Stand up

This could almost be a blog in pictures.  The Easter weekend went real well.  We enjoyed the services in Carcassonne and listening to the services in Hillsboro as well.  We started two weeks with the kids at home.  They started two weeks of spring break.  It rained most of Saturday.  Monday, Lilia rocked Arianna to sleep twice.  Arianna also pulled herself up to the standing position by herself, for the first time.  She had found one of the kids chairs and pushed it on her knees all the way to me, and when it stopped against my legs, she stood up. Later Monday evening, a neat line of storms blowed in from the east.  It was very pretty to watch over the hills.  So the attached pictures are of, Lilia with Arianna sleeping in her lap and Arianna standing up, rain clouds moving in, and the Easter egg hunt.  One other funny quote from Caleb.  He came in while I was cutting up some carrots.  I asked him what he would do if I cut off my finger and blood was squirting everywhere.  He said, "I would go outside."  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  

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

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

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

The weather outside is frightful.

The great news is Angie is continuing to improve. Yesterday she was able to smell the food that I cooked. Her voice is still a little raspy and she coughs occasionally. Today she is getting out to do some Christmas shopping. I just spent some time painting with the kids. All the kids seem to be better today as well. I hope all the sickness is behind us for a while. Angie was sick for three weeks. Yesterday we had another snowy morning. What I would call a blizzard came through after I dropped the kids off for school and covered the grounds and the roads in snow. I did not want to try to make it up our road, which is steep, so I parked at the bottom and walked up. I could tell by the footprints in the snow that three others had done the same thing. The snow didn't fall for long and I was able to drive all the way home after lunch. It has been cold. The temperature has not gone over freezing in the last few days. We celebrated Caleb's birthday, which was Thursday. He turned 7 years old. He was feeling a little better thankfully by the time we had the party. I am looking forward to the time off now more since Angie is better. Tuesday evening I will be speaking at the English Carol service in Carcassonne. It has been a while since I have spoken publicly in English. Hope that you weekend is blessed and that you find time to worship God. 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

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

Vacation in full swing.

The vacation has been good so far. Monday Angie got the shopping done. We have managed well to stay in our budget. Tuesday we had the visiting pastor and his family over. We had a real good time with them. Their kids and ours played together all afternoon. Angie left this morning to get our friends from Massy. I had planned on going, but this morning she decided she would like to so she and Lilia have left and will return tomorrow. Attached pictures are Lilia and Caleb reading their Bibles before we left for church (for Caleb's sake they chose French). God bless, JASON

Swimming translation

I forgot to mention what happened while during Lilia and Calebs swimming class. There was a scheduled power outage at the house so we all went to the pool as a family to watch Lilia and Caleb's swimming class. I noticed in Caleb's class that one boy was not doing what everyone else was. I then saw Caleb say something to the teacher, swim over to the boy and talk with him, then I saw the boy join the rest of the group. Afterwards Caleb explained what happened. The new boy did not understand what to do because he spoke English. So Caleb ask if he could explain it, he swam over to the boy and explained what to do. I was proud of him. Caleb's teacher asked to speak with me today. She was just wanting to make sure that Caleb was doing okay with his homework. She wanted to make sure that he had some French interaction over the holidays. She was a little worried about him having trouble with the French in the future. I think that she is not used to having an English kid in the class. He seems to be doing just fine. He did mention that sometimes he doesn't not understand everything the teacher says. Lilia said neither does she or even the French kids in her class. Today was the start of a week and a half of from school. We plan next week to go back to Massy and get some good friends of ours and bring them down for the weekend. We are looking forward to visiting with them and I am sure they need a break from language school as well.  God bless, JASON

TCF

The week is passing well. We finished three tests already this week. The main test was today. The TCF (test de connaissance de la langue française) is a test that tests the french level of foreigners. We took the parts "grammaire", oral comprehension, and reading comprehension. There are two other parts that were optional oral and written expression. We opted not to take them. The test took about and hour and a half. It was difficult at times. The questions are organized so that they get harder the further you go. In three weeks we should have the results. They will be program down by section so that we will know what areas we are weaker in and which we are stronger in. I am hoping for a level B2. I will explain later exactly what that is. Thanks for the prayers . We are still waiting to hear if we have been approved for the house in Limoux. I got a call yesterday from the real estate agent saying he needed another paper. I wrote it quickly and got it signed by our missions treasurer and faxed it the next day. Hopefully we will be hearing from them soon. Attached picture is from Caleb's end of school program last week. He in the center. He did an excellent job. God bless, JASON

Spring?

