What boys do...

We celebrated Luke's birthday by having a few friends overnight.  They cracked me up with how easy they were to please... 

:: they ate, played Wii games

:: played some games on the computer

:: ate some more

:: shot each other with Nerf dart guns

:: and then played more games on their Nintendos...so fun and so easy :)

Happy 12th Birthday Luke!

Our big boy has gone through so many transitions in his 12 years of life, and he has handled them with so much grace.  This week he started in a new school here in Vienna.  At the end of his first day, we asked if he got a chance to meet anyone, and he answered, "Yes!  All the boys are my friends!"  We asked, "What are their names?"  Luke answered, "I don't know yet, but they're all my new friends."  Luke amazes us how quickly he integrates into new situations, how he travels all the way across the city by himself by subway and by tram, how he jumps into every sport and activity that school or church offers.   There's not an animal Luke doesn't like, and his latest dream is to own a salt water aquarium (because we won't let him get a blue parakeet!)  This is probably the last year that Mom will be taller than Luke.  We are so proud of your accomplishments and your tender heart.  You are certainly becoming a fine young man!

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Tulips...

Dear Tulips...
It is good to have you back, blooming in my little kitchen again.  I have missed you so.  Thanks for making my day just a little brighter :)

Surprised...

 

We have been back just over a week now, and we are pleasantly surprised and blessed by

:: how the sun has been shining A LOT!

:: how the kiddos have jumped right back into school and are doing GREAT!

:: the many invitations to meet up with friends that we have missed so much these last few months!

:: a visit from our dear friend Joanna and her fiance, Will

:: how at church last night we had a regular worship team...with someone on the keyboard, the guitar, the     clarinet, the violin and the banjo!  So cool :)

:: how we also had close to 30 folks worshiping with us!

:: and waking up to SNOW! Love it :)

Meet Will...

This is Will. Isn't he handsome?
We love that he is on our team now.
He just melts my heart when he yells "STACEY!" in his cute little voice.
William is sandwiched between his sweet brothers, Worthy and Calvin and has some serious dance moves!  :)
Keep him in your prayers, as he and his family continue to learn what it is to "do life" in Austria.

Here is Will pondering which goodie he should take :)

All is right with the world again...

At least from Milka's perspective.
All she cares about is reclaiming her spot on our comfy chair...
she doesn't have to un-pack all of the suitcases, clean up all of the dust and dirt that has accumulated over the last six months or have to sort through piles and piles of clothes that no longer fit the kiddos. :)

Overall, we are settling in just fine. Abby and Levi were pretty anxious about starting school again and having to speak only German~ but they just returned home and had a GREAT day!  Both of them have very sweet and compassionate teachers.  Luke will have some testing tomorrow, but will also start school this week.

Worship also went well last night...and we are so thankful to come back to a bigger team and congregation!  Lindsay "held down the fort" amazingly well and we are so grateful for all of her hard work while we were in the States.

The Beilman's are moved into their apartment and Jen started German classes today.  Dan will start intensive German in February.

Our newest teammate, Sonja, left for Colorado today (for training) and will hopefully arrive here mid-February.

We really are so appreciative of your prayers and kind words over these last few days. God has been answering beyond our expectations!

The last of the cakes...

This was Levi's "Nintendo" cake that we served at NCW tonight.  Doesn't my husband have rockin cake decorating skills!

Waiting...

Here is Abby waiting for public transportation to arrive, so we could get to church tonight.  It is good to be back in the city :)

Celebrating Levi!

We returned back to Vienna safe and sound, but not without having a few birthday celebrations for Levi in the States first!

Here is Levi and his buddy Ethan, who also turned 7 this week!  We hung out at the park, ate cupcakes and played an exciting game of kick-ball :)  Oh yeah baby!

Another celebration took place at Rainforest Cafe.  This was our last night in FL, so we celebrated with Memoo and Cha Cha the tree frog...

He was in shock when the cake came to our table...but shock turned into pure delight

Then this afternoon our neighbors invited us over for Sacher Torte

(if in Vienna, ask me to take you to Gritt's place, cause she makes the best Sacher ever!)

Tomorrow is his actual 7th birthday and we will continue the celebrating with even more cake and a big pan of lasagna...per his request!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI!

And so, the journey of our life overseas begins again in just a few short days...

The process of packing, purging and saying goodbyes has begun again.

