Computer Bug

The hallway in our future house.

The view into two bedrooms.

The back yard.

The side yard.

I'm not sure what this is.

Micah playing with some legos that my parents sent.

Seems like Arianna wanted some cereal.

Looks like she wanted to have some milk with it.

As I predicted the road is not finished yet.  I did get to say "hi" to the major a couple of days ago, as he was inspecting the work.  What has got us perplexed, is that it doesn't look like they are going to pave it.  Our neighbor said they should be finished in two days.   On Tuesday we got a box from my parents.  We enjoyed all the goodies.  Tuesday we also went and looked at our new house, we will be moving in the end of November.  We took some pictures (attached above).  I spent quite a bit of my time this week working on computer problems.  My computer locks up at random, more often when it is not being used.  I spent at least a day, trying several different things to get it to work right, but nothing seemed to help.  It seems like it will need to have windows reloaded.  Now it is just a matter of doing it.  Interestingly enough, I am not the only one recently to have computer problems.  Our church was struck by lightening and "killed" several computers, my mom's computer had a serious virus, and several others as well.  Someone at our church said something like, "Steve Jobs dies and all the computers crash".  I also had some troubles with out toilet.  I wonder if another inventor/inovator passed away this week. In other news, basketball practice continues to go well, but I didn't play very well this week.  I might need to find some time to practice with the boys a little.  Thankfully my main purpose is not the playing time or the excercise, it is meeting and getting to know my fellow players.  We have been wanting to invite some people over, but we are waiting for our road to be finished.  Thursday night, the Bible study went well, we had a first time visitor, and he seemed to enjoy the songs, prayer, and Bible lesson and discussion and said he would love to come back.  Friday morning at the market, there was not a lot of activity, but I did speak to a man who has a stand that sells bags and purses.  We talked for probably a hour, if you add it all up.  I also talked quite a bit with Philip, the man who came to the Bible study, we even enjoyed a cup of coffee together.  Friday afternoon we got a call from our landlord saying that someone wanted to some see the house, we got in touch with her and she ended up coming at 4 that afternoon.  That meant the afternoon was spent cleaning.  She came but didn't seem too interested.  I felt bad because she had to walk up our road wearing black, in high heels.  Friday afternoon Lilia was invited to a birthday party by one of her English friends at school.  She spent Friday night with the friends house.  She came back with excited stories involving painting fingernails and having cucumbers, avacadoes, and yogurt on her face.  Doesn't sound like much fun to me, but I am glad that she had a good time.  We let the boys have a friend over to fill the void at the house, so they had a good time as well, they played with legos for a good while.  This morning, I finished preparing for the services tommorrow, I will be leading the singing and giving the reading and devotional, and the devotional for the kids.  I really enjoy giving the kids lesson.  It captures a wide audience, because the kids tend to listen better, and the adults listen as well, so you reach everyone.  I pray that you have a blessed weekend.  JASON

Another Surprise

The boys in brown.

Arianna giving hugs.



Sisters.



It is Satuday already.  The last few days have continued on the theme of surprises (see last blog).  Saturday when I took Lilia to swimming I  met an Irish family that had just moved to France.  I was able to help them with translating.  I then took the boys to basketball practice.   Caleb begged until I allowed him to stay.  He was suppose to be taking it easy since he fell on his knee on Tuesday.  Wednesday night basketball practice for me went good.   There have been a few new players this year. Thursday,  we had everything ready for the Bible study when. . . surprise!. . .the plumbing stopped up again.  We quickly cancelled the study.   I got the problem fixed a few minutes before the time our Bible Study would have started.  I changed real fast in case someone came which was good because we did have one person show up.  We just had a good visit.  Friday, the market went slow, I did give away one Bible in Arabic. Thursday we turned in our paperwork to renew our visa, and afterwards went to pick Lilia up. She did not come out however. The gate was closed and she never came. Angie had to go in and get her. Turns out that she had left her jacket inside and had to go back for it.  Friday Lilia had swimming again, she goes three times a week because she is in competition level this year.  Angie met the Irish family again and invited them over for lunch today.  Friday evening I had basketball practice and went out for a soda afterwards with some of my teamates.  I am considering inviting them over for the Thanksgiving meal that we have.  Our lunch with the Irish family went well.  They have five kids as well. Needless to say, our kids had a great time together! God bless, JASON

