the great adventure: May 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ hard, hard worker :)

Be sure to check out the new deal from Union 28! (In green at the bottom.)

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Austin has always been a hard worker. In fact, I've blogged about it a couple times here and here, and a couple of other places that I wasn't able to find, but you get the idea :)

Now that we're in full-time ministry, which is a lot like being self-employed we're finding, I had kind of thought that he would relax a little bit - not that he would ever be lazy, but . . . . you know what I mean.

He takes his responsibility of running the logistics side of the ministry very seriously, and he is so very good at it! It makes my head spin sometimes to think about all of the things he is running through his mind at the same time! From plane tickets, to in-country transportation, to communicating with about a dozen different people via phone and e-mail he's constantly on!

He is also so conscientious about handling money - he's always been good with money and responsible about our spending, but the fact that the money he's now responsible for comes from donors all over the place makes him that much more determined to see that not a penny goes to waste.

Anyway, I think he's pretty incredible, and I am so thankful that God has given me such a wonderful husband, friend, confidant, co-worker, lover, partner, travel buddy, room-mate, and family member :) I couldn't imagine sharing the adventure with anyone else.

Love you, Baby!

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I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me at katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

Our good friends over at Union 28 have sweetened the deal for us! They will give you 10% off any order of two or more items (on any day of the week) if you enter the following code at check-out: U28mhrFriday10 Thank you Union 28!

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Book Review: Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene

I used to do book reviews pretty regularly on my 100 things in 1001 days blog, but due to the added craziness of our new lifestyle, I'm no longer posting over there; therefore, I bring the book reviews here :)

I just finished reading Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene. This book, the first of the Zion Covenant series, was absolutely phenomenal! Set in pre-World War II Europe, the book follows the life of Elisa Lindheim (alias Linder) a Jewish-German violin player who lives and works in Vienna.

This period of history has always fascinated me, so this series is right up my alley. On top of that, I LOVE Thoene's work. Many of her books are written with her husband, Brock, and in fact in the next book in this series, Prague Counterpoint (Zion Covenant, Book 2), he is credited as having done the "Research & Development," so it's fun to know that they do such amazing work together. I read their book First Light (A. D. Chronicles, Book 1) last summer, and I am continually impressed by how historically accurate - without being the tiniest bit dry - their work is! Vienna Prelude (Zion Covenant, Book 1) was no exception! Thoene expertly weaves historical report of fact into a gripping, exciting plot that kept me turning pages until the wee hours of the morning :)

Another thing that brings me back to her writing again and again is how she is able to move her characters to the understanding of God's love and sovereignty despite the chaos around them. It's always a good reminder for me!

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Gott soll allein mein Herze haben." She sang the words so softly that no one in the crowded room could hear her. "God alone shall have my heart. . . . ." ... The answer whispered back to her, joyfully and without a doubt: "Was Gott tut, das is wohilgetan! What God has done is rightly done!" ... Somehow it was those last lyrics that came back as a challenge to Elisa. What she had questioned before must now be accepted and believed. If her heart was to belong to God alone, then she must have faith that He did not make mistakes. Men might fail miserabely - that was in evidence all around. But that which was done by God would not fail.

p.277

"Pity them, Jacob. Pity them for the evil they worship and the end that will surely come to them. Weep for our tormentors who have forgotten that they are also eternal. There will be a moment when it is too late to beg forgiveness . . ."

p.320

"No. It is not fear of hell that turns my heart from evil." Theo smiled to himself as though he had discovered a secret. "We have been privileged to see what becomes of men who give themselves over to darkness. They are no longer men. They are the creatures; we are still men." He reached out to touch the arm of th eprofessor. "And yet, we all began exactly alike, like lumps of coal, maybe in different shapes and sizes. The fire and the pressure of hatred consumes some men until they consume others around them in a white-hot fire. And others, trapped in the same fierce pressure and terrible heat, become diamonds to glisten in the hand of God. To shine bright when the blackness is all around, to find love when others are burning in their hatred. Isn't that the essence of God?" ... "A long time ago I gave up hope of ever seeing my Anna again. Or the children. And in that moment, I suppose I died to what I was." ... "Yet when I let go even of life and put myself in the hands of God, I became free, Julius! And I said to God that in this darkness, I want to become a shining light. The men who have imprisoned me changed my name to Stern. Like your name. Stern means star. Do you think that the Gestapo knew how much I wanted to shine! ...

p.339-340

This is one book, series, and author that I would recommend to anyone, any time, with no reservations whatsoever!

