Good morning from the east side of “the pond”!

Spring is in the air as temps this weekend are slated to hit 16-17 celcius. But even if there had been any doubt… the presence of the bright yellow mimosa blossoms would’ve been a dead give-away.

Here you see one of our Sunday School kids carrying a bouquet almost as big as him! Florian just turned 3 and, for the past several weeks, has been proud as punch to rattle off his memory verse. He’s a ball of activity, but the way he learns verses makes one anxious for the day when he’s old enough to be a Bible Quizzer!

Let’s play catch-up for the past 2 weeks…

Norway & Bordeaux

Two weeks ago was a very special weekend for the kids.

Timo…

… made his way to Bordeaux for the weekend to spend time with the youth group there. He was not interested in heading off to Norway with his older siblings (see below) but did want to follow in their footsteps and have a weekend away (a rare occurrence). Together they had late-night meals, great fun and Timo played drums for them during the service on Sunday.

Sophie & Dominic…

…made plans back in November to attend the Breaking the Chains conference, hosted by our sister United Pentecostal Church in Oslo, Norway. Since they’d be traveling by themselves, you can imagine that Liz & I were a bit nervous but the Lord took care of them right from the get-go as they were on the same flight as a number of young people from our Paris churches.

They really didn’t see much of Oslo, save the countryside between the airport and the northern part of the city where they were staying. What they did see, however, was a ton of apostolic young people on fire for God and wanting to live for him.

They were able to build new friendships with some of the young people from Norway and from Holland as well. They returned even more determined to not merely “survive” on the mission field, but to “thrive” with the Lord’s help!

Future Schooling

February and March are typically busy months in terms of school open-houses. All three of the kids will change schools in September. Dominic & Sophie will be headed to university and Timo will choose a professional high school. That means attending several open houses and last weekend saw us attend one of several: This one at the University of Poitiers (one of the schools where I teach part time).

It’s very different because we’re trying to make decisions but the entire process of university application / entrance is very different from back home, not to mention the kinds of programs offered.

Pray: If you’re looking for a specific way to support us in prayer, please keep this area in mind. With the systems so vastly different (and unfamiliar) it’s an important area of decision over the next month or two.

Fatigue… our Constant Companion

After every 6 weeks of classes in the public school system, there is a 2 week break for the kids. What a great system (in that regard)! But… kids need that break! During the 6 weeks of classes, the kids are rarely finished before 5:00pm and there are a couple of nights where they only get home around 7:00pm. It’s a little different for Timo, but still fairly demanding.

So as we head into that break beginning Monday, the kids are all very ready for it and we’re all generally worn down.

Add to that general fatigue the fact that this week I’ve been house-sitting at Over and Above. I get a degree of rest out there on the days I don’t teach, but on the days when I do… it adds another hour of driving time.

I’ve been indulging in fires in the open fireplace on a daily basis and Liz came out for a visit one day when the kids could fend for themselves. We had a nice meal at the house and then took a short drive to the ancient book-making city of Montmorillon. Such moments are few and far between

On the Front Page

Not too long ago, Sophie was contacted by the local bi-weekly magazine about using a photo that she’d posted on Instagram. It’s a picture of some papers folded up into a heart shape, overlooking some well-known buildings in the city.

What was particularly wonderful is that those papers are printed prayer guides that we were using to prayer-walk through & over the city. So essentially, to a certain extent, the local magazine, without knowing it, re-broadcasted the prayers that we’d prayed over the city.

Even more ironic is that those prayers were “rebroadcast” only weeks before we’ll be doing another prayer walk through the city, this time with some of the people from Bordeaux. (More to come on that later this month).

This Weekend…

Dominic is in Melun for a Bible Quizzing mini-tournament all day today and he will stay up for services tomorrow before returning Monday. It will be yet another opportunity to hang out with some great Christian young people.

Thank you…

… for stopping by and for keeping us covered in prayer. It makes a difference, it surely does. God bless you this week!