Arianna Lauren Clark

Arianna arrived this morning. The whole process was new and interesting to say the least. Both mommy and Baby are doing well. It was nice to have my parents around to help out. I will hopefully be able to share more pics soon. Angie will probably be in the hospital through Saturday. The kids will start school on Thursday, so I have got my hands full. You can click on the picture to enlarge it. God bless, JASON

The Parents have arrived.

Bible Study was good Thursday evening. Friday the Mission Vacances team came to Limoux and we did some evangelism in Limoux. I stayed at the market and helped man a Bible Stand. In the afternoon we knocked doors in Magrie. It was a success in that we let people know that we are here. I do not expect there to be a line of people at our house next thursday, but maybe God will lead on or two our way. I met my parents at the airport Saturday afternoon. That had a long day of travel. We made the three hour drive back home from the Airport and a quick supper everyone went off to bed. They enjoyed the services at Carcassonne, one of the members of Mission Vacances team spoke and did a great job. We just got back from taking a quick walk with my parents. Attached picture is my parents sitting next to a large stack of Baby clothes that they brought, clothes that were donated by family in the States. Lilia is enjoying looking through them. God bless, JASON

Mission Vacances

Things are passing by quickly. Saturday ended up being the hotest day so far this year, with temperatures over 100 F. Thankfully things have cooled off some. Angie seemed to do well with a fan and some ice packs when it warmed up inside. Sundays services were good, all the family was present. We enjoyed a restful afternoon as I think most of the family enjoyed a nap. Monday ran errands around town, grocery shopping and picking up things that we needed for the hospital. Angie had a list of things that she had to provide for herself and the baby. Some things were hard to translate, others hard to find. Tuesday, I helped at the Bible Exposition that morning and came home to work on my lesson. I attended the Bible STudy in Carcassonne that evening and was able to meet the group from United Beach Mission (Mission Vacances in French) who has come to help with outreach and evangelisation in Carcassonne and in Limoux. Today I finished my lesson for next week, had the language session with Cédric, and went to the open air preaching at the walled city of Carcassonne. I handed out some tracks and was able to meet some interesting people during the meeting. Tommorrow I will go pick up a fold out bed from some friends of ours and then pick up some maps for the group coming to Limoux on Friday. We will have the bible study at our house as planned. After the outreach Friday, we will finish preparations for my parents arrival on Saturday afternoon. I am looking forward to seeing them again as is the rest of the family. Attached picture is of Lilia and Caleb washing dishes. God bless, JASON

God will know his own.

I had a good language session with Cédric this morning. I asked him about his trip to Israel in 2007. It sounded like a lot of fun. We laughed quite a bit when he mentioned bringing a sword home for a sovenir for a friend. He brought it in his carry-on. For supper Thursday I had the desire to make some Gumbo (pictured). For those who might not know, gumbo is a Cajun dish, essentially all the leftover meats and vegetables thrown in with some rice. It turned out good. We had 6 join us for the bible study which was great. Vacation season seems to be winding down. Thursday Caleb and I went to rinse off the car and then to pick up an armoire from our friends house here in Magrie. It would not fit in the car so it went on the luggage rack. Some rope and a waterhose later, we brought it home. Soon after getting that unloaded here at the house we headed off for the town of Béziers (Bay zee ay). We met a lady there who had sold us the outfits. It was a good deal and we enjoyed the hour and a half drive in the car to get there. It was warmer yesterday and so the drive in the a/c was nice. Béziers was a pretty town. Many years ago the Catholics laid seige to the town because of the Cathars that were living there. It is from here that a famous saying was made by an Catholic Abbott when asked how to tell the Catholics in the town from the Cathars. He said, "Kill them all, God will know his own". An estimated 20,000 were killed, several thousand inside a church that was burned. (Pictured is the renovated and repaired church). I will be working at the Bible Exposition this evening. Church in Carcassonne tomorrow. Tuesday a group called "Mission Vacances" will be arriving to do some evangelisation in the area working mainly with the church in Carcassonne, they will be coming to Limoux for a day to do outreach as well. I am looking forward to working with them as time permits. I enjoyed the time last year as well. I will also be making final preparations for my parents and for our new addition to arrive. The final picture is a waterway crossing in Béziers, near where the Canal du Midi crosses the Orb River. God bless, JASON

