Johnstein!

Our friends, the Smalley family, are missionaries serving at the Evangelical Christian Academy just outside of Madrid, Spain. Check out their recent blog  post about the constant transition of missionaries in an international school context . It really hit home for me...especially this week... ...this week has been hard. I couldn't really put my finger on why I was having such a hard time until yesterday afternoon. I realized that its a hard week because of all the impending goodbyes.  It seems that throughout the entirety of our almost 12 years as a family, we have moved on a semi-regular basis. Saying goodbye to friends and family has become a very regular part of who we are...and God has used these experiences to prepare us for our ministry here in Vienna. We are thankful for it... ...but that doesn't mean that it's easy. It is a part of the reality of serving at an international christian school. Turnover is high with both staff and students. Many of our internationa...

Last week we participated in ICSV's formal (I suppose its the equivalent of a Prom in the States). It is the Jr  Class' responsibility/honor to host this event, so as one of the Jr Class Sponsors, I had a very busy/stressful week leading up to the event. All in all it was a great night; fun was had by all and the food was plentiful... We met at  Schloss Schönbrunn for pictures...this is me with my beautiful date :) Rebecca with her friends Chad and I The theme for the formal was masquerade. This is the Senior boys' response to this theme.   5 of my favorite students :) Enjoying the dinner After the formal was over (and everything was cleaned up at the location) I got on the Ubahn with most of the Juniors to head back to school to finish the clean-up. We carried with us two trays of left over cupcakes with intention of passing them out to our fellow riders. Sadly, we have no pictures of all the late-night riders enjoying their cupcakes. I...

ICSV had the great privilege and honor to have the South African Ambassador to Austria visit the school today. Ambassador Mabhongo was greeted by the elementary students who sang a couple of songs, including a traditional South African song. Add caption I love this picture because it really shows the international diversity at ICSV After the warm greeting by these students and other members of the ICSV family, the Ambassador took some time to speak to the high school students about the challenges in South Africa's history and the potential for the African nation's future. The Ambassador speaking to the high schoolers

Even in Austria, Baseball season is in full swing. Justin is playing at the American International Baseball Club ( AIBC ) with the Major Twins and with the Vienna Lions in the  Schülerliga Ost of the Austrian Baseball Federation. Justin did well in his Austrian baseball debut. This is the first of his four hits that he had in this game This is his fourth his of the day...a double to right He also pitched three innings with no earned runs and 4 strikeouts. Not bad! I am playing on the Vienna Mets in the  Regionalliga Ost. This team plays in the third tier of Austrian baseball and serves as the farm club for the Vienna Metrostars in the top division (the ABL). The pictures below are from a pre-season game agains the Piratas del Caribe (that's right)... team before the game I played catcher for the entire 9 inning game... Our schedule is now packed with baseball as Tuesdays are the only days of the week where there is no potential for baseball related activ...