Our summer's have been marked by two things:  coming and going.  At the end of school, we pack up bags and desires for good hamburgers and head back "home" to Oklahoma.  We live out of suitcases, drink lots of Sonic discounted Happy Hour drinks, spend time with family and friends recounting old memories while making new ones, reflect on what it means to be American and make excuses for eating just one more donut ... one more time.  At the end of our time "home", we get that feeling.  It's a feeling of upset stomach boarding on excitement and nausea.  It's that feeling of saying goodbye again while knowing a new year in our other "home" awaits.  It's so weird.

Parker, Libby and I flew home a week early while my Chris finishes up Fahrenheit work.  We came home two days ago to our clean apartment and felt awkward in what is our "normal".  Things smell different.  Food tastes different.  We are in that place of limbo.  We wait while our brains, hearts and bodies align.  Jet lag doesn't help.  Neither does no AC in 99 degree heat.  However, we know the routine.  I voice what we all feel, "We are not going to give into any feeling we may have in the next 48 hours.  We are tired.  This will all feel normal soon."  The girls nod their heads in agreement while looking through glassy eyes that reflect the emotional ill-at-ease.  We own our feelings.  We just don't pay attention to them right now.  These feelings will not hold us captive.

This is our third year of this pilgrimage.  We learn something new each time.

This year is different.  Transition in the air, we ease into another year projecting hope and standing firm in the knowledge that we are exactly where God has us.  The only thing that doesn't change is what God has told us ... and the knowledge that he holds us while "normal" sets back in ... until it's time to get back on a plane.

Learning the routine,
Christina

Our family, along with about 1,200 fellow workers from our company, got the privilege of attending a conference in Greece.  Having never been, yet having pictures in my head of this land, it was a wonderful experience.



While in Greece, God showed me all kinds of things that this blog simply does not have the room for ... nor do you have the patience for!  However, let it be said that all sorts of "things" are running around in my head.



One illustration kind of sums up the rumblings in my head.  Let me just tell my story.


The pool at the resort where we stayed was just beautiful.  The first day we checked in I sat poolside enjoying the blue waters and gorgeous views.  The second day we were there, I found out about a second pool - a saltwater pool.  Somewhere along the third day a friend told me about the beach.  Apparently, the resort had its own private beach ... open to the Aegean Sea!

As I come home and I reflect about my week, I kinda see my life as a modern day parable to the pools and beach at the resort.  I was so happy to discover the first pool.  The water was warm.  There were plenty of places to sit and drink in the sun.  It was clean.  It was pretty.  I was content.

When I happened upon the saltwater pool I was taken by the warmth, the buoyancy, the novelty of all that lovely saltwater in a ceramic bathtub like setting.

However, as I made my way down to the beach, taking in the vastness of the Aegean Sea ... and watching the sun set for the first time against the backdrop of the salty sea water ... I was speechless.  It was there all the time.  I would have been content to sit poolside never knowing that just a few steps more and an entire sea awaited me.


As I wade through this season of my life, embracing whatever it holds for me, I don't want to be content sitting poolside when an entire Sea awaits me.  If it's pain, I want to let the pain do it's work in me so I might experience all God intends for me.  Can I be honest?  Pain hurts.  Right now I'm stirring up the courage to read a book by Dr. Paul Brand called "The Gift of Pain".  I'm no stranger to pain.  If you've lived in this world for more than a minute, neither are you!  In fact, your life starts off with pain. Let's face it, the slap on the butt by the doctor just continues throughout your life time.  Somehow, however, we've turned pain into something to be avoided.  Now, don't hear me wrong.  I'm not advocating we all jump on the pain bandwagon and throw a party.  Boo.  If I'm honest, I hate pain.  But, as I walk through some personal pain, I'm finding it compels me to ignore who I think I am and am not and trust who God is ... and is not.  Pain seeks truth.

If it's joy, I want to let the joy do it's work in me so I might know ... really know ... what it means to be called a child of God.  I've got a 8 year old who teaches me the intense satisfaction of finding joy in all things, especially if they come wrapped in a plastic wrapper and covered in chocolate!  However, why shouldn't the little things in life ... that bring us joy ... cause us to take a deep breath and exhale in the awe that God himself, creator of our "joy" radar, provided that just for us?

If it's wonder, let me wonder on and on about the great vastness of a Savior that desires more and more of me as I become less and less.  I stood in wonder at the beach as I heard the waves rush in and envelope my ankles in sea water.  I wondered at how the water knew its place, because it had a boundary.  I wondered how a Creator could be so intimately acquainted with all my ways and love in spite of them!  I felt small ... and it was OK.

Coming out of a week that refocused and re energized me to seek the One who knows me ... my heart ... my hurts ... my joys ... my wonders ... I'm finding myself more and more content sitting at the beach.  I don't know what the future holds ... and frankly it doesn't matter.  In a world that tries to figure out life, package it all up and sell it to the highest bidder, I'm content just to wait.

Sticking my toes in salt water and waiting for the sun to set,
Christina

All signs point to ... Summer!

We took off last Friday for a long weekend to an unknown destination to us, Leibnitz, Austria.  All I knew is that it was cheap and had a swimming pool.  All the requirements necessary for a Summer kick-off!


When reading the information on the web, it said they had an outdoor swimming pool.  I was expecting a place to swim that would give us a few hours of entertainment.  However, what awaited us was an outdoor swimming oasis!  There was a curly slide, a straight slide, a wave pool, a lazy river and a larger pool just for plain ol' swimming!  We have the sunburns to prove how much we loved the pool time ... talk about God's great extravagance!
We choose to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday by sitting near a lake, eating traditional Austrian cuisine and soaking up the views.


