Happenings

1.We hosted a 24 year old Austrian girl on Wednesday night as she began a cross country road trip beginning in Lubbock and taking her more places than I can name, through July. She is friends with a friend of ours friend in Lubbock. Okay did you follow that...No real connection except Christ. She walks into our kitchen and gasps at a picture on our refrigerator. It is of some friends of ours who are missionaries in Croatia. She says in disbelief - you know Roger and Erin? Well there you have it folks...a German speaking Austrian girl who knows a friend of a friend in Lubbock spends the night with some South Africans living in Amarillo, Texas and they have friends in common who live outside of Zagreb, Croatia. Don't you LOVE that!!!!! Love it, love it, love it.

Here are some of the things I just adored about Kati , our new Austrian friend-
She talked with the assumption that we knew European geography well enough to understand the nuances of living in a country that has influences from Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia. Luckily in this situation we did have a healthy dose of Austrian knowledge because I have spent 10 days there, and South African schooling is heavy on European geography.

She apologized for struggling with her tenses in English - ahem - she was able to communicate beautifully in English, and did not ever expect us to bust out any German. It became apparent that she has some French and Italian skills also. Amazing!

She remains stunned that Americans approach Europe with the 11 countries in 9 days approach. "How can you spend a day in Paris, and think you saw it" she said. I explained to her about the 2 week vacation policy for most jobs in the US and how that motivates the quick vacation. She was stunned. We were too when we arrived here. It is not uncommon in Africa, Europe and Britain for people to receive 25 work days off a year. I love the idea of choosing one country and really experiencing it than trying to see it all and never know any of it.

And like us, she believes donuts, pancakes, waffles and cinnamon rolls are dessert not breakfast. She kept saying how hard it was to find things without sugar for breakfast. It cracked me up because I remember saying the very same thing 16 years ago. Unfortunately, now I count all the above mentioned delicacies as breakfast fare....

2. Michaela came off her skate board last night. She cut the inside of her lip. She scratched up her face. Her glasses were damaged enough that they needed a lens replacement this morning. I think her nose has a minor fracture. And all this while David is out of town. What is that about. When he leaves town, someone gets sick or injured. When I think about the times we have had strep, flu, bronchitus, sometimes all three, stomach bugs and other ailments the day he leaves it is unbelievable. Makes you wonder?

3.Sanjaya is finally gone from the Idol stage. He certainly seemed like a sweet guy who handled himself well amidst the media blast, but seriously people - he just can't sing!