Briefly checking in...

Hello, folks. I just wanted to do a short update before arrival of baby boy #2 sometime in the next 2ish weeks! A recent ultrasound showed him to be doing very well, but currently in a breech position...we are trying a few things this next week in order to (God willing) get him to turn and avoid a C-section. Your prayers are appreciated for this intention! Michael grows increasingly excited to meet his little brother and asks about "baby" every day and pats my stomach. He will be such a sweet older brother.

Michael has been quite mentally active as of late and now goes around reciting the entire alphabet and numbers 1-10. He almost has colors and shapes down as well, and likes to fill in words when being read to, especially Bible stories. Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with that little mind of his! He has also been finding creative ways to play and has enjoyed some fun play dates. Below is his sweet friend, Kate, from Canada.

So grateful for Michael's affectionate nature - he shows his parents every day that he loves us.

Doing better with handling silverware!

Tomorrow morning Nana arrives!! We are beyond excited and thankful for her presence here at this time! Michael has been talking about "Nana, airplane, Nana, airplane" for the last few days, and it is cute to see how much he anticipates her visit. :)



Lately.

Life here at the ITI is chugging along; nothing too exciting to report, so enjoy these pictures from the last few weeks.

 When the weather is quite chilly and Mama not feeling well, Michael is allowed to watch a bit of Bambi or an alphabet/number/color learning video.

He'll watch for about 10 minutes then will want to get back to the tangible life.

Sunday nap with Papa.

From the kitchen:

 Chili and cornbread - have to keep those good American dinners in our routine!

 Pears from the ITI orchard and one of the last butternut squashes from the garden...

...which went into the soup pot - I'm so thrilled to have found a good sturdy immersion blender for a decent price - it really is the little things that set my mind at rest these days. We were joking with another family here about how we came here in search of the simple life, and now all we do is lament the lack of things that we have. :) I will certainly appreciate more what we do have upon our return to the States - it is good to learn to live with less. But I simply DO need another pot/pan; the above soup pot is borrowed and I usually only work with a saucer and a large skillet.

 On the vigil of the feast of St. Therese (the patron saint of the ITI) the cardinal of Vienna, Cardinal Schonborn came to celebrate Mass and meet the new students. Our choir sang and I played the old wooden organ upstairs in the local parish church.

 Wow, I look 100% like my sister Mary when I'm playing, especially with the relaxed jaw.

 I'm thankful Michael listened and stayed off the organ pedals!

 Afterwards we had a meal together.

 

 

There was a student getting photographs of us all meeting the Cardinal - I will have to post those later. He is very kind, and sincerely asked us how we were settling in and how our children are doing.

 Rebecca, an amazing Canadian mom here at the ITI who has been very helpful with survival tips for me.

 Her second youngest, Kate, is a little older than Michael and they enjoy playing together - I just love her outfit.

Kate is very benevolent with Michael and let him feed her some food.

I tackled my first Austrian kinder flohmarkt (children's flea market) one Saturday morning with a few other moms. Andrew is usually the German speaker when our family is out, so this was a good chance for me to practice on my own. Austrians take very good care of their things so sometimes the prices are high and a little haggling is necessary. I was thankful to find 8 of the 10 things on my list: bouncy chair, snow suit for Michael, warm baby suit, hats, a baby carrier-wrap, long sleeve tops for Michael, a few toys, and this real sheepskin rug in perfect condition for 5 Euro, which I have wanted for baby use for some time now - definitely taking it back to the States. All for 40 Euros, and Babies r Us here was selling a snowsuit alone for that price. Good to know these markets come around occasionally.

 Michael has been enjoying a rocking motorbike leant to us by a family here.

 And his small collection of cars which he enjoys lining up.

The face of a tired, teething toddler - and yes, we finally have a molar through with 3 more on the way.

But plenty of goofy still in him.
 

Love to you all!



March for Life in Berlin.

Marsch fur das Leben - 2013 - Berlin

This past weekend we accompanied 12 other ITI students to Berlin, Germany for their 5th annual March for Life. There was also a march occurring in Slovakia the same weekend, but we decided on the Berlin march as it was mostly funded for the ITI students, and being a family we received an additional discount. :) We took 2 vans and Andrew was designated driver for one of them. Leaving Trumau Friday morning, we drove through Vienna and passed through the Czech Republic heading north. I wish we would have had a chance to stop in Prague; next time. With 2 children, a pregnant woman, and mostly female students, we made a few bathroom/stretching stops and arrived in Berlin around 6pm. The German Youth for Life Committee had us registered at a very nice youth hostel and our family received an individual room. Michael was visibly excited to be out of our apartment and off campus - he also enjoyed all the attention he received from the girls! He was remarkably good in the car; spent his time pointing out different methods of transportation (his current favorite thing to do in cities), reading his books with Mama, and taking his 2 naps. Upon reaching the hostel, he was super giggly and playful - happy to be out of the car, I bet!

