We packed up and hit the road for Little Rock, AR.  Reegan had been sick for a few days and just wasn't getting better.  That morning she complained of ear pain and had splotchy red spots all over her body.  I knew it was time she get to a doctor.

We had already planned to stop in Memphis to meet up with some friends that were also home for a short time and will be some of our neighbors in England.  We'd been texting about lunch arrangements and then I started texting about medical clinics!

We had about a 6 hour unplanned stay in Memphis (I was SO not happy with the wait at that clinic, but we got what we needed) getting us into Little Rock about 9.  Much later than we hoped, but we about fell into bed.  Jerry had a meeting all day and I had made plans to meet up with a friend I'd made through blogging.  I walked out to our van.  My phone rang, it was my mom. and I'd hardly said "hello" when I discovered our driver-side window was shattered in a bazillion pieces!!  Karis lost it and started screaming.

I hung up with my mom and called Jerry, interrupting his meeting.  I wasn't even sure he would pick up, but he did.  My brain doesn't function well under stressful situations.  He was and is usually my calm.  I headed for the lobby to report the break-in learning the police had already come and taken a report.  It's crazy to me that they didn't try to find a way to let us know!!


Hotels don't claim responsibility for theft on their property, so we were given no compensation.  I was a bit miffed about that, but what can ya do?!  They did send a guy out to help me clean it up.  The workers were so kind!

We had a ton of stuff in our car.  Snacks, souvenirs we'd picked up, travel pillows, jackets, trash!  Do you know, not one thing was taken!  We took all our valuables in with us, luckily!!!

You know what I did find other than little shards of glass spewed all over?  BLOOD!  Disgusting!!!  This crazy guy must have busted the window with his hand!!  Blood drops and smears all over.  Brennan didn't even want to get in the car, my little germaphob!  And so much for those security cameras they have mounted outside the hotel.  It was a lesson learned!! NEVER park on the backside of a hotel.  Always park by the front!!

I still wanted to meet up with my friend.  I knew it would be good to get our minds off of the event.  So we headed to Chick-fil-A.

I've made some uncanny realizations when it comes to driving in this country.  One I have not experienced in Czech Republic or Spain.  I never drove in Russia.  Now that is craziness I never wanted to attempt!!
Expectations of drivers who DO NOT have the right of way!  It is insane to me!!

Let me explain.

Let's say you are on a one lane road (one lane in each direction) and you stop at a light.  I understand that it is polite to stop at a parking lot entrance when stopped at a light to allow cars to come out in front of you or to cross into the other direction.  I get that!

I got honked at the other day because I blocked a car from coming onto the road.

In my defense, I didn't see him coming, plus MY LIGHT WAS GREEN!!!  I was only waiting for the cars in front of me to begin moving.  He honked and threw his hands up at me.

What did I do?

Looked at him and threw my hands up at him!!!

Good, Christian like come back, isn't it?!
How long did he actually wait after I got by?

All of 2 seconds before he could come onto the roadway!!

Come on people!!! 

And this whole politeness feels as if it almost extends to giving complete right of way to non-right of way traffic!  Yes, if I have the right of way I feel as if there is an expectation there for me to SLOW DOWN to allow those coming into my lane!  I'm not kidding!  It is weird!  I am always watching to make sure someone isn't going to turn into me!

Then there are roundabouts.  I don't think there are many roundabouts in the US, but they are common here.  The law is that you watch the traffic on your left.  Those already in the roundabout have the right of way and you must yield to them.

Well, the POLITE thing to do in Austria is if you are in the roundabout, you slow for those coming on to enter in front of you.  However, this is not the law!

 I GOT HONKED AT for not allowing a lady in a roundabout in front of me!!  Excuse me?!  I'm IN the roundabout and have the right of way!! 

Had she hit me, by law, she would have been in the wrong.

Culturally I was wrong.  What?!

I even watched another car get honked at that was in a roundabout and didn't slow.  What I thought was funny was that the car in the roundabout, who wass doing as the law states, actually stopped in the roundabout and proceed to point at the yield sign to the honking car to show he certainly did have the right of way (did you follow that?)!  Good job!!   Slowly they are figuring this law/cultural thing out!

I just have to remember why I'm here.  It's not about fighting over the driving rules, now is it? Ha!

We all have those days don't we?  An overly human moment.  A moment we're not proud of.

Tonight it was with my kids.  It seemed like not a single one of them was listening to me......not doing what I asked, showing little respect......lollygagging in the bath, not getting their toothbrush, and on, and on and on.  And I lost it.

I'm not proud of it, but I lost it!

I wrote a quick text to my friend Kristi sharing my outburst and exclaiming that I'm not winning any mother of the year award any time soon.  And she sent me an email she saved for such a time as this.  It was a blog post from Inspired to Action giving 8 verses to inspire us to be patient mothers.  It was just what I needed.  Definitely verses I need to plaster all over my house as a reminder.

