Reindeer games

Happy 9th birthday Caleb!

Lilia was serving tables at the Christmas dinner.

Andrew and Micah during the Christmas play.

We had a good week, busy but we did get a lot accomplished.  I prepared lessons for Thursday night, devotion and kids lesson for Sunday, English devotion for the Carol Service.  Unpacked several boxes, installed shower head, installed new bathroom lock, hung a light in the kitchen, repaired a door knob.  Thankfully the sickness was all behind us.  The kids had a good last week of school, the whole family seemed to be waiting for Friday to come.  We celebrated Caleb;s birthday Saturday.  He turned 9.  He had a friend over that he had not seen in a while, because the boy had changed schools.  They had a wonderful time playing together.  Even Arianna joined in the fun and roughness that comes along with boys.  Saturday evening was the big Christmas dinner outreach with the church in Carcassonne.  The kids performed a sketch, I will try to share the video later.   The dinner went well, and the kids did a good job on the skit.  Sunday services went well, Angie said I did a good job leading the service and I try to believe her.  Of all the opinions of others, hers counts the most.  We had a restful afternoon.  The director of the skit to the kids out for ice cream at McDonalds sunday afternoon.  Today we had a good time enjoying the activities downtown.  They had a free obstacle course and zip line, as well as a reindeer sleigh ride, that all the kids enjoyed.  We met another family there and they visited at our house afterwards.  We did have a good time even though it was cold and misting at times.   Angie has gone shopping and I now hear a little voice calling to me, it seems to be saying, "I have woke up from my nap and I want to get up and have a snack."  Of course to others it would just sound like a baby crying, but I know what she means.  Arianna is saying several words and even phrases and it is cute.  Blessings, JASON

Fruitcake

Christmas day ended well. We played with the kids, talked with both of our parents on Skype. I made some Fruit cake as well. I guessed at all the amounts, but it came out well. The color was a little of because the graham crackers (actually cookies) were a lighter color, and the only marshamellows we could find were pink and white. But it tasted good never-the-less. Saturday I got our financial reports done and spent the rest of the day straightening and playing with the kids. It rained all day long. Sunday was nice and sunny. Services where good in Carcassonne, the sermon was over Simeon from Luke ch. 2 and what we could learn from him. Afterwards we went home with Neil and Helen, a British couple who have a vacation home in a village not too far from Carcassonne. We enjoyed a good meal and visit together. They served fruit cake for dessert and it was very good. We all sat outside and watched the kids play and enjoyed the sunshine. We made it back in time to hear the services from our Church in Texas. Tomorrow I will work on the monthly report to be sent to all our supporting churches. Angie's cough which had seemed to almost have disappeared was worse today and yesterday. Please join me in praying that it does not get any worse. Attached pictures are of our meal and a view of the Pyrennes Mountains just south of us. God bless, JASON

Soiree.

We invited our language school teacher and her husband over for dinner Monday night. It went real well. Angie and I and the kids spoke french for the entire evening, several hours. Suprisingly it wasn't too difficult. Afterwards we breathed a small sigh of relief and talked a little without having to think a lot before hand. The weather has cooled off a little here and there is thunder rolling in the distance. I like bad weather myself. I looked forward to moving here because I knew they got more rain than we did in East Texas. So far we had not had any big storms because the weather has been cool still. I'm looking forward to seeing some good storms this summer. Thankfully the exchange rate has taken a turn in our favor. Over the last week it has dropped 5 cents. If it stays this low or gets any lower I may make a large withdrawal to put into our bank account here just to have while the exchange rate is good. God bless, JASON