Christmas Song

Here is a video from last year of Carli singing one of her favorite Christmas songs.

17 weeks!

This is for all of you who keep asking to see "Belly pics". Let me remind you all that the whole taking pictures of your belly is fun the first one or two times, but by the 4th pregnancy, it is not so cute anymore! There will be not be very many belly pictures of me this time around!!

But, other than my ever growing belly, everything is going well. We have been extremely busy and I typically go to bed right after we tuck the kids in! I am finally starting to have more energy during the day and I have officially gone a week without throwing up! I am hopeful that the sickness part is over and that I can start enjoying this sweet baby. My next appointment is this coming Friday, so I am looking forward to that.

We are also looking forward to going to Germany next week for the Euro-American retreat and then we are going to enjoy Thanksgiving with friends in Germany. Then when we return, we will enjoy a second Thanksgiving with our friends in Vienna! I think that I am going to love all this food!

I hope to post more pictures soon, now that I am feeling a little better.

We are still here...

I haven't spent much time on the computer lately. This pregnancy has made me extremely sick. I was sick with the other three as well, but nothing like this. I am now in my 12th week, so I am hoping and praying that the end is near! I am so looking forward to having energy again. We have a lot to do to get ready for this baby!!

This pregnancy experience is going to be very different than the others. I had the same doctor for Carli, Caleb, and Cotter, I delivered them all at the same hospital in Oklahoma, and by the time Cotter came around, I was a pro! Now we get to learn the new process of how it will work in Vienna. So far, I had to switch doctors, because my old doctor didn't take our new insurance. I have only had one appointment so far with her, but I think she will be fine. She is only going to be doing my check-ups; she won't be the one who delivers the baby. I want to have the baby in the hospital by our house, so they told me that I have to go and register there if I want to have the baby there. They said that it is hard to get into that hospital and that it would have been better to register before we got pregnant!! Well, that obviously didn't happen, but we did get there early enough to get registered. So that is exciting. That will be very nice to only have to drive 5 minutes instead of clear across the city!

I still have lots of fun pictures to post from the summer, so hopefully I will feel up to it soon. Please pray that the sickness part of this pregnancy is over soon. It has been really hard on my family. I am so thankful for my husband who has taken great care of us the last few weeks. I am also so thankful for friends who have brought us food and even washed our dirty clothes! We are truly blessed.

Caleb & SMZ Ost

As much as the last few weeks have been exciting with the great joy of Kim's pregnancy, the last few days have been "exciting" because Caleb has been battling an asthma attack. On Thursday evening it got bad enough that we could no longer treat him at home and had to take him to the hospital (named SMZ Ost) thinking maybe he could be treated in the after-hours clinic and then sent home, which he almost was, but also recognizing the possibility that he would need oxygen and would need to stay, which ended up being the case.

During the night Thursday he needed oxygen the whole night to keep his level above 90% and was getting breathing treatments every two hours. Last night, in direct answer to many prayers, he was able to sleep through the night without any oxygen and breathing treatments every three hours.

Though he didn't get to go home today, he feels much better - virtually normal - and hopes to head home tomorrow. During his time here in the hospital, he has met a new friend Philipp with and against whom he's played a lot of Nintendo. He even had a mini tournament with one other patient this evening. With Philipp's mom, we've had some good conversations and Kim even took a walk with her today.

We appreciate those of you who have been praying, the Haskews who watched over Carli and Cotter while Kim and I did our evening changing of the guard and brought Kim some dinner tonight, for our friends the Hübners who continue to check on us and have offered their help and for the Rybinskis who invited Carli to stay with Izabela tonight.

Caleb is getting excellent treatment and is in a great hospital and because we changed to the social Austrian insurance a few months ago, his asthma-related needs are covered; we thank God for all of this. Please pray for Caleb to be completely well and be able to go home tomorrow and pray for the other kids here.

Good News!

That's right! We are having a baby!!!

Please pray for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby!

Crazy Busy Summer!

This has been a pretty eventful summer! But, it has been an absolutely amazing summer as well. So, lets back way up to the beginning when we went to Spain. Josh's family met us in Spain for a great week. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. Everyone got to be there except for Daniel. We missed you Dan!

We went out for dinner the last night that we were there and Carli got to get up on stage with the Flamenco dancers. She loved it!

We got to finally meet the newest Wells. I love this little man!

In Spain, everyone takes an afternoon "Siesta", so Caleb decided to join in!

