Spring Newsletter

Vaux-sur-Seine, June 2024, Newsletter no. 6

Dear family and friends,

If you are receiving this sixth Newsletter, it is because you are either part of our family, or one of our friends and acquaintances. This Newsletter has a complementary objective to our website, to which we will return later, to allow you to follow us better in our spiritual, professional and family journey. On the menu of this sixth edition: a look back at the past year to begin with, then a review of the activities and challenges for the coming year, and to finish, a more detailed presentation of our website, preceded by a list of prayer topics.

Almost four years! Yes, it has been almost four years since we moved to the Yvelines and Marc started his theology studies. Four years full of joys, with our three children, Marc's degree and Maggie starting her psychology studies! But also four years full of challenges, times of sadness, difficulties, prayers, chronic fatigue and repeated illnesses. In short, four very busy years of life. In concrete terms, 2023-2024 is our last year at Vaux-sur-Seine, since this summer we will be moving to a new location for Marc's church internship. For Marc, then, there is still one year of studies left (Research Master to be finished), during which he will have to combine his research time with a pastoral internship next year, after which he will take up a pastoral post. All in all, another year of social and financial instability, since Maggie, who is in the process of completing her second year of her Bachelor's degree, still has to go on to do her Master's II before she can practise as a psychologist.

Our three children are growing very well. Talitha is in the Grande-Section (last preschool year). She's very happy, but also very concentrated and loves discovering everything she doesn't know yet. She's very attentive to her little sister and brother. She has achieved the best mark possible for her second-year piano exam, and successfully obtained her 2 yellow stripes belt during her second year of judo. Health-wise, she's doing well, except that at school she wears noise-reducing earplugs from time to time, and we're working with her on emotional management, in conjunction with specialists. Noëlie is in Petite Section  (first preschool year), but in a double level in Moyenne Section (with 4 other PS). After a year of introductory music classes, this year she has been introduced to the piano. As far as her health is concerned, she had to go through a huge crisis in November. It's only now that we're starting to see some clear progress, but if we can't say more than that, we can say that it's been a long few months that have also meant adjusting our plans and our schedules to be especially close to her. Another challenge with Noëlie is her small size. Once again, a number of specialists are following her, and we hope to find out more soon! As for Nolan, he's beginning to realise that all kinds of adventures are possible! He still goes to his nanny three days a week, but otherwise he's growing very well, and is a really cute baby who's not at all fussy. In short, there are challenges and joys, but in any case, we're making the most of our three little ones!

This year was marked by a number of events. Firstly, as part of his studies, Marc took part in 6 seminars this year. In practical terms, a seminar is the equivalent of 24 hours of lectures and presentations in one subject. Depending on the course and the subject chosen for the dissertation, there may be more or less work. In short, he had 'only' 6x3 days of classes during the year. A much more flexible weekly timetable, but no less busy! As for Maggie, she still has to hand in an assignment and complete a module every 10 weeks or so. The children's timetable has kept pace with the school holidays.

'And given that this is your last year at Vaux-sur-Seine, what are you doing afterwards and where are you going?' That's probably the question many of you are asking, even if many of you already know, since we were able to make it official in January. The first thing to clarify is that the only thing that will change in our activities will be the fact that Marc will also be on pastoral training for 1 year (in 2024/2025). He will only have 4 seminars next year and will still be working hard to finish his dissertation before entering full pastoral ministry the following year (in 2025/2026). Maggie and the children's activities will remain the same. What about the location? It was a three-way discussion between the Ministries Commission of our Church Union (UEEL), the local church that would host us (especially the Council and the pastor), and the trainee, Marc in this case! All this to say that we're moving to Cannes in July (19-20). Marc will be doing his internship with the Eglise Libre there, and we'll be able to move into the presbytery above the Temple, just 200 metres from the beach! Marc will be doing his internship with pastor Eric van der Does. We were able to go there in January for a weekend, where we had the opportunity to see a bit of the town, get to know some people from the church and for Marc to preach there for the first time. We also got to see our future home (around 100m2 with 4 bedrooms and a terrace, which was really good for us, because 56m2 with five people is really small, and we feel very tight. We'll be especially happy to have a room of our own again!

This brings us to the financial side of things. Because it is thanks to you, our donors, that we are able to survive on a day-to-day basis and enable Marc to study. We would like to say a special thank you to our donors. They are, or have been, 19 regular and monthly donors, not forgetting the 12 occasional donors. Until August 2022, we received unemployment benefit, which still represented 60% of our monthly budget. From August 2022, therefore, we started a new funding cycle. The UEEL support covers around 15% of our budget and is therefore insufficient to make up for the loss of unemployment benefit. Fortunately, the RSA made up a good part of the unemployment benefit for the year 2022/2023. But it stopped at the end of last summer. I might as well tell you that it's been a difficult year, and we have had to dip into our savings to cope with the day-to-day running of 3 children. Fortunately, we have been able to finish the year in good spirits thanks to 3 substantial sources of funding, including one from our Church Union. But all that to say that, to date, we are around 400€ short of our budget for next year (from August 2024 to August 2025). With this in mind, we are looking for more sponsors who would be willing to support us during the next year beginning in August, if possible. We've already set aside our last four years so that Marc can train for the pastoral ministry, and now he only has one more year of full-time work left. A huge thank you to you! Because it's you who are enabling Marc to devote 150% of his time and energy to his training.

In short, here are some prayer topics, in no particular order:

• The financial support for the next year. Our target for August 2024 are approximately an additional 400€ per month.

• Marc's academic year in theology is shaping up to be another busy one, with 4 seminars (and assignments for each of them) plus, of course, his research work for his dissertation (more on this soon in Théo Hebdo).

• The second academic year in psychology continues for Maggie! An exciting challenge, but one that also demands a lot of time and organisation.

• For the children: may their year here at Vaux come to a happy ending and may they too enjoy the move (especially in relation to their friends!!).

• For the move! There's a lot to plan and organise, a lot of logistics and preparations! We also need your support. We have set up an online fund to help us cover the cost of the move, if you'd like. We've already received €600, but we're still a long way from the estimated €2,500!
  

We have some wonderful news to share with you at this point: The box of screws that we have been missing and looking for ever since we moved to Vaux four years ago has turned up again! The site manager, who had to do some work in the attic above our flat, found it behind a wall. Thank you so much for your prayers! This is a small miracle for us. :)

Many people already regularly visit our website to follow our adventures, but there are also many who from time to time 'discover' what we've been up to when they could have been reading about it! So don't hesitate! On the home page, you'll find the latest blog posts. Then on the menu, at the top, you'll first see a presentation of our little family, followed by a page on our project and how to support us; then comes the blog, followed by Documents where you'll find Marc's theological works, and finally, a contact page. A new page will then be added containing links to interesting sites. The mobile version of our site will also be improved. On the "Our project / Support us" page, you'll find all the information you need about this ministry project for the Church, as well as graphs showing whether our monthly (or rather annual) needs are being met or not. You'll also find all our bank details (RIB and Paypal) as well as a form you can fill in if you want to support us regularly.

Thank you for your careful reading. But above all, thank you for your support, be it spiritual, material or financial; it is so precious to know that we are carried in this way!

"Grace and peace be yours in abundance." (The Bible, 1 Peter 1.2)