June - October 2015 in pictures

What a lot of adventures we have had since the month of June!

As seems to be the case every year, the sun was shining brightly once again for the school Fête which involved songs and dances performed by the children, a bouncy castle, a lucky dip, and of course the much awaited pony-ride (a first for Claire who was able to ride with her big sister!)…

... and last but not least, we enjoyed the traditional Breton "galettes-saucisses" (sausage pancakes)!

For a few weeks, pretty floating gardens decorated our community’s artificial lake and visually enhanced our walks.

With the arrival of summer, Claire made a joyful discovery: our home-made "petit-suisse ice-lollies".

In July, we began our holidays with the second wedding of the year in David’s family.

And Anna’s wish came true: she was able to dance with the bride!

We continued our holiday with a visit to the Sables-d'Olonne zoo.

Then, we headed to the other side of France to celebrate Carolyn’s parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. It was good to be all together again, and a great opportunity for Julie and Anna to practise their English with their cousins.

When we got home, we took off the bars on one side of Claire’s cot, so she now has a big girl’s bed.

In August, we drove down to the South-Ouest of France to visit friends and ministry partners. 

Given the heat, our girls soon found swimming-pools to fit their size!

And we were able to admire some wonderful French landscapes, from the castle of Foix…

... to the Albi cathedral and its beautiful view over the city.

End of August, we were delighted to host our Agapé Rennes get-together, a chance to catch up with all our colleagues and their families before the start of another school year.

It was then already time to go and pick the last cherry tomatoes in our vegetable garden before the end of the season.

Beginning of September, we decided to swap the girls’ bedrooms around. Claire, who used to share with Anna, now has her own bedroom!

And Julie and Anna now share the bigger bedroom and we can hear them playing together from very early in the morning!

In September, the TIC team was back to three people after May’s year out to study.  We are grateful for the joy we have in working together.

We were also delighted to celebrate the wedding of our friends Joël and Mélissa on 19th September...

... where Claire, with the help of her sisters, was a flower girl.

On 21st September, we celebrated Julie’s 8th birthday!

She now enjoys reading her big girl’s bible, in English!

The month of September was a busy month, since we also had a dozen teenagers from our church back for lunch after the service one Sunday for our first youth-group meeting – we will be co-leading the youth-group this year with another couple from church.

For the cooking, we had to move up a size of pans!

It is now half-term for the children. Carolyn took part with Julie and Anna in an afternoon of activities for the children of a centre for asylum seekers in Rennes, following the "Move your city / A heart for Rennes" event, which we organised a year ago. We all delighted in contributing to bring joy and hope to those children whose future is uncertain, and making new friends for the afternoon.

We are grateful to God for the adventures of these last few months and for all the people with whom we were able to spend time and share a slice of life.