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?

SSSSnake!

I found this awesome Idea on the internet.... what a great way to use an old necktie!
If you have any of those unwanted neckties laying around the house, or think the man of the home doesn't need to be wearing that particular one anymore because it's out of style.... then I have the project for you!
Just take the tie and begin stuffing it between the back lining and silk front. Stuff all the way down and sew or repair stitching on the seam if needed. Add eyes and a tongue and voila! You have a snake that your little buddy will absolutely, hands down... LOVE!

This one is a diamond back.... ha ha
Happy Snake crafting :)

My Favorite Things

I was tagged by a friend to list 7 of my favorite things and thought that this would be a good chance to create an uprising against this imperialistic blog. I hope my friend will enjoy being a part of this cessation of male only dialogue from previous posts! :) We need some womanly perspective again... don't you think?

"These are a few of my favorite things"....

1) Crafting, being able to create something new and functional!

2) Playing the piano for hours on end in the dark

3) Baking! I love baking and then sitting to enjoy the result

4) Teaching my children with projects and/or playing dress up with them. Creating mustaches and all for the pirates

5) Cleaning and keeping my home warm and cozy. I love walking into our space and feeling relaxed

6) Talking to my husband about random stuff as we lay in bed at night and loving the connection with my dearest friend.

7) Cup of fruit tea in the morning and afternoon.

~mollie

Imperialism and Our Blog

We've been studying the effects of European imperialism on Africa and Asia in my World History class (10th graders). Imperialism is basically when one group extends their influence to foreign lands through either direct or indirect means. That said, it seems as though I have conquered our blog. I hope my influence doesn't have quite as many negative consequences as European imperialism did.

So what exactly is God's? Mark 12:13-17

Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it."They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed.

I'm teaching through Mark in my 9th grade Bible class, and we came to this passage recently. Now I'm not sure about you, but I have almost always heard this passage dealt with in terms of what to do with your money. Jesus is giving the thumbs up to secular political authority. It has the right to tax and it's dishonorable to fail to obey that level of authority. That part of the passage is pretty clear. It's the second part of Jesus' statement that I'm much more interested in.

I have heard people preach on this and almost all of them connect this with the idea of paying taxes to the government and giving to the Lord. Now don't get me wrong here, because I think you can draw that application from the passage. But, I think there might be more here.

The passage reveals to us that the recipients of Jesus' words were the Herodians and the Pharisees (groups I discussed in a previous post). They're trying to get Jesus to say something that would anger his Jewish followers (if He tells them to pay Caesar) or cause him to commit treason (if He denies that taxes should be payed).

He uses an illustration for them to make a point that they clearly miss and I think we often do as well. He asks them in whose image the coin is made? The answer was Caesar and so what was made in his image was due him. The question is what is "due God," or what "is God's"? For the answer, I think we have to ask the same question that Jesus asked: What is made in God's image?

We are. Jesus was exhorting the Herodians and the Pharisees to pay Caesar what was his, but also to give to God what was His. Jesus was encouraging each group to turn from how they had each strayed from God through either religion or worldliness. The Apostle Paul elaborates on what this looks like in Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

God is the one who made us and ,therefore, we should offer ourselves up to Him. The cool thing is that when we turn over control of our lives to our Heavenly Father, we actually experience life in a better way. He loves us and knows what is best for us. How cool that we can turn things over to Him and abide, rest, dwell, and trust in Him.

May we give to God what is His.

Ourselves.