This little piggy, Vigipirate

Andrew dressed up for the carnaval.

Here I am playing the piano at church.

Lilia put Arianna's hair up.

All the almond trees are in bloom.

What another great week that we had.  We had a few days of rain, but Friday ended up being beautiful.  It rained and was windy on Wednesday and Thursday, so much that while we were at basketball practice some insulation fell from the gym ceiling.  Thursday night, after our Bible study, I had not planned on going to the market on Friday morning because I felt that the weather would not be good.  However when I walked out of the front door on Friday morning to take the kids to school, I was greated by a clear sky and no wind, with birds chirping.  So I joined one of those little piggies and went to the market. We had a great time with several people showing up at the same time.  Friday afternoon, Angie had a doctors appointment while I had my language session with my language helper Eric.  Eric and I worked on writing a formal letter, a request to have Arianna's name corrected on her French birth certificate (it only has one "n").  Formal writing is always a good excercise because you end up using totally different vocabulary and style.  Angie's doctors visit went well.  Her blood pressure is high and she had an infection, so an antibiotic and some blood pressure meds will be in her diet the next few weeks.  Arianna had a doctors appointment as well on Wednesday for her 18 month checkup.  She is doing good.  She is now at the middle of the average size for her age.  Up until now she had been on the lower end of the growth curve.  The boys had the carnaval this week and dodged the rain and the "vigipirate".  As a result of the shootings in Toulouse, an hour from here, the terror alert level was raised to level "vigipirate on Wednesday.  Meaning all public school events were cancelled and there were barriers and officers posted in front of the schools.  Thankfully they caught the person responsible.  Caleb seemed touched by the whole situation, he was keeping up with everything at his school, and even asked to make sure I locked the door at night.   Saturday was a busy day, the kids cross country run that morning was cancelled (vigipirate) so I helped a friend pick up some utility poles he plans on using as fencing.  Saturday after lunch we had a family over with two boys, one is in Micah's class.  We had a really good visit with them.  The moved here about the same time as we did and are originally from Paris.  I read in the newspaper recently that this is the fastest growing region of France.  I thought that was due to the amount of retired people who settle down here, but retirees only make up 14% of those moving in.  So many are young families.  Late saturday afternoon we had tea with one of my basketball teamates (who also moved here from Paris a few months ago).  Thankfully we remembered to advance our clocks on Saturday night.  I played the piano at the church in Carcassonne Sunday morning.  Which despite my lack of experience, went well.  Lilia went to a swimming competition in Wednesday and on Sunday morning.  She did well in both.  Wednesday she won bronze in the relay.  Sunday she won first on the 100m backstroke, and 2nd in another type.  Since she was a the competition, we had an extra place in the car to give a teenager a ride to church.  Her parents recently bought a bed and breakfast nearby, the Domaine Michaud, that they are re-doing,it was amazing, if you have the means I would definitely suggest a stay there.  We stopped by after church for a quick walk thru tour.  Today we are enjoying beautiful weather once and again and getting some work done.  Hope you have a blessed week, JASON