Busy day...

Yesterday was busy! I had class as usual, but afterwards we went to a wedding of a friend of mine from Deutsch kurs. It was a nice, small ceremony. She, I-Chun is from Taiwan and married her long time boyfriend, Jahn from Germany. So the ceremony was somewhat Austrian in theme, but then the best part was the reception at a Chinese restaurant! I love Chinese food. We had a good time and Nathan had fun too, although he was quite grumpy during the meal because he didn't get his nap in yesterday. We got home around 9pm and put Nathan to bed and soon after ourselves. Long day, but a good day. Now I'm off to school again!

Krista

Hair cut

I took Nathan to get his hair cut today. He needed a trim, but I didn't realize how much hair he really had till the lady cut it! I told her to go pretty short, it looks good. It took Danny a little bit to get used to it... I think because suddenly Nathan looked like a toddler, not a baby... our big 2 year old!

We thought we had been fighting off alergies, but I'm thinking we're all fighting off a cold now that we're going on the 3rd day and it's just not letting up. It's been okay though because I've had the last 2 days off from school for an Austrian holiday. I've tried to get some much needed house work done and rest too. Monday I have a big test and I'm thinking it will affect my grade more than any of the other test I've taken thus far. I just get so nervous when I hear "test"... I can't stand it!

Danny & I are enjoying a movie night tonight. Nathan didn't get a nap today, just would't fall asleep. So he is in bed about an hour earlier than usual... a nice chance to just chill out for us! Have a great weekend!

Krista

Influencing People

As a minister, it is always my goal to have an impact on people's lives. Last week I had such an opportunity to influence my next door neighbor. As I was walking down the street to the bus stop I saw him working in his yard. I was not in a big hurry so I stopped to talk with him for a moment. He had just finished mowing his lawn and was now trimming the tall grass along his fence . . . with scissors. I jokingly told him that doing it that way was too hard and that he needed a trimmer (or weed eater for the Texans) like mine. A few days ago I saw that he was mowing his yard again. After he finished I heard a sound that I was not used to hearing. I looked out the kitchen window and noticed that he was trimming his yard with his brand new trimmer. I just laughed and then went to tell Krista what had happened. She found it funny as well. Though that is not necessarily the type of impact that I generally anticipate having on people, it is good to know that I'm making a difference. Lord willing, in the future I will have an opportunity to have an impact on him for Christ. Have a great one!

Danny

Birthday Pictures

Nathan got a slide and swing for his birthday and loves them! Anything that adds to the fun of being outside is worth it.

Krista

Happy 2nd Birthday Nate

Today Nate turned two years old. Being his special day, we fixed him one of his favorite breakfasts: French Toast. After that we went outside to assemble his birthday gifts. He got a new swing and a slide. After getting them put together he had to, of course, give them a try. He had a ball playing on both. (We will post pictures later). We were invited over to our friend's, the Collins-Hunts, home in the afternoon where we celebrated his B-day along with Luke Lantrip's (whose 13th B-day was also today) and Simon Collins-Hunt's (whose 7th B-day will we on May 28th). Nathan had a great time as did everyone else. We had a ping pong tournament in which I finished first in my group after beating out 3 people under the age of 10 and losing only one match (to an adult) by only 3 points. In the semi-finals I was unfortunately beat out by my wife though who went on to lose in the final match. So basically I lost to everyone I played over the age of ten including to a lady. Man that is humbling. Well it's late here. Have a great weekend!

Danny

FRIDAY!

Well, this week has been busy and full of activity. I had school, Danny worked on the yard, we both studied, and Nathan had some playing he had to get in before the rain today. His chicken pox is healing and fading... gone for the most part. He loves being outside and the look on his face in these pictures tell it all. Then there's the bedtime hairdo ;)