As I got to the bottom of the email, it mentioned a post by Ann Voscamp, "Why is it so hard to be patient?"  Also some good content and things to remember as mothers.  Ann is a talented writer and has a way of sharing Christ with beautiful words.  I've heard so many wonderful things about her book, One Thousand Gifts.  I haven't read it myself, but I need to.  It's on the list!

I then decided to see what her most recent blog post was.  Today's post, "What to do when I feel like a loser?"   which inspired my blog title for today and spoke greatly to me.  Funny where a chain of reading can take you!!


In case you don't get a chance to read it, let me just quote a few lines that made me pause or spoke volumes after my very human moment.




That made me giggle just a bit.


Ugh, amen!


Probably my biggest fear! I don't want my kids to remember me as a tyrant, forever scarred by my words.  I want them to see Christ in me!!

"In one wild moment, my disordered desires can betray how quickly I can lose my God-orientation."


Amen, amen, amen!!


Amazing!  I love that!!

Have you had those moments you are not so proud of?  I hope you'll find encouragement in this today too!!

My sweet boy did go to bed telling me I am the best mom he's ever had!!  How sweet is that?!

Right before that, I did tell him he could wear his new Iron Man costume to school tomorrow for Spirit Week that he picked out to wear for his birthday (that is not until June!). 

Maybe a little making up for a bad attitude on my part!

I left quite a downer of a blog post hanging on there all week.  Sorry about that!
In my defense I had one sick Karis-girl on my hands this week.  We had our first big sickness of 2012!

Have I mentioned that we've been a part of a new International Church start?  We've been meeting with about 9-10 other families at Jeremy & Kristi's home while we look for a location to rent and expand.


This past Sunday we tried out a new facility and I think Karis picked up the nasty tummy bug there.  Her and 2 other kids from our group woke up during the night throwing up.  I stayed with Karis on the couch all night and Monday she had a fever.  I ended up keeping her home for 3 days.  She was better by Tuesday, but it left her with no desire to eat.  I kept her home Wednesday, to get some more food in her and build her strength up.  She's good now.  Her tummy shrunk so she's not eating quite as much.  I'm sure my little eating machine will be back to her normal eating self soon.
Now it's Saturday and Reegan has fallen with it.  Here's hoping and praying Brennan doesn't get it!!

Back to my downer post, I'm good.  Don't we all have those days from time to time?

Sometimes I question if I should share such personal details, but ya know, maybe it will help someone else.  I still think of a dear, now retired couple I knew in Russia.  They lived overseas for 30 years.  She was the sweetest thing and loved on the nationals, but she hated Russia.  I always admired her for her honesty and great attitude, peppered with wit and humor about life in Russia.

Our being in Vienna is not about me, visa issues, culture or anything but knowing that we're in the will of God.  Did He promise us good times all the time?  No.  He did promise to love us and not forsake us.  And even when we might feel forsaken (I'm just saying that for those who might, I'm not feeling that way in Vienna) God is there.  Maybe He is trying to teach us something or wanting us to draw closer to Him.  The big question is how are we going to respond?  I hope I'll always use times like this to seek Him and grow through the circumstances!

And now let me leave you with a few of my favorite photos that Jerry took for Eli's party (Kristi's big boy that turned 3) last weekend!

 Seems that our whole family had a missing Spain day.
It's weird how it hits from time to time.  Something we see or say triggers a memory.  We all sigh big and say "I miss Spain."  It was one of those days today and then it puts me in a little bit of a funk.

People continuously ask how we are settling in or if we are liking it.  I am going to be brutally honest with you and say, not really.

That's not to say that Austria isn't a nice place to visit and I sure hope I don't offend any of my friends here, but I have to go back to a post I wrote on perspective.  So much of my perspective is based on a wonderful year in Spain.  A place we love, adore and miss tremendously.

Living here has just had some unexpected difficulties.  Doable, but definitely difficult.  The visa process makes no sense, the lack of goods that are abundant in neighboring areas of Europe, the unreal, high prices for common, every day goods, like eggs.  HAVING to learn the language because they make you!  Taxes for things like owning a television or driving on the freeway!  These little things add up and just make it easy to want to complain.

But, God called us away from Spain unexpectedly and brought us here to Vienna.  And we are learning to live in our new place.  It wasn't an easy move, but one we knew the Lord was calling us to make.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad!!  Our team is now together, which was the whole reason for this move.  We have a cute little house with a yard.  We have an incredible school where our kids are learning so much and we have made some incredible friendships!!  And meeting my blog friend, Kristi that has become a dear, in real life friend!

I thank the Lord for these things and these wonderful people that I wouldn't have met otherwise!

But, today has been a bit of a sad day for us.  Just missing our Spanish home, just a little (ok, maybe a lot).

We've heard about and been preparing for this process for months.

For the type of visas we need, there is only one time of year that we can apply. 