These 3 boys were inseparable! They had so much fun together. We also happened to be in Spain while they were playing in the World Cup, so they all wore matching jerseys to watch the game. It was so much fun to be there at that time- especially when they won!

It was a such a great week and we loved being with everyone again. We all hated to see the week end. Spain is definitely one of my favorite countries!

A Trip to Remember (concluding thoughts)

So, you could call the trip a disaster, a nightmare, a challenge, perhaps even a mistake. You might even be tempted to ask the question, "Where was God in all of this?"

The trip was difficult. It didn't go as planned. It was inconvenient to have to stop in London, a country that despite a common language is foreign and expensive. It was also frustrating to not be able to communicate with people because my phone was lost and annoying to not be able to check email to at least be able to update people via the internet. It was also disappointing that Kim had to stay an extra night in London, that we couldn't get on the first few flights out of London on Saturday and that we missed the surprise birthday party for Kim's grandma.

BUT, when we look back at how everything played out, our perspective is very different: the fact that her intense pain began on the first flight and not the international flight; the paramedics that met us at the plane; the hospital staff that completely went out of their way to accommodate our children; the fact that the surgeon identified the problem and could perform the surgery immediately and laparoscopically; the extra day of rest Kim got by staying one more night in London; the total strangers that helped Kim make the painful walk across the terminal to the bathroom while I waited in line to find out about our flight and prayed for Kim; the other strangers that sat and played with our kids; the nice BA customer service people that actually got us on the plane; the fact that all five of us got on our second standby flight (when others had waited days to fly and eventually bought new tickets); the fact that Kim could be pushed around in a wheelchair throughout most of the airports; the many people who prayed for our family; Kim's parents who helped us out in many ways and functioned as the primary channel for communication with everyone else.

Yes, when we consider all of these blessings, we see not only God's presence but His provision and are reminded that it's in these moments - these adventures in life - that we learn to trust God more!

A Trip to Remember (3.5 & 4 - the conclusion)

So this is actually still the third day, but when flying internationally the days really run together.

As I mentioned at the end of the Day 3 post, we were all spread out throughout the plane from London to Philadelphia, so periodically one of the kids or I would walk up toward Kim to check on her. Apparently the guy sitting next to Kim did not appreciate us coming up there and having the kids talk over Kim to check on their mom.

The flight itself was relatively uneventful, after I had a talk with Caleb informing him that he could not race back and forth in the aisle even if he "is just checking on Mom". Every time Kim came by she was grimacing, really wincing in pain but toughing it out knowing that being on this plane meant seeing family soon.

Upon landing, a BA employee quickly noticed that Kim was in need of assistance and requested a wheelchair for her. A friendly man met us at the gate and took Kim and us to the baggage claim, where we waited for our five suitcases and three car seats to appear. It didn't take long for four of our suitcases to come, but the last suitcase (Carli's) and three car seats never arrived. With the help of the wheelchair man, we went through Customs and then to the BA counter to report our missing bags and reschedule our last flight to Pittsburgh.

The woman behind the BA counter was very helpful and friendly and took care of scheduling our missing suitcase and car seats to be delivered to Kim's grandparent's house, but she was not able to help us with our last flight and sent us down a few counters to the US Airways woman. (Our last flight was a US Airways flight.) The woman at the US Airways counter was not as helpful and did not understand whether we already had a ticket or were requesting a ticket. Though she finally understood that we simply wanted her to get us on the next flight to Pittsburgh, she contended that we had no ticket and should be giving her a ticket in order to get a boarding pass.  Eventually, we went upstairs and talked to another man from BA that helped us and printed a pseudo boarding pass for us but told us that we would need to get the actual boarding passes from a different US Airways person, which we could do by walking two terminals down. By this point, it was after 9:00 PM and Kim had already decided that she would rather stay the night in a hotel at the airport and fly in the morning than try to catch a flight out to Pittsburgh that night even though that meant completely missing her grandma's surprise birthday party. So, we decided we would head to the hotel and deal with the boarding passes in the morning; the flight didn't leave until after 9:00 AM anyway.

So the kids and I tried to push Mom in her wheelchair and luggage cart with all of our suitcases on it outside the airport and across the street to the hotel. After getting on to Caleb for getting too close to the road with the luggage explaining that he could possibly tip the cart over and constantly cautioning Carli to be careful pushing Kim, I took over with the luggage and promptly dumped it on the ground (eating my own words to Caleb). Finally, we made it into the hotel and into our room for the night. We all crashed worn out from our international flight, not to mention time at airline counters and pushing luggage and Kim in the wheelchair.

