Almost Christmas

It's been a month since I wrote.  So what have we been doing?

A lot of school-

Class pictures posted by the elementary school

Snow removal

Chris leading music practice for this semester's graduation ceremony.
My teacher was assisting this day.

More class 

Ben playing volleyball

Noah at Akido

Making salt dough Christmas ornaments

The kids have enjoyed their sports here-

Lots of fun preparing for Christmas- we only brought the stocking here.  Other things are to be shipped to Cameroon.

My Birthday Breakfast.  Yum!
I got my first letter just for me for my birthday too.  Thanks mom!

More School

A break with friends between exams. We walked to the medieval city up the hill from Albertville. 

Chris gave the 'culte' (sermonette) at school

Friends went for tea one day.  First time in a long time.
(Yes the face is blurred on purpose)

Another beautiful sunset

Making our traditional family anise cookies

Our turkey for Thanksgiving- someone else cooked the real thing.  Kristin helped me make this.

Thanksgiving celebration at the center on Saturday

All is ready-

Noah reading a speech at the dinner for my birthday.

Flowers from my oldest-

Chocolate from my girl

Friends

Our little tree

Christmas traditions are different in France

Not sure what these giant flying things were.  Part of Albertville's  Night of lights

Love the lanterns with a real candle inside

The kids swim for PE one hour a week for six weeks.

Church service

Visiting the âne 

And Père Noël

With my sweetheart at Conflans.

Last week before the break.  My sister and her family will be here for 10 days.  I can't wait.  We get to see the cousins, have Christmas, and go skiing.

I passed my exams and am in chapter 3 of the new level. MUCH harder.  Chris is almost finished with exams- results Friday.  

Thank you for praying!  Kids still struggle with the teasing, but it is better.  The miss what they think they would have had at 'home' in the States.  French is still hard for my brain.  Some days I know I will never pass the new class.  But I can talk with more people now in town.  

Ben's birthday is Thursday.  He will be 8.  Pray he desires God more than anything.  He's having a 'fête' Wednesday.  He invited a lot of friends from school- more than he was supposed to- and I am trying to understand all the parents who call to RSVP.  Game suggestions are welcome!  Our apartment is tiny-

Our van is still for sale.  We've lowered the price.  A few folks are interested-

Off to finish my homework!

Down Day

Learning French.  That's why we are here.  Isn't it?

It's a Wednesday and Kristin's teacher wasn't there, so she didn't have school.

She sat in my class in the morning instead.  And right from the first minute, I felt stupid.  We had learned the present progressif tense, using the phrase 'end train de' (in the middle of), the passé recent, and reviewed future proche. We used them all with questions, and negation.  I couldn't remember how at first, but my teacher called on me first.  Then we went on to using indirect discourse statements (Chris said that he needs to go to the store), questions, and orders (oh yes, it is always different with an imperative!).  And then we reviewed the pronunciation of the [e]vs. [€] sound. I felt my shoulders get tighter as I struggled with the new information and processing the old.  Am I tired?  Is it that Kristin is here?  Because I am sitting in a different place than usual? Or maybe it's French…

Fast forward to lunch.  My oldest child informs us that the two boys who came to our house for his birthday don't want to be his friend any more.  No reason. Middle school just sucks.
Kristin goes with Chris to class in the afternoon.  She wants to know if I still love her?!
5pm I am home.  I spend an hour cutting fat and grizzle off the stew beef to make stir fry for dinner.  It tastes okay, but they don't call it stew beef for nothing.  It is tough. But everyone is hungry by the time it was ready, so no complaints!

Kids in bed, prayers said, time to do home work and read e-mails.  And there it is. A message from Cameroon, "We want you to have a good B2 level before you come." I know nothing and I have to get to B2?? Lord Please help me!!  First exams are in just over a week.

I do the homework, review my notes, and, feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, I quit.

I sleep.

Thursday is better, but middle school still sucks for my oldest.  My daughter is lonely and the youngest cries at volleyball practice because he says he doesn't know how to ask what to do in French (I think he knows how, no I know he can, but he needed prodding).
And good news, maybe I won't need B2 to leave anyway.  'Relax, enjoy, and learn as much as you can,' the e-mail read.  Whew.

I read Psalm 39 and 40 with my oldest two.
So glad he is my deliverer and he hears my cry.

Thanks for praying with us~

Psalm 40:

1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
    and put their trust in him.

4 Blessed is the one
    who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
    to those who turn aside to false gods.[b]
5 Many, Lord my God,
    are the wonders you have done,
    the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
    they would be too many to declare.

6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
    but my ears you have opened[c]—
    burnt offerings and sin offerings[d] you did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
    it is written about me in the scroll.[e]
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
    your law is within my heart.”

9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
    I do not seal my lips, Lord,
    as you know.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
    I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
    from the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord;
    may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
    my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
    and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased to save me, Lord;
    come quickly, Lord, to help me.

14 May all who want to take my life
    be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
    be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
    be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
    “The Lord is great!”

17 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
    may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    you are my God, do not delay.

Skyping for a birthday

Remembering David~

Still trying to sell our van too….

