C'est Possible!

Now, for the rest of the story.....

I returned to the store where the money eating machine lives. As soon as I opened my mouth to tell the customer service lady why I was there she asked me if I was the guy that needed his money back. I said, "Yes". In just over 60 seconds I had my money back and was on my way home.

All's well that ends well, I guess.

See you.

sf

Alexs mst mgnfcnt blg.

Hello evry1 ths is alex.
ket wants me 2 rite lk im txtng so here goes.

wel ket just did a blg so i thot i wood 2. My moms tutr & her bf cme ovr 4 dinr & they r stl here ( it is 9:48pm here & they got here @ 6:00pm). We hd tacos 4 din-din & they were good, altho i wood hv lkd 2 hv hd RFRD BNS w/thm...if only som1 wood snd me som...(hnt hnt!!!) And ht tmls 2! :D

im brd here. i wnt sm1 2 cm here & vst me.

i wnt bks 2 rd that i hvnt red yet, cus iv red evry bk i hav a least 10 tms!!!! if not mor!! i hv bn tryng 2 ocupy my slf w/othr stuf lk drwng & riting but that wrks only 4 a ltle bt.

oh here is a pic tht i drw of amnda. i hp u lk it. heehee

lv

ur mst fvrt psn in the whol wd wld

alex

hello.

Hello, my name is reynald. Je suis tres enchante de vous rencontrer. Nous avons mange des tacos avec toute la famille. Nous avons regarde les photos du centre de bienvenue a Ndjamena.
Merci a tout le monde.

Later.....

Reynald


I am very happy too meet you. we have eaten tacos with all the family. we have looked at the photos of the wellcome center in Ndjamena.
thank you everyone.

that was our tutor's boyfreind...

bye bye
-keturah

sup all y'all

hello to all!

well today my mom's tudor and her boyfriend is coming over for dinner thay will be here in just a litter wile ,

im wondering how long thay will stay ?? one of the familys went over to ther land lords house at (11:00 am) and came back at (8:00 pm ) wow :0 i know thats long!

i love the video below! everytime libby would do her techno sound essie would dance like she is in the video. bye for now, Gracey

Ce n'est pas possible!

"Ce n'est pas possible!" (That's not possible) That's what the woman said to me today at least 3 times as I explained what happened to me and Alex.

Alex and I went shopping for a few things for Janice. After we picked them up, we went to the checkout stands. The lines were long but not at the self checkout stations. (I am usually loathe to use them but for some reason today I thought we could just go thru quickly. Boy, was I wrong.)

After we scanned the items (and, don't you know it that one of the items - some avocados - wouldn't scan because their number wasn't in the system) pressed the "we're done" button and then pressed the "we're paying with cash" button. The total came to 21.26 Euros. I inserted two 20 Euro bills. Almost immediately the machine spit out two 10 Euro bills. I thought "That's strange, maybe it doesn't like the two 20's". I was just about to insert a 10 when I noticed that the total due had not changed. It still said 21.26.

After a few seconds the cashier in charge of the self checkout stands came over to us. Below is our dialog, translated for you in English (and paraphrased for you too since I do not know everything she said.... but her meaning was sure clear).

Lady (L)
Me (M)

L- Your total is 21.26 Euros. You put the money in here and then get your change over here.

M - Yes, I know. But, I already put in two 20 Euro bills and the machine gave me back these two 10 Euro bills and the total still reads 21.26.

L- Ce n'est pas possible (That's not possible.)

M - C'est possible parce que la machine a mon 20 Euro. (That is possible because the machine has my 20 Euro bill.)

L - Ce n'est pas possible. (At this point, she grabbed the two 10's from me and proceeded to put them into the machine.)

All the while I'm saying, (No! No! No!) Well, guess what, the machine spit out two new 10's, which she ignores (i.e. - she doesn't even hesitate to think that maybe there's a problem.) She leaves and comes back a few minutes later with another woman who spoke a bit of English. So, I tell the second woman, in French, what happened. She was skeptical to say the least. Well, they take the machine apart and eventually show me that in the tray that accepts customers' money the last two bills are 10's. So, she says, "See, these are 10's, not 20's". Hello! So, I tell her, "Well of course they are because those are the two 10's that she - the first lady - put into the machine". My comment is ignored. They tell me that I can come back in the morning and complain. To which I responded, "But I need my groceries". She then says "Then pay here" while pointing to the machine.

