We're back!

Hello everybodee,

We're back in France from our trip across the ocean! We had such a great time visiting with Grandpa, Auntie, Uncle Sean, Kayleigh (who we call Nayna) and family and friends that we didn't want to leave! For those of you who we got to see, thanks so much for taking the time to fit us into your schedules--some of you came from far--and for those we didn't get to see (like our dear family in MA, and Lisa) we're thinking of you and hope to see you next time!

God really blessed our trip from beginning to end. "Grandpa" and "Auntie" especially worked hard to make sure the practical details were in place, like picking us up from the airport and making sure we had enough car seats, strollers and pack n plays. The morning after we arrived we drove for 2 hours to get on a ferry bound for Tangier Island, which is in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay between Virginia and Maryland. If you're looking for a weekend getaway I highly recommend it! It's the type of place that doesn't seem to have changed much in 75 years or so; the 600-odd inhabitants all know each other, work together in the crabbing industry, go to church together and tool around the island in little golf carts rather than cars. We 5 adults and 3 toddlers stayed in a B&B, tried every restaurant on the island (all 4 or so of them!) and had a relaxing family mini-vacation.

After Tangier we went back to Amy and Sean's for a week or so, and then headed north to "Gramp's Camp" aka Dad's house in PA. Along the way we were able to take the 3 kids to the playground, take walks, go shopping, celebrate Sean's birthday, visit with close college/high school friends, ingest 6 months' worth of burgers and fries (Fred), go and see our good friends the Ehsts' just-getting-started organic produce farm, spend time with Grandma and aunts and uncles and cousins, go shopping some more (Jill)... all in all a really great time! I was able to go to a doctor's appt. with Amy and am happy to report that cousin/neiceornephew #2 is doing great. Can't wait to find which it is, but he/she is healthy so that's what counts!

Our trip home was looong but uneventful, and we had just enough time to get (mostly) over jet lag before going to our church's annual weekend retreat last weekend, which was held in a beautiful, rustic(!) old stone farmhouse (known in French as a "mas") in the town of Uzès at the foot of the Cévenne mountains. It was great to jump right back into fellowship and the teaching was really good as well. There are lots of changes ahead in our church--for one we're going to be borrowing a 7th Day Adventist church's building for our Sunday morning services, since our own tiny building is now standing room only. It's definitely a blessing but the situation is not ideal on many fronts; we'd appreciate your prayers to find a new building of our own quickly!

That's all for now; here are some photos from Tangier--I'll put others on our next post.

love, Jill (for napping Ben and Alex)

watch out America here we come

Hi everyone,

We're coming! Mom says in just a few days (whatever that means) we're all going to get on a big airplane and go visit Grandpa, Auntie Amy, etc. We're so excited! We're staying a couple of weeks, so our next post will either be from over there or after we get back. We don't have too much new to report; the weather hasn't been that great lately so we haven't been to the beach in awhile. Tomorrow we're supposed to go to a waterpark called le Grand Bleu with Mom, some "big kid" friends from church and their moms. We really hope it doesn''t rain! Our Papy, Mamie and Auntie Celine are on vacation in Spain and they're coming to visit us this weekend on their way back, along with Uncle Mathieu, Auntie Emilie and Vike the dog. It will be a full house! Mom and Dad got a brand new bike trailer that we use to go on bike rides; it's fun to ride in. It converts to a jogging stroller so Mom says she has no more excuses! We hope you're all having a great summer and can't wait to see some of you soon! love, Ben and Alex

birthday pictures

Hey everybody,

Ben and Alex are napping away as I write this (they didn't sleep very well last night because of the heat). So I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to take over their blog and put up some pictures of our combined birthday parties. The first picture is of a get-together we had with some friends to celebrate 4 birthdays: the boys', mine, and my friend Marie's, whose birthday is around the same time (we celebrated turning 30 together last year). The other pictures are of the following weekend when Fred's parents and sister --plus his cousin and family--were at our place. As you can tell, Ben and Alex enjoyed the chocolate cake! The last picture is past their bedtime on the same day (it's only your birthday once a year, after all!) watching a video with their second cousin Tifanie.

It's been pretty hot here lately--the boys and I went to cool off at a friend's pool Friday afternoon. We've been having some car troubles: Fred spent most of yesterday fixing a leak and then when we were ready to leave for church this morning the car wouldn't start. This time it seems like the battery is dead. Nothing major, but problematic when you only have one car! (Since I don't see Fred carting the boys and I around on the back of his motorbike.)

