Hope For France

New blog address

2010-05-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

To all (or should I say both?) of our friends who are following this blog via a blog reader, we want you to know that we are now using a different blog.

We have recently updated our ministry website and that has necessitated the change.

If you put http://www.hopeforfrance.org/bixby-news/ into your rss feed service (bloglines, etc.), you should receive notifications of our future posts.

By the way, for the Coles it is: http://www.hopeforfrance.org/cole-news/.

A genuine thanks to those of you who use this tool as a reminder to pray for us and the success of the Gospel in our own hearts and others through us.

The distance between our gate and garage door...

2010-04-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

... is just right!!

Trip to Northern France, part 2

2010-04-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

I was honored to be invited by missionary Kim Fox and l’Eglise Biblique Baptiste de Rouen to speak for their annual church retreat. The two-day retreat was held at a small conference center about an hour out of Rouen and halfway between that city and Paris in a little village called Corny. (Thankfully, the town did not live up to its name.) We spent a delightful time with the small group of Christians, mainly students, that came to the retreat. I spoke four times, once each from the writings of John, Moses, Job and Paul.

The retreat ended on Saturday evening at 5pm. Instead of heading right back to Bordeaux, we drove into Rouen where we were given a tour of the city where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, where Monet painted several of his famous paintings, and where Richard the Lionhearted is buried. We then spent the night in the home of missionary Kristi Colas. We greatly enjoyed our time with her and were blessed by her love for the Lord and enthusiasm for ministry. Sunday morning we attended the service at the church in Rouen pastored by Kim Fox. This was our first trip out of Bordeaux since being in France and it was a blessing to see God at work in other ministries. The Foxes have faithfully labored in that city for about 15 years, I believe, and God has raised up what seemed to us to be an enthusiastic group of believers. We enjoyed lunch at the Fox home before heading home in the afternoon. We were blessed by their humility (no pretensions) and whole-hearted service.

The 80-mile-an-hour speed limit on the highway was appreciated as we headed home; the $80 in tolls was not. We arrived home Sunday night about 10:30pm: exhausted, a lot of new information to sort through, discuss, etc., and grateful to be in God’s service.

The next morning when I woke Miriam up out of deep sleep to get her ready for school I asked her, “Do you know where you are?” She looked around. “Yes, we're back in France.” I guess that pretty well confirms that, at least to Miriam, "France" = home.

TimBix

Trip to Northern France, part 1

2010-04-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

We made a last-minute decision to leave a day early on our trip to Rouen and headed to Paris last Tuesday evening to see the city. To our children, Paris meant the Eiffel Tower--nothing more, nothing less. Ruth had only ever seen a couple of sites in Paris during a short layover on a train trip we took back in 2000. The children had never been outside of the airport.

We saw what we wanted to see: the Eiffel Tower. The children were quite impressed with the size. We found a good place to park a little over a mile away, and we ate a sandwich while we waited in line to head up the tower. We only went to the second floor of three. It was cheaper that way and saved us from having to wait another 45 minutes in the line for the second elevator that carries you from the second to the third landing. What we saw was beautiful. On the way home we drove around the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysées, passed the Notre Dame and a few other landmarks. We were surprised to find Paris didn’t feel as foreign and strange as we had expected. We figure we must be getting used to living in France. That said, Paris certainly is in a class of its own and worthy to be among the great cities of the world.

Check back again soon for more news about the rest of our trip.

Pictures of our home in France

2010-04-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not yet ready for Southern Living magazine, but we are mostly installed in our new home, and so I thought I'd share some pictures of the interior for those of you who might be interested to see it. There are still some finishing touches to do (aren't there always?), but it really does feel like home now.

(click here to view full-screen slideshow)

Easter Sunday

2010-04-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Easter Sunday. We had an encouraging celebration of the Resurrection during the morning service. Following the service, we had 11 people in our home for lunch. Ruth-Renée did a whole lot of work in preparation. (My entertaining Zacharie while peeling the carrots was only a small contribution.) Another family in the church co-hosted with us and helped quite a lot as well. We enjoyed a nice long meal and then a time of Bible study and sharing before we dug into Ruth's cheesecake (an American specialty which was unusual for the French, but appreciated).

