Here's to the weekend...

May yours be filled with joy, laughter and kisses from those you love! :)

Hotel Bristol

For Memoo's last night in Vienna, we wanted to do something special...so we took her for dessert at the Hotel Bristol.

For months now, we have been reading The Star of Kazan.
The main character in the book goes to eat at the Bristol, so the kids thought it would be fun if we take Memoo there and go check it out! The experience did not disappoint. :)
Here is an Imperial Torte...
This is Abby's hot chocolate...
And here is a piece of Apfel Strudel...
All smiles, with full bellies!

Thoughtful...

Last night my mom and I finally had some time alone after the kiddos had gone to bed.  She presented me with a gift that friends and family had made for me for my birthday...

a Brighton charm bracelet.  Each charm with a particular meaning, sent along with notes reminding me of sweet memories.  How thoughtful.  Really.  I am blessed.  Thank you.

Hair dresser...

Memoo took a break from defrosting my freezers...and went to spend some time with Luke at Made By You. While they were creating works of art, Abby and Levi decided they would get creative too, playing hair dresser!
Here is Levi laughing hysterically at his sister's creation
He is pondering this particular "look"
all smiles and giggles
Then they decided to work their "magic" on Milka...
See the fear in her eyes...
End result...not too shabby!

MeMoo made it!

Let the fun begin...

Can I just tell you...

I
AM
OVER
WINTER...and all of it's clothes

Shrimp Scampi and Sugar Cookies...

Nothing says lovin like a little Shrimp Scampi right? Brad and I celebrated last night with a candlelight dinner, and Abby as our waitress. The boys couldn't be bothered with the "romantic theme" and ate their dinner in the living room, while Abby graciously waited on us and continued to serve us an endless supply of french bread slathered with butter and marmelade.

For dessert, we enjoyed several of these little guys... (thanks for the tip Laura)

If the scampi and the cookies don't interest you, then you can always check out these and if you are still feeling a little crafty, go here!


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Perfect Timing...

If you have never taken the time to smell a Hyacinth...you should.
Luke and Brad picked these out in January and planted them as bulbs, not knowing exactly when they would bloom.
Can you believe that the week of Valentine's Day, they would be at their peak? :)

(You can click on this photo to improve the quality)

Are you ready...

Valentine's Day is just a few short days away...are you ready?

Last weekend Abby made some "I love You-Pods", which we found on page 64 of our Family Fun magazine ...or you can just go to www.FamilyFun.com

We modified ours a little by wrapping packs of gum, as they don't have conversational hearts here.

If you are not so crafty, but want a simple way to let someone you love them, then you can always go HERE

and if you are feeling really adventurous, you can make someone you love these

However you do it, just be sure to make the time to tell those who are special to you that you love them...very much

Look who escaped from Kindergarten...

Re-Reformation in Europe

Stacey is the blogger in the family.  I'm horrible at it.  Actually, I'm a virtual non-entity in the "blogosphere".   I'm pretty bad on Facebook, too.  But Stacey has been twisting my arm as of late to blog about a couple of important trips I've taken over the past few months.

Back in November, I was invited to Soest, Netherlands, to take part in the European Conference of Reformed Churches.  It was an encouragement to meet nationals planting reformed churches from Latvia to Croatia to Amsterdam to Northern Ireland, as well as to meet with our friends from the Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche W.B. (Evangelical Reformed Church in Austria and Switzerland).  While there, I was asked to present our vision to see churches planted here in Vienna.

Before flying back to Vienna, I spent a few hours walking around Amsterdam.  Nothing I have read about or heard about the city center could have prepared me for the smell of the "coffee houses" and far more disturbing, the sight of African prostitutes in store-front windows.  I wondered, how many of these women are essentially slaves, "working" to pay off their debt to the pimp who brought them to be a toy for tourists and "open-minded" residents?   

God is doing something in this city, however, as I met with a young Dutch church planter who told me of a network of 15 new church plants within the city limits of Amsterdam.

