Work ethic

Working in the fields.

We stopped by a bookstore in Carcassonne, the boys sat
down to read.

Arianna playing blocks with her brothers.

This is the last day of our kids two weeks spring break.  Oddly I think we had better weather during their winter break in February.  We had a good weekend.  I made a slight mistake last week not checking the messages on our answering maching and found out Friday that I was needed to play the piano in church on Sunday.  I practiced for several hours Saturday and did "okay" on Sunday.  I should have practised a little longer.  Last time I practiced a little too much and this time not enough, so I should know exactly now what is needed :)  The kids have been spending a lot of time inside.  Caleb did spend the night Sunday night with one of his friends.  Sunday Lilia and I went a visited with some friends.  Tuesday we got out of the house some and went shopping and playground hopping in Carcassonne.  After we got back home, I took the boys to help a friend clear out a vinyard.  It was good work for the boys.  My boys needed a few lessons in work.  They tend to complain about the size of the task at hand, and about their fellow employees, and about the pay. So this was a good occassion to explain to them about being a good worker.  We spent a couple of hours at it and by the end they had gotten a good rythym.  One of our good friends is moving this weekend and so I have been stopping by to help them out as time permits.  The big move will be on Saturday.  Bible study was good last night.  I did not go to the market this morning because of the cloudy skies and chance of rain.  I will make a trip to the dump this afternoon with some of our stuff and some from the family that is moving.  I like working, and it seems not to matter what I am working on.  I have just finished running through the tutorial of the Dreamweaver web-making software.  Intersting stuff.  Other than that, I wanted to mention that Andrew has not sucked his thumb for a good while now.  He does a little while he is sleeping but that is far better that before.  I am not sure what exactly motivated him to stop, I just explained that it probably is the reason that he is getting sick more than the rest of the family.  The rest of the family is doing well.  We still have moments of un-ending laughter, which is great.  The kids all seem to have a good sense of humour.  I always enjoyed cheering people up and getting people to laugh.  That was a tough part of moving to France, I couldn't communicate, therefore it was hard to be funny.  ThankfullyI communicating better now.  We pray that you have a good weekend.  God bless, JASON

Sick in the Spring

Arianna falls asleep on the floor.

I made a carrot cake Sunday.

Arianna models the summer gown series.

Another week is passed and this month looks like it will fly by like the last one.  Things went well again last week.  We got a lot of work done in the yard this week.  It had gotten run down and needed a good overhaul.  Everyone enjoyed working on it, the boys liked the work and the thought of earning money, Lilia liked the boys not bothering her, and Arianna just liked being outside.  The cherry trees have bloomed in the back yard and they look beautiful.  Angie had a few doctors appointments this week.  She visited the doctor, the radiologist, and the lab for a blood test.  Her blood pressure was high and she is now on medication again to lower it back down.  She had been having some pain in her neck, and had a lot of cricks in her neck over the past year.  After an x-ray it has been confirmed that she has a abnormal curvature in the spine due to an injury in the past somewhere.  It is called cervical kyphosis, literally the curve in her neck is leaning the wrong direction.  With some anti-inflammatory and some massage it should work itself out.  Angie has not complained at all at the thought of getting a few good massages  Thursday night after the Bible study, Andrew got sick to his stomach.  He just kind of layed around all weekend.  He was feeling better Sunday, but Sunday night he got sick again.  Arianna got sick also on Friday and Sunday.  I stayed home with the two sick ones while Angie went to church on Sunday.  It is rare for her to get to go to church without any little kids.  Currently working on first of the month paperwork, the Bible Study for this week, and some stuff for this summer.  We finally got our key for the attic and have been storing stuff here and there.  There is some really old stuff up there and I have asked permission to be able to use it of throw it away.  We also got Arianna's official name change requested.  We went to the office to get it done and they told us that we could not do it in person, we have to write a letter :(  What are the odds.  We are working with Andrew to get him to stop sucking his thumb. I think that is probably why he gets sick and spreads it to the rest of the family.  So far his thumb has remained dry all day.  We will see how long it stays that way.  Thanks for you thoughts and prayers.   Continue to be in prayer for us this week and for this month.  God bless, JASON



Just my size.