We were especially pleased that Ruth's former classmate (and now mine) from Japan (seen holding Zacharie) came with her boyfriend from China. It was their first time to a Sunday service and they said they would like to start coming back regularly. Before we ate, I asked David (white shirt on left) to give his testimony. I spoke openly, saying that everyone there would call themselves disciples of Jesus Christ except for our two friends and that I thought it would be especially helpful for them to hear. Stating the obvious seemed to make them more comfortable. As they were leaving, our friend from China told me, "I'm not yet very believing or religious--whatever you say, but I would like to start reading the Bible and we will start coming regularly to church." Obviously, we were very encouraged and excited. Please pray for God to continue His work of drawing them to Christ.

Tomorrow (Easter Monday) is a national holiday in France, so we don't have school. On Wednesday after class we are leaving as a family to travel to Rouen to attend the church retreat of the Baptist Church in that city. I will be preaching four times at the retreat. We then plan to spend the Lord's day with them before heading back Sunday afternoon in time for school on Monday. It's more than a 6-hour drive, and will be the first time out of town for Zacharie.

Enjoying spring with family

2010-04-02T00:44:00.000-07:00

Though it has rained, rained, and rained, we have enjoyed moments of sunshine that remind us that spring has truly arrived. Last evening the sun came out for a bit and we enjoyed a few minutes in the park. Here are a few pictures we took during that time. They give you a glimpse into our family outing.

We are looking forward to a busy, yet joyful Rusurrection celebration this Sunday. We will be hosting 10-12 people in our home for dinner. Two friends of Ruth from her last semester in language school have promised to come and perhaps a third.

We are praying for the growth of God's Kingdom wherever the King is proclaimed.

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Le Carnaval!

2010-03-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

One exciting French school event that we have recently learned about is the annual carnaval. The title "carnival" may sound like a huge event, but really it is quite simple. It's just a time for the kids to dress up and throw confetti, and for the parents to come watch them parade around in their costumes and visit with one another. Both of our kids' recently had their carnivals: Micaiah's being at the end of February, and Miriam'sjust last Friday. The theme for Miriam's carnival was "les animaux" (animals, in case you couldn't figure that out). I asked her what animal she wanted to be, and she immediately said, "un cheval", sans hesitation. I tried to convince her that it might be a little easier for her mommy to come up with a costume for her if she would just be a cat, but she was pretty set on being a horse. So this mommy is very thankful for the Internet which gave me the idea of how to make a horse costume out of a box, something that we have in great supply around here these days following our recent move across the ocean.

With Micaiah's carnaval being in February just after our move and the same day as the Repas Agape, I'm afraid it snuck up on us rather suddenly, and we had to do some quick work of pulling together anything we could find. Grandma Bixby came to the rescue with some props she had stored away for various skits over the years.True to form, Michée (Micaiah's name in French) posed as a good 'ol American cowboy. Believe it or not, he wasn't the only American cowboy at the carnaval, but I think he might have been the only truly American, American cowboy. :)

One great benefit to both of these occasions is that they have provided yet another opportunity for us to make friends with the other families at the kids' schools. In fact, one mom that I just met last week has invited me over for tea, and wants to give me some baby clothes for Zacharie. I'll be visiting with her in her home tomorrow. Thank you for your continued prayers with these opportunities.

Miscellaneous news

2010-03-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

Spring is on its way, as we were able to observe recently in watching a large flock of geese (in the course of about 30 minutes' time, we saw literally hundreds!) heading north over our home here in Pessac, France. Our official spring prayer letter is yet forthcoming, but I thought I'd take a few minutes now to post here some of our recent goings-on in order to let all of you, our supporters and prayer warriors, know that we are still alive and kicking!