Well, all I had on me was the two 10's and a 1 Euro coin. Thankfully, Alex had a 50 cent piece. We paid and then walked over to a customer service kiosk with the first lady whereupon she took my name and wrote a nice little story about me and then asked me to come back tomorrow to complain and/or get my 20 Euros back.

Tomorrow should be fun. I get to explain again in severely broken French how their stupid self service checkout machine did the impossible.

I'll try to let you all know how this turns out.

Othewise, we had a good day.

sf

Birthday Videos

Boys sure do love fire!!!!

In this next video you will see that our singing leaves much to be desired.

Emma's and T-Rah's Birthday

E & K turned 11 yesterday. They enjoyed a day of leisure and fun. Here are a few pictures of the day's festivities.

It was a very nice day, high 50's / low 60's.

The girls invited some of the neighborhoods to the party as well.

After dark they all roasted marshmallows over the fire (the fire in the barbecue, that is). They had a grand ol' time.

See you.

sf

Say What?

The other day we had a barbecue for our neighbor. It was his birthday. We invited as many people/students as we could find from the Centre. We had a great time. At one point, to conserve my dwindling supply of briquettes, I used a few sticks and twigs that were lying in a pile from some pruning that was done last fall. Of course, the kids all loved the fires in the 2 barbecues.

Then, yesterday, I told the kids to go outside and if they wanted to they could make a fire in our barbecue. Doing this is only slightly risky since I think it is probably not OK to do so but there was nobody around and it's not like our kids don't have experience managing camp fires whenever we go camping. And, besides, I was checking on them frequently as they were right outside the front door. In between checks there was a knock on the door. Through the glass window I could see that there was a kid standing on the porch. I opened the door and there stood Emma, bow and arrow in hand. (The kids have been making bows and arrows - remember the sticks I mentioned above - for the past week.) I said "Yes?" to Emma. Then, she says, "Hey dad, could I put this arrow in the fire and shoot it into the air! You know, a flaming arrow." I thought about it for about a second, recalling in my mind the flying marshmallow meteors my sister used to fling at me around the campsite fires when we were kids, and said, "Absolutely not." She took it well. Though disappointed she muttered, "OK".

That's all we need. Gendarmes at our door complaining that the neighbors have been seeing flaming balls of "stuff" flying through the sky near our home. Yikes!

Kids... ain't they fun!

Hope you all are doing great.

See you.

sf

Howdy,

Nothing special going on here in the Big A. Sun is shining brightly and it's in the low 50's I think.

We're finishing up our first week of "Hiver Pause" (Winter Break) and it has been a good time of rest and relaxation.

The 3 youngest kiddos have all come down with colds so that's a bummer.

The older kids have been busy playing with their friends, having sleep overs, and otherwise enjoying themselves.

As you can see in the photo of Alex, she was less than thrilled to have her picture taken. Or, it could be that she was less than excited to be cooking dinner. (She made tacos and boy were they ever good!)

Have a great day.

sf

Mr. Niehaus

Anybody who likes baseball and grew up in Washington State (like Janice and me) has spent countless hours of their lives listening to Mariners games on the radio. Yesterday, the Mariners' long time announcer, Dave Niehaus, was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

For native Washintonians Dave is like a part of the family. Like all good radio announcers, he is almost like a member of the family. Always there through good times and in bad.

Anybody who has ever listened to Dave knows that he lives for the Grand Slam. One listen to "Get out the rye bread and mustard Grandma it is grand salami time!" and you're hooked for life.

I wanted to add a few audio clips to this post but it was more trouble than it's worth so you'll have to settle for a few links.

Here's one that has all the good ones from 1995 http://www.grose.us/motivate/mariners.htm
And, here's a link to a good story about Dave from the Seattle times that sums up quite well the typical Mariners fan's feelings http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2004190770_kelley20.html

I'm sure all of us (whether we grew up as Mariners fans, Twins fans, or whatever) have many good memories that our home teams have provided thanks to their respective announcers.

I won't miss much of American culture while in Chad but I will miss hearing Dave's smooth voice.

