Random

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This week you are getting all the "random" events that have taken place in our lives since the last post. And, if we are honest, most of life seems pretty random, doesn't it!
Parker got glasses! I'll tell you more about the story later, but isn't she a cutie! Now, before you call out the Fashion Police, let me explain. She is dressed up like the character Junie B. Jones for "Book Day" at school. What a doll!
We are probably the biggest fans of the pop culture movie, "The Sound of Music" ever known to man. However, putting our fanhood aside, we haven't (gulp) watched our favorite Austrain centered movie while living in Austria! I'm sure this could be considered grounds for removal from the official fan club. Anyway, we even watched in German! In fact, we wanted to give you a little taste of what Maria would say if she really wasn't Maria and was in fact Julie Andrews introducing the movie (are you following me?). If you can read the subtitles on the bottom of Julie it says: "Hallo. Ich bin Julie Andrews." Translated: "Hello. I am Julie Andrews." What fun!
We've maintained our ritual "Friday Nights in the Bigtown" while living in Vienna (Wien) but this was a highlight! Nachos, on the floor in the living room and The Sound of Music! Libby doesn't look to thrilled ... we think she is experiencing CFS ... Constant Female Syndrome! That's a whole other blog entry ... or two ... or three!!
Yep. It's them - nachos. Now, what you don't see is the purple refried beans in the pot next to the nachos. Refried Beans don't exsist so we make our own by simply mashing the tar (a good Oklahoma phrase) out of Kidney beans. The end result is a purplish hue ... and, since I'm playing the sympathy card, we don't have easy access to Cheddar cheese either. We can get it is some stores, but it's really expensive. So, I mainly use Mozerrella and some unknown combitnation called "Pizza" cheese. There is some yellowish cheese in there but we don't think it's chedder.
Parker posing with the actual CD of Sound of Music.
Now, talk about a small world. We have a good friend in Oklahoma, Greg. His church has had a partnership with a church in an island country, Malta, for many years. When Chris and I moved back to the Oklahoma City metro area in 1991, we attended a service at our friend Gregs' church where this couple spoke for the first time. Greg gave them our contact information a few weeks ago because they were going to be in Vienna for a conference. They ended up having diner in our home, and judging from Libby's fierce grip on Sylivia, ended up being new friends!

Now, back to Parker's glasses. Trying to blend more and more of our lives into an Austrian context can sometimes be scary - especially when it comes to having stuff done like eye exams when we aren't quite "fluent" in the language. So, Chris finds a local eye doc in our neighborhood. I go in to make an appointment, speaking German, and doing a fairly good 1st grade level job at it. The doc tells me I can speak English to him (he speaks fluent English) and I tell him I want to make an appointment for my 10 year old daughter. I take Parker for the exam, we pick out glasses, and in walks our neighbor. She tells the doc "Hallo. Sie ist meiner Nachbarin." (Hello, she is my neighbor.) Then she turns to me and says, "This is my brother!" I've been wanting to have a deeper connection with this neighbor and leave it to God to use a "random" life event to give me one. Then, when I go to pay for the eye visit, he tells me not to worry about the office visit, it's free! All I had to do was pay for the glasses!
Job says this at the end of his crisis (you can read all about it in Job) "I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes." Job 42:5 This week with Parker's eyeglasses, the Lord showed me this principle in my own life. I, like Job, do a good job of hearing God when life is going fine. However, when crisis comes, my vision gets blurred by trying to figure out life in my limited vision. More and more I want to see God with my own eyes. I want to truly see Him in every situation in my life - in good, in crisis. God is God and I am not. He sees the whole and I see only in part. Parker's glasses are helping her read better and now she can truly see what the teacher is writing on the chalkboard. I want spiritual eyeglasses ... I want to see God - truly see!
Here's to better than 20/20 Vision - Christina

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