Sleep walking



Arianna enjoys playing in her bed.

 

Andrew at the end of school program.

 The past weekend went well.  We divided the kids up between us.  I took Arianna and Micah to Caleb's swimming lesson, he had the end of school swimming party.  Meanwhile Angie took Lilia to watch Andrew's end of year program.  We joined them after the swimming was over.  Afterwards, Angie and Lilia went to the youth meeting in Carcassonne.  Sounds like it was a great time.  They did a photo scavenger hunt at the Walled City of Carcassonne.  They had to take pictures of certain things and whoever had the best won.  Sunday we attended the an English speaking church in Mirepoix, about 30 minutes west of us.  We enjoyed the services and fellowship.  It is basically an Anglican church, but the members are from several different denominations and are mostly English who live in France.  I did get several presents for Father's day, mostly clothes, which always useful.  Monday we had a guest over, a lady that I meet at the Market on Friday.  She is Christian, and has a wonderful testimony and sweet spirit. She has some beliefs that are different than ours, but we still hope that we can fellowship with her and minister to her.  Yesterday, the first day of summer, was the warmest day of the year so far.  I think it actually got up to about 90, even though the forcast said 82 for a high.  In the evening we had a three thunderstorms roll in, one after the other.  It was a rare treat.  It also cooled things off.  It was still real warm in the gym when I had basketball practice.  I am still enjoying practice and we are hoping to invite some of the guys over during summer.  There is one more story I need to share.  While Angie was putting away some clothes she noticed that the boys closet was wet.  After an inspection, we discovered that one of the boys had slept walked and thought their closet was the bathroom.  We suspected Micah and after school confronted him about it.  Caleb, however, spoke up and said, "I think it was me". He went on to explain that he needed to go to the bathroom, it was dark and he looked around until he found and door and then . . .went.  He said he thought it was a little too close to his bed.  We all had a good laugh about it.  The fun part came a little later.  Andrew was looking for a drink in the fridge when he found some pineapple juice in a jar. He brought it to us to see what it was.  I immediately saw a golden opportunity.  I called Caleb and Micah to us and told them that someone had gotten up during the night and thought that the fridge was the bathroom and that I wasn't upset, I just wanted to know who it was.  The boys were speechless.  I asked for the jar and took a drink and said, "It is you Caleb I can tell."  I wish you could have seen the look on his face and Micah's.  His eyes were big.  After a few moments he said, "No, because everybody's tastes the same."  We couldn't hold it any longer and had to laugh.  Tuesday we had another friend over for lunch. She is going to be returning home during summer, the first time in 14 years.  We will miss her over the summer, but we are happy that she has the opportunity.  Pray for her because her home country is having political troubles and she is a little worried that once she arrives it will be difficult for her to leave again.  Angie is currently visiting with a friend in Carcassonne, getting a little break from the kids.  God bless, JASON

Cuteness.

We had a good language session Wednesday. It took a while to polish up some of the translating I had done. The Bible study went well Thursday. It seemed like everyone was tired. Maybe it was because of the weather. We have now gone 10 straight days with rain. Today the temperture was 50 when I woke up. Friday night was nice and we were able to play outside some. Saturday was a really fun day. In the morning we had the end of school fair for Micah and Andrew. It was really fun. We saw their end of year programs and they were sooooo cute. Andrew seemed so at ease with his classmates, and he knew all the motions and sang along with most songs. Micah was talking almost the entire time with his friends. Caleb was even starting up conversations with the kids waiting in line with him. After the fair, I took Lilia, Caleb, and Micah to the swimming pool. We swam for about an hour and a half. Services went well today in Carcassonne. We stayed with some church members for lunch and then I attended the church's mens meeting afterwards. Some good discussion was had, mainly in preparation for their new pastor who is arriving in two weeks. I am about to call my father and wish him a happy fathers day. He is on the road to attend a meeting of the churches in our association, mainly to set up a display about our work and let people know how we are doing. God bless, JASON

Before we knew it

The Neighborhood party went real well. There were only two families that came. Our neighbors, who also worked on the garage, and the family that comes to the bible study that we know well. It worked out perfectly because it was not up to us to keep the conversation going, we could just listen and add comments here and there. It was a lot less stressful that way. Before we knew it, it was 9 in the evening. Saturday we also decided that we would visit a church near Toulouse. Angie had mentioned to me that she wanted to find some english speaking kids for ours to play with occasionally. We contacted a pastor that we had connections throught the language school and visited in their services. We had a good time, we even met the man who started the church 32 years ago. After services we ate with the Pastor and his family, who are missionaries from America, invited us to their house for supper. We enjoyed the time getting to know them better. They have been in France for 11 years and had a lot of good advice concerning life in France from the American Missionaries perspective. We discussed a lot about ministry in France as well. Once again before we knew it, it was 5:00. We enjoyed the 2 hour drive home, nice scenery and the kids all took naps. Coquelicot. This is the name of a wildflower, called a poppy in English, that we have seen all over in France. We pulled over this morning and picked some for Lilia. She said their teacher told them to bring some to school. I am wondering what they need them for. As it is almost the first of the month, I will be getting our finances in order and working on our monthly report, which if you would like to receive just let me know. How about another Micah quote, I haven't posted one in a while, but he is still coming out with them. This morning he suddenly said, "Let's have a picnic by the lake, we can chase squirrels and run over dogs." God bless, JASON

