presents to all four of them one at a time. That made it a little more enjoyable and not a hurry to open up and assemble everything that has been opened right away. The food was great. For breakfast Angie made eggs, sausage, and pancakes and for lunch and supper we had chicken and dressing, mashed potatoes, corn bread, and salad (leftovers from Christmas Eve). The rest of the day was then spent assembling and opening and explaining and demonstrating. It was fun. I will try to post pictures of the kids in future posts with their toys. Now we are looking forward to New Years. I just realized that we will reach the new year before many of you do.

Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve Eve was a term we coined when we where kids for this day, two days before Christmas. We received a large package this morning from my sister and brother-in-law and their church near Palestine. The kids were really excited about it, mostly because it was big. As with all of our packages we gather around and say a prayer of thanksgiving for those who sent it. This package came via UPS and they charged taxes, which has never happened before. Andrew loved the packing peanuts. The weekend passed well, the new Williams family ate lunch with us after church. We have been making several runs to the store to pick up stuff and wrapping presents in between. The Pascall family is visiting us tonight for supper. They will be leaving for Senegal in a week. They have passed a lot of stuff down to us, all of their winter clothes that they will not be needing anymore. Since being here in France I have learned a lot about Africa. Pictured is our language school class, there will be three new students arriving in January that we look forward to getting to know. God bless and Merry Christmas Eve Eve, JASON

School break.

Angie went to a concert Thursday night with some of the teachers and students from school, She had a wonderful time.

School has finished for the rest of this year. Angie beat me by several points again, but I am used to it. We said "goodbye" to several students that will not be returning the new year. Our prayers go out to them and their various mission points and ventures. We have reached level B1. I will have to find the paper that describes exactly what that means.

At three this afternoon, I meet with man who is the works closely with many Christians organizations in France. I found out from talking with him which organization would line up with our goals and beliefs so that I can pursue getting our invitation for a residence visa through them.

As Angie and I where on the way to school to pick up the kids we were passing a building where there are usually several mentally handicapped people. Angie had crossed this way before when a girl had asked to go home with her and when Angie said "no thanks". The young lady burst into crying and tears. I have seen the girl several times always crying, loudly. Today as we were just about to walk by, Angie saw this same girl approaching. She mentioned for us to cross to the other side of the street but it was too late. Suddenly this voice shouts out next to me in French (loud enough to make me jump), "I must go home!" She repeated this several times when her attention was draw away by another person we crossed the street. After giving this person the same demanding statement she started crying and continued down the road. Then I hear her say, "Monsieur, Madame?" And I see her crossing the street and she makes the same statement to us again. I was just going to say "No", when Angie spoke in her sweet voice, "Be careful walking in the road, are you ready for Christmas?". The lady made a few brief remarks that I couldn't make out and then crossed back to her side of the street. And she started singing her phrase, "I must go home." over and over again, in a completely happy and content voice. What a change can be made by just a few kind words.

I was blessed yesterday with two occasions to help others, one elderly women to climb some stairs and another lady move her trashcan off the street. I feel really good when I have the opportunity to help others. The elderly women's entire countenance changed and she was happily talking to us and telling how nice it was of me (I did have all the kids with me, they probably were the reason for the nice comments).

Attached is a picture of Caleb on his birthday, Wednesday, with the cake he picked out for himself. God bless, JASON

Angie has returned.

Angie is back and almost recovered. It is good to have her back and she had a wonderful time in Colorado, shopping and visiting. She got her drivers license, that was the main purpose of the trip. I must catch you up on a few Micah-isms. I was giving a bath the other day and said, "Why are your ears so dirty Micah?" He replied, "Because I eat chicken and play outside." And today while we were walking to school he had been quite for most of the walk when he suddenly said, "If I pulled the cats tail I would say sorry."
We took our final test of the semester today. It was difficult and I can not even guess what I made on it. Caleb turns 6 years old tomorrow. I have the urge to make him a lemon cake. Angie had a meeting with Lilia's teacher today. He was real impressed with her progress. Often she does better on vocabulary and spelling test than all the other french students. One of the new language school students child will be in her class starting Thursday. Caleb as well will have one of the their kids in his class. They are both very excited about it. We meet with Caleb's teacher Thursday, and I am really looking forward to finding out how he is doing. We can not get any information out of him. Tomorrow we will celebrate Calebs birthday, take the kids to the Library and get a replacement cell phone (ours has slowly deteriorated after it was washed). God bless, JASON

Angie in Colorado.

Angie made it safe to Colorado. She missed a flight in Paris and again in Chicago but arrived just a little later. I escorted the new family back to Massy from the Airport. They had 8 bags left behind in Atlanta that are supposed to arrive today. They were pretty tired but the trip went well. Wednesday we sang at the Nursing home. It went well and the residents seemed to enjoy it. There was a write up about it in the local paper today. I am preaching in Chapel today. I will post my sermon later. It is cold this morning, the windchill was 23. Tonight we have a multi-language Christmas concert. I plan to go but the kids may get sleepy and fussy because it starts at 8:30, but we will last as long as we can and leave early if needed. God bless, JASON

Snowy Day

The weekend went well. We had a good time with our guests. We took them to church with us Sunday and Angie translated the services as best as she could. The speaker spoke real fast and so it was hard to keep up with the translation. Yesterday the temperature dropped down to around freezing and it stayed right about there all day. Right now it is snowing outside. I am staying home with Andrew who had a small temperature this morning. We have a busy week ahead of us. This evening Lilia has piano practice and Angie will get her haircut and take a test that she will miss at the end of the week. We also have a couple coming to visit for a little bit after the kids go to bed tonight. The husband is french and the wife is Canadian, but she doesn't speak french so it has been difficult for her to make friends. Wednesday, I have a meeting with our teacher to go over my sermon for Friday. Also Wednesday our school choir is giving two concerts at nursing homes in the area. I hope I can get a video clip of it to post. Tomorrow, Angie leaves for Colorado and so I will escort her to the airport. There is a new missionary family arriving at the airport about the same time and so I will travel back with them to school. They have five children and a lot of luggage and so I am thankful for this opportunity to help. Friday night we have a concert at the language school of people singing Christmas songs in different languages. Saturday the kids have a practice for a Christmas program they are bringing Sunday afternoon. It will be harder to accomplish all this with Angie gone, but it will keep me busy so I won't have a lot of time to miss her. Attached pictures are Angie and Nikki, Lilia and Gemma, and the snow falling. God bless, JASON

Just us guys.