The next morning Sunday we woke up and headed over to the airport after everyone had the chance to shower and finally change their clothes for the first time since Thursday (except Carli, of course). At the US Airways counter, we met Tina, a woman who like her colleague from the night before did not understand whether we needed tickets or already had tickets. Once she finally understood, she couldn't understand why we had not called to let US Airways know we would not make our Thursday flight due to my wife having to be taken off the plane in a foreign country to a hospital for an emergency appendectomy, during which time I had lost my phone and the only phone calls we even made were either to her mother or local calls that themselves had to be "authorized". Though I tried to explain, it was clear she had never had been to Hillingdon Hospital without her cell phone and probably had never experienced any type of emergency while travelling. She was less than sympathetic and basically told us we would have to buy new tickets if we wanted to fly to Pittsburgh. The tickets had been declared "no value" (whatever that means), and she was convinced that the travel agent had done this and was the only person who could reverse it such that we could use our previously purchased tickets to fly to Pittsburgh. So, we got out of line and Kim, sitting in her wheelchair, called her parents and the travel agent. With the help of the travel agent, who confirmed our suspicion that the woman behind the counter had no idea what she was talking about, and my father-in-law the situation was resolved (perhaps requiring new tickets - not sure on that still). Anyway, we went to a different woman a few counters down and finally received boarding passes, but only after paying for our bags. (An interesting side note: As I was paying for our bags, I heard a woman down by Tina's counter say, "Is your name Tina?" Walking away from the woman, I heard Tina respond, "Yes it is and I'm doing just fine." Immediately after that, the woman at the counter picked up and ink pen and hurled it against the back wall where Tina had previously been standing and stormed off with her daughter. Obviously Tina did not read that book on how to win friends and influence people.)

The flight to Pittsburgh did not take too long, and a woman took as at the gate on the supersized golf cart like car, which the kids loved and Kim appreciated, to the wheelchair area where a woman pushed Kim toward the Baggage Claim area. There we saw Kim's sister Kari and her dad waiting on us. What a joy it was to see familiar faces and have help picking up our luggage and making the last leg of our trip - the 45 minute drive to Cadiz, OH. We finally arrived to our destination around 12:30 PM on Sunday!

Though this is the official conclusion to the story, I plan to share some retrospective and concluding thoughts in my next post.

A Trip to Remember (Day 3)

Saturday morning, we woke up and put on our same clothes again for the third day in a row. (Our luggage had made it to Heathrow but we left it there because we didn't know from day to day when we would be flying and where we would be staying, etc.) I did give Kim one of the shots to prevent a blood clot, which she hated and almost hyperventilated before I even got out the needle. We got a cab and headed back to the airport. When we arrived at the section of the airport that the BA customer service people had told me to visit, they directed us to another section at the other end of the terminal, which was nice because there was a short line there but it was not easy for Kim to walk that far. When we got to the counter they confirmed what the customer service people had said on the phone - that all flights headed to the States were full even in business and first class on virtually any flight and especially on the flight we needed to Philadelphia because London's summer break had begun the day before and half of the UK was flying (apparently hundreds to the States). While standing in line to talk with the ticket agent, Kim had to go sit down because she was in pain. She was really doubting whether she was "fit to fly", but she proved that a person's will often wins out over a person's condition/circumstances. The man at the counter was very kind and helpful and even checked other airlines to see about flights out, though he was supposedly not allowed to do that. Ultimately all he could do was allow us to be put on the list to fly standby on a flight scheduled at the same time as our original flight (12:25 PM to Philadelphia). The chances of five people all making it on the same flight when flying standby, especially when the flights are literally full are so slim that all we could do was pray. If we didn't make that flight, he said there was a 1:45 PM flight to New York or a 4:25 PM flight to Philadelphia. The man said we needed to go back across the terminal to Zone A and talk with them about getting on the 12:25 flight standby.

We slowly (and for Kim, painfully) made our way over to Zone A and waited in line for a while, but Kim eventually had to go sit down. Once we got to the counter, the man was friendly but said we had actually not been put on a waiting list, even though the man from BA's customer service on the phone the day before had said he put us on the waiting list. The man at the counter at Zone A wanted us to go back across the terminal to have them get us on the waiting list, but I explained that my wife could not make the trek back there and asked if he couldn't just call over there and get it cleared up. He did and got us on standby for that flight. Meanwhile, I headed downstairs where the man from BA's customer service said I would need to go for lost luggage to find out if my phone had shown up. The man at the lost luggage counter said nothing had been delivered and that I would actually have take a train to another terminal to see if the phone had been turned in at the main lost luggage office, but I did not have time to do that before our first standby flight.

