A Student's Baptism

This past Saturday afternoon we were invited to be a part of one of our 6th grade student's baptism. Sophie has been raised in a Christian family. Her father, an Egyptian, has an amazing testimony of how he came to Christ and was forced to flee the country. He is now a missionary to the Muslim community all over Europe. Her mother, an Austrian is the mother of 5, soon to be 6! They are a really sweet family, and it has been a joy knowing them.

We rode our bikes to the place of the service, as it was only a 10 minute bike ride from our apartment. It is amazing to us the places that exist in Vienna. The place where they had the service was a huge garden, with several hundred different kinds of plants and trees, animals, and lots of water. It was really beautiful. They had a whole service for Sophie's baptism, with worship, a message, prayer time over Sophie and then her baptism. After her baptism, there was another prayer time followed by a few more songs of worship. Here are a few pics.

Piano Recital

One of the best ways to develop relationships with our students is through activities outside of school. One of the ways I (Stephanie) do that is through music lessons. I have three piano students and one saxaphone student. My saxaphone student is only in first grade, and is actually too small to play the sax, so I have started him on the recorder, which has the exact same finger positions and whatnot as the sax. Its worked out really well. All of my students worked really hard for our spring recital, and they all played very well. Here are a few pictures of my students.

Craving: Funnel Cakes!

I have had several interesting cravings in almost 10 weeks I have been pregnant. Many of which are for American food or products that I can't get over here, which is just depressing! Although I can't buy funnel cakes anywhere over here, I can make them!! And thats what we did! Friday night we had a few friends over to play Settler's of Catan (great board game!) and eat funnel cakes. They were pretty much amazing.

Status of Funnel Cake Craving: Fulfilled

Above: A delicious masterpiece! Below: Better grab some before its gone!

Finally Announcing...

Our big news to the blogworld. We figure everyone who reads our blog has already heard the news, but oh well. Here's the story...from Stephanie.

In February of 2004 I was in a not so fun car accident in which I sustained a brain injury, stitches, and a pretty scar. But that is a whole other long story. But as a result of my brain injury, my brain stopped communicating with my reproductive system, hormones stopped being produced, and I had no cycle. After the wreck, Matt and I were dealing with some major issues, so we were definitely okay with me not having a cycle and us not getting pregnant.

Around Christmas time in 2006 we decided we were ready to start the process of getting me up and running so we could have a baby! My first doctor's appointment was in January of 2007. It has been a long journey. There are no words to describe the way it feels to want a baby so badly, and then each month to find out you are still babyless. We never imagined we would be the couple who would have a hard time getting pregnant. However, we also never imagined I would be in an accident that would mess up my body so badly. Regardless, the last year or so has definitely been an emotional roller coaster for both of us.

In December of 2007 we started another new and stronger medication, called clomiphene. This is a very commonly used drug. Before starting the regiment, the doc and I discussed all of the risks involved, the main one being the small risk of having twins. Of course that wasn't enough to deter us from having a baby, we'd love to have two! Every month on the medication I would go and see the doctor around ovulation time to see if the meds were working. December-nothing. January-nothing. February-maybe, but most likely not. March-my last month on this medication before taking more serious measures, the doctor told me to not even bother coming in. My body hasn't responded so far, so if it actually does respond, great!

Well, for some mysterious reason (we like to call him God) my body finally responded. By the end of March, I knew I was pregnant, and we were overflowing with joy, and praising God for our miracle! On Saturday, April 5 I took a home pregnancy test (Austria style) to verify my thoughts, and to make sure we weren't getting our hopes up for nothing. The medication I was on had several side affects that are also pregnancy symptoms. Cruelness, I know. Anyways, it instantly showed us two purple lines. Pregnant!!

On April 8, we went to the doctor for confirmation, yet again! He did an ultrasound, and after a brief moment told us "Congratulations--you were right, you are pregnant!" Although we were thrilled at the news, we could both tell there was more. I instantly feared there was something seriously wrong with our baby. After what seemed like forever he said "But, I am seeing multiples." I instantly asked "How many?!?" So the doc checked, double checked, and then triple checked, and finally told us the most shocking news we have ever received "Well, it appears that you are pregnant with triplets."

