Surprises !

Micah with his 7th birthday cake. He asked for yellow.

Arianna loving on her blanket.

Final goodbye to the aquarium. We had it exactly one year.

Micah and I and Caleb (the mummy in the background)
sleeping in the airport.

Well, we have had a few surprises keeping us busy the last few day.  Last Thursday we had two present for the Bible study.  Friday, things were pretty quiet at the market.  I did get to speak with three regulars.  Friday I placed an online add for our aquarium.  We decided part with it.  It is just a little too big and the kids were no longer interested in it.  We did get the house papers officially signed. So far the official date to move in is November 24th.  We are excited about it and are looking forward to getting closer to town and having a little more space.  Friday afternoon I had a physical which was required for basketball.  The doctor was impressed with my heart rate.  At rest it was 59 beats a minute. I think that is probably inherited more than me being in excellent shape.  Sunday morning I was going to be leading the services in Carcassonne.  As we were getting ready to leave the plumbing stopped up and water was everywhere.  We couldn't really do anything about it then, so we laid out some towels and headed for church.  The services went well, one of the members told me that I seemed more at ease.  The afternoon was spent getting the drain unclogged, which we finally did.  The boys really enjoyed the experience.  Monday morning, we had coffee with some British friends. In the afternoon I went to help a church member in Carcassonne with his internet.  He had recently moved and was having problems with his internet.  I figured out that his phone line was not activated.  Monday we also got a call from someone interested in the aquarium.  They came over to look at it Monday night and said they would take it.  This morning I was working on getting it ready, while Angie dropped off the boys and went to the store.  I got a call from the school saying that Caleb had hurt his knee and was wondering if we could come pick him up.  However Angie did not have her cell phone turned on. I called a friend who drove to the store and let Angie know about it.  She picked him up and went by the doctors office just to make sure that it wasn't serious.  They said it looked fine and gave him an anti-inflammatory and told him to take it easy for a few days (which will be tough for him).  The young couple came by at 2:30 to pick up the fish take.  I have it all ready and surprisingly, even though it was over a meter and a half long, it all fit in their little car.  We celebrated Micah's birthday this evening.  Angie made two cakes today, one for serving at his school this afteroon and one for us this evening.  The 7 year old seemed liked he loved his cake and his new toy, a spinning top. He even let the top fly right after opening it, and it landed on the birthday cake spinning icing all over me and Arianna. Everyone had a good laugh at least.  Hopefully there will not be many more surprise activites for the week.  God bless, JASON

School days return

Arianna playing.

Well we are off and running now.  School has started, the boys enjoyed their first days.  I had no problems with any of them not wanting to go.  They all walked right in.  Micah had a short field trip even.  We went to a birthday party Monday afternoon.  I have been even more occupied with taking the kids to school now.  Lilia's school starts and 8 and the boys start at 9.  Lilia gets out earlier than the boys and at different times on different days.  I have given up trying to keep up with it.  I just ask as I am dropping her off, what time she wants to be picked up.  To shorten amount of trips we make, Lilia is eating lunch at school.  I will be looking forward to moving to town and her being able to walk.  Speaking of which, we will sign the lease this afternoon.  We also have a Doctors appointment for one of the kids and a meeting at Andrew's school to attend, followed by Bible study this evening.  Earlier this week we also had a slight scare.  We got a call from one of our missionary friends in Romania, telling us that there was an explosion at at nuclear waste treatment plant not too far from here (not too far being relative considering that it is a nuclear waster plant, it is about a two hour drive from here).  Thankfully it was not a nuclear incident. Just an explosion in a furnace, causing one death and several injuries.  There was no radiation leak.  Arianna is doing great, I think she enjoys having a little break from the boys while they are at school.  Angie and Arianna are suffering from colds, but I guess that season is approaching.  We are still having beautiful summer weather, lows in the 60's highs in the 80s.  The grape harvest has begun, which means almost every trip we take to town ends up with us stuck behind a tractor pulling a trailer full of grapes.  That is a price we pay for living in the largest grape producing region of the world.  This seasons grape harvest is a large and early one.  Warm weather we had in April caused the grapevines to bloom early, then cool wet weather in July slowed them down.  I heard this morning that my younger sister had her baby.  Baby girl was born at 11:59 during the night their time, 7 lbs 5 ozs, 19.25 inches, Naomi Elizabeth Bachman.  Mom and baby are doing good, my parents are enjoying grandchild number 11.  I will be looking forward to meeting this new addition to the family when we return to the States this summer.  God bless, Jason

