Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Matt's 26th birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't have the day off to celebrate. However, a group of the senior boys bought a nut (almond) cake (it was good, but interesting-and hard to explain) and some soda to celebrate. So during their 4th block study hall and Matt's planning period, they had a birthday party! It was really sweet and thoughtful of them.

After school we had a basketball game against one of the other international schools in Vienna. Our basketball team has not been playing to their potential, we have definitely been in a slump. But last night they finally picked up the pace and played basketball on their level, and it was fun to coach and watch. We were down by 11 in the middle of the second quarter and came back to lose by 5. Even though we didn't win, it was still a great accomplishment for them to get out of their slump!

We grabbed some McDonald's, which doesn't happen often at all for us for dinner, and then we headed home. Once we got home I made some Peanut Butter Chip cookies, Matt's favorite, for his birthday "cake." I put 4 cookies on a plate, with a candle in each, sang happy birthday solo, and called it a party!

Temporary Computer Fix

So just the monitor on our lap top is broken (it fell off of a stool, about a foot off the ground...) which means the rest of the lap top still works fine. We are borrowing a monitor from the school to use with our lap top, so we can have internet access at home to talk with family and friends. This is just a temporary fix, so we are still looking for a new lap top. So if you hear of any good deals, please let us know!

Unser Computer ist kaputz.

Our computer is kaputz...done...no longer working at all.

Since we no longer have our laptop, and no internet at home, please forgive us if the blog is not updated very regularly!

We are looking at what our options are to get a new one, but honestly, we just don't have that kind of spare money laying around. So we will pray that God will provide the funds for us to have the computer.

The biggest thing we need it for is to communicate with our families and friends in the States. We can call using Skype for free or next to nothing. Using a landline is outrageously expensive, and we don't really want to resort to this option.

Please pray that we could get all of this figured out soon!!

Gideon's Christmas Sweater

Matt's mom gave Gideon his first article of clothing, a cute little sweater. So one afternoon we put the sweater on him, and ended up laughing our heads off. I guess he thought it disabled him because he would not walk. Instead he was crawling along, like the sweater prevented him from having proper movement in his joints. I really wish we would have gotten a video, because it was hilarious. After a few pictures, I let him go and he crawled into hiding, not to come out. Matt and I had to leave to run some errands, and while we were out I told Matt, "I bet you he has it off by the time we get home." We were only gone for a short time and when we got home, we found Gideon running around--sweater free!

So here is the one picture we got of Gideon in his sweater before he took it off and hid it from us. (We are yet to find it!)

Conversations

We are on a block schedule at VCS and on blue days (Monday-Wednesday-Every other Friday) I have a planning period during 4th block. This is also the same period all of the seniors have a study hall. At our school seniors don't have to be at school for 1st and 4th block study halls, so they can come late or leave school early. Although they take full advantage of coming late, they tend to like to hang out in my room instead of going home early. Although this doesn't allow me to get any work done, it provides for entertaining times, and amazing conversations.

Yesterday, one of the seniors came in and was asking me some really difficult questions. Questions the Bible doesn't answer in black in white. One question was if someone had never heard about God or Jesus, so they didn't know anything about them, and they died, would they go to heaven? Again, I found myself fumbling through the answers and praying God was making sense of my babbling in his heart.

It is truly amazing the opportunities God provides for us to share his truth and his Word. It made me think of the conversations we COULD have, if only we were willing to start them.

Monday-With Heat and Hot Water!!

Our appointment to get our hot water heater fixed was supposed to be this morning, sometime between 8:00-10:00am. We were praying it would be closer to 8:00 so I (Stephanie) could get back to school. Much to our delight, the repairman arrived at 8 and got to work! An hour later, and we had steaming hot water. So this morning I rejoiced with a hot shower and Gideon (our cat) rejoiced with some lounging on top of one of the heaters. We are all so thankful to have hot water and heat in our apartment! Thank you for your prayers and concerns!

Frozen until Monday...

So we had the heater repairman come this morning, only to find out he cannot fix it. He said the pump was bad and we would have to call the company of the heater to fix that. Matt called, but they didn't speak English and his German isn't good enough to explain the situation. So we had to call someone who does speak German and have them call for us. All this to say, they cannot come until Monday....until then, we are without heat and hot water. I cannot imagine how they did this all of the time in the olden days. One of the things I didn't even think about was although I can still cook, there is no hot water to wash the dishes. So did they not use hot water to do the dishes? Or did they like me, have to heat up hot water on the stove to do them?

We have decided to borrow some bigger pots from the school so we can have more of a real bath instead of a few inches of warm water, which should be nice for the weekend.

Anyways, please pray for the following three things for us...1)that we will have good attitudes as we endure the cold...2)that it will get fixed when the company repairman comes on Monday morning...3) that our landlord will cover the costs, as it will be expensive.

Thanks for caring, thanks for praying! We hope you all have a great weekend!

FROZEN

Although it is cold outside in Vienna, it is just as cold in our apartment. Since Sunday, our heating system that provides us with hot water and a warm apartment has randomly been working. Sometimes we would have hot water and heat, and sometimes we wouldn't. Needless to say, we have spent most of our time at home under a few layers of blankets! Then last night the heater quit completely. So this morning, I felt old fashioned as I used every pot I own (2) and my kettle to warm up hot water on the stove. Which, of course, didn't add up to much and resulted in a very freezing bath experience. Then we got to start the whole process over again. Thankfully a repairman is coming tomorrow morning, and we are praying he will be able to fix it!

The Start of 2008

After having a wonderful break from school, celebrating Christmas and New Years, we are trying to get back into the groove of things. Today was our first day of school, and needless to say, getting up this morning was rough. However, we must admit that we are ready to get back into the pattern and chaos of our life here at VCS. Crazy, I know! But we have missed the students and even all of the chaos, so it will be nice to get back to the things we love.

Anyways, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, and we are excited to share our lives with you in 2008!