I forgot.

Let me update you with a couple of things that I forgot to mention from last week. Tuesday night after the Bible study I was stopped by the police. They were doing a sting I think, because they pulled over every car. I just showed my papers and he let me go on. I was a little glad because I wanted to know if I had everything I needed to keep in the car, and now I know that I do. Angie's birthday party went well saturday. She was feeling a little better and went shopping but came home exhausted. She is still not feeling back to normal. I got Lilia and Caleb signed up for classes at the swimming pool. They go on wednesdays from 11:25 to 12:10. I stopped by the gov. office and they confirmed that it should not be a problem to extend the visa. Then they said that we needed paperwork for our children as well, but no one had ever mentioned that to us, at the other office they assured that our paperwork worked for our kids. So obviously rules vary by place and person perhaps. All that to say I won't be sure until I have the new visa in my hand. Our car is still performing wonderfully, for the last week and a half I went 4.3 liters per 100km. Okay, I'll translate that for you, that equals 54.7 miles to the gallon. Awesome. And that is driving around town dropping kids off, not real highway miles. Services went good in Carcassonne Sunday. I am getting excited about the idea of having our own services. It has been four months since I last preached, not including to Angie or the kids. A member of the church in Carcassonne brought us supper last night, which we really appreciated. The family is probably getting tired of my cooking. I cook pretty good, but I do not balance well. For example, I see not problem in having rice, potatoes, and pasta in one meal. Angie seems to think that it does not go well together :) We are still waiting on internet to arrive. It has been two weeks. The attached picture is the boys watching a movie in English and eating American candy while in Greece. God bless, JASON

The Bug

This past weekend Lilia and Andrew had a cold and now Angie seems to have caught it. As heard a lot in Texas, there is a "bug" going around. She felt pretty tired and congested all day yesterday and today. So I have been trying to run things, which means the kids are really praying that mom gets better faster. Angie's birthday is Saturday as well. Yesterday I took the kids on a little hike in the hills near our house to give Angie a little quiet time. Caleb enjoyed it. Micah enjoyed it. Lilia . . .not so much. I plan on stopping by the sous-prefecture tomorrow to see about our visa status. We would like to stay in France until June to give the kids a chance to finish the school year. Our visas, however, expire in February and since we are own student visas for this term, but not in school we hope they can extend them. At the office in Massy they said that this would not be a problem, let's hope they say the same thing here. We have learned a little about time differences in France. We ordered Lilia a desk two weeks ago and it said it would arrive the 20th. We went the 2oth to check on it and they said it would be two more weeks. We are still waiting for our internet stuff to come in as well. So a warning to all who are praying for patience, God may call you to France. Attached picture is one of my favorite recent picture of Lilia, she is holding another missionary kid, Samuel Taylor, while we were in Greece. Now I need to go and by some more Kleenex for Angie. God bless, JASON

Micah's b-day

Hello all, we had fun celebrating Micah's 5th birthday. Just wanted to share a few pictures of the party and of our new stove that we are so glad to have! Micah was so excited about his birthday as you can see in the picture. The kids had a lot of fun and we were glad to see them all so happy. Maybe we can post more later. Love and Miss, ANGIE

A routine.

We are finally starting to settle into a type of routine. Routines are good as long as they are good routines. Tuesday night Angie went to a meeting with all the teachers and parents at Lilia's school. We have been busy getting paperwork and kids pictures for the school as well. I had to purchase insurance for the kids for while they were at school. It was inexpesive just $15 a piece for all year, but still one more thing to get accomplished. We have been transfering money to finishing paying off the language school which goes slow when you can only move 1000 euros a day. The exchange rate seems to continue to rise as was expected. Yesterday we purchased a stove, which we are real thankful to have. To celebrate we bought some frozen pizzas and made some french fries. Today I have spent the good part of the day getting paperwork and catching up on reading. The pastor of the church in Carcassonne gave me a list of books to read to help build biblical vocabulary. I got caught up reading one today. I find you have to read slowly to catch the context and of course I usually have to look up a couple of words on each page. I am really looking forward to getting internet hooked up soon. It will make a lot of things easier, including looking up the meaning of words Currently I am sitting at McDonalds using their free WiFi. I think the McDonalds in the US should take a lesson from them. Attached picture is the judgement area in Corinth, where Paul spoke in Acts 18. God bless, JASON

Back in School.