Preparing for School

We had another good weekend. Saturday night I assisted at the Bible Exposition. I have included several pictures. Seems every day there are several that enter and give us to opportunity to get to know them and usually they leave with some tracts and/or bibles. Services were good Sunday. Caleb woke up with a bad cough so Angie stayed home with him and Andrew. She didn't mind to bad, because she is at the point where she is uncomfortable most of the day. The last few days we finished getting Lilia and Caleb's room in shape. We bought all the kids school supplies and got the all labeled with their names and packed in their backpacks. Tuesday morning I watched over the Bible Exposition. I got to meet and speak with a former member of the church who was visiting from England. Today we had some friends from Carcassonne eat lunch with us. I finished up a sermon today. I am a couple weeks ahead for the Bible Study, so I decided to prepare a full fledge sermon this week, which I really enjoyed. My lesson is ready for Thursday, it will be the second in the series of the sermon on the mount. Tomorrow I will have my French conversation hour. Some of our regulars are back in town so we should have several at the Bible Study. Friday we are meeting someone to pick up some clothes that Angie bought off of ebay.fr. She got some real good deals 52 items for about $100. The boys will have some nice school clothes. Enjoy to rest of your day. God bless, JASON

Invitations

Hello again. We have had a great week so far. I have been helping with the Bible Exposition in Carcassonne. It is a exposition of antique Bibles and other items of interest concerning the Bible. I will post pictures of the exposition in the next post. Monday evening we enjoyed the aperatif with our neighbors, they are a really sweet couple and I hope that they will start coming to the Bible Study. I sent off some invitations to give out to others with information concerning the Bible Study. I will attach the front page. Caleb was sick with fever Tuesday, Micah joined him Wednesday, and Andrew, Thursday. Nothing serious, just kind of like what happened a few weeks ago, a slight fever for a few days and then nothing. We did make it to the beach with our friends from language school Tuesday. It was a pretty day for it. There was very little wind and so the sand wasn't a problem. Probably for that same reason the beach was crowded. Tuesday and Wednesday morning I was at the Bible Exposition. Wednesday evening we had supper with the new pastor in Carcassonne and his family. Thursday, since the kids were feeling all poorly and several others were out on vacation, we called off the Bible Study. I started moving Lilia and Caleb into their new room, which was finished on Monday. They seem excited to be sharing a room together, and I hope that it will draw them closer together. Today I started painting our bedroom, just one wall to see how many coats of paint it will take. Angie is in Carcassonne, first babysitting so a friend can go to the doctor, and then going to the doctor herself for what could be her last checkup before the baby arrives. She may also do some shopping. We realized recently that we have no baby stuff. This hasn't happened since Lilia was born almost eleven years ago. Andrew was 18 months when we came to France so most of the baby stuff was sold or given away. We have had a lot given to us, but still need to pick up some things. So here I am watching the kids and working on getting several things done as well. Speaking of watching the kids I had better check to see if anyone is playing in a room with a freshly painted wall. Very tempting for young boys. God bless, JASON

Anniversary

That's right 12 years ago today, I saw an angel, rightly named Angie, walking down the aisle of our little church to meet me. I'll never understand why God granted me such a wonderful wife. But I like it. We met 13 years and two weeks ago at McDonalds. In memory of this day, we ate lunch at McDonalds after church today. I have attached a picture of us way back when, soon after we met. Two were present for the Bible Study thursday. There are still people on vacation. August is the big vacation period in France. Some take off the whole months and some businesses are not open in August. (now Monday) Today I fixed the drain pipe underneath our Hot water heater. It would not drain at all and I had to put a bucket underneath to catch the drips from condensation inside the tank. I am glad to have it fixed. Didn't take too long to fix, in fact it took longer to clean up afterwards :) We have been invited to our neighbors for an apertatif at 7:30 this evening. I am looking forward to getting to know them more. They came to our neighborhood party that we hosted at our home. They are a really sweet couple. Tomorrow I will be helping with a Bible exposition at the church in Carcassonne. I will explain more about that later. Interesting fact that the aperatif is before the meal. We are meeting them for an aperatif at 7:30, that gives you an idea about how French people usually eat supper later. God bless, JASON

Jousting

We had a good visit with out friends. It was enjoyable just to sit and talk about our ministries and how God has blessed. After church on Sunday we had a picnic at the park and then we took them to the walled city of Carcassonne where we walked around, saw jousting (video attached), and had ice cream. Monday we stayed home and let them walk around Limoux while we watched their kids. Tuesday we loaded everyone up and headed to the beach. We had a good time, except for the frequent wind gusts that sand blasted the kids. The water was freeezing. Wednesday, I worked on my lesson and then some friends from Carcassonne watched our kids for us while Angie and I went out. We did some shopping and them went out to eat some chinese food, which was very enjoyable. I am looking forward again to the Bible study this evening. I have news that some will attend. Micah has continued to do crazy things and say strange stuff. After bedtime a couple of nights ago, he got to use the restroom and came out with the kids toilet seat stuck over his head, it took some effort to get off. Yesterday, I asked him how many days are in a week, he answered, "One". Wanting to help out I said, no, days, like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thur. . .How many are there? He answered, "Tuesday". I gave up. Attached is some pictures of good times with out friends at the walled city and battling the wind at the beach. God bless, JASON