Angie snapped this shot of the village where they had the
youth meeting with the church in Carcassonne last saturday.

Our Greece Trip

There was even a swing for Arianna.

One of the swimming pools.

The boys passing time in the airport.

Kiss for dada.

Andrew and I on the 4-wheeler.

Our time in Greece was well spent.  We left the house right on time and arrived at the airport at around 9:30 pm.  We left a little late from Barcelona, but that was okay with us because we had a 4 hour layer waiting for us in Athens.  The kids all slept good for the flight and we found a quiet corner in the airport in Athens to sleep before catching our flight for Corfu.  We arrived at the hotel at about 11 in the afternoon.  After eating lunch at the hotel the whole family enjoyed a few hours of sleep, before waking right at supper time.  We enjoyed eating supper with some of our missionary friends who had arrived.  The conference did not start until Monday night, so during the day on Monday we went swimming with the kids.  The services every evening where great, and I enjoyed learning some new songs in English as well.  In the mornings while Angie and I had classes and share sessions, the kids had Vacation Bible School.  In the afternoons we did all kinds of fun things together.  We had a wonderful time.  I am already looking forward to next year.  We left Friday morning and flew to Athens and then to Madrid and then Barcelona.  We had a funny moment in Athens when the security guard wanted us to take the blanket away from Arianna who had just woke up.  He wanted to pass it through the x-ray.  It took a little coaxing but finally she gave it up without any tears.  We made it home at about 1:30 am.  I defintely think that next year we will try to fly out of Toulouse.  Enjoy some pictures and the video below as well.  Today is the 10th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th.  We were living in Corsicana and I was about to leave the house for work when we received a call telling us to watch the television.  I remeber being shocked and having the radio on all day.  Thinking that there could be 20,000 people in those towers was just shocking.  Our prayers continue for those who lost family and friends that day and in the war against terrorism.  God bless, JASON

Update from Greece

Just wanted to take a few minutes to let every one know that we are having a good time in Greece.  The trip went well.  The kids slept good, but Angie and I . . . not so much.  Lilia had a good first day at school.  The hotel we are staying in this year has made several changes which are good . . .free drinks and ice cream throughout the day, three free meals a day instead of two, free water park access (the boys are loving it).  However, we do have to pay for wifi which I am trying to avoid.  Check back on Saturday and I hope to be able to post some pictures and share more about what we have been up to.  God bless, JASON

House Approved

Arianna and I praying.

Arianna's first watermelon.

Andrew at the lake.

Arianna's birthday party.

The important news that we just received this evening is that we were chosen to get the new house.  We (esp. Angie) are excited about this opportunity, having more space, being in town with more contacts, having a home easier accessible, all more the same or even a little less a month.  It will probably be the end of October before we move in.  Other than that, the week has been good.  We took the kids to the lake on Tuesday afternoon.  We celebrated Arianna's first birthday party with a few friends Wednesday.  This morning Angie and Caleb went and picked up some clothes for Caleb that Angie bought online.  Online shopping is a real blessing, she looks most often at leboncoin.com or ebay.fr (petits announce).  You can great condition clothes, good brands, for sometimes one euro or less per article. We had a good bible study with three present this evening. Tommorrow, I will get new tires on the car, and while that is getting done, I will walk into town and visit at the market as well as run a few errands.  In the afternoon, Angie will hopefully finish getting Lilia prepared for school, we still need to get her lunch ticket and her bus card.  We will hopefully get some packing done as well.  We will be leaving the house, Saturday, around 6pm to arrive at Barcelona at 9pm, we fly out at 12:35am, four hour lay-over in Athens, arrive at Courfu at 9:30 Sunday morning.  It should be a fun time.  Maybe ?  We are looking forward to spending the week with friends, relaxing, hearing some good preaching and conferences.  I may not have the chance to blog, but I will sure update you when we return.  God bless, JASON

Preparing for preparing

Eating supper with my parents and some friends.



