Newest bag...

I know...nothing ministry related but just stuff I'm accomplishing... :)



Pattern is from Amy Butler's book "Style Stitches". Great book! Quite challenging...more pieces to cut out than you can imagine!






Love the side pockets...



Huge bag...tons of room and pockets...

Thanks for looking! :)
Jennifer

A few pics of the newest bag I made

A messenger bag...I really like the size. Plus a matching net book case. :)



Homemade label: JG Designs-not very original, I know, but it's just for me...lol









I have been finding all these great sites with free patterns! Sooo much fun! Definitely charging up my craftiness!

Here's the great tutorial I found this one from! Thanks!




http://ocd-obsessivecraftingdisorder.blogspot.com/2010/08/bag-lady-week-messenger-bag-tutorial.html

A productive week!

Well, it's been a long time since my last post...a lot of stuff has been happening...more than anyone probably wants to read about! So I'm just gonna boil it down to a few bullet points! :) Aren't you glad?

1) We had quite a few health issues for the past few months...I think we're almost all on the mend!

2) Still no job...but the Lord has really used our church family here to rally around us. It's been really good to finally feel like a part of the church here. :) But now that we feel that way, we're ready for a job! :)

3) We've all decided we don't like winter here. It gets dark WAY too early (5:15!) and it's really depressing! Can't wait till spring!!

K...well, that's pretty brief...believe me, I did it for your sake! If you want the gory details, you're welcome to ask...but be prepared with a cup of coffee and quite a bit of time! Lol... :)

So, I'm gonna post some pics of what I've been working on this week. I'm gonna try to start sending stuff with the girls to school...to see if they can sell them for me; any way to try to make some money! And I'm just excited to finally feel like I have the umph to get anything accomplished! So bear with me as a I brag a little! :)

The farm...I updated the pics

Sorry to all my friends who prob think we've fallen off the face of the map!  Life's been a bit crazy, but that's nothing new to most of ya'll....WE'VE been a bit crazy for awhile now!  Lol...

This update is gonna be rather lengthy, I'm afraid...so grab a cup of coffee!  But I'll try to post some pics so you can appreciate it some of it visually! :)

Pallets being delivered!

Well, E. did get laid off...we finally got the official paperwork yesterday. So for the last 3 weeks, he's been home every day. He has totally needed the time to mentally recoup from the last 6 months working where he's been. So it's been fun having him home all the time...weird, but fun! Please be praying because though I believe that verse that I posted above, it's awfully hard to LIVE like I believe it when things are like this.

Before we knew he was getting laid off, we started our little "farm". We got 10 chickens and two dwarf goats...the female is prego. So we've been busy building a coop and a mini 'barn' for them...all with free pallets our neighbor got delivered to our house. :)

The frame...don't we look red-neck!

Almost all done!

Billy (The Kid)

Girlfriend, Bessie

Two of the attractive hens...we have 4 pretty ones and....

6 ultra-ugly ones!  Who knew that cou-nu translated
into "naked necks"??!!  :( Let's just say,
if they end up as dinner, oh well...

Side view of "barn"...Still in "red-neck" stage!

Goat "Barn"...in progress

Got tons of corn for the goats to munch on all winter!

We gleaned!  Felt like Ruth & Naomi!

That's been our one highlight throughout all this. The relationships we've made with all of our neighbors has been astounding. Pretty much all of our neighbors have contributed in some way or other to our little "farm".  Most are just "city-folk" who don't know quite what to do with us.  But they are a bit enamored and not a day goes by without talking to them over the fence line watching the animals...

