To say I've become fascinated, obsessed, mesmerized,  captivated and possibly fixated with one Frau Agnes may be too much of a stretch of the imagination ... or maybe not!

In my city, we boast of our coffee house culture.  Boast we can, for we are, in my opinion, the capital of coffee houses!  The charm, class, and relaxed elegance oozes out of every white tablecloth, every waiter adorned in a black suit, and every silver tray in which your coffee is served.  For this American, I find it all just breath taking.

This week, after renewing passports for the girls, my Chris took us to a typical Viennese coffee house that I had never visited.  Instantly I was smitten.  We found a table for four nestled within elbow room of another table for four and began our experience.  (Just a bit of cultural context here ... it is no big deal to sip a coffee with a friend while sharing space next to another couple sipping their coffee.  Space is relative.  It's not a weird thing to bump the elbow of someone sitting to the table next to you.   In fact it's not uncommon to share a table with a stranger.  You sip your coffee.  They sip theirs.  Polite eye contact is made and then you proceed to enjoy your own privacy.  Americans love space.  Europeans' private space is much more relative to where you are and not defined by the amount of feet that separates you from a stranger.)  Close enough for me to touch was a small round table situated in the corner with perfect views across the epic cafe.  Despite two chairs it was just the perfect size for one to sip a coffee and nibble a lovely dessert.

Upon further inspection, a reservation card had been placed upon the perfectly ironed white table cloth.  It was no ordinary reservation card.  Usually, reservation cards have hand-written times scribbled under the title.  Rarely do they have a name included.  Never have I seen one that reserved this tiny table - the time and the name permanently printed and laminated as if it were a part of the structure of this historic cafe.    And, to further signify this table as notable, it had the date from which the first reservation had been made:  November 19, 2015.  Bottom line, since November 19, 2015, Frau Agnes has had a standing reservation at 4:00 p.m. at this little table.

Now my senses are heightened.  I'm dying to know all the finer details of this Frau Agnes.  Does she come everyday?  Does she come only on Tuesdays?  Is she old?  Is she regal?  What's her history?  Why this cafe?  Did she come here with a lover who is now deceased yet she comes to honor their history?  So many questions ...

And there I stop.  I am on a quest.  Who is Frau Agnes.  I will discover my mystery Frau and I will follow up.  This will require frequent visits, frequent sips of fine coffee, and frequent experiences in my coffee house.

Diving deep into my culture,
Christina

I love words.  When reading a book (a real one with real pages) I love to underline certain words or phrases that cause electric-like tingles in my being that deeply resonate feelings inside me.  Words.  They have power.

When I read words, I often remember where I was, what I was doing and the circumstances surrounding their impact on me.  This morning, as I unwrapped my hands from my coffee cup and opened my Bible, I found these precious words:

Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways.
I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God.

These words happen to be found in Psalm 17.  Sometimes, on the weekends, when I want to change up my life and hear from God in a different way from what I normally read, I read the corresponding day found in the Psalm.  For example, today is May 17 ... so I read Psalm 17.  Make sense?

Psalm 17 has been read on the 17th day of any given month for a very long time.  One "17th" day of one month, I remember sitting in Starbucks, in Vienna, with a grande vanilla latte and being pricked to my soul with these words.  At the time, I remember fighting back tears.

The tears were a result of feeling overwhelmed that God would speak to me - through alphabet letters that formed words - and emote that He desired to show me the "wonderful ways" in which He loved me.  His demonstration of wonderful started by the place I found myself:  a cozy cafe with a warm cup of my beverage of choice.  Perfect moment.  Perfect way to show me.  At that moment in time, I needed to feel loved.  I know I am loved - He demonstrated that over 2,000 years ago by allowing His Son to hang on a tree.  However, because I am girl and girl means operating out of emotion - most of the time - I need to "feel" loved.

A cafe, a cup of Java and words = feeling loved.

Discovering more wonderful ways,
christina

This particular Sunday afternoon finds me in a Fraulein Maria sort of frame of mind ... so let me share some of my favorite things in my corner of the world!


This pic of me was taken one day while Chris, Parker and I took a little day date and we stopped into my my new favorite place, Campus Suites Cafe, a quaint cafe near the U.N. that serves very cheap coffee and gives me huge dose of the outdoors during winter. The entire back of the cafe is glass ... makes my heart so happy!


Yep. My Chris. No words needed here. He's just one of my favorite humans on this planet!