My dad and I

 The week ended well.  Most of last week seemed to be preparation for this week, which is preparation for school starting and our trip to Greece.  We are still awaiting the response concerning the house.  The kids school starts on the 4th.  Of course the boys will be with us in Greece for the first week.  I had a few good contacts at the market on Friday.  We had the Bible study on Wednesday night, and we had a friend over for supper on Thursday. I played basketball twice this past week, and I can still feel the results of taking those few weeks off.  I also fixed a computer for some friends this past week.  Had my session with my language partner.  Passed some good time with the kids.  We made several pints of Fig preserves from some figs that were given to us.  It was a little time consuming, but we are happy with the results.  We should have the answer about the house by Tuesday.  I need to have an eye appointment this week.  It has been a couple of years since I have had my vision checked.  On Friday morning we are getting some new tires on the car.  They are all pretty run down, and one had a screw in it.  Friday morning was the only opening they had, I am not sure how I am going to do the market, I may just walk down and talk with some of the vendors.  Services were good this morning.  Arianna has been doing well.  I think that she has some back teeth pushing through because she is chewing on her fingers a lot and did not sleep well the last couple of nights.   She has been taking some steps by herself.  I think up to 5 one time.  God bless, JASON

Summer Outreach

The Bible Exposition in Carcassonne.



Interesting stallagtite in one of the
 caves we toured with my
parents.



 My parents arrived home without any problems.  We have had a good time with the Mission Vacances team (United Beach Mission).  On Friday, we passed out tracts with the information about our work to about 1900 houses in Limoux.  The group had lunch at our house and then everyone crashed.  I think the 100 degree heat wore everyone out.  Saturday morning we stopped by to drop off some Bibles at the church in Carcassonne, they had run out and need some to have until their order came in.  We also did a little shopping and finally got Arianna some shoes that will work for any occasion.  Saturday, it was just plain hot, it got up to over 85 degrees inside.  It is actually not too bad, as long as you don't wash dishes or cook.  Angie doesn't care much for the heat, so in the late afternoon we went for a drive to cool off.  We explored a couple of areas of Limoux that we have not seen yet.  Sunday was another hot one.  Angie stayed home, there was going to be a crowd at church and there would not have been enough seats for all of us. We had a familly from Wales eat lunch with us.  They are Christians who have been staying in the area on vacation.  After lunch we visited in the afternoon.  In the evening Angie went with them to a special service in Carcassonne.  It was a conference on Catholicism.  I heard it last year and so Angie went.  She really enjoyed it.  The man who presented it was a teacher in a Catholic school and very active in the Catholic Church.  He shares his testimony of coming to the faith and shares about some differences and ways to aproach them.  Angie got back late, so we ended up having supper together as well.  Monday I went to the Bible Exposition in Carcassonne.  This is the third time that we have helped with this.  It is an exposition of old bibles and and gives a lot of information about the Bible.  It is a good opportunity to invite people into the church and talk with them about God's word.  There were only two that stopped by while we were there.  This morning I finally got our papers turned in for our house.  We should have a response in a week.  I have no idea how it will go, and either way, I will not be upset.  We just pray for God's will to be done, as I could be happy in that house, just as well as staying in this one.  I'm going to try to go to a few basketball practices this week.  I have not been in about 6 week, and I know that it is going to show.  The weather has cooled off and little and they're calling for rain in Wednesday.  God bless, JASON

Quotation in the American Cemetery