Fall Break

School was officially let out on Friday October 18th at the end of the day.  But I was not excited.  Not relieved. Not yet-

Friday was Kristin's big speech, and Saturday was Noah's birthday.
Sunday I took Kristin and Ben to the Grand Bivouac and walked around.  We did a scavenger hunt and then it began to rain harder so we went home. Noah did crafts with Flambeaux to help pay for their spring trip.

Crafts

The view on the way home

He's twelve!

Scavenger hunt in the rain….

And then?  Rest.  Finally rest.  Sunday after church, Monday, part of Tuesday and Wednesday I could rest, read, and relax.  Tuesday we worked on a video to send home to play at churches or on youtube as an update (not finished with it yet…).  Wednesday the kids packed their own suitcases, I packed mine and got the food, sheets, and towels to take with us.

Waiting to make the video

Chris and our friend Dan Leathers who helped with the film

And Thursday we got to go on a little trip.

First stop: Vif, just south of Grenoble and home of PATOU!  Patou was my family's exchange student in the 1980's when we were in high school.  She stayed with us 2 summers, looked at colleges with us and helped take me to college.  How good it was to see her again!  The last time I saw her was in 1991 at her home in Martigues, France with her parents and siblings. How good it was to meet her husband and children.  We had a wonderful lunch of raclette - a yummy regional speciality.

first course

Patou in the kitchen

Add caption

All the kids like mine craft...

All the boys with their moms

Then we drove on to Entrepierres, near Sisteron.  BEAUTIFUL drive.

Bridge on the way

Entrepierres was an abandoned village that someone bought and is now a missionary retreat center.
http://www.pierresvivantes.org/welcome/

It was just what we needed!


We took day trips, cooked our own meals (I made tartiflette one night!) and had a family UNO tournament.

Built sometime in the 1600's

pont de la Reine Jeanne 

Just up the road at Entrepierres

They think they can climb all the way up...

Kristin took this one-

Less wildflowers- now crickets...

Mushrooms

A favorite French sign

Sisteron

Geocache

The view from the citadel in Sisteron

The chapel Sisteron citadel

Citadel

This walk was to see the ichthyosaurus fossils.  They were boring.  But the fungi were cool!

After a long drive from the ichthyosaurus hike to what we thought was the road back to Entrepierres, and after backing up on a hillside that was in someone's yard, we passed this post office again.  The road goes on both sides….

An abandoned church

The church on the outside

Forcalquier

Provincial outdoor market in Forcalquier

The chapel at Entrepierres.  It is a Catholic chapel and they still have services every once in a while

Our room.  Entrepierres

Our room

We checked out on Tuesday and drove to Nice!

On the way to Nice

The water was so green!

Pebble Beach in Nice

Sea glass in honor of Janice Sharrett

We stayed in a little town Cap d'Ail, between Nice and Monaco and cooked our own dinner.

The next day we saw Monaco.  Mostly we did the aquarium, walked around, saw the local carnival and had pizza for dinner.

For Chris's dad the firefighter!

The aquarium from a park nearby

They could chose one activity- game or ride.  Ben now knows the games are not a good choice!

These two rode a crazy round and round upside down thing.

Fall 

Fish market at Carrfour in Monaco 

Sunrise- the last of vacation

Menton Beach

Behind the car-

Monaco from below

Halloween.  The day to drive home. France, through Monaco and then we stopped in Menton, France for 30 minutes for the kids to go to a beach again in the warm Mediterranean sun.  Then Italy, France, and Italy again, always heading home.  We saw beautiful sights, stopped for lunch in a small town and had our picnic on a bench.
And then, on the last set of mountains, we took the mountain pass (not the 50Euro tunnel) and halfway up we hit FOG.  This is the kind of fog you read about in books.  Thick, cold clouds.  We couldn't see more than 10 feet.  We passed abandoned buildings, tunnels to nowhere, and followed the white line on the pavement.  Spooky Halloween.
But when we got to France the fog lifted:

Entering France

It's good to be home.  Rest some more.  Do lots of laundry (hard to dry on rainy days). Glad my doctor adjusted my thyroid medicine.  I stopped having headaches.

Yes we did homework every day while we were gone.  My teacher assigned us a book to read in French. I wrote a 600 work paper about it.  We had limited internet access.  It was a good week!

Class started again Monday the 4th.
Now we get up, have breakfast, get kids to school (some days Chris takes Noah early - the days he has to be there at 7:40), walk, ride bikes, or on rainy days, drive to school.  Get kids at noon, Clean breakfast dishes.  Review the morning's lessons, get the kids to class at 1:30, go back to school. At 5 get the kids again, go home, make dinner, rest, get kids in bed, do homework. Sleep. Repeat daily.

A tongue twister to give relief from the multitude of types of pronouns

Classmate Melissa Molsee gives the devotion Monday morning

Learning French culture

PS If you read to the bottom, Mike Sharrett Jr. is selling our van for us- here's the link if you are interested or know anyone who is!  Pray that is sells soon!

Gassler 2004 Freestar SE minivan