Peek-a-boo.

Good days.

The last few days have been good.  No one came for the Bible Study last night, but we knew that many would be gone on vacation.  The market went well this morning.  One Muslim stopped by and asked for a Bible.  He said that he had seen several times on television people mention things about what was written in the Bible and that he would like to read for himself. I pray that he finds about the love of Jesus.    I have just about finished making all the parts of the VBS video that I am putting together.  It has been fun, I am think about putting a gag reel at the end.  We just noticed that Andrew's passport will expire this month and that means that we will be making a trip to Marseille to get it renewed.  God bless, JASON

Changing Quick

Last week finished well.  We had three present for the Bible Study.  In spite of

 the threatening weather, I set up the stand at the Market.  It went well and there was not any rain.  I was able to hand out one tract and one Bible.  The weekend passed well.  We enjoyed the services in Carcassonne, France and in Hillsboro, Texas.   Monday started two weeks out of school for the kids.  Lilia is signed up this first week for a sports camp of sorts.  She goes the same hours that she would normally go to school to the gym and participates in different sports.  She wanted to spend time with her friends and I hope that she is able to meet girls her age from other schools because they will all be in the Jr. High together next year.  In the afternoon we went to pick up a piece of furniture (pictured) from the pastor in Carcassonne.  It was a nice piece that I thought would fit into our car, it didn't, but we were able to borrow a trailer and get it here.  Thankfully we have a little more storage in our kitchen now.  Arianna has been eating cereal once a day now.  She really enjoys it.  She was real good for us

 for a few days, but now her teeth are bothering her.  She seems to change like the weather.  It has been interesting the last few days with sudden downpours of rain, followed by sunshine.  We saw a beautiful rainbow yesterday (pictured) with some of the brightest colors I have seen.  I will work on my Bible Study lesson today, answer a Bible question that my language helper had, and work on a question that someone asked at the market (I gave them an oral answer, but wanted to write it down as well).    I wanted to attach this video of Andrew eating the other day.  We still have been laughing so much at meal times.  It would be impossible to tell all of the funny things that happen and that we hear at the table.  We did get Andrew to re-enact how he started eating. JASON

Weather Predictions



Lilia played with Andrew's hair,
grow up quick Arianna !

I painted this last year.

Monday through Wednesday was spent preparing for the sermon that I will preach in Carcassonne the day after Christmas.  I prepared it well in advance so that I would have plenty of time to look over it.  Wednesday at Lilia and Micah's swimming class, Santa Claus showed up, wearing snorkelling equipment.  All the little kids were really excited.  As always, I have been having trouble getting an accurate weather report.  I usually check two or three to get a idea of what the weather will be and even at that they can be wrong.  The forecast was for rain yesterday, and freezing temperatures and snow today.  What we ended up with was snow all morning Thursday, though thankfully it didn't stick.  I was able to get some Christmas items mailed to the states.  This morning it was 50 degrees when I woke up.  We did have the rain however, which meant that  I didn't go to the market.  That gave Angie and I our first chance to do some Christmas shopping together.  This afternoon I am doing some paperwork, and soon I am going to make some pumpkin soup from some pumpkins that were given to us.   The temperature has been dropping all day, so we may end up with snow this evening.  I pray that the weather clears tommorrow afternoon for the Christmas meal and program in Carcassonne that everyone has been looking forward to.  We had only one at the Bible Study, but it was still an excellent time.  Sunday afternoon there is a Carol Service in English at the church in Carcassonne that we will be attending.  Today is the last day of the kids school and so it is the official start of the holiday break for them.  It is also Caleb's birthday today, he is 8 years old.  Attached song, may not be to your style of music and it may reveal my age, but when I was a teenager, it was my Christmas theme, I would play it every Christmas. God bless, JASON  

Winter weather?