Things are going well today. Angie went to the Dr. this morning. She has not had any fever since last week but her throat was still bothering here she felt tired all of the time. Come to find out she has strep throat. He put her on Antibiotics and she should be back to normal soon. We have just came back from out first attempt to buy a car. Here is how it went. We walked around inside the dealership and when no one approached us we approached them and explained what we were wanting. The salesmen (who spoke French like it was a race to get the words out) brought some brochures and showed us the options. I was looking at the Dacia Logan MCV Ambiance, which is the lower class and has the least options, but it turns out that with the options that we wanted (like Air Conditioning and 7 seats), they come standard in the more luxury version and would be cheaper. The Ambiance listed at 13,900 and adding the A/C alone would add 900. While the other version was 15,100 including A/C and other accessories that would be nice to have like a radio. Then he told us that it would not be in until the end of July. That wouldn't work because we are moving the first of July. We then asked if he could look around at what was available at the dealerships in the Paris Area. He said he could check on that and get back with us this evening because the secretary was out to lunch. So now we are waiting for his call and hopefully Angie or I, most likely Angie, will be able to understand him over the phone.
This coming Friday we are having a "Texas" BBQ at the school which we are looking forward to. We are still waiting for the normal spring weather to arrive. It was chilly and windy today. I have attached a picture that I took out of the window during winter and one that I took today. Let me also insert a quote from Caleb this time. He just asked, "Is chocolate made from spinach?" God bless, JASON

Meet the Teacher

Thursday afternoon Angie met with Calebs teachers. It went well they said he did good in class and was just a little timid when he was in large groups. Friday a couple at the language school offered to babysit everyones kids and let the parents go out. We had already been invited to eat dessert at a friends house. The kids really wanted to go to the babysitting and play with the other kids, so we let them go for an hour and then picked then up for the dessert at the friends house. Saturday I meet with Lilia's teacher. The meeting went well. The teacher praised Lilia for being the "head of the class" and only after being in the country for a little over the year. He said she was a quick thinker and participated good in class. I'm a little proud of her. God bless, JASON

Fly by.

This week has been flying by. Wednesday we had a wonderful visit from several friends. We met them for lunch in Paris and had a wonderful visit and even was able to show them around to several sites, the Eiffel Tower, the Arce de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. It was a really good visit, many thanks to our babysitter who watched the kids at home for us. After we got the kids to bed we worked on our semester end oral test. We did it this morning. It went well I think. We had to give a list of headlines like a news report and explain one of them in detail. After lunch I lead the music in Chapel, I had a wonderful time teaching the students a new song. This evening the weather was really nice so we let the kids play at the playground after school. We had several good conversations with other French parents. Angie took Lilia and Caleb for their end of semester meeting with the teacher. They both are doing well. They mentioned that Caleb needs to work as hard on the subjects that he dislikes as he does on the subjects that he likes. That is probably true for us all. Angie had a diner at the school this evening that a Swiss student prepared. (I will have to get her to describe it later) Me and boys had a good time at home with out pizza and "boy time" which includes of course, wrestling and tickles. Time got away from us and it was already 8:15 by the time the pizza was finished cooking. The kids are all to bed now and I will do a little paper work and homework and then off to bed. Goodnight and God bless, JASON

Another week has passed.

It has been over a week since my last blog. My apologies. This week has been packed full it seems like. Saturday we got our Visa renewal paperwork filled out and sent off. Services went good last Sunday, we volunteered to keep the nursery, which we will be doing tomorrow. We have had a lot of homework this week from school, which has kept us busy in the evenings. Wednesday morning, I had a meeting with my teacher to look over my sermon for Friday, Angie went shopping, Lilia had a dentists appointment and I had a phone call with a member of Greater Europe Mission for over an hour, and all that was before noon. Afterwards I went to Paris and met Chad, his wife and two kids. He is a pastor who is going to Kenya to visit their Missionaries - the Taylors, who are good friends of ours. We had a good time in Paris and then headed to our place to eat. On the way here there was an announcement that there had been an accident at the train station nearest our house. We excited one stop earlier and walked. Come to found out someone had jumped in front of the coming train and committed suicide. We enjoyed a good meal and visit with them. Thursday night, I finished the last touches on my sermon and went to bed early. Friday we had some language school friends over for lunch. The sermon went well. This was the first sermon in French that Angie has heard me preach. It is the fourth one I have given at the language school but Angie has never been able to make it for various reasons. I will post the sermon soon. Friday night, several couples and individuals volunteered to watch all the kids so the parents could go out. The ended up watching 14 kids. Angie and I and another couple, took a train to Antony (next town up, about a mile up the road) and ate at a restaurant there and took the bus back. We had a good time and visit and really appreciate those who gave us this opportunity by watching our kids from 6 to 10. Brave. This morning I got our finances all straightened out for the month and got a door hung in the bathroom. Caleb lost one of his bottom teeth this morning as well. I am thankful because it had been annoying him. I will attache a picture that Chad drew of Lilia while he was here. It only took about 20 minutes and he did a good job. God bless, JASON

Awesome!

The first great news is that Caleb accepted Christ as his savior Thursday night. The evening devotional that we had was when Abraham was asked to offer his only son Isaac. He asked several good questions afterwards and was obviously feeling convicted. When I went passed his room later that night he was praying in his bed. He told us in the morning that he had asked Jesus to save him. Awesome!

The cold weather is still hanging out. Wednesday was the coldest day in Paris since 1987. Caleb asked on the way home from school if there would be snow tomorrow, when I told him there would be it was sad because he was tired of being cold, he said.

