Gifts

Sarturday finished well.  I finished all the lessons and had a good time at a friends birthday party.  The highlight was that we received a package from my parents filled with goodies for the kids.  Pictured is the boys playing with their new transformers.  We received a package on Friday from friends

 as well that had asked us what we needed.  Inside was the biggest jar of peanut butter I have ever seen (pictured).  We are going to enjoy that.  We may even make some peanut butter cookies. Sunday Morning went well.  The church in Carcassonne is preparing for a big Christmas outreach.  They are going to rent a room and have a Christmas dinner with a kids program.  We started working on the program on Sunday morning during Sunday School, looks like it is going to be real good.  Services went well Sunday.  The building was packed again.  I would estimate that there were 45 people, there were no empty chairs.  The church has begun looking towards getting another meeting place.  It has been great seeing God bless the church there.  Be in prayer that another suitable meeting place can be found.  Sunday afternoon

we took it easy and spent some time together with the kids.  This week will be more like normal.  Caleb goes to school early on Mondays and Thursdays for extra time with his teacher, working with him on French.  This morning, he was ready to go with a coat on, the weather had turned colder during the night. I asked him how he knew that it was colder and that he needed to put a coat on.  He said, "It's complicated. . . when it gets cold, I can sense it.  It is kind of like a gift from God."  Cute.  Enjoy the pictures and God bless, JASON

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. This week has passed quickly. Tuesday night we went to the English Carol service at the church in Carcassonne where I was blessed to have the opportunity to bring a devotional - in English. I made some wassail for the service, everyone seemed to enjoy it. I remeber having it as a child and I always enjoyed it. Here is the recipe that I used. 2 quarts(2 liters) of apple cider, 2 cups(500 ml) orange juice, 3 1/4 cups(26 oz) pineapple juice, 1/2 cup (125 ml) lemon juice, 3 cloves, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1/2 cup sugar. Mix it and boil it and it is ready. Wednesday we spent most of the time with the kids and taking turns running to the store for things. Thursday I brought the lesson for the prayer meeting in Carcassonne. Before bed, Angie read the kids the Christmas story. Which brings us to Christmas day. We have been letting the kids stay up a little late for the last few days and so they didn't wake up until almost 8:00 this morning. Isn't that great! Andrew got up first and came to us and asked for some breakfast. Lilia was next and she woke everyone else up and reminded everyone that it was Christmas. After presents, Angie made a wonderful breakfast and we have been playing with the kids ever since. I am excited because we got the boys Legos. I always loved playing with Legos when I was young and ended up with quite a collection. It seems they have the passion already. They really enjoyed putting them together with us. Micah immediately tore his apart and starting making something else. I had better get back to the family. I pray that you have a wonderful Christmas day and that your thoughts are turned as well to the reason for the season. . . Jesus Christ. God bless, JASON

A New Year

I realized a couple of days ago that we will reach the new year before many of you do. We will start the New Year somewhat the same as last year, sick. It was the flu that was making the rounds this time last year. I have had small fever and been congested and coughing for a couple of days now and a couple of the kids have to. Angie received her drivers license in the mail today, as soon as I feel up to it we will go get them translated, so that we can exchange them. Attached is a picture of the boys in Batman gear they received from a church in the states. We were really blessed to receive several offerings and gifts from others. We pray that you have a happy New Year. God Bless, JASON

Christmas Day +1

On Christmas Eve, Lilia brought a devotional about Christmas and did a wonderful job, then Angie read a pop-up book to the kids about Christmas. We let the kids stay up watching "White Christmas" which all but Andrew lasted through. We had a wonderful Christmas Day. The kids were spoiled of course, but not too bad. Everyone slept until 8:00 which was nice. This year we handed out the presents to all four of them one at a time. That made it a little more enjoyable and not a hurry to open up and assemble everything that has been opened right away. The food was great. For breakfast Angie made eggs, sausage, and pancakes and for lunch and supper we had chicken and dressing, mashed potatoes, corn bread, and salad (leftovers from Christmas Eve). The rest of the day was then spent assembling and opening and explaining and demonstrating. It was fun. I will try to post pictures of the kids in future posts with their toys. Now we are looking forward to New Years. I just realized that we will reach the new year before many of you do.

Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve Eve was a term we coined when we where kids for this day, two days before Christmas. We received a large package this morning from my sister and brother-in-law and their church near Palestine. The kids were really excited about it, mostly because it was big. As with all of our packages we gather around and say a prayer of thanksgiving for those who sent it. This package came via UPS and they charged taxes, which has never happened before. Andrew loved the packing peanuts. The weekend passed well, the new Williams family ate lunch with us after church. We have been making several runs to the store to pick up stuff and wrapping presents in between. The Pascall family is visiting us tonight for supper. They will be leaving for Senegal in a week. They have passed a lot of stuff down to us, all of their winter clothes that they will not be needing anymore. Since being here in France I have learned a lot about Africa. Pictured is our language school class, there will be three new students arriving in January that we look forward to getting to know. God bless and Merry Christmas Eve Eve, JASON

Overview

We are ending another busy and blessed week to start another. We were blessed to recieve this week and several large boxs containing gifts and letters from a church in Corsicanna, TX where we were once members. Pictured is our boys with all the stuff set on the table before them. We enjoy getting things from the states and always gather around as a family and unpack the boxes piece by piece. We are very thankful for those that show so great love to us. Wednesday we had several parades pass by our home honoring this weeks Fêtes des Musiques (music festival). Thursday we had Lilia's school music program. It was really good with singing and acting parts. I am happy with my level of understanding French. I can almost understand all that I hear. Of course, I don't know every word but with what I know and context I get their meaning. And today we had an end of school fair at Lilia's school. It was a lot of fun. The kids sang a few songs and they were many activities for the kids. We made it all morning long. There were a lot of friends from the language school there. The kids got their faces painted (pictured). Coming up this week we have our semester exams Tuesday at school and a BBQ that night to say farewell to those not returning in September. Thanks for all the comments. JASON abainfrance@hotmail.com