Welcome to our newly reinstated blog! We are truly hoping to use this as a vehicle to chronicle the journey that God has set our family on and that you have become a part of through your support and prayers. Please check back frequently or add our blog to your RSS streams to be notified when there is new material posted. And please leave your comments as well as ways we can be praying for you, there is little more encouraging to us than hearing from you!
from Nicole:
Today's post has to do with a huge answer to prayer for me! Most of you know that we have decided after seeking much counsel that we will stay in language school for another semester until December 08. There were a lot of things that went into that decision but one of the major question marks had to do with my 10 year old (yes, my baby, Jake is double digits now, hard to believe...). I will try to skimp on all the details but when we came to France they actually put Jake ahead a year in school because of his age (his birthday is Dec. 30); which was fine for this year because he was still in the elementary school and mostly working on what is now his amazing French. For next year though it would mean changing to the middle school for 4 months before going to Senegal. Matt and I were very against that for a number of reasons- one being he just isn't ready for middle school and the challenges that come when hanging around 15 year olds and another that we really didn't want him to have to adjust to a whole new setting for just 4 months. I tried explaining to everyone involved (in my limited French) that by next January, in the span of 2 years, he will have been in 3 different schools on 3 different continents and I felt very strongly that another one was not necessary! I have been pursuing this angle with all the school officials that I could since February but what seemed like a simple answer to me kept being rejected. Finally, after a formal letter, we were scheduled for a meeting with the "inspectrice of schools for Massy" that would be the woman who is in charge of all the schools in our area- you can imagine how nervous I was! Our meeting was on Monday, May 19th. Thankfully, my friend Karen who speaks fluent French, came along with me and we were able to have a time of prayer together before going in to the meeting. I really didn't have many options for Jake- Matt and I were convinced he would not be attending the middle school (called college here) but if the inspectrice denied our request we weren't sure what we would do for his schooling next year.
All that to say, God answered my heartfelt prayer and cleared the way for my son to remain in the safe and known environment that he is in now for the four months next fall before we go to Senegal. All of this has led me to a very thankful place as I reflect on how God has held my children in His hand through this whole, huge transition of ours! Yes, there have definitely been stretching points and lots of things to worry- I mean pray about! But on the whole, they are doing great! The older kids have obtained wonderful French! My French neighbor even told me that Clarisa speaks without an accent! Jake too can communicate freely and has lots of French buddies with which to hang out at school with and play "football" with. Even the Shane and Ade are doing much better than I had imagined with this total change of lifestyle. Even more important, our family has really come together in so many ways (and not just because we live in a very small European apartment!) If you remember, my main prayer request before leaving for France was that God would hold on tight to my precious kids. Not just has He answered this prayer request about Jake but He has answered all of you too who have faithfully prayed for my kids. I feel I owe you a huge debt for being faithful to bring my children before the throne- thank you. On that note- please don't stop!