One neighbor is a little old lady who is just so cute. She gave us her plot of yard to use. So we built her a clothesline for her to use on it and we want to build an area that she can come out and sit with her grandkids....she brings them out to feed the animals pretty much every afternoon. Then the family to our right has 5 kids...and they all LOVE working with E., helping to build the coop, learn car stuff, whatever...they're there...working away at whatever E. will teach them.  The husband also loves E. and looks for him to come out so he can also work along side him. He's helped build the coop and the "barn" as well as gave us half of their plot of ground too!  So now we have commandeered 3/4 of the land...lol...somehow we'll use that illustration at Thanksgiving! (The American's come, we take land, you eat with us...) His wife is so very sweet....very, very ambitious, but very sweet.  We end up eating together as families 2-4 times a week! She has become a very dear friend...I am praying for ways to share my hope so please pray for those opportunities. Another neighbor is V; He is 20 and lives with his dad. V. has been trying to speak to me in English because I taught him some tongue twisters. The other day, he asked me if it is hard cause I can't participate much in the conversations around me...and I said "Yeah, it's been hard...today I cried about how hard it is." He was really shocked and now he is always asking me if my day's been hard or easier. :) Also, we visited a pastor and his wife who live way out in the country. E. told V. about it and said, "I bet it's way cheaper to live out there." V. said, "No, you don't need to look for something else! You need to stay here!" We are going to have an American Thanksgiving on Nov. 19...and all the neighbors (plus some others, I think.) are planning on coming.  I'm excited to see what dialogue it opens up.

So in spite of how stinking hard it is right now, I go to bed every night knowing that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. And when I can't sleep at night cause of this blasted insomnia, I've started praying for them. That we will be there when they start to have needs that we can help to meet and to hear about our hope...and the fact that we moved to France because of them.

Jennifer

Wow...a year has flown by!

Haha...no, we haven't been here that long yet...but it has been almost exactly one year since we got back last summer from the camp here that we helped with...the impetus behind our decision to move here! Crazy! Last year, about now, we were discussing it as a family (talking to B. over the phone about it, cause he was still in France), praying TONS and finally coming to a decision to sell our house and see what God does. Wow...it's been a crazy year!

At the end of July, we will have been here for 4 months. It seems to have gone by so fast in some ways, and so slow in others!

Last week was a super hectic, busy week! The camp, Talk it Up, was very successful with 28 kids there...they had a blast! I was sad because my language classes had just begun and I wasn't able to participate like I had last year. E. did get to take off three days to help with it...the kids love him! Also, our kids all helped every day. It went by super fast and the kids who came were sad when it was over.

I've been in language classes now for exactly two weeks. It's been a hard adjustment to go back to school after so long! My head feels like it's going to explode most evenings! I have an exam on the 27th so please pray that I'll be able to somehow remember all I've learned for that! Also pray that I start to be able to use what I'm learning....it's hard without having a practical place to flesh out what I'm learning. Also pray for me as I go and come from the school each day. It takes about 45 mins each day to get there or back...on Wednesday, it was raining and I was walking determinedly to the metro stop I have to go to. The school is in kind of a bad part of downtown Lyon...I'm usually the only white non-Muslim woman walking thru the area when I'm there. As I was in that area, a huge (about 300+lbs) man, all dressed in this huge dress, came up to me and stood about 2 inches from my face and kept saying something to me in French. I kept trying to get around him but he kept blocking me. Finally I darted around him and he started laughing at me and then hit me hard twice in the back of my neck as I went by. Please pray that I'll find another student to walk with to this stop.... It kinda freaked me out!

An update on E.'s job situation. I can't remember if I updated on the blog about this a couple of weeks ago or not...here's a short summary. Basically, his boss 'fired' E. about two weeks ago. There's a long process here though when you fire someone...so E.'s still been going to work every day. However, on Wednesday, his boss called him in for a meeting and has basically now 'un-fired' him...giving him 'one more chance'. So poor E.; he still has a job but he has got to find something else soon...this man is verbally abusive and flips decisions faster than a light switch! So please be praying that he will be able to find something very soon and something that will provide better for our family.

G. is getting to go to an English camp tomorrow...mainly with other mk's. Someone here provided that for her and it was a
huge blessing! I think she'll have a blast! A. was also offered to go, but she didn't want to.

Please be in prayer too for the school situation for the kids, especially for A. The school she is going to go to is an international school and right now, she has been accepted for it...but in the European section. She has a huge day of testing at the end of August for the anglophone section. We are hesitating to have her take this test because even if she passes it, this section is too expensive for us. Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom on why to do, in the event that she is accepted into this section.

B. is going to do a year of high school here starting in the fall, simply to work on his French. G. has been accepted into the school she went to for the last three weeks....so that's really cool for her. It's only 5 mins from our house!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers! You cannot know how very much we covet them!!! We all miss you all so much. Please remember that you can come visit us whenever! ;)
Jennifer

Sorry! It's been awhile!

