A story to share

Zac Smith. Grew up like I did... our families started churches in other countries. He passed away May 16, 2010. I have been very touched by his story. His parents work at our "missions" headquarters. What a testimony! Take 5 minutes out of your day to watch this.

Rainbow cupcakes

The parents of the birthday kid is supposed to bring a cake or cupcakes for the class... well, having been a Kindergarten teacher myself--cupcakes are the way to go. One piece per kid, no cutting required, no complaints "his piece is bigger than mine!" haha. But Nathan didn't want just any ol' cupcake. He wanted rainbow cupcakes! I had a long day and was putting them to bed, Danny was going to football practice, and Gracie had been very fussy all day. I was already going to have to make them from scratch because I didn't have a cake mix. So when he said, "I want rainbow cupcakes like the ones you made for Micah's birthday (except his was the whole cake and that was easier... these were 30 individual rainbow works of art-haha), they were yummy!" Well, as you can see, I'm a sucker for compliments....

Happy Birthday, Nate!

May 20th: Nathan celebrated his 6th birthday. He had been asking for a BIG party for months and wanted it at home so he could invite a few more friends (it's much cheaper than going to a play place that a lot of kids do for their bdays).

Well, first of all we had a great time, but I don't know what I was thinking ;) haha. There were 17 kids at our house! haha. Not all of them were Nate's age. The way their Kindergarten works is that the class is full of kids ages 3-6 yrs. So Micah & Nate share a lot of the same friends. This is Nate's last year in Kindergarten and so probably the last year that he & Micah will "share" friends for awhile. It turns out that this year many of Nathan's friends have siblings Micah's age and they all started this last fall. So we (and by 'we' means also Nathan) not only invited the kids that are Nathan's age, but also their sibling that would be Micah's age (he wanted those other kids too. I didn't talk him into it or even ask...he said they were his friends and Micah would enjoy having them here too. He is a kind-hearted boy.). Micah plays with both siblings as well and I figured that was probably true for the other kids. I know what it's like to have one kid be invited to a friends house and not the other. I also know it will happen many more times in life and we'll deal with that later, partly because the boys will be older and explaining it will be easier. But Micah is 3 yrs. old.... in his eyes "so-n-so" is also his friend and he is hurt/confused why he isn't invited over to that kids house when they play together at school just fine. So I didn't want to put another parent in that situation.

The 'before being a mommy' part of me would have just thought, "the kid will get over it..... I am not babysitting a bunch of kids just so someone doesn't cry." But it's more than that... it's putting myself aside and showing my kids I think they are important.

The party theme was requested: Soccer (or Football or Fußball, depending on your country). I get nervous the older the boys get because their creative minds are superior to my simple brain. Thankfully, I found a soccer ball pan at the last minute--of all places--Toys r' Us!

Here are the pics of the day:

Nathan, Daddy & I love you. We are so proud of the young man God is developing you into.

Just like I tell you every night...

"you're my favorite Nathan in the whole world!"

3 months already?!?

Grace is 3 months old! What a wonderful blessing she has been to our family. I know I say it a lot, but the boys adore her. It thrills my heart to see my kids love on each other. The boys frequently say that they are best friends. They make up scenarios where they have to fight 'bad guys' and protect Gracie. It's too funny! I know the time is flying by so I'm enjoying this as long as I can, but I also look forward to when she can get up and run after them. She tries to follow them with her eyes when they come into a room and at 6 & 3 1/2 yrs. old they enter a room with quite the BOOM! I am so undeserving of God's gifts, but Danny & I try are best and just ask God for the wisdom it takes--daily, to raise these gifts.

I got an idea from a friend a long time ago to take a monthly picture of my babies their first year of life. She used a pillow/section of her couch. But we were going to be moving around a lot and didn't know about what kind of furniture we'd have. So we use a stuffed animal that Danny or I personally pick out for them. I love watching them grow and it helped our family see the growth next to something that didn't change.

Nathan has "Charlie" @ 1 month:

Nathan & "Charlie" @ 12 months:

Micah & "Roger" @ 1 month:

Micah & "Roger" @ 12 months:

So here is Gracie's first 3 months with "Molly":

Fun isn't it?!? You know they grow... but when you're with them day in and day out, you don't see it happening till you look at a photo and think, "wow! she's really growing fast."

-krista-

Hipstamatic

I love the way these pics turned out!

Parks

We like going to parks. We sometimes ride our bikes there (but this year will have to be by car or walking since Gracie isn't ready to ride in our bike seats behind me or Danny. The boys have so much fun running all over the place and climbing on everything! We have a little plastic slide that the boys have pretty much outgrown at our house and we'd love to build them a "big kid" swingset/fort type of playground. But till we can do that we make use of the parks around our area.

The boys have become accustomed to me following them around with a camera and saying, "wait just a sec... look at mommy before you slide down." or "stand by your brother... you guys look so cute!" For the most part they comply ;) haha. One day they will be very appreciative of all the pics and memories of their childhood. I know I go thru boxes of photos at my parents and grandparents house just about every time we go back to the States.

-krista-

Families with boys...

We have been blessed with some great friends here in Austria. This particular family has 2 boys the same age as Nathan & Micah. They are also expecting a 3rd baby in a few weeks! They wanted to wait till he/she is born to find out the gender of the baby. Our 2 oldest sons think it will be a girl because they say Gracie will need a friend :)

When we get together our boys play so well with each other. There is rarely any time that we have to settle any fights or remind them to share. It helps that both of our families have the same mindset when it comes to raising boys and how they get energy out :)

Nathan prays that they will come to church. He wants his friend to learn about God with him.