This week is progressing good.  It seems that we fought off the invasion of last week.  I have my lesson prepared for next week.  My ankle is doing better.  I went to Basketball practice last night but took it easy.  We got the Christmas decorations up.  The kids are excited about Christmas.  Andrew goes on and on about the tree.  Speaking of Andrew, we were coming home from school one day and Andrew was talking about his friend, Manu.  As he does often, he repeated the name several times while he was thinking of what to say next.  Micah couldn't wait and said, "Your new what!".  Think about it for a little bit and you will get it.  The weather has been nice here but freezing everywhere else in France it seems.  Last week there were record low temperatures in several cities in the North, odd for so early in the year.  Yesterday, Paris was shutdown but several inches of snowfall during the day.  They had to set up roadside shelters for all the stranded motorists.  Yesterday it was 65 degrees here.  It has cooled off some today and the wind is blowing.  I am looking forward to seeing what this winter brings.  Last year we had above average snowfall. The kids are hoping for it again.  The song below is "Une fleur m'a dit".  It is a cute childrens song about finding a flower in the snow and rescuing it, and the flower telling that it is Christmas. Our kids are singing the same tune but with Christian lyrics for the Christmas program in Carcassonne.  God bless, JASON

Empty Attic

The kids enjoyed playing Croque Carotte Friday evening. Micah really enjoyed teaching everyone how to play. Friday I got a lot of work done on the new blog. This blog will have all of my lessons and sermons in French. You can get there by clicking biblerichesses.blogspot.com or the link in the list of links to your right. Saturday morning we visited our first Vide Grenier (ilt. empty attic) or garage sale for us Americans. We found some wonderful deals on furniture, dishes, even a nice bike for 25 euros. We returned with a car load. After lunch we had Andrews birthday party which went real well. He enjoyed his cake and gifts. In the afternoon and into the evening I was able to get the new blog finished and updated and even planted a few rose bushes. It was a warm day, got up to about 85 outside and 80 inside. I will have to look into possibilites of getting an Air Conditioner for the house. In the summer we can usually keep it in the 80's just by venting at the proper times and closing the shutters. But Angie, being pregnant, was close to miserable at 80. It was a little cooler today (Sunday) because some rain moved in, and it is supposed to stay like this all week, so I will have a little time to research the A/C prices. Services went well at the chuch in Carcassonne. They were having Anniversary services, celebrating 13 years. They had a guest speaker and a meal in between the services. I enjoyed getting to hear
the sermons and getting to know the guest speaker who we might have been related too, as he was Irish and his last name was "Clark". Angie taught Sunday School this morning as well. I took them home for lunch and Caleb and I returned for the afternoon service, Angie was a little tired and didn't feel like staying for the meal. I was suprised to see just now that the Euro has dropped to its lowest level since 2006. Hungary announced problems with debt and possible bankruptcy. It will be interesting to see how the world handles this global crisis. Will this end with a global currency? Will one individual step forward with a solution for all?

I need to work on visa paperwork and getting our car worked on this week. The pump for the windshield washer fluid has gone out, but it is still covered under warranty, I think. Attached are pictures of the Birthday party and Angie teaching Sunday-School. God bless, JASON

To have a secret in the drawer.

The weekend went well. Saturday we accepted some furniture from our neighbor, as she is moving. She gave us several nice pieces, we are already praying for whom the Lord will place in the house next. They are not aware of it yet, but they will be hearing about Jesus shortly. Angie did good on the Sunday school lesson, my part went good as well.

The title of this blog is a direct translation of a french phrase "avoir un polichinelle dans le tiroir", "to have a puppet or secret in the drawer". A better English translation would be "to have a bun in the oven". It means to be pregnant. Yes, you guessed it, we are expecting a baby. Surprise! We are surprised yet excited by this news. Angie will be due in early September. That is the reason why we are moving up our trip to the US to be from April through June. We told Lilia last night, after we told our parents, she was really excited. Afterwards I went to her room to check in on her and she said, "Daddy, I am so happy I have been crying." We told the boys this morning. Caleb said, "wow" and wanted to touch Angie's stomach. Micah ran and gave Angie a hug. Andrew said, "We are gonna have a present." The boys kept refering to the new arrival as "he", so I explained that it could be a girl; which none of them had thought about. Lilia liked that idea. So the news is out. Attached pictures are of Micah and Andrew at a week old, Micah at home and Andrew in the NICU. God bless, JASON

Tis the season.