My jaw instantly drops open in shock and Matt just starts laughing. We were shocked beyond belief. After talking with the doctor some more, he said one of the babies is much smaller than the other two, so he didn't want to give us a firm "diagnosis" for another few weeks, in fear we would lose the little one. As we left the doctor's office, we were elated to know we were pregnant, shocked that we were expecting three, worried about losing the little one, and heartbroken because we realized we would have to leave Vienna.

Talk about wierd prayers...praying for three healthy babies when you have no idea how on earth you are going to manage it. Definitely the strangest prayers we have said!

On April 21 we went back to the doctor and had another ultrasound. This time we saw three healthy babies, all about the same size (one was still a tiny bit smaller), and all three with strong heartbeats! God's hand in our lives, yet again.

Last night, May 5 we went back yet again, for another ultrasound to check on the babies growth and devlopment. We have three perfect babies! We even got to see Baby 1 moving around a bit, it was truly amazing! I think Baby 2 and 3 were snoozing. I will post some of the ultrasound pics (at 9.5 weeks) at the bottom.

As I breifly mentioned earlier, we are returning to the States. There is just no way we could do three babies over here because we are going to need the help and support of lots of family and friends. The plan is to move back to the Jefferson City/Columbia, Missouri area where we have a huge network of family and friends waiting to help.

We will definitely keep you updated as we learn new things about the babies and figure things out with the move, job, and house situation. But in the meantime, please keep us in your prayers!

Prayer Requests:

-For us to finish strong here in Vienna and be able to say good bye to people and a place we love so much.

-For the move, we have a lot to do and need a lot of money to move countries!
-For Matt to find a great teaching job.
-For three healthy, strong babies, and that Stephanie can carry them to 35 weeks. This is the week we are hoping to deliver (The last week of October).

Here are all three babies!

This is Baby 1, the biggest baby at 26 mm long!

This is Baby 2, the second biggest baby at 25 mm long!

And finally, Baby 3, who is 24 mm long.

Mayday = No school!

Can you believe it is already May 1? This year has flown by! May 1 is a public holiday here in Austria. I was reading about the origin of Mayday and it is very interesting to see how it started as a pagan holiday, and has evolved into a "labor day." Today, Mayday is an international working class holiday. We are just thankful to have the day off from school!

We got to sleep in this morning (until like 8) and then we made mock cinnamon rolls for breakfast (yum!). We were also able to get a few things done around the house, which is always nice! Matt then left, riding his bike to school, to help cook ribs for our soccer and basketball party. Since a lot of the same boys made up the soccer team and the basketball team, we decided to combine parties. It worked out really well, and turned out to be a fun afternoon!

Around 5, we finally left school and rode our bikes home! It was really nice outside, so it made getting some exercise easy! Once we got home we decided to just relax (we were thinking of putting away all winter clothes and getting out summer ones). All in all, a nice day off!

High School Musical

April 17-19 were the three showings of this years musical, Disney's High School Musical, at VCS. We went to the first showing Thursday night and absolutely loved it. The students put a tremendous amount of effort and spent a lot of time working on this musical. Their hard work definitely paid off, the show was amazing! They kept the crowd chuckling through the entire performance. As usual, we were amazed at the talents of the students at VCS. Anyways, enjoy a few pictures! Everyone involved in High School Musical

Student Actors

Directors
Musical Band

The Lead Roles
The Basketball Team

Relaxing...

I have been wanting to take a picture of Gideon chilling out on our living room carpet for quite some time, and I finally got one. It cracks us up that he lays like this--and its no unnusual thing. He lays like this quite often! You might think he wants you to pet his belly when he lays like this, but trust me, he doesn't!

Chapel--and--Spring!

Today in elementary chapel my lesson was on Samson and Delilah and how we need to make the wise choice. To start off my lesson, we had a muscle contest. Each class had time to pick the strongest person in their class, and send that person up front. A winner was picked from this group based on the best muscle position and face. It was hilarious to watch them show off their muscles...some were posing so hard their whole body was shaking! I wish I would of had my camera! I could have some priceless pictures!