Playtime

A couple of weeks ago we had a day of 80 degree weather and the boys begged me to get out the little kiddie pool. Well, we have well water and it's freeeeezing cold even in the middle of summer, so with spring barely here it was chilly! It's wonderful for drinking, but really hard to want to jump in and get wet. So they jumped in and out and let their legs get wet. Then they changed their minds and wanted the sprinkler out so they wouldn't be as cold. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Gracie opted for some time in her swing. She loves that swing! The boys were never crazy about it and so I'm glad to be getting good use out of it with her :)

Gracie

Seriously.... she melts your heart.

Just for fun...

If you haven't learned by now.... I enjoy photography. In our home there are so many picture frames filled with the faces of people we love and miss. These are supposed to be "off color" and a bit rough around the edges. Very cool in my eyes.

above pic: Danny #73

above: my beautiful daughter

above: Micah in Vienna having ice cream

above: Nathan in Vienna

above: just me in the car

Zach's family

My brother, Zach & his wife, Jill have a new daughter! Erynn Linsey was born April 27th. She is beautiful just like her Momma! Anna is so beautiful and will be turning 2 this summer and a great big sister. She could not look more like Zach! We are looking forward to being able to meet both of these nieces this summer!

Easter 2010

Easter Sunday:

We had one young family visit for the first time.

Andreas & I led the music.

The kids enjoyed the annual egg hunt.

Christ was taught & worshipped.

Family Photos

Here are a few of just us on Easter Sunday.

How many tries...

...does it take to get a good photo? haha. Easter Sunday I realized I didn't have any pictures of just me & my 3 kiddos. I want to make a "flip book" so I can watch Nathan & Micah. These pictures make me laugh!

Catching up...

Only 2 posts in April and then it's been a month since I wrote at all! Having 3 kids is taking me for a ride. haha. If it's taken me this long to write then I doubt I want to drag the "catching up" posts to take a long time so I'm going to try and make this quick, but fun :)

• Nathan is now 6 yrs. old!!!! I'll post pictures soon. He is waiting on his 2nd tooth to fall out. It's hanging by a thread... not kidding. He is really absorbing spiritual things too. The thought process he goes thru during devotions is amazing to us. Also, Nathan is finishing up Kindergarten and will begin the 1st grade this fall. Oh dear. Where has my baby gone?!? He is an excellent big brother! He is so loving to Gracie. He helps entertain her by singing and she will stop crying to focus on him. Nate & Micah are the best of buddies.... yes, they still have those less than desirable "moments", but all in all they do everything together ;)

• Micah is 3 1/2 and just hilarious! His German is coming along so fast! He comes home from Kindergarten just gabbing away in German and then he'll stop mid-sentence sometimes and I think it dawns on him that he can speak English because he's home. Micah gets some of his verb placement confused in English and it's cute. His mind is still trying to straighten out German/English. We're so proud of him and Nate! Micah is very proud and protective of Gracie. When I take her to pick up the boys from school she draws quite a crowd of kids, parents and teachers. Micah wants to show her off, but don't get to close to her or he'll be in your lap too or close enough to keep an eye on you.

• Gracie is completely better since coming home from the hospital. She is 3 months now! Smiling, cooing more, and tries her hardest to pull forward in a sitting position when you hold her. She sleeps about 8 hrs. at night after her last feeding. Rested parents make the whole world look better :)

• A week after Gracie came home from the hospital we had to make a day trip to Vienna to get her passport and other American documents. We had a good trip and it went very smooth. The disappointment of the day was that T.G.I.F was closed---AGAIN! The last time we were there for a passport renewal it was closed for the day too. It's not the best restaurant by any means, but when you don't have a lot of choices for American restaurants it's a nice alternative. But Danny did make a stop at Starbucks for me! Ohhh yeah!

• In APRIL we welcomed a new niece! Erynn Linsey Wiese was born on April 27th! She was born the day before my dad and brother, Zach's birthday (almost had 3 generations sharing a birthday). Zach & Jill are the proud parents and Anna is the proud sister! I can NOT wait to meet my nieces!

• Danny's football schedule is in full swing. They have practice a couple of night's a week and games on Saturdays (well, only have 5-6 games I believe). He's enjoying it and the opportunities for ministry are awesome. Nate & Micah LOVE watching their Daddy play. They yell and scream his name or his number (#73) from the stands. There are a couple of other guys on the team that are given the honor of being cheered for by name/number. What can I say? Our boys love football.

• Our church plant is going well. We have a young couple that is interested and we look forward to seeing them get more involved. We have done "live" music a few times. One family is very musically talented and it's so much fun singing with them. I have started guitar lessons and can't wait to see how that goes. I bought a guitar last summer, but being pregnant with Gracie and just this and that took over. I also was nervous about starting something new and just didn't have the "go get it" attitude. Now I'm determined, thanks to a friend who is the same age and a mom that is also taking some lessons.

• The month of May is full of holidays for Austria. So there are a lot of long weekends. It's also a birthday month for us. Our family just has one (Nate's), but we have some very good family friends here and that brings more birthday parties and cook outs :)

• The weather has been much cooler than usual for May. Spring is here, but it didn't completely kick the coolness in the air out the door. I don't mind it really... I've never been a fan of sweating and just heat. But it does pose a challenge in getting the kids dressed for school in the morning that won't suffocate them by mid day.

Ok, so I believe those are the highlights. I'm sure your life is now complete ;) There were the Dr. visits and the kids getting shots, but they didn't enjoy those so I'm sure you are ok without the obvious details of who cried tears and said, "I don't want one!!!"

So now I'll work on pictures to put on here. Have a wonderful week!