Open House

Another week has passed.  The vacation ended well.  We had nice

weather.  Wednesday we painted Arianna's old room and moved Lilia into it.  Arianna now shares a room with Andrew, Caleb with Micah, and Lilia has one all to herself.  It was a lot of work but looks nice and she will feel better about inviting her friends over now that they have a place to escape the boys.  There were three for the bible study Thursday evening.  Friday, at the market,  I met the wife of a couple that I had met last year.  There are retired English missionaries who several years back started an english bible study in their home.  They meet on the second Sunday of each month.  Angie and I had discussed attending one of the English services in our area and so we went Sunday and had a wonderful time.  It was held in a little village about 10 minutes from us. There were a dozen there and we enjoyed meeting everyone and visiting. The study went well and we stayed for lunch afterwards.  The couple is also preparing to move and passed down a lot of stuff to us, which we were pleased to have, a lot of toys, blankets, and baby stuff. The

kids started school back yesterday.  They seemed excited to go, and we were able to meet some of the parents that we had the chance to get to know better during the vacation. This morning I got my inbox cleared out, prepared to materials for a church who plans on having us be the missionaries for their vacation bible school.  The weather has warmed up and flowers are blooming everywhere.  Highs are in the 70's and lows in the 50s.  We have already started opening windows in the evenings to cool the house off a little after supper.     One of the attached pictures if of a moth that flew in one evening, the other is off the English bible study Sunday morning.  God bless, JASON

Busy for an awesome God.

Lilia seems bothered by her brothers
hovering over her.

Lilia's birthday party went very good.  There were 9 guests. It ended up lasting several hours.  That evening I had basketball practice.  I had the opportunity to speak with some of the players.  Just chit-chat really, but still an ocassion to build the relaitionship.  I even stayed a little afterwards talking with some of the guys. Wednesday the kids started school back.  I worked most of the day on the lesson for Thursday, I had it ready earlier, but added quite a bit.  Thursday, I made the final preparations for the bible study.  We had a good turnout. Eight people came and we had a good time of study, prayer, and fellowship.  Angie said afterwards that my French was really good.  I think what probably helped was having gone over my lesson several times during the previous days.  Friday morning, I set up the stand in the market.  It was a beautiful day, getting up to around 65 degrees and sunny.  I made several contacts.  One man stopped by and talked for a minute or two.  A lady took a

gospel of John.  Another man stopped by and asked some questions about the different bibles I had on display.  Near the end another man stopped by and we talked for about 25 minutes.  I confessed to know Jesus as his saviour.  He has had four wives and has five children.  He has only been to church once, and that was the Catholic church.  He does read his bible.  I'll call him Monsieur B.  Be in prayer for him, he took one of the invitation cards for the Bible Study.  Friday afternoon, I started working on the lesson for next weeks Bible study.  Friday night meant basketball practice again.  Usually there are a lot more people on Fridays.  It went well. What surprised me was we played a short game, first team who scored twelve points wins.  I scored 8 of the twelve points.  I was surprised as well.  This morning I am finished up the lesson for next week and the Sunday school lesson for Sunday.  For the Sunday School lesson we are starting a series studying the life of David.  I am looking forward to the study.  After lunch, I will need to get a few things done around the house.  We have a birthday party to attend later this afternoon and then I am meeting with Cédric, my language helper this evening.  I wanted to also share a blessing.  Our ministry needs were larger this month because we had to pay about $1000 for our visas.  Thankfully God knew this in advance, as our supporting churches gave almost that exact amount above normal this past month.  Isn't God awesome! - 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

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

La Vie en Rose.

