Photo Challenge - Day 11

Today's theme is 'something old'.  I walk past this something old several times a day.

 I am not sure what this statue represents but it reminds me of safety in that if a fire breaks out this giant Roman soldier will come put it out and rescue all of us!  There is not a plaque to aid in the understanding of this statue thing but I find it interesting nonetheless.

Sorry for the grainy picture but this plaque is close to the exit of the path we walk to get to the ubahn or many stores.  The sign says Czernin - Passage built 1898.  I think that counts as old.  :)

Photo Challenge - Day 10

Today's challenge theme is 'nature'.  It didn't get a chance to take a picture today.  I was hardly outside so taking pictures of nature was out of the question unless I was walking to and from school or the U-bahn.  So, I cheated a bit and am using a picture from the summer.

This is a picture I took after a long hike into Rocky Mountain National Park.  I love this picture because I reminds me of peace, God's wonderful creativity, and my beloved Colorado.  I sat on the large rock after a long hard hike for an asthmatic and was just at peace within God's presence.  It was quite an accomplishment for me to make it here and I was proud of myself but I also realized that God is always looking out for me and knew that I would one day accomplish this feat even when I didn't think I could ever do it!  I am thankful for nature and that I was able to grow up in Colorado to be surrounded by amazing views of God's beautiful artistic eye.  

Photo Challenge - Day 9

Today's gratitude photo challenge's theme is 'an inspiring person'.  I had a hard time with this one as it made me even more homesick than I already was!  I initially thought of my parents and then realized that I am not in Colorado and cannot take their picture.  Then I wanted to play the Jesus card but, well you cannot take a picture of Jesus!  So, I thought long and hard and realized that there are MANY people here I admire which made this task even harder.  Then three specific people stood out.  Here they are...

These three cuties are students at ICSV.  I had two of them last year and really, truly miss having them in my class.  These three inspire me because they struggle with school.  They struggle in reading just like I did as a child.  Regardless of how much they struggle or how hard life here in Vienna is for them one thing about these cuties is that they NEVER lose their joy, their tenderheartedness, or their love for God.  I always stand back and watch these cuties and realize that I aspire to have their joy on a daily basis.  Not that fake kind of joy that some adults have mastered but that child-like joy that comes from deep within a person.  That joy that knows that the Lord is ever-present and always guiding our steps.  That joy that allows a person to look past their current struggle or worry to see the need in others and remember that they might be encouraged by my friendship or joy today!  These three inspire me to be a better teacher and person on a daily basis.

Photo Challenge - Day 8

Today's theme is 'favorite color'.  I wasn't sure if this meant my favorite color or what so I chose mine.  :)

Purple is my favorite color.  Sometimes I flop between blue and purple but I think, deep down, purple is my favorite.  I like blue because I love the color of my eyes.  Purple is fantastic.  Nothing on me is purple, well except for the time the nurse blew my vein with an IV and the next day my entire arm was purple!  Ha!  That was special.  I like purple because it is a girly color but not overly used.  It is the color of royalty in the Bible and purple lilacs are my absolute favorite flower.  Purple seems to make me think of strength and deep love.  It is a calming, refreshing color to me.  So, that is my favorite color!  

Gratitude Photo Challenge - Something Funny

A friend challenged encouraged me to try the 30 day Photo gratitude challenge.  There is a list of themes to capture a picture of each day.  It sounds like fun but I was hesitant because I am not the best photographer but I do enjoy a new way to see God's blessings within my life no matter how small.  So, here is today's theme: Something Funny.  I didn't have to look far to find something funny within my classroom.  Here are two funny things from today...

My boys were eating lunch in my classroom today.  This funny one chose to eat on the stool rather than at a desk or table.  We all laughed pretty hard as he looked like a little old man while trying to eat at his stool!  Ha!

We are doing a circle story unit.  We read "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff and then made the character to hang around our classroom.  Here is a pretty good likeness of the main character in the book.

Here is an intrepretation of that same character!  At least he did it and felt free enough to add his own style to it!  Ha!  I giggle everytime I see it! :)

Taking the animals to see the wild animals!

Carrie and I took our 30 animals to see the wild animals at the zoo.  We did this to enhance our study of animal habitats!  It was a fun trip despite the cooler weather!  They had a grand time on their scavenger hunt through the zoo to locate which animals lived in which of the 6 habitats we had been studying!  So fun!  These kids are so cute and fun to hang out with.  We had marvelous parent volunteers that made this field trip go smoothly!

Some cuties! 

Posing for their teacher!

Facinated by the Hippos!

So cute!

Quite regal

Watching the Seal feeding

The most handsome 3rd graders at ICSV

More cute ones!

