So, on the way to language school, these are the pictures Chris and I see everyday. We are now finding ourselves saying, "Wow. We really do live here." What was at first overwhelming, odd, or we were too freaked out to notice we are now finding just a part of everyday living. In one respect it's nice to have found a sense of foundational living. On the other hand, as with all routine, I don't want to find myself in a rut ... It's a good reminder that no matter where you live, Norman, OK or Vienna, Austria, ruts are just a part of life. Remember to breath and take in the scenery now and then.

A quick funny language story. This week as I was doing my grocery shopping, 3 people asked me if they could go in the line in front of me. This is not an out of the normal kind of experience. In an effort to remain efficient, why not let the person who has the least amount of things to be purchased go first. I had a buggy rather full (not a normal sight here) and so 2 old people and a hurried gal my age jumped in front of me. In an effort to try to be happy and not loose my sunny disposition with the third jumper, I asked her how many children she had. She told me three. I said that I, too, had three children. She said really. I said in fact, my three children are girls. She said, really. Her three children were girls also. Her exact words were ... "sich auch?"(Pronouncing the auch like ... ouch but not a heavy ch ... kinda). I said, "mich auch." Translation ... you too? Yes, me too. I came home and told Chris about my real conversation in the grocery store and then said I would have laughed to have the conversation go ... "sich auch ... mich auch ... get out!" Just a bit of random American humor to the German language!

Speaking of getting out of a rut, we took our Sunday afternoon to do a little sight-seeing. We first went to get a Kaisar Kraner ... the most fatty, cheesy, yummy sausage in all the world ... and if you tell the person at the stand you want it as a hot dog, watch out baby! They take this hot dog bun on steroids with an Austrian twist, stab it into this metal pointy thing that squishes all the bread to the bottom and creates a little spiral hole for the sausage to fit snugly inside, then top it with ketchup or senf (Austrian mustard) and viola! Yum, yum, yumm! We had one when we first moved here and it's now been just shy of 6 months so we thought our digestive system could handle one again. Pure heaven ... pure heaven!

We walked around a lot of places we had not seen, took lots of pictures, and Addison got her first Starbucks since coming to Austria. I take that back, she had one one of the first days we got here ... but it just makes for more drama to say the very first one. Roll with me on this one ...

Wanted to try to include a video clip of what it means to ride the subway system, we call it the UBahn.

Also wanted to remind you to pray for my brother-in-law, Rodney and the surgery he will be having this Thursday. We spoke with him and my sister last night and they feel very peaceful about whatever happens. This is a very complicated surgery, removing the spleen, part of the lung, and all the fungal infection attached to both. I've seen Rodney grow spiritually through all of this, not letting this make him bitter but truly better. Right now, he is my hero. Rodney, if you are reading this instead of just looking at my facebook pictures because you don't want to read ... I love you!

To all of you thank you ... your prayers, support, and words are breaths of life for us.

Quite Reflective,
Christina