At the kids school they showed a video in Lilia's class about a boy who wanted to dance ballet and fell in love with his best (boy) friend. Afterwards that had discussion where they told the class that that was okay. Lilia said she didn't like it because of the language too. A little idea of what they will face in public school in France. At our school we learned a new verb tense this week, conditional passe. I hope we are close to running out of verb tenses. Friday I went with another language school student to Leroy Merlin (like Home Depot or Lowes), we had a good time just wondering around. Saturday Angie took several of the new language school ladies shopping. January and July are the big sale months in France. Almost everything in the stores at 50-60% off. Angie is good at helping the new ladies at the school get settled. She helps with paperwork, comforts them about cultural things, listens, offers advice when asked, and . . . she just helps in many ways. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful helpmate. Attached are picture of Lilia with a snowball she brought home and Andrew's hair that everyone had fun playing with Friday night. God bless, JASON

School break.

Angie went to a concert Thursday night with some of the teachers and students from school, She had a wonderful time.

School has finished for the rest of this year. Angie beat me by several points again, but I am used to it. We said "goodbye" to several students that will not be returning the new year. Our prayers go out to them and their various mission points and ventures. We have reached level B1. I will have to find the paper that describes exactly what that means.

At three this afternoon, I meet with man who is the works closely with many Christians organizations in France. I found out from talking with him which organization would line up with our goals and beliefs so that I can pursue getting our invitation for a residence visa through them.

As Angie and I where on the way to school to pick up the kids we were passing a building where there are usually several mentally handicapped people. Angie had crossed this way before when a girl had asked to go home with her and when Angie said "no thanks". The young lady burst into crying and tears. I have seen the girl several times always crying, loudly. Today as we were just about to walk by, Angie saw this same girl approaching. She mentioned for us to cross to the other side of the street but it was too late. Suddenly this voice shouts out next to me in French (loud enough to make me jump), "I must go home!" She repeated this several times when her attention was draw away by another person we crossed the street. After giving this person the same demanding statement she started crying and continued down the road. Then I hear her say, "Monsieur, Madame?" And I see her crossing the street and she makes the same statement to us again. I was just going to say "No", when Angie spoke in her sweet voice, "Be careful walking in the road, are you ready for Christmas?". The lady made a few brief remarks that I couldn't make out and then crossed back to her side of the street. And she started singing her phrase, "I must go home." over and over again, in a completely happy and content voice. What a change can be made by just a few kind words.

I was blessed yesterday with two occasions to help others, one elderly women to climb some stairs and another lady move her trashcan off the street. I feel really good when I have the opportunity to help others. The elderly women's entire countenance changed and she was happily talking to us and telling how nice it was of me (I did have all the kids with me, they probably were the reason for the nice comments).

Attached is a picture of Caleb on his birthday, Wednesday, with the cake he picked out for himself. God bless, JASON

Just us guys.

Our friends, Nikki and Gemma, arrived from Scotland and Angie and Lilia are touring Paris with them. We became friends with them at a Missions Seminar a few years ago in North Little Rock, Lilia and Gemma really got along well. They are from New Zealand. Micah didn't stop talking for the first two hours they were here yesterday. So it is just us guys at home now. I took a nice nap with Andrew, good quality time. Caleb always asks to have "boy time", meaning we all get on the floor and wrestle, until somebody gets hurt or Angie makes us stop. Angie is not here, so you can deduce what that will mean. We are going to have hot dogs for supper, one of my favorite meals. Tomorrow they expressed interest in going to one of the French churches for worship and a new cultural experience. Attached picture demonstrates how they get furniture into there apartment buildings. This wide ladder has a lift that runs from top to bottom. God bless, JASON

I don't know.

We asked Micah what he did at school. He happily replied, "I don't know." We have had a time getting information from him. I think how often God could asked us what we are doing and we would reply the same. I just heard Caleb talking about some friends of ours that were students here at the language school, he asked when they were coming back. Angie said that they are not coming back, they are moving to Congo. Caleb said, "Oh man, that's a long planet." I also forgot to mention that Andrew locked himself in the bathroom Friday. We tried to talking him to turning the key but could not. We tried everything else we could, taking off the doorknob, and all that we could think off. I finally had to kick the door in. Andrew was scared and upset but he is all right. The door fared worse and will be replaced today.

We are getting ready for my parents to arrive. I have the scheduled all planned out, what we are eating and what we are doing. I think that the weather will cooperate with our plans. I will meet them at the airport and we will show them around Massy. Wednesday we will see some sites in Paris. Thursday, Dad and I will hike "la coulée verte", hiking trail to Paris. Friday we are renting a car and going to Normandy. Saturday Angie and my mom and going to the mall. Sunday after bible study we are going to the Louvre (free the first Sunday of the month). Monday is open to whatever Mom and Dad want to do, Possible more sites in Paris or Versailles. Mostly I am looking forward to sitting and talking. I will hopefully find time to post pictures and updates as we go. Be sure to check out Dad's blog (link is to the right) to see his perspectives. Pictured is my Mom and Dad at my sisters wedding shower. God bless, JASON