Schtroumpf

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent preparing a lesson for the Bible Study and helping Angie keep the house running. The cool weather has ended for a few days. Wednesday, I had another good conversation with Cédric, my language helper, concerning his beliefs. Thursday Caleb and I went an visited a couple who are members of the church in Carcassonne, they live about an hour south of us. It was a nice drive and we had a really good visit. They have a pull out bed that they are going to pass on to us. They loaded us up with all kinds of good stuff; cakes, cookies, jelly, honey, fresh eggs. . . Nobody came to the bible study last night. Vacations, working late, and visitors kept everyone occupied. Friday evening we watched Toy Story 3 with our kids and some friends. It was great, even better in French. Before the movie started I saw a preview for a movie called the "schtroumpf", it ended up being the smurfs. I can't believe they are making a movie based on this old Saturday morning cartoon. Today we have some friends arriving. They were language school classmates of ours that we haven't seen in two years. We are looking forward to having a good weekend with them. They plan on leaving Tuesday. I went shopping this morning, finished my monthly report (just waiting on the proofreading), and cleaned around the house some. I'd better get the guest room ready. Attached pictures are Lilia and Caleb playing DS and Andrew and Micah playing with some toys that arrived in a package from their grand-parents. Thanks for reading and God bless, JASON

Monday already.

Time has been flying by this month. I had a good language session with Cedric Wednesday. We discussed a lot about the Bible and what he believes. We had two come for the bible study Thursday. The person who we rent from came (I forget the title for the person who ownes the home you rent) and painted the new room. We should have the floor done in early August. We have been blessed with getting some free furniture recently including baby bed, dresser, and day bed. Thursday Caleb came down with a slight fever, Saturday the other two boys had it as well. There seems to be no other symptoms in the two youngest, just a slight fever. We have been giving them medicine and keeping them indoors. Lilia and I went to church Sunday. The services went well and there were some guests. The weather continues to be cool. Let me speak on Angie's behalf when I say, "Praise the Lord!". The date for the baby's birth will be Aug. 31. Angie has gone today to schedule the Anesthesiologist. She also got to tour the hospital where she will spend about 6 days. We have some former classmates of ours visiting us this weekend that we are looking forward to seeing. I have finished preparing a handout with information about our Bible Study and have emailed it out to be proofread. Attached picture is the French countryside with sunflowers in the background. God bless, JASON

Let's go fly a kite

The problem with not blogging for a few days is that when you do get the chance to blog you have a lot to say. My language session was good and we discussed misconceptions about the United States. He thought that there were Tornados and floods everywhere and violence on every street. It was good to get some of those cleared up. The bible study went well Thursday night. Only one came but we had a good lesson and good discussiong afterwards. Friday we did shopping, we had some guests over that evening, and Pastor and his wife from Scotland to fill in for the pastor in Carcassonne during his vacation. We had a really good visit with them. Saturday was a beautiful day. The high temperature was only 78 degrees. There was also a nice breeze blowing. Angie and Lilia went shopping. I stayed and worked on watering the plants and cleaning up around the yard and house. After lunch we went and flew a kite. It was a lot of fun. The wind was perfect and the kids caught on quick about how the keep it in the air and even manipulate it. Sunday we enjoyed the services at Carcassonne and stayed talking afterwards for a while. I was glad that we were able to catch the services at our sending church Sunday evening. We had missed the last couple of weeks. After the services were finished and we were finishing supper Andrew fell asleep at the dinner table (pictured). Monday we left the house at 7:30 and met soem friends to go watch the tour de France. We found a nice spot on at a corner were we could see them coming from a long way off. We really enjoy the Caravan, a line of supporters and sponsors of the race that follow the trail a couple of hours before the racers. They hand out a lot of free merchandise, including hats, candy, sausage, water, newspapers, laundry detergent, key rings, etc. Afterwards we stayed at our friends house and let the kids swim and have supper together. We got back home around midnight. Today I am working on the bible study lesson, finishing up a brochure for handing out about our bible study, and I hope to stop by the prefecture this evening to see about our visa paperwork. God bless, JASON

Fireworks at Carcassonne

The early part of this week we took a trip to Carcassonne to do some shopping and then we ate a picnic lunch at the lake near Carcassonne. I also prepared the lesson for the bible study next week. I am glad that I am a week ahead. Wednesday some friends from the language school came and visited with us. They are staying in Toulouse and we decided to go see the fireworks in Carcassonne together. The Bastille Day fireworks in Carcassonne is an amazing event. It is also a celebration of the burning of the walled city in 1898. It lasts only about twenty five minutes but fireworks are shot from all parts of the castle and it is amazing to see. It ends with 1200 fireworks going off in 6 seconds. We planned to arrive early, the show starts at 10:30 pm, but the town of 30,000 swells to 700,000 with visitors from all over the world. So we arrived at 8:00 and set up a picnic blanket on the street. We ate and played games with the kids and watched people arrive. We were able to meet an american family from Toulouse that was seated near us. There was one interesting moment when someone who had been waiting in a good spot for 5 hours had someone else come stand in front of them. It started to get energized when one man pushed another, but 6 police officers arrived so everything calmed back down. The wait was not too bad. The street lights went off, the show started and it was amazing. The castle was lit up red and the fireworks were the best I have ever seen. Off course I have attached pictures, but it does not do it justice. Afterwards we walked the mile back to the car and waited until midnight before we drove off. It only took and hour to get out of town, which was not too bad. We are now looking forward to the bible study tonight. God bless, JASON

The bat.

