Destination 2015: France

 

Time Converter

We have two kiddos traveling with our church’s youth group.  This was the year for an overseas trip for the high schoolers.  Eight teens and six chaperones left Iowa on Saturday, June 6 by van for a Sunday afternoon flight out of Chicago.  That became an adventure when a flat tire stop was lengthened by a dead battery.  Sometime after midnight they arrived at their hotel.  And that is why they left on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday morning – Wisdom achieved by previous experience with transportation issues!

There was yet another delay with departure from Chicago which made Monday a longer day for the teens as their first tour had to be rescheduled for the afternoon.  They arrived in Paris about 8:30am I think.  They also found one of their rented vans had a smaller engine that wouldn’t allow them to travel at normal highway speed.  So after some touring along the way, they arrived at their evening destination about 10:30pm.  (Information shared by the hosting missionaries’ daughter – thank you, Michelle!)

After a few days Tim did get a brief text from our Cowgirl reporting safe arrival and that the Cattleman had a sore throat.  Oh dear.  He must have recovered quickly (looks alive in above photo from Pastor B anyway – front row center).

The following is the first email update from Pastor B we received on Saturday {which also happened to be the Cowgirl’s 17th birthday – looking forward to seeing pictures from her little party!}

Greetings from Corsica!

The team arrived last night at the Barnes. We have a had a good trip traveling through the main land of France and crossing the Mediterranean sea via ferry yesterday. Our days have been long, full of traveling, eating, site seeing, and learning about France, the Reformation & the Huguenots, and missions. It has been a fast-paced adventure. Thankfully we have not had any sickness or major injuries (a few scratches and bumps). We have been traveling in two 9 passenger vans that have work well (with a few glitches here and there). For the most part, we are following the itinerary Andrew provided for us. Today is a rest day.

Continue to pray for safety and good health. Pray for evangelism as we will be evangelizing in various cities through singing and preaching. Pray for Wanda as her sciatic nerve is causing a lot of discomfort. Attitudes and spirits have been great even though we are tired out. Pray for continued team unity.

…

Thank you for your prayers.

Pastor Doug

 

And the second received on Monday:

Corsican Trip Followers and Prayers,

We went to a church in Ajaccio yesterday. We had very nice service. The teens sang, Andrew preached, the teens sang again, the Augsburgers sang. We had a 4-4.5 hour fellowship afterwards with several courses. It was great to interact with the French people, the fellowship was sweet.  Today we are trying to go to Bastia and see the Barnes old church cite and hopefully get into the public schools to use English with the students. Pray for that to happen!

Everyone is doing great (as far as I know).

Pastor Doug

 

Today’s update:

Corsica Trip Followers:

Yesterday and today we were able to meet in the French school and meet with English classes. The students were from 5th grade to 7th grade. Yesterday we went to Bastia and saw the meeting place the Barnes have chosen to start meetings in the fall. We had a prayer meeting outside the doors. We then went to their old meeting place and toured the city some. It is a beautiful harbor with shops, ice cream shops, and cafes. We went further north to an old light house for a picnic supper. While walking to the point, Mr. Barnes helped an older woman with groceries; she then invited our entire group in for a drink; we enjoyed a refreshing drink of flavored water on her porch overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. We sang songs and Mr. Barnes was able to share some words of grace.

Today we spent two hours at the school and then after lunch took a drive up the mountain to a cascade (a waterfall). The sites were spectacular.

Please pray for Emily; she went to the doctor today to get some meds for strep.  She has been taking meds all trip, but it has reoccurred. She is actually feeling OK, just a bad sore/swollen throat. Pray for more opportunities to share the gospel through song and preaching. Pray for continued safety and that the vehicles work well. We need to install a water heater for the Barnes so pray that we can make all the French connections.  ;) 

Thanks,

Pastor Doug

youth service ~ march 17, 2013

 

The boys were all duded up in their suits  :)

    

 

Abby was the pianist for the evening.

  

 

E.W. played part of the prelude.

   

 

J.R. led the congregational singing.

 

Our Cowgirl played the offertory.

 

An ensemble of teen girls and leaders sang…

 

… as well as the entire youth group with leaders.

