Mother/Son Date Weekend

Gregory's off at a three-day conference with BAO, so Nathanael and I are having an extra special date weekend together.  I sure love this guy!  I'm going to miss all the one-on-one time we've been getting.  Once Miss Evangeline arrives, our lives will definitely change!

Women's Retreat in Italy

Gregory blessed me in March by making it possible for me to attend a Women's Retreat through our organization.  I was gone five days, flew to Rome, took the train to a lake a couple hours away, and spent the entire time gaining physical and spiritual refreshment and rest.  Oh, and the food was absolutely amazing.  And I didn't have to make it or clean it up!  Nathanael and Gregory held down the fort back in Vienna.  I'm so thankful for this gift!

The timing was a gift from God, as it allowed me a few days to think about, pray about, and prepare myself for the coming changes with the end of pregnancy and welcoming another child into our family.  Through the unique, reflective format of the retreat, God led me through addressing a handful of fears and anxieties that will likely continue to surface with the upcoming stresses and changes, especially my limitations in them.  And He gave me a sentence prayer to "breathe" to remind me of who I am in Him and His promise to carry me through:  I rest in Your embrace, free to be Yours, Elohim, my Everything.  This prayer is packed full of meaning for me, from Scripture and experiences that have been impressionable over decades.  I am excited to have this tool to use to claim Truth and center my heart and mind on Christ.

What to say after over six months of silence

Gregory is out having drinks with a friend.  I should be going to bed; rather, I should be asleep right now.  But instead my heart and mind want to blog.  So here goes.  It's been over half a year.  So much has happened.  It is impossible to "catch up" this blog, but I can still share my heart.

The last time I posted here, we'd just moved into our apartment in Vienna, and life was looking as if it might settle a bit.  And about a month later, it did.  For about three weeks, before morning sickness hit hard. :)  God has indeed blessed us with a lasting pregnancy, and we are immensely thankful and hopeful in Him to bring this little girl into our arms in June.  October, November, and December of 2012 were some of my most difficult months, simply trying to make it through each day, exhausted and overwhelmed by all of the discomforts and difficulties of a trying first trimester while taking care of Nathanael and attempting to not lose all of the German I'd learned.  Still in the midst of that, God upheld us by His right hand, carried us faithfully through, and brought us into a new season.  We had a wonderful visit from family over the holidays which carried us through the last couple weeks of sickness.

January and February were months of intense growth for me as I dove into full-time German classes again.  I absolutely loved how much progress I was making, especially after three months of barely surviving, but it was difficult to see so many things at home falling by the wayside because I simply had no time nor energy to give outside of German class and homework.

And here we are at the beginning of March.  The sun has been shining now for a few days, the snow has melted, and I feel the awakening of Spring with all of the new life and growth it brings.  Nathanael and I went out yesterday afternoon and walked around aimlessly for a couple hours, stopping at three different playgrounds along the way.  It was wonderful.  I myself also feel freed by this new season, freed to simply enjoy being mom to my son, freed to take time to accomplish some necessary tasks at home, freed to pursue growth in German in some more personal areas of interest, and freed to allow my mind and heart to walk around aimlessly, to think and dream and be.  Evidence:  I'm actually writing a blog post.  That has to be a good sign.

I know that one more month of full-time German classes awaits me in April.  I know that the discomforts of pregnancy are going to only intensify in the next few months.  I know that having an infant and becoming a family of four are going to be more difficult than I can imagine.  But right now, I am choosing to savor these few days of thriving instead of simply surviving.  And I'm looking back on God's abundant faithfulness and provision through the storms with a heart full of gratitude and joy.

Residence permit photos, year 2

I had to post our new residence permit photos, since the photos for our first year were so hilarious!

Doesn't Nathanael look pitiful this time?!  Here are some of my favorite attempts with him this year.  He wasn't real into it, as you can see.

I'm curious to see how pitiful Evangeline's photos will be, since we'll have to take them when she's only a week old!

Fun in the Snow

We all enjoyed a large amount of snow this winter!

Nathanael's favorite thing to do with snow: eat it!

My 32nd Birthday

This was my first birthday to have an awesome almost-three-year-old help me make my cake.  He was most interested in the "clean-up" part, especially with the icing. :)  We had fun making memories together and then showing Dad our mess!

Gregory organized care for Nathanael and took me out for a delicious Italien dinner that night.  Going-out dates are so infrequent for us that it made my birthday extra special this year!

Kindergarten!

We received a surprise call in February from the Kindergarten across the street.  They had a family move away and called to offer Nathanael the spot for the remainder of the year!  We were stunned, prayed a lot about it, and then celebrated this answer to prayer for Nathanael to attend half-day Kindergarten (pre-school)!  We'd thought he'd have to wait until September.  Here's our big boy on his first day.

And his second day was Fasching (kids dress in costumes), so we put him in this cool shirt, which he loved.  The kids got to eat apricot-jelly-filled donuts too.  Not a bad way to begin Kindergarten!

April update:
He adjusted really well at first, went through a few weeks of difficulty, and then slowly readjusted and worked up to his current attendance of three hours in the morning.  He loves going, loves his teachers, classmates, activities.  He frequently asks in the afternoon if he can go again.  And he's picking up tons of German, which was one of our biggest reasons for sending him.  Praise God!

Here are some pictures his teachers gave us after his April birthday party: