Two Teeth and Still Counting

Our sixteen-month-old finally popped his first tooth this past week, with his second close behind.  I'm suspicous that he understood the doctor a couple weeks ago when he threatened a visit to the dentist for x-rays since we hadn't seen any yet.  It is a little strange to go so long without teeth, but it sure has not held him back in eating!  One awesome advantage of him being this old: Nathanael was actually the one to tell me he had a tooth!  That's right; I had taught him about teeth and told him constantly that he should tell me when he had one.  And the day of, he kept looking at me and pointing to his mouth.  We were so excited and made up a tooth dance and everything!  I must say that I am hugely relieved that we don't have to make an appointment with a pediatric dentist to check on the existence of his teeth.  (We are thankful for God's timing!)  Not only was I not looking forward to fitting that into all of our traveling (nor the cost!), but let's be realistic; that would not be a fun appointment for any of us.  Nathanael does NOT sit still long enough for x-rays!

The next photo like this will show teeth!

In other news, Gregory heads to Detroit tomorrow.  I'll join him alone on Sunday to visit a church, and then we're back again for a few weeks before taking off as a family for Boston on Friday, September 16th.  I make no promises about another blog post for a while!

Video clips - Cheerios, corn, cars, sprinklers...

This is more for the grandparents and aunts than anyone else, but if you like watching youtube video clips of Nathanael, I've posted a few more in the past month.  Simply follow the link:  http://www.youtube.com/yekings.  My favorite is the most recent one of him eating his cheerios and milk with a spoon.  Who knew you could fit so many cheerios on a tiny spoon?!  Of course, eating corn on the cob is pretty cute too...

Tractors and Food

While Dad has been away, we've stayed busy playing with tractors...

(With Grandpa at the farm where he grew up)

(Wishing Dad were home to take him for a ride)

...and playing with food.

(Helping Grandma can tomatoes)

(Rolling around a sweet potato)

Waiting expectantly

A friend recently brought this verse to my attention.  (Thanks, E!)

"But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me."

It is from Micah 7, verse 7.

During Ramadan, as I pray for my Muslim friends for the eleventh year, I find myself asking, pleading, "How long, oh Lord?  How long will they remain in darkness?  Bring forth your light!"  Something about this statement from Micah -- in the midst of the dark and desolated, seemingly hopeless lives around him -- something about his words gives me great strength.  I know that I am not alone in my pleas.  Many others join with me in crying out for God to bring His light into their lives.  I am determined to press on -- as Micah did -- in faith and wait for God to show Himself as only He can -- worthy of all glory and honor and praise, worthy of their lives.  And I trust that my friends will one day see and believe and intimately know this all glorious God.

source: http://faithsteps.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/not-constantinople/istanbul-sunrise/

In six days...

In six days, Greg will return.  And we'll have many more opportunities to take pictures like this:

and this

and this

and this,

and this.

It sure is difficult to go without a husband and dad for 17 days!!!

How to stay cool in this summer heat

I thought about looking up the number of days we've had excessive heat in the last month (we're talking multiple weeks with temperatures hanging around 105), but then I decided that would be semi-depressing.  Instead, I'll share a few pictures from the past month to show you how Nathanael has managed to stay cool (or rather have fun being hot) in this summer heat.

Run through a sprinkler and play in the mud

Stay inside and watch Dad swelter outside

Go to the lake in the early morning hours

Find a shaded park and take cute pictures

Pretend to be a lemur

Somehow they keep cool, so why not?!

I know something beautiful awaits us.

I've been spending a few nights recently looking into apartments in Vienna.  Greg's in Boston, and that means no one is telling me that I should be going to bed.  So I lose myself in taking in all the information I can on the city to which we will relocate soon.  It's a time-consuming project, apartment hunting in a foreign language!  I pour over our German-English dictionary (Thanks, Nick & Deb!) looking up key words such as commission and deposit and central heating. :)

In some ways, it has been encouraging.  I am learning so much...about the different districts of Vienna, about the cost of apartments, about how heating and electricity works (though I don't quite have that one figured out).  I'm also discovering that it's not likely we'll find an apartment within budget that has an extra room for an office/guestroom/2nd kid's room.  Though that's somewhat disappointing, it's helpful to have that frame of mind going into the move rather than being stunned by rental costs when we arrive.

It is somewhat strange moving to a city I've never visited.  I guess our move to Boston in 2006 was similar, unless you count my 8th grade history trip.  We had no idea what parts of the city we could afford or where we would work or where our church community would be located or what would even be a good fit for us.  But even though Boston was somewhat foreign to us, it wasn't really foreign-foreign.  Vienna is a new city, a new language, a new culture, a new community, a new job...  It is exciting, and it is a little crazy too.

I do not know where we will live in Vienna nor how life will play out for us in those first few years, but I do know one thing:  God is our provider.  He has a great plan to bring glory to His Name through our lives lived in the place He has called us to be.  He will set us up in an apartment that will enable us to pour out our lives for Him - into each other, into our neighbors, into a community of Christ-followers, into the Turkish immigrants who may also feel somewhat out of place in Vienna...  I am so excited to see how God turns all of this craziness into something beautiful.

Schönbrunn Gardens, Vienna
source: http://www.benoa.net/austria/vienna/pages/Vienna-07.html