We then spent the next two and half hours sitting and waiting at the airport for the right time that the standby passengers find out if they make the flight. As the time neared, I went toward the counter and watched as John, the man behind the counter, picked up different boarding passes for standby passengers and scanned them to find out if there was any space on that flight. Just before he picked up our boarding passes to check our flight, I saw him scan the boarding passes of two women who were waiting. He got a slight smile on his face and called them over. One of the women began loading her suitcase on the conveyor belt, when John said, "Wait a minute." He called down to the gate, and they had closed the flight. He had to tell the women, who had apparently slept in the airport the night before because they had been waiting to fly standby, that they actually would not be able to fly on that flight and would need to come back around 8:00 PM to see if they would make the next flight. As John saw me walk up, he picked up our stack of five boarding passes and scanned them and frowned. He called me over and told me we would not get on that flight. Disappointed, I asked him about the 1:45 PM flight to New York. He looked it up and said it was not only overbooked by 16 passengers but there were already 18 passengers waiting to fly standby on that flight, which clearly meant there was no hope for us to make the flight. He then looked up the 4:25 PM flight to Philadelphia and reiterated that it was full but that it was overbooked by 11 tickets but had 11 possible seats, which somehow translates to a higher likelihood of us getting on that flight but still difficult for five people. I then walked slowly back to Kim and the kids and told them we did not make the flight and that we would have to wait four hours to find out about making the next flight.

Over the next four hours, we prayed, sat, ate, played, talked to other passengers waiting to fly standby, prayed and waited some more. During that time Cotter and I took the train over to the other terminal to visit the main lost luggage office. After we got there and gave the man a description of my phone, he returned empty-handed and said no phone matching my description had been turned in. We then returned to our terminal and waited until it was time for me to go the counter to find out if there was any hope of us flying out that day. After waiting for what seemed like an hour, a new lady behind the counter called out my name. With excitement I went to counter, where she asked if we would be willing to split up: three fly out on that flight and the others fly out (standby) on a later flight (i.e., the next day at the earliest). While that was progress, it didn't really make the situation easier, but I told her I would check with my wife. I went to Kim and told her the option we'd been given. I told her it would probably be best if she went up to the counter with me because in her hunched-over position, she could certainly better convey the sense of urgency and gain much more sympathy than I. Walking toward the counter, we discussed the reality of separating; Carli offered to stay in London with me but that would have obviously meant that Kim would have to take care of the boys (which is not always easy when at full strength let alone recovering from surgery). When Kim got to the counter, she pleaded with the women for two more tickets, but the lady patiently explained that even the three seats that appeared to be available could be taken if the original ticketed passengers were to show up in the next four minutes. With tears coming down her face, Kim knew she had to say no to the three tickets though it took every fiber of her being to utter the words. The woman behind the counter did, in fact, take notice of Kim's hunched posture and asked her if she was actually "fit to fly", which by this time had become clear that while Kim was mentally "fit to fly" she was really not physically "fit to fly", but there was no stopping her at this point - well, aside from having to fly with only part of her family. Kim asked what would happen if we said no to the three tickets; the lady implied that they would be given to crew members waiting to fly. At that moment, the phone rang and the lady behind the counter told us that it was the gate wanting to know if we would split up. As Kim said no and we walked away from the counter, the woman on the phone, now obviously moved by Kim's plight, explained the situation to the woman at the gate and then turned to us with a big smile on her face and said, "We have five; we have five seats!" Now the tears from Kim's face were streaming but more out of joy than a mixture of sadness and pain. The woman told us we would need to hurry (i.e., run) to the gate to make the flight before the closed the gate - to which Kim quickly responded, "I cannot run. I need a wheelchair!" The lady told us we didn't have time for a wheelchair, so we hurried off as quickly as we could toward security. Explaining our situation with Kim's surgery and the standby flight that was scheduled to take off shortly, security moved us into the short line and got us through quickly. At the gate, we saw a number of BA staff, who probably had been waiting to take those three available seats and had perhaps sacrificed two more just so our family could make that flight.

The bus took us to the plane where we, including my hurting wife, had to walk up the stairs to board the plane. Because we were flying standby and had only barely made it on the plane, our seats were not together. Kim sat by herself closer to the front of the plane. Cotter sat by me. Carli and Caleb had their own seats near the rear of the aircraft. But we did not care - we were all on the plane and finally headed to the States.

