Thanksgiving in January

 We had a wonderful week.  It was filled with activities.  The main focus of course is the Bible study and Thanksgiving.  I did find time on Wednesday, my day off, to clean the back yard a bit more.  Our back yard is terraced and once clean has the potential to produce a lot of fruit.  We have been cleaning rows and burning a large pile of brush, which the boys really enjoy.  The weather was nice Wednesday.

I am a little sad that we will not be here this summer to take advantage of the garden, but I hope to plant some automn fruits when we return to be able to profit at least some from our hard work this year.  The boys have been a great help and really love helping out. As long as they can make it fun, which they usually can find a way of doing. 

Micah has been know for sleeping in wierd positions,
this is how we found him in our bed one evening.

 I did have an opportunity to talk with a man about his spiritual needs.  Be in prayer for him because he is dealing with a lot of issues and needs Jesus more than anything else. 

 Our thanksgivign meal was a big success.  It was a lot of work to cook for 28 people, but there were helpers as well.  (pictured above and below)  We had a couple offer to provide the Turkey, someone else made the pumpkin pie, we had babysitters, people loaned us tables and chairs and dishes.  Many thanks to all.

 The evening went well.  I started this year out with a quiz about Thanksgiving, it was a good topic of discussion and everyone seemed to get along real well.  I then went over the questions and in the process gave the history of Thanksgiving.  There were good questions and conversations throughout the evening.  We enjoyed the time, for all who came, it was their first time to have Thanksgiving.  All seemed to enjoy themselves.  There were many compliments on the food and even the Dr. Pepper got positive reviews. 

Sunday Services went well in Carcassonne.  They had several visitors, several people were out because there was snow in certain areas.  They predicted snow for us as well on Sunday night.   We had a church member over for lunch to help us eat the leftovers and enjoyed some fellowship.  We enjoyed hearing the services at our home church in Texas.  My father is bringing a series from the Song of Solomon.  It has been excellent.  It is based on his book that he is writing for his doctorate.  I am looking forward to getting to read it when he is finished.  It would make a good study for young people, young couples, and all christians.  We awoke this morning to find out that we did not get any snow, not even ice.  The kids will have to wait to see if they can have a snowman this year.  God bless, JASON

From Batman to Basketball

 We had a good week.  Pictured above is Andrew's face painting from the birthday party on Saturday.  He was invited to a friends house for her birthday and they had a good time.  Angie stayed for the party to help out and was able to meet some of the parents as well.  It took a lot of work to get the paint off afterwards.

I was finally able to get our address changed on the car registration form.  The week before I had made two trips to Carcassonne to try and get it changed but it didn't work out both times. The first time their computers were down, the second they had closed early.  I made it on Wednesday and when I sat down in the waiting room, I was greeted by a "Bonjour, Jason" it was a man from Limoux that I have had contact with on several occassions, so we were able to spend our time waiting, talking.  I also met someone who attends the church in Carcassonne who had just bought a car.  I got it all done and it was free as well.  Thursday night we had a record attendance at the bible study (including Angie and I).  Friday morning it was cold and rainy.  To the right you see Arianna bundled up and sleeping after Angie took her to meet Lilia walking home from school.  There were not a lot of people at the market, I did hand out one Arabic New Testament.  Friday I also got my guitar fixed.  Lilia and Caleb had knocked it over and broke off one of the tuning knobs.

 Caleb has been asking for a hair cut, but we have not found time, Angie straightened it for him and this is how he looks.

 We had some British friends over for Lunch and they gave us some flowers they have grown and bloomed quickly.  The boys would wake up every morning and run to measure them to see how much they had grown.  They have a sweet smell and are called Jacinthe (french spelling).  Angie said that I had bought her some just like them several years ago. 

 Here is the newest member of the family, a dishwasher.  She is four years old and I purchased her Saturday.  We got a good deal and if she lasts us for six months it will be worth it.  The last time we had a dishwasher we only had two kids, so it has been a while. 