Hope you all are having a great summer; we're looking forward to seeing you and/or talking to you soon!

love, Jill

more photos

Ben the future computer junkie and Alex the purse snatcher. :-)

summer and birthdays

Hi everybody,

Sorry it's been awhile! We're loving summer now that the good weather is here and we spend most of our time outside (except when Mom makes us take a nap). We also love going to the beach and digging in the sand, even though we're not too sure about the water. This past weekend our Mamie and Papy were here visiting again, along with Tatie (Aunt) Celine and Aka the dog. We celebrated turning 2 and also Mom's birthday with a big meal and some yummy birthday cake--we got chocolate all over us again!

Other than that there's not too much new to report; Mom and Dad are still waiting for the construction permit from the town hall so that the builders can start work on our new house. We spend our days playing in the backyard, taking walks with Mom, and sometimes going to the beach and getting together with friends to play. We're getting ready for our next big trip over the pond on Aug. 28th--we can't wait to see everybody! If you're available and can make a trip to the Richmond, VA or Lancaster, PA area we'd love to get together (well, Mom and Dad would anyway!) Here are some pictures of us at the beach a few weeks ago; we'll add some pictures of our birthday to the next post. Talk to you soon! love, Ben and Alex

summer, then rain, then summer

Hi everyone,

That's pretty much how the weather's been for us the last month or so. We've had some beautiful weather (in the low 80's with low humidity) interspersed with days on end of rain, clouds, and cool. (By now you might be thinking, how did Ben and Alex learn a word like interspersed??) OK you figured it out, this is their mom writing for them (this time). They are off happily playing with friends at the child care center, and I have a few moments before I head off to lunch with Fred and then the grocery store for a megashopping--since I only go once a week!

We're all doing well, it's hard to believe Ben and Alex will hit the big 02 in just a couple of weeks. We've invited their Mamie and Papy, as well as uncle Mathieu and auntie Emilie, to our house for a little party. Last Saturday morning Fred and I took the boys to the beach in the morning, and we stopped for lunch at the new KFC that just opened near us (had to see if it would be as bad as in the U.S.--it was). Sunday morning I sang with the worship team at church, and Sunday afternoon we had a visit from a good childhood friend of Fred's from Clermont-Ferrand and his girlfriend, who is expecting their first child (VERY common in France these days to have baby first, get married later). We had a good time catching up and they ended up staying until after midnight--getting up Monday morning was rough!

That's all for now--talk to you soon! love, Jill (for Ben and Alex)

techni(logical) difficulties

Hi everyone,

Ahhhhh! I just spent the last 20 minutes writing an update, than clicked in the wrong place and lost it all. It's too late and I'm too tired to start over. We're all fine, we've had LOTS of rain here recently (unusual for this time of year) and are eager for the summer to get here! Fred kindly watched the boys all day last Saturday so I could have a girls' day with some friends. We went to a great outdoor market in a town called Uzès. This weekend some friends of ours from church are getting married. I dusted off my violin and have been practicing hard because I'm playing in the ceremony (accompanying some singers). I'd appreciate your prayers; it's been a looong time! Take care and talk to you again soon! love, Jill (for Ben and Alex)

we love spring

Hey everyone,

We're off playing with our friends at the "crèche" (childcare center) this morning (we go there on Wednesdays so that Mom can do the grocery shopping, have lunch with Dad etc.) There are lots of great toys and kids our age to play with.

The weather has been great recently; we love playing outside. Last Sunday afternoon we went for a long bike ride with Mom and Dad (they pedaled while we enjoyed the nice views from our bike seats). This coming Saturday we're going to a picnic sponsored by the different Protestant churches in Montpellier (ours included--we're in charge of refreshments, yum yum!) There will be games for kids and music and it should be a fun time.

Mom and Dad are taking a 7-week marriage class called Elle & Lui (Her & Him) for couples at church, which they say has been really good (and we thought they already knew how to be married--go figure!)

The photos are of the coliseum in Nimes that we visited while Grandpa was here, us playing with Grandpa in our room and us with Dad (the future computer experts)

That's all the news for now; talk to you again soon! love, Alex and Ben

long time no post

Hi everybody,

Sorry we've been out of touch for so long! We've been busy, busy, busy playing outside in the backyard ever since the warm weather got here. We have some cool outdoor toys: a swing that hangs from a branch of the olive tree (that's our favorite and we fight over it all the time!), as well as a little playhouse, a sandbox, and a couple of tricycles that we haven't quite figured out how to ride yet. We also enjoy just exploring the yard, playing in dirt and chasing Nelly the kitty. Speaking of kitties, a stray mother cat left a couple of newborn kittens under our porch last week and we heard them meowing. We tried to take care of them with Mom and Dad since the mommy didn't want them; we fed them special milk from a bottle but they were too little and they both died. We're all sad but Mom and Dad said that happens sometimes with animals.

