We're not in Kansas anymore...

Our life has changed a LOT in the last month. And some of those changes we are still experiencing for the first time!

Our new (to us) car

First, we purchased our first car in Austria. After not owning a car for 4 years, it's been a new experience to navigate car ownership in a new country. And to get used to getting around in a vehicle again! (I have yet to learn how to drive a stick shift car...so more changes to come!)

After the car, we signed a lease on a townhouse outside of Vienna and started the moving process.

Holding up the house keys! 

Signing the lease!

Now, we are living in the townhouse and beginning to feel settled. But the changes keep coming! Although we are living just a kilometer from the border of Vienna, we can definitely say we are not in Kansas anymore. Living in the town of Gerasdorf feels completely different than our former city life.

Here are just a few things we are getting used to...

• People are kinder and friendlier here! A lot! The Viennese do not have a reputation for being very polite or offering a very high standard of customer service. We got very used to this. But so far, nearly every service person we've interacted with in Gerasdorf has been polite and helpful. Each time, we've been so surprised by it. Today, we went to register at the local government office and the women working there were so kind and friendly. They emphasized that we could call anytime if we have questions and they even cracked jokes! We commented on the difference between our experience here and in Vienna, and they promptly said, "Yes, we hope it's different. That's something we're very proud of." The people of Gerasdorf appreciate having access to a big city, but living in a small town...and they show it through their kindness.

• Bugs! It is very uncommon to have windows here in Austria with screens on them to keep bugs out. In the city, this was absolutely no problem and a few flies here and there never hurt anyone. But here, there are more bugs and bigger bugs and at night, especially after a hot day, opening the windows can mean insect galore. I had mosquito bites after just a few days and Ellie got her first, as well. Guess we have to be more strategic around here in the summer about window opening!

• We have to be more strategic with going shopping and getting places. Thankfully, we can still walk to the post office, grocery store, bakery and pharmacy. But anywhere else requires a little more planning or a car trip. The bus only runs every 20 minutes, so we don't get home as quickly. We don't mind, but it's an adjustment. The other day, I was in the city for a doctor's appointment and proceeded to get errands done at 6 or 7 different stores, just because I wasn't sure when my next opportunity would be. This is a new experience!

• We can see the city skyline from here, but from quite a long distance. Otherwise, we can see other houses, apartments and a big open field. No more busy streets and tall buildings!

• Having a house is a bit different than an apartment. We are still getting used to climbing up and down flights of stairs (and trying to remember to bring something upstairs so you don't have to climb the stairs over and over again). We are dealing with water heater issues and mowing the grass in the yard. Mozzy is also adjusting. He has yet to poop in the yard, and we're not sure when he is going to figure out that he's allowed to...so we have to keep taking him out on walks. Having a house is a HUGE blessing, but it comes with some lifestyle changes!

• We have more space for our family and for ministry. We finally have enough storage space for our baby things, outdoor equipment and many other items, that were previously very difficult to access in our basement storage locker. We feel less crammed and have more space to entertain and show hospitality. We have space for our growing family. We are very thankful that God has provided this larger space that seems to be a better fit for us and for the work we hope to do here.

Our Vision for Church Planting

We are excited to share our vision for church planting with you this month! This video was produced by a talented WorldVenture media team that visited us last month. They helped us put together a piece that encapsulates our new church planting project and upcoming transition into this new type of ministry. We hope you enjoy it, and we welcome questions and comments!

Transition to "Rural Living"

Our new home - the town of Gerasdorf

As we wrote in our last update, we are preparing to relocate for our first church plant. We have known for almost a year that the northern part of Vienna (the 21st District) would be the target area for our church planting project and when we returned from our home assignment, we started looking for housing.

It turned out to be quite difficult to find something in the city close to our target region.

Townhouse kitchen

Most of the housing there was limited and there weren't any houses for rent in our price range. We were able to give up the search and wait until the spring to relocate, but then we decided to look just outside of Vienna, in a small town called Gerasdorf bei Wien. Gerasdorf is just over the border and offers trains and buses to the last subway station of the U1 in Vienna, so it's a direct suburb of the city.  There was more available there and because it's not as urban, options tended to be houses and townhouses, rather than apartments.

We are excited to share that we found a townhouse that seems like it will be a good fit for our ministry and our family. We have not signed a lease yet (still negotiating the details), but we have a signed offer agreement regarding the rental amount which is pretty binding. So we officially feel comfortable sharing this news.

