A Little Color

On our recent trip to Great Britain, I picked up some oil pastels and sketch book at a shop in Oxford. I've doodled swirls and fleur-de-lis-type objects in the margins of notebooks meant for lecture notes since high school and college. On the guest bedroom wall in our friend's home in Oxford was a 4' x 5' painting of colorful swirls. I was in awe. A few days later after we had made our way north to the tip of Scotland, I took out the few art supplies I had and started swirling and twirling colors myself. This is what came of my time in Freswick:

Colors Twirling
oil pastel on paper

We're Expecting a....

BABY! Yes, that's right; it is, it is! We are officially 10 weeks along now, so it's still too early to determine gender (although lots of people have been asking). We have seen the heart beating, and at our next doctor appointment we will get to hear it, too!

Going to the obstetrician here in Austria is quite different than in the states. We walked right in, and before we could sit down on the sofa to wait, the doctor came to get us. He took us into his office and talked for a while before he took my blood, weighed me, took my blood pressure, and then did the ultrasound exam. We never saw a nurse, and we were finished in under 30 minutes. All of the exams and tests only cost us €80 (about $115). Since our temporary insurance in Austria doesn't cover pregnancies, we have to pay for it ourselves. What a blessing that the government subsidizes medical care!

While "morning" sickness could be worse, I've been suffering through it for nearly 4 weeks. I'm pretty tired of feeling yucky and ready to have energy to accomplish things that need to get done. We are planning to move back to Texas in February, and while I'm sure to feel better before then, I'm hoping our last 3 months in Austria aren't spent with me in bed.


The ultrasound photo above is the first of our baby. While the lower half mostly looks like fuzz, you may notice a clear black area (the uterus) within the fuzz. Inside the uterus is more fuzz, and that's the baby. In this photo (taken on October 24) the baby was only 12.8 mm long. Now the baby is about 4.5 cm (about 2 inches) and growing rapidly.

Please pray for us, that mom will stay healthy, that baby will grow perfectly, and that dad will continue to be such a wonderful help.

Artwork of a Beginner

Throughout my lifetime, Autumn has always been a very busy season for me. All three of my sisters and my mom have birthdays during the fall, and there is usually some trip, conference, or gala smashed into the calendar as well. This year is quite different, and for the first time, I'm able to do some of the things I've always wanted. Painting and sketching, has been a long-awaited treat for me. I've never taken a single art course, but I found a beginner book and basic watercolor set in London. Here are a couple of my first artistic pieces. Thanks to my friend Steven Purcell for the inspiration!

What's wrong with this picture?

The weather can't decide what season it is--one of the hazards of living in the Alps this time of year.

Hiding in plain sight

How fun it is to explore the world with those you love. This past month, my parents flew to Austria to spend two weeks living life with us. As a surprise, my sister and her husband joined us all on a side-trip to Italy. Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Rome! Jonathan and I had never been to Rome, and what an amazing city it is. I was skeptical, imagining it to be overcrowded and dirty. Well, it was crowded, but I didn't notice the dirt. It was stunning. The weather was uncooperative, but it didn't matter. The photo is of us with our matching 'IKEA Family' umbrellas sitting on steps in the ancient Roman forum. The bright orange color kept us together. I was separated from the family in the Colosseum, but I spotted several of these umbrellas and found my way home. Check out the rest of the photos here.

Carcassonne Cookies

So we wanted to do something special for Mirja's birthday yesterday (she's our downstairs neighbour and a long-time friend). She's into games, and likes 'crafty' things, so we decided to make a sugar cookie version of the popular German tile-laying game, Carcassonne. We recruited our other downstairs neighbours, Christy and Mariusz, and the four of us spent a good bit of the afternoon baking frosting, and organising. It worked great, and she loved it. Check out the photos here.

our flower box

Austrians are very particular about their gardens (among other things). They are also very good at creating gorgeous flower box displays. Nearly every building and home in town has been alive with activity in recent days, and the flower boxes are out! The photo from our balcony shows our current flora, including our herb garden in the far background... Since our balcony is on the north face of the farm house, we get no direct sunlight and are limited in the kinds of flowers we can plant. It's been a fun and therapeutic way to spend some of my free time.

I took a brief stroll through the English garden at the castle this morning and was amazed at the color. There hasn't been anyone around with time to spend in the garden yet this season, but the work done by others in years past continues to produce beautiful results. Six weeks ago the garden looked dead, and with no one around to clean it up, I wondered how well it would get along (I'm not allowed to work in the garden... one of those legal visa/work-permit details.) Yet, today it was beautiful... delicate small purple and white flowers growing out of crags in rocks and all that. What a testament to the ways God works, too. I'm thankful for the years given in ministry here by so many men and women (including Jonathan). And even though it looks and feels like the schloss has been abandoned and is dead, I am hopeful that spring will come to this place again, and the work done in the past will bear fruit. God, I pray so; surprise us all yet again.


Well... there will be more photos of the flower boxes from around town coming soon... and throughout the summer, I'm sure.

Wayfindings?

A helpful definition for those of you wondering about the name of this site...

wayfinding, noun, plural wayfindings

signs, maps, and other graphic or audible methods used to convey location and directions to travelers; the ways in which people orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place

also...

find·ing, noun, plural findings

a discovery; often findings; something that has been found; a conclusion reached after examination or investigation

This site is a place for us to think and talk about the journey, and to share the little things we are experiencing and learning as we follow the Way.

"I'll take some perspective, please... pesto on the side."

So we sneaked away for a long weekend, which we spent mostly in Cinque Terre. It was great - cappuccino and fresh foccacia for breakfast every day, pesto on everything (Liguria is the birthplace of pesto), and hikes from village to village on the craggy coast of the Italian riviera. We stopped in Florence for the day before catching our night train home - just enough to whet our appetites for more of Tuscany next time. But the most valuable thing was the change of scenery - regardless of what the scenery was. Sometimes you just need a little perspective, and distance is the only way to get it.