This is my favorite nook in my flat. Often I read a new recipe here or find Parker listening to music here or see Libby putting on her shoes to go outside here.


OK ... these are several of my favorite things in one picture. First, my espresso maker. It has become a "need" in my life. One can not make a proper coffee without an espresso maker! Second, pink lady apples ... yummo! Third, nothing says I live in europe like a fresh kornspitz banquette! Finally, my coffee cup that my Chris bought for me as a just because gift!


This little gadget is my milk stirer thingy ... another favorite! I don't know the technical name, but this is what I use to make my milk foamy and yummy and just right to pour into my espresso. It's battery operated and if one drinks coffee with a little milk foam ... one NEEDS this little gadget!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AX-2dzgTUE



This link is one of my new favorite artists, Audrey Assad. And, this quirky song is just a toe-tapping happy dance kind of song. I like to think of my Chris ... and God ... and it makes me smile.


And ... this is my favorite view that I gaze out while being inspired to write. It is here that I've spent many long hours reading, writing, dreaming, crying ... just veggin' and getting filled up and poured out!

Yep. It's official. We are moved into our new place. We packed personal stuff on Monday, Dec. 26th. We packed all the rest on Tuesday, Dec. 27th. Movers came on Wednesday, Dec. 28th and Thursday, Dec. 29th. And, here I sit this morning in my new place with just a small list of things to do to put the final touches on making this place our "home". We've cleaned and packed and unpacked and cleaned until our hands are red and bones are tired ... but ... it's done!


We "officially" said goodbye to our neighbors. It was such a bitter sweet thing, something I wasn't really prepared to experience. As we wiped out the last gunga (personal term of endearment for stuff unidentified, usually green, that is left in the bottom of the fridge) and closed the door for the last time of what was my home, I made the trek over to my neighbors house where she prepared me and my family a coffee.

That one cup of coffee helped me push through any sadness and move on towards an attitude of hopefulness. Sound a bit dramatic? Good. That was the intended effect. However, it is dramatic when looking at it through my lens.

American’s are friendly. We are quick to invite the paper boy in for a glass of milk, quick to offer a stranger a lift, quick to make small talk with the fellow customer in the line at Wal-Mart, quick to start a conversation in the bathroom yet slow to really reach into our emotional bank reserves and build a relationship that could potentially cost us something. Overt friendliness is a safety net that keeps us busy with lots of pretentious “relationships” and bankrupt with really deep levels of intimates.

Austrians are not that way. After living in my former flat for a few months shy of 3 years, this was the first time my neighbor invited me in for coffee.

However, one cup of coffee means that my attempts to be friendly over the fence, feed her children pretzels, offer to water her plants, hug her baby when he skinned his knee, plant flowers, show her how to dip a tortilla chip in homemade salsa, bake cookies with her daughter, speak grammatically incorrect, give a Christmas card, wave from my balcony, and … pray my guts out over her and her family wanting them to know the definition of LOVE in the form of Jesus Christ … God used as a way to penetrate her heart. It’s a sign that God is at work … and a flicker of a flame of hope that burns bright in my heart that God will use my good deeds to produce something wonderful.

Isn't it just like God to use a move, something we perceived as potentially relationship harmful, as being the single thing that catapults this relationship to the next level?! I love the super-human logic of a creative God!


We are now living a very different life from what we jokingly call our “suburb"experience of our former flat. However, it’s all city life. Now our city life is just closer to the inner city, the historical part of the city tourist scramble toward, that involves more daily contact with more humans and more public transportation.


Wien (Vienna) is divided into 23 districts. We now live in the 2nd district. What I’m about to share is information that has been passed on by my Austrian friends. If any misrepresentation of facts occurs, it is not the intention of this writer, but attributed only to my hearing or their re-telling of the facts incorrectly.


The 2nd district is the former Jewish district. Before WWII, approx. 200,000 (one neighbor say 500,000 but his wife says it's 150,000) Jews lived in this part of the city. After the War, 40,000 remained. Surrounded by the Donau River on one side and the Donau Canal on the other, the “Jewish Island” housed many famous writers, musicians, and city planners. Currently, a Jewish center, school and synagogue, now call the 2nd district home, just a few blocks from our place. It is highly secured, complete with round-the-clock video surveillance.

Just a few buildings down from my front door, there is a plaque at the base of one of the buildings. It lies in a state of memorandum to the 23 Jewish men, women and children that were taken from their homes, deported, and exterminated. It’s one of many plaques you can find in my new neighborhood.