Friday night, we let the kids watch a new movie. Saturday was spent getting the Christmas tree up and decorated. Of course the kids loved it. We take time to remeber where each ornament came from and what some of them mean. We also had our friend Yelena over to visit with us. Saturday night, Andrew had fever, so I went with the three older kids to church in Carcassonne. Services were well and enjoyed the visiting and fellowship afterwards. A church member gave us some fig preserves and some apple prune jelly. What we have tried so far has been very good. Monday morning there was a layer of snow on the ground when we woke up. It continued to snow all morning and into the afternoon. We ended up with several inches of snow on the ground. The kids enjoyed it, and we even let Andrew get out and play in it a little. I will attach pictures of it later. Today Caleb has a fever. Andrew is doing fine but we are keeping him home from school just to make sure he is fully recovered. Angie still has been coughing a lot. She did venture out yesterday with the rest of us to buy Caleb some shoes for his birthday. This sickness going through the family seems to have slowed everything down. I am getting a lot of good reading done in between running the kids to school or shopping. I do hope that everyone is healed by Christmas break. Attached are the picture of our tree and the lights on the outside of our house. God bless, JASON

Laughter.

Saturday we had a good visit from a church member in Carcassonne. He looked at some plumbing issues we had and we talked for a while afterwards while his two daughters played with our kids. Sunday services went well. Monday I finished my monthly report. Tuesday was mostly dealing with finances. I received an e-mail stating that our old internet provider has not received the equipment that we were supposed to (and did) send back after our cancellation with them. I called to try to get the situation worked out before they charge us. After wading through the option I was told it would be a ten minute wait. After about 5 minutes and automated message came on and said that in fact the call volume was too long so I would need to call back later. No problem.

We have been having a lot of laughter recently. A lot of it is due to our sudden inability to speak proper english. During supper last night, I was instructing Caleb, that we should not ask for "dirt" before the meal is finished. Lilia said she could write with her "gauche" hand. Andrew mentioned that he was Lightning McQueen, to which Micah replied, "Well I'm a queen." It all made for a lot of laughs. It has been like that at supper time for about a week now. A couple of nights ago, one of the kids was talking in their sleep in French. Andrew walked in the kitchen one day while Angie was cutting up a red bell pepper and said loudly, "Bob!". Veggietales fans will understand that one.

Angie is not feeling well, a little achy and fever, but so far I do not think it is the "Grippe A". The weather has been cold, windy, and rainy for the last few days, so maybe she is just "under the weather". Tomorrow will be mainly the kids swimming class and in the evening, we will have Yelena over for supper and maybe even some singing. It is hard to believe that December is already here. The attached picture is one we took of Andrew at a church we visited while raising support. He had fallen asleed in his high chair. They are still so cute, especially when they are sleeping. God bless, JASON

Cat Flu

Andrew was sick all weekend, starting Friday night. He had a temperature and no appetite. Him not being hungry was a real sign that he was sick. I took Lilia and Caleb to church Sunday and we enjoyed the services. Monday we got Andrew to the Doctor. Thankfully it was not the swine flu or any other flu, but most likely an ear infection. He is doing a lot better today. Our schedule was all messed up with Andrew not sleeping well. He ate most of his sandwich for lunch today and I fed the rest to a cat that stops by the house. I wondered if the cat would get sick from Andrew. Angie mentioned that we could end up with a new strain of sickness. Tomorrow is Veterans day in France. There is a small ceremony in every town. If Andrew is up to it, I would like to go to the one in Magrie while Angie takes Lilia and Caleb to their swimming class. Attached picture is one we took last Friday, you can tell Andrew was already starting to feel bad. God bless, JASON

Bi-lingual kids.

