A little Austrian music for you :)

We FINALLY went on a Alpine hiking trip: It only took us 6 years to do it!

Well, here we are in the Austrian Alps. We had an amazing time on our trip during our fall break from school. God provided in a huge way for us to go and finally enjoy the alps in the country we've lived in for so long. We are truly grateful for this experience and will never forget it!

Enjoy the following posts of more pictures from our adventure.

Ponies that a man owns on the mountain! He drove up while we were passing by and asked the older ones to help him catch them with the extra harnesses he'd brought

Beautiful forests!

Suspension bridges throughout the hike and

Thomas is in the middle there with Daniel in the backpack.

Schladming, Austria = Beautiful Alps!

Daniel did great in the backpack!

Taking a break with some hot chocolate at a small hut on the trail

Medieval Festival

We went to a medieval festival in Eggenburg, Austria last month. It was fun and we even dressed up this time. I got in for cheaper because of my makeshift outfit. Yes, that's a cloth diaper on my head ;) The boys had swords tucked into their belts with Daddy's shirts on.

It is such fun to dress up and become part of an era long past. Good food and drink, some cross bow fun for the boys and a new set of arrows for Thad's bow back home. Ian even got a new dagger.

We're thankful for these unique experiences and love that our boys get to see "real" knights and their massive swords.

The Ebb and Flow of Life

Sometimes I think we have nothing to post about and sometimes we have too much going on to take a moment to post about that. I'm sure you've noticed, as a sweet friend pointed out, we've yet to update in 3 months. Has nothing happened? Or too much going on?

I always want life to be predictable. You know, same schedule and same expectations each day. I thrive in an organized environment. Planned meetings with friends are right up my alley. I love orderly closets full of clean smelling clothes, squeaky clean kitchen counters and when I've been efficient in my tasks, you can probably hear my contented sighs as the day ends.

BUT... life is not always organized, scheduled, efficient or clean. It's often spur of the moment, messy and sometimes wearisome, discouraging and hurtful.

Is God in control of all of those moments? Even the ones that bring nothing but pain? Does His grace reign down on me when I'm whistling while I work and the times when I'm struggling to get out of bed?

You see, I want to be the perfect blogger always filling everybody in on our life. Showing my new recipes, crafts and family photos sounds so fun to me. I also have blog envy where I salivate over the nifty, savvy mom's blogs out there. But I must stop and realize that there is a time for everything. The ebb and flow of this blog, I believe, is a testimony to the ups and downs of our life.

Walking back through our posts, I can see the times where life was rolling along and there were good, energetic days for us. Then you can tell when a new baby comes or sickness rolls in, the blog kinda remains stagnant. The same post up there forever!

I guess what I'm trying to say is: I'm learning that God has appointed this day for me. Whatever happens in it, messy or clean, His grace is still there poured out over me. He has no expectations of me.... He knows I'm imperfect. There is a time for all kinds of things and all of those things cannot happen at the same time. I can be at a place in life where I am on top of all the daily activities and smiling. Or I can be at a place in life where I'm hurting or so unbelievably tired that nothing gets accomplished.

I like our blog. It shows our life. In the long interludes between posts, you can just assume life is too busy to stop and blog. You can picture spilled milk, a whining baby, runny noses and chicken nuggets for dinner three nights in a row.

But most of all you can pray that whatever kind of season it is for us, that we would soak up God's grace and keep running forward to finish this race, our race on earth. That our hearts would overflow with thankfulness and He would be glorified.

What is the ebb and flow of your life? Do you cling to Him in every season? Blogging or non-blogging seasons? :)