Senior Portrait – Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
Graduation Gift
For those wanting to give a graduation gift before June 25, 2026 (Induction Day at USNA), please use the links below or leave a comment/send us an email & we will send you a US address for gifts.
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New Blog Post: US Naval Academy
– John Hugh
Our first son is set to graduate high school here in France. Graduation is usually early July in France, so we are a few months behind the US high school celebrations.
It’s been five years of his education and formation at a French high school. He’s become a young man. Now he has accepted an appointment at the United States Naval Academy. We are extremely proud. More so, I’m excited for him: the opportunities he will have and the training he will receive. It’s been a process, both in terms of his decision to apply to military academies and his overall development. He made the effort to apply to the US Naval Academy, US Military Academy (West Point) along with ROTC and NROTC scholarships in regular US universities. We were even more proud he received these scholarships and appointments, yet ultimately, he chose the US Naval Academy.
Why Navy for him? In brief, he’s always loved the water, competing both in the USA and French swimming; he made a national swim championship his first year n France. Although his interests drifted from baseball, American football, and swim to rugby and water polo in France, he still loves the multi-tiered opportunities for sea, land, and air that the US Navy presents.
A key moment was attending the USNA’s Summer Seminar for rising seniors and returning back to France saying he had found “his people. He visited both Annapolis and West Point in October 2025 as a prospective candidate. While he loved and was interested in both, he felt Navy was a better fit.
To arrive at the point of wanting to apply was its own journey: the weighty decision of serving your country and the grueling regime ahead of him in a service academy. We believe our time in France made our oldest more open and apt to give it a shot. We often think now, if we had stayed in the USA five years ago, would he have even applied? While we will never know, we definitely think being here has led him more deeply to consider how can he serve others.
Even though he’s always enjoyed teams, competition, and challenging himself, living in France has produced for Jack, and all of us, a more national, patriotic spirit in being Americans here. I have written about, thought about, and read much more of the historic Franco-American ties and alliance.
France was America’s first ally, and the bond was forged in both the Great War and World War II. Jack had three great, great, great uncles who fought in the fields of France in World War 1. All returned back to Mississippi deeply scarred. Two of them never recovered from those scars. The third lived into his 90’s, yet some of his final words were, “charge, charge!” Then Jack’s great, great uncle arrived in Normandy on June 7th, following Patton across Europe, liberating the first concentration camp, and celebrating with Allied forces on May 8th, still a national holiday in France as Liberation Day.
Throughout Jack’s own life, we have tried to always provide a sense of this shared sacrifice. Around Jackson, Mississippi, we would always attend Memorial Day ceremonies. He grew up going to them and taking a moment away from tubing or barbecues to remember the sacrifices of those who fought for our freedoms. In France, we’ve attended the Armistice Day ceremonies (Veterans Day in USA). He’s had an opportunity to go to a school founded by then General Dwight Eisenhower after World War II. This school was started initially for NATO families and to grow the shared post-war trans-Atlantic values. He’s been able to represent the school at Memorial Day activities here.
In essence, he’s had the opportunity to think more deeply about who he is, where he’s from. This contrast of his experience of living in the US and being an American in France, we believe, has served him well. He could’ve gone in many different directions: moving here at 14, not knowing French, being thrown into a very competitive French high school, finding new friends, new sports, new rhythms. He’s been challenged more than he likely envisioned. Our kids didn’t ask for this move nor did they debate it. We came as a family, knowing it would alter the course of our lives and our trajectory as a family.
So while we have grieved the things we missed out on for them in the USA – particularly the Friday Night Lights, Ole Miss football games, baseball, playing catch in our backyard, those North Jackson fields, and all the camaraderie and friendships and team building these things bring – we have tried to embrace all being here offered as well. New experiences, new sports, different perspectives, and being surrounded by the history and global culture at his school.
America will always be our home – even more now as we have son who will serve his country in a unique way. Yet we have made a home in France too, planning to stay and contribute where we can at least until our youngest graduates high school. Hopefully we can also emulate the shared alliance and help others to see the good that comes through national service.
In our family, Jack’s two younger brothers look up to him immensely. One with special needs has changed Jack tremendously. The other is already challenging him as a sharp strategist and debater. Will our youngest eventually serve as his oldest brother is? We don’t know yet. We do know he’ll be present a lot at US Naval Academy events, and he will admire all his older brother is doing from afar.
We offer gratitude for all those who made good deposits in Jack’s life – the teachers, coaches, pastors, friends, and family. No one man or woman is an island and there are many who speak into and shape an individual’s life. If you are reading this and are one of them, you know who you are. Thank you. We will convey our appreciation in person.
For Jack, this season is coming to a close. And like all parents of graduates this time of year, emotions are high in a positive way and memories are flooding. It’s also coincides with our 5 year mark in France, so we will be posting many memories and highlights in this rollercoaster ride as missionaries. We haven’t always had time to post, but we hope to share snippets from the last 5 years that show you what God is up to in our lives, the lives around us, and in France.
A new season beckons for our oldest- one that will test him and us in new and unexpected ways. We are confident in the new friends, mentors, and leaders who will forge and shape Jack at the US Naval Academy and afterwards in the US Navy for his 5 years of active duty. God has both made a way and grown our oldest in his time here. We believe He will further equip him to be a man that understands, collaborates, and makes his own personal mark to both our nation and the world. We will always be here for him wherever the winds and high seas take him. Go Navy!
Paris Partner Goal
We have intentions to stay in France for another 5 years. God has been gracious to open so many doors.
Please consider becoming a Paris Partner for $25/month, $50/month, or a 1 time donation of $1000 or more. We have more ideas and dreams for Paris. Join us in the adventure by donating here!
Follow our church plant @eicrivegauche on Instagram or Facebook or visit www.eicparis.com.
