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.

The dust settles...

Four weeks ago today, I was wending my way up the curving drive to the castle with my family, having just picked them up from the Munich airport. Early the next morning, I would be off to the airport again—this time to catch a flight of my own. I was on my way to France to meet Maridyth and her family, who were inbound from the States. After a fun-filled weekend in Paris (Where James and Maridyth's sister Mary Beth got engaged—congrats, you two!), we piled into cars and made the long trek across Bavaria and into the Alps, heading home-ward. After an unintentional detour in the vicinity of Strasburg, we finally arrived, and the whirlwind began in earnest. It seemed that after weeks and months of activity and preparation, we could finally relax and let the momentum carry us through the next days. A day in Salzburg and a Thanksgiving feast punctuated a week of enjoying family and friends. We were married on Friday, the 24th.

Everyone wants to know, 'How's married life?' In a word, thus far... surreal. It is simultaneously the most radical change in lifestyle imaginable and the most natural thing in the world. I now have someone else to consider in everything—from the way I sort my socks to decisions about where to live and work. We're partners. We're a team. We're best friends. I love living life with her. I know it's not always going to be easy, but I'm already looking forward to seeing what the next bend in the path will bring.