Our Big Fat Gypsy Life

Anyone seen that show "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" about gypsies in England....well our life be like that-minus the weddings. Well minus a lot of stuff, but ya know.

We moved out of our apartment in May and since have been on the road. Denton to Ruston to Navarre Beach, FL to Atlanta to Columbia to Myrtle Beach back to Columbia to Charlotte to Columbia to Clemson and Greenville and then back to Columbia. Whew! In the next week, we will be back to Ruston.

We've had some great time with family and had a few successful support appointments, so all it all it's been a great trip and all worth it!

The big question we get most of the time is when are we going to be leaving for France. The short answer is that we don't know...just waiting on the Lord to bring the support in. If anyone who reads this (all three of you) and you want to get our email updates, just send me your email address and we'll put you on the list!

Here a few pics of the last month. Enjoy!

Packing, Packing, and More Packing

Moving is hard work. Moving isn't fun. I can't believe when I was younger I wanted my parents to move because I thought it would be fun. I obviously was a silly 12 year old.

So we're hitting the road Tuesday for a summer of support raising. We are soon to be in Louisiana and South Carolina and surrounding areas. Here's to getting Owen VERY used to travel and a car seat!

Last Week

My grandfather past away on Saturday. He was 85 and had a hard last 10 years of his life, but it's always hard to say good-bye even when you know they are in a better place.

We'll be in Ruston this weekend for the funeral on Saturday morning.

This Easter Paw-Paw will be celebrating  and worshipping in Heaven.

Scratch That...It's Genetic

In a recent post, I showed a picture of Owen's best lightening McQueen impression. Well, we've decided it's less of an impression and more of a quirk inherited from Dad.

How to Eat Like the French

We had the pleasure of having some good friends and supporters over last night for dinner, and we decided to have a traditional French dinner much like we experienced when we were in Nice three years ago. So if you want to eat like the French, here's how:

1. Start with the aperitif. Usually it is some kind of mixed drink, much like cocktails here in the U.S. We started with champagne which is usually the drink of choice for special occasions.

2. Entrees or appetizers are next. We just had a spread of olives, pickled artichokes, and some blue cheese and garlic butter to spread on a bread. SO good.

3. Main course comes third. Coq a Vin was on the menu with a side of rice. A note if you do ever cook French food, it's not hard to cook any of it but it does take some time. Make sure you start early or do your prep work the night before.

4. Cheese and salad course is next. This is out of place seemingly to Americans, but it is actually very refreshing. Always go with a Camembert or Brie cheese because they are both distinctly French. We also had goat cheese rounds on a baguette with our salad.

4. Last comes coffee and dessert, which is usually fruit and maybe some candies. We had a chocolate pastry just because we like them along with clementines. Usually the French leave the table for this part of the meal and would retire to the living room.

Wine is served throughout all courses, and the French often eat very slowly. Put plenty of time between courses and serve smaller portions so that you don't eat too much. We didn't do that part so well, or we just ate too much. Give it a try, it's fun!

Or just come eat at our house!

Book Review #1: The Jesus Storybook Bible

Best children's Bible hands down! It shows the big picture of the bible, that God loves us with a "Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love" and that He would one day send Himself for the ones He loves. I totally recommend it if you have kids and don't already own it.

Spanky V. Lightening McQueen

I still hear that Owen looks like Spanky from Little Rascals (mainly from my sister), but Ross and I think he is already showing a love for Lightening McQueen from Cars. Not that he looks like a car, obviously, but he's got the tongue thing going on.

He does the tongue thing when he smiles and talks. Too cute.

Back to Life (in Denton), Back to Reality...

Sorry it's been so long in posting, we've been away from home for quite sometime...

Since my last post, Owen has been on his second and third plane rides, I had my first experience with another woman telling me what was wrong with MY crying baby (like she has a clue), and Ross and I have gotten to spend some much needed time with our good friends Tommy and Celeste Rutledge. You know those friends that as soon as you are together again, it feels like you never were apart, the ones who you don't care if your house is a wreck when they are coming over, the ones you would give your left kidney for? That's Tommy and Celeste to our family. Ross and Tommy spend Spring Break leading a team of college students on a mission trip to Kingsport, TN. Celeste and I spend the week with our boys Owen and Ellis and preparing for the arrival of Baby Rutledge #2! The mission trip went very well, and I will be talking more about it in our monthly update newsletter. If you are interested in receiving it via email, let me know and we will put you on the list.

In other news:

Owen has started sleeping 11-12(whoa!) hours thanks to the help of a wonderful book called the Baby Sleep Solution that Grandma bought for me. A.MA.ZING!

Ross and I have begun conversations about moving out of Village East at the end of May because we will be on the fast track of support raising and don't know how much time we will spend at home this summer. We might be in a town near you very soon!

In the mean time, enjoy new pics from our trip to TN.

Cali

My in-laws flew me out to L.A. this past week so they could see the baby and help out and I could get some rest. Owen decided for about a month he was going to wake up every 2-3 hours at night, and needless to say I was whipped! I had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed getting consecutive hours of sleep! Thanks Sean! We tried to say on Texas time, so that meant early mornings for me. But hey, I should be used to it by now...

One little plug: If you get the chance to go to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, GO. It was a.ma.zing. It will totally add inches to your waste line, but it's totally worth it.

Here a few pics of our trip.

Owen and Pop Pop just chillin'.

Owen and Catie trying to persuade Peyton to make her grand appearance

Tummy time at 6AM

Missionary FAQ

Last night Ross and I along with some our France teammates held an informational meeting/program about what we will be doing in France. I know many of you who may read this already know what we will be doing once we get to Nice, but for those who don't here's a brief overview of the FAQ we get during a support appointment.

1. Why France?

Most people's reaction to us going to Southern France goes like this: "Nice, huh? You got it rough (insert sarcastic tone). The reality though is that less than 1/2% of the people of France are believers. They have rejected God and the gospel centuries ago, and have had a HUGE influx of North African Muslim immigrants in the last 30+ years. So we are going to France because, though it is celebrated for it's beauty, it is a dark place without the light of Christ.

2. What will you be doing?

Our first term (4 years) will be spent getting culture and language under our belt. We also will be working with 2 English-speaking churches doing discipleship and leadership training. Within that first term, it is our prayer that we would have an inter-cultural mediator who can get us into the Muslim culture. Our long-term goal is to be working primarily among the Muslim community by the end of our first term. We don't know what that will look like, but it probably will look a lot like our ministry here at the apartment complex: living among them, being neighbors with them, our kids going to the same school as them, etc.

3. What do your parents think about you taking their grandchildren so far away?

None of us are excited about the distance that will be between us, but our parents are more than supportive.

4. How do you do it? I don't think I could.

While I would love to say that it is easy to think about leaving the U.S. and family, it isn't. But we do it because we God has called us, plain and simple. Actually, He has called all of us to be a part of missions. He has called us to be imitators of Christ, and Christ himself is the ultimate missionary, so if I am to be imitating Him, then I am to be on mission wherever I am. The question is not "Am I to be a missionary?" it's "How good of a missionary am I?" And you CAN do it. It might not mean going to France, but it means doing something. Ok, getting off my soap box now...

That's it for now because I know most of us don't like reading long posts. I'll follow up with more later.
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