An Honor

I, Amanda, was asked to speak at the Middle School and High school Spiritual Emphasis Week a few weeks ago.  It was quite an honor to be selected.  I was asked to share my testimony from my birth until my calling to Vienna.  I am really glad that I was required to do camp counselor training many years before so I was able to quickly write up testimony and then pray that I wouldn't throw up from nerves as I spoke to the 'big' kids.  I was so nervous speaking but the Lord used my words to impact the 'big' kids in a marvelous ways!  Thank you Lord for choosing me to live this life where I can glorify you.  Thank you for allowing me to always see you working within my life.  Thank you for your fingerprints that are clearly evident within my life story!  

Long Night of Museums

We recently attended Vienna's Long Night of Museums that is held here in Vienna once a year.  We love it!  You pay 13 Euro and on one night hundreds of museums are open and you can go to as many as you are physically able!  This year we went to:

• The Treasury - where the crown jewels are 
• The National Library
• The Albertina - an art museum
• The Globe Museum
• The Paper Museum
• The Old Instrument Museum
• The Jewish Museum
• The Roman Museum

It was a fun night but quite tiring!  Here are some pics of some of those sights...

Furry Friends

We are cat sitting some furry friends named Marille and Newton this year!  We love them!  They are quite relaxing and a good form of destressing therapy when we pet them!  Newton has really warmed up to me and will come sit next to me begging to be petted every morning and evening.  We are so happy to keep them safe this year but are sad that there are so many people on staff that are allergic to them!

Need some socks?

Carrie learned how to knit a pair of socks at the same time this summer and now there is no stopping her!  She has made several pairs of socks and some really cute ones for her soon to be new cousin!  She loves it and it most certainly keeps her ADD hands busy!  :)

Carrie's Birthday

I know this is late but Carrie's birthday was August 26 and a few friends and I took her to Salzburg to celebrate.  It was a surprise to her!  I told her the day before that she would need to pack a bag for the weekend and feed the cats enough to help them survive two nights without us!  She was shocked but went along with it.  We saw beautiful Salzburg and even went on the Sound of Music tour.  It was a lot of fun and I think she really enjoyed her celebration!

You would think...

You would think that living in this mobile community would make us very good at saying goodbye.  Well that is not true.  It actually gets harder and harder.  My heart seems to hurt more and more with each one.  Then I remember that the Lord put us here for a purpose and will walk alongside us with these goodbyes.  

This last week we said good bye to this smiley one:

Please join us in prayer for little miss smiley.  Pray that all we have taught her about the Lord will stick with her as she transitions back into her "home" culture.  

A Confession...

All 5 of you that read this blog won't believe this but guess what?  I, Amanda, am the Elementary Chapel Worship Leader this year.  I know...you cannot believe it can you?  Please feel free to reread the second sentence again to really, fully, understand or believe what you have just read.  Now, let me explain.  This is a "job" I volunteered for.  Yes, I know you are still shocked.  Trust me the complete understanding of the "job" didn't hit me for a while!  Guess, what??  I LOVE IT!!!  It is so much fun to get my rambunctious group of 5th grade worship team participants together each week to practice and see the love of worshipping the Lord in their eyes.  I love choosing the songs and having the kiddos offer their suggestions and favorites.  I love listening to the songs each week over and over to get the words deep within my soul.  My most favorite things is to worship our wonderful Savior each Thursday morning with about 100 of the cutest children in Austria!  Their voices bring tears to my eyes and actions to the songs start asthma attacks within my lungs!  :)


Here is a link to a song (song link) I am sooo excited to try with the kiddos.  I really love the words and hope they are a blessing to you and 100 of the cutest kids in Austria!  :)  

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

So, Carrie and I have some natural comedians in our classes this year!  They are hilarious.  Here are some of the funny comments from the last few weeks:

• We all have these vents that sometimes blow air in our classrooms.  One day it was quite warm and several of my students were sitting in front of the "fan" to read.  It suddenly turned off (this is normal) and a cute kid shouted out, "Miss Brunker!  The furniture is broken.  It just turned off!"  Apparently he calls the vent/fan a furnace but instead used furniture!  Hahaha!

• One student has braids in her hair almost daily.  One day while walking down the hall to recess another student exclaims, "She has only 6 hairs today!"  I turned around and said only six hairs!  Wow, it looks like she has many more than that but only 6 braids!  We all had a good laugh about that!

• In computer class one student helps another and as a thank you the other student says, "Thanks for the expression, dude!!!"  He meant to say thanks for the explaination!

• Memorizing Bible verses each week is hard for some students.  Several students in my class decided to be encouraging after some of their classmates finished saying their memory verse to me for their test.  I blessed my heart to hear one student say, "You are really good at hiding God's word in your heart!"  