A Trip to Remember (Day 2)

In the morning we excitedly woke up and called the hospital to see if the doctor had made his rounds and dismissed Kim, but he had not come by, so we called back an hour later, but he still hadn't come by. The kids and I headed up to the hospital and had to sneak one-by-one into the ward where Kim was because it was a women's ward and visiting hours didn't begin until 2:00 PM. By that point the doctor had come by and said he would release Kim from the hospital if she felt "fit to fly" but that she needed to stay in London another night before flying, so we had to find a place to stay. 

Thus began the search for the book with the nearby places to stay and the quest for some kind person who would "authorize" an outside line to make the local phone call for a room. In addition to that, I spent a long time on the phone (mostly waiting for a real person to pick up) with British Airways letting them know we would not be flying today and the lost luggage office trying to find out if my phone had been found.

While Kim was disappointed that we would not be flying that night, she agreed that she needed more rest and recovery before making the 8-hour transatlantic flight. We found a place to stay at a nearby bed and breakfast and Kim received permission to make a phone call to her mom to let her know that it would be another day before we made it to the States. Meanwhile, the ward where Kim was staying was moving to the complete opposite end of the hospital, and she was one of the last patients to still be in the room. Shortly after Kim spoke with her mom, my mom called and I talked to her for the first time, but in the middle of our conversation one of the nurses said she needed the phone just as Mom was trying to tell me how the funeral for my brother-in-law Kyle's dad had gone, so we had to cut it short. Shortly after that, the kids and I made the trek with Kim and a few nurses to the newly-renovated ward where Kim would spend a few hours before her release. The entire time, Kim was ready to be released but had to wait on the doctor to make his rounds and dismiss her. During this time, the kids and I found something to eat in the hospital for lunch and visited the PALS, the Patient Advice and Liaison Service, office to see if they knew anything about internet access in the hospital or nearby because my previous attempts to ask both nurses and at the information counter were met with confusion and a general lack of knowledge, which meant that I had not been able to communicate with anyone except my mother-in-law (and that on rare occasions) to let people know what was going on. In the PALS office, two kind women reaffirmed what had been previously said that there was no public internet access in the hospital and that they also did not have any computers available for patients or family of patients. As I left the office and reprimanded the kids for their boisterous behavior in the hallway during my two-minute conversation, the older of the two women invited us back in and said that I could use one of their computers to check email. They were great with the kids and it was the first time in two days I had been able to connect with anyone in the outside world and let people know what was going on. I also decided to check if anyone had been using my phone since it hadn't shown up, but the roaming charges from another country are not updated immediately, so I couldn't find that out.

When the doctor, actually the surgeons who performed the surgery, showed up to clear Kim for discharge from the hospital, they left her with medications and two syringes to give herself a shot just before and after the international flight to prevent blood clots. If you know my wife, you know she is no fan of shots, but the idea of giving herself a shot was more than appalling. I could see in her eyes that she was not even for a moment willing to consider this, and I think the surgeons noticed it too; they said I could administer the shot, which was only slightly more comforting to Kim. She had already received a similar shot earlier that morning and did not like it one bit. However, she was willing to do whatever to get to fly. She also received some the newest fashion in "help your blood circulate through your legs" stockings to wear while she slept that night and for the international flight.

Upon leaving the hospital, a cab took us to the bed and breakfast. When the man who ran the place took us to our room, it had two twin beds. This was of little concern to me and of even less concern to the kids because it had a trampoline in the back. The man was not overly impressed that we had requested a room with only two (twin) beds and was unwilling to give us extra blankets and pillows. What he did not realize is that when I booked the room over the phone, I did not know how big the beds were and thought we could certainly make a room with two full/queen beds work. Kim, on the other hand, was thinking this is not going to work. 

Kim had her own bed. Carli offered to sleep on the floor, so we made a pallet for her. The boys offered to take the other bed, which meant I would either be sleeping with the boys or on the floor next to Carli. The idea of a bed sounded better, so I began the night between the boys but quickly realized that: best case scenario, Caleb would be smelling my feet in his face the whole night or worst case scenario, one of the boys would fall out of the bed. So, I moved to the floor for a restless night's sleep.

We were just thankful to be one step closer to getting on a plane out of London and to the U.S., which was our plan for first thing the next morning.

A Trip to Remember (Day 1)

All international trips inherently pose their own challenges and require a certain amount of flexibility, but our recent adventure to the States tops all others.