First, getting settled into our new home in between the regular church and school routine has taken a lot of concentration. We have lived at 48 rue Auguste Renoir now for six weeks (we spent our first night in our new home on February 1), and are finally beginning to feel like it is our home. It has taken quite of lot of energy to get to this point. As with any move, there have been the normal things to do--unpacking of boxes, finding a place for everything, etc., but there have also been a lot of "extras" connected to the fact that we are setting up house in a foreign country for the first time. There were quite a few furniture items that we have had/are having to purchase and set up. In addition, homes in France don't normally come with things like appliances and light fixtures, so we have been doing a lot of shopping and installing of those essential items as well. One advantage that we saw when God provided this home was that the kitchen was already equipped with the basic appliances, though they were quite old. We were told that it would be our responsibility to replace the appliances with our own if/when the old ones were to quit working. Well, within the first few weeks it became apparent that all of the kitchen appliances except the refrigerator would need to be replaced. So in the past two weeks, we have replaced the oven (we found a very nice, slightly used one at an excellent price), the hood over the stove, and the dishwasher (found both of those items new, but on sale), and are just about beginning to shop for a new stove top, since the repairman has told us the current one is leaking gas. Our God has well supplied our needs, however, and we have been able to make all of these purchases with the funds that many of you helped to provide before we came to France last June. We are still in the process of hanging pictures, putting together some additional furniture items like bookshelves, and eventually hope to re-organize the leftover rubbermaid boxes in the garage, but all-in-all we are now functioning normally and contentedly in our cozy little French home. :) We have even been able to begin a bit of hosting.

At the left is a picture of Miriam with Sara, a little girl from her school, "having tea". We enjoyed a good time of visiting and relationship-building with Sara and her family (Abdul and Isabelle, Ali, Sara and Neal) at a meal in our home a week ago.

Having Tim's parents back at the helm at Eglise Baptiste de Pessac is providing us with some occasional opportunities to venture out into other churches in France, enabling us to get to know some other French ministries. Yesterday we took the tram into downtown Bordeaux where Tim was able preach at a sister church there. We had a brief, but encouraging time, visiting with Christian, the pastor of the small assembly who is pictured in the collage below with Zacharie, and the others' of Eglise Evangelique Baptiste. We are looking forward to traveling up to Rouen, France (near Normandy) to get to know another church there. The missionary pastor of the Rouen church, Kim Fox, has invited Tim to speak at their church retreat April 8-10. Some of you may know of this work through missionary Kristi Colas, who serves in the same ministry.

And, of course, French school is still a regular part of life for three of our five family members, though we all profited greatly from the extra time to work on the house stuff which we were afforded through a two-week winter break at the end of February. Now that Tim and the kids are back to the books, Tim is continuing to enjoy all that he is learning in his French literature and civilization classes, as well as the grammar help is gaining in his studies at the university. Also, we have been encouraged to see Micaiah and Miriam becoming more bold in their French speaking skills. To close, I'll post a little video clip of Micaiah reading some of his French homework to his grandparents.

Repas Agape, 2010

2010-02-25T05:45:00.000-08:00

The Eglise Baptiste de Pessac held its 18th annual Repas Agape on February 19, 2010. This event is a special outreach banquet for students. This year, as in 2006 when we visited, I (Tim) was able to preach. With the Winter Olympics in progress, we chose as our theme "Je cours vers le but... le prix céleste" ("I run towards the goal ... the heavenly prize") from Philippians 3:14.

One of the families in the church loaned us their Wii with the winter olympic games and each country (table) chose a representative to race down the mountain on skis for the gold. Not wanting it to get too competitive, each table represented a country that was real, but barely known. Though it was a smaller crowd than in the past, we had a good percentage of visitors, including one young lady for the same township as the church, and one young man from as far away as Vietnam.

Special Music weekend

2010-02-25T05:32:00.000-08:00

On the third weekend in January, Kristi (in France, Jeanne) Colas, American missionary in Rouen, France, came for a visit. The Lord has gifted her in the area of church music and her desire was to help the young people (and others) in the Bordeaux area improve their talents for the Lord's glory. Kristi gave free individual music lessons to all who signed up (including Micaiah and Miriam!) and led a four-hour piano accompaniment seminar/workshop on Saturday.