 

An instrumental ensemble also played some special music.

The scripture passage was read by three of the teens.

 

And finally the preaching – J.M. had the introduction and explained how gold is heated to remove its impurities.

Our Computer Geek had the first verses ~ followed by J.F. and  S.W. 

     

  

The Cattleman provided the conclusion.

{sorry for the blurry pics of the young men!}

They each did a fine job ~ It was interesting to see how each personality was demonstrated during their time behind the podium.  ;D

 

^{James 1: 2-8}

² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

⁸ A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

school books 2012-13, part two

 

For credit, the Cowgirl, the Computer Geek, and Miss Artist will study Bible from A Beka with our beloved Mr. McBride {dvd}, but I’m hopeful {determined} that we will all watch it together each morning  : )  First semester is based on Genesis, the second in Revelation.

                

 

Miss Artist and the Computer Geek will also have Mr. McBride for A Beka’s dvd course in American Government.

For world history, they will continue their review using the last two guides from TruthQuest History.

     

 

They will study English Literature from A Beka Book, but without the classroom instruction.  {video samples were just too dry…}

   

 

For their English grammar review, we will use Easy Grammar ~

And Jensen’s Format Writing for composition instruction ~

 

Miss Artist will continue with Advanced Biology {Human Anatomy} from Apologia ~

The Computer Geek might also study anatomy {methinks} – He’s still hoping to find an online course in Advanced Physics instead.

 

They will both use Math U See ~ Miss Artist in Stewardship and the Computer Geek in Calculus ~

         

 

And last but not least, they will both continue in Elementary Greek  : )

   

 

I think that’s everything we have planned ~ The Lord will provide much more through daily life’s opportunities to learn!

school books for 2012-13, part one

 

The Popper & the Cattleman will be doing a couple things together ~

Learning Greek and Latin roots with English from the Roots Up

 

And enjoying a nice intro to World Geography from Geography Matters

 

The Cowgirl is also with them for history ~ We will be in the 1400-1600s studying the Renaissance, the Reformation, and Explorers.

 

 

They will each use a different book from Apologia Science ~ Astronomy, Botany, and Physical Science

             

 

I chose a simpler plan for the Popper’s English language study this year {Charlotte Mason approach from Sandi Queen} – She’s excited!  : )

And Sequential Spelling ~

 

Both the Popper and the Cattleman will continue with math from A Beka Book --with classroom instruction via video.  We will try the steaming option for the Popper this year, which provides the same video as the dvds.

                          

 

The Cowgirl has been using Teaching Textbooks for math, so she will continue this year with Algebra 2 {first edition}.

 

The Cattleman and the Cowgirl will both have Mrs. Schmuck from A Beka Academy for their English classes {via A Beka DVDs}.  Mrs. Schmuck became Abby’s favorite English teacher this past year.  It’s a special blessing to be able to watch her teach still since we learned that she has passed away from cancer.

Grammar & Composition and Literature ~

   

  

 

More about our older students in the next post  : )

And Abby is also working on her China posts!  Stay tuned…

catch-up with photos

Mr. J. mowing our first crop of hay...

Tim and kids did the raking while we avoided most of the scattered showers...

Miss Artist 'working' on a slide show for Brazil...

...with a little 'help' from c-A-t...

 .

I indulged myself in some pretty pots and put the Gerbera daisies in them...

On Memorial Day, Jill came over to help me plan crafts for VBS.  Her kiddos are good friends with mine  :-)

 We told the girls to put on some sun screen before they went to the creek to play.  Cute, eh?

 One rainy day, Tim added trim to the school room doorway  :-)

I also decided to start some lettuce and spinach indoors...  

and some cilantro and parsley      

 The Popper painted her "M" to go with the Cowgirl's "E"

The Cowgirl celebrated her 13th birthday!  She finished her cake Saturday night about 11pm.  Gram & Gramp came for the party on Sunday.

That Monday was the beginning of our VBS ~ But that's another post!  :-)

 P.S.  No pics available of the days we spent shopping or sewing or packing before the kids went off to Brazil.  But it will be worth it all...