Our little Diva

Brienna has started to love little purses, big bows, sun glasses and Mama's high heel shoes, she is proving to be a little diva. She has been saying so many words such as (sit, shoes, thank you, what cha doin, Aleia, Mama, Daddy and Hi).

She loves to eat, drink anything and finds pleasure in wrestling with her Daddy and sister any chance she gets, of course she won't try to wrestle with me, she just gives me great big hugs and pats me on the back as if she knows I'm a fragile being:-)

Brienna loves taking baths, and is most happy being bare footed and at home making messes.

She never has her paci out of site and as of right now she still is not sleeping through the night, ugh!!!! Brie has 13 teeth and loves to give big smiles and waves to everyone she see's. She is such a delight to watch as she learns something new everyday.

Special thank you...

I read Pam Brown's post today from her husband (blog: the day to day) and I couldn't resist posting this heart felt letter from my husband that he put in his weekly update letter to the Vienna church. Sometimes we go for so long thinking that our duties and responsibility's as a Mother, and a wife are taken for granite and minimized. Thank you honey for such a sweet and honoring love letter.

Special Thank You:

I want to specifically say thank you to Sis. Robinette for the sacrifices she makes daily and has made for 15 years being married to me. She has faithfully stood by my side in many different modes of ministry. As Sunday School teachers, church cleaners, youth leaders, evangelist, pastors, church planters and so much more; she has worked hard and with love for the church first. For five years in Belgium & Switzerland we carried our laundry to the laundry mat weekly and sat for hours doing laundry in less than favorable conditions. But she sacrificed and kept a right spirit always! For 5 years we had no car as missionaries in two countries. We walked in the rain, walked in the snow and walked in heavy wind but she never complained. Her faith has been amazing! I thank her for all she has done! As most of you know, raising children is not easy! Parenting takes courage, discipline, patients, sacrifice and many other qualities that none of us probably actually possessed before we had kids. Ha-ha. The Lord gave us children to perfect things in us. Sis. Robinette has such a desire to be active in every daughter work, ministry in the church and activity that is happening each week but I truly believe that raising Aleia and Brienna must be her first priority. For me or anyone to expect her to do everything and raise kids is both unfair and an unnecessary burden that we would not want to carry ourselves. I felt the Lord told me to encourage her tonight that she was in a very special phase in her ministry; it is a ministry to her children first, the Vienna church second and daughter works third. I am so thankful to have a great wife! She has proven herself to God, me and multitudes all around the world and I could never thank her enough for all she has done. But I believe at this point in our marriage and ministry God is using her to raise up children in the righteousness of God first. When our babies are a little bigger she will be able to give herself to everything again but now I have asked her to only focus on Vienna until Brienna is not so dependent on her. You only get one chance to raise babies and we must do this right. Thank you baby for doing such a good job in this new phase of our life and ministry!

Pre-School=Kindergarten

Aleia started preschool and has finished her 2 full weeks of what they call Kindergarten. It is a beautiful, clean facility 5 bus stops or a 15 minute walk down the street. It is a class of 21 children from the ages 3-6 and Aleia is the only English speaking child. She has two teachers, Sabine who speaks fairly well in English and Barbara who only speaks German.

When Aleia and I walked in on her first day all the children and teachers looked at us like we were from Mars, the children were yelling "AH-LEAH, AH-LEAH, AH-LEAH, speaks English." Aleia kept saying Mama why are they all saying that. As the week went on they were amazed by all her cute hair styles, the teachers would even come out to admire them, yeah Aleia is a little celebrity at her new school but they are getting use to her hair and her English. She has 2 little friends named Sara and Sophie and she is pretty close to her teacher that she clings to when she is feeling overwhelmed by all the German.

She goes from 9-12:30 but she is on a waiting list to stay until 2p.m as of right now it is enough, she is learning a lot and her interaction with other children and behavior has already improved significantly.

They have little tables they eat at, with a little buffet that they are able to walk up to and get anything they would like, it is all mini size for them. They have little sinks and toilets and everything with a lady bug on it is Aleia's, she was pretty proud that they picked her to be the lady bug and asked me "How did they know Mama."

B-U-S-Y

Have we become so busy that we've let the basics slip out from underneath us. Let's get back to the basics. Family, God, and the Church!

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

"We can't keep Christians from going to church."

"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth...."

"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with
Their SAVIOR."

"Once they gain that connection with JESUS, our power over them is
Broken."

"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish
dinners,
BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship
With JESUS CHRIST.."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:

"Distract them from gaining hold of their SAVIOR and maintaining that
Vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable
Schemes to occupy their minds," he answered....

