Holidays

This last Thursday we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving along with all of the rest of you. :) We were able to get together with a group of Americans and their spouses that are currently living in the Innsbruck area. Even though it was not the same as spending the holiday with family, we still had a great time. Seth got to play in a Thanksgiving skit for the kids as a little pilgram boy...don't let the apron confuse you, they ran out of costumes. We were able to enjoy all the traditional Thanksgiving foods although apparently the Turkey was hard to come by but they managed.

After Thanksgiving (and a little before) our holiday focus began to switch to Christmas. This being potential our only Christmas in Austria we didn't want to spend much money getting all the decorations so we decided to make most everything (although we didn't try making a tree). This last weekend I also did a Christmas crafting in the afternoon with 8 youth girls at our house! It was so much fun to share about what our families normally do for Christmas. It is surprising to hear how different some of their traditions are...like putting up the Christmas Tree on the 24th. They also don't have the tradition of stockings here so as they saw me making our stockings, it took the girls a while to understand but then they all wanted to make one. :) They enjoyed it so much that they asked me to bring all the supplies to the Lighthouse this Friday so that they could make more things. It was a very exciting and enjoyable time for me :)It's beautiful to walk around the city now, the whole old city is decorated with Christmas Lights, Christmas Markets, and the biggest real life Christmas Tree I have ever seen. I'll have to take some pictures and post them later.

Also this week I started the women's connection group through our organization. They pair you up with a woman that has a lot of experience with being in ministry oversees. The plan is to skype once a month and have it be kind of a mentoring relationship. A time for me to talk about whatever is going on in life, ask advice (or not), and then be prayed over. Even though we have only met once, it was a great experience and I am very excited for this relationship to continue and develop. 

Please be praying for the coming weeks as we have no idea when this little one will be deciding to join us. We are wanting to continue being busy up until the baby comes to help us not get impatient but it is difficult to commit to things and then have a back up plan just in case the baby comes and we are not able to follow through. So far though I am really glad that we have been keeping busy, it helps the days pass by a lot quicker. Also be praying for Seth as he has a cold right now, that he will be all healed up for when the baby comes. We appreciate all your love and support!

Alyssa