Goodbye again.

We have spent the last few days saying goodbye to friends and family. Today we have packed most of the day, with occasional trips to wal-mart to pick up some needed items. We leave the house tomorrow morning about 7 am, and arrive in France on Saturday at 9:15 am. I think that we are all looking forward to getting settled again. I will let you know as soon as I can when we arrive. Attached pictures is the kids playing at Angie's parents house. God bless, JASON

House Hunting in France

Hello everyone, Angie here. I thought I would write about all that has happened lately. The trip to Limoux went great. Michele, a friend from language school went with me and we had a blast. We got a late start for the trip down south because we both had morning class and while she returned from her class in Paris, I watched Andrew so Jason could give his devotional at school. Finally we were both ready and we left. We had McDonald's on the way and saw a Tati (really good discount store)and had to do some quick 10 minute shopping because it was closing at 7pm. Back on the road we were just enjoying all the sunshine and green fields all around. It took a while but we finally arrived at our hosts home at 11pm. We were warmly welcomed by our hosts and their two little doggies. After putting our bags in our room Genevieve immediately took me out across the street to show me this superbly kept home. It was vacant thankfully since we were taking a very close look. The owner had even put in air conditioning. But I have already stayed in a house in that neighborhood and they are all almost the same and I really wanted something a little more spacious and private. This was a new neighborhood and non of the hedges were grown up enough for privacy. I wasn't too interested but it was kind of our host to show us. Saturday we met the agent and he said he had some houses planned to show us, one I had seen online and one that I had not seen. Another one online had already been seen by two couples who were both serious and he said he was going to let them have their chance at it. Then he had a phone call. Then we left to see house number one. It was outside of town about 3 miles in a little village neighborhood. It was updated with fresh paint and a new shower but it had tiny rooms and felt cramped. Another drawback was that the yard wasn't fenced so it wasn't as safe as we would like it for the kids. As we finished the tour of house 1 the agent begins to tell me that he really has no other product to show or offer me. I think what he was saying was none that are as well done as this one. But I said to him that I really needed him to show me another one to compare with this one. ( In my mind I was thinking that house 2 will have to be really bad to make me feel at peace with this one and besides that I made an appointment and drove 8 hours and I think I should get to see more than one house.) I have learned to be more insistent here because that is just the only way things get done. So he took us to house 2. It was right in town in a really cute neighborhood. The house was attached on one side to another house but the yards were divided and private with really big hedges. The house looks very old world French with the dark wood (which I love) and the French doors, just charming. The living/dining area was much larger than the first house. The kitchen was decent sized with a stovetop, oven and cabinetry already there! Somethings we would have normally had to purchase ourselves. There was a "back" kitchen with a sink just next to the kitchen (very commom here) which would be a laundry room. The back yard was really good sized (for France) with a cute cherry tree in one corner and totally fenced -good for the safety of the kids. Then we went upstairs, and at this point I hadn't caught on that it was a 4 bedroom but Jason and I had discussed having a 3 bedroom with a back kitchen that could serve as a guest room if needed. So I was already thinking that this house could work. Upstairs the bedrooms were roomy and they had closets already, something else we would have had to buy ourselves! What a blessing- God sure knows our needs! The bathroom had a bathtub not just a shower - I was really glad about that. Then we noticed that there was a fourth bedroom. And as if we weren't enchanted already that did it for us. One bedroom also had a cute balcony. I think the agent was surprised we liked it but glad he had brought us there. There were other great things about this house too. We had discussed the need for parking space if we had a home Bible study and this house looks out over a big square- one side with shrubs and benches and the other side with trees and along two sides of the square, there are about 20 parking spaces. Also, in the connecting house/building the lower floor looks like it is an office space and it looked empty. The agent said that the upstairs was an appartment that is vacant and the owner is not trying to fill it currently. Very interesting. The kids schools are very nearby. Hopefully, if all works out, we will meet lots of people from the neighborhood just on the walk to and from school. Let me say that I couldn't have done it without my friend Michele. She was such a great help to me in giving a second opinion. I knew I would need someone with me and the Lord provided me with the perfect person I needed for the trip! Although the agent didn't much like her. If she looked as though she was about to say something negative he would interrupt her. Salesmen and their tactics.
After the appointment we went to Carcassonne to enjoy having a car to do some shopping. I showed Michele the big castle and at 8pm we had dinner back with Roger and Genevieve. It was a really nice time and we stayed up late visiting. They were sharing some of their heartaches with me. Please pray for them. Sunday we headed back to Paris and read and discussed God's word on the way. It was a great trip- although short and busy. We are so thankful for our hosts generosity and pray a special blessing on them for it. We are also thankful for God's amazing providence. We hope to hear from the agent this week if we are accepted as renters. If something should not work out though we know God has something else in mind. God Bless You All, ANGIE

English

As I have mentioned before, other than French we are also learning "English" (British english). There are quite a few differences, For instance, If I said, "I left the nappy and the dummy in the pushchair next to the cot." translated into English (American), "I left the diaper and the pacifier in the stroller next to the baby bed." That is quite a difference. I need to go write an email to a French pastor in the south of France. I have found that it is a lot easier to write in French if you go directly into French, meaning you use the vocabulary and sentence structure that you know. The other way is to think what you would say in English and then try to translate it to French. I always run into things that can't be translated. We are considering going to the south of France after language school to start our church plant. There is a lot of work to do if that is the case. I have been feeling God's leading there, we would need to take another trip there to survey the area more. Pray for us, that God would make his will clear and guide us to where we can best serve him. Pictured is Lilia with a flower she picked at the Language school garden. God bless, JASON

Back to normal.

