Counting our many blessings...naming them one by one

For any friends or family that only get our news from this blog, we apologize for the lack of communication on our part. Let's just say that life is crazy for everyone and sometimes it feels like ours is crazier than most. But even at its craziest, we simply cannot ignore the obvious and numerous blessings that the Lord constantly provides. The short version of events and blessings is as follows:


In France:

We were so happy to be reunited in France after the month of August we spent apart. Ryn started at her adorable Ecole Maternelle and loved learning all the songs, new vocab and making new friends. Those 3 months of total French immersion have jump started her love of the language and now we just have to keep the ball rolling! She keeps asking what everything is "en francais", singing all the fun nursery rhymes from school, and her teacher is emailing me with the things they're doing over there so I can try and work with her here. We're so thankful she had that experience, even as short as it was.

Our branch was another example of all the tiny French units, filled with faithful pioneers that blow me away with their dedication. I cannot express the humility and love I feel when I think about these members. Every member of every branch we were blessed to live in is a giant. I hope to one day be numbered with such wonderful disciples of Christ and I will be thankful for every minute I was able to learn from their examples.

The team was plagued with problems from the beginning, and so we were always praying to know if we needed to go home or stay. As with every trying situation, it brought us closer as a family and to the Lord to be seeking his guidance so constantly and sincerely. Every verse of scripture I read, every conference talk, every lesson each Sunday spoke to me individually and gave us the answers and peace that we sought.

Coming home:

By mid-October, we were at one major decision point. After more praying and talking with the team, the answer we felt so strongly was: wait until the end of November. At the time, we thought that meant that things might work themselves out during that month, and so we needed to be patient and hopeful. We did our best at being those 2 things, but the situation on the team and with Kev's working options only got worse and worse. Finally, when the end of November came and it was obvious that no improvements had come or would be coming in the future, we did decide to leave. I was able to fly home with the girls and be in Texas for Thanksgiving with Joy, Matt, Rob, John and their families while Kev waited so he could finish out the month. What a blessing! It was so fun to be with all of them!!!!! Sweet Nat and Matt picked me up at the airport in Dallas and drove my car down to Austin for me, completely washed and ready to go! Joy and Natalie had prepared so much fabulous food and Darrell was in charge of deep frying the turkey. Wow. It was the best tasting Thanksgiving I can remember.

So maybe that wonderfully fun and tasty holiday was the reason we needed to wait til the end of November. I'm sure it was an extra 'tender mercy' for me. Then, the day Kevin was flying in to Austin, Joy's 19 month old, Nolan, was finally able to see some doctors who found out why he'd been so miserable for the past 10 days--osteo mytosis, an infection in his spinal column. It turned out that he had to be in the hospital through that weekend to start the heavy antibiotics (which he will have to continue for 4-8 weeks, poor guy). With 3 other boys in school, we were able to help out so Joy and Darrell could work and trade off being at the hospital with Nolan. I know this was one of the reasons I felt so strongly that we needed to wait til the end of November to come home. I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father can communicate with us through the Spirit and help us know what we need to do and when we need to do it. And He does it in such an amazing way that it not only blesses us, but everyone else we're connected with as well. I'm also thankful that He gives us the chance to help others so we can thank those people and Him for all the help they've given us.

For the drive home, Mama KK asked me to check the weather before we headed out last Tuesday. I'm pretty sure we would have checked on our own--I'm married to Safety Man, Jr., after all--but after I talked to my inspired Mom, I did jump on the computer and saw snow storms everywhere along our route for Tuesday. So we waited til Wednesday and, besides the perfect weather we enjoyed the whole way back to Utah, we had a whole post-hospital craziness day to spend with Joy, Darrell and the boys. We had such a great time with everyone in Texas-- Ryn keeps asking where everyone is... "Where's Joy and Darrell and Jared and Warren and Nolan and Cameron and Bandit and Sam and Ethan and Brian and Caitie and Matt and Natalie and John and Laura and Rob and Christa?" Honestly, the question goes like that almost word for word. It's so cute.

Back on the Wasatch Front:

Kevin is looking for work and we're enjoying the snow and Christmas preparations. We haven't had a Christmas in the States since 2004, so we're really excited to be here! It's so fun to listen to the all-Christmas-music radio stations, enjoy Carma's amazing decorations including the gorgeous fairy tree, be the audience for the Lehnardt family Nativity production, and get excited for seeing the lights on Temple Square, our own Linkous family nativity on Christmas Eve, and being with the whole Linkous family. It truly is a Wonderful Life.

I have pictures and videos to post from Thanksgiving, etc, that I'll post asap.....I promise :).

Color-splash!

It was a beautiful fall day here in France. The sun was shining and the leaves were in full effect. We decided to go to this really fun lake right by where we live. There are ducks and geese and the girls love feeding them. There is also a fun playground and a giant treehouse to climb. We took a picnic and I had a blast trying to catch their adorableness in pictures, they move so fast though!
Things are going well, this new baby girl is a shaker and baker, always moving and kicking and at every ultrasound she doesn't stop. We all finished getting over colds and are praying to stay sick free this winter but with kids it's so hard.
The election is finally over and I think now the GOP is regretting the choice of Mccain. No charisma, out dated and a weak campaign. Americans are ready for change it's true. Change is fine. Change can be good. But make sure that the change you think you want is the change you really need. Of course there was no way to forsee the Economy tsunami that hit, but I bet there are a whole bunch of people thinking that Romney would have been the ideal candidate to go up against Obama. I just think that Americans were wooed by Obama's flashy, energetic personality and him as a symbol for change. I just hope that we don't regret this one. America is already going down a dangerous road of change that is erasing the principals and moral goodness in which it was founded. Bon--enough soap box for me! I am tired , stayed up till almost 4am france time to watch the slaughter of the republican party.

