Well, once again, I find myself at the end of August realizing that we have been to busy to share about our lives or keep this blog up to date. I think the summer that we keep on top of things will deserve some kind of reward. Possibly involving ice cream.
Here’s a snapshot of what was happening with us during the end of May and the month of June.
This year we had a mustache themed birthday party for Matt. Mustaches are always fun!
Then of course, there was the senior trip to Croatia, but you already know about that.
The day after we returned from Croatia, I turned 40. Yes. 40. Sigh. Matt and some of our friends threw me a 39.39393939… birthday party. Matt said I don’t I have to turn 40 if I don’t want to. I kinda don’t want to.
Then the seniors graduated! Wahoo! You can see by all the smiles that they were definitely ready for this day. More pics here: Graduation 2010
During the month of June we had a few friends visiting. Sally, Bekah, and Becca are some of our favorite people, so it was great to see them.
On June 19, our friends Felix and Leslie got married. They asked me to be one of the wedding photographers. Lots of pressure, but I learned a ton. I especially learned that this is NOT what I want to do for a living. Yikes!
We spent the rest of June helping our friends Jeff and Bethany get moved into their new apartment. This was super exciting for us because now they live in our building. Yay!
Stay tuned to for stories from July and August. Things did not slow down. I need a nap.
A few more pictures here: Last Senior Party
Summer has started which means I finally have some time to update the blog. Yes, I know, this is very exciting for everyone! I think I can hear some of you cheering. 
May 29 – June 4 was the senior trip. We got to spend the week in Umag, Croatia. It was beautiful! Thank you so much to those of you who prayed for safety, fun, and quality time. It was an incredible trip.
We took two side trips while we were there. One day we went to Pula to see the Roman Amphitheatre. Another day we took a cruise down the coast of Croatia to the city of Rovinj. Beautiful!
By far the best thing about the trip was the opportunity for the students to spend time together and start saying their goodbyes. We had time each evening to talk with them about transition and life after high school. You can continue to pray for them in the coming months as they start school, jobs, and military service. It’s going to be a big year for each of them.
You can see lots of pictures here: CROATIA!
May 13th was Ascension Day, and in Austria that’s a national holiday. Each year on Ascension Day VCS has a school-wide picnic called Family Fun Day. It’s one of my favorite days of the year because everyone is there: students, parents, siblings, friends. The weather was great this year, so there was plenty going on. Kids and adults alike were playing basketball, soccer, and badminton. There were also water fights, frisbee games, and skateboarding. One of the best parts of the day is eating all the delicious foods that the families bring. Filipino noodles = YUM! What a fantastic day!
More pictures here: Family Fun Day
As part of a biography project with the third and fourth graders, I asked them to tell me one thing they know is true about God. Here are some of their answers:
- He is always with me forever and he is my best friend.
- He died for my sins.
- I know that God loves me.
- He is my father and he is with us all the time.
- He loves us always.
- I know that God is my king.
- I know that Jesus loves me and that he was on the cross.
- God loves us no matter what we do. God is with us wherever we are.
- I know that God is with me forever.
- I know that God is my father and I am his child.
- He is the BEST of all because he created the whole world.
- He is my savior.
- He is everlasting.
- God is always guiding me anywhere I go.
- He gives me wisdom.
- He is almighty.
- He can do anything.
- God is WONDEROUS!!!
Amen.
This past Sunday the city shut down for the Vienna City Marathon. Over 30,000 people flooded the streets of Vienna, .
A student and I decided to train for the half-marathon this year, and despite a rushed training schedule, were able to finish the race without too much trouble. I achieved my goal of under 2 hours, just barely, coming in at 1:56:22. Good enough to beat the Kenyans leading the marathon pack. Of course they only needed 12 extra minutes to run twice as far as me, but that’s another story.
After a 2 year hiatus from any run longer 5K, it was a lot of fun to train and run this race, and I’m hoping it’ll be a springboard to other runs in my ongoing struggle to maintain motivation.
It was also neat to see a student of mine, who only started running two years ago, get really excited about training and running this race. He’s come a long way in such a short amount of time.
Usually when we have a class party, we have some type of activity and we eat ribs. This time the activity was eating ribs. Delicious, delicious ribs.
My mom has been complaining that I never give Matt the camera, and therefore, she never gets to see me. So, Mom, these are for you:
You can see the rest of the pictures here: Ribfest
I Scream!
You scream!
We all scream!
For ice cream!
Friday was opening day of ice cream season here in Vienna. My favorite season! To celebrate, our local ice cream shop gave away free cones (with two scoops!) from 12:00-2:00. I went with the fifth grade class to take advantage of this gift. While we were there, we ran into the entire middle school who had the same idea! What a great way to end the week.
You can see a few more pictures here: Opening Day
March is Book Month at VCS. We have lots of fun activities to promote reading. On Thursday, the primary, first, and second grade classes performed The Three Piggy Opera. It’s a fun musical rendition of The Three Little Pigs. Above, you can see some of the adorable piglets from the piggy choir and the very intimidating Big Bad Wolf. They did such a great job!
There are more pictures here: Three Piggy Opera
Well, basketball season came to a close last Saturday. This was such a fun season! The girls really came together as a team this year. As coaches, Whitney and I were amazed to see how much they grew not only as basketball players, but as people. During the regular season we won two of our games and lost three.
Saturday we had a tournament with our newly formed league. We came in third place, winning two games and losing one. The girls were so excited about their trophy. However, they were even more excited when they won the sportsmanship trophy which was awarded to the team voted to have the best sportsmanship by the other teams and coaches. We are so proud of them for winning this award! As coaches that’s what we want for them – to grow in love for others as they grow to love their sport.
Here are most of the girls with their new trophies. Aren’t they cute?
There are more pictures here: Middle School Basketball
