Moving Day

A hallway full of boxes, and if you look closely, Arianna
is sleeping in her stroller at the end.

Packing up the old house.  And to think, we arrived her four
years ago, with just suitcases.

Our move went well.  Most of the week, as you can imagine was spent preparing for the move. We managed to get almost everything boxed up by Thursday.  Thursday morning (which was Thanksgiving) we met at the house to look it over with the agency.  Boy, did we ever look it over.  Everything, every mark, every hole, every broken piece of everything was marked.  It took about two and a half hours, but we finally had our house.  There was electricity but no water and gas and we are missing the key to the large attic, which they are still looking for.  That afternoon I managed to move 35 boxes in preparation for the big move on Friday.  We also called and got the water turned on.  We called about the gas, which we will have to wait a week before it gets turned on, which means no heat until Friday.  Thursday evening, we picked up the moving truck, and Friday morning we had five guys from Carcassonne show up to help out.  We loaded and unloaded three loads in about 4 hours, and fed them lunch.  We had one more person come and help out in the afternoon, reassembling furniture.  The move went well, we did have a miss communication leading to breaking a hinge on the truck, but everything else went good.  A friend provided supper for us on Friday and lunch on Saturday, which was a great blessing, we did make good progress on emptying boxes and putting away furniture, but still have some work left.  Sunday morning, we had a surprise when the phone rang . . . the surprise wasn't that someone called, but that the phone rang.  We had been told that the phone/internet services would not be working until 8 days, which from our past experience we were expecting up to a couple of weeks.  Things were running Sunday morning.  Services went well Sunday morning.  And we treated ourselves to McDonalds for supper for a little break from unpacking.  The kids love the new place.  We have met two of our neighbors and they are both really nice.  Arianna has been wondering happily all over the house. She has slept really well at night.  The only complaint so far, is the cold.  It was about 55 degrees in the morning when we woke up.  We do have an electric heater that we plug in, and we keep one room warm and heat the kids rooms up before bed.  But we are really enjoying the space, and being so cose to everything.  I just took the kids back to school after lunch and when I got back, Angie looked at me with surprise and said, "Back already?"  Hope you enjoy the few pics that I took.  God bless, JASON

Ready to move

Arianna finishes her soup.

Arianna with bath hair.

Took this shot on a recent hike with the kids.

Letting Arianna feed herself, or practice face painting.

The kids enjoy snack time.

Arianna looks up to her biggest brother.

We had a good week last week.  Tuesday I witnessed a man on a bike lose a significant amount of money from his pocket.  I honked but he did not stop.  By the time I got out of the car and gather the scattering bills, the bicyclist was no where to be seen. I reported it to the police, who took my information,  I hope that he calls.  The kids are doing well.  They are all excited about the move, even though only Arianna has seen he new house.  I am sure that they will enjoy it.  They are easy going.  We have continued packing, I would guess that we have about 50 boxes packed up. I plan on counting them as we take them to the new house.  Thursday night Bible study was good, we will not have the Bible study this week because of the move and so next time will be in our new house. Friday, the market went well, I saw several usuals and three guys I know from basketball as well.  Saturday night, I played in my first basketball match of the year. It was a good game, we were behing at one point by 20 but we came back to within four by the end of the game.  I scored only five points and missed several shots, but I did good otherwise, 3 blocked shots and several assists.  Sunday, I led the services at the church in Carcassonne, there was a first time visitor from Limoux, and I enjoyed getting to talk with him.  He is from Guadelope and was wanting to come back.  Several people offered to come and help us on Friday.  Yesterday I picked up the signed papers for the house, and today I went and got the renters insurance swapped.  Thursday we will pick the keys up and do the walk through, and spend the rest of the day moving boxes.  I will pick up the moving truck that evening. Friday everyone will be coming over at 10.  I do not think that it will take long to get the big items moved and we should have plenty of help.  Then we will spend the rest of the weekend getting settled the rest of the way.  I do not know how long it will take to get the internet up and going at the new place.  The phone company told me 8 business days, but that might just be a loose estimate, meaning I do not know when I will have a chance to blog again, but I will when I get a chance. Thanks for your prayers. God bless, JASON

A shot at Basketball

Keeping Arianna happy during the three hour
tournement.

