Caves

A cave we toured in Southern France

Saturday Jason took us to tour two caves.  The first cave was very nice and the guide was funny or Jason was funny as he translated what the man said.  We drove to another cave site and this one was much larger.  They say that the Eiffel Tower would fit inside its main room and I believe it.  It was an amazing sight.  Pictures just can not capture the beauty of a cave.  It was very cool inside the caves.  These caves were less than an hours ride from Jason's house. 

Janie on Facebook and Jason on his new computer

I watched TV on this beautiful Monday morning with the grandkids while waiting for everyone to awake and start the day.  We now have 2 1/2 days left of our vacation in France.  We returned the rental car today.  They are planning a joint birthday party for me and Arianna.  While we were in town returning the car we went by a sporting goods store and looked around.  I tried some hiking shoes on but they did not have my size.  We got home and had lunch outside and the weather is really nice.
I checked my email and saw where my siblings are wanting another conference call to discuss my mother's condition.  I will not be able to participate due to the time difference between here and there.  Well I must get back to vacationing.  God bless you.

Second Sunday in France

The Wells family, Janie and me at the church in Carcassonne

We heard an outstanding sermon this morning at the church in Carcassonne, France.   Jason translated it for us.  I knew 2 of the songs that they sang and I sang in English as the rest of the congregation sang in French.  We got to see the Wells family again.  They are from Wales and are spending their "Holiday" in southern France.  I just loved talking with their 2 children.  They told me about "meat pies" and "Cornish Pasties."  I had a blast talking with them. They were so BRITISH it was delightful.   I invited them to come and visit with us in Texas and I hope they will one day.

Our view of the services at Walnut Street

We stopped and picked up some pizza on the way home after the services.  Janie and I were tired so we took a 2 hour nap this afternoon.  We got up in time to watch the services at Walnut Street via Skype.  It made me miss home.  I thought of one of the boys at church camp who was very home sick.  I enjoy being here with Jason, Angie, and the kids and we are having a great time but a part of me longs for home.  God bless you.

Petanque

Playing Petanque in Jason's front yard

We had a relaxing day yesterday.  Jason made us an outstanding supper featuring Tomatoes Farcies.  It was basically tomatoes stuffed with meatloaf.  We eat outside on the back porch and the view is wonderful and the weather perfect. We played a game called Petanque.  It is a very popular game here in France.  We each have 2 steel balls about the size of a baseball.  You through a little wooden ball called the "Cochonnee" then you take turns throwing the steel balls at it and who ever gets the closest to the "Cochonnee" gets a point.  The first player to reach 10 points wins.  Jason is undefeated at this game. 
Today we are going to see a cave north of here.  They say that this cave is tall enough to hold the Eiffel Tower.  That should be quite a sight. God bless you.  

Relax

Arianna trying to walk

Yesterday and today we are taking time to relax.  The girls have gone to the market to shop and the boys are having what Jason calls "boy time."  They are playing video games while Arianna plays in her walker and I blog.  Our vacation to France has gone really well.  We are having a really good time. Yesterday Janie and I walked with Jason to a neighbor's house to water their garden and to pick tomatoes and squash.  There were a lot of ripe tomatoes and they taste really good.  We had supper out on the back porch and the weather was perfect.  It has been about 80 degrees each day and in the 60's each night.  

Jason and family in a bomb crater Pointe du Hoc Normandy

My siblings, via email and Facebook, have been keeping me posted as to my mother's condition.  I called and talked with her and she did not sound like herself at all.  I am look forward to our return and to being able to see her the week after next.  God bless you.

Normandy

Normandy, France and D-day makes me proud to be an American.

Janie in a field of graves at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France

Army Rangers scaled the cliffs to capture Pointe du Hoc. Bomb craters everywhere!

Pointe du Hoc, Normandy France: Bomb craters everywhere.

