We are blessed to have numerous friends who are pastors and not just pastors but solid preachers who consistently deliver clear teaching from Scripture. Their sermons have played an increasingly edifying role in our lives since moving to France as we’re able to listen in via podcast. (A podcast is simply the regular, automatic delivery of an audio file, in this case MP3′s of sermons.) While we attend a great church here, we still desire–like those to whom we’re preparing to minister in Cameroon–to hear God’s word preached in our own language, which will continue to be the language we understand best.

Just today I was listening and Emily said, “wow, this is so good for keeping up with our friends.” So, I thought I’d better blog and share the goodness. Here’s a list of the podcasts to which we subscribe and listen regularly. Check these out and leave your suggestions in the comments for others we should check out.

Podcasts

• Jim Upchurch  (First Baptist Church of Gibsonville, NC), currently preaching through Philippians. Listen
• Andy Davis (First Baptist Church of Durham, NC), currently preaching through Hebrews. Listen
• Jonathan Chandler (Union View Baptist Church, NC), currently preaching through 2 Peter. Listen
• Jan Vezikov (Mosaic Boston), varied. Listen
• Jacob Atchley (the Church at Martinsburg, WV), varied. Listen
• Matt Chandler (The Village Church, TX), about to begin Galatians. Listen

We listen to several other podcasts, too. The church we wish had a podcast? Our church here. Then we could relisten and relisten and relisten.

Others?

What podcasts do you love? We’d love to hear your suggestions.

Yesterday we gave you a taste of food for the first time.

A friend from America who is also living over here to learn French gave us some Gerber whole wheat rice cereal that she no longer needed for her twins.

You still aren’t sleeping through the night so we wanted to see if food would help you sleep more soundly.

We used your Christmas present from Aunty Sally.  She gave you a lovely bowl, fork & spoon and sippy cup set from the Cath Kidston collection.

Obviously Sissy wanted to help feed you so we took a snap of her over-enthusiastic attempt.

You did very well and today you did even better with Daddy feeding you at lunch time.

Your sister was exactly 5 months when we started feeding her more than just formula.  Here is a little pic of her.

Today Henry turned 5 months old.  The photo above shows how much he has grown.

We just cannot get enough of his huge smile.  It just lights up his whole face and all it takes is a full tummy and a good nap.

There came a time (a couple of months ago) when Henry would no longer lay his head down on my shoulder .  He just constantly wanted see what was going on.  Well these last few days Henry hardly wants to lay down at all, he wants to be sitting up and looking around.  His balance isn’t quite there yet so he topples over but he’ll get there soon enough no doubt.

He is wearing 6 month clothes but he is long and lean like his Daddy.

He is a little chatter box like his sister and we are preparing ourselves for another little firecracker like Poppy.

This video was taken a couple of weeks ago I think.  Enjoy.

I LOVE Peppa Pig.  Here’s a little look.  My fav line in this episode is “naughty messy Daddy”.  If we lived in England we would definitely be visiting Peppa Pig world http://www.peppapigworld.co.uk/  Today Poppy watched Mummy Pig’s Birthday, it was so cute.  They even do episodes in French!!

Anyways, back to the baking.  Poppy really enjoys little tasks so baking is just perfect for her.

She meticulously placed the cake cases into the pan and loved using her utensils for the stirring.

Most of the time her fingers and mouth were somewhere near the ingredients!

15 minutes must feel like eternity to a little girl waiting on her fairy cakes.

But then it came time to make the icing.  Unfortunately I didn’t have the heart to share these cakes with the neighbours, not after she started eating the icing right out of the bowl.

It took alot of concentration to do the icing, I didn’t think she had it in her.

She was very pleased with the outcome.  She spotted we were missing a Peppa pig. She probably ate it earlier.

The best bit of all, liking the icing off and leaving the cake altogether.

You can see that it’s not always clear where snow peaks end and clouds begin. But back down on the ground we were pleased to encounter Mr. Donkey, a vineyard, a hang glider, a little village and rose hips. Thank you, Granny, for filling me in on rose hips. =)

L’Epiphanie is apparently a pretty big deal here in France. To celebrate, all the bakeries and supermarkets sell galette des rois or king cake. “King” in the name, of course, refers to those magi we just talked about. Imagine a festival about kings in a country that so cheerfully deposed their own some centuries ago!

Here is the galette des rois I picked up from the bakery just down the street from us. And what a tasty opportunity to practice my French!

The cake itself is a sort of flaky pastry with a layer of frangipane in the middle. Though that’s not all. Hidden inside is a fève, a trinkety little porcelain or plastic prize. The person whose slice contains the fève is crowned king or queen and gets to wear the Burger King-esque golden crown.

All during dinner Poppy could hardly wait to dig into the cake and wear the crown. In fact, she prematurely crowned herself queen of our petite ville.

After dinner and once the cake was apportioned, the lot was cast and and we waited to see who’d be our king or queen for the evening.

Who will it be?

Poppy?

Mummy?

Granny? Granny!

I mean Queen Granny. Grandad was a good sport about it, knowing all along who the real boss is.

Our fève was a mini box of movie theatre popcorn. So, apparently the three wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and popcorn!

Meanwhile, Henry longs for the day when he’ll be king and can drink all the milk in the world.

We wanted to blog and post pictures sooner, but it has taken a couple of days to get internet setup in our apartment; our French isn’t that good after all! We went through orientation at the French school today and classes will start tomorrow. Adjustment to life in France overall has been smooth and we thank you for your continued prayers as we learn this language! Merci!

Here are just a few of the things that we’ve been experiencing:

• Goat cheese pizza
• Pink toilet paper
• Gendamarie (police) with machine guns
• Bonne année – “happy new year”
• Granny and grandad’s help with the kids
• Princess bubble bath–Disney princesses no less
• Chocolate milk (called “Candy Up”), cheap cola
• Letting agent made the mistake of telling the landlords that we speak French well
• Landlady speaking French 100mph
• Big block of cheese and cakes from our landlandy
• People wanting to practice their English
• Women on bus asked me how to get to the prison
• 2 and 12 sound similar thus we’ve accidentally said we have 12 kids!
• Pizza place across the street from us!
• Lots of dogs as pets
• Fresh bread on the cheap
• Shoot in the cupboard for trash