Last weekend Jeff, Herbert, and I flew to Zurich, Switzerland, where we took part in the 1st ever Synod of the Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche W.B.  It was so good to be with our co-laborers.  Our young denomination has grown from 1 pastor and 2 churches in 2005 to 6 pastors and 5 churches across Austria and Switzerland 4 short years later.  

Please pray for God to raise up each of our churches, for growth in each church, for new church plants, for us to help raise up church planters, elders, deacons, and leaders.  There are enormous challenges, enormous needs, and enormous opportunities here in these two countries, and our churches are young, small, and lacking in resources.  Still, it was an honor to be a part of this "small step for a denomination", which we pray will become a giant leap for Austria and Switzerland.  

While we were in Switzerland, we stayed with a very hospitable Swiss-British family, the Schmidtheinys, worshipped with the ERKWB church in Winterthur, and got a few hours to tour Zurich.  Again, the scarcity of photos is evidence of the fact that Stacey was back in Vienna during this trip. ;)

Treasured time...

Our Abby girl is growing up way too fast.  Tonight we oohed and aahed over her baby pictures and then giggled at the video of her singing her heart out at the age of 3.  Later, as I was putting her to bed, she asked me to copy a few of her baby pictures so she could put them in a book and one day show them to her husband.  I then asked her if I could pray for her future husband and she said "of course", very maturely.

I prayed that "wherever he might be right now"... and she interrupted and said yeah, maybe Africa or China...(sign of a true third culture kid I suppose!)

We continued the prayer and ended with our secret handshake and kisses.

Another mother/daughter moment that is surely treasured...

Crustless Spinach Quiche...

Our neighbors invited us over for brunch in the morning, and this is what I am taking-

Crustless Spinach Quiche

It is a staple in our house.  I am sure I have probably posted this recipe somewhere on this blog, but it certainly was before I started to label things...so Leslie this is for you :)

3 ounces softened cream cheese

1 cup milk

6 eggs or (egg substitute equivalent to 4 eggs)

3 cups of shredded cheddar

1 10 ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 cup of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well drained

1 small onion finely chopped

1/2 chopped ham

 salt and pepper

(can also add chopped red pepper and/or mushrooms)

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, milk, eggs and salt and pepper; beat until smooth. In a small pan, saute the onion, peppers, ham and mushrooms for a few minutes.   Let cool for just a few minutes.  Add broccoli, spinach, cheese and then the vegetables and ham to egg mixture.  Transfer to a 10 inch greased quiche pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes back clean. ( I think this recipe is from the Mar/April 2000 Edition of Quick Cooking)

*just a little F.Y.I.-this is how cheddar is sold in Vienna.  In "chunks" about as wide as one of my fingers...for almost 2 Euros! 

A message for all of my American friends...do not take the size of your cheddar for granted! :)

10 days...

It is a good thing we only have 10 more days until we see Memoo- because a certain little guy can't stop watching old home movies...and I am completely out of vanilla extract :)

Joining in...

A few other fellow bloggers are finding "Grace in Small Things". I thought I would join in.

1. Above is the new curtain, that hangs in front of my new closet, that my dear hubby built for our teeny, tiny bedroom. :)

2. I just made a batch of these.

3. The same dear husband who built me a closet, took my big kids skiing today, so I could clean my dirty apartment.

4. Tulips from our neighbors
5. Ospamox= The antibiotic that has made Levi good as new!

What to do...

What do you do with the kiddos when it is raining outside and they are out of school ANOTHER week?

Play Cranium's Hullabaloo DVD game (Party Edition)

*kids have to find shapes, colors and animals while following commands like jumping, dancing and making animal sounds...
For other ideas you can click HERE and HERE

Details...Take 1

I really am very fortunate to be living in Vienna, Austria. And I am trying to be better about not taking the details around me for granted.

So every now and again, I will group some of my photos...details that I want to remember about living in this beautiful city.

Hope you enjoy the little details as much as me...

Who Needs...

Who needs a Superbowl party, when you can have a Valentine card-making party...

Who needs to discipline their kiddos, when you can just torture them by making them play outside in the cold...

Who needs a sled, when God gave you a perfectly good backside...

Who needs a baby sister, when you can have this much fun dressing up your dog...