We are excited about moving into this townhouse for a variety of reasons:

Back of townhosue with terrace and balcony

• It is only 1 kilometer from the Vienna border and the area we'd like to focus on for church planting
• The townhouse has a small yard for grilling and entertaining, plus an open layout downstairs. Both will allow us to host bible studies and show hospitality more easily than we can now
• The townhouse can be reached by bus without paying an extra fee for in-Vienna travel (it is inside the same "zone"), which means it won't cost extra for anyone to get to us
• We can still walk to one grocery store and bakery. This was important to us!
• We will have enough space now to accommodate an office for Nate & a guest sleeping area (basement) and three bedrooms for our family. We hope to be in this house for a long time!
• Moving to a suburban area means we are going to buy a car. This opens up new options for us in terms of getting around, travelling and accessibility
• We will have more storage space, which will be a wonderful blessing to our family. It has been hard to find space in our apartment for baby toys, clothes, suitcases and camping/climbing equipment. Soon, we will more easily be able to access these things!



Townhouse backyard  and garden shed

• We will have space for some "luxury items" that I've been dreaming about, such as a dryer and a deep freezer (since European fridges/freezers are small, this will allow me to freeze meals before the baby comes or buy food in bulk, taking advantage of sale items)

We have found a potential car to purchase and will soon be busy packing, disassembling furniture, taking down light fixtures and getting ready for the big move. We will have both our apartment and the townhouse in September, so we can take our time relocating and painting both places.

It is an exciting time for us, but every transition comes with a bit of uncertainty and trepidation. We have really enjoyed living in our current location, right in the center of the city with easy access to shops, restaurants and public transportation. I (Bethany) am a bit nervous about feeling isolated out in the "country" with a big open field right across the street. 

Open living area downstairs

Despite these reservations and the time it will take to adjust to a new lifestyle, we are confident that this is where God wants us. We have submitted to Austrian church leadership and through conversations with them, we feel good about taking this next step. Would you please pray for us and with us, as we experience yet another major life transition? Please pray for...

• A smooth transition and plenty of help with relocating, painting the new house and painting our old apartment white again
• Grace and patience as we adjust
• That we can feel settled there before the baby arrives. Pray that the baby stays in for long enough! (Due date is October 11)
• Pray for energy for Bethany throughout the move and transition
• Pray for Ellie, as she also adjusts to living in a new place
• Pray for God to prepare the way for us in this new place!

It's on the Horizon...

It's finally here. We are approaching just one more month in the U.S. and starting to prepare to head back to Vienna. There are so many thoughts and emotions tied to this upcoming transition, some of them conflicting. I am simultaneously excited to return home to our life, our community and our dog, as well as sad to leave our family and friends here. I am excited to speak German again, but also intimidated by going back into a culture that is still somewhat foreign, where I have to concentrate a more to accomplish daily errands and tasks. I can't wait to have a space again just for our family, but I have enjoyed being spoiled living with family - easy, free babysitting, and few cooking and cleaning responsibilities. I look forward to returning to my friends and community in Vienna but will deeply miss our friends and family here in the U.S.

When you are away from somewhere, it can be easy to idealize that place. I think I have done that over the last 6 months with our return to Vienna. I have been fantasizing about returning ever since we left. Some friends, also missionaries, recently reminded us that even though we really look forward to heading back home, moving back to Vienna will also mean going through a cultural transition and it may not be as smooth or ideal as we expect. This has been on my mind a lot lately. I have missed home so much during our home assignment, but it's been good to process the transition and think about what might be hard to get used to again when we return.

Amidst these thoughts, we also have some logistics to think about! We have packing and shopping to do, so that we can bring back our favorite and most useful products from the States. We have preparations to do for our summer interns, who arrive just 5 days after we get back to Vienna. We want to hit a few more items on our "bucket list" before we leave our passport country and get on the plane. Would you pray for us? Pray for a smooth transition and that God would prepare our hearts for all that is ahead, whether smooth or not!

Photo credit: aselaneli from morguefile.com

At Home Again

Mike, the delivery man, opening boxes!

So much has happened in the last week, that we've been a bit slow in updating the blog. Lots of exciting things!

The biggest highlight was that last Thursday, our container from the States arrived! We had put all of these items into storage nearly two years ago (22 months to be exact) and what a blessing it was to be reunited with many things we had missed - photo albums, kitchen utensils (we like to cook, so this was exciting), clothing, furniture, books, decor and sentimental things. There were many things we actually forgot we owned! It was fun and special to open each box and be surprised by what was inside. It was like Christmas!

The kitchen, in the midst of organizing!

Now that we've had time to sort through and organize
everything, our apartment is really starting to feel like home. Our bookcases once again display wedding photos, vases and our favorite reads. We are sleeping on our own bed again (heavenly!). We are cooking our favorite meals using the kitchen appliances we love so much. Although it was freeing to live simply for a transitional period of time, it is still special to have a home again that feels "like us".

Back in class.

