Pumpkin Pabulum

EEWWWW! Dad how could you make me do this??

Well all the pics are reversed in order... just to throw you off...or maybe it's because I forgot to enter them other way.
But this was our pumpkin carving evening. We got roasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin puree from it!
Not to mention a nice little light in our living room in the evenings :)

Preaching

I'm not sure why God keeps giving me opportunities to share and preach the same ideas. I guess it's all ok because He's the one that gives the opportunities and inspires the scriptures that I've been teaching.

So I had the chance to preach yesterday at our church, The International Chapel of Vienna (http://www.viennachapel.org/). Our Pastor James, who despite being a Chelsea fan is a great guy, asked a few of us in the church to be on a preaching team that meets regularly throughout the year. We disuss the section of scripture he will be teaching from each week (currently 1 Peter).

We go through books of the Bible verse by verse, but cover ground a bit quicker than some other churches. One positive of this type of study is that you get a very managable picture of the themes throughout a book of scripture without getting bogged down in intricate, exegetical details. One of the negatives, however, is that some themes that need to be expanded on may not get the full time they need. As a result, James decided that he will preach the book verse by verse and, when certain topics or subjects arise that need to be further expanded, he wanted a few of us from the preaching team to tackle those issues. I thought this was really cool because it gives the Pastor a break every month or two and makes sure he is also under the teaching of the Word.

So yesterday I got to expand on the idea of being an elect exile (a major idea discussed in 1 Peter). I'll post a rought outline and some thoughts on the text later on.

How Big Am I?

When a little boy is curious about how big he really is, it is natural to measure himself with his Daddy's pants! I mean, he is supposed to look to his Daddy as the standard. We want them to grow up and be like their Dads, so we might as well use them as the measuring stick!

We now know that he is not as big and will need some time to grow into those pants. It was a very educating experiment for him....

*** I should note that Ian fit into one side of Daddy's pant legs... but no picture was taken :(

Senior Class Rib Party

When the Lord has made you prosper and you say "I would like some meat," then you may eat as much of it as you want.

-Deuteronomy 12:20

That verse is slightly paraphrased and massively out of context (just call me Joel Osteen), but what a great verse for a BBQ! We had a great class party on Saturday for our Seniors and enjoyed eating ribs. It was really the only food we had. Just ribs and ribs and more ribs. I really didn't even know you could eat meat for 4 hours and not die. It ruled.

Here are a few more pictures of the afternoon. These were taken by the students and we'll put a few more up when we get them off of our camera.

Publications Project

Thomas was asked to write an article for a "publication" the middle school creative writing class was putting together. Here is what he contributed.

THE HIGH-TECH HEART

In the movie Contact Matthew McConaughey portrays Palmer Joss, a former priest studying the effects of technology on third world cultures. Later on in the film while being interviewed on the TV show Larry King Live he asks the question, “Has science and progress made us happier?” This is a profound statement from the mouth of a fictional character. With all of the high-tech gadgets available in the modern, industrialized world, have we become better people?

There can be no doubt that when we study history we see that technology has brought about progress and improved society. In the 16^th century, Europe emerged from the Dark Ages and entered a new period of learning with the invention of the printing press. This technological advance allowed books and other forms of writing to be copied quickly and widely distributed. This led to an increase in the desire for, and necessity of, literacy. This intellectual and educational progress fed the Scientific Revolution as well as the Enlightenment. One of the most important contributors to the time period was Denis Diderot, who compiled and edited The Encyclopedia. Diderot, however, sensed where the increase in printed materials could lead and remarked that a “time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe.” He continued, noting that eventually “the world of learning—our world—will drown in books.”

While it would be difficult to say that our world is drowning in books, the world of 2009 could certainly be accused of drowning in information. According to some estimates, in recent years the amount of information available to the average individual in a modern society has doubled almost every two years. This vast amount of information that is only a click away has led to an increase in the amount of trivial information that people encounter and a decrease in the amount of time that people spend analyzing the value of that information. With this loss of focus in how we analyze what is put before us, we have a tendency to either accept whatever we read or see, or to become overwhelmed and apathetic. Either choice produces negative consequences that effect who we become as people.

The modern technologies that are available to us, cell phones, laptops, iPhones, iPods, and the like have all become integral parts of our lives. The question is have they encouraged us to grow as human beings? Sadly, most of the technologies discourage rather than encourage important things such as community. As recently as the latter part of the 20^th century people rode on public transportation either in silence or in casual conversation. Now everyone has their ears plugged with buds from their mp3 players. One of the most popular places for people to gather for community is a coffee shop. Hilariously, if you go into a coffee shop what you find are lonely people seeking community by putting their earphones in and working silently on their computers.

In the first chapter of Genesis we are told that man was made in the image of God. This included the ability of man to be creative and improve his conditions. Unfortunately, man chose to sin in Genesis 3 and this brought about problems with this technological progress. Advances in technology have certainly made things better, but man’s tendencies frequently lead him to worship these advances rather than the God who inspired them (Rom. 1:25). This leads to negative consequences for people and slowing of their growth in relationship with both God and each other. Until people slow down and analyze the impact of technology on their lives, they will continue to be troubled by the unfulfilled longings of their high-tech hearts.

---

Quotations taken from the book Habits of the High-Tech Heart by Quentin J. Schultze.

Photography by Thad

The one above is from a movie and the expression he captured was priceless.


This one just made me laugh. How funny that he was able to capture his brother catching some air!

And let's not forget the self protrait.

I think he found the camera laying around and thought it his "right" to take some photos of his world at that time. Very Dangerous!

David Crowder Band - How He Loves

Pray for our School
for our family
for our children
for God's provision
for joy in whatever circumstance we are in

pray that we would learn to love so that we can walk in manner worthy of Christ, so that He can establish our hearts in holiness before God
~1 Thess. 3:12-13

God's Provision seen in Rhubarb?

You know... God always provides and sometimes it's not what you expect. The other day I was looking at a friends cookbook and saw a recipe for Rhubarb pie and I mentioned that I'd never had Rhubarb before. "The garden is full of it right now, why don't you go and get some" was the reply. I didn't even know she grew rhubarb! But there you have it, ten stalks of fresh rhubarb for free!
So, I set out to make a rhubarb pie and found that I rather enjoyed it!

It has a very tangy flavor and needs lots of sugar in my opinion to make it balance out. But I recommend having a big scoop of Ice Cream with it and you'll love it... I promise!

By the way, that was my first attempt at a lattice pie top. It was very fun and turned out lovely or so I thought.

Interesting fact: The leaves of a rhubarb plant are very poisonous..... hmmm, who knew?

Senior Class Sponsors

Welcome to the jungle...err...the "buy in bulk", Sam's/CostCo type store here in Vienna. Thankfully this place is only right down the street from the school because I will be spending large amounts of time here over the course of the next few months.
Mollie and I are cosponsors of the Senior class with three other teachers. One of the responsibilities of the Senior class is to run a small store at the school. The funds from this store go to the Senior class trip. Yesterday, one of the other sponsors and I went on a mission to stock the store. It took us almost two hours to buy everything and then take it into the basement at VCS to stock the store.
I think we bought too much stuff considering this is what we had left over after we stocked the store. At least we won't have to make another store run anytime soon. I'll try and get some pics of the store in action once school officially starts.

Registration Day

Yesterday all of the kids were required to come to the school to register for classes and to pick up their schedules. It was great to spend time laughing and joking with all of them as well as finding out about their summers. The morning was a crazy time with kids seeing each other for the first time since school let out and teachers frantically trying to finish up lesson plans and course outlines.

Here are a few of our "new" middle schoolers. These girls will be sixth graders and are so excited that they're no longer elementary students. Pictures like this are why I love VCS. In this pic alone you have Central America, South East Asia, and North America all represented. What an awesome opportunity to teach here!

We made crayon discs so that Ian could grip the crayon better to color. It's fun and easy to do! Why don't you try it?

Here are the crayons we peeled the paper off of and then broke into pieces and placed in the muffin tin. You can play around and make different color combinations...whatever floats your boat!
Then place in the oven at 200 degrees for 9-11 minutes.
Don't let the crayons get to a boiling state....not good :) Just until they are melted will do.

Here they are melted and ready to cool down. Takes about an hour or less for them to get hard and ready to pop out. If they don't automatically pull away from the sides, turn over the tin and hit the back of each one to make it fall out.

And here are our lovely pieces of art. Just right for a chubby 2 yr old fingers :)
Have fun!

Home Again

Well, you know you've finally made it home after a 10 1/2 hr drive to Chicago, 8 hour flight to Stockholm, 3 hour layover and arrival in Vienna at 12:30 pm and of course when you don't have to be paranoid that your kid is ruining someone else kitchen seats. Sure go ahead and play with the flour boys..... I don't even care this time! :)

We made it to our home and we are still trying to get adjusted to the time zone here. The boys are so glad to be home. Thad couldn't wait to see all his "new" toys. They sure missed everything and everyone here.

thanks for praying for our travels!

Preacher Man

So I got to preach at my home church this Sunday. I really enjoyed it and was massively encouraged by many members of the church. Here is a link to the audio and outline.

http://www.riverwood.org/Sunday%20Services.html

Give it a listen and shoot me some feed back (only if it's good...don't tell me I'm going to burn or anything).

