Going backwards

I made a lot of forward progess this week, except where blogging was concerned.  The past week was good.  Basketball went well as did my time with my language partner.  We cancelled Bible Study as several were unable to attend due to various reasons.  Friday the weather was perfect and I enjoyed the Bible Stand at the market.  We had several stop by and there was a crowd there.  Friday afternoon I had a conseilling session with a young lady that went well.  She has even asked to have a Bible Study on Wednesdays.  Saturday we got a garden planted.  The boys planted one and I planted another.  Neither one of them may grow anything, but it was fun.  We planted lettuce, squash, melons, parsley, tomatoes, and one other thing that I can't remember at the moment.  Services were good Sunday.  We had  visitors on Sunday afternoon.  A family that we met online after reading their blog came over for a couple of hours.  They are British but have lived in several countries all over the world working with a non-profit organization.  Today, I just sent out the monthly report and am trying to clear my inbox.  Arianna has been doing much better.  One day this past week, she was just happy and playing on the floor when Angie remarked, "She is happy. . .I don't know what to do."  She has started crawling, but goes better backwards than forwards.  I hope that you have a good Monday and a good week, and that you make a lot of forward progess as well.  God bless, JASON

Indoor Hockey

There were three at the Bible Study Thursday.  Friday morning the market was busy as well, as the weather was nice.  A young muslim man stopped by, which surprised me, he noticed the Arabic Bibles that were on the stand I had set up.  He refused the things I offered him and asked if I was a Jehovah Witness, and the moved on.  I gave a large print Bible to the lady, Mona, who runs the stand next to me.  She was very grateful and insisted that Angie come and pick something out for herself from the clothing stand.  The weekend went well. Services were good Sunday.  Angie stayed home with Lilia, Andrew, and Arianna, who were all plagued with colds.  Poor Arianna was just gettting a

routine when this cold set in a few days ago.  At least she is upset for a good reason now.  I wonder if there are any young children that actually enjoy getting their nose wiped.  Sunday evening a brief thunderstorm rolled through.  Storms like that are rare here in France, at least compared with how often they occured in Texas.  For a moment we all stood at the window watching.  Andrew was kind of anxious, but the storm didn't last but a few minutes.  Last night after, Angie let the kids play a game of indoor hockey.  They really enjoyed it.  It wasn't long before all the kids were hot and exhausted. God bless, JASON  

Da Da

These are some pictures of the Carnaval from Sunday.  Tuesday evening's Basketball practice went well.  I am trying to put in more effort and do the best I can.  As it says in Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Work hard at whatever you do."  It paid off because our team won the scrimmage.  Wednesday Caleb took an all day trip into the mountains for his Wednesday sporting event.  Micah and Lilia did their swimming lessons.  Lilia is progressing well and her instructor has asked her to stay at it and join in the competition next year.  I don't know what she wants to do.  She seems to enjoy it.  Arianna was saying "Da da" all day yesterday.  It was music to my ears.  In the afternoon, Andrew, Micah, and I got our haircut.  Micah attended a birthday party at McDonalds.  I had a good talk with my parents last night. Andrew had slight fever yesterday as well, and as a result is home from school today.  Looking forward to my language session with Eric this afternoon and the Bible Study tonight.  God bless, JASON

The Carnaval at Limoux

We are nearing the end of the Carnaval of Limoux.  It is the self proclaimed longest carnaval in the world.  It is every weekend from January to Mars.  It mostly consits of live bands performing folk musique in a parade with costumed groups following along, and a lot of confetti.  I will attach later some pictures of the real carnaval that Lilia and I attended this past Sunday.  They also get the kids involved as well.  Monday morning was Micah's turn to join in a parade around the town square, dressed as a storm tropper. It was Andrew's turn Monday afternoon, his entire class dressed as clowns.  Lilia and Caleb had their turn this morning.  Lilia was a singer and Caleb was zorro.  They had fun and even though it consumed most of our day it was nice to see them and get to visit with the other parents as well.  They all really enjoyed throwing the confetti.  Arianna seemed to enjoy it as well.  She was worn out afterwards, here she is after falling alseep leaning on me.  God bless, JASON

Toothless

This was taken in January,
Arianna has changed.

