Cute family, huh?

Happy Birthday, Daniel!!

Just a few pictures from the past! The top left is Bob meeting his new brother when he came home from the hospital. The middle bottom is sitting on Sibut hill all ready for church with your Bia ti Sepela--you led the singing even back then! The lawnmower ones are to remind you how young you were when you started your career! And the other one is just tooooo cute!

We love you -- Have a wonderful day!

Les Baux de Provence

This village and chateau sit on the top of a limestone mountain. You can see for miles around. I don't think the pictures show the depth very well, but we sure did take a lot of pictures.(They are in the same album as Le Musée). You can actually climb up to the top of several places in the ruins. The younger generation would love it, but I am sure you parents would hold your breath! France is so beautiful.

Musée du Désert and Aigues-Mortes

Look here to see all the pictures of our day. We started out by going to the Musée du désert. Dedicated to all the Huguenots who were killed, imprisoned or fled from France during the time that the Edict of Nantes was revoked. (I think that you boys, Bob and Dan, went there with U. Steve once, am I right?) It is located in the house of one of the major leaders. Once inside we couldn't take pictures.

After we left there, we went down to Aigues-Mortes and the Tour de Constance. We have been there before with the girls, but this time we had more time and actually went all around the walled city. It was there that we met up with the ladies from Boston again (unbelievable--in a small shop!) and they told us about Les Baux de Provence. So we decided to head that way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Is it possible that this is the last year before you are officially a teenager?! Unbelievable! I know you will be spoiled by your wonderful family. We are glad that though you were born on your oldest uncle's birthday, you didn't take dressing lessons from him!!! Have a wonderful day, Benjamin! WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday--

-- to our oldest! Always a leader, always a "preacher" and, among many other things, always the best dressed!!!
We love you and are praying that 39 is a wonderful year!

All Roads lead to Rome!

Today we went to visit some Roman ruins. It is just so amazing to think that we were looking at buildings that existed before Christ!! First we went to the Pont du Gard. We spent most of our time there. It is really worth seeing. In the summer you can actually go into that top level of the bridge and see the aquaduct. Then we drove to Arles. Donna's pictures of Arles are better than ours. It was SO windy all day long and rather chilly. Here are our pictures.

Whose Feet are these??

I have been scanning old photos and so last night when my feet got soaked (I am not too good at judging the waves!) I thought of this picture! That is me on the right but not sure on the left--Bob, Dan and Jon are the possibilites! 1981, Normandy Beach

Vacation!

A few shots taken last night after we got here. This little town is actually on a peninsula -- it is called Carnon le Plage! We haven't investigated the "white city" over there yet. Ando's studio is comfy. The sun is shining again so maybe we will go exploring.

Happy Birthday, Donna Ruth!

Dad and I found this slide the other day and we loved it!!! Our little girl has grown up but she is still as sweet as ever. We love you and are praying that your 35th birthday will be special.

Miriam reads to Micaiah

While Micaiah does his home work, Miriam reads to him and excellent book ("Big Truths for Little Kids") that combines questions from the Children's Catechism (note that the "Q. A." is misinterpreted as "O. A.") with stories that reinforce the truths. It's not a very good recording, but as parents, we think it's cute.

Il y a 40 ans....

In copying some slides, Dad and I came across this one. It was taken at a Valentine's Banquet at Southside, before we were married!
About 40 years and one month ago! Haven't changed, have we?

A Happy Birthday

to the near-family-member, VIVIANE COLE!
2 years ago today Viviane made her appearance on the world and has blessed it with tons of smiles, giggles, and happiness ever since.
(I think I spent more time at the hospital for Viviane than for all my "real" nieces and nephews combined! :-) )
Have a very special day, Viviane!

Cousins playing

Micaiah and Stefan had a fun time playing together. We snatched this video just before they took off for their LONG travel day yesterday.

A Few Stats....

It has been exactly 2 months since we challenged you all to a reading "concours" in the Reading Room. I thought it would be great to see how we are doing. We have had GREAT participation.


A total of 32 books have been posted (many more read, I am sure, as we know there were many doubles!)
Overall-- Brian has posted the most--8 books!
The female participants-- Donna and Johanna are tied with 4 each!
The younger generation (below 20!)-- Isabelle and Micaiah are tied (3 each) but Patience is only one behind!

What kinds of books have we read? All kinds! The diversity has been exciting. We have learned about Panthers and The Summer of 1787-- these along with others were informative. We have had some "how to" books like Shopping for Time and Train Up A Child (maybe The Big Mess!).

We have also had some good Christian Living books like When Sinners Say I do and Girl Talk.
Some Just for fun books like Felicity and Trucks.
Some biographies like Granny Brand. And many doctrinal/theological books!!

The list goes on. It has been fun. Can't wait to see what you read in the next couple of months. We hope you are profiting from the challenge and that you have enjoyed your new books as well!

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Some recent pictures, and one old picture to show how mature you have gotten!
We hope that today is a special day for you and are excited to see what God is going to do in and through you this year!
We love you!

I can't lie---

Grandpa cut down the cherry tree!!!

She's eight!

A super happy birthday to the cutest, sweetest little red-head in the world! What fun to have your birthday fall on a Saturday!!

Acadia National Park

Yesterday we took an afternoon excursion to Acadia National Park, one of the most visited of all of our country's national parks. In the wintertime, many of the roads are closed, but the ones that are open still offered us quite the breathtaking views! We thought we'd share some of the scenery with you in the short video below.

Staying Warm!

My electricity went out on Sunday night at 9pm. They are now saying that it won't be back on until at least Wednesday night at 11pm. Needless to say, the house has gotten very cold, and the freezer and refridgerator have gotten quite warm. Thankfully I have stayed quite warm because Jeanine has electricity and very warm gas logs. So, as I write, I am lying on a very comfy air mattress (about 2ft high) with the fire burning! I am going to try going over to the house in a bit to try to get some stuff done. I really need to empty my fridge and freezer and bring it over here so that I don't lose everything. I don't know what it is about my area, but.... won't be telling futur buyers that I always seem to lose electricity and am always the last to get it back!! They cancelled school again today--not sure why except maybe it will save the schools some money to not heat the buildings today. The roads are perfectly fine. Trying to enjoy my day off!!!! Hope you all are having fun in your 3-4 feet of snow!

The Credit Crisis

Trying to understand this? It's for dummies, but I found it helpful anyway.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Our snow storm

Happy First of March!

Remember, if you are the donor, no guess you may make!
But today is the first, so your guess I will take!
(Unless it's to throw someone off!

Featuring: EVERYONE