Our friends, Nikki and Gemma, arrived from Scotland and Angie and Lilia are touring Paris with them. We became friends with them at a Missions Seminar a few years ago in North Little Rock, Lilia and Gemma really got along well. They are from New Zealand. Micah didn't stop talking for the first two hours they were here yesterday. So it is just us guys at home now. I took a nice nap with Andrew, good quality time. Caleb always asks to have "boy time", meaning we all get on the floor and wrestle, until somebody gets hurt or Angie makes us stop. Angie is not here, so you can deduce what that will mean. We are going to have hot dogs for supper, one of my favorite meals. Tomorrow they expressed interest in going to one of the French churches for worship and a new cultural experience. Attached picture demonstrates how they get furniture into there apartment buildings. This wide ladder has a lift that runs from top to bottom. God bless, JASON

December Arrives.

We had a wonderful weekend. Saturday we had a thanksgiving dinner with our friends. It was great. Sunday services went well, the Pastor spoke from John 8 about two ways of not understanding, not understanding and asking for and explanation, and not understanding and therefore not believing. Actually what he said was, "Je ne comprende pas, Aide-moi
à comprendre, ou je ne comprends pas donc je ne crois pas", but you get the idea. We picked up some stuff after church for Christmas, including the Christmas tree (le sapin de Noël). Yesterday (Monday) we set it up because we had a lot of homework to do Sunday night. It looks nice but we did not put the lights on it yet so I will post a picture later. I'll end with another Micah moment. He was talking in his sleep the other night and said clearly, "I didn't do it. God bless, JASON

Weather and Post Office

Winter seems like it has set in this week. All week long it has been a low of around 32 high of 39 and chance of rain every day. As of right now it is 39 degrees, 87% humidity, with sunrise at 8:19 am and sunset at 4:58 pm. I went to the post office this morning to mail some newspapers. I ordered these for an acquaintance in the states who wanted to send newspapers from the worlds largest cities of the day after the election. So I picked up twenty copies of Le Parisien Thursday and sent them back out today. I waited for an hour at the post office today. You take a number and wait your turn, there were thirty in front of me when I arrived. There was a lot of mumbling complaints but everyone seems to put up with it. We are having our friends over today for another thanksgiving meal, I am looking forward to it and have just eaten a light lunch in anticipation of supper. Attached is a picture of the kids enjoying a chocolate banana milkshake that I made them. God bless, JASON

Thanksgiving.

We had a Thanksgiving meal yesterday at the Language school. It was Wednesday but we chose that day because there was no school, while we did have school today. The meal went well, there were over 50 students and teachers present and six kids. It was the first time I had had a thanksgiving meal with food from Korea, South Africa, Germany, France, and America. Angie made chicken and dumplings which went over well. It was hard to explain what they were to people. How can you explain what a dumpling is to people who do not have biscuits? Boiled bread just doesn't sound good. I made sweet ice tea which went over real well with the southerners. We had a good time of testimony as well. It is amazing how God has worked in each of the lives of the ones there to get them to the point that they are now. That works for all of us but we often do not look back to realize it the part God has played in it. My thanks go to God for all he has done in my life, for blessing my with my family and friends, for calling me to his service, and for providing for all my needs, most importantly my need for a Savior. We are going have another Thanksgiving meal on Saturday with our friends and their four kids. I'll end this post with another Micah quote, he brought me a shirt to wear for a gown the other day and I asked, are you sure this is a gown shirt? He looked at me and in confidence said, "Of course, it has a helicopter on it." What was I thinking? God bless, JASON

Denver, Colorado

I had a great time in Denver. I arrived, my cousin, Andrew picked me up from the airport, and I spent the night in my Aunts house, not far from the airport. My thanks to Aunt Jean for letting me stay with her. Friday morning, I mailed something for a friend in France, got my drivers license and bought a large amount of stuff from Wal-mart. I stayed there about an hour and a half. That was probably the longest time I had spent in Wal-mart by myself. I picked up some things for the kids Christmas, some medicines, some spices and candy that we could not get here, shoes for all the kids and other misc. items. Everything except the medicine was cheaper at Wal-mart. Medicine is cheap in France because of the socialized health care. Angie bought a prescription to other day that was $50 for a months supply, here she got three months worth for $5. Sorry, we are not taking orders. Other interesting things about the trip, people were talking English, customer service was better than here, I had Dr. Pepper and ranch dressing, and there were a lot of pickup trucks.

Friday evening I ate with my cousin, Andrew, and three of his 5 kids. We enjoyed good conversation and American pizza. It was great to see them again and I was encouraged by their faithful service to the Lord. Saturday, my Aunt Jean and I went to see my Aunt Peggy in Vail. It was a pretty drive and a nice visit as well. We attended early services at the church my Aunt attends. It was great to be present at a ENGLISH worship service. The songs and the message were great, I almost teared up at one point, but held it in. The flight back went good as well. I had a close connecting flight in Washington and just made it without having to run. I only slept for about an hour and a half, and now have been working on trying to get caught up on homework. The trip was great but it is also great to be home with Angie and the kids. Attached picture is of the boys playing with their train set. God bless, JASON

Back in France.

I made it back to France without any problems. Everything that I had planned to get done was accomplished. I will blog more tomorrow about how the trip went. I have only slept a total of 2 hours last night, so I am tired and need to get quite a bit of homework done. Thanks for the prayers for my trip and for Angie. Thankfully all the kids were doing fine today and made it too school. God bless, JASON

He's on the Ground

Jason arrived safely in Denver and is now going to get some rest! Please pray for the DMV office visit to go smoothly tomorrow and a safe return also. Thanks, Angie

Jason's Flying

Jason left today for Colorado to get his driver's license there so it will exchang directly with the French one. Jason's should arrive in Colorado around 8:30pm mountain time. You know flights always make me pray more. Especially when it is me or Jason flying. Anyone else do that too? Then I have to remind myself that I am in God's hand no matter where I am.
The kid's schools were on strike today and Andrew and Micah are a little under the weather. I have had Andrew home all week. But as soon as Jason was out the door the phone rang and it was the kids school saying that Lilia and Caleb could come. Caleb's teacher was not on strike and neither was Lilia's french teacher and she could just stay in that class. So I thought ok here we go. The call was at 9:35 and when I told the kids we all realized we hadn't done their homework the night before. So we got that done quick, got shoes on, and walked them to school at 10:30. I thought ok the kids can eat at the cafeteria and I can go back home and take care of these two little guys. But no! There is no cafeteria today because they are on strike. So I took the little guys to a park by the school for the hour until school was let out for lunch at 11:30. Then we came home and got all warm and I called my friend Lauren and asked if she could walk them back to school. She said yes and was also kind enough to offer to come this afternoon and watch the little ones while I go get Lilia and Caleb. It is nice to have good friends who can help you out when you need it. GOD BLESS, Angie

Art and the Bible

The weekend went well. The biblical art exhibit was interesting. They also had some very old bibles on display. Sunday I went to church services with Lilia, Angie stayed home with the boys who all had coughs. Andrew is still not feeling well. After services I went to a Evangelical church conference. It was real good. It took an hour train ride to get there, but it was worth it. There were hundreds of booths set up. I got a good sense of bible literature available in France. Seminaries, language schools, missionary booths, book stores, and gifts are some of the other booths listed.
I am leaving Thursday for a trip to Colorado to get my drivers license. I will be returning Sunday but there are still some things that I need to get done to help Angie. Angie had me laughing hard earlier. She had prepared a meal with some boneless skinless chicken breasts. Caleb found a bone in his first and later I found a small piece of bone in mine. Angie said, "I should have though about checking for bones when I saw the feather in there." She was serious too. Angie stayed home with Andrew today, hopefully he will be all better soon. It is not bothering him too bad, but it is hard to miss school. We watched Evan Almighty this evening with the kids, cute movie. When Micah finds something funny in a movie, he laughs so loud, it gets everyone else laughing. God bless, JASON

Back from the dead.