It began early in the morning last Thursday when we got to the Vienna airport to check in and Kim began to feel sick - like maybe she would throw up or even pass out. Despite the fact that this kind of behavior is not the norm for Kim, she has felt somewhat similar on other early mornings when she had not eaten anything. So, after finally getting checked in for our flight and finding Kim looking a bit pale after having thrown up, I ran to get some food. Well, when I returned, I found her lying on the ground in the airport and shortly thereafter she was taken downstairs in a wheelchair to some sort of medical clinic in the airport. After a glass of cold water, a 10 minute break lying down and a brief visit from some form of medical personnel who took her pulse, checked her oxygen and temperature, Kim convinced them that she could fly. She was then wheeled down to the gate so that we could make our flight to London.

Before we even got off the ground, Kim had thrown up into a couple of those airplane bags. In the air not only did the pain in her stomach that caused her to throw up increase, she began to feel pain in her shoulder. As the flight continued the pain did as well, so we finally told the flight attendant, who had already noticed Kim was sick and had been checking on her, that Kim would need to see a doctor in the (London) Heathrow airport. A different flight attendant returned, checked Kim's pulse and informed us that paramedics would meet us on the plane once we had landed. After landing the paramedics came on the plane, checked Kim out and then took all of us in an ambulance to the nearest hospital. (The ride in the ambulance was one of the highlights of the trip for the kids!) As we arrived at the hospital, I reached down to look at the time on my phone, and the phone was not there. I quickly walked back to the ambulance to see if it had fallen out in the vehicle, but it was not there either. In the ER, which in London is actually called the A&E (Accident and Emergency), they took blood from Kim to run tests and a kind doctor checked her out and thought she probably had some sort of viral infection. (Kim was a bit concerned about the combination of the pain in her shoulder and in her abdomen because she had a similar pain with her ectopic pregnancy.) All the while, we were hoping to make our 12:25 PM flight to States, but the doctor ordered x-rays and wanted Kim to spend at least a few hours in the Observation Ward.

Though her white blood cell count was somewhat high, everything else looked good and the x-rays were clear, so the doctor didn't seem too concerned. Before he would release her, he wanted the surgeon to check her out to potentially help identify the pain in her abdomen. At that point we knew we wouldn't make our flight, so the doctor authorized a local phone call for me (and, yes, even the local phone calls had to be authorized) to call British Airway's customer service line, which took over 20 minutes before I ever got ahold of a real person. They told us there was another flight at 4:45 PM, so that was our next goal.

When the surgeon came along and checked Kim out in the Observation Ward, he suspected the problem was related to her appendix, which was the first time this possibility had even been mentioned. He wanted to do an ultrasound and then surgery, if needed. Though the surgeon mentioned that several people were already scheduled for an ultrasound and that the medical system in London does not function exactly like it does in the States, he came back about 10 minutes later and said they could squeeze Kim in, so they took her away for an ultrasound. Sure enough, the ultrasound confirmed that her appendix were inflamed and needed to be removed. At this point, we realized that we would not be flying that day and Kim got permission to make an international call to her mom to let her know what was going on and that we would not be coming into Ohio that night. The surgeon reassured Kim that if everything looked ok once they "got in there" and could perform the surgery laparoscopically, she would potentially be able to fly the next day. Kim then got an IV and waited for a few hours to be taken to the theatre (this is the British-English equivalent to our operating room) for surgery.

At this point, I knew we needed to find a place to stay and the nice staff in the Observation Ward gave me a book with different places (bed and breakfasts and hotels) to stay near the hospital. After calling about five places only to be told they had no room, one nurse in the Children's A&E suggested a hotel; they only had smoking rooms available, but their sister hotel had a room. The kids had already watched two movies, played Nintendo, watched a TV show on the iPod and were so worn out - all they wanted to do was go to the hotel and crash. I had to explain to them that we needed to wait and check on Mom after her surgery. Around 7:30 PM I saw one of the surgeons come into the Children's area and thought maybe he was finished with the surgery, but he did not come and talk to me immediately. Finally, he came in and said that everything went well and that he was able to perform the surgery laparoscopically. We had to wait for Kim to be moved to the ward where she would be staying the night before we could see her. Sometime after 8:00 PM we did get to see her, but she was pretty out of it. The kids and I then waited on a cab and didn't make it to the hotel until after 10:00 PM. Cotter just about fell asleep in the cab, though it only took about 5 minutes to make it to the hotel. We all fell asleep pretty quickly after the long 17+ hour day.

Kisi concert

Carli had a Kisi concert last weekend and she had so much fun! She loves to be up there singing and she always does so good.

