Enjoying Autumn Indoors

We've spent a bit more time indoors these last couple weeks.  The kids have really been into reading on their cars recently.  Hey, I'm thrilled!  It's active for their minds and hands and also somewhat of a quieter activity!  Win win win!

 

Look who is blowing kisses!

And discovering the joys of crayons

This is another one of my kids' favorite activities:  rearranging the living room cushions and pillows to create forts and caves and houses and cars and...and...and...

All the pictures with Nathanael were too blurry to post.  Figures.

This was simply a normal morning at our home.  Breakfast while listening to music videos.  They're really into Rend Collective right now.

My little monkey.  "I really wasn't playing with the cord, Mom."

Sabbath Afternoon Musings

No residence permits yet.  I guess our sovereign God has a different plan than I do.  Imagine that! ;)  We continue to ask Him to make a way for us to stay here in Austria past the end of July, but we also know He may desire us to spend some time in Turkey in the interim.  Still, I am asking, daily, that this would be the day we receive our letter of confirmation (excluding Sundays and holidays without mail, of course).  I feel very ready, for so many reasons, to rent a place and make it our own...to truly settle here in Vienna...  I wonder if that's what God has for us...

I find myself sitting down to write a blog post but with little knowledge of what I will write.  Sunday afternoons are quickly becoming one of many favorite points in the week.  On Sunday afternoon, I set aside all work, all studying, all household duties, and I simply rest.  Today I picked up Pride and Prejudice and read a few chapters.  It was utterly entertaining.

And shortly I will take some time to journal and reflect on the last month or so and how we have seen God among us during this time.  For Nathanael's first Christmas, as Gregory and I were thinking and praying over what Christmas traditions we wanted to begin, we decided to gift our children every year with an Immanuel Journal -- a recollection of ways we have seen God working among and through our family over the past year.  We've only been keeping it for a year and a half now, but it truly is a blessing to take some time every other month or so and reflect on God's evident work.  We pray God will use this family tradition to give all of us a greater aptitude to see Him in our lives and look for Him and speak about Him.

Finally, I must briefly post about our yesterday.  We headed out in the morning to the Danube Island and had a long Saturday family walk, with a brief stop at a large playground.  At points we almost felt we were walking along Memorial Drive in Boston.  Almost.  Our new city continues to delight us with its appreciation for natural recreation.  And we can't wait for our container to come someday along with our bikes!  This city is such a biking city, and we're anxious to explore together by bike!

Tomorrow begins another week of language study.  I'm excited to see what God has for me to learn this week.  Last week, I learned how to make statements with "because", "that" clauses, and "if/then" sentences!  Do you realize how much of a difference that makes in my ability to communicate with someone?!  It's huge!  I completely remember discovering each of those grammatical forms in Turkish and the growth in friendships that resulted from being able to take one step further in our depth of communication.  "Thank you, God, for slowly, yet truly, giving us the ability to communicate in a new language."  Now maybe I should go study my vocabulary a bit more...

Two happy people

I'm not sure which one loves books more...nor which one loves these moments more...

A Funny Bedtime Story

Hmmmm... Somehow I'm not sure this bedtime story is really soothing him to sleep. :) At least they're having fun!

(over a month old, from early February)

Books, and more books

I think Nathanael learned how to organize his books from his daddy.

Okay, maybe Greg is a little more organized than that.

Bonding over Books

And the newspaper too

Great Book in Turkish!

This is awesome news! Maybe I should pick up a copy and work on my Turkish that way...

Enthralled with God's great global purposes

Over the past few months, I've been reading Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I've been taking it slowly to try and really take in each chapter. I originally picked it up because of the second to last chapter called "Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5," which I highly recommend. But in order to better understand the logic in that chapter, I started from the beginning. Now on the final chapter, I simply had to share a grouping of verses Piper emphasizes that mean so much to me.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. (Psalm 22:27-28)

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! . . . Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." (Psalm 96:3, 10)

Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand." (Romans 15:20-21)

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you [O Christ] to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:9-10)

God's faithfulness in my relationships

One of my biggest prayers for myself the past couple of months has been that I would be able to continue building into relationships throughout this crazy season at work (mid August - early November). God has been abundantly faithful in providing me with the motivation and energy to do this, and I want to share some of the ways He's been answering those prayers.