"Dead" as in alive but worthless. Early Friday morning I woke up sick. I will not go into all the details but it required bathroom trips and feeling hot then cold then hot, every 20 minutes. I missed school Friday needless to say. What is hard for me being sick is that I accomplish nothing and end up feeling like a burden to those around me. One benefit about sickness is that I have always drawn closer to God during times of sickness, always a time of prayer and Bible study when sleep does not come. Maybe I just needed a revival and so God brought me a virus. Thankfully it did not last long and I was back to normal health by supper. I have a busy weekend planned. This afternoon there is a conference at the school concerning biblical art. Tomorrow in Paris there is a meeting of evangelical churches. There will be a lot of booths and information available. I will be going there with another language school student who is German, so French will be our language of choice. God bless, JASON

Interesting Facts about France II

*French people get an average of 39 days off from work a year.

*Hiking is the most popular outdoor activity, with 21 million participants.

*Average French person spends 44euros ( $56 current exchange) a year on books.

*Avg. French person consumes and average of 60 litres of wine per year, over 2 millions acres of land are used for vineyards.

*Avg. French person consumes 5.7 kilograms of coffee each year (12.5 lbs).

*Avg. French person drinks an average of 80 cups of tea a year (2000 for English).

*Average French person eats 7 kg of chocolate a year (15.4 lbs).

*Number one car brand in France is Renault (27% of cars sold in France in 2003).

*The French health care system was ranked first worldwide by the World Health Organisation in 1997. Average life expectancy at birth is 79.73 years.

*There are over 5000 restaurants in Paris.

*The education system in France ranks 25th best in the world.


* Pictured is a magpie, very populous bird in France.



*For more facts http://abainfrance.blogspot.com/2008/10/interesting-facts-about-france.html

Armistice

Today is Armistice day in France, celebrating 90 years since the end of World War I. This is more special this year in France because this is the first time that there is not a french WWI veteran alive. I did not know much about the first World War. There were 117,465 US casualties and 1,697,800 French casualties. There was a small parade in town today and a meeting at the local cemetery which has the graves for the WWI victims of Massy.
New Micah quote of the day, we have been working on him pronouncing his "L" sounds, he pronounces them as a "w". He is getting better at it but he has to focus and try. Last night we were getting them ready for bed and he asked, "Are you going to put me to sweep, Daddy?". Angie said, "Say sLLLeep". Micah then said, "I mean are you going to put me to bed?" Quick thinking on his part. God bless, JASON

MIddle of the Weekend

The weekend is going well. Lilia had a friend stay the night last night and so everyone was up a little later than normal, and as a good result everyone slept in a little this morning. Except Micah who was up at 5:30 for some reason. Caleb and I went shopping this morning. At lunch we discovered another Micah quote. He had just choked on some ravioli, but managed to pull through without any help. After he was able to speak he said, "Well . . . that was hot." After lunch we had fun with the boys who wanted me to tie them up with shoe laces. I have found that it is difficult to tie up a 2 year old especially. We took the kids to the park for an hour or two this afternoon, they had a lot of fun, while Angie and I watched and tried to stay warm on the sidelines. It has hovered around 50 degrees today, windy and cloudy. We had a good class Friday afternoon that taught about french holidays and traditions surrounding them. It was very informative and practical. We will probably not venture far for church tomorrow because it predicted to be cold and rainy. Now I am off to help Angie prepare some hot sandwiches for supper. God bless, JASON

Obama in France

The morning newspaper said that 85 % of french people liked Obama. I found this interesting and we spoke about it for while in class this morning. They are interested in the historical aspect of the election. France has never been segregated and yet there are prejudices such that a black president is not something that is possible yet in the foreseeable future. But they see the US, where segregation has only been illegal for 50 years have a black president, it interests them. We also discussed about pride. France does not seem to have a lot of pride for their country. You will not see a lot of French flags flying (except during a soccer match). French soldiers go to war because they have to, not because they feel that they are fighting for their nation. When asked here what I think of Obama, I reply that we will see in four years. I have heard many criticisms of George Bush, but at one time he had one of the highest approval ratings ever. He had to deal with some things that he couldn't control, i. e. the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the financial crisis. So in four years we will see what Obama has to face.

On another note, I feel like I have a lot to do. Homework, research, finances, etc. but this is Friday and I think I will relax and spend time with the family. Speaking of which, there is a two year old boy sitting next to me that needs to be tickled. God bless, JASON

Parents going home.

Mom and Dad have gone back to Texas, actually I think they are flying over Canada right now. Lilia and I dropped them off at the airport this morning. We had a wonderful time with them. I am hopeful that they can make the trip again in a couple of years. Since they are gone, we have to get back to work. I helped Caleb with his homework today. He had quite a bit. I have not started on mine. I am tempted to stay up and watch the elections tonight, but we will play that by ear. I am looking forward to getting back to language school. The more I can communicate with those around me, the more ready I feel to get going with God's work. I know that learning the language is God's will for us right now, but I can't help but looking forward to seeing souls saved, disciples made, and churches started here in France. God bless, JASON

Church and Louvre

We had good services this morning. My Dad brought a good lessons on the subject, Good Guy - Bad Guy, from III John. Afterwards we went to the Louvre. On the first Sunday of the month admission is free. It was a crowded but we had a good time. We saw the Mona Lisa and several other significant works of art. We made it back home in time to hear the services at Walnut Street. Bro. Harold Davis (http://baptistville.org/davis/Davis%20Website/index.htm) my childhood pastor, filled in for Dad and did an excellent job as was expected. After supper we put the kids right to bed. They were exhausted from the day. Tomorrow is Lilia's birthday and we will probably hang around the house and take the kids to the park. It is supposed to be sunny and a little warmer tomorrow. I have attached some pictures from the Louvre. The tall column with the Lion on top is from the palace of Darius (Daniel and the Lions Den) in Babylon. God bless, JASON

A day off.