Take note of the crazy,sick knitting skills of my sweet wife. She did this whole outfit--sweater, pants and all. It is soooo awesome. She never ceases to amaze me!

At the end of the day this is a great scene. Nothing like the tight little squeezes of love from a 2.5yr old telling you thanks for a fun day!

Further updates--I hate playing catch-up!

I know we've been here in Hagetmau now for 2 full months, and we've made several posts in the mean time, but I needed to post a few pictures and comments on fun happenings that we've missed here. Just a week after my arrival, Joy and Darrell made the trip over for the wedding of one of her brothers from her exchange student family, Remi Fouret. We were lucky enough to have them make the extra trip all the way down here to the south to see us as part of the same trip! Unfortunately they missed their original train, and therefore the first day of their planned visit with us, but they arrived safe and sound early that Tuesday morning. We came back to our house for some breakfast and a shower (their train was an over-nighter), and then Ryn and I set off with them for the coast. We took in the Basque museum and some specialty chocolate in Bayonne, three different 64 stores (favorite famous beachwear brand of Darrell's that originated here) and the beach in Biarritz, and then a way too quick and unorganized (completely my fault as the supposed tour guide for the region--shameful!!!) glance at San Sabastian in Spain. It was pretty funny because Darrell voted for taking the smaller roads through the little pituresque towns on the way out there instead of the boring freeways, but then he was asleep about 5 minutes into the trip :). So Joy and I quickly transfered him to the back with Ryn and the Disney movies so we could chat.



After breakfast Wednesday morning, we set out for Pau and its castle--birthplace of Henry IV--and major grocery stores so Joy could load up on chocolate and yummy treats to take home. That night we watched Kev's team play a practice game there in Pau and then we sped Joy and Darrell to the gare so they could catch their overnight train back to Paris. It was so fun to have them with us--our town isn't close at all to Paris so it was really an extra effort on their part to come all the way down here--we only wish it could have been longer!

The other picture I wanted to post was of Ryn in front of her actual school since the ones we took on the first day were in front of our house. She is really loving her class now and speaking French so much more! Before she would never say things in French on her own-- even if she knew the word, we had to ask her what it was 'en francais'. But now she will say the French word every time after she says something in English. Yesterday when she was helping me set the table she was so excited to put on the forks, "les fourchettes!", etc.

WONDER-FALL

I love the change of seasons. I love to see my girls in all their different phases although I don't want to see them grow up too fast. Having 3 girls all hitting the dating scene around the same time....uhhh are you kidding me?!? Here is me in a few years....

Ear-oneous!

This past weekend has been so hard for little Ryn and the whole family. She has had a reoccurring earache that will just not go away. I am not sure what it's like in the states but here in France the minute you get a sniffle everyone and their dog is telling you to get to the Dr immediately for some antibiotics. In fact it has become such a problem here that they now have T.V commercials that bring to light that they should not be used for anything and everything.

The body truly is an amazing thing! It is God's masterpiece and therefore able to do so much more than we realize. Take a fever for example. We, as parents freak out at the 1st sign of a fever and do everything in our power to bring the temperature down. When in reality we are going against the body's natural infection fighting powers. Viruses and infections get comfortable in the body and lay their hold and wreak havoc, the body in response raises it's temperature to kill off the bad guys. Obviously if the child is on fire and miserable, lethargic etc we should always seek the advice of a health professional.

We see all sorts of problems in the health world now with strains of viruses being immune to antibiotics, this is due to overuse of antibiotics.

So returning to our ear infection roller coaster. Three ear infections in one month. The 1st Dr. didn't prescribe enough antibiotics, the second the right amount and on the third NO antibiotics and so far no reoccurring aches.


Poor Ryn HATES the ear drops we have to put in her ear, and walks around for 15 minutes after with her hands over her ears.

"No Daddy, my ears are all better!"

Sweetie-pie Elle on our first cold day of Autumn!

This was such a glorious occasion for us we had to capture it...Elle eating!

Ryn is a great eater though..she loves vegetables and her favorite are the

"little tree's" --just like her daddy(better than chocolate :)

Our mad wedding dash!

Our good friend Justine Bousseau got married this weekend and we absolutely had to be there. These are our family members( the Bousseau/Gandon clan) we spent two years with them in Cholet and love them to death!
The wedding was Friday at 2pm. I had practice Thursday night so we decided to get up early Friday morning and drive the 6hrs to Cholet. We made great time and ended up doing the good'ol change from the pajamas into Sunday best in the car in a park parking lot. The girls were real troopers as they endured the frigid transfer from their warm beds to the colder, uncomfortable car seats. Kit made her delicious apple breakfast cake that we scarfed down on the drive. And I once again was reminded of how much I love road trips with my family. Everyone together, eating munchies and flying through the french countryside. We were asked to sing for the post city hall marriage festivities which went well considering Elle screaming for Mommy the whole time we sang.
They were beautiful and it was so fun to be there to support them. Justine and Pierre were lovebirds before they left on their LDS missions and waited for each other, to finally be united in civil marriage on Friday and Eternal marriage Monday.
After the civil stuff we went to a banquet hall and there was food and dancing. Ryn LOVES the Gandon girls and although it took her a little while to shake her timid bug she was glued to Marine the rest of the night dancing NON-STOP from 6-midnight!!!!! Seriously NON-STOP!!!
She finally came to me and asked me to dance and fell asleep in my arms in less than 2 seconds:)

What a beautiful end to the night

Just Because!