Micah shoots the ball straight up into the arms of the girl in
front of him.

Dropping Lilia off to catch the school bus.

Caleb scores, see Micah's reaction.

Driving home along the Canal du Midi.

We have had a good week.  A lot of the preparations have begun for the move in less than two weeks.  What the focus has been on this week seems to be basketball.  The Friday night that I blogged last, the team asked me to pray for their game on Sunday.  I said that of course I would, and they won. Their first win of the season, and second win in two years.  Of course they could just as easily loose the next match, but at least it was an attempt to share an important aspect of my faith.  An interesting side note, last Sunday was also a muslim holiday celebrating the sacrifice of Abraham.  The practices with the group went good this week and I will be playing with them this next Saturday night.  Caleb and Micah had a basketball tournement today.  We drove over after church and spent the afternoon at the tournement. Normally I would be hesitant to go to such an event on a Sunday, but that is the only day that many events are held, and I was an opportunity to meet two sets of parents and get to know the coach a little better.  The boys played well and won the first game 4-2 and the second 14-8.  Unlike many of the other teams they only had four players, so no subs.  Caleb scored twice in the second game. Micah did good as well, he was among the youngest in their age group, so he was dwarfed, but it didn't bother him at all, he ran all over and cheered when one of his teammates scored, and laughed when he shot the ball once and it went straight up (picture attached). In other news, the Bible study went well.  I missed the market this week, because it was changed to Thursday since Friday was veterans day in France.  I also worked on translating a skit for the Christmas dinner outreach with the church in Carcassonne.  It was a great time and I am looking forward to it this year and helping out with the kids program. We will also invite some people we know who live in Carcassonne.  We showed the house to a couple this week, actually two, we had a suprise visit from a couple on Saturday morning.  I had a good talk with them while Angie had the kids do a quick straighten up, turns out that they were both from a protestant background, and they seemed interested in the house.  Enjoy the attached pics from our cell phone.  God bless, JASON

To Paris and back

Indoor hockey was a big hit.

Kids of all ages participated.

The Cross family.



Arianna made a new friend, should we tell them that
those remotes are not plugged in?



We had a good vacation.  On Monday and Tuesday we relaxed around the house.  On Tuesday I went swimming with Lilia, and she wore me out.  I also had my language session.  Wednesday, I left to pick up our friends in Paris.  The trip went well, I took a scenic detour to avoid some tolls.  I arrived at our friends house and stayed the night and then we left to come back to the south.  Our visitors, the Cross family, are new missionaries in France.   They are from Texas and have just started language school, and we wanted to welcome them and give them a little break from Paris, and all the struggles that come with language learning and entering a new culture.  We had a wonderful time with them.  We arrived at the house Thursday evening, the trip went well, just a couple of car sickness episodes.  We planned to have the Bible study, but no one came, busy with the vacation themselves I imagine.  It rained Friday and Saturday.  To occupy everyone and burn some energy we played indoor hockey on Friday, and I took all the kids swimming at the pool on Saturday.  On Sunday we went to church together, at supper at a members house, and then went to tour the walled city of Carcassonne.  Monday morning we left to return to Paris, hit a little traffic, but had no other problems.  Tuesday, I drove back. Wednesday, the kids had a full day of school, which normally they do not have.  They seemed excited about getting back to school.  I have been busy, these last two days with emails, reports, and lessons.  I took the boys to get a physical so they can play basketball.  Angie is having coffee with a friend in town.  And I'm getting back to work.  Also I wish a happy 12th birthday to Lilia today.  God bless, JASON