On a different note, spring has returned to Vienna after a week of cold and windy weather. I am so excited! I love all four seasons, and any season change is super exciting to me. However, there are so many things I love about spring...my favorite flowers are tulips, and they are one of the first signs of spring! One of my most favorite things are all of the new life in God's creation, which reminds me of the miraculous new life I have in Christ.

A Good Weekend

Although we have been dealing with some heavy issues over the past week, we surprisingly had a great weekend! Beautiful spring weather definitely helps!

Friday night was a coffee house at the school. This is a really laid back and casual event in which we try to encourage our students to reach out to their non-VCS friends. Of course we have coffee and other hot drinks, a few snacks, and always entertainment. This past coffee house was "Open Mic Night." This is one of our favorite events because it allows are amazing talented students a chance to share their talent. We really enjoyed the night, hanging out with students and being able to listen to their talents!

Saturday was the day of our first "date" in months. It is hard to go out on dates when you don't have extra money. Needless to say, I (Stephanie) was stoked! One of my favorite foods is Mexican and I don't get it very often here, and when I do, its nothing like Dallas! However, this year a burrito place similar to Chipotle opened up here in Vienna. It is one of my favorite places to eat! So we headed downtown to the burrito place for an early dinner, which was a massive burrito and a Dr. Pepper--two things I rarely get--it was perfect. Then we leisurely strolled through downtown to Vienna, to another one of my favorites-Fratelli's Eis (ice cream). All I need to say about that is--Yum! We finished off our night by going to see a movie. I have decided that not being able to go on dates every month is kind of a blessing, because it makes the rare nights we are able to go on a date, even more perfect!

Saturday night Matt stayed up to watch the final four games. At 5:30 am I was waking up from a night's sleep and Matt was just getting ready to go to sleep. I definitely didn't mind going back to sleep! So the Jayhawks made it to the championship game--Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

I am sure tonight we will be getting up in the middle of the night to watch the championship game!

Anyways, Sunday since Matt was basically up all night, we did our own church. Our church in Dallas, The Branch, has videos of the sermons online, so we watched their Easter sermon. Then we went for a walk to talk and pray about all that is going on in our lives. Sunday night we headed to a birthday party.

Today (Monday) is a work day (its the end of 3rd quarter) for us teachers to get our grades done. I have finished my grades and have been working on lesson plans and writing worksheets and whatnot for the rest of April. I needed a break, so I decided to update the blog!

Well, its back to work! We hope you have a fabulous week!

P.S.--A HUGE shout out to Fabulous K Blog Designs for our spiffy new header!! Thanks Fabulous K!

Center Stage: Senior Event

Last Friday we had our second senior event in effort to raise more funds for our senior trip. This event included some raffles, a dessert bar, the senior store (drinks and candy), and a talent show. We had around 170 people there, and it was a packed house! We had 20 acts, and they were all amazing. The best part is, we made the amount of money we were shooting for!! It really turned out to be a great event. Here are a few pics below of the talent show. Kelly was one of our favorite acts, she hand painted an eagle (above), and did a charcoal drawing of Jesus (below) to music, so she was on a time limit. Afterwards, she gave a touching talk about using your gifts for God. It is so neat to see how she has grown. DK "dressed up" like Tiger Woods and did some sweet tricks bouncing a ball on his golf club.

The picture below is of a group of our middle school Korean girls who did a dance to "Shout to the Lord" in Korean. I was impressed with their moves!

This is one of our sixth grade students Ralph, and he has only been at VCS a few weeks. Yet he was brave enough to get up in front of a crowd and sing his heart out! He sang "I Believe I can Fly" and he totally owned the crowd! He ended up getting second place!

This is the winning group, the 6th grade girls who did a cute skit. The skit was about being loved just the way we are. The prize was a gift certificate to the senior store!

Finally, this is a picture of our three "celebrity" judges. From left to right is Matt, Ms. Helm (first grade teacher), and Mr. Stockett (business manager). They did a great job!