Janie and Paul on Utah Beach Normandy, France

Janie at the Utah Beach war museum

Para trooper St. Mere Eglise Normandy, France near the 101st Airborne museum

Jason and family at the Utah Beach museum

Me and the boys at the Utah Beach war museum

The Boys at Utah Beach

On Omaha Beach, Normandy France

The Boys on Utah Beach

Janie and me on the causeway leading to Mont Saint-Michel

It was a long drive across France to get to Normandy.  The journey took 12 hours and we saw some really nice scenery.  I drove Jason's car and he drove the rental.  When we arrived at the hotel I went to bed right off and got a good night sleep.  The hotel room was a bit strange.  The shower stall and sink were in the same room as the bed, only the "WC" was in a separate room.  I thought this to be a bit strange.  Otherwise the room was very nice.  We got up early the next morning and went to Utah beach.  I had a friend that had landed on this beach and survived the war.  He was a boiler fireman at St. John's Hospital in Lowell, Mass. and had told me stories of the war.  It was quite a feeling to be standing on that beach where so many had been killed.  We toured the museum there and then went to St. Mere Eglise where there is a replica of a para trooper hanging from the steeple of the church.  The 101st Airborne museum was there and we stayed just for a short time.  Next we went to Pointe du Hoc. This also was an amazing place.  The Army Rangers had to scale the cliffs to take this strategic point.  225 Rangers landed and only 90 survived the attack.  The spot was bombarded before the attack and the craters are everywhere.  We walked into the bunkers that were built by the Germans.  I would not have wanted to be on that point on D-day.  We made our way next, to Omaha beach.  This was, to my understanding, the worst place to be on D-day.  The most moving place was the American Cemetery. I was amazed at the huge crowd of visitors that were there.  We had to park far away.  Over 9000 American soldiers are buried there.  They died in the liberation of Normandy.  We watched 2 videos at the museum there. They were both very good.  I think they should be shown to everyone.
While walking through the cemetery my grandson, Caleb, kept asking me questions.  He wanted to know why these men had joined the military.  I had a hard time explaining the selective service and draft to him.  He wanted to know what would happen if you did not go when you were drafted.  I told him you would go to jail.  He asked wouldn't that have been better than dieing?  I said no it would not.  He could not understand it.  It was difficult to explain to an 8 year old that duty and honor come before self.  It was a precious moment that I will not soon forget.  This 8 year old hit the nail on the head!  This place was all about duty and honor. 
The Normandy visit is a once in a lifetime event.  I as so glad we went.  The next day we headed back to southern France by way of Mont St. Michel.  This is an island with a cathedral/abbey atop its peak.  There was a lot of buildings on this little island.  The streets were very narrow and crowded.  I was amazed at the number of people that were there.  We parked about a 1/2 a mile from the Island.  On our way out we saw miles and miles of bumper to bumper traffic headed toward Mont St. Michel.  We got back to Magrie about 11:00 pm.  It was a really good trip.  God bless you.

Sunday in France

Janie and Arianna trying to stay warm by the sea

We went to the beach on Saturday and the traffic was really heavy.  It normally takes 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach the Mediterranean Sea from Limoux but it took over 2 hours.  The beach was not crowded and it was not hot.   Janie sat on the beach with Arianna and they both had chill bumps.  Chill bumps are not possible back home for it has been over 100 degrees each day we have been gone from there.  I drove one of the cars back to Limoux and it took just over an hour.  Driving here in France is not bad at all for it is much like the States.

Playing in the Sand on the Mediterranean Sea

Today we got up and went to church in Carcassonne.  Jason brought the morning Bible reading and children's devotional.  He also led the singing.  I preached the sermon and the pastor translated my words into French.  The church house was full with over 40 people in attendance.  I preached from Zephaniah chapter 3 verses 1-2 on the subject of "The Journey from Wonderful to Woe."  I really enjoyed preaching! Afterward they set up tables for a covered dish meal.  There were at least 2 families in attendance who were from England.  They were on vacation staying in the area.  One family stayed for lunch and they have 2 children a boy 11 and a girl about 13 years old.  Their names were Joel and Lois.  I loved visiting with them as we ate together at the same table.  They laughed and laughed as they tried to explain to me the game of Cricket.  It was a lot of fun!!!!  They gave me a riddle and I could not get it.  They said I would feel foolish when I found out the answer and sure enough I did.  It is a play on words so telling the riddle here would give it away.  Their parents were real sweet people.  Jason, Lilia, Micah and I remained after the meal to help set up the building for a 3 week long Bible exposition.  We also helped the pastor load a small refrigerator into his car and then followed him home to help unload it.

That is me preaching this morning with Bro. Tony translating

Before supper we watched the church services of Walnut Street Baptist Church.  We sang along and enjoyed Bro. Slocomb's sermon.  I missed being there.  Jason fried some chicken strips for supper.  The meal at the church and the supper tonight were both outstanding.  We sure are eating good!
Well it is off to bed and an early start in the morning.  We are going to try to leave by 7:00 in the morning for the 12 hour drive to Normandy.  It is the trip of a lifetime.  I have longed to see the D-day invasion sites and the American Cemetery there.  We will spend 2 days and 2 nights there before heading back to Limoux.  I plan to take my laptop along so I can blog. God bless you.