• A Tuesday evening off from band practice so we could meet Eliot and Jessie for dinner at Chick-Fil-A. We hadn't gotten together since MAY! Our long-term passions are quite aligned, and it's always fun to share and dream together.
• Dinner with Lindsey in Beacon Hill. A sweet time of sharing our joys and struggles with careers and marriage and many other things.
• A four hour hike with Ryan & Janine last Saturday. Great conversation, much needed exercise, and an awesome place to hike nearby - Blue Hills Reservation. Greg & I are thrilled to get to lead a community group this fall with this special couple.
• Bible study with Katie and Connie. What a blessing to share life so deeply with two amazing women!
• Women's September book study at church - We're discussing Noel Piper's book on women of extraordinary faith. God has opened a little door for me to lead the ladies in worship through a song or two now and then, and I've LOVED being able to serve in that way again. It's also been fun to get to know a few newer women at the church.
• Dinner with Nick & Deborah, our newlywed friends. They're so adorable; we love that we live so close to them!
• Connecting a little more and a little more deeply with some gals serving in the church band.
• Breakfast with Dan & Ann. Good times catching up, getting excited about community groups beginning and serving the church band together this week.
• And then of course with work being so crazy, it means more time with co-workers. I've been having fun getting to know some colleagues more these past two weeks. And I love the lunch breaks and Dunkin Donuts runs that keep us going!

I feel overwhelmingly thankful for how God has sustained me through the past month and enabled me to live a thriving life instead of barely surviving. It's only through Him.

Did you receive our newsletter?

I tried to figure out a way to post our newsletter in blogger, and I kept running into roadblocks with publishing a pdf. So if you have not received our letter and would like it, shoot me an email at kimber.king@gmail.com and I'll send it your way. I had a lot of fun creating it (and making Greg read and edit it).

Let me know what you think! I wouldn't be surprised if it takes us another three years to do this again! Ugh!

In other news, Drew & Carrie arrive in less than 48 hours!!!

Thunder, Bells, Books, & Babies

A few things have happened or been on my mind this week that I wanted to blog about so here goes.

1. Summer Thunderstorms.  To my amazement, the last 2+ weeks have had almost daily thunderstorms.  I even had to find shelter walking home from work once last week due to hail!  And it hailed again today.  I admittedly love these summer thunderstorms though I do lament the problems the excess rainfall causes to many basements, gardens, etc.  Over my lunch break today, I sat by a window and simply marveled at our creator God who not only designs these majestic displays but is so much more magnificent Himself than even the most glorious thunderstorm!
2. Kettlebells.  Among the random things I saw on television while staying at the Providence Biltmore a couple weeks ago was a brief clip on the benefits of kettlebell workouts.  It's effective; it looked fun; I was sold.  So I randomly found time to purchase my 15 lb (the approx. recommended weight for non-athletic woman) kettlebell last week, and it truly is a ton of fun (and a ton of work).  Youtube has been my friend in finding new ways to use this weight.  Now I just need to work on adjusting my eating habits.  Why is it that I felt less guilty eating a big bowl of ice cream a few hours after I used the kettlebell?  Shouldn't it be the other way around?
3. Two great books.  A few weeks back I picked up a good book at B&N which I have almost finished -- Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels.  It is quite introductory, but as I was just looking to infuse some additional encouragement, accountability, and tidbits of advice from a seasoned and respected brother, I have found it wonderfully beneficial.  My greatest take-away thus far is the encouragement to make time for solitude and stillness to actively listen to and speak with the Lord.  The second book is one I picked up tonight at B&N by John Stott -- The Living Church.  I'm about a third of the way through, and I love his word picture of a biblical church in a culture moving from modernism to post-modernism.  Living in Boston and working at Tufts, I find Stott's reminders of the Church's mission refreshing and much-needed.  Relativism and tolerance are preached excessively in my world, and I struggle with knowing how to live the life of Christ authentically here.
4. Babies.  Some of you know how deeply I long to start a family with Greg.  It's funny how that desire seems overwhelmingly strong and urgent at times and at other times I'm able to live with it somewhat passively.  Well, the past week has been exclusively the former.  I'm sure that's been somewhat influenced by baby Eden's recent arrival, but it's also surfaced much as Greg and I have been seeking God's leadership for life post-graduation.  I find it sad how I sense my need to be listening to the Spirit so much more when major life decisions are looming...but if this will help me grow more in my commitment to deepening my relationship with God, then I'm thankful.