On Sunday, in addition to playing for our services, she helped host a special afternoon sacred concert for the three sister churches in the Bordeaux region. It was a wonderful opportunity for the young people who had participated in the events of the weekend to use their talents on sacred pieces that would not be appreciated in the secular context.

We enjoyed our time of fellowship with Kristi and her enthusiasm for evangelism. We should see her again in April when we travel as a family up to take part in the church retreat of the Baptist Church of Rouen.

Miriam turns 5!!

2010-02-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

Five years ago today, God blessed with a beautiful girl: Miriam Ruth Bixby. We love her dearly and find it hard to believe she is five years old.

Here she is a few days ago with the cake her mommy made for her to take to her birthday celebration at school. She now has a two-week winter vacation from school which she is excited about.

May God raise up the next generation to be lovers of God and proclaimers of truth.

Reunited

2010-02-08T01:29:00.000-08:00

We are grateful to have Tim's parents back on this side of the ocean, and they were grateful to meet their newest grandchild. We have now moved into our new home. (Read: we are now sleeping and functioning in the new house, if not yet totally unpacked. :) We hope to post more of our news and some pictures of our new environment here in the not-too-distant future.

God's Provisions

2010-01-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

We thank God for the recent provision of both a van and a home to live in.

After being in contact with the owners of this van for about a month, we purchased the 2002 Chrysler Voyager just one week after Zacharie’s birth. We find it a bit humorous that we are driving an American car in France. There are not very many of those around here. However, I doubt there many manual-transmission, diesel-engine Voyagers in the States. It has very low mileage for its age, and we bought it from the original owners. It is only the second vehicle we have purchased in our married life and the first big purchase we have made in France.

We have learned a lot and spent a lot of time in lines and with people, switching the car papers into our name, getting new tags for the van (you are given the number and you have to go pay to have them made in a shop), getting insurance, and getting our South Carolina drivers’ licenses switched over. We are very thankful that we did not have to retake the driver’s test here in France. However, we did have to give up our S.C. licenses since we are not allowed to keep both. After four trips into the region’s “Prefecture,” I’m hoping that only one more trip will be needed (to pick the licenses up next month).

God has also provided us with a house. We have looked at more than a dozen houses or apartments. The one God gave us is only about 500 yards from the church and my parents’ home. The house is the end house in a row of houses, 968 square feet (not an American dream home) and costs around $1300/month (depending on the rate of the dollar--sometimes more, sometimes less), not exactly a dream price. However, it is ideally suited to our situation, being so close to the church that we can walk, in the same school district that the children are already in, and near to public transportation via bus and tram. We are even already acquainted with the family across the street because they have children that go to the same school as our children.

The way the Lord provided the house is an amazing story in itself. We first saw the house on the internet on December 1 and made an appointment to visit it the same week. We received a call the day before the scheduled visit to tell us that the house had already been rented and so the visit was canceled. We were disappointed. The next week, however, the agent called us back to say the family had backed out and it was again available for rent. We went and saw it and really liked it. It was the cheapest three-bedroom house we had seen and so well situated. (For the curious, you can see pictures here.) However, as a couple we have a mutual agreement that we will not make major financial decisions on the spot. (That saved me from buying a Kirby vacuum cleaner once!) We told the realtor that we were very interested, and would call her back the next day. We did, but only to find out that the family that had visited it after us had reserved it. Once again, the house had “died.” And once again we were (really) disappointed. We talked about how God was a sovereign and good God—even over the details --and that He was deliberately controling these events for our good. For the next three weeks nothing happened. (To the house, that is. We had a baby during that time so we were rather taken up with other things.) The house was still up on the website as for rent, but the couple of times I called, the agent told me that it was already rented and that she was just waiting for paperwork to go through before taking it off the Internet. We began to wonder if she was fibbing because she didn’t want to rent it to us. I had, after all, told her exactly who we were, what church we were associated with and why we were in France. Perhaps we were being persecuted for the Gospel! Unfortunately for us, that didn’t give us any Biblical alternative but to rejoice. I was felt so strongly about this possibility that I even shared my suspicions with several in the church. They agreed it might be possible. Then I worked up the nerve to call her again. How could I remind her we were still looking without making her angry because we were hounding her? I decided to call about another house the agency had for rent, ask for details, and while on the phone “casually” ask about the house we had already visited. She said, “Oh yes, the family that had taken was not transferred by their job as they expected to be. They’ve backed out of the contract.” By this time, we had had plenty of time to consider our options and we were ready to rent the house. The suspense had not completely ended yet, as it was still was more than a week before we heard that our paperwork had been approved by the agency’s insurance company and we were finally able to rent the house. God does all things well, in His perfect time.

