Rain, Rain

The biggest news from the last two weeks would be the rain.  We have had rainful almost constantly it seems.  For 8 days straight we had rain, and for at least 3 of those days it was non-stop. 

I don't know if you can see in the above picture, the rocks peeking up out of the water on the far side.  That marks the edge of what is usually a parking lot.  Currently the weather has gotten colder, and we are getting sleet mixed with rain.  Things are going well with the AVF, we had a meeting last week and I was voted to be vice-president.  I am enjoying the computer class, each time we meet, it seems there are new students.  I think there are about 15 now.  We had a dinner with the AVF yesterday.  I had a great time meeting everyone, and had some good conversations about religion and our church planting efforts.  There were about 70 present.  Sunday, the boys had their first basketball tournament of the season.  They played three games, lost the first one 0-2, and won the next two 2-0 and 14-1.  They had a good time playing and everyone scored.  I hope that reflects my coaching skills. 

 

Bible study is going well.  Along with Lauren we have some things planned for the future.  We will soon have a kids Bible study time during the adult Bible study.  We are also looking at the possiblilty of having English courses, and maybe some groups coming. 

A friend gave us a couple of Courges that were enormous.  With the weather like it is, I think soup is on the menu.  God bless, JASON

 

Basketball Games

The 31st, we had our first home game, and being on a Thursday, I was able to attend.  We had a good game we won by 14.  I played well, scoring 16 points.  There were a good amount of fans present, and Angie and the kids enjoyed visiting with everyone during the game.

 

Early Friday morning, Angie and Lilia left for weekend with the youth at a camp north of Toulouse.  They had a wonderful time, and praised the music, the sermons, the activities, pretty much everything. Lilia is picture below, with two youth from Carcassonne.

  

Meanwhile, I hung out with the other kids here at home. Friday was a holiday, and we just chilled out at home and played outside.  Saturday, I wanted to build a cat toy with the kids.  We went and bought the stuff we needed and had a good time working on it with the kids. They did most of the work, I was only there for the heavy lifting.  I even made the boys do all the math.  So here is what came out of a couple of outdoor rugs and some scrap wood we had laying around. 

Sunday services went well, we stayed and ate, which went well, in spite of the absence of Angie.  They made it back late Sunday afternoon.  Monday, my computer started acting up, which started a week long process.  I was able boot it up and back it up slowly and by rebooting multiple times, before it stopped loading windows at all.  Then, after trying restores and repairs without any change, I was forced to restore it to the factory default, and start the process of putting all the free software back on.  Thankfully I was able to back everything up.  Bible study went well Sunday night, we are continuing the study of John and enjoying good discussion.  Tuesday morning, Angie and I had our AVF French class, and Thursday afternoon, I had my AVF computer class, which went real well.  Our subject was computer security and there were five new students.  Several of which talked with me afterwards, asking why I was in France, which I gladly explained.  Tuesday evening we had basketball practice.  Wednesday, I worked on the computer more and had a visit that afternoon and had basketball practice with the kids, getting ready for our first tournament soon. Thursday morning I got the computer up and running and started loading software. Thursday afternoon, I gave the guitar lessons. Thursday after getting the kids from school, I had meet the teacher night with Caleb.  It went well even though we only were able to see two teachers because of long lines, but I did get to visit some with other parents.  Below is the main building for Caleb and Lilia's school. 

  We left the teacher meeting and I headed to basketball practice.  Friday morning the market went well.  Lauren stopped by and I was able to introduce her to a few people.  Lauren is doing good well with the language.  She has some private lessons by several different people in Limoux and does not have to travel to Carcassonne everyday.  She had no electricity over last weekend because we didn't get all the information that needed and so they eventually cut it off instead of contacting someone.  She stayed in a Hotel since the weather had turned cold.  Friday afternoon I met with Lauren planning out the future.  Angie left for a scrapbooking meeting, and I took Lauren to work with Sophie, which gave me the time to finish getting the computer restored.  Friday night I had my second computer class time, we had two more new students.  It went well, I had to leave a few minutes early to head to our adult basketball game in a village north of Carcassonne. It was a hard game and we ended up loosing by six points. I scored only 11.  The good part was getting to renew the contact with the people we had met in June with the american team, as this was the team that had taken us out the eat.  Saturday, I slept in a little, and woke up to head over and help a couple of hours with one of our bible study people moving into a new apartment.  Saturday afternoon, Angie and Lilia headed to the youth meeting.  Sunday services went well.  Today is a national Holiday (army/veterans).  I took the chance to give Lauren some driving lessons.  She had never driven and stick shift, but picked it up quickly.  Bible study will be in a little bit.  So I will sign off.  Blessings, JASON