Has it really almost been a month since I've posted anything?  Wow, that's crazy.  Highlights I can remember off the top of my head:

• Greg finished another semester of grad school.  Only three, no four more to go - summer, fall, spring, summer.  Quick story from his last day - we went out to Outback to celebrate after he turned in his papers.  As soon as we sat down, he said, "Guess what?  I have something to show you." And then he proceeded to pull out a huge Hebrew textbook from his bag with a silly excited look on his face.  He had bought it at the bookstore on campus when he turned in his papers.  I sighed, laughed, and then thanked God that I have no doubt he's in the right program.  On to learning Hebrew this summer!
• Carrie and Drew set a date to visit Boston!  Wahoo!  They'll come at the end of July, so that gives me about two months to make big plans for our time and find the right futon.
• Some good friends let us know they're leaving Boston in a few weeks.  We will miss them dearly!
• I got to help throw an amazing baby shower for two other friends!  (Thanks Kelli and Megan for letting me help a little!)  It was so much fun to celebrate little Eden with Bryan and Katie.  And we're so excited to meet her in a few weeks!
• Andrew & Angie left for New Zealand, and these have been the longest couple weeks ever!  We miss them so much and are hoping they don't pull an "Andrew" and not come back to Boston!
• Related to Andrew & Angie leaving, I borrowed their Season One set of Gilmore Girls...too cute!  I'm halfway through Season Two now, and I've noticed that I may be talking a little faster and making wittier and more random comments than before.  Unfortunately, they do not own Season Three!  Ah!
• Economic stimulus deposit occurred - will almost cover next month's rent!
• On the work front, I've been drowning in end-of-year stats.  But I think I may have closed out some really big reports today, so that is somewhat of a relief.  One of my favorite student assistants graduates on Sunday, and it's going to be sad to see her go.  I was requesting vacation days for when Drew & Carrie visit in July, and it hit me how fast this summer is going to fly at work with all of the conferences and random meetings scattered throughout.  Before I know it, the fall semester will be staring me in the face!

Enough random musing for one night.  See why I haven't blogged in a while?  Now can you tell me that you were anxious to read any of that?!  Well, have a marvelous evening/morning/day!

Please stay, Spring!

It is a gorgeous day today in Boston! I think it's supposed to reach mid-60s! I even wore capris today, and we turned off our heat in our apartment! For lunch, I took my grilled panini to the patio and basked in the sunshine while I ate. Then I grabbed an ice cold coke and took a brief stroll around campus. I dodged the frisbees and walked around the classes meeting outside and students studying and hanging out on the grass. The president's lawn was packed full of students sunbathing and trying to take advantage of this incredible weather for as long as it lasts! Unfortunately, my favorite bench by the tennis courts was occupied, but I envisioned the many summer days soon approaching when I will claim the bench as mine for my lunch break. I can hardly wait! For a city that sees winter almost half the year, we are sure ready for Spring and Summer to stay!

Small steps

Quite a few posts back I asked for prayer as Greg and I try to find new ways to meet the Lord together. Well, as a small (yet big) answer to that prayer, we ran into a Couple's Study Bible (or something like that) at a Barnes & Nobles a couple weeks back.

Side note: I actually came home from work one day and was craving suburbia! Craving Suburbia?! So we made a date out of it and drove up to an On the Border and then hung out at a HUGE B&N for the evening. It was quite refreshing and fun! I think "craving suburbia" is a sign of getting old...

Back to the Bible... Greg had been talking with our friend Eliot a little and asked him about how they spend time with God together, what works for them, etc. And Eliot's advice was to start small. So when we saw the short devotions at B&N, we decided to give it a try. Now, we're not great about sticking to it every day. (We're both chronic snooze addicts.) But we've been able to somewhat consistently read together, talk through things together, pray together, and more purposely choose to share Life together. It's been wonderful!