Andrew is back to normal as you can see. It will be good to have everyone back at school next week. Angie wanted me to include the following. The third thursday of the month, people can put large items (ex. couch, TV, fans, boxes . . .) on the curb outside to be picked up by the trash people. This makes a couple days available for other people to browse the "sidewalk sale" and get stuff that they want. You can find some nice stuff. Wednesday night Yvain and Virginie came over. Yvain noticed that there was a TV sitting on the sidewalk and few houses down and wanted me to go with him to get it. I was upstairs tucking the kids in when the following converstaion ensued, "Jason, are you up there?"

I replied, "Who wants to know?"

Yvain said, "This is the police!"

Me, "I'm sorry, I only speak French."

Yvain (in French), "This is the police, come here."

Me, "Oh, I mean I only speak spanish"

Yvain - repeats the phrase in spanish

Me, "I mean, I only speak german."

Yvain (in german), "I speak German too"

Me, (trying to think cleverly), "Oh, I mean I only speak portugese"

Yvain then responds in portugese.

Me, "Sorry, I can't talk".

No compassion from the man that fluently speaks five languages. My prayer is the at least speak two fluently. I still am working on my first language, English. JASON

On a dark alley one night.

I hope that everyone had agood valentines day. Attached is the picture of the flowers I got Angie and the chocolates she got me (half of which are already consumned). Things are going well, Andrew still does not feel well, attached is a picture of him after he woke up this morning. He seems to be in good spirits though. I was thinking yesterday about the safety of Paris. It is really a safe place to be. People here remark about the dangers of American cities. One thing that I think contributes is that there are very few guns here. Also there are people everywhere. I noticed that our bank has an interesting security feature. It has double doors that are buzzed separately. So if someone robbed the bank, they would trap him between the two bullet proof doors. At the tourist attractions and the airport the policeman with ozzies help defer criminal activity. Enjoy your day, God Bless, JASON

Sick Day

I am at home this afternoon with Andrew who is a little sick. Angie takes the mornings and I take the afternoons. He is not very bad but we didn't want to spread it the rest of the daycare. Interesting that French people do not like the Euro. It made all of the prices go up and was very confusing to the elderly because one Euro is 6.57 Franks. I asked the German students and they didn't like the Euro either. One other noteworthy tidbit, French has no word for home, they have a word for house but not home. The closest thing to home would be "chez moi" or "my place". Same in German. I guess that English speakers value their home so much they would have their own word for it.

I had to fix our cable the other night, it was up and working, but Angie pushed a button. I tried to fix it to no avail. I looked it up online and got someone to translate for my, what I had to do was unplug it and plug it back in 4 times and then let it come all the way up. I have a degree and several years experience in computers and electronic devices, yet I would have never thought of that. Tommorrow the phone should be working and we have free calls to the US, some of you may be receiving a call tommorrow, if we remember you number. It is nice we have phone, internet, and cable all coming through the phone line for 29.99 euros a month. (about $44). Not a bad deal. It is high speed as well. Direct connect at 100 Mbs or Wifi at 54 Mbs. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts, JASON.

A Postal Experience

I have always heard that activities take more time in foreign coutries. I never really thought that would be true for France and "modern" nation. I went to the Post Office (la Poste) to mail our important papers for our visa. It was a special mail where you receive a signed letter that it has been delivered. I arrived at the post office, surveyed my surroundings, and went to an available cashier, who explained, (all in French remeber) that I needed to take a number. I took a number and sat down, my number was the next one called. I explained what I needed and she gave the neccessary paperwork to fil out and helped someone else while I was filling the papers out. The man she helped took a long time, and I could tell they were having trouble. He left and I approached and caught that the computers were not working. I waited for about twenty minutes then politely thanked her and said I would return later. Monday I return. I have my school books and Andrew in the stroller. I put the backpack on to get Andrew and his stroller up the stairs. I remember to get a ticket this time. A lady in front of me exchanged tickets with me because she was feeding the baby. Then another lady came in and asked to borrow a pen. I had to take the backpack off and put it on the stroller to dig out a pen for her, during which my number was called, so I ackwardly approach and hand her my paperwork. While waiting Andrew wants to get out, I get him out forgetting that the stroller has the backpack full of books hanging from the handles, so when I remove him the stroller begins to fall backwards. I quickly put my foot on it to keep it from falling and stand like that until our transaction is complete. Then as I leave the lady is waiting to return my pen. I let go of the stroller to take her pen and the stroller falls back all the way to the ground. So I'm trying to put the pen back in, pick the stroller up, while holding Andrew. Thankfully after a few moments I was collected and on the way back to the house, one more task completed. JASON

Massy

Our town of Massy is very nice. I was looking at the scenery when I took the boys to school yesterday. It is also, as I recently found out, a wealthy town. I discovered this when telling Yvain about seeing and early 70's model Camaro, yellow with black racing stripes. He explained then that is a rich suburb. The boys were rained out of their field trip to the woods. I noticed there were no posts to answer the last quiz. French has the same amount of vowels that we have but they have 16 different vowel sounds. JASON