The weekend finished well.  We enjoyed the services with the church in Carcassonne and hearing the services of our sending church in Texas as well.  Our sending church is having Missions Month, which we are excited about. The kids have returned to school.  Micah lost another tooth yesterday.  He takes these teeth serious.  This morning the tooth was still under his pillow, and he said he knew it would be because he didn't go to sleep fast enough last night so the "little mouse" didn't come.  I did some research yesterday for a trip we are planning in August to visit Normandy.  It looks like it will be a lot of fun.  I also cleaned out my inbox as well.  There was an email from a pastor in Haiti that had emailed me in January that I finally was able to respond to.  Lilia has been really interested in the situation in Japan.  They have talked a lot about the earthquake and tsunami in class.  Our prayers go out to all those who are suffering there.  I just read that the island of Japan has moved 8 feet.  Arianna has continued about the same.  She has happy moments, but also moments where she screams and nothing seems to appease her.  She has cute moments, thankfully. Angie is excited about a 35 mm camera she bought. She just tried it out and is excited to get the film developed to see how it worked.  I need to go get the kids for lunch now.  God bless, JASON     

Kites to Visas




 

This was the first time I saw an ostrich with wings open.

This is a Syrian red wolf.

We even got to see an otter playing around.

This has been a good second week of the kids school break. Arianna had a doctor's appointment and she had not gained much weight. But she is just starting on solids so I am sure that will fix the weight issue. Jason took the kids on some hikes and walks. They also flew a kite one day---or they tried to. The wind was very strong so the kite crashed a lot. I worked with the kids on their English and we just had a good time being together without all the running to town. Arianna gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth now.  Thursday we just had one person at Bible Study but it was a very enjoyable study together.  We were blessed once again with some groceries from a friend of one of our Bible Study regulars. I am hoping to meet this kind lady soon. Friday was the big day this week. We had to go once againg to the immigration office in Montpellier because the director had not emailed the office here as he said he would to explain our case. With it being a vacation period we were skeptical if the director would even be in his office but we decided we had to go try anyway. So we planned on adding a fun outing to the trip just in case he was not in, then we would not feel we had gone for nothing. We made it to Montpellier with Arianna only crying 40 minutes of the 2 hour trip. Whew! Jason let me out at the office and he took the kids to the parking lot. After talking with the front desk attendant and explaining the situation about 3 times I began to realize that she wanted to question me a lot without hearing me out. And I got the impression that she did not want to let me talk to the director. (I was being very kind this time- last time I was much more insistant and I got to move on to the director very quickly)  Anyway, after being interrupted with questions and explanations that had nothing to do with the fact that the director had not sent the email he said he would....I caught sight of the director as he walked by and called out to him. He of course remembered me and took over immediately. I waited while he copied my passport. I realized then that I must have really offended the lady at the desk because she gave the poor guy after me a really hard time. oops.

So the director took me to his office and told me he had tried to call the office at Carcassonne and that they never called him back. Then he "moved on to other things". He called again and left a message not mentioning my name or anything about my case. I did have the number and email of our office in Limoux and he got our caseworker on the phone. She told him just to send an email......Hmmm...If he had done that like he said he would in the first place?......I asked him if he just wanted to type up something and print me a hardcopy and then I wouldn't have to worry about it again. He told me not to worry that with one phone call... er.. email  and it would all be "unblocked".  He never really said sorry, though while talking on the phone with our caseworker he did admit that he had made me travel a second time for nothing. He did ask for our email so we would be kept in the loop about how it was progressing. I left feeling pretty good about receiving it and not having to return to the states and start over!
Then we went to the ZOO! We had a great time and saw some things we had never seen before, white rhinos, Syrian bears, and a red wolf! I don't think I have ever seen a wolf. The zoo was really hilly and after 3 hours of trudging around we were all tired. We bought a little velro monkey as a souvenir and headed to the car. Arianna took her nap at the zoo so we weren't too excited about the drive home. After some McDonald's burgers we headed out and Arianna did  fall asleep...eventually.
When we got home we already had the email from the director! Here's hoping I will have my card soon!  God Bless, ANGIE

Let's go fly a kite.

Already a sinner

Our first week of the kids on vacation has passed.  Thankfully the weather has improved over the week.  We did not have the Bible study Thursday, because everyone was on vacation.  We did enjoy a visit from a friend in Carcassonne instead.  The market went well Friday morning.  The weather was nice and there were a lot of people out, several stopped by the stand, including one of our neighbors.  Friday afternoon we took the kids out to try a buy a fish.  One of our fish that came with the fish tank, the kids call Batman, is all alone.  I figured out finally what kind he was and the kids wanted to get him a wife.  However there were no females at the fish store.  Batman will have to wait a week.  Afterwards we have some English lessons for the kids (pictured), they really enjoy the lessons once they get started.  It is pretty again today , we all went for a walk and then I took a few of the kids for a hike.  Arianna has proved that she is already a sinner.  She seems to only be content in the evenings if you are standing with her.  Don't believe me?  I have a video to prove it.  God bless, JASON