I will pass by this building and plaque every day.


I often hear people tell me that I am “living the life” … whatever that means. From their perspective, I live in a beautiful city. It’s true. However, the call on my life (and the life of my Chris) to live in this beautiful city has such a parallel meaning to that Jewish plague I pass everyday day. A Jewish Savior has paid the ultimate price for my life. I, in humble obedience to his specific call and purpose for my life, have chosen to lay things familiar and American aside. I hope that every day, I am living in obedience and making a small difference … an intentional difference to make an impact on a society, a people, one person. Yesterday it was my neighbor.

My prayer is that many years from now it will be a movement of people that began right here … in my new apartment … just down the street from a place Jews were stripped from their freedom. May it be freedom from sin and death that comes to this same street …

You’ll be happy to know that I am recovering nicely from my tragic circumstances of last week. You know, the loss of the 1 Euro coffee, the heartache, the trauma … it’s getting better every day. In fact, today I may actually be totally over my loss. I find myself sitting in Starbucks, enjoying my Venti Vanilla Latte that is totally … FREE!! Free always trumps 1 Euro limited time offers! FREE makes my heart sing! FREE makes it OK to buy at 3.50 Euro yummy treat because I’m not having to pay 5 Euro for my Venti Vanilla Latte … not that I would buy a 3.50 Euro yummy treat because I’m trying to watch my weight … thanks to Libby and the constant reminder that she’s used to me being … the “c” word (see two posts ago for further clarification, if you dare!).

Yep. Sipping my Venti Vanilla Latte, chillin’ to jazz music, watching people muddle about from my lofty view from Starbucks onto the street below me = sweet bliss. This may be what my heaven looks like on earth.

To top it all off, all offspring are being farmed out to other locations until about 5:30 p.m. this evening. Addie Girl is busy with her production of YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN (check out the photo box below), Precious Parker is going home with a friend for a birthday sleepover and Little Libbers received word this morning that the brave Mom of her friend, Abby, is going to take her home until 5:30 p.m. All just feels right with the world!

And, as if all the above couldn’t be more blessing than a girl can stand in one day, this also marks the beginning of our Easter break! We have a week and 2 days off of school to do whatever our little heart’s desire!

Now, for all of you who have been keeping up with our VISA status … things are progressing. Trying to give you enough info yet trying to keep things vague for security reasons, we are waiting for some final documents and then, hopefully, will have the official papers in our hot little hands. Prayers to Jesus for smoothness in the final stages would be warmly welcomed and encouraged.

Speaking of prayers, this Sunday Addison leaves with a team from her school to go on a mission trip to Romania. The team will be doing light construction work and helping with a local orphanage. Romania is a vast and beautiful country but very poor with a depressed economy. They will be staying in primitive housing with limited use to WC. I’m looking forward to what God does for her and the rest of the team on this trip. For me, as a Momma, this is one step closer to Addison fulfilling what seems to be a calling to work with children. One day Romania, the next day Africa. I think it’s just a matter of time.

And, speaking of time, I’m gonna enjoy mine for the rest of this morning. She’s not gone yet. And I think I hear another Vanilla Latte calling my name!

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There is a new cafe in our neighborhood called Papapico’s. We have gone in there a few times attracted by the modern design and cool atmosphere. It doesn’t have the feeling of a Vienna Coffee House, (can’t have it all), but it does have a very nice and personable owner, a waitress from Sicily that helps me with my German, free Wi-Fi, a drive-thru (unheard of in Vienna unless you go to McDonalds) and 1 euro coffee’s. Who could ask for anything more?

This week I surprised my older girls with an impromptu drink at Papapico’s drive-thru. Having dropped off little Libby, Addie girl and Precious Parker and I had a few minutes to kill before school. With the convenience of the drive-thru, I drove up, met my Sicilian waitress friend at the window and ordered 2 Cappuccino’s. We wait longer than any American would ever think of waiting in a drive-thru until the creamy hot goodness is delivered.

Because, being the creature of habit I am, coupled with the fact that I am always about a bargain, my little ears were waiting to hear “2 Euro, bitte” ring in my ears like gospel truth. Instead, I hear “5.80 Euro, bitte”. I choked. Right there in the drive-thru my calm and eager countenance dropped into a state of panic. I had to act fast. Grabbing a 5 Euro bill from my purse, digging frantically for .80, all while trying to conceal my bitter dissatisfaction and utter shock at the transaction that was taking place … we manage to pay.