Marché

Got up early and went with Jason to the Limoux Marché.  It is basically a market day in the town square.  Jason set up his booth and I stayed with him while Angie went back to the house to get the others.  We will not all fit in the same car at the same time so we had to make 2 trips.  When they arrived we left Jason to man his booth while we shopped.  We bought Janie a basket/purse thing that was nice.  She will be able to take it as a carry on bag on the plane.  It was a fun time and the weather was perfect.  I don't think it got out of the 70's here today.  It rained while we were trying to fix bicycle tires for the kids.  It is raining even now.  We returned home for lunch and after the home schooling lessons were over we repaired bicycles.  Jason took me to a home improvement store in Limoux to just look around.  We stopped at another store that is similar to Wal-Mart.  I bought 2 baguettes and some chocolate covered waffles.  These are some of my favorite French foods.  If they let me loose in town I will always come back with baguettes.  We have been eating fresh veggies from one of their neighbor's garden.  The tomatoes are really good.  After supper we went to the theater to see a puppet show.  The theater was in the boys room where they had set up a stage and seats for the audience.  It was a cute show and we gave them a standing ovation.  After a snack and some short videos the kids headed for bed.  It was another outstanding day in France.  God bless you.

Home school lesson time

Janie and the kids at the Marché in Limoux

Arianna playing with her b-day present from Nana and Papa

Supper on the "Terrace" at Jason's house in Magrie

Caleb, Jason and me at the Marché in Limoux, France

Boys will be boys and had to climb a tree while hiking

Janie and Lilia headed out for a hike

Out standing Hike

Me helping Caleb with his homework

It has been another great day here in France.  We helped the kids with their home schooling.  They have to be taught to read and write English since the public school is all in French.  After lunch we watched the kids play in the pool then we went for a hike.  The boys went one way and the girls another.  Our hike was much farther and steeper than the one the girls took.  It was a beautiful view from on top of the mountain ridge.  The boys had far more energy than I though near the end Micah asked me for a piggy back ride.  I declined his request since my soon to be 58 year old body was doing all it could to carry its own weight. It was a real good trail and the weather was perfect.
We are about to eat supper and tonight is the night they have their weekly Bible Study in their home.  We are hopeful that some will attend though this is vacation time and their regulars are gone out of town.  I will post some pictures below of our day.  God bless you.

The boys standing on a round boulder that caught their eyes.

Angie took this picture of us on the trail from her back porch.

The boys playing on a pile of rocks at the top of the mountain

Jason and the boys on the trail at the top

I am alive

On our way to Camp

It has been too long since my last blog.  I am still alive and well, just been busy.  We had a good time at the camp in Laneville, Texas.  We had 1 saved from our group and 17 total out of all the campers.  There were only 206 campers so the chow line was really short.  The big yellow church bus ran real good there and back getting 6.8 miles per gallon.  We had 29 kids and 2 sponsors on board the bus.  There was no A/C and on our way to camp it was cloudy and much cooler than I had expected.  On the way home it was hot but we managed okay.  The last kids to be picked up were at the church with us for an hour waiting after the others were gone.
The services Sunday were good and a young couple came forward to join at the close of the service.  It is always good to get new members.  Justin and Sarah arrived Sunday afternoon and stayed over night to take us to the airport.  We enjoyed their visit and it was nice to have someone to see us off. 

Janie trying to get some sleep at London's Heathrow Airport

Janie slept a little on the plane ride to London but I did not.  It was a 10 hour flight and was mid morning when we arrived.  We were very tired and had to wait 5 hours for our next flight.  The chairs were not comfortable.  Janie did manage to get about 20 minutes of sleep during that 5 hour wait.  I dozed a little in a chair.  We ate a ham sandwich for lunch and our flight left on time.  I began to get a migraine headache while on the plane to Toulouse.  Jason, Lilia, Caleb, and Andrew were there to pick us up.  I slept a little in the car at first.  As we got closer to Magrie I became more nauseated and just a mile or so from Jason's house I asked him to pull over so I could leave my lunch on the side of the road.  I went to bed immediately upon arrival and got up 30 minutes later to try and eat some supper. 

The Kids have changed a lot in a years time.

Angie had made a really good meal and after just a few bites I went back to bed and tried to get some sleep.  When Janie came to bed I got up and took some medicine for my headache and it seemed to do the trick.  I slept well and have felt well all day today.  I did take a short nap this afternoon.  I am now ready to hit the hay again and spend a busy day with the grandkids tomorrow.  God bless you.