La Vie en Rose is a famous song by the most popular French musician Edith Piaf. It is a sweet love song. The song title means "the good life" somewhat similar to "life is a bed of roses". I feel that sentiment often. Our Bible study went well again last night. We praised, prayed and studied God's word. The subject was baptism and afterwards one lady approached and said that she wanted to be baptised. She was forced by her parents to be "baptised" as a child and wants to follow through. I had explained that baptism is a public acknowledgement, declaring salvation and a desire to be a disciple. I always get excited when people hear the word of God and react. That is what the Word of God should do in the life of a Christian. It should cause a reaction.
La vie en Rose is continuing today as I celebrate my birthday. Angie and I took the car to the dealership to have the windshield washer looked at. As they worked on it we did some shopping and I bought her a cappuccino at McDonalds and we sat and talked for a while. We priced some Air Conditioners and looked at buying a Gas grill for my Birthday. We returned to find out the car needed a new washer fluid pump as I expected and so we will bring the car back in Tuesday, it is covered under the warrenty so we will not be out any expense. Looking forward to family night and birthday party for myself this evening. I have requested my favorite meal of Hot Dogs and have bought a few Dr Peppers for the occassion as well. Last 32 years on this earth have been blessed, even though not every moment of every day has been la vie en rose. I can truly say that it has been more wonderful that I deserve and I am looking forward to the future. Below is a version of La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf with an English translation as well (see on youtube). God bless, JASON

School End

Thing seem to get busy as school draws to an end. Monday we got our main shopping done for the week. Tuesday I ran some errands in town after dropping the kids off, and worked on my lesson in the afternoon. Tuesday after school, Lilia and Caleb had an end of the school year musical concert (pictured). It was very enjoyable, but we did not get done until almost 7:00 so I was unable to make it to the Bible study in Carcassonne. Wednesday I finished the lesson, while Angie went swimming, a friend of Angie's went along with her to give her some company. We all ate lunch afterwards, which I had made. It was an attempt at a Chicken Pot pie, which Angie likes. It turned out a little to spicy for the kids, but the adults enjoyed it. The kids enjoyed it as long as enough Crême Fraiche, was added. I had a good session with Cédric. We are going to go together to visit the pentecostal church here in Limoux on Sunday afternoon. I am looking forward to meeting the pastor there, I had not been able to get in touch with him. Wednesday evening we practiced the music for the Bible study. Two others came and we enjoyed the praise and fellowship with them. It is amazing how much you seem to have in common with someone, just because you serve the same Savior. The Bible study will be this evening. One of the ladies who has been coming has asked us to pray that her daughter will come this evening as well. The lesson will be on baptism. Someone once said, "Over the centuries Christians have debated what baptism accomplishes, to whom it should be administered, and how much water should be used." We will be examing those three areas and more. Looking forward to it. The weather has been cooler this week. There has been a 70% chance of rain everyday this week, but we have only received a little sprinkle. There has been a strong wind and cooler temperatures. God bless, JASON

A single question.

Another good week, Monday morning was spent shopping. Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked on my lesson for the Bible Study thursday night. I think that I am getting a little faster. I decided to have a lesson on salvation. We looked at the three persons on the cross. Afterwards someone asked a single question and made a remark about something that she didn't know, but had learned. They thought that you didn't go to heaven when you died, only when Jesus returns. It was great to experience someone learning a truth of God's word. It sparked a good 20 minute discussion. One middle age man has attended seminary before and is a mature Christian. He has demonstrated a good amount of Bible knowledge and I know that he will play an important role in our ministry here. We enjoyed fellowship after the bible study as well, there were 4 present (not including my family). I plan on starting another blog for my French Bible studies lessons. I will post the link on the side if you are interested in reading them. Google translator might be able to help out.