Yesterday we took a day off from Sight Seeing. We stayed around the house for most of the morning. At noon I took Mom and Dad out to run a couple of errands. I took them shopping, our local large grocery store, Cora, ended up being about four times larger than their Wal-mart. We picked up some candy for the kids for Halloween. The best part of the day was Dad making a pot of his Chili for supper, French ingredients to make Texas Chili. We let the kids stay up and enjoy some candy and a movie. Today Angie and my mom are going to go shopping, while Dad and I hang around here with the kids. We may take them to a park if the weather clears up. Have a good weekend! God bless, JASON

Long walk.

We went for a hike to Paris today. We left about 10:30 this morning and hiked the coulée verte. It took us just under three hours to go twelve miles to Paris. We took the train back. We had a good walk with a lot of good conversation. Along the way I saw this photo op. of a large mansion, photo attached. We will not get to go as planned to Normandy tomorrow, because the rental car was unavailable, instead we are going to go see the Arc de triomphe. I am looking forward to it because I have not made it to the top yet. God bless, JASON

The parents have arrived.

Mom and Dad arrived yesterday. We had a good time yesterday showing them around town. We had Christmas for our family. At least it seemed like it with all the stuff that they had brought. They made it all day long and only dozed off for a small nap. They slept twelve hours last night. This morning we went into Paris and looked a the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Cœur, and Notre Dame. It was a good time, it has gotton cold but it did not rain on us. Looking forward to tomorrow when Dad and I are going to go on a hike into Paris. Be sure to check out my Dad's blog, link on the right of the page, to see his point of view on things. God bless, JASON

I don't know.

We asked Micah what he did at school. He happily replied, "I don't know." We have had a time getting information from him. I think how often God could asked us what we are doing and we would reply the same. I just heard Caleb talking about some friends of ours that were students here at the language school, he asked when they were coming back. Angie said that they are not coming back, they are moving to Congo. Caleb said, "Oh man, that's a long planet." I also forgot to mention that Andrew locked himself in the bathroom Friday. We tried to talking him to turning the key but could not. We tried everything else we could, taking off the doorknob, and all that we could think off. I finally had to kick the door in. Andrew was scared and upset but he is all right. The door fared worse and will be replaced today.

We are getting ready for my parents to arrive. I have the scheduled all planned out, what we are eating and what we are doing. I think that the weather will cooperate with our plans. I will meet them at the airport and we will show them around Massy. Wednesday we will see some sites in Paris. Thursday, Dad and I will hike "la coulée verte", hiking trail to Paris. Friday we are renting a car and going to Normandy. Saturday Angie and my mom and going to the mall. Sunday after bible study we are going to the Louvre (free the first Sunday of the month). Monday is open to whatever Mom and Dad want to do, Possible more sites in Paris or Versailles. Mostly I am looking forward to sitting and talking. I will hopefully find time to post pictures and updates as we go. Be sure to check out Dad's blog (link is to the right) to see his perspectives. Pictured is my Mom and Dad at my sisters wedding shower. God bless, JASON

Extra Hour

We woke up this Sunday morning and started getting ready only to find out the time had changed and we have an extra hour. So I think, I will use this extra time to send out a little update. We are loving the time off from school so far. Getting more and more excited about me parents coming in Tuesday. We let the kids stay up Friday and watch a movie. They had some friends over Saturday. Friday they had class pictures as school. Ironically, when I picked up Micah he had a colorful bump on his head. I asked him what happened and he said he hit it when he was going potty. That led to more questions but I could't get anything else out of him. Later someone else asked and we found out a little more, he said he didn't know how it happened but it was when he was going potty. The third person who asked finally got the full story. He was leaving the classroom to go to the restroom and looked back to say something to the teacher and ran into the door. I do not know if it was before or after pictures were taken. I am going to start metioning little quotes that Micah says during the week. The one for this week happened while we were playing at the language school and Micah came up to me holding a stick and says, "With this stick, I can change the world."  God bless and enjoy some time with God today, JASON

English

As I have mentioned before, other than French we are also learning "English" (British english). There are quite a few differences, For instance, If I said, "I left the nappy and the dummy in the pushchair next to the cot." translated into English (American), "I left the diaper and the pacifier in the stroller next to the baby bed." That is quite a difference. I need to go write an email to a French pastor in the south of France. I have found that it is a lot easier to write in French if you go directly into French, meaning you use the vocabulary and sentence structure that you know. The other way is to think what you would say in English and then try to translate it to French. I always run into things that can't be translated. We are considering going to the south of France after language school to start our church plant. There is a lot of work to do if that is the case. I have been feeling God's leading there, we would need to take another trip there to survey the area more. Pray for us, that God would make his will clear and guide us to where we can best serve him. Pictured is Lilia with a flower she picked at the Language school garden. God bless, JASON

Caleb and Andrew

Micah was getting fussy tonight when we told him to get a bath and Caleb reached out to him patted him on the shoulder and said, "Awe don't cry Micah you're my good buddy." I gave Caleb a high five and told him I liked that encouragement he gave! Then he got to draw out of the "pickle a privilege" jar!And over the weekend we have seen a significant increase in the # of words coming from Andrew. And today also in French he was the same. I am glad- he has been way to quiet (well quiet in words but not in sounds and noises) since this school year began. It is like the old Andrew is back.

This is a picture of Andrew when he climbed onto the windowsill and got himself stuck while waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me to be ready to leave for school.
ANGIE

Vacation drawing closer.

Another week behind us, which means that we have only one more week before we get a break. That means seeing my parents. We have had a good week. As I already mentioned, a good visit with our guests Wednesday. Thursday we had fun doing our "job interviews" for the class. I think we both did well. Friday night we had all our classmates over at our house for a party of sorts. It was a lot of fun, everyone brought food and we talked for a couple of hours. There was a lot of laughter. We managed to keep most of the conversations in french since our teacher was present.
I am making plans to get our Colorado drivers license so we can swap for a french one. Its a long story, I will explain more later.
Tomorrow (Sunday) I am going to stay here with the kids and let Angie go to the church in Paris for the services as I did last week. We may decide to go as a family, but maybe not. We have been trying to keep some routine in the kids life. I have had a good day today. Did a lot of paper work. Angie gave the boys hair cuts, it will be my turn shortly. Thanks for reading and God bless, JASON

Bienvenue!

We had a good day today. We straightened things us this morning. We had guests come over this afternoon. A pastor in Paris and his wife visited with us for a couple of hours. We had a really good conversation with them. He had a lot of good advice, answered a lot of our questions, and confirmed a lot that we thought to be true. We plan to visit in their services in a couple of weeks. We have a large project to do in school tomorrow. We have to do a mock job interview for 15 minutes.

