These past couple of weeks have been absolutely delightful! Charity and Lanae, two of my dearest girlfriends from Tucson, made their way to Austria to stay with us after their journey through several other European countries. Needless to say since they have been here many giggling sessions have occurred and much joy has been had all around. They both have such adventurous spirits and showing them the sights and introducing them to friends is so lovely and fun. So far we have visited Linz and Salzburg together. We've also enjoyed some Schwertberg excursions like hiking to some deserted castle ruins and spending sunny afternoons by the Aist river while chatting and swapping stories. Charity and Lanae have also been joining in on gospel choir rehearsals and singing along. My heart has been so blessed by their love, encouragement, and tenderness! I am trying to treasure every minute of their stay.
We are swiftly approaching advent season in Austria and for the gospel choir that means performances! Christmas music is often running through my head after rehearsal and throughout the week. This Sunday is our first concert. There is an advent market in Mauthausen that we'll be singing at. An exciting and frightening development is that I'm singing a solo. I had told several ladies in the choir I would never dream of performing alone in front of an audience but lo and behold I got asked if I wanted to give it a shot. Somehow my mouth said yes even though my stomach was twisting at the thought of singing all by myself in front of so many staring eyes. Luckily it is a two part solo so another sweet woman from the choir will be with me and we'll take turns singing lines from the song. This past week I was realizing how grateful I am for the choir because it has connected our household with lots of incredible people. Recently a new married couple joined and the wife began taking voice lessons with Melia. We learned that they own and run an organic dairy in a town not so far from ours. Because we showed interest in farming they invited us to come over for a tour. It was so amazing to see their property, meet their family, and also eat some food together and socialize. It seems like everything about this couple touches my heart. They are tender parents, they show genuine generosity, and there is an undercurrent of kindness in all their words and actions (and they are farmers which pretty much always gives people major bonus points in my book). I told them I am wanting to participate with more agricultural and animal related activities and would love to help around their property if they needed it. The next week they called and said they had some work if I was still willing. So Jonathan, Charity, Lanae, and I jumped into the car and spent a day on the dairy. It was a dream come true!! We pulled down some fencing, wrangled some calves, and raked leaves. As a reward we got to use the household sauna. Hopefully when the next group of calves are born I'll be able to watch and help with the birthing process.
Jonathan and I have been blazing forward in our fire department training as well. We finished the section about how to set up for extinguishing fires with water and now we have moved on to learning about other methods for extinguishing fires. In last week's training we discussed subjects like oil fires and metal fires and how to handle them. These classes are such a good German challenge/exercise for Jonathan and I. We definitely have expanded our vocabulary. I experienced some definite moments of victory when I answered comprehension questions in German in front of everyone. It felt like a throw back to my U of A days.
Another exciting development is that we now have two chickens! Our organic farmer friends hooked us up with a pair so that we can have eggs at home. Jonathan and Micah built a coop for Clucky and Henriette in the backyard. Now we have two more members in our motley household.
Thanks for reading, blessing and love to you all!
Rachael
We are swiftly approaching advent season in Austria and for the gospel choir that means performances! Christmas music is often running through my head after rehearsal and throughout the week. This Sunday is our first concert. There is an advent market in Mauthausen that we'll be singing at. An exciting and frightening development is that I'm singing a solo. I had told several ladies in the choir I would never dream of performing alone in front of an audience but lo and behold I got asked if I wanted to give it a shot. Somehow my mouth said yes even though my stomach was twisting at the thought of singing all by myself in front of so many staring eyes. Luckily it is a two part solo so another sweet woman from the choir will be with me and we'll take turns singing lines from the song. This past week I was realizing how grateful I am for the choir because it has connected our household with lots of incredible people. Recently a new married couple joined and the wife began taking voice lessons with Melia. We learned that they own and run an organic dairy in a town not so far from ours. Because we showed interest in farming they invited us to come over for a tour. It was so amazing to see their property, meet their family, and also eat some food together and socialize. It seems like everything about this couple touches my heart. They are tender parents, they show genuine generosity, and there is an undercurrent of kindness in all their words and actions (and they are farmers which pretty much always gives people major bonus points in my book). I told them I am wanting to participate with more agricultural and animal related activities and would love to help around their property if they needed it. The next week they called and said they had some work if I was still willing. So Jonathan, Charity, Lanae, and I jumped into the car and spent a day on the dairy. It was a dream come true!! We pulled down some fencing, wrangled some calves, and raked leaves. As a reward we got to use the household sauna. Hopefully when the next group of calves are born I'll be able to watch and help with the birthing process.
Jonathan and I have been blazing forward in our fire department training as well. We finished the section about how to set up for extinguishing fires with water and now we have moved on to learning about other methods for extinguishing fires. In last week's training we discussed subjects like oil fires and metal fires and how to handle them. These classes are such a good German challenge/exercise for Jonathan and I. We definitely have expanded our vocabulary. I experienced some definite moments of victory when I answered comprehension questions in German in front of everyone. It felt like a throw back to my U of A days.
Another exciting development is that we now have two chickens! Our organic farmer friends hooked us up with a pair so that we can have eggs at home. Jonathan and Micah built a coop for Clucky and Henriette in the backyard. Now we have two more members in our motley household.
Thanks for reading, blessing and love to you all!
Rachael