A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY: PURE DELIGHT!!!!!

Well, we finally got to spend a weekend with our friend Hans-Georg. We went to his parent's home in a village about 3 hours from Vienna. It was delightful! This sleepy little village is nestled in the mountains near the border of Slovenia. In fact, there is a picture of the girls on a hiking trail right on the border. They could walk on one side of the road and be in Austria, the other side of the road they would be in Slovenia.

So, speaking of hiking ... oh my! Hans-Georg said to come prepared to take a little walk in the mountains. Walk we did! It was an hour and a half wandering on the top of mountaintops. The scenery was breathtaking! The weather was beautiful! I kept looking around the corner for Maria and the gang. We did see some cows that had cowbells tinkling around their necks. This was the things fairy tales were made of!!

Saturday Hans-Georg and Andrea (his girlfriend) had to go to her grandfather's birthday celebration so we spent the good bit of the afternoon with Johan and Romana, HG's parents. Having a little bit of language under our belt we were able to communicate basic sentences and it felt really good! Addison and I went to the village grocery store with Romana. While we were there, we bumped into one of her friends. She introduced us and I was able to utter a few bits to communicate with her friend. It was so fun! Addison loved it because every time she pointed to something, Romana would pick it up and put it in the basket. Finally, after getting her favorite cheese, chocolate and bananas I told her to put her hands in her pockets! They are such generous people!

On Sunday before leaving for home, Romana took the girls and I to her blueberry orchard. I had never seen blueberry's grow. She has over 700 bushes that she tends to every July. She has an adorable little shed that she opens for 5 weeks out of the year and sells her blueberries alongside the road. She even sells them to local grocery stores. We all picked our own plastic container full and are eating them by the handful!

Our weekend was such a wonderful reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was so nice to spend time with Hans-Georg and get to know, in their mother tongue, Johann and Romana. It's given us the motivation to know the language even better! What a wonderful gift God has given us in the lives of these dear people.