We get the keys to the house tomorrow.

posted by TimBix

Grandparents' visit

2010-01-15T05:41:00.000-08:00

We had the privilege of hosting Ruth’s parents (Rick and Judie Pahnke) and her grandmother (Maggie Bell Pahnke) for a week over the New Year. It was a slower week on the ministry end which made it nice for visiting and enjoying baby Zacharie.

However, we did have our Watchnight Service to bring in the new year, in which they jumped right in and participated. We didn’t make any long trips because of the newborn, but we got to take them into Bordeaux to see the city, out to the beautiful village of St. Emilion (on a very cold and windy New Year’s Day), and of course, shopping. We even had a snow day to enjoy together!

"Me-Ma," "Papa," and "Oma" Pahnke were the first relatives Zacharie has met beyond his parents and siblings. I think he enjoyed the fact that he was nearly always being held by someone.

We thank God for our family.

Watchnight Service at Eglise Baptiste de Pessac

Visiting with Papa, Me-Ma and Oma Pahnke

The Rest of the Story: Zacharie Christian

2009-12-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

A number of you have asked for follow-up information on how Zacharie fared after his little ambulance excursion to another hospital. Others of you haven’t even heard about all the extra excitement that accompanied Zacharie’s birth and his first 36 hours of life. So I will use this opportunity to catch you up on all that has transpired, as well as to tell you how the Lord ministered to us as a family and to me personally during those moments of uncertainty.

On Tuesday, December 15, I was becoming more certain that the birth of our third child was imminent. I had experienced some contractions on the previous Sunday that I had thought might be the onset of labor, but then things had settled down again on Monday, my first day of exams at the university. Even as the labor activity gradually began to increase after Tuesday morning’s exam, we continued with all our other week’s activities, thinking it was useless to stop everything until we knew for sure if the time had come. Tim was busy doing quite a bit of running around from bank to government office, back to bank, etc., trying to get things in order for the purchase of a van. Through all the busyness of recent weeks, we had talked frequently of going into downtown Bordeaux to visit the annual Christmas market, something of which I have fond memories from years gone by and which I didn’t want to miss during this year’s season. That evening being our first free night on which we could have considered it (and, I admit—I was wondering if it might be our last opportunity for this year, as well), we decided to bundle up and take the tram into town. The evening was enjoyable. We didn’t stay long, just long enough to enjoy some of the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas in the city. The contractions did increase in intensity as we walked, but were still quite manageable that entire time. We arrived back at home around 8:30, right at the kids’ bedtime.

By 9 p.m. the contractions were much more frequent and harder to bear, and it seemed that our trip to the hospital was imminent. After passing another few hours at home making final preparations for the children at home and for our hospital stay, we finally left for the hospital sometime after 12:30 on Wednesday morning. The short drive to the hospital was so intense for me that Tim was actually stopping the car for every contraction to try to make the pain less difficult to endure. I was certain that I must be entering the final stage of labor and was remembering all the stories I had ever heard about babies being born in cars, in parking lots, etc., when we arrived at the hospital a few minutes before 1 a.m. on Wednesday, December 16.

