We sat with a plate full of goodies in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. All the while, a white Australian cat curled up next to the wood stove in the fireplace….
That was Thursday, but let me give you a run down of the rest of the week prior to that…
The boys are at the end of their two week school vacation and I am finished my one week off from teaching classes at the University of Poitiers (I guess they figure that university students only need a week to recuperate where school-kids need two), so in many ways, the week was a bit slower-paced than normal.
Pre-Launch
Given the overall lull in the schedule, I’ve taken advantage of the extra time to do promo work for the upcoming book launch (March 31st).
Periodically, I write articles for a couple of other blogs, mostly travel-related that helps network and form a base upon which I can publicize the book. I’ll link to a couple of the articles at the end of today’s post in case you’re interested in reading them.
I’ve continued tweaking the content to add a little extra & tighten up what’s already there and finally, yesterday Liz helped me record this promo video for my author page on Amazon.com. I shared it last night on Facebook, but if you haven’t see it yet…. take a look:
If you’re on Facebook and would like to help us get the word out…
simply go to the book’s Facebook Page and share it.
Wednesday Bible Study
Our midweek services are typically quite small, but this past Wednesday, the presence of God was so tangible that it made you forget how many people were in the room.
We have a young man who was very nearly filled with the Holy Ghost during worship. He has been diligently seeking to deepen his walk with God, and God, true to his word, is drawing nigh unto him as well.
We’re proud of our kids because despite being without a great number of other kids, they are developing and growing in their own walk with God. Dominic just wrote a little bit about it in a blog post this week.
A Walk in the Country with Friends
God has gifted us with the friendship of a British/Australian family – we’ve mentioned them before – who moved to the area only a short time before we did, back in 2015 and who were also a homeschooling family. The French have a hard time understanding homeschool and find it a bit odd… so we can relate to each other in our oddness… we just get each other.
Thursday we took a lovely walk through forest and field, following an old railway track turned walking/biking path, then came back to the house for tea treats.
Liz & Amanda made home-made peanut butter, because peanut butter isn’t always readily available here and it much more expensive than at home.
btw… you read that right… home-made peanut butter… Y-U-M!
Snowblowers & Lawnmowers
Some of you in the north & northeastern parts of North America have been up to your eye-balls in snow over the past few weeks and I feel for you. Here, we’ve had a lot of rain over the past 10 days (with the exception of yesterday and today), and for the first time the thought occurred to me… “Ugh… soon gonna have to dig out the lawnmower!”
It may sound like I’m gloating, but it’s not my intent. Whether it’s powdery white and piled high or spikey green and growing wild… there’s always work to be done when you have a house. In summer, we long to be done mowing and in the winter we think… “…can’t wait to be done with the snow!”
The proverbial grass is always greener on the other side.
Similarly, in life and ministry, there is always something to be improved, worked on or worked out. Whether we’re investing in our kids or in others… sometimes we get to sit back and enjoy a freshly tended garden with no weeds (temporarily) but it takes work to get there.
Strong families and strong churches too have times where we can sit back and enjoy… but there’s a lot of work that has to go into it as well. Lord, strengthen us for the work you’ve called us and equipped us to do this week!
God bless you today & thanks for stopping by!
AIM Long 
I love your video Mike. I have shared it on Facebook. God bless.
Oh Hi Brigid! Your ARE the early bird that gets the worm arent’t you! Thanks so much, I appreciate it heaps!! 🙂