Just another November

November typically brings cooler weather here in Vienna, but we still made it out to our forest a couple times at the beginning of the month to work on the kids' forest hide-outs/forts.  We LOVE living next to nature.  It is really something amazing to be on the edge of the city.  We are full of gratitude.

Here is Nathanael guarding the entrance to his fort.

Eva posing beautifully in her fort

An exciting addition to our tiny backyard:  A bird feeder!

Now if only the birds would discover it...

This month Gregory served in a special service at our church focused on worship through song.  It was a great opportunity for our church to give more time to worshiping God through music, and the team did a spectacular job leading us!

 Nathanael had an awesome opportunity to be part of a science workshop this month, and he even was able to perform some of the experiments on stage with the scientists who also have their own tv show here.  It was really entertaining.  We laughed a lot and were wowed by the presentations!

 Eva and Mom have fun regularly expressing beauty in our creativity, this time with face paint and a bracelet. :)

This was the extent of our Thanksgiving feast this year!  With two kids in school, a typical afternoon of homework, and typical work demands such as music practice and teaching prep, we weren't able to do anything very significant this time.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spain Retreat

I had the incredible opportunity this month to lead worship for a group of ladies with our organization for a retreat/conference in Spain.  It was a stretching experience for me to lead as I did so with a guitar this time.  (I missed how comfortable I am on my keyboard!)  Still, I did it, and that is something, right?  I personally connected with God and the ladies through the music and am hopeful I was not the only one.  Still, the highlights for me were seeing dear friends, such as my dear sister Krishana below, and taking walks along the beach!

 This guy greeted us each morning at breakfast.

 One day it was crazy windy, and the waves were intense!

 One afternoon, I took a 1.5 hour walk to a nearby town, found a Tex-Mex restaurant for lunch and ate a Chimichanga, and then walked back.  The walk was stunning.

 

 And flying over the Alps is always amazing.

Happy Halloween!

Living in a new neighborhood meant getting to introduce Nathanael to trick-or-treating for the first time!  A friend from school and Scouts invited us to join him in this tradition, and we cautiously said yes for Nathanael.  (Trick-or-treating here is not so common, and the holiday tends to be "celebrated" in a much darker way than it generally is celebrated for kids in the States.)  So Dad took our pirate out to find the participating Halloweeners in our neighborhood!  We did our best to find some pumpkins to carve as well, which was not an easy task!  The normal pumpkins here are not the best for carving, but we managed to find little ones that would work.