Caught in a Whirlwind

That pretty much sums up what our life has felt like over the last couple of months. I apologize that it has been so long since our last update, so this might be a little longer than usual to catch you up.

Getting a visa here in Austria has proven to be a very difficult task. We do have reason to rejoice, as one of the other American families just received their visa in March after having applied almost 1 year ago. Without a visa, we need to leave the European Union every six months and say away for several weeks to stay "off the radar" so to speak. We thought we would be able to have our papers filed before our most recent six month deadline, but due to recent changes we were not. However, when we found that out, it was pretty late in the game. We found out on March 2 that we had about 36 hours to leave the European Union!

We had two options, go back to the States, or a European country outside of the Union, such as Switzerland or Croatia. After a few hours of prayer, discussion and crunching the numbers, we decided that our cheapest option was to head to the States for a few weeks. I was able to purchase tickets at a great price, considering the short notice, but that was just the first hurdle for us to get back to St. Louis. Because we were caught off guard by this, Seth did not have a passport. Vienna is the only consulate in Austria and our only chance of getting a passport on such short notice. We got up Friday morning and set off for Vienna, a 5 hour drive to get the passport. We returned back to Innsbruck about 9pm that night and started to pack, knowing that we had to get up at 5am the next morning to get to the airport.

Saturday morning, we wake up bright and early and head to Munich, were we are flying out and about halfway there it starts to snow. It continues to snow harder and harder and traffic is now stopped on the highway. What should have taken 1 1/2 hours, turned into a 6 hour trip and we missed our flight by 2 1/2 hours! We were able to get a hotel room for the night and the kids had a lot of energy that they needed to work out. Two of our friends drove with us to Munich so that they could drive our car back. It was not long after they started back to Innsbruck that they returned. They heard on the radio that there was a 45km traffic jam and that the red cross was bringing blankets and hot drinks because they expected people to be stranded all night! We got them a room and they went back the next day. The next morning our flight finally gets off the ground after sitting on the runway for 2 hours because of the snow and ice. We were very happy to arrive in St. Louis and have that whole ordeal behind us. We knew that God must have something big in store if the devil worked that hard to try and keep us from coming back!

Turns out, He did! Just days after we returned, some unexpected events unfolded that made it obvious exactly why God brought us back when he did. In the midst of some adverse circumstances, God showed Himself faithful over and over again and His sovereign hand guided us the entire time.

There are many wonderful challenges in taking 3 small children on trans-continental flights. Long lines when the kids are antsy, being confined to small places for 10-12 hours at a time and staying awake for more than 24 hours just to name a few. But the biggest challenge is jet lag because it affects our kids worse than us. Innsbruck is 7 hours ahead of St. Louis, so for the first couple of days, Noah and Ella woke up at 3:30am! It gradually got later over the next few days. I never thought I would be so happy to have my kids "sleep in" until 6am. Those first few days, we ate breakfast at 4am, lunch at 8am, and lunch again at 12! Although I think it was worse when we got back. For the first few days, they would not go to sleep until 2-3am. It is strange watching Ice Age with your 5 and 2 year old at 1am, while fixing them sandwiches because they are hungry. That gradually worked itself out as well and now after a week, they are back to their normal routine.

There were several bright points in our trip. My family has not been able to see Seth since he was born, so it was a thrill for them to have him around for a few weeks. My parents built a new home that they moved into on Valentine's Day and were more than happy to open it up to us to stay with them. We were able to visit other friends and family who mean a lot to us and we miss dearly. We also were able to celebrate both Stacey and Noah's birthdays while in the States. We threw a surprise party for Stacey and Noah had a party with his friends at the Zoo. There will be an update on Noah's Birthday soon.
Needless to say, the last 2 months have felt like we were picked up by a tornado and flung across the world and back again. All in all, we see God's hand and purposes in the process and gives us even more reason to trust Him with our lives. He is faithful!