We've had lot of visits from family lately, which we love! First Grandpa came and stayed with us for a week in April, like he does every spring, and we had a great time playing with him. He read us lots of books and we went to the beach and for walks in the stroller. In early May we went to visit Mamie and Papy (our other grandparents) at their country house in Millau for a long weekend with Mom and Dad, and this past weekend our uncle Mathieu and "auntie" Emilie (they're finally getting married next summer!) came to our house for a visit. That's all for now; the pictures this time were taken by Grandpa during his visit--there's us in the backyard, us a the beach and a shot of our house. Talk to you soon! love, Ben and Alex

already spring

Hi everyone,

Ben and Alex are in bed but they asked me to say hello for them. Riding bikes with Mom and Dad and playing in the park was enough to tire the little guys out for today. We had an amazing weekend weather-wise, especially today, which was sunny and in the mid 70s. After church, while the boys were napping Fred and I enjoyed being outside and Fred put the baby seats back on our bikes (we hadn't used them since the last move in December). When Ben and Al woke up we headed off to explore Prades and stopped at the playground on the way home.

Other than that not too much new to report; Fred is taking an English conversation class at work (his idea in order to keep up his skills) and as I write this he's busily working on his homework assignment for tomorrow, which is to write about something he likes to do outside of work. He chose to write about spending time with his boys and how much fun he has. It's mutual--Ben and Alex shout "Dada" whenever I'm out walking with them and we see a guy go by on a motorbike, and they point excitedly at the front door when I happen to mention his name during the day (expecting to see Daddy walk through at any moment).

By the way Dad and Amy, I've tried several times to call you both this evening but apparently good old Alice has decided to cut out on us like she does from time to time. (I guess that's the price to pay for unlimited calling). I hope to talk to you soon once it's working again. Take care for now!

it's us!

Hi everyone, last weekend we had our Mamie and Papy here visiting us (that's French for Grandma and Grandpa). We took them to see the land where Mom and Dad are going to have our new house built. We also played outside with them, although not too much because the weather was cool and rainy, and went to a flea market. We took Mamie and Papy to our favorite restaurant, a pizza place that has a cool play area for kids. We kept bring Bristle blocks to Papy at the table and he built us a tower.

Here's a picture of the lot where our house is going to be built, of Mamie pushing the stroller with me (Ben) walking along beside, then a closeup of me! Take care for now and we'll write again soon! love, Alex and Ben

Sunday night

Hi everybody,

It's us again! Hope you had a good weekend. The weather here has been really nice for February, we got to play outside with Mom several times this past week. Mom and Dad were unusually busy last week and didn't have as much time to play with us as usual, but we forgive them because they're working on building us...a new house! We'll let Mom tell the rest... love Alex and Ben

Yes it's true, this is our big news of the past week and seemingly a great answer to prayer. As you know we've been renting a house since we sold our apartment in early December because the housing market here in Montpellier is so expensive. So while not actively looking, I had been keeping an eye on real estate listings on the internet just in case and sending an email from time to time when I saw something interesting. A builder called last Monday to say that he happened to have a couple of small parcels of land available to the northeast of Montpellier within our budget (these are the ones that sell the fastest because they're the most accessible price-wise for young families like us.) We made an appointement for Monday evening to find out more about the project, Tuesday we went to see the site during Fred's 2-hr lunch break and by Friday evening we were signing papers! We really love the setting; it's a small town called Boisseron about 1/2 hour northeast of where we live now and Lord willing we'll be building a 3-4 bedroom house which should be finished by the end of this year. The only down side is that Fred's commute will be considerably longer; about 30 km each way which is higher than average for France where as you know gas is anything but cheap! Knowing that we can't afford anything closer though (unless I go back to work, which we'd like to delay for as long as possible) we're very excited about the prospect of having a brand-new house; we'll get to collaborate with the architect for the design and pick out everything from the exterior colors to the tile floors to the kitchen cabinets and counters. We would appreciate your prayers for the financial aspect however; although this house is well within our budget the fact that I'm currently a stay-at-home mom might not go over so well with the bank (banks in France are VERY particular about lending money and have become even more so since the subprime "crisis" in the States. Also it would be great if you could pray for our marriage during this process, which should be exciting and unifying but also potentially conflict-inducing as we will inevitably have to compromise over expectations, décor etc.

We'll keep you updated as things move along...take care for now!

P.S. The picture is of our last visit with Fred's family in mid-January to have a belated Christmas with them and celebrate his brother Mathieu's birthday.

intro

Hello Grandpa, cousin Kayleigh, great-Nana and anyone else who may be reading this! We decided to create this blog to keep you updated on our exciting life at almost 19 months. We've asked Mom to do most of the writing because we're usually too busy playing (when we're not on the lookout for something to eat). Talk to you soon!