We leave on Thursday to return to our home, team, friends and ministry in Vienna.  All of us are ready.  Ready for our own space (not that my mom hasn't been extremely gracious!), our own routine, our own beds...you get the point.

It has been a crazy 6 months of sadness and joy, traveling and transitioning, stress and fun.  At times, it has felt uncertain, exhausting and emotionally draining.  Other times we have been refreshed and very much encouraged.

God's grace and mercy have been evident in tangible ways through this season of mourning the loss of Brad's mom.  A season that I am sure is not yet finished, but will just feel less painful as time heals.

We ask for your prayers as we say our goodbyes here in the States and transition back to life in Austria. We are excited that our team and church has grown while we have been away, and we look forward to investing in those new relationships, but we are also not naive to the fact that things WILL be different when we return.

Luke will attend his 4th school in 4 years,  Abby will be in the same school, but have a new teacher, Levi will begin "real" school in German and entering mid-year certainly will add unique challenges.
Brad will once again start juggling the demands of planting a church, leading a growing team and being a Doctoral student, along with shepherding his family.  I will return to more German language learning and balancing life at home, that will include grocery shopping on an almost daily basis again. :)

We really are grateful for the time we have had in the States.  My mom is settled in her new place and we all feel really good about that.  Our schedule allowed us to meet up with a lot of friends that we had not seen in a long time! We also had some very sweet times with our family in the mountains at Christmas.  All of these memories are precious to us.

And so, the journey of our life overseas begins again in just a few short days.  Stay tuned to see what God has in store for us in 2011!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Never-ending Monopoly games

Lots of skiing

Snuggles with Memoo

Snowman building

Christmas carols by candlelight

and delicious cake-balls!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Brownie Cheesecake Peppermint Bars...

Do not even try to figure out the calories in these bars...because it is A LOT and if you think about that you will not enjoy them near as much! Happy Eating!

I adapted my recipe from THIS

Take your store bought cookie dough and line the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Bake until lightly browned and then let cool.

Mix up a batch of boxed brownies, adding 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract before baking. (according to the box directions).  Once out of the oven, pour into a bowl and break the brownies into small pieces.  Then immediately add 8 oz. of cream cheese and stir until smooth.  Spread this over your cooled cookie layer.  I put this in the fridge while I melted my white chocolate, so it would set up a little faster.

Next melt 12 oz of white chocolate over a double boiler.

While the chocolate is melting, unwrap a package of Dove peppermint chocolate.  I put them in a ziplock and then use meat tenderizer or rolling pin to break them into fine pieces.

Once your white chocolate is melted, pour it over your brownie/cream cheese layer.  Then sprinkle your chopped Dove candy pieces on top.

Before I put them in the freezer to harden, I "scored" them so they would be easier to cut once they were completely hardened.  (If I was smart, I would have lined the pan with foil before baking the sugar cookie layer...but this still worked)

The finished product!

It's really December already?

Really?  How did the first week of December already fly by?

One of the reasons it has probably gone so fast, is that Brad is back in Vienna until next week.  He and Lindsay are helping our new teammates, the Beilman's get settled. He has also been able to catch up with some of our friends and neighbors, play in some snow and preach 2 Sundays at NCW!

This weekend our kiddos had the opportunity to sing in St.Andrews' Christmas concert.  Brad's mom (Neena) had been in the choir for years, and this was one of her favorite concerts to participate in.  It was a little bittersweet to watch the kids perform without her.  I am sure these next few weeks will only bring more moments of sadness as we celebrate our first Christmas without her.

We also are preparing to start saying our goodbyes, as we get ready to return to Vienna in January. Our next few weeks are filled with lots of dinners and parties, and even though they will be lots of fun, our kids will be saying goodbye to their classmates and teachers that they have spent the last 5 months with.
We are so proud of them and their willingness to jump into life here!  All of their teachers have expressed to us what a joy they have been in their classes, and how much they will be missed.

Still,  as much as we will hate saying goodbye to our family and friends~ we all are ready to get back to our life and ministry in Vienna!  We have needed to be here and our time has been productive, but we are ready to get back to our "normal" routine. (whatever "normal" means...Ha!)

Our plan is to head to North Carolina with our family for a few weeks once the kids are out of school, then we will return to Florida for one more week, before we depart on January 13th.

If you are wanting an address to send a Christmas card to, your best bet is :
St. Andrews Pres. Church
500 North Park Road
Hollywood, FL
33021
(please be sure to write on the envelope Att. Hunter Family)

Field Trips and Feasts...