This weekend was great. Saturday morning I was able to straighten the yard up. In the afternoon we decided to all go to the welcoming service for the new pastor. We hurried to get everyone ready, but made it on time. The services were good. There were about 50 people present. The sermons were good, applicable and well presented. We had good fellowship afterwards, so much that we ended up staying there four hours in all, even without air conditioning. We met a couple with whom I attended language school. We met several pastors from Toulouse who were a big help and encouragement. There were also several pastors from the UK. Since it ended up being so late, we grabbed McDonalds on the way home. The kids didn't seem to mind. Sunday services in Carcassonne went well as well. Afterwards we ate at a church members house with many other guests. We left there stopped by the house to change and then went to visit Brigitte, a lady who come to our bible study here. The visit went well. She has two horses and our kids all had a turn being led around on them. Her daughter is pursuing a career in working with horses. We enjoyed the visit, they live in a nice village just a few miles south of us. It was nice as well that some clouds arrived to cool things off a little while. In fact Friday night, I had the windows and doors open after dark to allow a breeze to blow through and cool things off. A bat entered the house. It made circles in our living room and kitchen for a while before I was able to lure him out using the outdoor lights. I thought later, we could have keep him and allowed him to eat the mosquitos that came in. Thankfully all the kids were asleep and Angie remained calm during the event.

In my Dad's blog he mentioned having a dream, and in the dream he was the man who God wanted him to be. Who can read it for yourself by clicking here. That got me thinking about what I would be if I did exactly what God wished for me everyday. The messages from this past weekend have spoken to me as well. There are several areas in my life that need to be improved if I am going to be the father, husband, minister, and Christian that God wants me to be. Attached picture was taken in Massy, near Paris, on our survey trip to France in 2006. To me it seems that I have changed since then. I hope that I can continue to change to be more and more like Jesus Christ, whom I serve. God bless, JASON

My eye.

The week has been another interesting one. Here are a few highlights. One day Micah shut Caleb's finger in the closet door, attached is a picture, can you find the one that was hurt? You can click the picture to enlarge it. Wednesday we had the new pastor in Carcassonne over for supper. We had a scary moment, waking up in the morning, after a few minutes the water stopped working. I had Lilia check the mail and sure enought there was a note from the water company, that had been delivered the day before, stating that water would be cut off today. Quelle surprise! Thankfully it was working by noon. We enjoyed the meal and fellowship with the new pastor and his family. We discussed a lot of good options for the future of the work here in Limoux and the church in Carcassonne. It was nice to see Lilia playing with their one year old and having such a good time. I hope it is a sign of how she will get along with her new baby sister who will be arriving soon. I have attached a picture of Angie that I took at a rest stop on our last trip to Paris. (Do not let her know that I posted it here.) I postponed the language session with Cédric. It has been warm these last few days. Thursday was the warmest, and we knew that with the people that came from the Bible study it would get warm. It was 84 inside before they arrived, but God blessed and there was a nice breeze that came in and clouds as well. The clouds have stayed for today as well. We visited with one of the ladies from the bible study yesterday morning. She was not able to make it to the bible study because she had a job interview in Montpellier. We enjoyed the visit. She ownes several horses and invitied us over Sunday afternoon. Lilia is really excited about that. There were 5 who came for bible study last night. A new couple from Limoux came, who are pentecostal but do not attend church the pentecostal church in town. A pastor comes from Bordeaux and has services with them once a month. Now for the title of this blog. My eye started watering again today. That's right, the same thing that happened a couple of weeks ago. I took medicine and had a nap and it hasn't been bothering since. I hope that it behaves. Tomorrow is the welcoming service for the new pastor in Carcassonne. Many pastors and churches in the area are invitied. I am looking forward to the services and hope that many attend. I would like to meet some more pastors in the area. "Pastors in the area" would mean anyone within two hours of Carcassonne. Churches are more spread out here in France. In the morning, I would also like to get started painting the new room that was added on. I am off to do some reading. I would like to finish reading through the New Testament in the French bible today. The kids are playing good and Angie is taking a nap, so I should be able to get some good reading in, as long as my eye cooperates. God bless, JASON

Good-bye

The Paris trip went well. We enjoyed the drive. As normal we take out time, stop every two hours or so and let everyone stretch. We saw some interesting sights on the road. We saw a corvette pulling a camper trailer, and a truck carrying two olive trees that looked a hundred years old. We said goodbye to some friends and met some new ones. The theme seemed to be something that I heard another missionary mom say to her kids, "Tell them good-bye, you will probably never see them again". That seems to be the case sometimes. After our return we received news that one of Angie's uncles had passed away. Evidently he had taken some pain pills from a friend that conflicted with some prescriptions that he was on and he passed away in his sleep. A reminder of the fragility of life, I spoke at his wifes funeral a few years ago. She passed away as a result of an aneurism. Do pray for their family who is dealing with this unexpected loss. The summer vacation is off to a start. Caleb and I went to Carcassonne to meet the new pastor and his family and also do some shopping. The other time was spent working in the yard and catching up with the office work. I made an attempt at making a special desert for the kids last night, a strawberry chocolate milkshake. After I passed it out to the excited kids, the first reaction came from Caleb, who said, "Berk (French), this tastes like beach sand". After sampling myself, he was exactly right. I do not know why the salt container ressembles so closely the sugar container. Attached picture is Lilia with her friends. God bless, JASON

Les Grandes Vacances

Such is the term for the summer break here in France. Today was the kids last day of school. Lilia stayed home this afternoon and I took her to meet a couple of friends at the pool. We are going to Paris this weekend to say "hi" and "goodbye" to a few friends. I will be leaving the computer behind (i'm going to hide it, so don't get any ideas) so this will be a good get-a-way weekend. School ended well for the kids. We only had one come for the Bible study tonight, which I expected because many are getting away for the weekend and/or have end of school meetings and events. We will return Sunday afternoon and are looking forward to greeting the new pastor of the church in Carcassonne who will arrive Monday. God bless, JASON