Moving Day

A hallway full of boxes, and if you look closely, Arianna
is sleeping in her stroller at the end.

Packing up the old house.  And to think, we arrived her four
years ago, with just suitcases.

Our move went well.  Most of the week, as you can imagine was spent preparing for the move. We managed to get almost everything boxed up by Thursday.  Thursday morning (which was Thanksgiving) we met at the house to look it over with the agency.  Boy, did we ever look it over.  Everything, every mark, every hole, every broken piece of everything was marked.  It took about two and a half hours, but we finally had our house.  There was electricity but no water and gas and we are missing the key to the large attic, which they are still looking for.  That afternoon I managed to move 35 boxes in preparation for the big move on Friday.  We also called and got the water turned on.  We called about the gas, which we will have to wait a week before it gets turned on, which means no heat until Friday.  Thursday evening, we picked up the moving truck, and Friday morning we had five guys from Carcassonne show up to help out.  We loaded and unloaded three loads in about 4 hours, and fed them lunch.  We had one more person come and help out in the afternoon, reassembling furniture.  The move went well, we did have a miss communication leading to breaking a hinge on the truck, but everything else went good.  A friend provided supper for us on Friday and lunch on Saturday, which was a great blessing, we did make good progress on emptying boxes and putting away furniture, but still have some work left.  Sunday morning, we had a surprise when the phone rang . . . the surprise wasn't that someone called, but that the phone rang.  We had been told that the phone/internet services would not be working until 8 days, which from our past experience we were expecting up to a couple of weeks.  Things were running Sunday morning.  Services went well Sunday morning.  And we treated ourselves to McDonalds for supper for a little break from unpacking.  The kids love the new place.  We have met two of our neighbors and they are both really nice.  Arianna has been wondering happily all over the house. She has slept really well at night.  The only complaint so far, is the cold.  It was about 55 degrees in the morning when we woke up.  We do have an electric heater that we plug in, and we keep one room warm and heat the kids rooms up before bed.  But we are really enjoying the space, and being so cose to everything.  I just took the kids back to school after lunch and when I got back, Angie looked at me with surprise and said, "Back already?"  Hope you enjoy the few pics that I took.  God bless, JASON

Ready to move

Arianna finishes her soup.

Arianna with bath hair.

Took this shot on a recent hike with the kids.

Letting Arianna feed herself, or practice face painting.

The kids enjoy snack time.

Arianna looks up to her biggest brother.

We had a good week last week.  Tuesday I witnessed a man on a bike lose a significant amount of money from his pocket.  I honked but he did not stop.  By the time I got out of the car and gather the scattering bills, the bicyclist was no where to be seen. I reported it to the police, who took my information,  I hope that he calls.  The kids are doing well.  They are all excited about the move, even though only Arianna has seen he new house.  I am sure that they will enjoy it.  They are easy going.  We have continued packing, I would guess that we have about 50 boxes packed up. I plan on counting them as we take them to the new house.  Thursday night Bible study was good, we will not have the Bible study this week because of the move and so next time will be in our new house. Friday, the market went well, I saw several usuals and three guys I know from basketball as well.  Saturday night, I played in my first basketball match of the year. It was a good game, we were behing at one point by 20 but we came back to within four by the end of the game.  I scored only five points and missed several shots, but I did good otherwise, 3 blocked shots and several assists.  Sunday, I led the services at the church in Carcassonne, there was a first time visitor from Limoux, and I enjoyed getting to talk with him.  He is from Guadelope and was wanting to come back.  Several people offered to come and help us on Friday.  Yesterday I picked up the signed papers for the house, and today I went and got the renters insurance swapped.  Thursday we will pick the keys up and do the walk through, and spend the rest of the day moving boxes.  I will pick up the moving truck that evening. Friday everyone will be coming over at 10.  I do not think that it will take long to get the big items moved and we should have plenty of help.  Then we will spend the rest of the weekend getting settled the rest of the way.  I do not know how long it will take to get the internet up and going at the new place.  The phone company told me 8 business days, but that might just be a loose estimate, meaning I do not know when I will have a chance to blog again, but I will when I get a chance. Thanks for your prayers. God bless, JASON

Bugarach

We saw this pretty view at the
horse show last week.

