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)