Last week I got to join Levi's class on a field trip to Tradewinds Park.  We had a great day learning about the animals and the farm and he even got to ride a pony!

Then yesterday, Levi's class prepared us a Thanksgiving feast!  He was in charge of serving up the turkey loaf...yummy!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

newcitywien.at

Check out the new website for our church in Vienna.
www.newcitywien.at

Thanks to Lindsay for all her hard work in putting this together, and to Daniel for helping get it up!

Full-Circle...

When Brad and I were first married and just starting to do ministry at St. Andrews, I would take Miss Kerry out for some "girl time"! That was a long time ago!  Now she is all grown up and married herself. Yesterday after church we met up for lunch, and she asked if she could spend some "girl time" with my baby girl!  It was such an encouragement to my heart, and a blast for Abby!  Thank you for lovin on us :)

Sharing a bit of our lives...

Last night Brad had the opportunity to preach at First Pres Margate, and then today we got to share at our kiddos' school chapels.  We spoke with the elementary and middle school kids.  It is always fun getting to share a bit of what our lives look like in Vienna!

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Beach...

This weekend we had the privilege of attending the wedding of Brad's aunt Cheryl.  It was so fun to be able to celebrate with our extended family!  Times like these, we certainly don't take for granted since moving overseas!

Yum...

This is a blog that I check out for recipes,  and she never disappoints me!  Every recipe I have stolen from her is delicious...and these mini chocolate turtles are no exception!

Just in time for the holidays :)

Operation Christmas Child...

Samaritan's Purse has a project called "Operation Christmas Child", where you can fill a shoebox with goodies for a child in need.  Luke, Abby and Levi loved picking out the treats and packing up the boxes!  It's not too late...you too can send off a shoebox!

Our little fishies...

When we originally left Vienna, we were only planning on being here about 7 weeks...not 6 months.
Thankfully many friends have come to the rescue, and have been caring for our little fishies (cause they are family too you know)

Melissa, thanks for giving Luke and Levi some actual proof that they are doing just fine:)

Let the traveling begin...

Flying is not my favorite thing to do.  Even as I sit and write this, I am in an airport waiting to board a plane that is getting something fixed, delaying us by 2 hours.  Always anxiety producing.  But flying gets us to people and places that we love, so I say my prayers and take my Xanax.  Seriously.

Last week we traveled to Illinois, which is my old stomping ground and where I consider to be one of the best places on Earth.  The good ol' Midwest.  Friendly folks, farmland, Monicals pizza and Gene's ice cream...really what more could one ask for.  Certain people in my family, who will remain nameless, think that I actually idealize the town where most of my formative years were spent.  He is right. But many of those friendships that I made a long time ago, are still intact and are very rich and deep.  We share a history and I love that.  They know the good, the bad and the ugly about me and still love me anyway.  As a result of this history, we saw over 48 people in about 48 hours.

Crazy I know, but so fun and encouraging!  I got to see friends from many stages of my time in B/N... my jr. high and high school years, my nursing school years, from my working days at the hospital,  those who I attended church with and went on my first mission trip with,  and friends who we have adopted as "grandparents" for our kiddos.  Along with friends, we got to spend some time with my brother who we don't get to see very often.  The only problem is that there is never enough time to share all that is happening in our lives or be able to listen long enough to what God is doing in their lives.

Besides hanging out with friends and family, we also got to make some really fun memories with our kids.  Our first stop was Chicago, and I got to take Abby for a date to the American Girl doll store, while Brad got to take the boys to see a ND football game (his Alma mater).  Yes, they lost...but it didn't matter.  Brad just loved showing them the campus and giving them a taste of his college days.

When we asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was...they said ALL OF IT!
(you can't get better than that!)
----------------------------------------------
More craziness...
I started this post at the Ft. Lauderdale airport and we have since been driven to Miami to try and take another flight out to Philly, as we were pretty sure that we were not going to make it out today from FT. Lauderdale.   This week is the WHM's team leaders retreat.  Lots of planning, praying, training and strategizing.  I return home on Tuesday and Brad will return home on Friday. 

The rest of November we are trying to visit some of our supporting churches,  speak at some chapel
services where our kiddos go to school, finish up with Neena's house in preparation to sell, celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and then Brad will be headed to Vienna for a short trip to help get our newest teammates, the Beilmans settled! :)

So that is another quick update from us. We continue to be thankful for your prayers, financial support and times of getting to catch up with so many of you!