Good Night,
Krista

Being Neighborly

I had the opportunity to speak with some of my neighbors today that I have never spoken to before. I always wave when see them and they always wave back, but we have never been able to speak face to face until today. The man is actually a relative of my neighbor, who is an elderly woman. Most of the time she stays either inside her house (especially when it is cold) or in her yard which is surrounded by nine foot high hedges so there is rarely an opportunity to speak with her. The man visits her often, to check on her, I assume. It just so happened that today we where both working out in the yard at the same time and they were both outside the yard cutting the grass between the fence and the street. Though we did not have an in depth conversation and we did not speak about anything remotely religious, I was able to make contact. I have now had a conversation with each family on my street except one. They, too, are a bit reclusive. I have shared with most that I have talked to what we are doing in Austria and they have all been rather accepting of us. I hope to be able to continue to build on these relationships in the future and in time be able to share Christ with them. I am thankful for each opportunity that God gives me to speak with people no matter how deep or shallow the conversation is because I know that each new time I speak with a person the conversation has the ability to go deeper. It all begins with being neighborly though. Have a great day and make a new friend!

Danny

News...

Well, the good news is Baby is healthy and so am I. The not so good news is the Baby wouldn't co-operate and so we were not able to see if the Baby was a she or a he :( I go back in 2 weeks for another sonogram to check out all the organs,etc. They don't do it like the State-side doctors... I have to go to another clinic for this particular sonogram and then I have to go to our Family Practioner for a normal physical check-up and then back to my Ob/Gyn for pregnancy related visits! How many doctors does it take...? I know there has to be some sort of joke out there for that! It's very late and I just finished my German course homework and I'm exhausted from the day.

Good night!

Krista

The Last Sin Eater

I just finished a great book by Francine Rivers called "The Last Sin Eater." It is one of Krista's books and a little out of character for me to read because Krista and I have very different taste when it comes to books. Most of the books on my shelves are authored by people like Charles Ryrie, John Piper, and John Maxwell whereas Krista is more likely to read a book by James Dobson, Beth Moore or Liz Curtis Higgs. I don't know what made me put down the copy of "Robert's Rules of Order" that I was trying to read and go get "The Last Sin Eater" off Krista's book shelf but I'm glad I did.

The book is a historical fiction set in the 1850s in the Appalachians. It deals with the old burial tradition of sin eating which was brought over by immigrants from England, Scotland and Wales. They believed that the Sin Eater could absolve a person's sins at the time of death allowing the deceased to be able to stand sinless before God. The tradition is is similiar to the scape goat found in Leviticus 16:20-22. Now that Christ has come there is no longer need of a scape goat. The book is centered around the life of a ten year old girl and her quest to have the guilt of her sins taken away. Her search takes her through many adventures where she learns the history of her people and eventually finds what she is looking for. Though it is a fictional story, it presents very clear truths from God's Word. I won't share anymore than that in case you want to read it for yourself. You can find it online if you are interested. Have a great day!

Danny

Got it back!

We got our car back today!!! Yeah! It took one week exactly and it looks good. They also got all the glass out of the car, thankfully. There was no problem either with the insurance paper work... that we know of ;) ha! Thank you to those who wrote saying you were praying and to those of you who read our blog and keep us in your prayers too.

Nathan is still sick... in fact, he gets more and more spots everyday. It has to get worst before it can get better. He is really doing well, just a little irritable at times, but I think we all have been since none of us are getting a good, full night's sleep.

I'm feeling the baby move a little now and then and it seems like just yesterday I was feeling Nathan move around, but also feels like a lifetime ago too. 'They grow up so fast' is a phrase we heard a lot and didn't deny it, but now being on the parenting side... oh how true that is!!!

Krista

Polka Dots are In

At least in our house they are. At the moment, Nathan is getting to experience something that so many of us experienced when we were children: Chicken Pox! As you can see from the photo below, he is completely covered with little red dots. He is handling it like a trooper, though. He has not really scratched, though he does rub his head and belly with the palm of his hand from time to time. His main problem with the whole ordeal, is that he is having trouble falling asleep at night and that is getting him into trouble.

Last night for example, I came into his room to find him going through a box of things that we keep (or used to keep) in his top dresser drawer. I thought I had taken everything away from him and put it away, but I later found out that I missed something. About thirty minutes after I left his room he came walking into the living room. My back was towards him, but I heard Krista ask, "What are you eating?" It turned out to be the keepsake bubble gum cigar that we gave out when he was born. He had it everywhere in his bed and on his clothes and also a big clump was stuck to his neck. He and his mom had fun trying to get that off while I cleaned up his room. I told Krista that I was glad that it wasn't a real cigar, though it would have definitely been easier to clean up!