 Friday night we had a basketball game.  Pictured below I am the number 6 waiting to go for a rebound as our coach shoots a freethrow.  We lost the game by four points, but it went well and everyone had a good time.  During the game, which Caleb and Lilia attended with me, Lilia walked over to the bench and said that Micah had fallen on his head and Angie had called 15 (911 in the States), he did not show any signs of a concussion, but had a big knot on the back of his head.  I woke him up a couple of times during the night to make sure he was okay.  It was funny because normally when I wakes up during the night he appears completely out of it and says the strangest thing.   this time it was no different.  I woke him up and told him to go to the restroom, which he did, I then asked him a few question to see if he was coherent.  I just got what seemed like random yes and no's.  Just before I put him back in bed, out of the blue he quoted a few lines of a french poem that Caleb had memorized a couple of years ago, "Quatre-vingts moutons, autant de poisson, un peu de pain, et j'ai toujours faim".  I took that as a sign that he was good.   

 Below picture is from our game before on Saturday, I am pictured on the bottom right making a shot.  The boys had a basketball tournament Sunday after church. Lilia was sick to her stomach so after church Angie got a ride home with Lilia and Arianna.  So just us boys had a good time together.  Micah and Caleb won both of the games they played, 3 - 0 and 6 - 4. 

Last Saturday the weather was nice and we even cleaned up the back yard some.  This Saturday is our Thanksgiving meal that we finally got rescheduled.  We are looking forward to it, please pray that it goes well.  God  bless, JASON

Thanksgivingly ever after.

Thanksgiving meal was real good.  We spent two days in preparation,

 made the desserts on Thursday and then the main dishes on Friday.  One of the guests arrived early Friday to help out which was great.  We got everything ready on time and 15 guests came.  We got started at 7:30 and we had a wonderful time.   I gave a history of Thanksgiving and everyone shared something that they were thankful for, I led in prayer, and then we dug in.  The food was enjoyed and we had a lot less leftovers that I expected.  The favorite seemed to be the Buttermilk pie (grandma's recipe). Everyone stayed until about 11:00.  There were really good conversations.  We assigned seats so that we would have Christians sitting with non-Christians.  It went really well, even the kids were well behaved.  I hope that God will bless and we will see some fruit.  Angie and I stayed up until 2 in the morning cleaning and washing dishes.  I called my parents house and spoke to my mother

 for a little bit, wishing them a happy Thanksgiving.  As in the case in many families, you can have three or four Thanksgiving meals just to get around to all the family.  We went to bed and I slept the best I had ever sleep.  My eyes closed and I opened them back up and it was 8:30 and Andrew was standing beside the bed asking if it was time to wake up.  Saturday we finished washing dishes, took borrowed tables and chairs back to Carcassonne, started putting the furniture back in the living room.  Services went well today, we are taking part in the Christmas program with the churh in Carcassonne.  Lilia is playing Mary and Caleb is Joseph.   I hope that your Thanksgiving holidays went well. but that you keep up the Thankful spirit all year long.  God bless, JASON

Thank God!

These past few days have been about preparing for

 Thanksgiving.  Very little is known of Thanksgiving outside of those few countries who celebrate it.  We have invited 20 people to our house to celebrate with us.  It will be a wonderfuly opportunity to get to know others and to turn our thoughts towards giving thanks to God.  Saturday, the girls went to Ikea to pick up some household items, mostly more lights, and to get teh Cranberry sauce.  Monday we did more shopping.  The most expensive things that we had to get were the turkey and the sweet potatos.  Thankfully, some friends from Carcassonne gave a gift that has covered the expensives.  Tuesday I was able to work on my lesson.  Wednesday, Angie finished up the shopping.  What is on the menu?  Turkey, chicken and

dressing, sweet potatos, mashed potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, rolls, banana pudding, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, and buttermilk pie.  Sounds great! We were running around so much that we didn't get a chance to lay the younger ones down for a nap.  They both found a place to sleep (pictured).  Andrew is on the chair and Arianna stayed asleep when I layed her on the couch after a little rocking.  Bible study is tonight and then tomorrow will be spent in preparation for Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the holidays and remeber to thank God for what he has done for you.  God bless, JASON 

Vendredi déjà ?

