Happy Birthday Ella!

Ella turned 2 on October 20. Wow! Time flies when your having fun! We had two parties for her. One at home and then one with another little boy here whose birthday was one week later. She had a great time blowing out candles and eating her cake. Her favorite presents were a camera and a baby. She even covers up her baby at night and tucks her in. She is talking all the time and learning new words every day (English and German). Her favorite phrase right now is, "Noah, I told you not to do that." Yes, he drives her crazy!

Trip To Nürnberg

This past weekend, I had the priviledge to minister in Nürnberg. Nürnberg is a city with a rich history, many ups and many downs. We have a small church there and just planted a Campus Ministry in May. In one of the pictures, you will see Lenny interpreting for me as I spoke on Sunday morning. Lenny us just 20 years old, but leading the Campus Minstry in Nürnberg. He is full of faith and passion to reach the young people of his city. One of my main jobs was to encourage Lenny and his team and begin training them how to reach their fellow students at the University.

God is beginning to bring young people to the ministry that have the same passion for reaching the lost. One of those young men is pictured with me, his name is Mario. Mario is a professional basketball player in Nürnberg, and although he is only 5' 10", he can dunk a basketball, which is something I can only do in my dreams. It was great to get to know him over dinner Sunday night and talk about how God will use his influence on young people to bring them into His Kingdom. We look forward to seeing what God will do as he allows God to work in his life.

While Nürnberg has deep past tied to Hitler and the Nazi party, it was also one of the first churches to adopt Luther's creed and reformation. Pray and believe with us that the city will return to it's roots and be the site of a second reformation that turns the heart of Europe back to God.

Noah Is Doing Much Better

I got several responses to our post about Noah having a hard time fitting in at Kindergarten. Many of your hearts were breaking just as ours were. Well, we are thrilled to report that he is doing much better and now looks forward to going to school every day. His German is coming slowly, but he has made a few friends and is excited about making more. He learned how to say, "My name is Noah, what is your name?" and that has helped a lot. He has learned a couple of German songs that hey sing in class and he loves that. He has been sick most of this week and has had to stay home from school. He has been devastated each morning when we tell him he still has a fever and he can't go today. He is feeling much better and excited about returning on Monday. I am constantly amazed at the toughness of kids. Thank you for your prayers.

Naoh Started Kindergarten

Noah wrapped up his first week of kindergarten here in Innsbruck. I don't think he could have possibly been more excited than he was on his first day. There is a great school just a few blocks from our apartment here in Igls that we can walk to and from. Armed with his "Bob The Builder" backpack and his snack, he set off for his first day at school. I missed it becuase I was meeting a guy to buy a car that he didn't have anymore (see post about car). Stacey of course was a basket case after she left, crying all the way home. I think that's par for the course for a pregnant mom, though.

I think pure excitement carried him through the first two days and then reality set in. Noah does not speak German and none of the kids in his class speaks English. His teachers speak a little, but not much. As a result, Noah is having a difficult time integrating into the group. Almost every morning now he says he does not want to go. When I pick him up, he is usually playing by himself. the teacher says to give it about 3 weeks for him to fit in. I hope we can make it that long. As a parent, your heart breaks to see your child feel lonely and excluded, but we know that this phase will pass and it will be a great learning experience for him.

It's times like this that we realize how much our children are affected by the lifestyle we live as missionaries. While we know that God has called us here to Austria, we also want to give our children as "normal" of a life as we can. We have to believe that God cares for our kids even more than we do and He would not have brought us here if he didn't intend to take care of them and provide them with everything they need. We also know that our kids are going to live an exciting life that most kids would only dream of. Please pray for Noah that he would quickly fit into the group and that kids would start reaching out to him to include him in things. Also pray for his german to progress quickly so he can interact. Be blessed!

We Finally Have A Car!

One of our priorities while we were in the States was to raise the necessary funds for us to buy a car. Since we arrived in March, we have been borrowing a car from a very generous young man in the church named Felix. However, we knew that with the coming of Seth that we would have to buy a car big enough to accomodate 3 child seats. After 3 weeks of searching and a couple of setbacks (I showed up with cash in hand to buy a car only to find out that the guy sold it without calling me), God finally led us to a great car.

It is a Renault Megane Scenic with 117,000 KM. It is a 1.9 Deisel, which gives us great gas mileage, about 45 MPG. It has 3 individual seats in the back to give the kids plenty of room, but they also can be folded down or removed when necessary. A/C, trailer hitch, and a 6 disc cd changer make this a great car for us.

We would not have been able to buy this car without the help of our generous partners. Thank You!

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! This is a great way for us to stay connected with you and keep you up to date on what we are doing here in Europe. For all of our partners on our email list, we will send you an email with a link to this site as we update weekly. Updates will include family information and pictures as well as what God is doing through our ministry. We are excited to offer a way to get you more information without clogging your email with pictures. We would love to hear from you. Talk to you soon!