Reaching the nations...one child at a time.

There are approximately 50 nations represented at ICSV this year!  I am excited to see what the Lord will do.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we minister to these nations the Lord has entrusted us with.  

ABCs.... Summer Review

To review what our whirlwind summer looked like here the ABCs:

• A - automobiles - We HAD to drive to get anywhere.  It is not either of our favorite things to do!
• B - books - We visited bookstores and loved the selection all in English!
• C - collecting items that we would need at home and school for the year
• D - dentist - Amanda had to have an expensive root canal and crown
• E - easing back into American culture and volume...this took a while!
• F - Food - enjoying American food and mom's home cooking!
• G - gas/petrol/benzine (whatever you call it) - it was expensive but necessary
• H - Hiking in beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park
• I - interview - we did a video interview for our church's Mission Month in October
• J - Jeans - Finding ones that fit and will last a year, hopefully more, was a trick.  They were even on sale!
• K - Knitting Socks - Carrie learned how and now there is no stopping her!
• L - Lost Luggage - When we arrived back in Vienna our luggage simply disappeared for a week! 
• M - Michigan - We visited our friends Cindi and Kerry in their lovely home in Michigan.
• N - New Haven, IN - We spent a weekend with our friends, nieces, and nephews.  It was wonderful to catch up after four years.
• O - Operating Room - Amanda's brother, Trent, had brain surgery.  He is doing well.
• P - Praising God for his Faithfulness in always supplying just what we need right when we need it.
• Q - Quilling - We learned how to paper quill and it is a new favorite craft.  Liz is very good at it!
• R - Race - we ran in a 5K in Parker, Colorado and the altitude just about killed us!
• S - Sharing pictures of our ministry here in Vienna.
• T - Time - there is never enough time when you only get to see people once a year!
• U - Underwater - We went rafting with friends down Clear Creek and were glad that we didn't go underwater!
• V - Visiting family and friends in Colorado, Indiana and Michigan
• W - Watching tv with Grandma Wiggins - We just love her!
• X - eXcited - Excited to hug my little niece Elsie and I was there to watch her learn to walk!!
• Y - Yogurt - Frozen yogurt seems to be all the rage in CO!  It is yummy and we enjoyed it!
• Z - Zug Um Zug - This is a fun board/strategy game that we were able to play with friends

And We're Off To The Races....

Hey Faithful Readers!

Sorry we have seemed to disappear from the blog.  No worries!  We are back but are catching up from summer support raising efforts, visiting family, praying for family that are sick or having surgeries, renewing passports and visas, setting up classrooms for the new school year, trying to stay healthy, teaching, and getting to know new students that seem to appear every week.  The school has a new high in enrollment and Carrie is directly impacted by this on a weekly basis!  We now have 50 different nations represented within our student body and staff.  Praise the Lord!  He is ever faithful!  

As of Monday Carrie will have 18 2nd graders to love and mold this school year.  Please continue to pray for Carrie and all of these nations.  These are the nations represented within Carrie's class:  

• Ukraine
• Peru
• India
• Philppines (4)
• Germany/Nigeria/Austria
• Great Britian
• Austria/India/S. Africa
• South Korea
• Namibia
• Netherlands
• Austria/Philippines
• Slovenia
• USA
• Mongolia
• Austria/Nigeria

Amanda's class only has 13 kiddos.  They are great kids and Carrie has prepared them well for 3rd grade.  Here are the countries they are from:

• Iraq
• Namibia
• Philippines
• South Korea (3)
• Bulgeria
• Zimbabwe
• Ethopia (2)
• USA (2)
• Peru

Madurodam

The de Jong family treated us to a day at Madurodam.  This is a miniature village type place where all of the famous or historical places in Holland are miniaturized and displayed in this amazing area.

The de Jongs looking at the entire complex of Madurodam!

Anne Frank House

It was a moving experience to visit the Anne Frank House.  It was clear that Anne didn't have hope in the end and that has weighed heavily on me since visiting the museum.  If only she would have known Jesus as her personal savior I think there would have been hope in Anne's heart.  She was a smart, introspective young lady whose parents didn't know how deep she was.  She was also very brave.  I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to visit this museum.

Amsterdam - Day 2

Day 2 of our Amsterdam trip consisted of Windmills and wooden shoes (clogs) in the morning.

Clogs from around the world.  I thought these were quite interesting.

Making the clogs.  They use a template (blank) kind of like is used when making keys. 

He is showing us his clogs and how to get the correctly fitting clogs.

Carrie trying on clogs that fit her.

My feet in clogs.

Some beautiful houses outside of the clog village.

The windmills.  I liked them a lot!  :)