Have a great day.

sf

Switzerland

Hello!

Today was a very busy day. Emma, Gracey, and I got up at 5:00 AM to take a friend to the airport in Geneva, Switzerland. We had a good time. We took the mountain route and went throw several very old towns. Surprisingly, the airport itself isn't all that big.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Notice the fine engineering work the French road crews performed.

See the rare photo of Payton. It has nothing to do with our trip. Just thought I'd show everyone he's alive and well.

See you.

sf

good morning star shine the earth says hello!! =D

hello everyone how might you be???

well today is Sunday and we are having some people come over named the Parks, they have been coming over for the past 3 or 4 Sundays. They have a littel boy named Nathen. He is 2 and he is as tall as Ethan, he is the biggest 2 year old I've ever seen but he is soooo cute! Him and Ethan love playing together!

well ya umm oh i don't really know what to say, we are listening to music and Essie loves!!! dancing!!!!!!!!

well all we have been doing is school and ya, well actually we have been playing outside a lot like always =D Ya, we usually play cops and robbers ,its so fun! We are getting walkie talkies so we are all excited about playing cops and robbers with our W.T. :) Payton looks so funny in the picture right below!! He dosen't like this picture but he dosen't know i'm putting this picture on =D

Like the picture of me and Essie? Me and Pay spiked her hair then put her behind our backs... she loved it! Tawnee laughed so hard she thought it was sooo funny!
The picture of me and ezma up there is at christmas, we all got coca as the french call it =D
well g2g have a dandy day!!!
love ya guys
gg*

Samedi

Here are a couple of pictures that you all might enjoy.

Ethan and Tawnee are hamming it up for the camera. (I wonder if there's something on Tawnee's finger? You know, left overs from yesterday's picture???)

Here's Liddy showing off her improved ice skating skills. She is actually getting pretty good at it. Kind of ironic though since come September the only ice she'll be seeing will either be in picutres or in the freezer in our home.

Today we start our 2 week break. It is much appreciated. I never thought learning french would be so mentally taxing. It's not "bad" just "difficult".

Have a great day.

sf

A Couple of Knuckleheads

This was Ethan's reaction when he was told that Payton was going to get his hair cut. Not true, Payton isn't getting his hair cut any time soon.

This picture may be Ethan's best attempt at not having his picture taken. I'm not sure.








Here's Tawnee. She laughing at you and you and you and you (and espically Uncle Donnie).

Maybe she's not laughing at anybody. Maybe she's showing everybody what that little gooey thing stuck to her finger is. Yum, yum!



Hope you are all having a great day.

sf

Hot Lips

Gracey took this picture the other day. Apparently Esther was felt the need to pucker up.

It's a beautiful day here. All is calm in the French Alps.

Hope you have a great day.

sf

We are off to a flying start here this week. School has just this week left and then we have a 2 week break. The kids are doing their thing, and Janice just got back from a shopping trip.

Now that we have food, nobody's gonna starve or anything so the kids are happy.

Nothing earth shattering to report here. Just enjoying our time.

Have a great week.

sf

Have you ever....

Have you ever exclaimed, "Hey, this stupid thing doesn't work!" only to find that the only thing that was 'stupid' was you?

Well, yesterday, while eating lunch - or really, I should say, while trying to eat lunch - Gracey made such a remark. She was trying to eat some leftover pork chops from the previous night's dinner but was having trouble cutting said pork chops. After diligently attempting to cut them for several seconds she blurted out, "Mom, this dumb knife won't cut!" Janice took one look at Gracey holding the knife and said, "That's because you need to flip it over. You're cutting with the wrong edge." We all burst out laughing - even Gracey.

You know, the exact same thing happens to me a lot with the French language. I have noticed that I'll often hear the words being spoken but for some reason I either cannot understand them or I hear the correct words but assign the wrong meaning to them. Either way, I end up confused and frustrated. It is especially maddening when I finally do comprehend and I realize that I struggled with something as basic as, for example, the time of day.

Such is our life right now as we endeavor to learn French. Pray for us, we need it.

A Demain.

sf

Con-Trails and Random Thoughts

It's a beautiful day here in the Big A. Lots of blue sky, mild temperatures, and several hot air balloons floating around. It all makes for a beautiful scene, especially with the Alpes in the background.

