July - November 2016 in pictures

Time to share with you a retrospective of our adventures since July. 

We won't be offended if you skim through it quickly since there is a lot to tell... even if we have tried to summarise! 🙂

David began the summer with a trip to Orlando in Florida, to work on a project with several colleagues of Cru, the head organisation of Agapé in the United States. It gave him the chance to discover the beautiful premises of the Head Office.

David particularly appreciated the chance to meet and get to know some of the colleagues in technologies with whom he generally works with via email or video conference. 

He also enjoyed the unique culinary experience! 

And the scenery!

For Anna, the summer started with a workshop which taught her how to ride her bike without stabilizers. This opened the way to family bike outings. 

And the rest of the summer could be summarised as follows : swimming, games, siestas, walks, camping, beaches, ice-cream... family fun basically!

We also had the opportunity to dress up to celebrate some friends of ours' wedding.

And we enjoyed the fresh air on David's parents' farm. 

Like every year, we ended the month of August with a day-trip to the beach with the Agapé Rennes team. 

Then it was time to go back to school : Julie is now in CM1 (4th year of primary school) and Anna is in CP (1st year of primary school). Claire was practising to be ready to start nursery school in Janary.

On the day the girls went back to school, David flew off to Israel for a training course organised by Agape Europe to immerse himself in the life and ministry of Jesus in order to be inspired in his own leadership.

The programme included (amongst other things):

Crossing the desert to Jericho...

... seeing the place where Jesus was baptised in the Jordan...

... meeting survivors of the Holocaust and organising a meal and activities for them...

... a temple in Nazareth...

... a resurrection?? ...

... studying the Bible in numerous significant places, like here, on the cliff just outside Nazareth, off which the crowd tried to push Jesus...

... descending the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee... 

... climbing Mount Arbel in Galilee, the witness of so many historical events...

... the remains of the temple of Magdala, where Jesus very certainly preached...

... the Sea of Galilee...

... retracing the last week of Jesus' life in Jerusalem...

... the Garden of Gethsemane...

... and so many other inner experiences which cannot be photographed!

You will find some excellent videos here filmed in significant biblical places with related commentaries.

Back at home, Julie celebrated her 9th Birthday.

With the Autumn, came some mushrooms which we were able to admire, and we were even able to taste some of them.

In October, David spent three days with the other Agapé France leaders, to discuss different activities and projects Agapé has for this year, but also to reflect on the vision for the future.  

Beginning of November, we made the most of having some friends from Germany over to stay to take a trip to the Mont Saint Michel, our first one since it became an island again.

On 11th November, Julie and her class sang the French National Anthem at the 1918 Armistice Commemoration service.  She was rewarded with a certificate of honour!

Meanwhile, Carolyn spent the weekend at an excellent women's conference entitled "Avec Z'Elles", organised by Agapé au Féminin (more information on aveczelles.fr).

We give glory to God for the abundant life He is giving us!