HALF MARATHON!

Well, I thought that everyone should know that Thomas has been training to run in the Vienna half marathon since January. He seems ready and I'm so proud of him!!! The goal he set back in January seemed a little daunting because those of you who know Thomas..... well like he puts it, "If I'm going to run, there had better be a goal to kick a ball into." So, I'm proud to say that he has trained and can run a half marathon!! YEA!

The Marathon will take place this Sunday and he'll be running with a few other VCS staff. Take some time to send a message encouraging him and check out the website for this awesome event. http://www.vienna-marathon.com/

Easter! He is Risen Indeed!

Here's a look at our sweet little boy all dressed up for church. He's quite a cutie! We had such a wonderful Sunday morning service complete with testimonials of the HOPE we have in Christ. Aren't we grateful for the death of Jesus Christ to free us from our sins and His resurrection which gives us new life!? In Him, we can have life and truly live for His glory through His power! He is risen Indeed!

Well, there they are.... all Four of them! :)

Thad and his friends just finished their egg hunt!

Now Thad is chowing down on all the chocolate!

Spring Break

We were able to go to an eagle show at a castle outside the city. It was such fun and the birds literally flew right over our heads, even hitting some people with their wings! Thad thought it was great and kept saying "bird" during the show. There were all kinds of birds from eagles to owls to a massive bird with a wingspan of 6 ft. ( I can't remember its name) But we had fun and wanted to share the unique experience with you!

He's huge!

We've had a wonderful and relaxing Spring break during this first week of April. There are so many things to do before the baby comes and we accomplished a whole lot! The Lord gave us some great family time and also some alone time... Matt & Stephanie, fellow missionaries here, gave us the best present this past week by taking Thad for an overnight stay so Thomas and I could get some things done and just spend some much needed time together! It was a refreshing week and we're thankful for the rest God has given us.

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Junior Class hosts TV night

The junior class put on an awesome event last Friday night. Their theme was TV shows and the whole night reflected that theme through games, videos and crafts. They even had a little corner set up for the little ones to watch cartoons...and that's where Thad spent most of his time :)

They served dinner and dessert complete with a "candy corner" turning out caramel apples and root beer floats.
Thomas tried his hand at creating the best designed paint job on a vehicle. His was not so flattering what with the blazing fire ball on the side!
The juniors had a great time making small video clips of different songs and TV shows. They also acted out several of our favorite old time movies and cartoons. Needless to say they had us rolling with laughter!
We also got to see a traditional Indian dance....:)

This class is so much fun and we enjoyed helping them raise money for their Junior class events in the future.

Uncle "Bobby" came to visit

Thomas' younger brother, Robert, was able to come visit during his spring break. It was an enjoyable time and we loved watching Thad just cling to him saying "Bobby play soccer ball".

We were able to go to a castle right outside the city and explore the grounds with Robert. But before we started our adventure, Thad climbed into the driver's seat and told us he was going to drive us there. :)
Shortly after Robert arrived, Thomas was able to take him to Salzburg and Munich for an overnight trip. They went to a Red Bull Salzburg soccer game and had great "brother time" watching the sport they love most.
We miss you already Bob! Thanks for coming and encouraging us here in Vienna.

VCS Musical pictures....finally

It's been over a month since the musical "Guys & Dolls" but we just got some pictures to show you guys. Mollie was extremely busy in the month leading up to the performance but it was well worth it as she was able to get to know several of the kids that she hasn't spent much time with.
This was most of the cast in one of the final scenes. The kids were hilarious and worked really hard to make sure they put on a great performance for all of the parents and teachers.
In the middle of all the hard work and preparation, Mollie was really reminded about how awesome the ministry at VCS is. One night during rehearsal, the drummer for the orchestra, who is a church planter here in Vienna, had to take a phone call that involved church business. While this man was counseling someone, his son was enjoying acting out his part in the musical. It was really cool to think about our role in the lives of this family. VCS provides a stable situation for the kids of missionaries in Austria and in turn allows the parents to be more effective in the field. Thank you all so much for supporting us and making this ministry possible!

