Our 12th Grabndchild is here!

We are happy to announce the birth of our 12th grandchild!. Gabriel Timothée was born on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 in St. Denis, France. This was especially exciting to us as we were able to be with the family for the exciting event. Only one other time have we had the joy of being present at the time of birth of one of our grandchildren.
Timothy and Ruth and the family are replacing another missionary in the Paris area for four months. We are continually amazed at how the Lord works out the timing so that everything 'falls into place' perfectly.
Thank you for praying for the family; we all appreciate it.

Here it is December already!

My pictures are not in the right order...but you can still see a few of the things we have done so far this month! I had a "girls party" one evening to decorate the tree. One of our former students was back visiting and gave the challenge. It was a great time for all-- young and old!

One evening last week we went as a family downtown to see the lights, do some shopping at the Bible bookstore and to visit the "Christmas village". Since Tim and Ruth are moving to Paris in a few weeks, these times are special.

Friday night was our annual Christmas Raclette Party. We were fewer than expected, but there were several first time visitors. Counting everyone who attended we were 35. It was a fun evening.

Tonight was the English Christmas meeting. We have not had many coming to this monthly meeting this year, but tonight we were 19. There was one young man from Ruth's French class here for the first time. It was great singing Christmas carols in English, listening to special music, and a Christmas message and then enjoying some American Christmas cookies together.

Church Retreat 2011

We just returned from our annual " Three Church Retreat ." This year our church was in charge. It is always a lot of work, but in the end we are so blessed that it is worth it all! Steve Barnes, from the Paris area, was our speaker. His theme was "How Long". It was an interesting series of messages and so helpful to the 75 people there. The ambiance was great, too. Thank you to all of you who prayed for it.

Pray for Our Distribution!

Today we received our new brochures that we are going to distribute at the University. It has been a long time since it has had a "face lift" and we are really happy with the new updated look. Would you please pray that the Lord will use these 5,000 tracts to reach many, many students. They should start going out this weekend.

On another note, we have been so excited to have many visitors-- in the last 3 weeks we have had about 25 first timers! Most of these are University students who have found us either by internet or have seen the posters that we have put up. Seven or eight have come at least twice now. We really want this year to be a fruitful year with students and are thrilled with the start!

Bible Institute in Bordeaux

Last Saturday we had the first session of the extension of our Bible Institute in Algrange that has started here in Bordeaux. It is scheduled to meet once a month for 9 months and cover three different courses. The first one "Bibliology" is being taught by Tim. We were thrilled with 23 students-- almost evenly divided between our church and the church on the Right Bank.

Finally Home!

Thank you all for praying for our niece-in-law Amy during her long struggle with cancer. She is rejoicing with the Lord now but she leaves behind a sorrowing husband and 7 children. Please continue to pray for them.

"I want to shout from the rooftops that if you will just believe Him, even though you can't understand now, even though some things hurt now, He will never truly hurt you. The pain we feel is a reminder that He is making it more than better - He's redeeming things so perfectly, that the pleasure He's preparing for me is beyond my comprehension; and so, even the pain is a grand evidence of His grace." --Amy Caldwell Bixby (May 23, 1974 - August 19, 2011)

Good-bye for the Seely Family!

Dan and Karis Seely and their three children, Kayla, Krista and Elliot, have been here with us for the last year. The Seelys are missionaries to Cameroon and came to France to learn French. They will be returning to Africa in a couple of weeks. Our church people have grown to love the Seelys during this year and they will be greatly missed. Last week we had a special "Seely Day" and after the meal Dan presented their work in Cameroon.
Please pray for them as they go to Cameroon to teach in a theology seminary. They came to France with the goal of learning French and have done a splendid job. We'd all like to keep them here but want them where the Lord wants them to be.