This little piggy, Vigipirate

Andrew dressed up for the carnaval.

Here I am playing the piano at church.

Lilia put Arianna's hair up.

All the almond trees are in bloom.

What another great week that we had.  We had a few days of rain, but Friday ended up being beautiful.  It rained and was windy on Wednesday and Thursday, so much that while we were at basketball practice some insulation fell from the gym ceiling.  Thursday night, after our Bible study, I had not planned on going to the market on Friday morning because I felt that the weather would not be good.  However when I walked out of the front door on Friday morning to take the kids to school, I was greated by a clear sky and no wind, with birds chirping.  So I joined one of those little piggies and went to the market. We had a great time with several people showing up at the same time.  Friday afternoon, Angie had a doctors appointment while I had my language session with my language helper Eric.  Eric and I worked on writing a formal letter, a request to have Arianna's name corrected on her French birth certificate (it only has one "n").  Formal writing is always a good excercise because you end up using totally different vocabulary and style.  Angie's doctors visit went well.  Her blood pressure is high and she had an infection, so an antibiotic and some blood pressure meds will be in her diet the next few weeks.  Arianna had a doctors appointment as well on Wednesday for her 18 month checkup.  She is doing good.  She is now at the middle of the average size for her age.  Up until now she had been on the lower end of the growth curve.  The boys had the carnaval this week and dodged the rain and the "vigipirate".  As a result of the shootings in Toulouse, an hour from here, the terror alert level was raised to level "vigipirate on Wednesday.  Meaning all public school events were cancelled and there were barriers and officers posted in front of the schools.  Thankfully they caught the person responsible.  Caleb seemed touched by the whole situation, he was keeping up with everything at his school, and even asked to make sure I locked the door at night.   Saturday was a busy day, the kids cross country run that morning was cancelled (vigipirate) so I helped a friend pick up some utility poles he plans on using as fencing.  Saturday after lunch we had a family over with two boys, one is in Micah's class.  We had a really good visit with them.  The moved here about the same time as we did and are originally from Paris.  I read in the newspaper recently that this is the fastest growing region of France.  I thought that was due to the amount of retired people who settle down here, but retirees only make up 14% of those moving in.  So many are young families.  Late saturday afternoon we had tea with one of my basketball teamates (who also moved here from Paris a few months ago).  Thankfully we remembered to advance our clocks on Saturday night.  I played the piano at the church in Carcassonne Sunday morning.  Which despite my lack of experience, went well.  Lilia went to a swimming competition in Wednesday and on Sunday morning.  She did well in both.  Wednesday she won bronze in the relay.  Sunday she won first on the 100m backstroke, and 2nd in another type.  Since she was a the competition, we had an extra place in the car to give a teenager a ride to church.  Her parents recently bought a bed and breakfast nearby, the Domaine Michaud, that they are re-doing,it was amazing, if you have the means I would definitely suggest a stay there.  We stopped by after church for a quick walk thru tour.  Today we are enjoying beautiful weather once and again and getting some work done.  Hope you have a blessed week, JASON

We'll work

We found this large earthworm while planting roses.

Arianna and Lilia give eachother a look.

The kids playing ping pong next door.

We were blessed with another good week.  We had a few visits the beginning of the week, but most of the time was spent on paperwork.  I got our tickets for our trip to the states this summer.  I got our state-side taxes done. Wednesday, I fixed the kids bikes, again.  We also planted some roses in the flower bed and trimmed some trees.  The weather has been absolutely wonderful with it warming up into the 60's during the afternoons.   Thursday's Bible Study went well, we stayed and visited afterwards for a while.    Friday morning's market was a little better attended, but still not many people stopped by, besides the regulars.  Friday afternoon, I helped a friend put on a new porch.  I hauled 800 kg of concrete to him, over the course of the afternoon (or at least so I thought).  Saturday, while Angie was taking our neighbor to pick up some groceries, she met a friends that invited us over that afternoon.  We stayed and visited with them for a while in their new house that is not too far from ours.  In fact, the kids went on bicycles.  That evening Angie and Lilia attended the youth meeting in Carcassonne.  They had a good time and even met the parents of a new attendee who is Dutch.  Sunday afternoon, we had some visitors after church.  Lilia and Caleb watched the rugby match on TV at a neighbors house and played some ping pong as well.  France was beaten by England by 2 points.  Today I did work in the office, and received several calls.  This afternoon I helped finish putting down the concrete. We found out that they misunderstood last time and had given us only 400 kg on Friday.  So today we had the real 800 kg.  We did manage to finish before dark.  We also invitied him to eat with us afterwards and had a good long visit.  Today the kids have a dress up carnaval at school.  We will be taking several trip to see them.   This evening one of my teamates will have dinner with us along with his girlfriend.  Looking forward to this week.  God bless, JASON

Da Da

These are some pictures of the Carnaval from Sunday.  Tuesday evening's Basketball practice went well.  I am trying to put in more effort and do the best I can.  As it says in Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Work hard at whatever you do."  It paid off because our team won the scrimmage.  Wednesday Caleb took an all day trip into the mountains for his Wednesday sporting event.  Micah and Lilia did their swimming lessons.  Lilia is progressing well and her instructor has asked her to stay at it and join in the competition next year.  I don't know what she wants to do.  She seems to enjoy it.  Arianna was saying "Da da" all day yesterday.  It was music to my ears.  In the afternoon, Andrew, Micah, and I got our haircut.  Micah attended a birthday party at McDonalds.  I had a good talk with my parents last night. Andrew had slight fever yesterday as well, and as a result is home from school today.  Looking forward to my language session with Eric this afternoon and the Bible Study tonight.  God bless, JASON

The Carnaval at Limoux

We are nearing the end of the Carnaval of Limoux.  It is the self proclaimed longest carnaval in the world.  It is every weekend from January to Mars.  It mostly consits of live bands performing folk musique in a parade with costumed groups following along, and a lot of confetti.  I will attach later some pictures of the real carnaval that Lilia and I attended this past Sunday.  They also get the kids involved as well.  Monday morning was Micah's turn to join in a parade around the town square, dressed as a storm tropper. It was Andrew's turn Monday afternoon, his entire class dressed as clowns.  Lilia and Caleb had their turn this morning.  Lilia was a singer and Caleb was zorro.  They had fun and even though it consumed most of our day it was nice to see them and get to visit with the other parents as well.  They all really enjoyed throwing the confetti.  Arianna seemed to enjoy it as well.  She was worn out afterwards, here she is after falling alseep leaning on me.  God bless, JASON