Fall Update (by Becca)

Dear family and friends,

It has been a long time since our August update, and the end of our time here in France is now in sight! We have 31 days left here.

I'll say it again, because I can't believe it myself! We only have 31 days left before we leave for Togo.

We will miss Albertville, France, very much. It has been such a beautiful place to live, and explore, and learn French. We feel incredibly blessed to have been able to spend a whole year here.

This is literally the view right outside our apartment!

Since our last update we have been very busy. Our three older kids went back to French school, and Gwyn started going to preschool for the first time. Seth and I went back to language school for our last semester of learning this year.

In October, we had a short break, during which my parents came to visit. We took advantage of their time here to visit some of the local attractions: a few castles and other medieval buildings, a 19th-century fort (which happened to have a kid's play area with bouncy houses where our kids had a blast), a waterfall, and a city filled with beautiful canals.

All in all, it was a wonderful visit. Now, however, we are in our countdown phase to Togo!
Here are some prayer requests we would like to make as we enter our last month here in France:

• Good health! We've been struggling a lot this fall with the local respiratory viruses. Please pray for healing and that we would not catch any more colds in these next couple of weeks so that we will have the energy we need to prepare for our move.

Exams! We have our final exams coming up. Please pray that we will study well and do well. Our exams will be taking place from December 8 through December 13.

Paperwork! Moving to another country involves all kinds of hoops to jump through. We are so blessed to have the great team at Samaritan's Purse and in Togo who really help make the process go more smoothly, but it is still a process. Please pray that we will do everything we need to well and on time.

Packing! Of course, we need to pack everything up, something which we will only have about one week to complete after our exams are done.

The trip! We are flying out on December 23. Please pray for a safe and smooth trip and that all our luggage will make it with us, as well.

Finally, while all of you in the U.S. will be starting to prepare your Thanksgiving dinners, I will be taking our kids to the international vaccine clinic to get their yellow fever shots (Happy Thanksgiving, guys!). So please pray that that will go well, too. Obviously, Thanksgiving is not a holiday here in France, and we will really miss being with family on that day, but like you, we will take that time to remember that we truly have much to be thankful for!

In Christ,

Becca