Saturday morning, we headed out to see the Berlin Wall Memorial and exhibit before the march.

Here you can see "no man's land" between the 2 sectors of the wall.

We then headed down to the parliament plaza for the pre-march rally at 1pm.

We couldn't grasp the entire content of the various speeches, but much emphasis was made on the right to life for Down Syndrome babies, and we even saw a few in the crowd. One of our students translated bits and pieces for us.

We initially saw only a few protestors wandering around, but as their numbers increased, both SWAT and police teams formed a line between us. We soon saw the necessity for this, as the protestors would continually sneak into our group and throw confetti, yell and blow whistles so as to drown out the speakers. The police were quite good about escorting such intruders back to their side; some had to be taken quite forcibly. This was a common occurrence throughout the march as well.



About 4000 of us began to march around 2pm around the city streets heading towards an undisclosed location an account of the "anarchists" as I heard they called themselves. I spent the 2 hour walk alternating praying and shielding my son from glitter, condoms, and topless women at times. The anarchists were calling us pigs, saying our children are going to hell, and shouting "no God, no rule, no state...." Contorted faces and wild eyes infiltrating our ranks, blowing the whistles in our ears and even harassing the children. A sorrowful thing to see in Berlin, very city where the worst human rights atrocities in history began. I was thankful to stand up for the babies against yet another holocaust, and kept concentration camp survivor Corrie ten Boom's words in my heart - "There is no pit so deep, that His love is not deeper still." We were escorted by the police the whole way. This leant quite a heightened level of awareness, especially for us who have never encountered this type of protestation in the States. Despite the immense distractions, we were able to take in a bit of the architecture of the city as we walked.



We let Michael out of the stroller towards the end of the march when things quieted down and he wanted to help Papa carry the cross - these white crosses symbolized the many millions of innocent lives that are lost to abortion. It struck me, seeing Michael with that cross, that our children are the main ones who will have to bear the losses of these lives of their generation, and I pondered the ramifications, both spiritual and social, that the horror of abortion will cast upon their shoulders. So many prayers to be said...

Resting our tired backs/feet when the march ended! Michael conked out after the excitement and noise of the march died down.

One of Berlin's many museums set the backdrop for the closing ceremony of hymns, prayers, Gospel reading and final speech. Also a hearty round of thankful applause to the police teams.



 

The next day, Sunday, we drove towards home and stopped for high Mass in Dresden. Beautiful city and cathedral, with a superb boys'/men's choir. We didn't find Berlin to be very charming a city, because of its many modern buildings, so I was happy to take in the architecture of Dresden as a final stopping point on our trip.

After Mass we had an hour to wander around and grab a bite to eat. We then had a tour of the historical Luthern Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) which was destroyed in WW II and rebuilt using as much of the original building as possible.

 We settled in for the 4-5 hour drive home...but during a stop just outside of Prague, the van we were in did not restart and clearly had an electrical problem. Thankfully, we were stopped at a McDonald's, considering food and shelter, and we waited for a mechanic to come out from Austria and take a look. After an hour, he arrived and the guys successfully jumped the car. We piled back in, only to have the engine die again 5 minutes later with no immediate solution to its problem(s) at hand. So out we went again, the van was towed away, and we deliberated. Being a Sunday, selection was limited, and no cars with 6+ seats were available at nearby car rental agencies, so it was decided that the working van should continue home with the mothers, babies, and whoever else could fit, while the other half of the group wait for a ride from ITI staff.  Hence, Michael and I arrived home at 11pm, but poor Andrew who stayed with the other girls, did not get back until 4am. Quite an ordeal for him who had done lots of driving that weekend and was already tired. God always asks some sort of sacrifice along with the fun, doesn't He? All in all, it was a good trip; we were thankful to be able to continue our support of the pro-life cause despite the difficulties. and we all took a nice nap this afternoon.

“I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is 'Abortion', because it is a war against the child... A direct killing of the innocent child, 'Murder' by the mother herself... And if we can accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love... And we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts...”   ~ Mother Teresa