A few nights ago while I was washing the dishes, I have a conversation with Lilia, all in French. It was amazing to see her ease at talking. You could not tell a difference in her speed and comfort-ability. It was just as she was speaking English. We were walking to school one day and I was heading to drop off Micah and then Lilia when we heard a couple of boys say something to each other. Lilia and I could not make it out, but Micah heard what they said. Andrew went to the Doctor a few weeks ago for a check-up. He was a little shy at first, but lightened up and started following whatever the doctor said. Toward the end of the meeting the Doctor jokingly said that it was because he was so mean that the kids do what he says. Andrew replied right back and said "Non." He knew what the Doctor was saying and knew from the tone that he was just playing. All that from a 3 year old who barely spoke English when we arrived.  Caleb has never had problems with the French and he reads well in French. Angie gives Lilia and Caleb english lessons, for about 30 minutes a day during the Lunch break. She started yesterday letting Caleb read books to her. So Caleb read his first book in English. He was so excited he wanted to read it to everyone as a bedtime story. Friday night was our family night and we watched the movie "Up" ("Là-haut"). We had a wonderful time watching it together. It was an excellent movie I would recommend to people of all ages. We had to pause and rewind a few times because everyone was laughing so hard. Yesterday we also enjoyed a brief visit with the pastor in Carcasonne when we went there to do a few errands. We need to invite several people over this next week. God bless, JASON

And we're off.

Andrew's birthday party went real well. We had to change plans because it was raining so we had it at the house instead. It went really well and was well attended. Services went well this morning. I enjoy going to church. I have often heard people say that they can worship just as well at home, so why go to church. My first question to them is "Well do you? (have services at home)" Most of the time they do not. God however, commands and demonstrated by example that we need to go to church. Going to a place with other Christians to serve, worship, and learn. I heard once of a man who stopped going to church, whatever the reason. The pastor when to visit him one cold morning. The man let him in and without a word they sat down in the living room in front of the fire. The was an uncomfortable silence as either did not know what to say. Suddenly the pastor had an idea. He went to the fire place and racked one of the red glowing coals out of the fire and then sat back down. The coal faded to black in a matter of minutes. Then the pastor went back and put the coal back in with the others, it was just a matter of seconds before it was glowing red again. The pastor then got his coat to leave and as he walked out the man said, "Thanks for the sermon pastor, I will be back next Sunday." I enjoyed sitting in the French services this morning, I worshiped God, I learned more about him, and I served. I also enjoyed being in our home church's services through Skype.

Now that the kids are tucked in, we're off to the homework. Part of the homework that I will looking forward to is preparing some bible lessons in French. Enjoy the pictures from Andrew's birthday party and God bless, JASON

Friday again.

We have had a busy but productive Friday. Today is Andrew's birthday. He is now three years old. We will have a party with his friends at the language school garden tomorrow. He is pictured above playing soccer, he has a good level of skill already. He has already got it down to say three and hold up the three fingers when someone asks how old he is.

Last week we sent our papers by email to the real estate agent in Limoux. We never heard anything from him. We called earlier in the week and left messages but received no call back. Angie called and got a hold of the secretary today. She said that the could not open the PDF files. Okay. Angie asked why they didn't but the lady had no answer. So we got them faxed this evening.

In slightly less amazing news, Barak Obama arrived at Orly Airport today, just about 2 miles from where we live. He plans to be here for the D-day festivities in the North. I do not think that he plans on coming to the birthday party.