Today we spent the morning shopping for Andrew's birthday presents, he will turn four tomorrow. We will have a small party for him tomorrow afternoon. We also picked up some roses to plant in the flower garden. We have seen some beautiful rose bushes here, with what seems like hundreds of blooms on them. Maybe we will have the same success. Traffic was bad in town this morning. Friday morning is the market, and all downtown there are booths set up selling all kinds of merchandise. That takes up the downtown parking. Also the high school parking lot is closed for repaving and there was some kind of sports event in town today. it took a while to find a parking spot for the kids. Tonight is family night and we bought a game called "Croque Carotte". It is a board game that Micah plays in his class and we are going to let him teach us how to play. It should be interesting, I know that he will enjoy it. Attached pictures are of a flock of sheep that blocked the road for a little Sunday afternoon and an Escargot on our back porch. Let me leave you with this little tidbit that had Angie and I laughing all day. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart. God bless, JASON

Encouraged

So it really has been a busy couple of days. Seriously. Wednesday I had a good session with my language partner. I had him explain a song to me. I have attached the song below. I like the song and music, but even thougth I knew the meaning to all the words, I could not get the meaning of the song. He explained it to me well.
Then Wednesday night, there was a little excitement. Storms had moved in and we heard some noises like there was a loose shutter beating against the house. Then we heard glass break and loud voices. We looked out the window and found that the neighbors double pane glass door was broken out. We turned off all the lights and listened quietly by the window to try and see what was going on. While there, Angie wanted to move closer to the window. She lost her balance kicking a metal trash can, leaned against the wall and turned the light on. It was hilarious.
Thursday, Caleb had no school because his teacher was on strike. We dropped the other kids off at school. Came back to the house and made invitations for a nieghborhood party (fête des voisins). The party will be Saturday at 6:30. We passed them out to all the neighbors except one that did not have a mailbox, picked up the kids for lunch. On the way back for lunch we stopped by and dropped off the last invitation, Angie had a good converstation with the lady. It was the same lady who stopped by last week asking about the cats. They talked for a while. Turns out that last night a young man stopped by her house with cuts on his arm saying that there were some crazy guys at our neighbors. He was the victim of the broken glass evidently. She said we should talk to our home owner because he is a police man and would know what to do in instances like those. She gave us several jars of jelly that she had made and invited us over sometime. She said she would have loved to come to the party, but this is her first weekend off in a while and so she is going to make a trip to Spain with her husband. Angie was really encouraged to have this contact. After lunch we dropped the kids off at school, made hair cut apointments for me and Caleb. Then we stopped by an association that has scheduled French language conversations. We then went back and got our hair cut. Then returned home. We received phone calls from the home owner and from a neighbor. The neighbor had called to say that she would not be able to come to the party because she jsut lost her husband. Then another neighbor stopped, who has been working on the garage enclosure, he said he and his wife would love to come. Then the plumber stopped by and said he would be there in the morning to fix the problem. We had supper and then bible study. There were 5 who came for bible study. We studied encouragement from Hebrews 12. It went well, the praise, study, and prayer time was great. I am praying that God will bless the party Saturday. It has already given us some contacts and we at least know that one couple will come. I am already encouraged.
Today Caleb is sick and staying home. We are trying to get things ready for tomorrow and looking forward to family night tonight. Attached is the video that I spoke of previously. The song is On s'attache by Christophe Maé (see on youtube). It was a number one hit in France a couple of years ago. God bless, JASON

Blooming

I ended up receiving a call from Cédric on Wednesday and we had our first language session. It was really good, we introduced ourselves. When he was sharing about himslef, he said, "My mother is Christian. Do you know what that means?" Wow. It ends up that his mother is active in the pentecostal church in town. It was great to find out. In fact Cédric mentioned that he wants to get back to attending church and was interested in coming to the bible study at our home. It was exciting and we had a really good talk. Thursday afternoon I went to print some pictures for Angie. She is going to have couple of months where she will want to stay off her feet some, so she wants to work on scrapbooks. I took my portable drive to the store to get some prints made of the pictures. I thought we had about 700 and they had a sale were you could print 100 for $12. I should have realized that I was in trouble when they took one hour to load onto the machine. There were over 5,000 pictures. Needless to say, I decided I needed to go through and prioritize clean and prioritize some. The Bible study was good. Three came and we learned about Faith. Today I am working on the Sunday School lessons for the youngers kids class. Today is a pretty day, it is supposed to get up to 75. The market in town was the busiest I had seen in a while. I will need to get the yard mowed tomorrow, it has been three weeks since the last mowing. Tonight we will have family night and we plan to make banana splits with the kids. So, probably a large part of Saturday morning will be cleaning up the resulting mess. The yard is blooming all over. There is, what I would call bramble, along our back fence that has three different flowering plants mixed in. I have attached a picture, along with some Fennel (a common vegetable) that grows in our yard, and some flowers in the flower garden. Enjoy and God bless, JASON

Pajamas evening.