As we headed back for home yesterday, we stumbled across a castle built in 1200 ... sporting the oldest wine keller in all of Steiermark (this particular region in Austria ... there are a total of 7 regions).  Thanks to Addison's new camera with an excellent self-timer and range, we took the above photo!



And, our final destination which now causes us to dismiss any offers of chocolate for perhaps the next 12 months was the Zotter Chocolate Factory.  Fair Trade, air conditioned, and lots of samples (including a mini cafe where we could assemble our own hot cocoa by selecting a chocolate bar that literally flew by us on a trolley) made Zotter our new favorite chocolate treat!  However, it will be a very, very long time before we re coop from the cocoa overload ...

Finally, perhaps one of the best evidences I have of God's extravagance towards us during our get-a-way occurred on Sunday morning.  We were headed out to do some sight-seeing in a nearby town, Graz.  As we were preparing to leave, Addison heard music coming from an upstairs conference room of the Jufa (hotel) we were staying at.  As Chris went upstairs to investigate, it turns our there was a small fellowship meeting there for Sunday services.  They were just beginning so we decided to stay.  The room was filled with about 30 believers in Jesus, mostly  young people.  A visiting older man gave a talk about his role as a member of the Gideon's - the international Bible distribution and evangelical organization.  He gave story after story about how God has been opening doors for organizations, schools, and hospitals to allow Gideon's to place Bibles ... in Austria.  After his testimony, one of the elders got up and spoke.  He gave his own account of how the Bible changed his life.  While on a business trip in St. Louis, Missouri, a couple who believed in Jesus as their personal savior gave him a Bible.  The interest in this Bible and the love from this couple began what led to his ultimate conversion experience.  He is now an elder in this small fellowship.

During the entire service, as I navigated the strange German dialect of the speakers, I was amazed at what we were experiencing ... and the timing of it all.  At just the right time, we ventured out for our day.  At just the right place, who knows how long ago, someone decided to have Sunday services in this Jufa.  In a country where the statistics of evangelical churches are staggeringly low ... based on less than 1% of the total population expressing a personal belief in Jesus Christ ... we were allowed to hear praise music ... at just the right moment!

I needed this vacation.  I needed to wrap an end to the school year and put a good foot forward toward Summer.  I needed a change of scenery.  I needed the pool and the sun.  However, what I did not expect was God's extravagance on me and my family.

The longer I walk with Jesus, the more amazed I am at His tender care over me ... his strong passion for me to see him and his fingerprints in my life.  He choose to do this in an extravagant way on a simple vacation ... making me ever more curious to continue following such a perfect, creative, and insistent that I know Him kind of Savior.

Extravagantly Blessed,
Christina

Every year I say the same thing, "Where did the summer go?" And every year there is never a resonable answer. Truth is, it just passed. Time marches on.

As I type, the older girls have just finished an afternoon of homework, Chris and I have taken naps, Libby has played with her neighbor/BFF, and routine has settled in on us like a comfortable shoe. Time marches on.

In the routine and the normal, I catch myself thinking these are the passing or ordinary days ... yet also create a lifetime of extraordinary. Enjoy the photos of another year of routine ... and another year of expecting the extraordinary!

This week:

Addison and Parker finished their last day of school and entered into that great wide expansion of time called "Summer Break".

Parker had a very early Birthday Party for her friends because all of them leave Vienna for the summer and no one is here for her actual birthday. The plan was to go swimming but a thunderstorm and cool temperatures forced us to go to an indoor play park.

Family Elledge left Friday afternoon for the wild and exotic city of Budapest, Hungary. And that's where the story gets ... wonderful!

Friends, Scott and Joellen, invited us for the weekend. Seeing that Libby had no school today (Monday) we jumped on the opportunity to get out of town for a little R and R.

It must be said that Scott and Joellen are from the South ... the DEEP South ... South Carolina to be exact. That means they are steeped in hospitality and warmth. They showed us the city at night, a sight to behold. They showed us the city by day, an adventure to ride. They let us cook and eat out on their balcony, a night to remember. The let us sleep late, a pleasure to partake in. They let us leave our computer on their front step. No comment.

I'm totally joking!!!!

The truth of the matter is ... everyone thought everyone else had the computer ... one passed it off to the other ... only to be discovered while unloading in Vienna that it was left on the front steps of the Clubbs house in Budapest.

So, no pictures on the blog this week. No spell check to activate. I'm using my little HP notebook mini computer. All our pics are on the other computer, left of the front steps of the Clubbs house in Budapest.

However, when we retreive our computer, that was left on the front steps of the Clubbs hosue in Budapest, I will post some pictures that will knock your socks off. Until then ... get over it! We are dealing with our own stress of not having our computer because it was left on the front steps of the Clubbs house in Budapest.

Now, before I get you to feeling too sorry for us ... because we left our computer on the front steps of the Clubbs house in Budapest, we have company friends that are staying at the Clubbs house (did I mention the Clubbs host a Guest House?) and will be coming through Vienna on Tuesday and will bring our computer, that we left on the front steps of the Clubbs house in Budapest, with them to give to us! Talk about God's provision!

Lesson learned: Always make sure you actually see the computer in the car before pulling out of the driveway of your last destination before heading home. AND ... don't let another family member write blogs about forgetting your computer on the front steps of a friends house in a far away city.