This weekend I have a lot of school work to do. We have a test Monday and Tuesday. The big language test on Wednesday. I have a short lesson to bring Monday and the chapel service to do Friday. And on top of that our usual homework. But right now it is time to enjoy a movie with the birthday boy. God bless, JASON

Buying a Car in France

Our car buying process has been moving along slowly. One reason is because of the particular kind of car that we are trying to buy. The Dacia is a very popular car right now and in high demand. We spoke with a dealer here in Massy, he did a search for the one we wanted in the Paris region and could not find one. So he offered us one he has on his lot, the only problem we have with it is that it has no Air conditioning, something Angie was really wanting, being in the south of France in a couple of months. We had planned on buying this particular car anyway yesterday but decided we should check with other dealers. We found a Renault dealership in Versailles who were really helpful. They have one on their lot as well. We are going to check with them today and look at the one they have available. For some reason he did not want to tell me about it over the phone. Maybe it was our language difficulties. If that is not what we want then we may just go ahead and order one direct from the dealer and work out things from there. We have some decisions to make as to how the next few months are going and so we need to move ahead with our car decisions to begin preparing for the future. As always we have prayed for God's guidance and knowledge in our decisions. Hopefully I will know more later today about the process of buying a car in France. I will be going to the dealership alone as Micah and Andrew have been sick to their stomach last night and this morning. With God's help we will get it figured out. Attached picture is of Andrew as he "figured out" how he could get a drink without a cup. God bless, JASON

Back into the swing of things.

School has gotten started back up like there wasn't even a break. In fact, we have a test on Thursday.
Angie has been sick. She has a sore throat, achy joints, and a intermittent fever. She has missed school these last two days. Join me in praying for her quick recovery.
Spring seems to have left again. The high was only 58 today. It has been rainy, and there was even a little hail. The sunshine and spring weather are supposed to be back next week. I was walking the kids back to school after lunch today and it started sprinkling on us. Micah asked, "Is it raining?" I replied that is was. He then said, "It must be Monday." I don't know how he comes up with these things.
I am expecting a phone call tomorrow from a French Association that we might be looking to granting us the invitation to work here in France. I am looking forward to it but also am a little nervous because it is difficult to speak French on the phone, actually I think the harder part is to understand what the other person is saying more than speaking.
I have not mentioned in a while the young man, Clint, a member of our church who was severely burned (85%) recently, he is doing well, but still has a lot to face. If you would like to follow his progress more closely you can go to my Dad's blog, the link is to the right.
Andrew 's potty training is going real well. I am pleasantly surprised. What he really likes is the applause everyone gives him after a successful trip. Now he goes and tells everyone afterwards so that they will clap for him. God bless, JASON

Inauguration perspective.

We got into a conversation in class yesterday about the inauguration. The person who covered the event for France TV (I think it was the prime minister) made several observations that showed the difference in thinking between a christian nation and a secular one. He alluded to it making no sense to swear on a bible. He said that Rick Warren was a conservative pastor. He also said that Aretha Franklin's singing was like the "incantations" that they sing in church. Certainly points out the different point of view. I fell down the stairs at the language school yesterday as well. Thankfully just some bruises and nobody saw me. I had a good conversation this week with a representative for Greater Europe Mission. We had a good visit. Please join us in praying for he Lord to show us which organization He has for us to partner with to get our residence visa in France. We went to the zoo again to see the animals but they it didn't work out once again. They said that it was the city that claimed that without discussing it with the circus first. But we did get to walk around and see some animals from outside the fence. We saw seals, lions, tigers, leopard, and a huge cow. They kids then got to play at the park for a little bit. The park is next to a big hill and it is really cold with the wind blowing. A pastor friend of ours will be visiting some this next week with his family, we look forward to seeing them. Attached is a picture of Andrew over a year ago, when we at a conference and he fell asleep after eating. God bless, JASON

One thing leads to another.