Another week behind us.  This was the kids last week of school.  It ended well.  Micah ended with all A's on his report card.  Caleb had more of an average grade.  Andrew had a lot of compliments from his teacher as did Lilia.  We are looking forward to a good summer.  Bible Study went well Thursday evening, we are still in the first chapter of John.  Several people stopped by the market on Friday morning, I did give away one Bible after assuring the person several times that it was free.  Recently in the news there has been a lot of talk about a cult that has moved its way into the area.  The are a New Age group believing that the world will end in 2012 and that a local peak (Bugarach) will be a place of safety.  You can read the wikipedia article by clicking here.  I hope that this will not affect our credibilty any.  The French organization for cults has already issued a proclamation warning people about his groups and will attempt to limit their growth.  They are worried about the posibilty for mass suicides and also swindling. Hopefully we have already distinguished ourselves in the area well enough.  We rearranged the house a little this month.  My office is now in our bedroom to give me a quiet place to work during summer.  As a result Arianna found a new place to play (pictured).  Last night I attended a meeting for our basketball association.  They are planning on growing next year and expanding into other cities as well.  It was a good occasion to meet some new people and to get to know my team members better.  Arianna surprised us by sleeping all night a couple of nights ago.  She made up for it the next night by waking up four times. We have a little pool for her in the backyard and she enjoys playing in it and watching the boys splash in their pool.  I received a call from the director for the Tour de France de la Bible.  I am excited about this opportunity.  God bless, JASON

Running an errand.

I ran several errands. First thing this morning I faxed some paperwork for our storage building in the south. I had some interesting conversations with the owner, because I did not know the French term for a storage building (box de location - if your curious). But I got all the paperwork finished and faxed. Then Lilia and I went at 9:30 to pick up the rental car that will get us by until our car arrives. We got back at the house at 11:00, we literally had to park a half mile from the house. As soon as I got home I went headed out to go to the dealership in Versaille to see about a loan. I left and found out the next bus to the train station didn't run for 20 minutes and so it would faster to walk. I walked the mile down there and just missed the train, so I had to wait 30 minutes to the next. By the time I arrived at the dealership I had missed the finance guy and had to wait 30 minutes for him to get back from lunch. Got home at 2:00 and helped Angie pack a little. We took the kids to see l'age de glace 3 (Ice Age 3) at 4:00. We made it in about 8 people before the cut off. It was packed but the kids seem to enjoy. It was interesting watching it in French. But some things were actually funnier. In the movie the dialogue goes, "Qu'est-ce que c'est (what was that)?", "C'est le vent qui parle(is the wind talking)", "Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit(what did he say)?", "Je ne sais pas, je ne parle pas le vent.(I don't know I don't speak wind)" Lilia laughed out loud for that. Tomorrow will be spent packing. We are getting close to being almost nearly starting to be finished. God bless, JASON

Packing Up

This week the kids still have school, so Angie and I (and Andrew) have spent the time cleaning and packing. Today I have an appointment with the bank for a car loan. I am not really looking forward to going, not because of the paperwork or speaking in French, but because it is supposed to get up to 90 today and the bank has no A/C and only a few small windows on one side. I think that I will bring Lilia with me so that I have someone to suffer with.

We found out Monday from the real estate agency that the house we were looking into renting was not going to work out. So, Angie went to Paris yesterday with a friend and dropped off the deposit for the rental house that we are moving into next week. Interesting arrangement. The owner lives full time in the house, but works at a camp site. So in summer he rents out the house when he can, lives at work, and brings in extra money that way. Angie dropped the payment off with his mother who lives in Paris. Angie said she was very nice and had a good conversation with her.

We do not know what kind of access we will have to the internet over the next month and a half, I will try to blog at least once a week. The kids are really excited about the move. Today they helped us pack up all their toys. What they are really looking forward too is traveling to the beach. I must insert another Micah quote here. One day at school he got in trouble for playing roughly like the other boys were doing. Angie had a talk with him at home about making the right choices concerning his behavior. The next morning Micah walked in and Angie said, "Micah, I want you to make good choices today". Micah sighed and said, "Okay Mom, go ahead and tell me what they are."

We pick up the rental car Friday and the moving van monday. We will keep the rental car for three weeks because our car we purchased does not arrive until between July 20th - 28th. I took some pictures of the kids sleeping the other day (attached). Somehow Micah and Caleb ended up in the same bed, and Lilia always sleeps so crazy. 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