The Bible study went well again. We had four present not including our family. We had really good discussions after the lesson, good comments and good questions. I wish I spoke perfect french. Maybe I am just a little rusty, but it seemed like I mispronounced more words than normal. I am looking forward to starting next with with my language helper. Please pray for Cédrique, not only will he have a big task before him, but he will be hearing the gospel as well. Lilia was able to have her friends from the church in Carcassonne come over for a "soirée pyjama", a sleepover, or literally a pajama evening. I am glad that she is able to have other christian girls over. Their father is a plumber and gave some advice concerning our plumbing problems. He will stop back by this next week and see what more he can do. We are having a friend come over this afternoon and practice music together. Other than that, I am working on the Sunday school lesson for the older kids for Sunday Morning. Attached is a picture of Pajama evening coke floats (coke and ice cream), and a double rainbow that we saw this past week. God bless, JASON

Break time.

The past few days have been a little different. Last week we had trouble with the electricity, now we have been having plumbing problems. It has been draining slower and slower, but Tuesday it stopped draining completely. I bought a snake and crawled under the house and did what I was supposed to (I will not go into a large amount of detail for those with weak stomachs). It has gone back to working slowly now. The only problem is that our washing machine has to be drained into a bucket, because the drain can't keep up. I just have to keep an eye on the bucket and empty it halfway through. If our snake had been longer it might have solved the whole problem, but I bought the longest one available. We called a plumber but have not heard back from him. Since it's a holiday today I think that everyone is taking a break. While I was at the store I was able to help a man from England who didn't speak French solve some issues with his bank card. It reminded me of those early months in France, when we had no clue what anyone was saying. The weather has gotten cooler again, it is supposed to get down to 40 degrees tonight. I am ready for the Bible Study tonight. I think we should have our normal crowd. I am excited about the future of the work in France. My parents have purchased their tickets and plan to be here the first two weeks in September. I am already looking forward to seeing them, showing them around the area, and introducing them to our friends we have been able to minister and fellowship with these past nine months. Tomorrow I think that we will take the kids to see a movie and Lilia is supposed to have two friends come over to spend the night tomorrow. It was supposed to have been for this evening but the older sister was gettting over a slight sickness. Attached picture is of the kids playing Ouistiti at our friend's house last Saturday. Enjoy your day. God bless, JASON

Electricity

The last few days have been interesting to say the least. It rained all day Tuesday and most of the day Wednesday and is raining right now. Tuesday the power went off a few times during the day, so I started saving the Bible Study handouts that I was preparing. I had almost finished it Monday, but was still changing and adding some things on Tuesday. I knew that the power could go out any moment so I was saving it everytime I changed something. Wouldn't you know that power went out when it was being saved. Wednesday I tried to open the document and got an error. After an hour of working with it, I surrended to the fact that it was lost. I even downloaded an ASCII reader, the document in ASCII was all zeros. Wednesday the power was never on long enough for me to get restarted on it. It was kind of humerous later, because the power would always go out at the most inconvient time. Would you like some more examples? I thought you would. How about when it went out halfway into our microwave popcorn being popped. Yeah, we got 15 popped kernels out of that bag. How about right when you start clothes drying? Twice, right when I got the computer booted up all the way? Right when Angie sat down to read a book? Right when Andrew's Nintendo DS batteries went dead and it needed to be charged? I could go on and on. Right after we went and bought McDonalds because we had no power to cook it came back on. We enjoyed the day in spite of the electrical problems. So far today it has stayed on. I am trying to get the handout done for tonight and then get the lesson typed up, which I would have done Tuesday and Wednesday. I think I will add a sunny picture of some wildflowers:   God bless, JASON

Number 1 song of all time.