MOM'S GROUP

THE STAFF MOMS AT VCS GET TOGETHER AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH FOR FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP. I WAS ABLE TO HOST THIS MONTH'S FELLOWSHIP TIME AND IT WAS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO ME TO HAVE THEM ALL COME OVER. THESE ARE THE LADIES THAT I SPEND A LOT OF TIME WITH! THOSE OF US THAT HAVE YOUNGER KIDS LOVE TO GO TO EACH OTHERS HOUSES MORE OFTEN AND LET THE KIDS GET SOME ENERGY OUT! BUT I'VE BEGUN TO FORM A BOND WITH EACH MOM AND I LOVE GETTING TO KNOW THEM AND WORK ALONGSIDE THEM AS WE MINISTER TO THE SCHOOL IN VARIOUS WAYS.

I GOT TO MAKE SOME YUMMY SCONES AND SERVE THEM WITH A FRUIT TRAY... :)

THIS IS THAD'S FRIEND REBECCA WHO ALSO CAME OVER THAT DAY. THEY ARE THE SAME AGE AND LOVE TO GIGGLE TOGETHER AND PLAY TILL THEY DROP. WE'RE THANKFUL FOR HIS LITTLE FRIEND AND HER FAMILY!

BIBLE STUDY

OUR 9TH GRADE BIBLE STUDY CAME OVER THURSDAY NIGHT AND WE SERVED THEM BIG PLATES OF NACHOS! AFTER NACHOS AND FELLOWSHIP, THOMAS WAS ABLE TO CONTINUE THEIR STUDY IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL.

THEY WERE TONS OF FUN TO HANG OUT WITH AND THEY LOVED PLAYING SOCCER WITH THAD. WE'RE SO THANKFUL FOR THIS GROUP AND LOVE IT WHEN THEY COME OVER!

Here we are!

Here are my two boys, I love them so much!

Thad's new bedspread for his big boy bed. He loves sleeping in the twin bed and always reminds us that he has "big boy" sheets now. :)

Well, here's me and the little guy at some castle ruins we hiked up to. That's right, I hiked up a mountain at 6 months pregnant! This castle in Durnstein is right outside Vienna and provided a nice day trip out of the city.

Here's the new school video for VCS. It's updated for the 2006-2007 school year. Please take a few minutes to watch it and we hope you will be encouraged by what you hear and see in the halls of VCS. After clicking on the link they are three different videos to watch. Choose the first one on the mission of VCS to view the new video but enjoy watching the others if you choose.

http://www.viennachristianschool.org/media

Our First Home Bible Study

We were very excited to host our first Bible Study in our home for some of Thomas' students. We had about 7 kids total. The kids came over after school and we cooked some supper and got to spend some time with the kids just talking about different things. One of the coolest things was that we were able to speak with Rifat for quite a while. Rifat is a Muslim student from Bangladesh. He had several questions about life and especially about marriage and love. He comes from a family where his parent's marriage was arranged and so he was very interested in how we met and "decided" that we were in love. It was a special thing for us to recall our dating years and tell him about how God used all sorts of circumstances to bring us to each other.

The Bible study went really well. We are discussing the idea of an abundant life through a study of the book of Daniel. The kids are really interested in all of the History and prophecy that Thomas has been teaching them about.

We are really excited about this group. Please pray that this will be a study that would encourage these kids to live their lives in a way that makes them available to be used by God.

Piano ministry

These are two of my piano students Madeline and Nathan Schwartz. They are great students and I love teaching them! With a total of three students to teach, I have enjoyed each time I get to come to the school and spend time with them. I'll be taking on another student this week and I'm very excited about this opportunity! It is a new kid that just moved here from Colorado. Pray that I will continue to use my piano skills to minister to these students and help them feel at home here in Vienna. They are a bright part of my week!

SNOW!!! finally :)

Well, we finally got some snow here in good old Austria. It took some time but it sure did come down!
Complete with thunder and lightening, we got a good 4 or more inches!




Thad had a ball playing in it until his fingers got cold!



At one point you couldn't even see outside very well....

"Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow

No other fount I know

Nothing but the blood of Jesus! "

IT'S A BOY!!

That's right...we found out we're having another boy! We wanted to share the news and make sure everyone is praying for us. Two little boys????? What are we gonna do!!!?? :)

We're very excited and think it will be great for Thad to have a little brother!

Late Christmas pics

Well, it was a full holiday for us here in Vienna! With my sister, Brittany, and her husband, Jordan, here for 10 days and a full week of family time after that, we were so thankful for all that we got to do during our break. Thomas didn't have to go back to work until January 8th, so we had a great time being together. Here are some pics of our break and some on Christmas morning.