On a side note, it has been interesting to compare the differences between French and American hospitals when it comes to delivering babies. Neither one exactly fits into a neat, little stereotype. Each one just has its own peculiarities of strictness. With the births of my other two children, I was immediately seated in a wheelchair when I checked in at the front desk and ushered by a hospital staff member up to the maternity floor. This time, when I really could have used the wheelchair, none was offered! But it was a small hospital (a private clinic, actually), and I am grateful to say there was an elevator! ;)

I was led to some sort of a triage room on the same hallway as the delivery rooms for the hospital midwives to assess my state. The midwife that checked me in told me that I had not advanced as much as I had anticipated. That pronouncement was certainly not the end of the story, however, as within another 10 minutes or so I was holding little Zacharie Christian in my arms, never having made it to the delivery room and having yet to see my doctor! All in all, I only spent about 20 minutes at the hospital before Zacharie was born at 1:09 a.m. (It was Tim’s watch that served us the official time, as everything was too hurried-scurried for the nurses to follow their normal routine.) Tim and I sat there for the next few minutes, waiting for the hospital staff to catch up on all their other duties before finishing up with us, and just marveling at how the Lord had worked out everything in relationship to this birth.

It does seem, however, that there were some consequences that Zacharie had to bear because of his rapid delivery. For his first several hours of breathing the outside air, he made a funny, wheezing sound with every breath he drew. I asked the pediatrician about the noise when he came in to examine him about 9 a.m., when Zacharie was 8 hours old. The pediatrician assured me that that noise was quite normal, particularly for a baby who had been through a rapid delivery and may therefore have had some extra fluid in his lungs that had not yet been able to drain out. He expected that the noise would lessen and Zacharie would begin breathing more easily as the day went on. His response put me completely at ease, and I didn’t worry any more about the noisy breathing, until another nurse came in to check on Zacharie a few hours later who was very disturbed by his breathing. She unbuttoned his outfit (no small task, since he was dressed in about four different layers—that’s another part of the French way that was different for me! ;-) and showed me how his chest was heaving. She said she wanted to take him to the nursery for a few hours, placing him in the incubator for more constant surveillance. Again, I didn’t really worry, since she assured me that this measure was just to be sure he was OK, and that she would probably be bringing him back to me in a couple of hours. I sent Tim a text message with the update, as he was at McDonald’s at that moment with our other kids who were on lunch break from school. After Tim returned Micaiah and Miriam to school and came back to the hospital about an hour later, we walked down the hallway together to the nursery to see our newborn son. At this point, the same, kind nurse who had taken him back for observation informed us that Zacharie’s breathing really didn’t seem to be getting any better—in fact, it was worse. She had called the pediatrician to come and he had ordered a series of blood tests to check for infection. Thus—almost imperceptibly—began my worrying.

That afternoon was filled with several more hours of little visits to the nursery like that, with a few more meetings with the pediatrician and the nurse, but with little more information given other than the fact that Zacharie’s breathing was not improving as they had thought it should, and therefore the pediatrician wanted to send him to another hospital which was better equipped to deal with newborn health issues such as this. They continually assured us that whatever the source, the problem was most likely not a serious one, but given Zacharie’s young age they wanted to figure out what was causing the respiratory distress immediately so that they could begin the proper treatment. Even though I did take heart from those repeated assurances, it was still very difficult to watch my little baby struggle to breathe within my sight and yet just out of my reach, and to know that in a few short hours he would be taken out of my sight as well, taken somewhere where I couldn’t follow. The crew of five ambulance personnel that came a few hours later to transfer Zacharie was very kind, but also somewhat intimidating in all its gear and with all the various heart and oxygen monitors they taped all over Zacharie’s little body.

Little did we realize when we chose the name Zacharie (meaning, “Yahweh remembers”) just how quickly his name would take on even more significance for us. During those 18 hours of “enforced quiet time” (I was in the hospital after having had my baby but had no baby to care for!), I did have a lot of time to meditate on what God was doing, a privilege rarely granted to a mom in the hours just after she gives birth. I also listened to several sermons and was able to do some reading and meditating on Scriptures like Isaiah 62:6-7: “You who remind the LORD [zachar], take no rest for yourselves and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.”

I wrote this in my journal on the second morning of my hospital stay, just a few hours before Zacharie was returned to me:

God has used these last 24 hours to remind me of my need to remind Him¸ and has so encouraged me in illustrating the fact that, truly, “Yahweh remembers”. My heart is full as I have just this morning been told that my precious little Zacharie seems to be doing much better and should soon be returned to me. Layton Talbert (in a sermon found here) says that what Isaiah 62:6-7 is saying is this: “You who are reminding the LORD, give Him no rest until He fulfills that which He has promised!” God wants me to ask!!!