Have a great evening!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Sweet Shot Tuesday! (Our First :D)

Today is my first day participating in Sweet Shot Tuesday - hosted over at Life with My 3 Boybarians, and I'm super excited.

I am not a very good photographer, but my hubby, Austin, (about whom I regularly ~~brag~~ blog on My Husband Rocks! Fridays) is a phenomenal photographer, so on these posts the photos are most likely taken by him. Occasionally I will get a dumb-luck good shot here or there, so I may post those from time to time :)

This week's photo, Austin took while we were in Peru. I think it's absolutely gorgeous, and it's one I never would have "seen" - so I'm really glad he's got the eye!

to see the full-size image, click here

Big thanks to Darcy for hosting Sweet Shots :) What a fun way to see lots of great photos and share some of our faves!

Have a great Tuesday!

Friday, May 21, 2010

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ just love to love him . . .

Be sure to check out the new deal from Union 28! (In green at the bottom.)

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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HELLO!!!!!!!!

Long time no blog!

We are back in the States for about a month checking in with our families and friends, speaking at churches, and doing some more fundraising!

What that means for the great adventure is that the Internet will be far more reliable, and I may get to post more often - hopefully, that's the plan anyway, lol!

Anyway, here we go:

My husband ROCKS because people just can't help but love him!

I know what you're thinking ('can you say partial?'), and I know I probably am a little biased, but once you hear my stories, you'll understand :)

The other day we were visiting some friends, and we ended up getting to their town on the night of their small group. We told them not to cancel, and they invited us to go with them, so we found ourselves eating dinner with a roomful of strangers, except for our friends with whom we were staying (not an uncommon occurrence these days, but always a little rattling for me). Part of the way through the meal it struck me that not only was Austin having a great time, he was also the life of the party! He kept us all laughing from start to finish, and everyone was having a ball! He has such a great sense of humor, and he just puts people at ease!

This got me to thinking, and as I reflected upon it I realized that he does this all the time - no matter where in the wide world we are!

When we were in the Czech Republic we were working with Military Community Youth Ministry, and on our second week there, Austin was put in charge of a group of American students doing a work project in one of the schools. He was also in charge of running a workshop that would encourage the American students and the Czech students to hang out and get to know each other. The first day that the groups got together to plan their strategy for the week, Austin's work group took to him so quickly, and by the end of the meeting everyone was referring to him as "awesome Austin!" The first day that the groups were in the schools, they were offering several workshops (journal making, football, basketball, cheerleading, etc.) Austin's group (board games/hang out) drew about a dozen Czech students. By the end of the week they were up to almost sixty!!! :)

Lest you think his magnetic personality is only in effect on the other side of the ocean, I have one more piece of ~~bragging~~ anecdotal evidence! :) As I said at the beginning, part of the reason that we're back in the States for a bit is to speak at churches and raise support. (And when I say "we" are speaking, I mean Austin is speaking and I'm in the back being nervous for him, lol!) So, this past Sunday we had engagements at two churches, one right after the other, so after the first one Austin had to hurry over to the second one, so I stayed and greeted people as the service got out. It seemed that everyone I talked to had something to say about how interesting and entertaining it was to listen to Austin speak, and many went on and on about how they couldn't believe how polished and professional he was - and he doesn't use ANY notes!!!

He's pretty amazing!

Wow! It's obvious that I haven't been doing this often enough because I had A LOT to say! And there's so much more I'd like to add, but if you're still reading this I don't want to push my luck :)

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