Saturday the weather cleared enough for us to go on a walk with our friends. We had a really good time, the kids loved it. Along the trail they have restored huts that shepherds used made completely out of rocks. The kids loved entering each one. Services went well Sunday at the church in Carcassonne. It was good to see everyone. The pastor preached a good message from the Song of Solomon. It is probably the third time in my life that I have heard a message from this book of the Bible, even though it is labeled as the greatest song or the song of songs. My father is writing his Doctoral Thesis on this book, you can read his prospectus by clicking here. I am looking forward to reading it when he is finished. After the services we enjoyed a meal together and had some real good fellowship. Yesterday and today, I have been working on the lesson for the Bible Study this Thursday. I am looking forward to it. The weather has turned cold this week. It was 40 degrees (F) when I went to bed last night, in May. It has been raining for a few hours now. . . okay, I'm back, it is about 20 minutes later. Unbeknownst to you the power went out so the computer went off. It seems to do that occasionally. As I was saying, it is snowing outside now. Big flakes are falling and the temperature is 38 degrees, in May. Wow. We are currently under Alert Orange, which is a weather warning. If it is moved to Alert Red, then they shut down the roads and you will not be allowed to drive, in May. I attached a picture of the snow, you may have to click it and see ir larger to be able to see the snow. Also is a picture of Lilia's concert. I'm not sure if it would rank close to number one, but a cute sing none-the-less. God bless, JASON

Past week

I just realized that it has been a week since my last blog. A lot has been going on. Let me summarize. Last weekend past well. Tuesday I took our car in for its 20,000 km maitenance. They changed to oil, gave it an inspection, and even hooked it up to the computer. Wednesday was a pretty day, it warmed up and the sun was shining, we spent most of the afternoon outside working in the yard. Wednesday we made a new friend, who came over for supper and singing afterwards. She is a new Christians that moved to the area a few months ago. We raelly enjoyed the evening and she expressed interest in coming to the Bible study, but could not come on Thursdays. Thursday Angie went to her first Doctors appointment, all was well. They even did a sonogram, the baby is only 15 mm long, but Angie was able to hear his/her heartbeat. The Bible study went well, we had a total of 7, including myself, Angie and Lilia. We examined the 7 feasts of Israel.

The kids are doing well. Andrew and Micah have had colds. Caleb was sick Monday and stayed home from school Tuesday. I think his sinus' are bothering him. He came home from school Monday and fell asleep on the couch, and slept until 8:30 the next morning. Lilia has been having a rough time this past week. In addition to the vaccinations, she got one of her ears re-pierced last Friday, beacuse it had closed. Wednesday she had two spots burned off her foot. This morning while eating her cereal, one of her baby teeth broke into three pieces. We took her to the dentist this morning, they deadened the area, and they pulled out the pieces.

I will be spending the majority of this next week with preparations for our departure. We are having a couple of families stay in our house during our absence. I need to get instructions made up for them. I need to prepare our visa paperwork for when we get to the states. I will prepare our taxes so that we can get that sent in as well. I also need to write a sermon, in English, for speaking at our sending church our first Sunday back. Meanwhile I am also trying to book speaking engagements. I'd better get to it. Attached picture is Andrew enjoying the little 4-wheeler the neighbors passed on to us. God bless, JASON

The clown and the magician.