Hello to those of you keeping up with us! Sorry it's been a little while since last posting. It's been a hard month and I've tried twice before to write an update, but both times, the program froze and I lost both posts. So I was thinking maybe I needed to not write whatever it was, in case the Lord was trying to tell me something!

I'm going to do my best to summarize the last month...been rather crazy so I'm sure I'll inadvertently leave something out!

One of the major things that has happened has been in regards to the girl's schooling. About three weeks ago, we went to a school that's closer to us than the one they would normally be assigned to go to. We met with the principal and she was very excited about the prospect of having G. go to her school next year. In fact, she wondered if she could maybe even start the following week so that she could get to know some people and how things basically work so that next fall, she'd feel more comfortable! At first, she wasn't crazy about the idea but when she realized she wouldn't be expected to do any of the work, just to sit & listen and get to know people, she had a great attitude about it and started that Monday...two weeks ago now. So basically, she just dove right in to a completely French public school! I was so proud of her! It was actually really funny, because she was an instant celebrity! In fact, on that first day, 55 students got notes sent home to their parents because they were in trouble for not respecting her space! You could always tell where she was because she constantly had a 'swarm' around her! One girl told her on Facebook that she wanted to meet her but she couldn't because she was constantly surrounded by 'her bodyguards'! I think it's died off somewhat by now, but they are all still enamored with her. Most of the teachers have also been very nice to her and are trying to help her adapt.

A. would also normally be at the same school because here, 9th grade is still considered junior high. So the principal also offered for her to come too. She, of course, wasn't as gung ho as G.! But after a week, we finally talked her into finishing out the last two weeks there! So she started last week! She's had a slightly different experience than G. but it's not been too bad. I was just proud of her that she'd try. I know it's much harder for her to do. A funny thing that happened to her was that they went as a class to the library, and the teacher had her read to the class a book in English! She thought they were kidding at first, but they weren't! Afterwards, the class passed around the book and tried to read it themselves in English, laughing at each other's attempts. One sweet girl there even went to the trouble of trying to think of any phrase A. might use in school during the day, and wrote a list for her in French to help her!

So next year, G. will go to the same school as she's in now. Next year for A., we're still working on that but we did meet with the department of education and a very nice guy basically wrote some special code on some paperwork making her automatically admitted into the international school. She wouldn't be in the Anglophone section but in the European section. The Anglophone section is the part that costs so even though she won't take any of the classes in English or take any separate French classes, she will still have roughly 500 out of the 2000+ students who also speak English as their mother tongue. If the Lord provides, she could still do that section but honestly, this seems to be our best option so far. It's been amazing to see certain doors open up that don't 'normally' occur! 'Normally', French administration doesn't break their own rules, especially for a foreigner. 'Normally', French administration aren't known to be excited about an American coming in to their school and really could care less about accommodating them. All of the people we've dealt with so far have been very pleasant and very helpful...even totally willing to bend the rules so that A. & G. will benefit the most. I truly believe God has gone before us in all of these situations. Thank you for your many prayers!!

E.'s job has been very challenging this last month. He has really enjoyed getting to know these two young guys who work under him...he really feels that they are why he's there for right now. However, his boss is less than delightful! Quite frankly, I wouldn't have lasted 3 minutes much less than almost 3 months there! He has to constantly put up with being yelled at, called names, ridiculed and just general stress. The boss is never happy with his performance, no matter how many hours E. puts in to try to accommodate him. This past week was the finale of a huge project and he put in sometimes 6-8 hours extra on some days. Thankfully that is behind him. You all can pray specifically for him this next week...he needs to have a meeting with his boss to tell him that he will no longer put up with the stress that he continuously doles out. Pray that he will be able to do so firmly yet still reflecting Christ.

B.'s checking out his options for next year. He might go to the high school even though he'll technically be finished with his American diploma. It would be at least helpful for him in order to get his French more advanced. We're still praying about what options to pursue for him. His girlfriend is here visiting us for about two months, so he'll get to show her around. She's also going to help with the English camp (the one we came here to help with last year) along with all the other kids...that starts the 4th of July and lasts a week. Pray for good connections for all of them again this year!