This week has been passing good.  We had 5 at the Bible study last night.  We finished making the invitations for our Thanksgiving get together (pictured) and handed them out.  Angie came and totally revised what I had, and I admit that she did a better job.  Looks like we might have 20 people present in addition to our family.  The market in Limoux went real well this morning.  We were able to make contact with several.  Lilia was excited this week because they were forming a council of kids to propose ideas to the mayors office about a need that the students had.  They voted for three students to represent the class.  She didn't win, but she got four votes which I said that she should be impressed with.  Caleb had visit the dentist this week, he had a temporary filling put in, unfortuntely there was no pain.  I say "unfortunately" because if it hurts, I think it would help him brush his teeth better and more often.  Speaking of teeth, Lilia has a loose tooth that is barely hanging on, but she won't let us touch it because last time we tried it hurt, and she does not handle pain well.  In fact she turned white and almost passed out. I told her I would pull it out tonight while she is sleeping, I bet that she will stay up late.  Tomorrow I need to work in the yard and work on the car some.  Angie cleaned the inside of the car real good but I need to work on the outside.  Someone (okay, it was me) hit the side of a tall curb and put a dent in the side, but I'm certain that I can pop it back out.  Caleb has swimming tomorrow and not Monday nights, we felt that he was too rushed to get his homework done.  I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy preparing for Thanksgiving.  God bless, JASON  

Weekly Update

Basketball pracite - I am in
the middle of the three in
yellow at right.

It has been a week since I blogged.  Let me attempt to summarize the week.  I took Caleb to try out the basketball group for his age (they have the same coach as my group). He really has been looking forward to going.  He had a good time and the coach was excited about the prospect of having a 6th player for that age group.  The catch for Caleb is that if he picks baskteball, we will take him out of swimming.  The bastketball for him would be on Wednesday nights.  Last week I also meet with the bank and got our home bank switched to Limoux instead of Massy. I'm not sure why we needed to, just for the checkbooks to be mailed there, I suppose.  Thursday was Veteren's Day in France.  Lilia was picked to read a part in the veterens day program.  There was probably a crowd of 200 present when Lilia read her part along with some other students her age.  She did a good job.  Arianna had a doctors appointment last week.  She was cute.  She smiled and cooed at the doctor, but when Angie changed her diaper right after he exam, she threw a fit.  She also didn't care much for the vaccinations either.  The next few days she wasn't herself, her eye would get stopped up and she didn't sleep well during the day.  She still does a good job sleeping at night.  The Bible study was well attended even though some were out as a result of the holiday.  Friday, I set up the stand in the markat at Limoux.  Edouard came and helped out this week, he had been unable to the last few because of health problems with him and his wife.  I met a man that I had first talked to a two weeks ago who stopped by.  He agreed to come to church Sunday.  There were three others who I was able to make contact with during the morning.  Edouard ate lunch with us afterwards.  The weekend went well.  I didn't get out and break up the garden spots like I had planned, but  I hope to get that done this weekend.  I did meet an American family at the grocery store. Today I started getting the invitations ready for Thanksgiving.  I realised that I forgot to mention about our Thanksgiving meal in our latest report.  We are going to try to have two meals this year so that we can invite more people.  It will be a busy time, but we really enjoyed last year and are looking forward to it again.  God bless, JASON

The sick and the napkin.