We got several things done today. Soon after I woke up, I went to school to have student/teacher time. You can sign up for these moments throughout the week. They are one on one time with the teacher answering any questions and helping out in any way you need it. They are very helpful. I was asking about pronounciation on a couple of songs. Tomorrow, I will be leading the music during our chapel service and want to pronounce things right. After that I went to the Post Office to mail a book to some missionary friends in Kosovo. I only had to wait about 20 minutes. Afterwards I practiced the songs for tomorrow some. After lunch, macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, I worked on Angie's computer. I got it connected to the internet and it has been giving us some problems with internet explorer. I decided to download the firefox browser and then had to update a couple of other items, which required me to download winzip. One thing led to another. But a success, because I am doing this blog on Angie's computer. Afterwards I had a phone call with a man from an organization that we are considering partnering with. Then, I went to the grocery store and helped Angie make supper, gave two boys a bath. Angie has gone to help out a new student with some homework. I will start my homework after this and then gather some visa paperwork together.
A couple of items for prayer, we are currently searching for a group to invite us into the country for us to get our resident visa, prayer that we will find the organization that God will want us to have. Also be in prayer for our schooling, we are in our last six months stretch, pray that we will learn all that we can and also that the funds will be present to finish paying for school in a timely manner.
I will finish up with a Andrew quote this time. The 2 1/2 year old walked in with a small blanket wrapped around him like a cape. "Are you Batman?" I asked. "No", he said, "I cold". God bless, JASON

Looking to the next puddle.

Hello again. Our weekend went well. It was nice to have health returned to the family. Angie and I enjoyed our date night Friday. We went out and eat and then went to talk to several friends at the language school for a couple of hours. Our thanks goes to Katie and Michael who watched the kids and even put them to bed. Saturday we planned on going to see the circus animals. Massy has a huge international circus and it was announced at the language school that we could take the kids to see the animals on Saturday or Sunday. We went to find out that the announcement was false, it was the following weekend. We let the kids play in the park and headed home and let them watch a movie. Saturday night Andrew had a fever. The night passed slowly with several interruptions. I took the three older kids to church Sunday. Andrew seemed to be doing okay by Sunday night. I was noticing something that caught my attention Saturday while I was walking home with Andrew. He loves to stomp in the puddles. He walks with one hand holding on to the stroller and he knows not to let go. So, as we walk I dodge the puddles as best I can so that they are out of his reach. He tries stretching for them, but usually he passes by without success. The first puddle he missed he looked back at it after we passed long enough that he missed another puddle, but every other one following that he missed stomping in he would just look on to the next puddle. That impressed me. Several times I get caught looking back at the puddles I have passed (opportunities missed). It is possible to miss more opportunities because you get caught looking at the puddles behind you. Our time would be better spent looking at the puddle we can see in front of us, not the ones behind and not the ones in front of us that we can't see yet. Why does he continue to try for those puddles, because he remembers those times he gets to land in one. I was wanting to include in that illustration something about how when he stomps in one I get splashed as well, but I think I would be dragging the puddle illustration out a little too much. I received word this past weekend that a pastor friend of ours is going to be laying over in Paris a couple of days on his way to visit his missionary in Kenya. We look forward to that puddle. Attached picture is of Andrew after desert one night, another puddle he enjoyed. God bless, JASON

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's day to you all! I hope you all have been made to feel special today by your valentine. Jason got me a plant with pink flowers and I got him some chocolates. Not that that really matters to you all but I just thought I'd share. I am home again with Andrew. He was feeling really bad yesterday until I finally gave him some medicine. I called Ian, the student here who is a doctor also. He said Andrew is ok and does not have the contagious form of conjuctivitis but he may take a week to get better. We are on day four now. He was wanting to get ready this morning with the others so he got his shoes on too.

Yesterday we enjoyed a good visit from Virginie and TJ and I got to talk to my dad on our home phone now that it is working. Jason also bought us a printer yesterday. It will be nice to have one again. He bought it from and electronics and appliance store called "Boulanger" which is also the word for baker and it is on the every bakers sign. So it is strange to say he got the printer from the boulanger. Later I went to the same store and picked up an electronic kitchen scale so I can weigh things in grams. I also got hair clippers so I can give the boys much needed haircuts.

At school this week we started learning more kitchen/cooking vocabulary. That will make reading instructions and recipes a lot easier.

Hope you are all well. Thanks for your prayers. ANGIE