Still seeing my prayer answered...

When we made the decision to move to Austria in December of 2001, I began praying for a friend.  We made it to Austria July 27, 2004 with a 9 week old baby.  My memory is a little fuzzy, but I believe it was the end of September that we started attending a church in Graz while going to language school.  On our first Sunday we met Penny & Ian (from England, so as an English speaker I took to them!).  We really enjoy hanging out with their family.  Their boys are a bit older, but Peter & Simon have always been so good to entertain our boys.  Also, they are so sweet to pass down "boy" toys and Nathan thinks they're the coolest.  A couple of weeks after meeting we had lunch at their house and we've been friends ever since.  We laugh a lot when we're together.  They are dear to us.  Now, they read my blog--so PIPS, don't get to excited that you made it here!  haha.

Then I met Dora (from Hungary and married to Herbert from Austria) who had 2 older daughters, and a son just 2 months younger than Nate.  But we couldn't communicate.  Karen (also from England) walked in to the church and started chatting to Dora in German.  We exchanged 'hellos, where are you from, etc.'  then services began.  After services, while having coffee we started talking again.  After a few minutes Dora, Karen, and myself had made a plan of getting together during the week and Karen would come to also be the translator.  We've been having play dates and dinners together ever since. Dora and I have spent many hours learning languages. I can remember sitting on her couch both of us with dictionaries in hand looking up words for the simplest of conversations.  She now speaks great English and I'm jealous of how fast she picked it up.  She has tutored me in German and our boys are good friends.  Herbert & Dora have also become our Catan couple.  It's a German board game that we really like and thankfully they do too!  Here is Herbert & Dora's family.

Karen & I were able to grow as friends faster because we didn't have a language barrier.  She was wanting kids and just 3 weeks after we met she came up to me at church and shared the good news!  Emily was born 2 weeks before Nate celebrated his first birthday.  What friends they have been!  Nina was born 5 months after Micah.  They are funny together!  Now Karen is expecting #3 and it's another GIRL!  Before we lost our baby last December, our due dates were only 3 weeks apart.  Karen is one of my closest friends here.  She's a great friend and always so fun to hang out with for a girls night.  She also introduced me to Angela (that's another post) who has become a great friend as well. Here's Karen & hubby, Hannes.

Here are some pics I took a few days ago.  We hadn't seen them in a few weeks due to illness, Karen's family visited, and then she went to England.  Have I mentioned how much I like taking pictures?!?!  haha.  I'm quite impressed with these.

So these are just some of the people with which God answered my prayer.  I know for our family and friends in the States you've asked about our life here, so that's why I've posted pictures of places we go, things we see, and now people we know. These friends we have known the longest since moving to Austria.  I prayed for a good friend and now I've got so many that it's hard to keep up with each other sometimes.  Thank you, Lord.

-krista-