Friends

Our boys, with our visitor Alan, in a tree on the grounds of Schoenbrunn Palace on the day I decided to take everyone to the children's museum there. I had help and we were set for a great day. But it was closed. So the poor children had to endure the actual palace tour. They had their own audio guides, which helped immensely.



Jake and Alan with their paper boats ready for floating.

Our boys were pretty sad about leaving our home in Bend for so long. So some of our dear friends in Oregon prayed specifically that our boys would have special friends here in Austria. Little did they know, a little girl across the world was also praying for friends. God answered all those prayers.

A wonderful family with Youth With A Mission is living here in the same guesthouse. Actually, they have their own house and office on the same property (which means they sweetly share their extra freezer space with us poor dears who only have half a refrigerator).

From Day 1, our children were all out playing together. With their permission (by special request of a wonderful Grandma in California), here are some photos. We must apologize to the grandma of these children, though, because we are missing Caleb in these photos. Somehow, he wasn't in any of them!

Of their three very fun children, you'll see the youngest and only girl, Katia, where you will nearly always find her - in a tree - which is why our boys like her so much. Here she is with Eli. The huge benefit to all this is not only are they having fun ... but they are VERY motivated in their schoolwork so they can play with these children every day.

Matthias is a great friend to everyone. The boys all really enjoy him. Silas grabs his hand and drags him everywhere (and Matthias is so nice about it). The boys all go to gymnastics together. We were given a great deal for Jake and Eli to attend twice a week, while Sammy and Si go once to a Mommy/Daddy & Me class. Here is our friend, Matthias, with the activity he instigated: making paper boats and floating them down the nearby creek.