The end of the Zacharie story is that an x-ray showed no fluid trapped in his lungs, which could have required a procedure under general anesthesia to drain, and multiple blood tests revealed no sort of infection, which would have required antibiotics. As that second night wore on, Zacharie’s breathing gradually improved to the point that the medical personnel at the other hospital saw no reason to keep him under surveillance any longer. Thus, at 36 hours old, my baby was returned to me, and we were able to pick right up where we left off.

So when people have asked what the original problem was, the answer is we really don’t know exactly. The best human explanation we have been given is that the problem was somehow related to his rapid delivery, and it eventually worked itself out. But on another level, as children of a Heavenly Father who wants His children to ask Him for those things which He has promised, I’m sure you can affirm with me that the ultimate answer is: “Yahweh remembers.” We are grateful for this vivid illustration in our lives, grateful for you who have beseeched Yahweh along with us, and are already seeking to apply that which we have learned to every category of life as issues arise (such as our present housing need in which we are waiting to see how God will work).

And as you can imagine, we were especially grateful to have our whole family—all five of us—together at home last week to celebrate the wonder of an even more amazing birth, that of our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours

2009-12-24T04:06:00.000-08:00

Having a newborn in the home at Christmas time

has made the incarnation much more real and realistic to us.

We are so thankful that

Christ the Lord, Creator and Sustainer of the universe,

humbled Himself to become a man,

that we might have eternal life.

We would like to wish all our family and friends a very, merry Christmas.

May we all honor Christ in our celebrations.

Timothy, Ruth Renée, Micaiah (Michée), Miriam and Zacharie BIXBY

Christmas Sunday

2009-12-24T03:06:00.000-08:00

God blessed us with a good Christmas Sunday. I had most of the day off. Since Zacharie was only four days old, and I had spent the second part of the week running between school, home and hospital, one of the men in the church preached for me. I enjoyed listening to a well-prepared, well-delivered sermon on the wise men from Matthew 2.

Zacharie Christian had just returned from the hospital the day before. So a highlight for us was being able to show him off to all of our church family.

Following the service we enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner. After a salad entrée, we had pork roast with a peach and chestnut sauce.

We always enjoy eating together.

Following the meal, we had a Christmas sing and the children performed a couple of Christmas songs for us. We then had a farewell service and party for Fernando, a student who had been in the church for six years. He just received his Ph.D. last week and flew back to his home country of Panama a few days later. We will really miss him.

Birth Announcement

2009-12-19T07:20:00.001-08:00

Why did we name him "Zacharie Christian"?

Zacharie is the French form of the Prophet Zechariah and the priest Zacharias. Being the father of John the Baptist, he plays an important role in the nativity story which we celebrate at this time of year. More importantly, his name means “God remembers,” and Zacharias stands as a testimony (even through his imperfection) of God fulfilling His promises in response to His peoples’ prayers. There is a good sermon by Layton Talbert preached at Cleveland Park Bible Church (“Providence and Prayer”, available on sermonaudio.com) that made this meaningful to us.

Christian is a name we have like for quite some time. It is very French and also very, what can we say, Christian. The French name book says it once was a genuine statement of one’s faith. In the first century, believers in Antioch were dubbed "Christians" by unbelievers because of their constant verbal witness to Jesus Christ. The name also reminds us of the character in Pilgrim’s Progress, in whose steps we hope our son will follow along the same journey.

Zacharie Christian Bixby

2009-12-15T23:34:00.000-08:00

Zacharie Christian Bixby was born on December 16 at 1:09am. He arrived, by God’s grace, safely and in good health, less than 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. He was born in a regular hospital bed before they had time to wheel Ruth down to the birthing room, before the doctor arrived, and yes, before the midwife had time to put on her gloves.

Christian is a name we have like for quite some time. It is very French and also very, what can I say, Christian. The French name book says it once was a genuine statement of a family's faith faith. We want it to be such for ours. It also reminds us of the character in Pilgrim’s Progress, who we hope our son will follow in the same journey.

