Isaiah 55:5

Yesterday was Independence day in America. I’ve been really homesick ever since we got back from Vienna. I think Katie put it well when she said, “Going to Vienna was like going to the West, and now we’re back in the East here in Romania.” I loved our trip so much, and I love it here in Romania – it is my second home, so I feel guilty saying I’m homesick, but really I just miss my family a LOT. Especially on days like July 4th because of the memories associated with it.

But enough sad talk. Katie and I were determined that we would celebrate regardless of where we were located, so we made a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese(brought from San Antonio,TX) cut up hotdogs and put them in our macaroni, had BBQ chips, and we even bought ice cream – although it was a little bit of a disappointment. Attila made us suffer through his version of American patriotic music – I’ll give you one guess as to who the artists were…That’s right the Gaithers. Haha, it was painful, and I’m afraid Katie and I gave him a hard time about itfor a little while.
But then we found out after dinner, that there was a huge celebration in the Reghin City center, so we walked up there to check it out. Apparently, every city has a three day celebration every year, and this weekend was Reghin’s. There are going to be fireworks tonight!! So we’ll only be one day off. Every one comes to the center – it’s an all day thing, and they have TONS of food, and games, and live concerts. It was so much fun. There are even people selling jewelry and other handmade crafts and toys. Katie and I are so excited to go back tonight. The fireworks are at midnight, and we have heard that it’s a very good show. So we’re getting our 4th of July celebration after all. God takes care of us in such little ways, I think a lot of times, I don’t even notice it, but this was so unexpected and I didn’t realize how much it would mean to me. “How amazing is your love. How can I keep from singing your praise? I know I am loved by the King and it makes my heart want to sing.“

Aunt Bonnie is coming in tonight!! I cannot WAIT to see her. I’m so ready for our camp with the children. I missed them a lot this week, and I am so excited about getting to spend so much time with my favorite children in the world. We leave on Thursday. I hope that God blesses our time at the camp in Sibiu, and we are able to build on the relationships that we aleady have with the children and form new ones with the new children coming. Please pray for a safe bus ride there – it’s about four hours and many of the children have never been in a vehicle, so they get very carsick. I ask also for prayers that every word that we say and every action would be from God, and that these children would come to know His love through us, and that we wouldn’t be seen at all, but that He alone would be visible.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Wow. It has been a long time since I blogged. I apologize. We were without internet for a couple of days at the beginning of last week, and then we went to Budapest and Vienna, so I really had no chance to write.

I’ll try to sum up our couple of days in those cities as best I can. We’ll start with Budapest. Here is a picture of the city from the top of a hill near the Citadel:

We stayed in Buda( for those of you who might not know – like me before I went haha, the city is divided by the River Duna into two parts, Buda and Pest.) Anyway, we stayed in Buda with a friend of Attila’s fiancee’s mother. Yes, that’s right we didn’t know her from Adam. I no longer get surprised by anything outrageously random that happens anymore, because over here it’s normal. Anyway, she was precious and it was free housing so we loved it. A couple of the big sights that we saw included Parliament, where the crown jewels are kept, the Citadel, which is a memorial to all of the soldiers in WWII(I think), and Castle Hill. We also went to City Market and ate Langos which is similar to a funnel cake, but WAY better, and they eat it with salty things like garlic butter,(Rick Steves told us we had to eat Langos on his website, so that was a big deal for me and Katie haha) and we went to Margaret Island and sat by the “singing” fountain, ate ice cream and read our books. I enjoyed Budapest very much, but I’m glad I had Katie and Attila with me, because I got confused a lot with which direction we were heading when we had to take all of the Buses. I knew which number to take, but it took me like a day and a half to figure out which direction we needed to go in. I’ve always been so directionally challenged; I should never travel alone.

Vienna. Friday, was the beginning of what I am sure will be a lifelong love affair with Vienna. As I walked up the stairs out of the subway station and looked up into the center of Stephensplatz, it was like coming alive for the for time. I can’t even begin to tell you how it felt. We were only there for seven hours, and it was a whirlwind tour, but Katie did such a great job of showing me exactly what I would have wanted to see. We saw Stephensdom, the Hofburg, and ate Schnitzel in Karlsplatz(I think), we saw Parliament, the Opera House, ate ice cream at the second best place in Vienna, Zanoni and Zanoni(we didn’t have time for Tichy Eis), we went to the Naschmarkt, and Katie, knowing me as she does, saved the best for last. Schonbrunn. I don’t even know what to say. It’s the most beautiful castle I’ve ever seen. I HAVE to go back at Christmas when they have a Christmas market in the front, but all of the gardens were incredible, and we were able to just sit for the longest time. I LOVED it.

Of course, there are thousands of things that we didn’t do and didn’t see, but I’m really not disappointed at all. Having Katie there to know exactly where to go, and what to see was such a blessing. It is an incredible city – I see now why some of the best musicians and artists were so inspired there. I hope I don’t sound shallow if I say it was the best day of my life, but I can’t express what it’s like to dream of visiting somewhere all of your life, and then get the opportunity to do so. It was overwhelming.