You know, after spending over 5 months here I have noticed that the skies over Albertville seem to always be filled with the con-trails of passenger jets. I have counted upwards of 8 or 10 in the sky at any one time. In fact, right now, I can look out our window and see the characteristic white line being drawn accross the sky by a jumbo jet speeding to its destination. I wonder what the people on the plane are doing and thinking right now? I wonder if I know any of them or if I'll one day run into one or two. Of course, there's really no way to know the answer to any of those questions but it does bring up a good point.... We never know who our paths will cross with those of other people. People we may or may not know. People with whom we may or may not share common experiences, world views, or religions. But, no matter how many of those things we do, or don't, have in common we all have a responsibility to leave those people better off for having spent some time with us than they would have been if our paths had never crossed.

That was essentially Jesus' message to those that heard him tell the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10. I think we all want to be "Good Samaritans" but we often don't have the will to follow through.

As we've lived here in France I have come to really appreciate those "Good Samaritans" who have gone out of their way to help us. They've made us feel special and have really shown us God's love. I think we all have a better understanding of Jesus' story in Luke. We certainly have lived it from the perspective of the bruised and beaten man. And, now that we have our legs under us (as it were) we can take advantage of the opportunities we have to be "Good Samaritans" to others and with no strings attached.

Let's all strive to touch other people's lives in a meaningful way this week.

Thinking of all of you.

sf

Late Night in Albertville

A lazy, late night here in Albertville. We are all just getting off to bed right now. Janice is in one of the kid's rooms, saying goodnight. And, I'm in our room banging out this message while Ethan sleeps beside me and Alex is in Tawnee's bed. Oh yeah, Esther is in her crib and there's a bed on the floor just in case one of the other children decides it's a good idea to sleep with mom and dad in the middle of the night.

Today was a good day. No school! But, I was able to get some work done anyway. And, Janice and I had a nice dinner with some friends. We talked about our faith a bit and about our kids and families. It was a good time. (And, the food was good. We went to a nice Indian restaurant. Strange, though, we were the only ones at the restaurant.)

Tomorrow there is no school either. Janice and some of the kids are going skating. One of my fellow students, who's from Zambia, will be coming over to use our computer while they are gone. The first week here his went belly-up so he comes over here every now and then to comminicate with his wife and family. (Can you imagine comig to France to learn French without your family? That's what he's doing. His wife and 4 kids are still at home in Zambia. I feel sorry for him, and his family.)

Hope you all are having a great day.

A Demain.

sf

Superbowl!

Bonjour!

Payton and I watched the first half of yesterday's Superbowl on French TV. A few of the fellas fixed up a big screen TV and we watched it at the Centre. It was a good first half but I think we watched the wrong half!

We finally rolled into bed at about 2:15 AM. Boy, was I glad that I had taken a 3 hour nap during the afternoon.

The kids and I watched about 1/2 of the commercials on Youtube after lunch today. Some were pretty good but most were just ok. It's kinda strange that the commercials are as much a part of the Superbowl experience as is the game.

Today it is quite cold and rainy. A drop of only a few more degrees and it will begin to snow. As I look out the window here I can see some snow and rain mixed.

The entire student body is going skiing tomorrow. Well, most of us are. A few, like me, are stayig home. Lift tickets are about 25 Euros as are the tickets for any child over 12 years old. By the time we added rental on skiis, boots, and poles the cost is well over 50 Euros per person. That's a lot obviously and add on top of that the cost of buying proper ski apparel... Well, we would've needed to take out a small loan.

So, we'll just hang out here and have fun at home.

Have a great day.

sf

Tres Difficile

I have come to understand that learning French is very difficult. It is very humbling to listen to people talk and not be able to understand much of what they are saying. It is equally humbling to know what you want to say but not be able to get it out. Or, to be able to get it out but sound like you have an IQ of about 2.

I can honestly say that 6 years of engineering school was easier than this for me. I have never been this frustrated with anything in my entire life. It's true!

I know, though, that He is able to get me through this. If I focus on only today I know that I'll fail but if I focus on the prize and take this journey step by step then slowly but surely things will improve.

Until next time....

sf