Micah evidently is a little slow to catch on to some things. A couple of days ago he said to me, "Do you know Shane is in a different class." This having been the case for six weeks. After we were closer to school and he saw the people waiting to get in, he said, "Everyone is speaking a different language." Yep. I guess that is a very important step to learning French is realising that there are people around you speaking it. Attached picture is Micah enjoying an Ice cream cone in Paris. God bless, JASON

Dimanche (Sunday)

We are having a great day today. I visited with a Baptist church is Paris today. The father of one of our Language school teachers is the pastor. The services went well. They had the Lord's supper (my first time to see it here). They, like the church here is Massy, have a moment of prayer and praise, when anyone can say a prayer or short testimony or song. The sermons was good, I understood it. It was from the life of Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego. The three main points were 1. comfortable life 2. Problems 3. Never alone. After the service I had a good conversation with a young man from the south of France who is going to college here. I got back to the house about 3:45 and saw Lilia scrubbing the toilet and Caleb vacumming. Angie must have had a good lesson with them. I just finished some homework and helped Caleb get his finished. Angie is taking a nap and I am tempted to have one myself. Looking forward to the hearing the services at Walnut Street tonight via Skype, last weeks was a two parter and so we are anxiously waiting for part two. God bless, JASON

Subjonctif

We have had a good week at school. We have learned two new verb tenses this week, plus-que-parfait and subjonctif. Plus-que-parfait is not much of a problem, it is easily conjugated and translates directly into English. Subjonctif is a little different. It has a more difficult conjugation and it doesn't really translate. Il faut que j'écrive = It is necessary that I write. Many students I have spoken to have had a lot of problems with it and we may too by the time we finish learning all the uses for it.
Last weekend I let Lilia walk to the store around the corner by herself and pick up a few things for us. She has been begging me to do it again. Of course I followed her to make sure she made it okay. Thankfully we live in a safe neighborhood. There are almost always people around and many of them neighbors.
Micah is staying late after school on Thursday and Friday to work with his teacher and a couple of other students learning French. We are really thankfully because even though he understands a lot of French he has been hesitant to speak much.
I am really looking forward to school break coming up and my parents coming to visit. I am excited about hiking into Paris with my dad. Massy is the start of "la coulee verte", a hiking and bike trail that goes into Paris. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. God bless, JASON

Une petite pause

I'm taking a little break from homework at this moment. I do not know for sure how much homework I have been working on but it has been a lot. I had to write my tèmoignage (testimony) for school tomorrow on top of my usual homework. We had bible study at the house this morning, the family was not all recovered yet. My kids have been doing a lot of interesting things, they are starting to resemble missionary kids more and more.

I was walking home from school with Caleb and he was showing me another kid in his french language class (CLIN). I asked if he spoke English. Caleb says, "No, he speaks British".

Yesterday, Lilia told Andrew that he was twenty-one (a number on his baseball shirt). He replies, "No way." While we are all laughing, she tells him that she is talking about his baseball shirt. He points at the ball on his shirt and says, "handball".

Lilia was also talking this week at lunch one day about two boys that were wrestling. Caleb asked if he had a red shirt on. Lilia said yes. Caleb then says, "Well, I suggest he is in my class."

Last Sunday, Lilia fussed about going to church. Afterwards she told me that in Sunday School the teacher had mentioned that fussing about church was a sin. She said she started asking God forgiveness right then.

Micah, who is our perfectionist and always has to have everything in its place, got out of the shower and somehow I forgot to comb his hair. It was sticking up bad after he had got his "gown" (pajamas) on and so Angie took him to the mirror to show him why we where laughing. As soon as he saw himself he said, "Whoa, give me a comb!"

Attached is a picture of (left to right) Micah, Andrew, Caleb and Lilia. God bless, JASON

First winter colds,

We are having a little sickness passing around the house. Angie is congested and not feeling good. Andrew has had a little fever on and off for the last couple of days. Micah has had a bad sounding cough. I hope they are all better by monday. I have been able to get several other things done other than medicating. We did our absentee voting finished, sent out some thank-you cards, did some drivers license research, of course went shopping three or four times. We have homework due monday over the book Tintin - Le Lotus Bleu. I have not been able to find it here locally yet. Concerning the driver's license, it costs a couple of thousand euros minimum and several weeks to get you driver's license, if you pass everything the first time. It is a difficult test from what I hear. There are five states that have agreements with France, meaning France accepts there driver's license directly. You show them your drivers license from one of those states and they will give you a french drivers license. So far, it may be faster and cheaper to fly to the US and get a drivers license in that state and then return and get the French one. Definitely something to consider. Attached is a picture of the kids in a pool at Greece. They really liked this one, Andrew as well because it was just the right depth of water for him to walk in. God bless, JASON

Interesting Facts about France

*France has the 7th or 8th largest economy in the World (depending on how you measure)
*Minimum wage is €8.27.
*Electric Power production is 78.1% produced by nuclear power generation, 11.1%by hydroelectric power generation, 9.5% produced by fossil feul power generation.
*France is the second largest agricultural exporter after the US
*France has 1/3 of all the agricultural land in the European Union
*France is the most visited country with 82 million visitors a year (only those staying over 24 hrs).
*France is the third largest weapons manufacturer in the world.
*70% of new cars sold in 2004 had diesel engines.
*According to a January 2007 poll by the Catholic World News: 51% identified as being Catholics, 31% identified as being agnostics or atheists. (Another poll gives atheists proportion equal to 27%), 10% identified as being from other religions or being without opinion, 4% identified as Muslim, 3% identified as Protestant, 1% identified as Jewish.
*For more facts. http://abainfrance.blogspot.com/2008/11/interesting-facts-about-france-ii.html

Rencontre d'amour

Past two days have passed well. In school we have studied about sharing stories about love. "Coup de foudre" (literally hit of lightning) is the french phrase for love at first sight. For homework Angie and I had to write the stories of how we met. It was fun and interesting to see the different points of view.
It seems winter has arrived. There was a cold wind blowing today. It is supposed to get down to forty the next couple of nights and only warm up to 60. What seems to make it colder to me is the wind. We dragged out the winter coats and bundled everyone up. I still have been holding out on turning the heaters on. God bless, JASON

Another Birthday.