I will be glad when he gets over this so he can start getting better rest, because that will also allow Krista and me to sleep better. It is hard to sleep when you worry about you two-year old roaming the house in the middle of the night, especially when you spook easily like I do. I'm sure Nathan is more concerned with getting rid of the itching rather than not scaring his dad, though. I guess we can all take comfort in knowing that this too shall pass. Have a great day!

Danny

Interesting Week

Well we have had a very interesting week. As you know (if you read our previous post) we were involved in a small fender bender on Monday. Besides being an inconvenience it really wasn't a big deal. The other driver's insurance is paying for the repairs to our car since he was at fault. We were not too worried about not having our car, because Curt and Melinda Brown are on furlough and we have access to their vehicle, at least I thought we did. When I went to borrow it, smoke came pouring out from under the hood as we tried to crank it. I have been starting it up and letting it run at least once a week since the Browns have been gone and have never had a problem with it until then. Needless to say I had to call the auto club and have their van towed in to the repair shop. So since Tuesday we have been without a car with two in the shop. I'm just thankful that the public transportation system here in Austria is as good as it as. Without it we would have been practically stranded. Thankfully I was able to pick up the Browns' car a little earlier today so we will have a car over the weekend. We should have our car back next Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully your week has gone a little smoother than ours. Have a great weekend!

Danny

Our May 1st

May 1st: We were behind 2 cars, stopped, waiting for the first one to make their left turn... but was waiting for oncoming traffic. We all had to stop rather abrubtly, but still had time and didn't even come close to hitting the car in front of us. So out of habit we looked to see who was behind us and it was a motorcycle and I remember looking at him long enough thinking he should slow down, but it's a bike and he could whip around us on the shoulder... but nope. He ran right into the back of us and he landed on my side of the car (passenger/front) so he was airborne. His bike ran up into our back window and shattered it and sent glass flying in. I looked at him to make sure he was ok before I jumped out and he was up and walking, then he realized there was a kid in the car and ran right behind me to the other side to check on Nathan. Nathan was shaken up and had glass in his car seat, but was fine. He sits behind Danny so his car seat (GOD) protected them from having glass fly at their heads. I got most of it flown at me. My hair had glass in it and I had a few cuts on my hand. Danny & I were really sore, but we're feeling good today. The guy immediately said it was his fault and his insurance would take care of it. So we took the car in today and we'll see. We're ok, just sore and a little shaky, the baby is fine, Nathan is fine and Danny is fine. Thankful that the guy is ok too and thankful that it was a motorcycle than a car... I may not be sitting here telling you about this for a few weeks if a car hit us!

Have a Safe day!

Krista

May Day

It is 'Staatsfeiertag' (Labor Day) in Austria and so that means no school for me. I've used the morning to do housework. I've made lunch (Pancit a Filipino dish) and now Nathan is going down for a nap. We are getting together this afternoon with the Lantrips and a missionary family from Slovakia and a visiting pastor from the States. Should be a good time.

Sorry we've not updated on Melinda. She is out of the hospital (I think she only stayed the one night) and all the test came back normal. So they are not really sure what caused her to have stroke-like symptoms. Our friend back home, Penny came thru her heart surgery very well. Thanks for praying for both of these requests!

I took Nathan to the Dr. on Thursday and she said he had a little viral infection. The next morning he broke out in a rash and got me a little worried. He's rarely sickly. A runny nose every now and then but hardly ever do I take him the Dr. But he seems to be doing great now, whatever he had seems to have left and he's back to his normal energetic, all-boy self! He was a bottomless pit at lunch today. He ate 2 helpings of a Potato and Meat dish Danny made for lunch yesterday, then he had 4 helpings of Applesauce, and then some of the Pancit I made for lunch today! I'm quite sure he's feeling better! Ha-ha!

I'm adding a picture of Nathan dancing to one of his favorite songs. Have a wonderful day!

Krista