Christmas guests

The Sunset from the Walled City of Carcassonne

This is actually the work of a marker in the hands of a
teething child.

 Christmas went well at the Clark house.  The days leading up to Christmas were busy preparing things and keeping the peace between the kids.  Friday I went with Micah and Andrew to distribute some Christmas tracts.  We woke up early on Sunday and opened gifts.  Caleb and I left at 8:30 to travel to Barcelona, where we attend the services of the church there.  We had a wonderful time and I was shocked by how much of the services I was able to follow with what little I remember of Spanish, and what sounds close to the words in French. Caleb was real good in the services and even went right in to Sunday School as well.  We brought the visiting pastor, who is doing a conference for the missionary in Barcelona,  and his wife and daughter to our house to spend a few days.  The Estrada family is from Mexico City and even though we have only met them once, several years ago, and have a few friends in common, we get along real well.  Amazing how Christ can unite people.  Monday Angie took them around Limoux and shopping, and that evening we went to the to the walled city of Carcassonne, saw a beautiful sunset while we were there. Tuesday we visited the country of Andorra.   It was a pretty two hour drive and the snow in the Pyrenees was a nice sight.  I'll have to post pictures from there later, because they were on the cell phone.  Today Angie took them shopping in Carcassonne, where they found some good deals.  We plan on makings some Tortillas tommorrow. Yeah!  God bless, JASON

Playing with Tops

Arianna brought me a stadium for the tops the boys play with and wanted to play it with me.  Angie thought it was cute and grabbed the camera.  You can hear Arianna saying, "there it is" and "uh-oh" and she shakes her head yes.  She is cute. - JASON

Reindeer games

Happy 9th birthday Caleb!

Lilia was serving tables at the Christmas dinner.

Andrew and Micah during the Christmas play.

We had a good week, busy but we did get a lot accomplished.  I prepared lessons for Thursday night, devotion and kids lesson for Sunday, English devotion for the Carol Service.  Unpacked several boxes, installed shower head, installed new bathroom lock, hung a light in the kitchen, repaired a door knob.  Thankfully the sickness was all behind us.  The kids had a good last week of school, the whole family seemed to be waiting for Friday to come.  We celebrated Caleb;s birthday Saturday.  He turned 9.  He had a friend over that he had not seen in a while, because the boy had changed schools.  They had a wonderful time playing together.  Even Arianna joined in the fun and roughness that comes along with boys.  Saturday evening was the big Christmas dinner outreach with the church in Carcassonne.  The kids performed a sketch, I will try to share the video later.   The dinner went well, and the kids did a good job on the skit.  Sunday services went well, Angie said I did a good job leading the service and I try to believe her.  Of all the opinions of others, hers counts the most.  We had a restful afternoon.  The director of the skit to the kids out for ice cream at McDonalds sunday afternoon.  Today we had a good time enjoying the activities downtown.  They had a free obstacle course and zip line, as well as a reindeer sleigh ride, that all the kids enjoyed.  We met another family there and they visited at our house afterwards.  We did have a good time even though it was cold and misting at times.   Angie has gone shopping and I now hear a little voice calling to me, it seems to be saying, "I have woke up from my nap and I want to get up and have a snack."  Of course to others it would just sound like a baby crying, but I know what she means.  Arianna is saying several words and even phrases and it is cute.  Blessings, JASON

Christmas Sickness

Saturday Angie did some Christmas shopping and we put
up the tree.

Had some play time putting some legos
together with Caleb.

The sickness seems to finally be behind us.  It lasted all last week and we did end up cancelling the Bible Study and our Thanksgiving meal.  We will try to reschedule after the first of the year.  We did manage to get some stuff unpacked inbetween sick moments.  Let me run down the schedule for you.  Andrew became sick Saturday night.  Arianna joined him on Monday.  Caleb and Micah hopped on the sick wagon on Monday night.  I had fever on Tuesday.  Angie joined in the fun on Wednesday, and Lilia on Wednesday night.  Andrew had a slight relapse on Friday night.  The sickness lasted one or two days for everyone, except Andrew, who stomach was still hurting on the third day.  We found out that is was because he had not gone "potty" of anykind for two days.  I went to church on Sunday with the three older kids.  Services were good.  Caleb and Micah had a basketball tournemant that afternoon.  They tied two games and lost the third.  This week I am hoping to have things back to some kind of ressemblance of normal.  I have a lot of work to do.  Prepare for the Bible study, for the Christmas outreach in Carcassonne, and for leading the services in Carcassonne on Sunday.  Better get to it.  God bless, JASON

The last meal

I enjoy every meal as if it were my last . . .let me start from the beginning.  Last week went well, we got probably 75% of boxes unpacked.  The Bible study went well, I had sent out a text message to all that we have had contact with, we still just have our usual audience, but I am confident that we will experience better growth in town.  Friday morning the stand at the market went well, I passed out one Bible, almost two.  Limoux has a large psychiatric hospital, so often mentally handicaped people will frequently walk through the market under supervision.  Two young teenagers passed by with an adult, one young teen asked me how much the stuff cost, I mentioned it was free, he then asked the adult if he could have a Bible.  They went back and forth for a while, the adult stating, "You can't even read, you don't even know what it is."  He answering back, "But so and so can read, and it's free, I don't care what it is." I wanted to give it to him, but couldn't overide the authority of the adult in charge of him.  Friday we got the heat turned on and it has been nice.  Friday afternoon I went and met with our former landlord and finished the papers on our old house.  There are some things that I will miss about the place.  Basketball was cancelled Friday night, I found out right before, which I missed.   Saturday we cleaned and unpacked.  Which brings us to Saturday night. About 1:30 am, Andrew arrives at the bedside stating that he wet the bed.  Angie got up to help him, and a few minutes later calls for my assistance.  He had vomitted in his bed, next to it, even under it.  It took three loads of laundry to get it all washed.  We made him a palet on the floor and gave him a bucket.  He carried on three more times through the night. I stayed home on Sunday with him and Arianna and Micah, while Angie and the others went to church, she needed to speak with someone about preparing for Thanksgiving.  Andrew didn't eat much that day and everytime he did, he threw up.  Arianna followed suit yesterday (Monday). 

 The poor thing, we have never had one so young get the stomach virus. It has not been so bad for her. She takes a few minute nap after she gets sick and just can't seem to understand why we keep that bowl in front of her.  Monday night Micah's turn was next. He doesn't handle that kind of thing well at all.  He said one time, "Dad, I just want to die." We had prepared and so we just had one load of laundry from Micah's bed.  Caleb followed a few hours later.   Thankfully he already had a bowl, so the mess was avoided.  Today everyone seems to be walking around with a bowl. Arianna has not gotten sick since yesterday, but along with everyone else she has no appetite.  Micah just walked in from the bathroom saying, "That was round six."  Angie, Lilia, and I are waiting our turn.  We could avoid it, but as I shared with Angie last night at supper.  I am enjoying every meal like it could be my last for a few days. Hopefully we will not have to cancel Thanksgiving on Saturday, but God is in control.  Blessings, JASON 

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