Angie's birthday was Friday. I purchased some eclairs and took them to school for our class to enjoy. It was a slow day at school thankfully. We had about 3 hours of homework on Wednesday Night and an hour on Thursday night. We started to watch a movie last night dubbed in french. It was about the crashing of a 747. Jimmy Stewart was in it. It was dubbed in French of course and it had been a while since I had tried to watch a dubbed movie. Normally it is just kids cartoons. I was surprised by how much more I caught on to. We stopped and went to bed with only about 30 minutes left in the movie. I imagine they escaped from the underwater plane okay. I am looking forward to my parents coming to visit. Last time we talked to them they said goodbye and see you in a few weeks. I didn't realise that it was that close. I have a lot of things I am looking forward to doing with them. Just sitting and talking with the kids will be fun. My Dad and I are planning to hike into Paris. I would like to take part of the same path we took earlier, walk to the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, and La Tour Eifel. It would be a nice walk, especially since we would not have to hurry. Now I am going to see what Angie is doing in the kitchen. Thanks again for the prayers for us and continue to pray. We are in the process of looking toward getting our French drivers license (more on that later), and deciding where we will go after language school. Our prayers go out to those who are having financial trouble in the US. We had several churches that had to drop supporting us because of financial hard times. We know that God is in control and has infinite resources. God bless, JASON

Le lundi.

We had a good Monday. I usually like Mondays, I'm charged from Sunday and ready to dive into the week. Services went well yesterday at church. There was a visiting missionary to Cameroon. He gave a short presentation of the work and preached a message. I understood almost everything he said, but I could not follow the overall outline. I gave a short lesson in class today. I think it went well. I took it to my teacher before class to correct it and she starting correcting the scriptures that I had printed at the top, it was funny. Angie gave her testimony in class today as well. We had a great meal for supper. Angie had bought a rotisserie chicken and we had potato wedges with homemade cheese dip and green beans (french cut - naturally). Angie would never admit to it but she is a good cook. It is hard to believe that this month is winding down already. There seems to be a lot of interesting things happening in the US recently. Economy, hurricanes, politics . . . I try to keep up with what I can and keep the family informed, kids included. I want the kids to have an idea of what is going on in the US while they are gone. Attached is a picture of olive trees and palm tree in Greece. God bless, JASON

Joyeux Anniversaire

We have had another blessed week. School has been going well, we had our first test and like usual Angie made higher than me by just a couple of points. I told her the night before while we were studying that she didn't need to study. She just needed to make sure I studied because she would always make just above my grade. Lilia told us a funny story after school one day this week. They were playing rugby in school and Lilia's team was supposed to hold the ball and the other team would try and tackle them, just tackle them and not take the ball. The boy who tackled Lilia (I know this sounds rough) took the ball away from her. So Lilia goes to tell the coach what he did. She tells it like this, "I told the coach the boys name and then I forgot what to say (in french) so I looked down at my shoes and laughed and then I remember how to say it." It was funny hearing her tell the story.

Today is Micah's birthday. He is now four years old. Unlike most kids it was not a big deal to him. This morning he didn't even want Lilia and Caleb to sing happy birthday to him. He wasn't overly excited and begging for stuff either, which was nice. We had another family from the language school who also had four kids over at the house and they played well together. Interestingly four of the kids ended up getting themselves stuck in a room. Somehow the door was jammed and the knob would not turn. I think it must have happened from the boys trying to get in and the girls trying to keep them out. I pried, tried credit cards, screwdrivers, took the door knobs off and still could not get it open. The younger two inside started to get fussy so I finally kicked the door in. After looking at the door knob assembly it somehow had come loose (do not try to picture this unless you are a little familiar with french doorknobs, which are a little different than us ones) and would not turn. It was a little hard to tell what damaged I had done when I kicked it in and what damage was pre-"me". I think I've got it fixed and will try it later to make sure. I'm going to get some homework done now and work on my devotional for Monday. I plan on visiting services tommorrow at the church that meets at the language school. Pictured is Micah with famous Romanian skateboarder and missionary kid, Brandon Rutherford, and some birthday pictures. God bless, JASON

Poème

We studied in class a poem called "Le Message" by Jacques Prévert. After we analyzed the vocabulary and style we had to write one of our own, below is what Angie and I wrote. If you can't read what they are saying, trust me you are not missing much. Enjoy and God bless, JASON

Le Changement
Le portfeuille que quelqu'un a perdu
L'argent que quelqu'un a trouvé
La moto que quelqu'un a achetée
L'accident que quelqu'un a eu
La souffrance que quelqu'un a ressentie
La vie que quelqu'un a changée
L'appreciation que quelqu'un a gagnée
L'education que quelqu'un a recue
Les oeuvres de charité que quelqu'un a commencées
Les familles que quelqu'un a touchées
Le portfeuille que quelqu'un a perdu
L'argent que quelqu'un a trouvé.
Jason Clark

Les Jours
Le lit où quelqu'un s'est reveillé
La salle où quelqu'un s'est habillé
Le sac à dos que quelqu'un a rempli
Les chausseurs que quelqu'un a misés
La rue que quelqu'un a prise
Les cours que quelqu'un a suivis
Les livres que quelqu'un a lus
Le sac à dos que quelqu'un a vidé
Le devoir que quelqu'un a fini
Les chausseurs que quelqu'un a enlevées
Les vetements que quelqu'un a changé
Le lit où quelqu'un s'est en dormi.
Angie Clark

Back to School

School has started up again. We have quite a bit of homework to catch up on. The kids did not seem to miss much. The lessons are going well again. There are a lot of new students that we want to get to know more and we have plenty of time. This week Angie is responsible for setting up and cleaning up the coffee break. Next week it will be my turn. I brought the music for the service this afternoon. It is nice to get back into a routine, as long as that routine brings honor and glory to God. The exchange rate has been real good, considering the last few months. I hope that the current financial woes of the stock market don't affect it much. I paid some of our language school tuition. I have also started researching prices and types of cars. The is a Pontiac Minivan at our language school that the secretary is willing to sell for 4,000 euros. It is ten years old and has 230,000 km. It has been sitting for several years and I'm not sure that that price would be worth what we could get out of it. Well supper is ready, so I'm going to eat, a popular french pastime. God bless, JASON

Home Sweet Home

We are back at home. We arrived yesterday, got settled and had a long nights rest. We left our Hotel in Greece at 5 am. The kids were exhausted by the time we returned. We really enjoyed our time there. Now it is back to school work and errands. Our prayers are with our friends in Texas who are dealing with Hurricane Ike. The weather here has cooled off while we were in Corfu. It got down into the 40s last night. Attached is some pictures of the Resort in Corfu, the kids in the airport watching a movie on the laptop, the missionary kids at VBS. I would encourage any missionary to come and enjoy the fellowship, rest, and biblical encouragement. God bless, JASON

Corfu, Greece

We are having a good time in Corfu. The trip was a little rough at times. Caleb got his fingers stuck in the door of the Subway. Bruised and cut his little finger pretty back, I had to jerk them out. We checked with the Doctor here just to make sure it was okay, he prescribes Iodine and Ice and charged 50 euros for his time. The flights went well with the kids, it is handy being able to open the laptop and put a movie on for the kids in the Airport to make the layover hours pass faster. We got some interesting looks but the other missionaries liked it and understood. We have been having good fellowship, learning and relaxation. There is a large group of french people here and so we have been able to keep a little french speaking going. One of the best things I have liked about here is I feel that it is okay to act like a tourist here. In France we are always trying to fit in, but this is a vacation spot, so I can let the kids be loud and speak English without having a problem. The sessions have been good and I have already learned a lot. I had the privilege of bringing the message this morning. The kids have immediately made friends with all the other missionary kids they didn't know and rekindled friendships that they have already made while we were on deputation. I am having to pay for this Internet connection so I will write back more later from the house on Saturday. Attached are pictures or Sacre Coeur and from Sacre Coeur (large old catholic church). God bless, Jason

Preparing for another trip.

