Kim's grandpa - update

Thank you for the prayers. Kim's grandpa was moved to a different, newer type of acute hospital that can provide the same kind of care over a longer period of time. Over the last few days, he has not had dialysis, but the doctors told him that they would not have ordered dialysis yesterday because his kidneys were functioning as they should. We thank God for that good news. He does, however, continue to struggle and be uncomfortable and irritable at times.

Tomorrow, Kim is scheduled to leave Ohio and head back home to Vienna. It's been a great blessing for her, her grandparents and mother that she was able to spend this special time with them, and her presence, love and smile will be greatly missed there, but those of us in Vienna are sure looking forward to having her back. Though some of you are probably immediately thinking that the kids are most excited to have their mother back because they will finally get some fresh, home-cooked meals, that would be wrong on two accounts: (1) they have had many fresh, home-cooked meals (made by several of our friends in the church here as well as the few times I grilled and (2) I am far more excited to have her back.

Please pray for Kim's safe return, for her grandpa and grandma and the challenging road ahead.

Kim's family - update

First of all, let me say thank you to the many of you who are praying for Kim, her grandparents, the other side of her family, which is grieving right now because of the death of her great aunt Rose and for those of you praying for me and our kids in Vienna.
I'll get to an update on Kim's grandfather in just a moment, but I would like to first make an observation about these last few days and the blessing of being a part of a Christian family. Several have asked how I am  doing or how the kids and I are handling everything being here in Vienna alone. Because of the kindness and love of our church family, I can quickly answer that we are good. Several have offered to watch the kids for me, others have had us over for a meal or are preparing food for us and still others have even had some of the kids stay the night with them. In moments like these, I am reminded of God's wisdom and the many blessings of Christian community. If we were just any other foreigner living in the city of Vienna, we'd probably have some friends that might offer to have us over for a meal, but I'd be surprised if people would fix food for us and come to our house to watch our kids or have them over to their house to stay the night during the week just to lighten my load for a few days. Praise be to God for His infinite wisdom and the many blessings of walking this life together with other Christians and thanks be to the many families here in Vienna who have reflected His love to us!
Now, to update on Kim's grandpa, he was actually doing better on Monday and Tuesday than he had been over the weekend. He'd had two rounds of dialysis, which seemed to help flush out the many medications and other things from his body. He had even set up in a chair and was able to eat and drink for the first time in over a week. Then, yesterday, he had his third round of dialysis, which he did not like at all, even though he did have a good night. His kidneys are still not functioning well and he is struggling to hold out any optimism.
The funeral for Kim's great aunt is scheduled for tomorrow and Kim had originally planned to fly from Ohio to New Mexico to be there for the funeral, but because of her grandpa's ongoing critical condition, she has decided to stay in Ohio and support her grandma and mom. We would appreciate your continued prayers.

A Time of Transition: Part 2 - Die Schweiz

These last few months of our time here in Vienna are flying by - it's crazy to think, as Kim said yesterday, that we have fewer than 3 months. So much has happened since our last post in February.

During the kids' semester break - the first week in February - we took the second of our Hensal Family Values trips and headed to Switzerland. Like our first trip, this one was a combination of seeing special people, visiting a country Kim and the kids had never seen and spending special family time together. Our time in Switzerland confirmed Josh's experience when he first visited this country as a student - that Switzerland is the most beautiful place he'd ever seen. With its snow-covered hills, beautiful mountains, Europe's largest waterfall (Rheinfall) and great chocolate, it's not hard to understand why so many people love Switzerland. (Everything is quite expensive though.)

However, it was neither the beauty of God's creation nor the chocolate that we'll remember most from our visit there; no, it was the hospitality and fellowship of our Christian family that we will never forget! At the beginning of our trip, we had the privilege of staying with the Jakob and Zingg families in Beringen, Switzerland. Josh had met both Michael Jakob and Michael Zingg only months before at the German-speaking men's retreat, which made their willingness to host our family that much more special. The hospitality we experienced with the great meals, sledding together, sightseeing and a place for all six of us to sleep was, perhaps, the best example of the kind of hospitality and generosity of the early church (Acts 2:46 and 4:32) we've ever known.

After a few days in Beringen, we headed to Zürich, Switzerland to visit one of Josh's heroes in the faith Wolfram Schrader and to meet his wife Berty for the first time. Little did we know that Wolfram had studied cooking and had worked as a chef for most of his life. Needless to say, we enjoyed a great meal with them and then spent the afternoon in a nearby beautiful city park as the kids (including Wolfram and Josh) played in the snow. On Sunday, we had the opportunity to meet the church in Zürich where Josh had been asked to preach. This part of the visit was quite special because we were able to meet many people that still have fond memories of Clyde and Gwen Antwine and treasure their years of service in the Kingdom there. We also were able to pass along greetings from the Antwines to the church there. This church is a bright light in German-speaking Europe; it even has its own leadership, evangelist and has planted several other churches throughout Switzerland.

During our stay in Zürich we spent time talking about our second family value: salt and light, where we focused on the importance of being salt and light in this world by preserving the good and shining the light of Jesus into the lives of other people regardless of where we are. It has been amazing to see how God has used our children in the nearly six years we've been here in Vienna as salt and light in the lives of many families; we pray He will continue to use us for His glory.

We thank God for the Jakob, Zingg and Schrader families and those of the churches in Schaffhausen and Zürich that blessed us so richly. It truly is one of the most unique and meaningful experiences to receive the hospitality and love of others just because you serve the same God and are part of the same spiritual family.

Jakobs and Hensals at Rheinfall

Amazing view of Schaffhausen

Sledding in Beringen

Beautiful Zürich

Wolfram playing the guitar for the kids

Cotter, Carli and Caleb enjoying the snow in Irchelpark