This time, Cotter decided about halfway through the concert that he wanted to be a part of Kisi too, so he jumped up and joined the group!

Carli gave me a lot of dirty looks, but everyone else loved that he was there, so it was pretty funny. He is a mess.

A little behind...

So, we are a little (okay, a lot) behind on our blog. Things have just been crazy around here, so the blog was forgotten. I will go ahead and try to get you all updated on what we have been up to the last month~

Let's start with Mother's Day. I had a wonderful day full of beautiful flowers! Carli walked over to the flower garden behind our house and brought back this huge bouquet of lilacs!

Then I went out to the porch and saw this beautiful plant!

Aren't the flowers so cool?!

I was brought breakfast in bed by my sweet kids and amazing husband, opened great gifts made by my kids, had a great time of worship, ate at my favorite Austrian restaurant, took a nap, and went to my favorite gelato place for dessert! It was a great day of getting spoiled by the most wonderful family a mom could ever ask for. Thanks guys!

The next big event was Cotter's Indian Festival. He got to dress up and sing songs that he has learned at Kindergarten, and they put on a performance for all the families. He even got to play the big drum. He was so cute and he loved being an Indian for an afternoon!

Then we enjoyed a family retreat up in the mountains of Austria at Schwarzwaldeckhaus. We were there for a weekend with about 10 other families. Josh spoke one morning about raising kids in a Christian family and he did an amazing job. I will forever be in awe of his ability to speak German. The kids had a pajama party (with a modeling show- organized and directed by Carli), and they really enjoyed helping in the kitchen.

Although I don't have any pictures from outside, the first day was absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed the hike up the mountain to the cabin and the kids loved to pick bouquets of wildflowers. But... this is what we woke up to Sunday morning!

Thanks to Jake, we didn't have to hike back down the mountain in the snow! We all got rides down in the Jeep! He was a lifesaver, because I definitely didn't pack the right things for snow! I mean, c'mon... it's May!

Well, that has been the highlights up until this past weekend. We just enjoyed another amazing weekend with friends and I will post more about that soon!

Cotter turns 5

It is so hard to believe that Cotter is already 5 years old! I don't have any babies anymore! Up until this year, Cotter didn't really care what we did for his birthday. He would pick his favorite character and then we would invite our closest friends and have a party. Well this year was different. He had it all planned out. He wanted to start his day eating pancakes with sprinkles, then he wanted his 2 little buddies from kindergarten to go with him to McDonalds for lunch, then he wanted to meet other friends at his favorite park. He even said that he wanted to eat at TGIFriday's for dinner, but we have to draw the line somewhere! The kids have had 7 days off of school for the Easter holiday, so we were really late in giving everyone the invitations. We gave them out on Wednesday and the party was on Friday! To our surprise, everyone (except one) could come, so he had 8 friends at the park helping him celebrate his big day. He could not have asked for a better day and I absolutely loved the joy and happiness all over his face!

But, I'm not going to lie and say that I had just as much fun. It was a hard party for me. 3 of the moms stayed for the entire party and we all sat down at the picnic table for the 3 hours that we were at the park. This was the first time that I had met these women, so I was so excited at the opportunity to get to know them. One of the ladies spoke with such a strong dialect that I could barely make out any words. Another mom talked so unbelievably fast that she barely stopped to take a breath! I sat there trying my hardest to keep up with the conversation, and it wasn't until they would stop and direct their attention to me that we all understood that I just couldn't keep up. Several times they would be talking so fast and then ask me something and I would have to ask them to repeat the question because I just didn't understand it. I think after awhile, they stopped trying to include me, because they knew I couldn't keep up. So I just sat there with these strangers, missing my friends and my family deeply. I was fighting back tears most of the time. I know this party was not all about me. It was entirely for Cotter and he had one of the best days of his life! It was still one of the hardest 3 hours that I have had in a long time.

This is so our family...

This commercial cracks me up! This is exactly how our family is going to be in a few years. (Add a couple of boys to the scene). Josh is constantly making up songs to everything he says and right now, the kids love it, but I am guessing that at some point, this is how Carli will react to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGUABBr8ZxI

Caleb turns 7!

I know. It is really hard to believe for me too. My sweet Caleb is already 7 years old! Time is really flying by quickly. He had a wonderful birthday! It started out with a morning scavenger hunt which led him to a Star Wars mask that he has been wanting for a LONG time.

His sweet big sister made him a train for his birthday. Just look at that! She painted each piece of wood and put wheels on it with a hammer and nails and everything! I was really impressed and he loved it!

