It has probably occurred to you that we struggle a bit in the area of communication. Keeping in touch with people is not really our forte. Just ask my (Jeremy’s) family. But we are not ok with this. Never mind that this blog was actually created months ago and we’re just now getting around to adding anything to it: this blog is for you. For anyone and everyone who cares to stay up on Martin-Weber news – yes, as long as we keep up our end of the deal and update it! It’s truly been a long, long, very long time for some of you since you’ve heard from us. So a little recap is probably in order:
We currently have 5 kids:
Ophélia, 12
Lavinia, 10
Helena, 8
Evangeline, 3
Cosette, 17 months
We are still called by God to serve in Paris, France.
We took a 3 week online course on fundraising around the turn of the calendar year and it was wonderfully encouraging and motivating. We have weekly check-ins with a marvelous coach and we’ve raised more since that class than in the 3 preceding years. We are now close to 60% of what we need to get us going!
In the meantime, Jeremy is still teaching private piano, guitar and French lessons. He also enjoys playing for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian church’s contemporary worship service, and plays piano for a nearby Ballet studio in exchange for ballet classes for Ophélia, Lavinia and Helena (Evangeline is going to try it out for a week this summer. So excited!).
Jeremy and Jessica are still relentlessly and somewhat reluctantly homeschooling and have been very grateful for the 2 homeschooling programs the big kids have been going to on Mondays and Wednesdays, which are now over. : ( and : )
We still live in Houston and have begun that 6 month or so stint where we have to force ourselves to go outside and try not to complain too much about the two-punch combination of heat and humidity.
While we are continuing on with our fundraising efforts, Jessica is also busy with an online community she started as a hobby last year in support of breastfeeding moms. Little did she know how needed an encouraging community would be for concerned mothers. Now a little over a year old, theleakyboob.com has outgrown its humble hobby state into a healthy and thriving support system that includes a website, blog, discussion forum and a hyper-active Facebook page with over 22,000 adherents. It has not been easy, but the ministry opportunities that have come out of it have made the effort worth it time and time again. We were recently asked if we would start something like it for France, because we’ve been told that young mothers tend to be very alone in France; they don’t have an adequate support system and breastfeeding is not widely encouraged. We’ll have to see! At this point we hope to turn it into something that will help support our family as well, at least until we can go on ministry support.
This summer we hope to wrap up the rest of our fundraising and move as soon as we can! We also hope to take a trip to Florida (where Jessica grew up), and another to Chicago (where Martin and Weber were forever joined) to reconnect with old friends and continue seeking out those people God will lead to become ministry partners with us. We have to work around a heavy ballet class load, but with God’s guidance, we trust that we will work it out.
As this blog is for you, feel free to comment below. Let us know your thoughts, your stories, and what you’d like to see posted here in the future. We’ll do our best to keep you on the up and up. The first step should be the hardest, right?
Thank you for your support, love and encouragement for our family and the ministries that God has called us to. May we all remain faithful to Him, sensitive to His leading, and keep praying for each other.
bohemiansforparis 