Open House

Another week has passed.  The vacation ended well.  We had nice

weather.  Wednesday we painted Arianna's old room and moved Lilia into it.  Arianna now shares a room with Andrew, Caleb with Micah, and Lilia has one all to herself.  It was a lot of work but looks nice and she will feel better about inviting her friends over now that they have a place to escape the boys.  There were three for the bible study Thursday evening.  Friday, at the market,  I met the wife of a couple that I had met last year.  There are retired English missionaries who several years back started an english bible study in their home.  They meet on the second Sunday of each month.  Angie and I had discussed attending one of the English services in our area and so we went Sunday and had a wonderful time.  It was held in a little village about 10 minutes from us. There were a dozen there and we enjoyed meeting everyone and visiting. The study went well and we stayed for lunch afterwards.  The couple is also preparing to move and passed down a lot of stuff to us, which we were pleased to have, a lot of toys, blankets, and baby stuff. The

kids started school back yesterday.  They seemed excited to go, and we were able to meet some of the parents that we had the chance to get to know better during the vacation. This morning I got my inbox cleared out, prepared to materials for a church who plans on having us be the missionaries for their vacation bible school.  The weather has warmed up and flowers are blooming everywhere.  Highs are in the 70's and lows in the 50s.  We have already started opening windows in the evenings to cool the house off a little after supper.     One of the attached pictures if of a moth that flew in one evening, the other is off the English bible study Sunday morning.  God bless, JASON

Spring?

Things are going well today. Angie went to the Dr. this morning. She has not had any fever since last week but her throat was still bothering here she felt tired all of the time. Come to find out she has strep throat. He put her on Antibiotics and she should be back to normal soon. We have just came back from out first attempt to buy a car. Here is how it went. We walked around inside the dealership and when no one approached us we approached them and explained what we were wanting. The salesmen (who spoke French like it was a race to get the words out) brought some brochures and showed us the options. I was looking at the Dacia Logan MCV Ambiance, which is the lower class and has the least options, but it turns out that with the options that we wanted (like Air Conditioning and 7 seats), they come standard in the more luxury version and would be cheaper. The Ambiance listed at 13,900 and adding the A/C alone would add 900. While the other version was 15,100 including A/C and other accessories that would be nice to have like a radio. Then he told us that it would not be in until the end of July. That wouldn't work because we are moving the first of July. We then asked if he could look around at what was available at the dealerships in the Paris Area. He said he could check on that and get back with us this evening because the secretary was out to lunch. So now we are waiting for his call and hopefully Angie or I, most likely Angie, will be able to understand him over the phone.
This coming Friday we are having a "Texas" BBQ at the school which we are looking forward to. We are still waiting for the normal spring weather to arrive. It was chilly and windy today. I have attached a picture that I took out of the window during winter and one that I took today. Let me also insert a quote from Caleb this time. He just asked, "Is chocolate made from spinach?" God bless, JASON

Labor Day

I found out watching the news that Labor day was started around 1887 in the US. There was a three day labor strike that Day. The next year the day was passed to France where there was a big strike on that same day. However in the US it had changed to September when there was an end to a strike that had lasted all summer. All that to say Labor Day in France is May 1st. Which means we had the day off. We had a good time and I was able to get a lot of other "labor" done. I finished my monthly report and got it sent out. I also prepared some more prayer cards for printing. I had received a couple of promotional emails from the company I use for printing (4over4.com). I really needed some updated prayer cards, the others were over 2 years old and outdated. I was able to get an order of 5,000 for under $200 including shipping. I was also able to take the kids to the language school to play for a little bit. The weather has finally warmed up to spring again. Micah gave me a good little saying the other day. I am going to have to start putting all of his sayings in a book. He said, "Daddy, you know if you are not racing against someone, you are racing against yourself." I thought that was very philosophical. Then at the language school he was wanting a toy that Andrew had. Just to see what his response would be I asked, "What if you just got and hit him and take it away?" To which he replied, "No, then he won't want it". ??? Interesting. I was also able to help someone through my youtube account. A man found my French praise songs and wrote me for the lyrics. A friend of his from Haiti had passed away and this man was going to do the funeral, he also asked me for the version of It is Well in French. I sent him the lyrics for that as well. He thanked me for being able to minister to others, some who are unsaved. I was glad to be able to minister in this way. Also Angie is feeling better, not yet 100% but close. God bless, JASON

Back into the swing of things.

School has gotten started back up like there wasn't even a break. In fact, we have a test on Thursday.
Angie has been sick. She has a sore throat, achy joints, and a intermittent fever. She has missed school these last two days. Join me in praying for her quick recovery.
Spring seems to have left again. The high was only 58 today. It has been rainy, and there was even a little hail. The sunshine and spring weather are supposed to be back next week. I was walking the kids back to school after lunch today and it started sprinkling on us. Micah asked, "Is it raining?" I replied that is was. He then said, "It must be Monday." I don't know how he comes up with these things.
I am expecting a phone call tomorrow from a French Association that we might be looking to granting us the invitation to work here in France. I am looking forward to it but also am a little nervous because it is difficult to speak French on the phone, actually I think the harder part is to understand what the other person is saying more than speaking.
I have not mentioned in a while the young man, Clint, a member of our church who was severely burned (85%) recently, he is doing well, but still has a lot to face. If you would like to follow his progress more closely you can go to my Dad's blog, the link is to the right.
Andrew 's potty training is going real well. I am pleasantly surprised. What he really likes is the applause everyone gives him after a successful trip. Now he goes and tells everyone afterwards so that they will clap for him. God bless, JASON