Then after school, we went to his favorite indoor playground with his friends. We started by eating pizza...

Then he opened presents and ate some cupcakes. They weren't too interested in the cupcakes, because they just couldn't wait to start playing!

They drove go-carts...

Played soccer (of course)...

Carli climbed on the climbing wall...

Look how far she got!

They completely wore themselves out. He loved spending time with his buddies and after many Skype calls, he crashed!

2 new babies!

I am an aunt... again! 2 new babies in one week! It doesn't get much better than that! Anna Katherine "Anna Kate" Wiley was born March 13! Big brother Brett just loves her and everyone is doing great! Isn't she beautiful?!

Our beautiful new Neice

We have a beautiful new niece! Kennedy Rose Curo was born on Tuesday! Everyone is doing great, and Kinsey is such a proud big sister!

Kreativer Frauen-Abend

The other day, we started a women's program at the office. It is a "Night of creativity" where once a month, a group of women get together and do something creative. I am so excited about this and I got to be the first teacher last week! This month we did painting. Next month, a friend will teach us all to make necklaces where we make and bake the beads at the office. Each month is a different theme and a different teacher. So what I did this month was taught everyone how to paint. I painted a simple flower painting....

and then walked everyone step by step how to paint their own version of this painting.

3 of the women have never painted before in their lives and one had never painted on canvas before! I was so impressed with how everyones turned out and they all got to take home their paintings! It was fun to see their personalities come out in their paintings. It was SO much fun and I can't wait until next month!

So proud...

I just want everyone to know how proud I am of my kids! Carli and Caleb recently received their grades and they got all 1's! (Which means straight A's!) I am just so impressed with how fantastic they are doing in school! To enter a foreign culture and learn a foreign language and get straight A's in school is just amazing to me. We took them to their favorite indoor playground to celebrate! Here is a short video of how much fun they had!

Cotter feeds the bunnies

Here is Cotter's creative way to feed the bunnies:

Caleb's Hair

Like father like son. When Josh was young, he used to spend a lot of time in front of the mirror fixing his hair. He had a wave that went from one side of his head to the other... (I wish I had a picture!) He would use hairspray and work it until it was just right. Now... Caleb is taking after his dad!

This is what he does every morning before he goes to school. He fixes each individual hair until it is perfect. Then, after much kicking and screaming, he is forced by his parents to put his stocking cap on to go out into the winter weather. "But Mooommmm.... I don't want to wear a hat. It will mess up my hair!"

Josh has started teaching a Bible class at the International University. Two times each week, he wears a suit and tie. The other day, I said to Caleb, "I think that I am going to like Daddy teaching this class." Caleb asked why, and I said, "Because he looks so handsome in his suit." I asked Caleb if he agreed and he said, "No. Not at all. I would NEVER wear my hair like that!"

It was so funny!

snow fun

We have had some snow in Vienna, and the kids have had a blast!

Cotter needed a little help making a snow angel...

But then he figured it out.

Carli had a friend over and it had been snowing all morning while they were in school... so that made it a perfect day for SNOW ICE CREAM!

Carli's friend had never heard of snow ice cream before. We gathered all the ingredients: milk, sugar, vanilla, and lots of fresh, clean, snow.

We mixed it all together, added some caramel

and sprinkles and it was a huge hit.

a brief update

We have had a wonderful holiday break, and now the kids go back to school tomorrow. I think they are getting sick of each other, but I'm not quite ready to get back into a busy schedule. I liked sleeping in and playing games with my kids all day. But I guess that can't last forever!

Josh's sister Julie and her husband Ben came for a visit! We had such a great time with them and really enjoyed having them here. Ben had never been to Europe before, so we did a quick tour of all the beautiful sights in Vienna.

Of course, we had to take him to Schönbrunn Palace. It was really foggy, but still as beautiful as ever!

There happened to be a few Christmas market stands still open so they got to drink some Kinderpunsch and eat a really big Krapfen.

My sister Kaci made Carli this hat! Isn't it cute?!

The kids have absolutely loved playing with the bunnies. The gray one (Hopper) is definitely the favorite. He is lots of fun and likes to be held. The white one (Marie) has an attitude! She has bit us all and would prefer to be left alone. I'm hoping she will warm up to us soon.

I need to post a better picture, but Amanda made me this BEAUTIFUL quilt! I absolutely love it (and so does Caleb)!
We have enjoyed having some snow, so Carli was out there immediately making a snowman. Cotter gave up his hat and scarf, so he had to come back inside before the picture. Carli loves the snow and could stay outside all day long playing in it.