Zacharie is the French form of the Prophet Zechariah and the priest Zacharias. Being the father of John the Baptist, he plays an important role in the nativity story which we celebrate at this time of year. More importantly, his name means “God remembers,” and he stands as a testimony (even through his imperfection) of God fulfilling His promises in response to His peoples’ prayers. There is a good sermon by Layton Talbert that he preached at CPBC (“Providence and Prayer” available on sermonaudio.com) that made this meaningful to us.

Our Student Christmas Party

2009-12-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

We had a great time last night with our students and nine first-time visitors, plus several others who have come once or twice but not often. We were all pleasantly surprised by the turnout (41 in all), and grateful to the Lord for the evangelistic opportunity. We learned that for at least a couple of these visitors, it may have been their first-ever exposure to the Gospel. Several of the students of our church demonstrated their servants' hearts by the work they put into the meal and the other preparations. Please pray that God would allow the contacts we made last night to blossom into further Gospel opportunities.

Orchestra Practice

2009-12-09T07:14:00.001-08:00

For the last few weeks, Ruth has been leading a small orchestra in preparation for Christmas. We may not be the biggest or the best, but it has been a way to improve the talents God has blessed us with and use them for His glory.

Christmas Ladies' Meeting

2009-12-09T06:54:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday, the ladies enjoyed a special Christmas Bible study and fellowship. We thank God for the ladies here who have a genuine desire to grow in godliness.

Hospitality

2009-12-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

We've been enjoying living in my parents home that sits on the floor above the church auditorium. The excellent location and spacious accommodations make it ideal for hosting people in the home. Here are a few friends that we've been able to have in our home recently.

Thanksgiving
Since we had school as usual on Thanksgiving day, we invited some friends over on the day before for a Thanksgiving feast. Nine months of pregnancy and a morning full of classes did not prevent Ruth from spreading out a feast. Present were friends from France, Germany, Belgium and Canada. The girl on the chair had been hit the day before (while riding her bike). She was thrown onto the hood of the car and then onto the windshield which she broke. Though she had no broken bones, she had a lot of sore muscles. We all had a lot for which to give thanks.

The Christmas Season
Ruth and the children had another mom and her children from the church come over Wednesday afternoon to help them decorate the Christmas tree. I set it up for them, but then had to leave before the party got under way. The children had fun. However, the adults had to come back later and rearrange things a bit to fit their own sense of symmetry!

Puerto Rican Dinner
Tonight we had the mother of one of Micaiah's classmates over for supper. We pick up her son once a week from school and help him with his homework. She came to say thank you by fixing us a traditional meal from her homeland. Though I was somewhat skeptical beforehand, I can honestly say that this was the first time I've genuinely enjoyed eating plantains. Even our children were sold on them: "They taste like french fries!"

May God help us all to make our homes not only a place to turn inward as a shelter from the evil world, but a center from which to minister outward.

Weekend visit

2009-11-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend we enjoyed a visit with the Désilles family: Matthieu, Jeanine, their nearly 2-year-old son Jonathan and their 3-month-old daughter Esther. We remember the first time Matthieu came to this church. It was in December of 2000, less than a year after he was converted. Ruth and I were here in France at the time, and I was serving as replacement pastor for my father (much like we are now). Matthieu had heard about our church through a friend and came for the first time to a Friday night student meeting.

Soon Matthieu became a part of this church and then felt the call to pastor. He moved to Paris to train for the ministry. It was during a visit back to the Bordeaux region that he met Jeanine for the first time here at the church.

It was no coup de foudre (lit., lighting bolt; i.e., love at first sight). Jeanine wasn’t impressed and didn’t like his manners. But grace prevailed, as has been evidenced by the sweet family of four they have become today. They are presently seeking God’s desire for their future ministry as they consider two different churches that are in need of a pastor.

Matthieu and Jeanine are trophies of God’s grace and proof that God is at work in France. It is such an encouragement to see God raise up Frenchmen for the work of the ministry. Sadly, there are very few like them. Please pray for their tribe to increase.