Lynn and Brenda are at the airport now. We enjoyed our time with them. We had many good conversations and fun times. Monday we visited Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. Tuesday we took the kids to school and then went to the Louvre. Come to find out it is closed on Tuesdays. We walked from there down Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe and then over the the Eiffel Tower. It was a little over 4 miles but a scenery filled walk. Tuesday evening Lynn and Brenda took the kids to McDonalds and let me and Angie go out to eat, very brave of them. Wednesday we rode a tour boat on the Seine (bateau mouche). Thursday we had school and afterwards ate at Pizza Hut. Lynn and Brenda headed to the airport this morning. Now we need to get packed up to go to Greece tommorrow. Tonight we have meetings with Lilia's and Caleb's teachers. Yesterday I met with Lilia's and Caleb's French teacher and had a good visit. She, like many teachers here, is very direct, to the point of being rude. She praised Caleb for his intelligence, pronunciation, memory, and then said, but he colors like a baby. After the meeting was all over I asked Caleb if he heard all that she said. He said, "Yup, she said need to color better." I found out that since they did away with school on Saturdays, they have the option of keeping kids a half hour later each day if they need extra time. I will be taking my computer to Greece and hopefully have time to update the blog during the week. I will also try to post picks of our trips into Paris as I go. God bless, JASON

Commencement

Another good weekend has passed. We had good services yesterday, Bro. Lynn brought a good lesson that even the kids followed well. We had a couple from a language school come eat with us Saturday night. They used to service in Kenya and knew a lot of people that the Raburns knew from there time there. We shared a lot of stories and had a good time. We met some knew students that arrived Sunday at language school. One young man had just spent some of the summer in east Texas, our home. Two young ladies also arrived, one of which was from North Little Rock, where Lynn and Brenda call home. It is amazing how small the world is. We saw on the list of students that name of a student that had gone to high school with Angie, it ended up not being the same guy, the world is not that small. School starts for us on Thursday, but we are going to go to the orientation Tuesday to meet some of the new students. I had the some of the same situations experienced when we arrived, except I played a different role. This time I greeted them in French and they said, "Uh . . . English please." We plan on visiting Paris today. We looked at going to Normandy Wednesday, but at short notice it was too expensive for the rental car. Looking forward to a good week ahead of us, things are going to get a little busier, which I like. God bless, JASON

Visitors from afar.

Lynn and Brenda Raburn arrived today. I met them at the airport this morning. We have already been having a wonderful time. We have been trying to keep them awake, but they only got a couple of hours sleep on the plane between them. We walked them around Massy a little bit and now they have gone with Angie to the store. I am looking forward to supper. Angie is a great cook and even better when she has guests. That is why I never hesitate to invite people over, but don't tell her that. Lynn and Brenda brought us all kinds of goodies. Angie had put in a large order on walmart.com that they brought and they also gave us loads of peanut butter and grape jelly and syrup, books. It was great. The kids were loving every minute of it. I am a little sleepy myself, I was up at 5:30 to get to the airport. It only took an hour and 15 minutes to get to the airport by train. It took Lynn and Brenda about 40 minutes to get through customs and claim their luggage which I thought was pretty good. They explained though that the French customs area was more disorganized than about 30 third world countries that they have been in. I thought all countries had everyone in a large line about 8 people wide weaving around a room about the size of a large gym, but evidently not. Attached picture is of the kids enjoying their peanut butter and jelly sandwich. God bless,

Liberation.

We were blessed with another goodweekend. Saturday there was a parade of antique military vehicles and come to find out it was the 60ish anniversary of the liberation of Massy. Someone remarked how that unlike Britian and the USA, France has not had a major conflict since WWII and so it is still fresh on their minds. Services went well Sunday. I had a good couple of calls with my parents this weekend which we enjoyed. I love modern technology that gives us the ability to freely call home and talk with our parents and see them at the same time. We visited the language school today and when we returned we had a letter from the prefecture (government office) that said we have an appointment to pick up our carte de sejour (visa) on wednesday. We will need to find someone to watch the kids for us. The rest of this week will be spent refreshing my mind on all things french. I did some work sheets today to get my mind back to thinking French. I am looking forward to the end of this school year when I will have it all behind me. We will also be preparing this week for Lynn and Brenda Raburn to come visit with us. They have been our missionary mentors and good friends since we first felt called here. I am looking forward to having some good conversations about . . . just plain stuff. Attached is a picture of Caleb and Micah with their skateboard and Andrew in the bath where he likes to make sounds with his ears under the water. God bless, JASON

To the dump, kind-of.

Last couple of days have passed good. We had some larger items that needed to throw away, but were too large to put into the trash. On every third thursday they have free curb pick up for larger trash items. We didn't know if we needed to call and schedule and so Angie asked the nieghbor about it and they said you just set it out there and they will pick it up. Works for us. Somewhat different that what we are used to. In Texas you would just throw it into the back of your truck and haul it to the dump. Yesterday we went to the language school to play and some friends of our who were students last year had stopped by for the night. They were traveling to Morocco where they will be working. Their son and our kids played for a while and we decided to order some pizza and eat together. We had a good time. There are some interesting pizza types here. One that we ordered had artichoke hearts on it. I didn't try it but Angie seemed to think that it was very good. At the language school there is a table of stuff that is give away. Yesterday there was a skateboard on the table. Micah had been asking for a skateboard for months. We picked it up for him and he was excited. After every ride he would run up and give me a hug and a kiss and say thanks. This will lead to many future injuries, but for now I'm enjoying it and he is also. Attached is a picture Angie took of Paris. God bless, JASON

We are in France.