The kids have started back to school. It was almost like starting all over again. The same excitement and nervousness was experienced. Angie and I went yesterday and signed up with an internet, TV, and phone provider, it should arrive and be hooked up by weeks end. Thankfully it comes with free calls to several different countries. Today we have been searching for a stove. We found some good prospects online (leboncoin.com) and will call them this evening. Now it is about time to go get the kids. The attached picture is the head of Nike (click the picture and read the plaque) what are the odds of seeing him in Greece. God bless, JASON

Back in France.

We finished out the retreat well. We left the Island of Aegina Thursday and took a bus to Corinth. We looked at the ancient city and then looked at the 3 mile canal that was dug to cross the land and connect the two seas together. The ancient city was very interesting and well preserved. I had not put the pictures on the computer yet and so I'll have to attach some later. We flew out Friday and arrived back at our house at 11 last night. Today we are getting clothes washed, getting some groceries stocked back up, banking, and paperwork. Overall the retreat was great. I feel very much worth the expenses. I would like to thank all the churches and individuals who gave over $36,000 to help pay for the expenses for this trip for the missionaries. Attached is a pic
ture of us and our missionary friends from Kenya, the Taylors. We had a lot of good times and made some more good memories with them. God bless, JASON

Greek to me.

The retreat has been going real good. We enjoyed the sites we saw in Greece. It was amazing standing on Mars Hill (a big rock formation pictured) and looking at the idol temples on all the hills around it and thinking of the words that Paul spoke in Acts 17. We walked in the old city and saw some streets mention in the Bible. We left after the tour and headed by Hydrafoil ferry to Aegina. Sunday it was warm but the services went well. Bro. Lynn Raburn is bringing an excellent series from Characters in the Life of David. I have learned and been touched and changed already. The kids have loved being with their friends and playing in the pool. This morning (monday) they had their first VBS while we had sessions and they really enjoyed themselves and came back to the rooms with loads of candy and other goodies. I am overwhelmed at the volunteers from Faith Baptist Church in North Little Rock who raised their own funds to come and serve the missionary kids in this way. It means a lot to us and them. The fellowship has been great. I have had wonderful and enlightening conversations with many missionary friends already and have enjoyed them all. We have spent good time with our overseas family. I have missed catching our family back in the states. The WiFi does not reach to our room so tomorrow I will have to go to the lobby and update everyone. The kids have been exhausted but loving every minute of it. The weather was cool and cloudy and so we let them spend several hours in the pool and outside with their friends. Today (now tuesday) the group of ladies from Faith Baptist Church babysat all the missionary kids so that the couples could enjoye three hours alone. Angie and I enjoyed a leisurely walk and shopping in town. In the message to night we learned about David and Shimei (2 Samuel 16). David was fleeing for his life from his own son and Shimei, a relative of Saul, throws stones and dirt at him and curses him. What would have been our reaction if we had been king to someone doing this to us? Davids right hand man wanted to kill him. David says “What if God told him to curse me? I probably deserve it. After all my own son is trying to kill me, maybe God will see me and have pity on me.” Do we ever react that way when someone is being cruel and saying means things to us? A man after God's own heart should.

Barcelona to Rome to Athens

The kids all had a great first day of school. All said that they made new friends and a couple of the kids could even remeber their name. We left right after they got out and drove to Barcelona. Stayed the night in a hotel and woke up at 3:30 to head to the airport. We flew to Rome them on to Greece. All the flights went well, flying still holds some awe for the kids. I would think that they would be getting used to it, but it was like it was their first time. We met our good friends the Taylors (missionaries in Kenya) at the airport and Athens, rode over to the hotel and went out for supper at McDonalds together and even let all the kids watch a movie together. Tomorrow we are going for a walking tour of Athens and then we will head to Aegina where the retreat will be held. We are all very excited about it.

Let me also mention how well we have enjoyed our car. It has been hauling a lot of furniture and people the last few days and has still averaged 45 mpg. Attached is a picture of me and Caleb when we took a hike together. God bless, JASON

Tomorrow

The kids start school tomorrow. We went to the Mayors office today to make sure that they were all registered right. Come to find out that Lilia and Caleb were registered for the wrong class and Micah was not registered at all. Hopefully when we get there tomorrow everything will be worked out. After school we will leave for Barcelona and spend the night and then fly out for Greece. The kids are really looking forward to both events as are we. I'll will update you from Greece where we will have Wifi in the hotel room (yippee). God bless, JASON