The French government has recently changed the laws so that anyone coming here to live under a long-term stay visa, has to do a few mandatory things. One was to take a civics/history class on France, which I did several weeks ago. The other is to take French lessons...which, because they're now mandatory, they pay for! So something that would normally cost us about 4 or 5 thousand euros, has basically been just given to me! (I think maybe another God thing! Just maybe...lol!) The yucky part for me is that it is Mon-Frid, 3 hours each day, in downtown Lyon...ugh. So my new 'part-time job' starting the first of July until the end of August, will be quite time involved and I'm sure, mentally exhausting. You can pray that this old brain will catch on quickly. Thankfully, I tested out of the most basic class, so hopefully I'll really learn alot this summer. Along with taking the class, it also means that I have to take the metro every day to get there...I have discovered about myself that I don't like crowds...and combine crowds and underground.......

A couple of other specific ways y'all can pray...
1) Pray that if at all possible, E. could find another job...one that is less stressful and pays better. It is definitely hard to find the time and/or energy for ministry with the pace of this job and the stress of the environment.
2) Since we've been here, I've struggled with being sick feeling a good bit of the time. It's quite possibly allergies, but I'm not sure. I can't ever seem to get rid of this nagging cough...it's possible that there's something in the air here that I'm not used to. I never knew how exhausting a cough can be...it really zaps my energy. Pray that my body acclimates soon...
3) Pray for our homesickness...we miss all of our friends and sometimes it gets overwhelming. Anyone wanting to come to visit is MORE than welcome!! We'd LOVE it!! :)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the last two attempts to post were not nearly as positive sounding...so probably it was the Lord's way of rebuking me...lol. Not that I think I have to be super positive all the time. Just reading a lot of the Psalms that have survived thousands of years assures me that He understands my 'realism' of our situations. But sometimes it does take me a few days (or weeks, in this case), to gain some objectivity and see the bigger picture. It truly is unreal when you see all that God has managed to accomplish in the just under three months that we've been here. (Isn't it crazy that it's already been almost three months!!??) Two things I've discovered so far about myself and about this life...1) Music is way more important to me than I've ever realized...God has used music in the last three months to comfort me and encourage me more than anything else so far. And 2)...being here has made me so much more aware that this earth is not my home. You feel that somewhat in your own country, as a Christian, but nothing like you feel it living somewhere as a foreigner. It is impossible to forget...and it's not something I WANT to forget. I don't ever want to get so comfortable here that I start to forget that. It makes the reality of heaven that much more constant. It's a good thing...hard sometimes, but good...

Love and miss y'all,
Jennifer

Lots to do!

Whew! The container finally arrived on Monday!! So surreal to see the exact thing we loaded up in Mansfield arrive at our front door here in France! Definitely felt like we were getting a giant Christmas present!

Now for all the work! It has pretty much wiped me out the last few days as we try to make something from the mess! It didn't feel like we were bringing a lot of stuff, especially compared to what we had already gotten rid of! Now, we're trying to figure out where it's all gonna go!! In a house less than half the size of our old one...phew!

Some ways you can be praying for us... E. needs supernatural strength and patience as he deals with his boss. He just found out the all of the many guys who had his position before him, were all fired. So we shall see. Honestly, this job pays so very little that if he could find a better paying one, that'd be great. As of right now, he really believes he's there to minister to the young guys under him. So until he's removed, his goal is to just glorify God there.

Pray for the kids and I as we try to get this house under some sort of control. We chisel a little bit at a time but still have so much to so.

Also pray for us to figure out our finances/budget here. It is difficult in several different ways but we mainly need to figure out (quickly) how to live on one paycheck a month and everything is automatically withdrawn for any bills...and some are bills we're just not sure how to estimate for yet. Next month will prob be easier but we have three weeks till the next one, and I'm not sure how far our gas will go, how high the utilities will be, for instance. So there will be a lot of home bound projects so we dont have to go out. Pray for contendness during this time.

Pray for me...I get waves of loneliness which come and go. I just miss so many people, things I used to do, speaking to people, feeling useful...when you think about us, please pray for us.

Ephesians 8:18-20....
With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak–that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

We're so not even close to being in Paul's position here. But these language barriers and cultural differences feel a little like chains to me at times. We really, really covet your prayers!

Love all of you guys!
Here's a few pics of all the craziness!