I have to remind myself of that fact sometimes. We have been having a good time this week. We took the kids to the park and let them play a couple of times. They have been playing real good together. Angie went and bought all the boys shoes for schools and some clothes. The school supply list should be small. The government purchases some of the school supplies. I need to check out and see of the air matress works today. That would be a good opportunity to get a nap. Tommorrow Angie mentioned taking the kids into to do something. There is a large and nice park that we could take them too. I'll have to look today to see the best way to get there. I also need to make sure that the subway is running for all of it. This time of year they sometimes shut down lines for construction and maitenance. Sadly I have not been able to catch another USA Olympic basketball game. There has always been French Atheletes competing, I did see 16 seconds before they switched to another event. I have not missed much from what the score card is saying. Yesterday I was reading in 1 Peter and chapter 1 verse 7 interested me. Summarized it says that the trial of our faith is more precious that gold. Gold even if it is purified with fire does not last, but our purified faith will result in glory, honor, and praise when Christ returns. Do you have faith in Jesus? Is your faith growing through trials or is it suffering. It is amazing to look back and see how our faith has grown through trials that where our faith will take us in the future. Pictured are the boys with there new shoes and Caleb and me relaxing. God bless, JASON

The weekend.

We have been blessed with a good weekend. Yesterday we checked the mail on the way to the park to find out that our local department store was having a sale. Normally 10% of three items purchased goes toward future purchases. Friday and Saturday it was going to be 20%. We had been waiting to purchase a few large things for such a special sale. We picked up an airmatress to use as a guest bed. We also picked up a new stroller. Ours had broken that morning. We also picked up some meat as well. The local stores do not usually carry bigger amounts of meat, so we usually try to pick up some while we are there. Things went well today. I asked Lilia to bring a devotion this morning and she did a really good job. I have been praying and talking with Caleb. He will turn six in December and is the age Lilia was when she was saved. He is a little slower than she was but still I have been trying to make clear how to go to heaven. He has asked good questions about it. He has also asked questions that are not to good. Those moments are funny afterwards. They say something bright that gets you all proud and then they keep talking. Like, kid, "Daddy, I want to be a Doctor when I grow up". Daddy, "Wow, thats great!". Kid, "Or a dinosaur."

I have been told that a hard part of missions work is going home. I am beginning to see that more and more. When we left the country we created a snapshot of life there, including friends, families, locations. When we return we will find that all of that has changed. Places no longer look the same, people and relationships have changed. We have had friends and family that have passed away, lost loved ones, married, divorced, left. It will make it a little difficult to jump back into to where we were when we left. Pictured is my younger sister followed by Angie's younger brother, who both had weddings in the last couple of months. Angie's brother Mike, married Kate, and my sister Sarah, married Justin. Congratulations to both couples. God Bless, JASON

Olympics.

Things have continued to go well for us. I thought that things would get boring during August, but they have not so far. Yesterday, I walked to the post office but gave that up because there was a large line to wait in. I went to the store and after lunch we took the kids to the park for some excercise. We are watching the daughter of our friends and language school classmates. She is in the hospital for minor surgery. It is great to be able to serve. Angie helped teach me that and continues to do so. She always thinks to offer them food or tea. This morning I finished the post office. We were mailing some post cards for a language school student who left before she could get them sent. Also today I have done some research over things to do when our guests arrive later this month and in October. I am also searching for a list of churches in France. I was able to watch the Olympic Basketball team play Sunday afternoon. I enjoyed it. The last I watched was the dream team in 1992. Those were the days. TheyUSA Basketball team lost in Athens 2004. That is why this years team has been dubbed the Redeem Team. They seem to have taken it more seriously. They won against China by 30 points. Spain and Germany seem to be the other big contenders. Sometime me or Angie, or both of us need to go to Cora (like superwalmart) to pick up some larger items for the house (diapers and such). I enjoyed doing some bible study yesterday.

E-sword is the software that I use on the computer. Is is the best free software I have seen and better than many pay programs. If you have not seen it check it out at

http://e-sword.net/index.html . Attached is a picture I took of a weather report on TV. God bless, JASON

Anniversary and Andrew

I bought Jason a manly umbrella for our anniversary. He needed a different one. This umbrella was all black (no pink on this one) and it had a flashlight built in to the base of the handle which was a fun guy gadget. But it felt like I didn't really get him anything I guess because it was a last minute purchase with no forethought. I also got raspberry filled pastries that sort of resembled doughnuts (closest thing I've seen) And I got the stuff to make this salsa he likes but that's all. Andrew has been sick so I took him to the doctor yesterday. I had to get out of my small comfort zone I have established here. Since the majority of businesses shut down this month I had to take him to a new doctor. I had to call for the appointment and get directions a little over the phone. I always feel pressured calling a doctor's office because the doctor usually answers and I feel like I am taking up all of his time. But this doctor was friendly and took plenty of time for me. I could go between 5 and 7 pm without an appointment (rendez-vous). I had to wait a while when I got there while Andrew slept but the doctor was nice again and took time for us when it was our turn. We did almost everything in French. (except me calming Andrew, he got upset when the I put him down on the table but he finally calmed down) Then at the end at the desk the doctor asked where I was coming from. I said the US and he was like Oh English! I speak English. Turned out he was French Italian born in Egypt. Anyway we had a nice talk partly in English (nothing spiritual) and then I paid and left. It got a little confusing when I spoke in English. (maybe it was my accent!) But it was nice. I walked home and did not get rained on though it was threatening. We got the medicine this morning because by the time I got home all the pharmacies were closed. The doctor said it was just a cold and hopefully he will be well soon. ANGIE

Ten years later.

Angie and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary yesterday. Ten years ago 8/8/98 we were married. We looked back at that day and talked about how we had no idea that we would be were wear now. For the special day, Angie took Andrew to the Doctors office and I took the other kids to the language school garden and let them play. That doesn't sound very fantastic, so I will just say that we spent our tenth anniversary in Paris, France. We did get to watch to opening to the Olympics on TV in french. It was nice. Watching the olympics in French could be a good language learning help, not only do you pick up on a lot of sports vocabulary, but they give a lot of personal information about the players. The personal information if what you use a lot in casual conversation. "Hi, my name is . . ., I have . . . children, I am from . . ., etc." Today Angie went and picked up the medicine for Andrew. Six days worth of fever medicine and antibiotic for 8 dollars. Not a bad price. Attached are pictures of us and Angie's family at our wedding. God bless, JASON

Bring the rain.

It has been raining today. It started about 5:30 this morning with a lot of lightning and rain. I like the rain, the only negative is that the kids are stuck inside. To help them burn some energy I had them take all of their toys upstairs to their room one at a time. They enjoyed it and were breathing heavily by the time they had finished. I seemed to have worked. Lilia and Angie made lunch for us today. We had grilled french toast peanut butter and jelly. It was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich dipped in egg and grilled. It was real tasty, we dipped them in maple syrup. I think we may fire up the oven tonight since it is cooler and have pizza tonight. I think the Olympics start in a couple of days. I may actually be able to watch some this year, the last I remember watching much of them was in 1992 Barcelona (the Dream Team of course). Andrew has had fever for three days now. If he still has some tommorrow we will take him to the Doctor. He seems fine otherwise. He does not sleep well at night though. God bless, JASON