Taken at a Christmas market

This week (Jan. 8-12) has been so busy with jumping back into the routine and adding a couple extra events in there as well. I (mollie) have been helping with the musical at school everyday this week including staying after school until 6pm. It's been exhausting going in the morning and getting back to get Thad a nap and then head to the school for afternoon practice. But I have to say that this has been the most fun I've had all year! I love getting to know the students and being a part of their school day! So, we're thankful for this opportunity and look forward to the nights we perform on the 18, 19, and 20 of January. Thomas has been enjoying getting lots of time with Thad during this week and you can tell that they are big buddies! God has been good to us and we love what we are doing here at VCS.

Thank you for praying and giving .....we love being in this together with you!

I Thess. 5:24

A Quick note

Some of you have asked if we receive your comments and such on the blog. YES! We love to read everything you post and are so excited when anyone takes time to leave a little note. Thanks so much! Also, you can always email us at molmc1@juno.com . We check it often!

Check out the post below about the goings on in December!

The Giant Gardner Christmas/December Update Post

A Little Christmas Shopping

Well, the Christmas season came upon us early this year (they put up stuff here in mid November). My wife held out as long as she could but had to have a tree in the first part of December and so off I went. The problem is that we don't have a car and the nearest Christmas tree place was like 2 miles away. Being the highly intelligent and enterprising person that I am, I decided to make use of the fact that you basically "rent" shopping carts at the grocery store. So yes, I wheeled a shopping cart two miles each way...yes I did get "You're and idiot looks" from people but what the heck, we got a tree.

Full House

Right before exams, Mollie decided it would be a good idea to do a review session for my 9th graders. I agreed and we ended up have all but two of the kids in the whole grade come to our house for a review. It was really an awesome opportunity as I was able to share a small devotion about the lives of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot (we were studying South America and so we talked about Ecuador and tribal missions within the region). The review game went really well and the kids even asked us to have another party at some point but one that didn't involve school work!
One of the Best Christmas Presents Ever

Jordan and Brittany came to visit and Jordan decided to take me away for a couple of days to Milan, Italy. We walked around the city, ate good Italian food, and just talked alot about my ministry and what God is doing in our lives. The city is beautiful and if you have an opportunity to visit, do so.

Italian Flare

Fortunately I was able to talk Jordan into going with me to the San Siro. For those of you who don't follow European soccer, the San Siro is one of the most famous stadiums in all of Europe. We are able to go and see Inter Milan play Atalanta. It was great because they lived up to every sterotype that I have of Italian soccer fans (especially throwing flares on the fields). Inter won 2-1 and the game was temporarily suspended because the Atalanta fans were throwing flares, bottles, and who knows what else on the field. It was awesome.

Christmas Morning

Mollie will post more about Christmas, but this is Thad getting into his presents. He didn't really need any encouragement to open his presents. It was a great day that was very relaxing.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day was a wonderful day in the Gardner household! With friends and Karen to celebrate with, we had a great feast complete with pecan pie! Not Mississippi Delta pecans....but they did just fine. Turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes and green beans filled the table and we were so grateful for the fellowship, food and something American to celebrate!

Before Thanksgiving day, we were told that there was a turkey purchased for us from the U.S. commissary, a Butterball! A family from the school, their son is on the soccer team, bought us our turkey....thank you God! Well, we had a great time and thought we'd post some pictures of the day. It is different to celebrate your holiday in another country, but fun to have the day off when no one else did.

Blessings to you all and we pray your days are filled with good gifts from Our Lord.

Fall Sports Banquet

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the VCS fall sports banquet was held at the school to honor the students. We had a great dinner and then all the coaches were able to award their teams with certificates and say a word or two about each one. Thomas and his fellow coach Phil really love the team and had a great time hanging out and presenting the awards. Afterwards, the team gave them some fun sports t-shirts with all their signatures on the back. And so, this officially closes the chapter on soccer for the year.....but if Thomas has anything to do with it, I'm sure we'll be back with more updates on the team. :)

Having Fun with Mom!

We are having a wonderful time with my mom! Her visit has been just the pick me up we needed and so good to see a familiar face from home! Of course Thad is enjoying himself thoroughly and loves the fact that "KK" is sleeping in his room. Here are some pictures of her time here and we hope to have tons more fun and fellowship in the next two weeks. As Thanksgiving approaches, we are very aware of our blessings and we are truly thankful to have Karen here to celebrate with us!

Trying on KK's shoes!

Karen at the Naschmarkt

Getting tickled by KK

Eating out in the downtown area in an old underground restaurant

Think they're having fun?