A year in the life of...

A year ago we were hanging out in the hospital in Klosterneuburg, Austria...the bells from the 300 year old monastery building (although the location has been a monastery since the mid 1100's!) rang as our baby girl opened her eyes for the first time to look around and explore her world...looking back on this year she has had quite a beginning...here are some highlights.

- Austrian birth certificate
- Visit to the consulate to get US citizen born abroad certificate and passport
- Staff retreat into the Austrian Alps...9 days old. Dedication service with all our ICSV family
- First rock show - Switchfoot
- Trip to Czech Republic for her brother's baseball tournament
- First international plane trip with mommy to the US right before Christmas
- First long distance train ride (to Prague)
- Second rock show (and running the merch table with mommy) - Good Weather Forecast
- First move (2nd apartment)
- Second long distance train ride (to Innsbruck)
- Trip to Croatia
- Second international plane trip to visit family in America for the summer
- First Angels game (second Angels game the next day- in a suite!)
- First Johnstone family vacation at Welk resort
- First swim in the Alte Donau
- First Birthday!

It's been a great year. We are so blessed to have this beautiful little girl be part of our family. Her personality is an absolute gift and we're looking forward to see how God is going to use her in the future. Check out the video below showing her first year...set to the song that served as the inspiration for her name,

Comments

Who are these kids at ICSV...

Hi everyone... The first week and a half of school has been absolutely amazing! We have had some great opportunities to begin building lasting relationships with the students that God has brought to Vienna to be educated at the International Christian School of Vienna. Rebecca has been adjusting well to her role as secondary secretary. She is learning quickly the many demands of her new role and is doing quite well in supporting us teachers and the rest of the staff. Rebecca hard at work I have been really enjoying my classes. I have a total of 43 students spread out over 4 periods. The students I have represent 14 different home nations, with many of the students who are "Austrian" are first generation, so they are of other nationalities as well. I have also had the opportunity to begin working with the soccer team...again, many nationalities are represented on the field, truly an international squad. Here are some pictures of the team training at the local club

Almost a Year - A reflective poem by Rebecca

It’s been almost a year since we got on the plane. Knowing that we were leaving friends and family; we would never be the same. What has it been like leaving everything we know? Laughter and tears; sun and snow. Up and down; love and fear. All while trusting God for the reason we are here. Relying on support and prayers from the ones you care for, Though scary, freeing, challenging; it means relying on God even more. I’m so thankful to be part of a team who sees that Christ is our need Whether they can see the impact first hand or not, they have blessed students at ICSV. The students and families are so precious, eager to learn and understand What it means to love the Lord with all their hearts and to follow His command. At times I feel so left alone and wondering why God has called me here But then I talk to a student, or go to a school event, that’s when it all becomes clear. God never said life would be easy or even how we think it might be We just need to rely on Him, as He

Clowns and Hospitals

Many of you might remember the 1998 film starring Robin Williams that chronicled the early career of Hunter "Patch" Adams. He began using humor as therapy in his sessions and opened a free hospital in West Virginia. Here is a clip from the film... Fast forward 13 years to a hospital in Vienna, Austria...to a children's surgery ward. As we were sitting talking with some visitors we noticed Justin had more visitors... They proceeded to hand out musical instruments; here's the problem...this was less than 12 hours after Justin's surgery. It really hurt him to laugh at this point...and he still felt horrible After that nonsense, the clowns made 2 more appearances; once when they delivered lunch, and once later in the day when we had our friend Tom Mason visiting. Tom is a fellow missionary serving as a pastor at a local church and a teacher at ICSV. He is also a amateur magician. Pictures of him doing tricks have found their way onto this blog

Johnstein!

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