The Bible study went well Thursday night. We had four people visiting. We had a lesson over the cleansing of the leper (Leviticus 14). Friday we got our tickets purchased for the states. Friday night we enjoyed having some friends from Carcassonne over for supper. We enjoyed the evening. Lilia talked almost non-stop the entire evening. Saturday I got some flowers planted and got my kids Sunday school lesson ready for Sunday. Services went good in Carcassonne today. Afterwards we went to a event in our town that was a mix between an end of year party and a city coucil meeting. There was a clown and a magician that the kids really enjoyed, and they had snacks and presents for all the kids. It was enjoyable and we really liked being able to get out into the community. It lasted almost to seven o'clock, so we rushed home and grabed some sandwiches, bathed the kids, and got their homework all checked over. I missed hearing our services from our church in Hillsboro, but I am glad for the opportunity to make new contacts. This next week will be busy with Doctor appointments and studying. Attached pictures are from this afternoon. God bless, JASON

Change of Plans

It is not always a bad thing when plans change. This is very true in the case of Christians. When an unseen change occurs, you at once realize that this was the plan of God and occasionally you can even begin to see why as time progresses. We have changed our plans quite a bit recently. I can not begin to share with you all the ways that God has used this to his will and for our good. We now plan on returning to the US in February until April. This will be easier because the kids will miss less school, Angie will be traveling less pregnant, and it will be cheaper to fly this time of year. The only negative aspect is that it is short notice.

Tuesday I spent all day preparing the lesson for tonight. It was a lesson that I prepared during Seminary, but it still took all day to get it written in French. Wednesday, we started planning out the trip back to the states. Lilia and Caleb had swimming and in the afternoon, Angie went shopping. We had a friend over that evening to practice the music for the bible study. Today is final preparation for the Bible study.

We are looking forward to being back in the states. As of this moment I think I will enjoy the temperature differences the most. The purpose of this trip is not only to see family and friends but also to visit churches and pick up some more support. We have lost a couple of supporters over the last two years and we will also need more funds to support the growing ministry that we have. If you are interested in having us come to your church please contact us early so that we can manage our time well. We will miss being here, as this feels like home as well. We look forward to seeing some of you soon. The attached picture was taken the day before we left to come to France. God bless, JASON

First Bible Study

We had our first Bible Study last night. It went real well. Only one other couple came, but we were thrilled all the same. There were some conflicts with other activities happening on Friday nights, so we will most likely have it Thursday next week. We have wonderful time of singing praises to God, pray and looking at God's Word as a whole. I am excited about the future. Attached a couple of pictures taken during the evening. Lilia and Caleb sat in on the bible study and read scriptures. Caleb even took a turn praying in French during the prayer time. Today we are helping the lady next door move some items. She is the daughter of our landlord. She is moving to Carcassonne. I am already praying for the next family who will be moving in there. It will be a wonderful chance to build a relationship with someone. The lady next door has given us some wonderful pieces of furniture that will not fit in her new house. She has also passed along some outside toys that our kids will love. We are also busy getting ready for tommorrow. Angie is teaching Sunday school for the younger kids, meaning Andrew, Micah, and Caleb. I am leading the song service, making announcments, and scripture reading. I am looking forward to it. God bless, JASON

Thawed out.

The snow finally stopped falling late Saturday night. We ended up with over 7 inches. It was nice while it lasted. Sunday, Angie and the kids stayed home, while I walked to the car and braved the icy roads to go to the church in Carcassonne. I really enjoyed the servcies. Their current pastor will be retiring soon and his replacement was visiting Sunday. I enjoyed hearing him speak. He will be moving here in June and we have offered him to stay in our house if needed while he is trying to locate one for him and his family. Tuesday he came and visited in the morning with us. I am really impressed with him and looking forward to getting to know him and his family better. We are trying to decide our plans for returning to the states. We do not know if we will leave mid-june and stay to the end of August, or if we will May and stay to July. We received a Christmas package from Angie's parents today. Loaded with fudge and other goodies. Angie has gone shopping with Lilia, January is a month of sales on almost everything. I am hoping that we will have the Bible study this Friday. I am giving an introduction to the Bible. I also pray that we will have a good number come. I heard this morning of the large Earthquake in Haïti, our prayers go out to all who are affected by this tragedy. Tomorrow I am giving the prayer meeting at the church in Carcassonne since the pastor has taken a short trip to England. Sunday I will lead the services and Angie will teach the younger kids Sunday school. Attached picture is the kids playing a board game. Enjoy the day that God has given you. God bless, JASON