Thanks, Greg, for leading us to God together!

Thanks, all of you, for helping us start small through your prayers a while back!

Long Overdue - A Holiday Letter/Update of Sorts

It feels like forever since I've actually posted anything of substance. I'm guessing most of you have been just as busy as us the past month and so hopefully nothing has been missed too much. I had grand ideas to send out some Christmas cards this month and then I thought, maybe New Year's cards, and now I'm feeling good that I'm finally blogging. So oh well. Maybe next year...

December highlights - I started my new position at the beginning of the month. I spent much of December screening applicants, interviewing, and helping make the final selection for my replacement on top of learning my new job and keeping up with the old job. A new friend from church will actually be starting with us this coming Monday, and I am extremely excited to work with her every day. Welcome to Tufts Career Services, Janine! I'm so ready to hand over my old job to Janine so I can finally focus on one job instead of barely pulling off two! And the timing could not be much tighter as the Spring semester at Tufts begins in a little over a week.

Greg completed ALL of his Fall coursework in December, and the relief he felt was quite awesome. He had intended to only take two classes this fall as he is working part-time at our church as the lead worshipper, and he was also teaching a few lectures and continuing to prepare coursework throughout the semester for a class at Gordon College. So when he ended up with three courses last semester, he found himself completely overloaded trying to make it to the end of the semester! We're so thankful for how God sustained him through it all and protected our relationship in the midst of all the stress!

Ayse (eye'-sheh) continued to break many things throughout the house, mostly ornaments this past month. She was fascinated with our tree. Yet she's still as cute as ever, and we can't imagine how quiet and boring our home would be without her.

Greg & I flew to Erie, PA mid-December for an early Christmas with my family - Dad & Mom, Drew & Carrie. It was wonderful to be together as always. I absolutely adore my family! :) Greg and I enjoyed playing with Drew & Carrie's two labs and continue to want a dog one day should we ever have a yard! Drew & Carrie got a lot of teasing from the four of us about when they'd be ready to expand our family! LOL! I'm so glad I'm not the oldest sibling! Dad & Mom are doing extremely well. I hope Greg & I can be just like them when we've been married as long as them!

After returning to our beloved home in Medford, Mass, we only had a couple days before our second family Christmas with Greg's side. Mike & Mary flew in the Friday before Christmas, and it was likely the most relaxing Christmas I have ever had. It was a little chilly and snowy in Medford, so we stayed in most of the days, reading, watching movies, playing games, eating tons, sharing gifts, and just soaking up all the time together we could get. It was our first Christmas to all be together and our first Christmas with Andrew as part of the family. We're so thankful to have the two of them close by (literally a few doors down).

We had a wonderful New Year's Celebration this year. With Andrew, Angie, and some friends from church, we hit Boston for Boston's "First Night" celebration. Greg & I visited the Mappariam, ate some McDonalds french fries, walked around Copley Square, toured the Boston Public Library, bought a book at Borders, looked at ice sculptures and watched ice skating in Boston Common, ate my favorite pizza from The Upper Crust (with Dr. Pepper of course), watched the 7pm family-friendly fireworks in the Common with the group, toured a really old cool home, got really cold, and then joined some friends for a fun indoor party of incredible food and fun games. Even saw the 12am fireworks from their apartment window. What a great day! I think we slept until noon on New Year's Day!

Enough writing (can you tell I've been going through blog withdrawal). Here are plenty of pictures for you to peruse. You may notice that the quality of photos is much higher than normal - my family got us a new WORKING camera for Christmas! Wahoo!

TREE DECORATING WITH "ANGDREW"

Our first ever real Christmas Tree - can you believe neither of us had ever had a real one before?!

Andrew & Angie found this ornament for us on their honeymoon in Maine. You can't really see the coloring in this picture, but it looks exactly like our little kitten!

GIMPLE-SHAFFER-KING FAMILY CHRISTMAS

KING - KING - BRYAN FAMILY CHRISTMAS

Greg & I ran out on Christmas Eve to buy him two of his Christmas presents - the hat below and the larger gauge piercing in his ear. :) (Thanks Shaffers for chipping in for the hat!)