Last week seemed to drag by. Angie was sick all last week. . . fever, achy, cough. We ended up cancelling the bible study that we had planned for Friday night. I know that it must be difficult for those single parents to raise children on their own. I have just been running all over the place. Thankfully, Angie has been there to point me in the right direction with phrases like, "Those clothes don't match", "It is time for ya'll to leave", "We need more groceries", "The kids need a bath" , "Don't forget . . .". She has been a lot of help even though she just kind of alternates between her bed and the couch.
It rained all day Friday, and Saturday I found out that quite a bit of the rain and entered into our garage where we store a lot of stuff in boxes. Needless to say, a lot of wet, it took a while to rearrange everything, but at least I know better where everything is at.
Sunday Caleb and I went to church. We had a meal afterwards consiting of soup, salad, quiche, new pototatoes, potato casserole, fruit, chicken, 3 cheeses, and 3 desserts. Good eating. Afterwards we attended the business meeting, which was my first business meeting to attend in France. I enjoyed it, there were a lot of good questions and the atmosphere was light and included plenty of laughter. We were made associated members of the church. The story behind that is we would like to participate in the teaching and preaching but there is a rule that only members can do those things. This rule was made because some people believe just by participating in the service and helping, they would merit a place in heaven. So for us and another couple who visit during the summer, we are already members of another church, so they made a special case for us, a kind of stamp of approval, so that we can aide in the ministry aspects of the church. We of course will not be allowed to vote during business meeting and such. If that has just confused you even more, then email me or make a comment and I will try to explain further. The church in Carcassonne has helped us already in many ways.
There are several things I need to get done this week. I need to get some things mailed. I need to get a letter written to our former internet service provider. They claimed to have not received the modem that we sent to them. After calling them, they instructed that we write a letter and fax it to them explaining the situation. Lord willing, we will have a Bible study this week. I am just about to go email someone to ask if they would be willing to be my conversation partner.
One thing that happened at the Thanksgiving meal that I forgot to mention. Micah, who can not stand to have a mess, had some food on his fingers and yelled out, "Napkin". Unfortunately napkin in French is a feminine hygiene product. I did not think about it until later. So since then we have worked on several other possible names to us in place of napkin. God bless, JASON

Thanksgiving in France.

Our Thanksgiving meal went good. It was definitely unique. I can't remember ever working so hard to prepare for a Thanksgiving and I know that I have never had an order of services written before. Our British friends from Carcassonne came early to help out. Everyone else arrived between 10 to 30 minutes late, which is the French custom. I started out with the history of Thanksgiving. I said, "Thanksgiving; ça veut dire « l'action de grâce » historiquement est un jour de fête chrétienne durant lequel on remerciait Dieu par des prières et des réjouissances pour les bonheurs que l’on avait pu recevoir pendant l’année avec nos familles. Notre famille ne peuvent pas venir, donc pour ce soir, vous êtes notre famille. En 1620, 120 de pèlerins Puritains britanniques ont quitté l'Angleterre à cause de la persécution, ils sont arrivés septembre 1620 à la Baie de Plymouth au Massachusetts. Ils y fondent la Colonie de Plymouth et la ville homonyme. Mais les débuts de la colonisation furent difficiles et la moitié des arrivants périrent. Ces derniers ne durent leur salut qu'à l'intervention des amérindiens en particulière un autochtone nommé Squanto qui avec l'aide de sa tribu, offrit aux anglais de la nourriture; il leur montrât des nouvelles plats comme le pop-corn, puis leur apprirent à pêcher, chasser des animaux comme les dinde sauvage, et cultiver du maïs.
Afin de célébrer la première récolte, à l’automne 1621, le gouverneur décréta trois jours d'action de grâce. Les colons invitèrent alors le chef de la tribu et ses hommes à venir partager leur repas, en guise de remerciement pour l'aide apportée. Durant ce festin, des dindes sauvages furent offerts. Y compris les 47 pèlerins dont 4 femme et 90 amérindiens. En 1941 la fête est devenu officiel par le gouvernement; les administrations et la plupart des entreprises étant fermées ce jour-là. Cela reste un temps pour . . . manger avec la famille, remercier Dieu, donner nourriture aux sans abri, regarder des grands matchs du football américain, voyager, commencement de Noël. . . cette célébration est désormais plutôt laïque en Amérique du Nord." Our kids acted out the parts. Lilia and Caleb where the pilgrims, Micah was the indian and Andrew was the Turkey. When the indian meet the Pilgrims, they shook hands and "fait la bise", kiss on each check. The kids came up with that on their own. When Andrew came in as a turkey, everyone "aweeed" and he got a little shy. He was supposed to run out when I mentioned that they ate the turkey but he was clinging to mom instead. Afterwards Angie introduced the dishes, which was a chore in itself. Dressing = la farce, which also means a practical joke, cranberry sauce = la sauce de canneberge, sweet potatoes = patates douce, buttermilk pie = a pie made from buttermilk (doesn't sound very good once you think about it), pumpkin pie = tarte à la citrouille (pie made from an orange vegetable?). We went around and everyone gave something that they were thankful for, and then I led in prayer. The food was well received and we had many good remarks. Converstation was good. I announced as well our Bible study starting The kids were well behaved. Ending up having 20 people including our family. The party broke up around 10:30. Today we are recovering and resting and eating leftovers. A friend from the church in Carcassonne is coming over to look at some plumbing issues this afternoon. Afterwards I was considering taking the kids to a Rugby match in Limoux. The first picture was Andrew helping to make the dressing, others were taking during the evening. We pray your Thanksgiving were all a wonderful and that you took time to give thanks to God. JASON

