Joel is Home!

Well, Joel's adventure is over!

After being 6 months in France, he is finally back home. He brought us lots of wonderful presents that his French family gave us.

We are so happy to have him home knowing that he had a marvelous time and made a life-long friendship with Titou, Corentin, Hector, Maman Dona and Riton...

Titou and Joel have sworn to be each other’s children's Godparent.

We know we will host Titou again and hopefully have the rest of the family stay with us on vacation in the near future. We were so blessed to have met Titou, whom everyone adored, and to have his family take care of Joel so well and love like one of their own.
Un grand merci a la famille Debains du plus profond de notre cœur!

Joel leaves Bordeaux...

What an amazing experience Joel, Titou and both their families have had. Truly this is just the beginning of their friendships. The Moens have a quote in their kitchen that says “friends are family you choose”, well this completely applies to the Debains family…. We are so blessed to have had Titou with us (everyone adores him! And he is gorgeous!) and we are so blessed to have had his family take such good care of our “little” guy! Merci beaucoup!

A la Creperie

There was a planned dinner at a creperie (typical restaurant of Brittany) that Joel missed because of his surgery. You can see here some of the family members of Henri and Dona that all gathered to have dinner. Bon Appetit!

At the hospital

After an amazing 6th months with Titou and his family, while on vacation in Brittany, Joel starting feeling some pain in his stomach.... (3rd time this past 12 months...).

He had an appendectomy on Sunday August 5th and after much worrying from both his French and American families, he left the hospital on Wednesday to drive back to Bordeaux to prepare his suitcase for his planned Friday back home trip.

Dona and her family took such good care of our little guy. We couldn't have done any better. The Debains is an amazing family. We worried a lot less than we would have knowing that Joel was in such good hands. Thank you so much Dona, Henri, Hector and Titou... Corentin was back in Bordeaux. As you notice...even Titou shared Joel's hospital bed....those two are definitely tied to the hip now!

Fort-la-Latte

Fort-la-Latte or Castle of La Latte is a castle located about 4 km southeast of Cap Fréhel and about 35 km west of Saint-Malo. It is a famous tourist attraction on the Cote d'Émeraude in the northeast of Brittany. This impressive castle was built on a small spit of land at the Baie de la Fresnaye in the 13th century. Various films have been shot at this site, including The Vikings (1958 by Richard Fleischer) with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis.
The castle has been classified as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1925.

At this site, there is a famous German blockhaus reclaimed by the Americain during WWII. Yeah for the USA!!!!

The famous Mont St Michel

Joel was lucky enough to go visit Le Mont St Michel. An amazing site when his Mom went also as a child. Joel is still fascinated by everything that has to do with sword and knife...

Mont Saint-Michel (English: Mount Saint Michael) is a rocky tidal island in Normandy, roughly one kilometre from the north coast of France at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches.

Mont Saint-Michel was previously connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which before modernization was covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. Thus, Mont Saint Michel gained a mystical quality, being an island half the time, and being attached to land the other: a tidal island.

Les vacances...La Bégassière

Joel and his family spent a few days in Bretagne on vacation. They stayed at a castle called "La Bégassière". Up to 25 members of Henri and Dona's family were together there at some point. WOW...what a place to stay at!