Andrew is now our family computer fixer guy. I'm not so sure he's thrilled about this new title, but I know Mary's computer and both of ours are thankful to have him in the family!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to all! We love you and miss many of you so very much!

Saturday morning

I'm having one of those Saturday mornings that I love! I'm currently sitting bundled (it's a little chilly in here) cross-legged at our table in the kitchen typing away on our beloved Mac while Greg's playing and singing one of my favorite songs - Marvelous Light. I got to sleep in this morning and woke up in a great mood! I've spent the past two hours procrastinating what needs to be done by looking at emails, facebook, and blogs. How fun! I even added labels to our posts - finally! I keep asking Greg when he's going to start writing on our blog (I know our readership will triple with all his deep and witty thoughts). Today he said, "I could blog about everything I have to do today." Okay, so maybe he's not ready yet. But he will be soon! And then he'll be just as addicted as I am to this world of blogging.

So it's really interesting to add labels to posts. It really makes me realize that I want to add more on certain subjects - books, Turkey, spiritual thoughts, dear friends, etc. Will it happen? I don't know. We shall see.

I hope you are having (or had, depending on when you read this) a marvelous Saturday morning and are as excited as I am about the upcoming American holiday of thankfulness! I can't wait! (Oh, and it's Mom's birthay too! What a cool day Thursday will be!)

My next plug

My next plug is for an author at our church, Dr. Jeff Brown (see picture below - nice looking fellow, eh?), who just released a book. BEFORE we went to the concert tonight, we went to a special reception held at the Harvard Faculty Club to celebrate Jeff and his book. My favorite point of the night? Getting to hold their son Grant. (I think he's 1.5? I want one just like that!) Greg's favorite part? The coffee and cheesecake and pretending he's a Harvard Professor. No, not really. We both enjoyed the opportunity to encourage and support Jeff and Carolynne and were honored they invited us to this special occasion. Check out his book - www.drjeffbrown.com - and get yourself a copy!

Worship

I was reading a book this morning our pastor gave Greg. It's on worship. Actually, the writing itself was quite dry. But God really spoke to me through it (or rather the 30+ pages of it that I've read), reminding me of an essential perspective -- His character. The author states that worship is our necessary response to God. It's true. How can we know what we know about God's character and not worship Him? Good reminder for me. I've been pretty overwhelmed with my own repeated sinfulness recently. And I just needed reminded that looking at God is the better way to live. Just a little comment for ya tonight...

Greg & I went out for dessert this afternoon, and I meant to take a picture and forgot. Oh well, I promise we'll have more pictures of people! (If you want to see adorable baby/kid pictures, there're a plethera of choices to the right.)

Racism

Greg & I are taking a class together this semester - Christianity & the Problem of Racism. (Don't tell, but I'm actually sitting in the class right now.) It's been an incredible opportunity for us to confront, discuss, and get involved together in a major U.S. issue. Two of the books we've read for the course already (okay, so Greg really read them; I just read the reviews...) have been incredible eye-openers for me to from where this awful issue or racism comes and how deceived the conservative consensus today is regarding the status of racism in our country. (If you're interested in either of these perspectives, I'd highly recommend these books -- Racism: A Short History by George Frederickson (2003) and Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society, Univ. of California Press (2005) written by a group of authors, professors, politicians, etc.) It definitely makes us think...and dream and plan...about how to be a part of the reconciliation instead of inactive by-standers and thus part of the problem.

Last night in class, we spent a good deal of time looking at how the Bible often deals with sin, the crucifixion, and reconciliation in corporate terms. Our American culture (and often-times our Christian culture) has focused so heavily on individualism to the exclusion of our corporate identities. (My love for community and experience living in a less-individualistic country definitely cheered for this lecture/discussion!) As a white Christian, what does this mean for me? My obligation to reach out to the victims of the Holocaust, Apartheid, African American Slavery, and now the racism that thus remains in the U.S. today? My obligation to even apologize? Something to think about, friends. Something to lay before the throne of our Lord and be ready to do whatever necessary to show God's heart of love and reconciliation...