Teehee

You know what is a fantastic feeling?  Watching TV in another language and laughing at the right time.  It's such a simple thing, but it makes my evening.  For the first month or two here in Austria, I'd always laugh a couple seconds after my host family (or never)...you know, figuring out why everyone else is laughing.  But I'm getting the humor, I'm getting puns, I'M GETTING IT!

Ah.  It seriously makes all the hard work worth it.

Grace and peace,
Hilary

P.S.  If you have any desire to see one of my evening shows with the kids, here's Simsala Grimm.  It's a different story from the Brothers Grimm each night--so I'm practicing my German AND learning new fairy tales!  And with English subtitles for you =)

Grateful

A friend that I met in South Africa posted a picture on Facebook from his home country of Nigeria.  It was a very graphic image of rows and rows of Nigerian corpses, being observed by a few living.  It wasn't because of the typical explanations that Americans would think of for an African country.  These bodies once belonged to Nigerian Christians.  They were burned alive because of their faith.  

This isn't going to be a post demanding that we storm all of the countries that persecute their citizens for their faith, their skin color, their class or any other reason.  This isn't a post saying, "Hey, send money, these people need us."  I'm not using this to announce my embarkation on a mission trip.  While I think it's important to pray and support and "go," my plea to you is this:

Take a look around you right now.  Think of the people you love and the people who love you.  Think of where you live, what's in your kitchen and pantry right now.  Think of all you're capable of doing.  And if you're a praying person, thank God for it.  Be grateful.  Don't take these things for granted.

A few of the things on my "I'm grateful for" list:

-A healthy body

-Friends who make the effort to show me love even when I'm across the ocean

-My computer, which connects me to home

-My new warm, winter hat

-A group of believers/friends in Vienna

-The right to be a Christian under my country's government

-An untraditional, but extremely supportive set of parents who stand behind me wherever I go

-A job I enjoy, providing enough money on which to love comfortably

-My college degree, and the opportunity to earn another one

-My beautiful siblings (Hope, Hannah, Carson, Lisa) who are the hardest part of being abroad:

Don't wait for Thanksgiving each year to think about these things.  

Grace and peace,

Hilary

The pretty little details

This weekend was a breath of fresh air.  Not that the rest of my days haven't been appreciated, but I just had a feeling this weekend that I haven't had in a while.

I don't feel like the new girl anymore.  I have friends here.  I know how to get around.  I'm not afraid to talk to Austrians in German.  In fact, I kind of just feel like I'm living a normal life, like I belong here now.

I got together with Amie and a couple guys from church this weekend.  We went up to Kahlenberg, where there is a fantastic view of Vienna.  We were up there as the sun went down to enjoy the scenery.  We joked around with each other and laughed the whole time.  We trekked to another spot through the woods in the dusk, hiked down the dang hill in pitch black with only cell phone flashlights and ate Döner in the city center for dinner.  Like a really normal Saturday night hangout.  Like I could do at home.  It just felt wonderful.

Then our Bible study on Sunday was much bigger than usual!  We were 9, and ate a delicious meal together before diving into the story of Abimelech.  If there were a word for the sound of sighing, I'd write that now.  This weekend just felt so good.

My friend Stacie wrote a blog post last week that really hit home.  It was about living.  You can read the whole post here, but I'm going to share what really drove it home for me:

I used to read the last few pages of every book before starting it.... but, after awhile, I decided knowing the end never made the book any better. I never really understood the weight of that last page anyway...at least until I had the feeling and momentum of the entire book to back it up. I think life is a lot like that. Skipping ahead isn't realistic and, even if it was, it wouldn't be grand or appreciated. To appreciate the here and now, means living fully in the moments it took to get here.

Amen, sister!  Though I am still terribly excited at the thoughts and possibilities of grad school next year, I feel that lately, I've come to not only understand the point that Stacie has so eloquently made, but to apply it.   I have all the freedom in the world to anticipate the end of the book, or in my case the beginning of the next chapter.  I can do that and still be happy--that's what I'm doing now.  But if I'm so focused on getting to the next chapter that I'm missing the beauty in the syntax and the language of the current one, then what difference does it make if I just don't bother reading it at all?

So, family and friends, rest assured that I am "living fully" in these moments.  That way, when I get to wherever it is I'm going, I'll be able to smile at the details of the paths it took to get me there.

Grace and peace,
Hilary