A forkful of medicine.

The last few days have been mainly spent preparing for Thanksgiving. Angie has decided that she needs to prepare all the dishes in advance, just to make sure that they are good. We found a turke, or rather pieces of a Turkey. The butcher said that a whole turkey would not be available until the 10th of December, so we took the pieces. We have received several replies of people that will be coming. I have attached a picture of what the invitations looked like. There was a map on the reverse side. We plan on borrowing a table from the church in Carcassonne and have already borrowed some chairs from friends. We had a couple of visitors over yesterday. Angie's friend from Carcassonne came over in the morning and in the afternoon we had a visit from the pastor in Carcassonne. Today I will finish preparing my lesson for the prayer meeting in Carcassonne tomorrow. I will also get my thoughts arranged for the Thanksgiving explanation on Friday night. We plan to have the kids act the story as I narrate. It should be fun.

I have not included any sayings recently from Micah. Don't think that he has stopped coming out with all there intersting remarks. He has been waking up in the middle of the nights to go to the bathroom. He always does some funny things in his sleepy state. Once he walked in to the living room and glanced at the TV where Angie and I were watching a cartoon. He then remarked, "This is not a mommy and daddy movie." Yesterday morning as I was giving him a spoonfull of his cold medicine, he said, "Why don't you give me my medicine with a fork?" Yesterday evening we were able to get on Skype and let them talk to their cousins, which was interesting. Conversation seemed to center on movies, guns, dinosaurs, school, and football. Well I am about to head out to get the kids ready for their swimming class. I am praying that this class will permit us to get to know people in the community. Pray with us that we can use this as an outreach. God bless, JASON

Turkey?

Thursday and Friday, I got the invitations finished, and also finished all my research on Thanksgiving. All that is left is to write it out in. My former language school teacher gave me the idea to use the kids in a kind of play. I think that is a good idea and will see if we can get them to act out the Thanksgiving story. The only snag we may run into is the Turkey. Turkey here is not widely eaten until Christmas, we may not be able to find one for Thanksgiving. We will try though.
I am getting excited as the day approaches for us to start a Bible Study. I am also humbled, realizing what a great job I have to do for God. Summed up the job is to make disciples. Followers of Christ. It involves teaching, modeling, encouraging, leading, praying, enpowering, etc. . . To make disciples, is such a great privelege and responsibility. I pray that God gives me the strength and wisdom to do things His way and I pray that He will get glory and honor from it. Of course thinking back, every one who is a Christian, should be about that same purpose - making disciples. It is a position I should have held since my "rebirth", since I was born into His family. I have failed in regards to that for many years. If I had been making disciples since my salvation as I should, I would already have over 25 solid years of experience. Now I must just strive to be a better disciple maker in the future. Please pray for the future of our work here, that we will have disciples made who will then make disciples themselves. God bless, JASON

Thanksgiving preparation.