Stunned, I threaten the girls … I mean strongly suggested … they enjoy every golden ounce of liquid and try to save the to-go cup for further use!

Apparently, the 1 Euro coffee was an introductory special. I missed the memo that it was for a limited time only. Poor me.

Yesterday afternoon, while sitting on my little balcony drinking in the sun, I had this rather deep thought about my loss of the introductory 1 Euro coffee (yes, I was still thinking about it 5 days later because that’s how deeply it wounded me … and affected my pocket book!). When the café opened, it was such a wonderful little treat to have the 1 Euro coffee’s at my disposal. After a few weeks turned into a month, I had forgotten about the novelty of the 1 Euro coffee. Now, it had become normal, routine, and predictable.

Having entered into a personal relationship with Jesus, almost 23 years ago, I wonder how often I forget the first love … the first thrill of hearing the Master of the Universe whisper my name. I don’t want my time, my experience, my relationship with Jesus to be a spiritual routine. I don’t want to be normal and predictable. Every moment I utter a prayer, squeak out a thank you, shout out a question … I want to be astounded. I want to be stunned at the response I hear from God. I want to be just as bewildered at how He stoops to answer me, provide for me, surprise me with a new revelation of how He acts in the universe as I was when I heard “5.80 Euro, bitte.”

God is not confined to our experience with Him. He speaks and mountains jump. He whispers and stars are born. Oh how I want to feel the breath at the base of my neck of my Father. I don’t want to miss the memo … the introductory offer of God’s grace, presence and wisdom … not that I could for it’s for an unlimited time. Unlimited.

I’m hanging out at the mall this morning - specifically Starbucks. And I feel I need to make this little disclaimer. I love ... LOVE the Austrian coffee culture. There is nothing that gives my heart more rapture than to sit in a typical cafe and slowly sip on my black, yummy goodness. However, most that I have discovered do not have internet. Thus, I am forced to sit at Starbucks and sip my tripple grande vanilla latte I've saved all week to purchase!

Although I’d say I’m a self-proclaimed home body, I do enjoy a good morning to myself, with a cup of coffee by my side, drinking in the flavor of the beverage and the day. I have no real plan … other than go to the post office, go to the health food store, pick up girls, throw in a load of laundry while waiting for the older girls to come home and then I’ll start making dinner. It’s just so nice (what a lame word) to sit, feel comfortable in my skin and surroundings and chalk it all up to a normal day!

So, what’s the big deal about a “normal” day? Nothing. Only when it seems your normal was a long way away … and you wake up one day realizing normal has been a state of mind for awhile – it’s noteworthy!

So, this is what my normal looks like this week:

* Addison has play practice (she’s in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”) M, W, and Thursday after school.
* Parker empty’s the dishwasher before heading off to school (my favorite child! and is riding public transportation by herself since Addison has practice.
* Libby get’s picked up from school most days at 1:00. Then we “hang out” until the older girls come home.
* This week Chris was out of town all day on Monday and then left Wednesday to go to Johann and Romana’s house (the parents of our friend, Hans-Georg) and will return tonight.
* Tomorrow Addison has practice and we have Austrian friends coming over for American hamburgers.
* This week we are also host to two wonderful young ladies, Mia and Alana, while their missionary parents are at a conference. So, while Chris is drinking coffee and being served Martha Steward equivalent meals (I’m not bitter!) I get to play Mom to not my normal 3 girls … but to 5 … and loving every minute of it! (Last night we finished our day off by playing foot tag and Go Fish.)

Something that has also become normal is Austrian holidays. Yesterday was Fasching. According to the urban dictionary (a website I goggled) here is a definition of Fasching:
1. n: German; a week of partying leading up to Mardi Gras. Anything goes this week. During Fasching I went to 18 parties, was hung over six days, and had 248 alcoholic drinks.

That pretty much describes the holiday.

Wikipedia says: Carnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent.

The day gets celebrated by school children by dressing up and having no schoolwork and a big party.

Funny how it’s become normal to see more enthusiasm put into this “party season” than any other time of the year. More participate in dressing up and party making than attend any type of evangelical experience.

… and that’s why we are here. To make a ripple in the lake of Austrian life … to make an eternal difference. And if we have to party a little to make it happen (like in good partying … you do know what I mean!) … let the festivities begin!