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to
work
6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty
Lifestyles."

"Keep them from spending time with their children."

"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from
The pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small
voice."

"Entice them to play the radio or I-Pod whenever they drive." To
Keep the TV, DVDs, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and
see
To it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical
music
Constantly."

"This will jam their minds and break that union with CHRIST."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."

"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."

"Invade their driving moments with billboards."

"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes,
and
Every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products,
services
And false hopes."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands
Will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll
Become dissatisfied with their wives. "

"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."

"Give them headaches too! "

"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin
to
Look elsewhere."

"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the
Real meaning of Christmas."

"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about HIS resurrection
And power over sin and death..."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."

"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."

"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on GOD'S creation.
Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and
movies
Instead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and
Small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."

"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek
Power from JESUS."

"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their
health
And family for the good of the cause."

"It will work!"

"It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians
everywhere
To get busier &more rushed, going here & there.

Having little time for their GOD or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of JESUS to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

You be the judge!!!!!

Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

Peek a "BOO"

Our Little Boo Bear loves to play peek a boo in any place she can find possible. Even if it finds her in places she isn't able to find her way out of. Brienna loves to go under the dinning room table and hide, play peek a boo or have us chase her under there. There are even times when she is in trouble and thinks by hiding under the table is some how going to pro long her punishment.

In the last two weeks she has become more stable on her little feet. She finally follows her sister around by walking and not crawling. It has made it easier not to have her on my hip at all times but it's caused me a lot more work at church since she is able just to walk off, I have to always make sure someone has her so she doesn't make her way out of the main door.

While she is walking she acts like she knows exactly where she is going and NO ONE is going to stop her, she already sets her mind toward the prize and goes full steam after it.

Heather and Brianna's visit

The minute Heather and Brianna landed we were off to tour them around and enjoy all the things Vienna and Croatia have to offer. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures of their trip here.

We went to museums, cafe's, a palace, horse show, the market, an opera, concentration camp, shopping and traveled to Croatia to tour them around a castle from the 14oo's. I told them they have seen more of these two countries in one week then I had seen in the 2 years that I've been here.

It was nice to learn a little of the history and it got us out of our box of doing nothing.....so we've decided that every other Tuesday we will do something new to learn more about Vienna and the countries around us. You just end up taking your surroundings for granted. It is the same as being in the states, most people never know anything about the state they live in or what there is to offer. I always wondered why people would come on vacation to Michigan when we always left Michigan to go on vacation, now that I'm older and have an appreciation of it all, I now see how much there really is to do in the great lake state:-)

We enjoyed them being here and are so thankful they took the time to come this far to visit with us. Aleia cried the day we had to take Auntie Der to the airport, she is really has started to understand that when people come from the states they don't stay but they have to go back to their own home, it's not easy on a 4 year old to understand why people come and go so often.

MHR's Friday

A love letter from my husband on my Birthday!

My Austrian Princess,

Happy Birthday!!

You are so special to me! I am so thankful to the Lord that He has given me such an amazing wife, friend, and lover! I could never imagine living this life without you by my side! You have been my strength, my stabilizer, my encourager, my "HOT" cheerleader, my help, my friend, my shoulder to cry on, my partner to laugh with, my treasure, my only happiness, and everything I need and want!

Thank you for being so perfect! Thank you for knowing my needs before I ask! Thank you for giving so much continually! Thank you for being willing to follow me all over the world! Thank you for fearing nothing! Thank you for keeping faith! Thank you for being such an example of holiness! Thank you for calming me when rage fills my heart! Thank you for being my balance in everything!

All my love to you my forever love and see you soon!

I love you with my life, heart, body and soul!

Your lover,

Charles

My husband rocks because even on days I don't feel that I am the person above that he explains, he always makes sure that I feel secure, safe and loved. I love it that after all these years he can still find such kind words to write in a love letter. He is my best friend, the one who understands me the most.

Great give away

As I approach the one year anniversary of my blog I wish I could say that I had a great give away one that would catch every viewer and many responses but as I set here I can only offer a give away that will allow your imagination to run wild.

1. What if I could offer you this great Jag? (imagine where you would take it for a spin to?)
2. What if I offered you enough money to buy a Jag? (would you? and what color would it be?)
3. What if I had a Jag and gave you one whole day with it? (who would you take with you?)



Imagination give away rule: #1 Sky is the limit, let your imagination take you away in this spectacular silver, leather interior gorgeous Jag. Would you take me with you????