I just had to take a minute and brag on my sweet daughter!
It is so amazing to see a child transform!  Karis has always been a very independent, strong-willed child.  It was always very trying for me because I was not that way as a child.  I never wanted to disobey or disappoint.
In the last year I have seen this girl grow and blossom.  I almost don't know who she is!  There's not as much arguing, pushing her point, pushing the limits, getting into things like baby powder or sneaking snacks to her bed.  And yes, she has done those things.  Well, the baby powder all over the bathroom was a long time ago, the sneaking sweets to her bed was in Spain.
What I've seen is a kind, young lady.  A girl who is willing to give up the window seat on the bus to her younger sister, jump at the chance to carry a grocery bag and give her brother a piece of her candy.
I've also been SO proud of her hard work and determination in school.
Because she was learning to read and write in Spanish last year, it put her behind in first grade in her current school.  The teacher doing the testing along with the principal felt that it would be beneficial for her to have some specialized, one on one reading.  They felt she would be caught up half way through the school year.  
After the first quarter, I was called in for a meeting to go over Karis' progress.  In that meeting (this would have been in October) I was told that Karis had already caught up.  Normally they phase out the one on one time, but felt that Karis was doing so well that they didn't even need to do that.
This girl started out in the lowest group of readers in her first grade class.  And before Christmas, just 4 months later, Karis is now in the second highest group of readers in her class!  Amazing!

She is also quite a little whiz at math!
The elementary part of the school does a color chart for behavior.  Every day each child starts out on green.  If they do something like talking out of turn, doing something to another student, etc. they will be moved down the color chart, after one warning.  If they do something exceptional, they could be moved up to the highest color of orange.  Karis has made it a goal to be on orange.  She's done it so many times now that she has gotten a few prizes.  If I remember correctly, that happens once they reach 7 oranges.
Somewhere along the way, maybe age.....maybe a bit of training and definitely growing in her knowledge of Jesus Christ, she is becoming selfless.

I thought I'd be a little cheesy and write up an acronym for Karis.
Kindness ~ One day she told me that when someone gets hurt on the playground she is quick to help.  She noticed that others just stop and stare, but she stops what she is doing to help and make sure they are ok.  That's my girl!!

Amusing ~ She is developing quite the sense of humor!  She makes me laugh!
Righteous ~  I mean it in the sense that doing the right thing is becoming important to her.  Take, for instance tattling.  Now, she comes in a very humble way to tell me they are doing something they shouldn't do.
Integrity ~ I see her becoming strong and bold in her knowledge and relationship with Jesus Christ.  There is nothing like seeing your child love Jesus and want to be more like him.  One morning I was fixing her hair, she told me that she was headed to her bedroom to pray before school started.
Strong-willed ~ She's still got this in her, but now I see her using it more in a positive way.  She's learning how to tame that will and use it for the glory of God.

And you can't forget about the fact that Vienna thinks she's pretty great since they have an u-bahn stop with her name on it!  Ha!
 I love you, sweet girl!  And I love seeing what God is doing in your life!

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.