We should also be heading back to Vienna around this time next week. We'll post some updates on the summer once we get back to our home and have a bit of time to unwind.

We're tired...but having fun!!!!

Well, we've been in MS for about 3 weeks now having spent one week in D.C. We're having a blast to say the least, but we're finding out it's exhausting too. This is a tired boy a couple of weeks before we left Vienna. I guess he started out tired.

We went from sleeping at home on the couch

To sleeping on the plane

To sleeping in the car!

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement as we spend our summer here. We've already had great fellowship with many of you and we're looking forward to what the rest of the summer holds.

We're coming Home!

We fly out at 11:45 Vienna time Tomorrow morning, Tuesday the 12th. Please pray for safe travels and calm, peaceful little boys. We'll be staying with my sister, Brittany, and her husband in D.C. for a week. After that, we'll arrive in MS on the 18th and be with family there until early August when, at that point, we will head up to Chicago and then fly back to Vienna from there.

We hope to see many of you while we're home and look forward to plugging into our church and serving there while we have the chance.

Thank you for your prayers as we travel and we'll see some of you very soon!

Baptism at the Danube

Last Sunday, our church here in Vienna had a time of fellowship and baptisms. We were in the Alte Donau, a lake that has been created from what used to be part of the Danube. Thomas was asked by the Pastor to be involved and show how the school and church are partners in ministry here in Vienna. What a joyous time!

Birthday Party

he turned 4! he's so excited and had such a fun party...

sorry the pics are small.. I'm retarded and too lazy to fix it :)

Gougeres und Kinder

Here's my french food for the week! I made some Gougeres which is a french cheese ball or pastry. They are so yummy! You should try them as an appetizer for a party. I liked the rugged look although the recipe instructs you to make balls which is the traditional look.

Recipe:
*preheat oven to 425 degrees*
Combine 1 cup water, 4 Tablespoons butter, and 1/2 tsp. of salt in medium saucepan; turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Cook, Stirring, until the butter melts, just a minute or two longer. Take off heat. Add 1 1/2 cups a flour all at once to this mixture, stirring constantly until the dough holds together in a ball. 5 minutes or less.
Add your 2 eggs one at a time, beating hard after each addition. (can use electric mixer) Stir in cheeses: 1 cup of either grated Emmenthal, Gruyere, Cantal, or Cheddar and then 1 cup of Grated Parmesan or other hard cheese. (2 cups of cheese total)
Grease baking sheet!
Drop by teaspoonfuls ( can make perfect balls) on baking sheet and bake until light brown, 10-15 min.

Happy Baking....it's really easy, I promise!!

Everyone is happy when we have two of something. As you see here, they both have cars shoes and they are very happy while watching cartoons and eating eggs and toast.

You da man!

A little modeling session! He got sunglasses as a treat for sitting still while we cut his hair :)

A day out

During our Spring Break, we were privileged to have a day all to ourselves courtesy of our good friends here who took the boys for an all day adventure.

It was so much fun to explore our city a little more and enjoy the place where we live. We went to the palaces and ate at a cafe.

We finally got a paddle boat and went out on the Donau (Danube) River. It was lovely

It was such a refreshing day for us as a couple and we are so thankful for that time away! As we sat down for dinner we couldn't help but think about the first few excursions we had around the city when we arrived. We didn't really appreciate the wonderful food and atmosphere this city has. This lovely place has grown on us so much so that saurkraut, bread dumplings and schweinsbraten (pork roast) sounds like a heavenly meal :)

We'll be leaving Vienna soon for the summer and would ask for your prayers as we prepare for our trip home. We arrive in the US on May 12th and get to MS on the 18th.

God is a good God and we are so thankful for where He has placed us and what He is doing in the ministry here at our school.

Easter

Derek Webb Owns!

Mollie and I have been listening to Derek Webb while we cook in the evenings. I know this is a few years old, but I was struck again by how amazing the lyrics are. The last verse is without a doubt my favorite. What a beautiful picture of the gospel. Come to Jesus as we are, He has done the work on the cross through the breaking of His body and shedding of His blood.

I think the last line is the best (although whoever made the video I think missed the point). I think of John 4 where Jesus says "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst." I freaking love that. God makes a way through Jesus for us to be reunited with Him in fellowship and that satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts.

He is Risen!

Happy Easter

Fun with video

God's artwork

Seriously, this is how my carrot looked as I began to slice it.

I thought it was kinda unique and worth sharing as it reminds me that God creates one of a kind masterpieces.
Just like the sunrise we saw last night as Thad kept naming all the colors with excitement. You just can't take in all of HIS beauty.
Even when slicing a carrot, He can reveal detail and beauty in order to draw us to Himself.

Pirates and Cowboys

I've never seen a more kind pirate :)

Man, that's a cute cowboy huh?