This is now our 4th country in Europe.  Russia, you can't even step foot in the country without a visa.  Czech Republic requires a visit to a neighboring country to their Czech embassy to start the process (never knew why, but easy enough to drive to Vienna, Austria or Dresden, Germany) and then in a few months you show up to the visa office, sign some papers and your done.  Of course, we had a Czech helping our colleagues that was knowledgeable in the area of visas to keep up with the laws.  She was a godsend!

Spain was a little more complicated with every piece of paper you own needing an apostille (a special kind of stamp).  Although lengthy and armed with more papers than they need, it wasn't so bad.

Austria, on the other hand, just doesn't make sense to me.  Lots of paperwork was also required, but here's where it gets crazy.  You are required to stand in line vying for one of 60 visa slots (or so we've heard it's 60) that are given that year for this particular visa. Doesn't sound so bad, right?  Problem is, there is NO order.

Our visa has to do with the fact that we work in the country, but are paid outside of Austria and will not be working for an Austrian company, therefore will not be covered by their social care. 

Seems to me they wouldn't mind these kinds of workers in their country.  They don't have to pay us AND we are contributing to their economy.  Right?!

In the past our colleagues have experienced some chaos in this process.  It has boiled down to being whoever can throw their elbow the hardest gets in the door first.

The last 2 years have been a bit better.  A lawyer representing certain clients have started a list of names of those who show up.  It's a first come, first serve bases, based on when you arrive at the door.  However, the visa office honored the list last year and we hoped it would be the same this year.

The line has gotten so crazy that it warrants an overnight stay.

In past years, our colleagues have shown up around 5 am to get in line.  Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky.  Some of our colleagues drove by the office late afternoon on January 1st and before 5 pm a line had already formed!!  The plan had been to get in line at midnight.  That was quickly changed when 20 people were already on the list at 5 pm.  Jerry showed up at 6 pm and we were numbers 47-51 for each member of our family.

Y'all (and I don't use that term often, but this warrants it), y'all I am getting too old for this!  Staying up all night!!  My body does not do so well.  Especially when I am required to take care for my kids the next day!  Which, by the way, our kids spent the night with some colleague friends!  They were not required to be there.....or so we thought.  More on that in a minute.

The plan was for me to show up at about 5 am.  I could do that, but the lawyer keeping "THE list" said if I didn't show up by 3 am I could be bumped for not being there in person IF a government official came by.  Did I show up at 3 am?  Yes I did (after 4 hours of sleep).  Did a government official come by before 5 or even 7 am?  No, one did not!  Oh well!

Anyway, Julie and I hopped in a taxi and got there by 3 am.  Insanity!!!

This is craziness!  Now, I'm not saying that the US system or any other is without flaw (ha, that sounds funny)

Really?  There is not a better system to standing out in the FREEZING, MIDDLE OF THE WINTER, COLD to get a CHANCE, not even a guarantee, for a visa slot?!

We did, however, have 2 cars nearby to get an occasional warm up and we did have access to bathrooms.  But, wait!  It doesn't stop there!  Sounds so nice of them to give us access to bathrooms, right?  Well, said bathrooms just happened to be located off of a HUGE foyer area!!!  Were we able to sit in said foyer????  Nope!!

It was somewhere between 6 and 7 that we were able to come into the foyer and line up.  It was much warmer in there.  We were all sprawled out on the floor, mostly heads nodding off.

Eight o'clock came.  There was a bit of pushing and a bit of stress.  People were walking in and not observing the line.  Come to find out, many of them were there for other reasons.  Oops!  Things remained calm and "the list" of names were honored and we were called in order.

I hate to say it! I just hate the word itself!!!

L-I-C-E!

Just typing that makes me want to gag!!!

I knew it could come to this when we started school! We've had 3 notes home this school year about L-I-C-E (I told you I hate the word ). Karis has been itchy and we finally realized what it was last night! Ugh! It wasn't until after her bath, before going to bed. Luckily I had kept one of the notes that came home with them in the past and it was thorough about what to do (albeit in Spanish, but that's what Google Translate is for!!).   My dh was able to find our local pharmacy still open and purchased the lotion/shampoo to rid the suckers!!

I am now educated on the disgusting little creatures (that I found still wiggling in the L-I-C-E comb when brushing through her hair). Gag, bleck!!

She was such a trooper though!!

As a kid, I use to think people that got L-I-C-E were the most filthy, disgusting people on the planet (ok, I was in jr high.  I don't think that anymore, I promise!).  Have you seen those things? They are NASTY!! Somehow I never got it (here's hoping and praying it's not been passed. So far the rest of us are good).

All the while Jerry has had the flu (he's a bit better now) and he was in the midst of packing for a trip. And me having all kinds of plans today, which part of them I had to change.

But hopefully all my combing and cleaning will pay off and prayerfully, we are infestation free!

Bleck!

Even if they are disgusting little creatures, I still love my girl!  Poor thing!!  My trooper!