Encouraged

So it really has been a busy couple of days. Seriously. Wednesday I had a good session with my language partner. I had him explain a song to me. I have attached the song below. I like the song and music, but even thougth I knew the meaning to all the words, I could not get the meaning of the song. He explained it to me well.
Then Wednesday night, there was a little excitement. Storms had moved in and we heard some noises like there was a loose shutter beating against the house. Then we heard glass break and loud voices. We looked out the window and found that the neighbors double pane glass door was broken out. We turned off all the lights and listened quietly by the window to try and see what was going on. While there, Angie wanted to move closer to the window. She lost her balance kicking a metal trash can, leaned against the wall and turned the light on. It was hilarious.
Thursday, Caleb had no school because his teacher was on strike. We dropped the other kids off at school. Came back to the house and made invitations for a nieghborhood party (fête des voisins). The party will be Saturday at 6:30. We passed them out to all the neighbors except one that did not have a mailbox, picked up the kids for lunch. On the way back for lunch we stopped by and dropped off the last invitation, Angie had a good converstation with the lady. It was the same lady who stopped by last week asking about the cats. They talked for a while. Turns out that last night a young man stopped by her house with cuts on his arm saying that there were some crazy guys at our neighbors. He was the victim of the broken glass evidently. She said we should talk to our home owner because he is a police man and would know what to do in instances like those. She gave us several jars of jelly that she had made and invited us over sometime. She said she would have loved to come to the party, but this is her first weekend off in a while and so she is going to make a trip to Spain with her husband. Angie was really encouraged to have this contact. After lunch we dropped the kids off at school, made hair cut apointments for me and Caleb. Then we stopped by an association that has scheduled French language conversations. We then went back and got our hair cut. Then returned home. We received phone calls from the home owner and from a neighbor. The neighbor had called to say that she would not be able to come to the party because she jsut lost her husband. Then another neighbor stopped, who has been working on the garage enclosure, he said he and his wife would love to come. Then the plumber stopped by and said he would be there in the morning to fix the problem. We had supper and then bible study. There were 5 who came for bible study. We studied encouragement from Hebrews 12. It went well, the praise, study, and prayer time was great. I am praying that God will bless the party Saturday. It has already given us some contacts and we at least know that one couple will come. I am already encouraged.
Today Caleb is sick and staying home. We are trying to get things ready for tomorrow and looking forward to family night tonight. Attached is the video that I spoke of previously. The song is On s'attache by Christophe Maé (see on youtube). It was a number one hit in France a couple of years ago. God bless, JASON

The clown and the magician.

The Bible study went well Thursday night. We had four people visiting. We had a lesson over the cleansing of the leper (Leviticus 14). Friday we got our tickets purchased for the states. Friday night we enjoyed having some friends from Carcassonne over for supper. We enjoyed the evening. Lilia talked almost non-stop the entire evening. Saturday I got some flowers planted and got my kids Sunday school lesson ready for Sunday. Services went good in Carcassonne today. Afterwards we went to a event in our town that was a mix between an end of year party and a city coucil meeting. There was a clown and a magician that the kids really enjoyed, and they had snacks and presents for all the kids. It was enjoyable and we really liked being able to get out into the community. It lasted almost to seven o'clock, so we rushed home and grabed some sandwiches, bathed the kids, and got their homework all checked over. I missed hearing our services from our church in Hillsboro, but I am glad for the opportunity to make new contacts. This next week will be busy with Doctor appointments and studying. Attached pictures are from this afternoon. God bless, JASON

Acts of Kindness

School finished well. Friday we had a breakfast with our class and the class below us. We had a good time sampling some good food. Angie made breakfast sausage that was a real big hit with the Americans especially. Also I received some Dr. Pepper that I had ordered off the Internet and was able to share with them. There were mixed responses from those that had never tried it. But once again the Americans were real pleased.
Another event developed late Friday. Angie talked to her missionary friend in Kenya. They have had a rough time with one of their close friends losing a newborn baby in the middle of which their own daughter had a bad fall and broke her arm in several places. They had to go to Nairobi for the surgery, so Angie had the thought to fly down and help out. Angie has a nice streak like that. She always wants to help others. Sometimes I have had to be the voice of region and hold her back, but I told myself early in our marriage that if I could I would let her help as much as possible. We looked online to get an idea of the costs and the tickets were around $1400-$1600. We have a two week vacation, so that wasn't a problem. We worked out the details with our friends in Kenya and put in a call to Bro. Jack who is a travel agent who works full time booking travel and logistic work for missionaries and missions teams. (We ate with him in Paris a couple a weeks ago) He was able to find a flight for just over $700 dollars! So, Angie will be leaving Sunday to spend a week helping and encouraging the Taylor family serving in East Kenya. As events proceed, Angie and I will keep you updates. She has gone shopping right now to find here some sandals, it has been a while since we have experienced a hot climate. God bless, JASON

The weekend already.

It is hard to believe that the weekend is here already. I am not sure what all happened this week. We had the normal amount of homework and tests, but things seemed busier. I think it might have been all the birthdays. Caleb had a friend's birthday party Wednesday. Andrew had a small family only birthday party Thursday. Last night he had a joint party with another two year old from the language school. Friday at school he had one with his classmates in the nursery. Monday we had a joint birthday party and going away part for students in our class. Thankfully this week ended a period of many family injuries. Micah had a huge knot on his head that has finally gone away. Andrew had a cut on the end of his big toe that has healed. Lilia's leg is better and she went to school this week. Angie had a little cold last week that she has recovered from as well. I am looking forward to services Sunday. We pray that you have a good weekend, God bless, JASON