I have never started preparing for Thanksgiving this early before. Angie has gone shopping to make sure that we can find everything we will need. I have done some research on the history of Thanksgiving and started working on the invitations that we will mail out. Bible study went well last night and we had a lot of good discussion. We are studying the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. It is interesting the see the ideas that have remained the same and those that have changed over the years. Lilia and Caleb were excited to have swimming again this morning. The few days will be busy with getting all the preparations underway for our meal. It will take place Friday evening, the 27th. Please be in prayer for this event.

This day is also the 10th anniversary of the Texas A&M University bonfire collapse. The annual event had been a tradition for 90 years. In the early morning hours of Nov. 18th the 40 ft (12m) structure collapsed killing 12 students and injuring 27 others who were working on the structure. One of the victims, Jamie Hand, was Angie's friend in high school and they had played on the softball team together for years. Our prayers go out to the families of the victims on this day. Pictured is the bonfire event from 1993. God bless, JASON

December Arrives.

We had a wonderful weekend. Saturday we had a thanksgiving dinner with our friends. It was great. Sunday services went well, the Pastor spoke from John 8 about two ways of not understanding, not understanding and asking for and explanation, and not understanding and therefore not believing. Actually what he said was, "Je ne comprende pas, Aide-moi
à comprendre, ou je ne comprends pas donc je ne crois pas", but you get the idea. We picked up some stuff after church for Christmas, including the Christmas tree (le sapin de Noël). Yesterday (Monday) we set it up because we had a lot of homework to do Sunday night. It looks nice but we did not put the lights on it yet so I will post a picture later. I'll end with another Micah moment. He was talking in his sleep the other night and said clearly, "I didn't do it. God bless, JASON

Weather and Post Office

Winter seems like it has set in this week. All week long it has been a low of around 32 high of 39 and chance of rain every day. As of right now it is 39 degrees, 87% humidity, with sunrise at 8:19 am and sunset at 4:58 pm. I went to the post office this morning to mail some newspapers. I ordered these for an acquaintance in the states who wanted to send newspapers from the worlds largest cities of the day after the election. So I picked up twenty copies of Le Parisien Thursday and sent them back out today. I waited for an hour at the post office today. You take a number and wait your turn, there were thirty in front of me when I arrived. There was a lot of mumbling complaints but everyone seems to put up with it. We are having our friends over today for another thanksgiving meal, I am looking forward to it and have just eaten a light lunch in anticipation of supper. Attached is a picture of the kids enjoying a chocolate banana milkshake that I made them. God bless, JASON

Thanksgiving.

We had a Thanksgiving meal yesterday at the Language school. It was Wednesday but we chose that day because there was no school, while we did have school today. The meal went well, there were over 50 students and teachers present and six kids. It was the first time I had had a thanksgiving meal with food from Korea, South Africa, Germany, France, and America. Angie made chicken and dumplings which went over well. It was hard to explain what they were to people. How can you explain what a dumpling is to people who do not have biscuits? Boiled bread just doesn't sound good. I made sweet ice tea which went over real well with the southerners. We had a good time of testimony as well. It is amazing how God has worked in each of the lives of the ones there to get them to the point that they are now. That works for all of us but we often do not look back to realize it the part God has played in it. My thanks go to God for all he has done in my life, for blessing my with my family and friends, for calling me to his service, and for providing for all my needs, most importantly my need for a Savior. We are going have another Thanksgiving meal on Saturday with our friends and their four kids. I'll end this post with another Micah quote, he brought me a shirt to wear for a gown the other day and I asked, are you sure this is a gown shirt? He looked at me and in confidence said, "Of course, it has a helicopter on it." What was I thinking? God bless, JASON