We spent the few days after  the delivery settling in and (me, especially) organizing. Then on Monday, we returned to our language school to begin the next level of German study. Our first two days have been very good and have gone really quickly! That is a sign of a good teacher and a group of interactive students! We've been challenged with some new grammar and a little more homework than we had before (which is good!). We're looking forward to continuing to expand our learning in this next level of German.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Setting up an apartment in Austria

Nate installing window blinds in our bedroom

Nate is skyping with a friend from home right now, talking about moving in and setting up an apartment. As I listen to the conversation and Nate explain things, I'm realizing how many things are different about setting up a home here than in the States. We've gotten used to all of the differences by now, but it's quite a different experience!

Here are some differences:

• Apartments here (and I think in most of Europe) do not come with closets. So in addition to buying most of our furniture, we have also had to buy free-standing wardrobes for every bedroom. It's nice, because you can decide how they are laid out and organized, but it's time consuming to buy and build them!
• We choose our own light fixtures! I've never rented an apartment with bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling before. This makes for a lot more decisions!
• The windows also do not come with blinds. Needless to say, the first night we slept in our apartment, our neighbors could see right in! It felt weird, so we went out and purchased blinds the next day.
• Many of the building walls are made of cement, so you need a special drill in order to drill holes in the walls. It's very loud and a little more difficult, but the screws and nails hold very well!
• In addition to not having bedroom closets, most apartments do not have any build-in storage. We are, for example, installing shelves in our storage closet and buying a wardrobe from the front hallway for coats. We also installed extra cabinets in the kitchen for more storage space.
• Balconies are important here and growing plants on your balcony is a must here in Austria. We are going to work hard as creating a comfortable balcony with seating, a small (electric) grill and lots of plants! Not to mention, we will also use our balcony to hang clothes to dry in the sun. It will take some maneuvering and planning to fit all of that on our small balcony.
• Building your own furniture. From what we've seen, there aren't very many affordable furniture stores here that compete with IKEA's prices. Since we were outfitting an entire apartment at once, we needed to buy all of the furniture at Ikea and put it together ourselves, because it would have been too expensive to do it any other way. Although Ikea is popular in the U.S. as well, this is certainly the first time I've experienced starting from scratch and building this much furniture all at once!
• The last several apartments we had in the States came with a washer and dryer. That is very rare here! We just bought our washing machine last Friday and when we move, we'll take it with us. Also, it's common for the washing machine to be situated in the kitchen or bathroom here (ours is in the bathroom).  And dryers are a luxury - few people have space for them.

All this to say, this is why it will take us weeks months to settle in and make our apartment a home. We make a little progress each day, but there is still much to be done. If you want to come visit, wait until the summer time!

A Busy Month!

This month has really been a whirlwind. Here are some of the things we've been up to...

We're still here!

We usually try not to go this long in between blog posts, so we want to reassure you - we're still here! Our apartment in Vienna does not have internet yet (we think we'll receive the equipment in the next few days), so it has been hard to keep up with all things electronic.

We arrived in Vienna last Wednesday and hit the ground running...

• Visited IKEA and another large furniture store on Thursday
• Got the keys to our apartment on Friday. Then went to IKEA and ordered all of our furniture, (yes, ALL!)
• Painted the apartment on Saturday
• Went to church and cleaned up a bit Sunday. Then moved our stuff over to the apartment and started sleeping there! (And found out the heat wasn't working yet...)
• Monday morning, our furniture was delivered. And the heater was fixed.

And this has been our life ever since...

We took today as a rest day and are spending time at a friends' house where we can use the internet (they are out of town). It's has been glorious. We really needed to rest and get away from the chaos of our apartment.

Tomorrow, we are back at it!

One Lonely Sweet Potato

Today is our last full day in England. We have many mixed feelings about leaving. We are so excited to head back to Vienna and begin to make it our home, but we will miss the people we got to know here. At this point, it feels like we have become experts at winding down a home. Bethany expertly planned out our last week of meals so that all we have left is this one sweet potato (and a bunch of very strong English mustard that we won't be eating). She did a pretty spectacular job. 

Usually this sort of sight would mean we are in real need of a run to the supermarket. We do our best to have fresh fruits and veggies in our kitchen to cook with. But today, this lonely sweet potato was another reminder that we are moving on. It reminded me that things are changing again. It reminded me that we won't get to cook in this kitchen again, but that we have new kitchens to look forward to. 

I hope I have come to a balanced view of transition. I have to embrace the good things that are to come: we have so many things to look forward to with our first spring and summer in Austria. But I also have to mourn the losses. Yesterday in our language lesson, our teacher taught us how to say, "if we had had more time, we would have....", and we worked on filling in the blank and then explaining why we didn't visit Stonehenge or go for more walks in the city. (Most of our reasons had to do with English weather, which is a different conversation all together.) I must mourn not having sheep for neighbors, and watching the cats stalk around the garden while I do my German homework.  I'll mourn our time with the church here and knowing that we are really making a difference with our colleagues. These are important things to remember, but we must also celebrate the time we had. 

As we have been planning our new apartment in Austria, I have thought about Psalm 84. Here are the first two stanzas:

 1How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O Lord of hosts!
² My soul longs, yes, faints
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to the living God.

³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever singing your praise!

Whereever we live, we need to remember that our dwelling place is with the Lord. 

Ok, off to finish packing! 

The Timeline!

Now that we have our visas, many of you are probably wondering if we are heading back to Austria soon. Receiving our visas this early was very unexpected and caused us to reevaluate our timeline for staying in England. We want to balance honoring our commitment to the missionaries here with getting back to Vienna, where we believe God has truly called us. We also want to be financially responsible. We've paid for our apartment here in Lichfield through the middle of March and that is not refundable.

In order to determine next steps and timelines, we spent time praying and discussed the situation with our field leaders in Vienna, as well as our teammates here in England. We then determined the following schedule:

• February 20 – 23: Visit to Vienna to pick up our visas and begin our apartment search
• February 23 – March 13: Finish out our time (and our apartment rental) in England
• March 13 - 31: Return to Vienna and continue searching for an apartment. Stay with teammates (no rent!) and possibly meet with a language tutor.
• April 1 – 5: Participate in the Austria WorldVenture team retreat in Grundlsee, Austria (we last attended this on our Vision Trip in 2011 and we're excited to be back!)
• Sometime in April: Move into a long term apartment and have our household good delivered from the US! Begin language school at the end of April.

We are eager and excited about these next steps. The thought of having a home to “call our own” is very exciting to us, after nearly 2 years living a transitive lifestyle. I am so excited to have our container delivered - it will be like Christmas to see our of our household goods again!

Please pray for patience these next few months, as we walk through the final steps towards being settled in Vienna. I tend to be eager about planning and sometimes I push forward too fast. Please pray that I wait on the Lord and his timing for finding an apartment and getting settled. We want to land in just the right place, a neighborhood where we can reach out and stay for the next 3 - 5 years.

Exciting things are ahead and we're just one step closer to "home"!

The Last Day

Today, we get on a plane and fly across an ocean. We have sold or stored everything we own except for the seven suitcases we are taking with us to the airport today. We sold our car yesterday. It was the last piece of the puzzle. Our world has already changed in so many ways, but today we step off into a huge pile of brand new things. I can't explain what it feels like to be here. I really wish I could. Overwhelming sounds like a really great explanation, until it happens to you. Then it gets a little more complicated.

The question we have received most often recently is, "what does it feel like?" I wish I had a straight forward answer to that. It feels like so many things. When I reach into my "feelings bag", so many emotions vie for my attention. I am somewhere between excited but not sure what to expect, afraid of the unknown, and saddened at the loss. Most of the time I'm not sure how I should feel.

All of this brings me to yesterday, where I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. We had just sold our car, and I was feeling the weight of all that was going on around me. I have been reading through Isaiah (more like slogging through it...reading all of the oracles concerning this people and that people was challenging.) In chapter 40, Isaiah launches into a very poetic expression of the character of God. Much of it Handel grabbed for the Messiah oratorio. The end of the chapter was exactly what I needed.

Isaiah 40:28 - 31
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;    they shall walk and not faint.

The whole chapter is about how frail and weak we are, reminding us that we serve a God that does not change. Reading this passage was an important reminder for me. This journey fits into the context of God's plan and He will care for us.

Packed Up, Shipped Out

Yesterday, we spent the day at our friends' Tim and Rebecca's house. Why? Because they were generously storing our household belongings for the last15 months! Thank you, Tim and Rebecca! And yesterday, we were finally able to move out of their basement and take our belongings off their hands.

We hired a shipping company to come pick up all of our belongings and prepare them to be shipped to Austria. And let me tell you, this was quite the process! They had to open each box to verify it's contents, create a log of what was in each item (there were 102 items/boxes in all), record the serial numbers of all electronics, and then pack them like puzzle pieces into these two lift vans (large wooden crates).

When we had it all brought out to the garage and we looked at the crates, we were all worried that it wouldn't fit. There was no way! But sure enough, our belongings actually fit in the two lift vans with room to spare. We had originally budgeted for the 2 crates PLUS an extra smaller container...and we didn't need the third container! This saved us money, which was very good news.

It was exciting to pack it all up and watch it drive away. It's just one more step that makes moving to Austria very real. We haven't been able to access or use our household items for over a year now and seeing it all packed into the crates makes me excited for the day when the container arrives and we get to make a home for ourselves again. It will be like Christmas! Although this is still 6 - 8 months away, the day is coming! (Our belongings will be stored in the States until we receive our longterm visa and sign a long term lease on an apartment. Then they will be shipped to us in Austria, probably in May 2013.)

Just a few more days until we are also 'packed up and shipped out'. We're ready for the adventure to begin!