This Week in Pictures: First Christmas Tree Ever #nofilter #twip #ef

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Things we miss: Sunsets

Many people have asked us what we miss while we are in Austria. Of course the top answers are friends and family, but after that there is a small list of things that we just can’t get over there that we are enjoying the heck out of while we are in the U.S.

In the first “Things we miss” post , I talked about how concord grapes are one of the things I enjoy when we get back, but food items aren't the only things. Living in an urban environment I really miss seeing the sun sink down over the horizon. Don't get me wrong, we can get some pretty sunsets in Vienna too, but there is something about watching the sun go down in big sky country that I miss. I noticed this especially when I first moved to Russia. During Soviet times, Russia pushed itself to urbanize and that meant massive growth in the cities. Village life gave way to large socialist block apartments that dominated the skylines of most Russian cities. I remember when I lived in Krasnodar the first time that I took a flight out of the city. I had been there several months and had gotten up before the dawn to catch a flight. When I got to the gate I saw the sun burst over the horizon for the first time since I moved there. I immediately became homesick. There are many beautiful things that we enjoy in Vienna, but wile we are here, we are going to relish the natural light shows that we enjoy when the sun rises and set.

This Week in Pictures: Family Morning Walk #twip

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This Week in Pictures: Trying shaved ice at the Denton Community Market. #twip

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This Week in Pictures: Doughnuts with new friends #twip

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This Week in Pictures: Celebrating Matt's Dad's Baptism #twip

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A big trip

You may have heard that we are coming to America for the next six months starting this May, but you might still be wondering why. Well there are several reasons for this. First, due to the type of visa that we hold we are not allowed to stay in Austria for longer than five years at a time. In order to be eligible to stay for another five years we have to leave for six months. Not only does that mean that we've been here for almost five years already, it means that every five years we will have to do this, unless we can change the type of visa that we get. Now that the church is recognized this might be changing in the future, but for now we are trying to stick to the regulations.
Second, we are due for a home service or what is commonly referred to as furlough. We will be spending some time resting, but this will be no six month vacation! No our main purpose in a home service assignment is renew our ties with our sending church by spending time serving in ministry there as well as reconnect with our current supporters, which leads me to our final reason for coming home...
Support. We've never quite been fully funded during our time here, and that fact has really been felt over the last year. We are really hoping to get our numbers back where they need to be and it's going to take a good chunk of time to get that task accomplished. Also, considering that we may be doing more traveling during our next term it would be good to have a healthy ministry budget. So please pray for us that the Lord will supply all of our needs during this trip. We are trusting that He will.

Celebrate: Our Week in Pictures (2.23.14-3.01.14)

The celebrations started when Naomi dressed up at school for Fasching or Austrian Mardi Gras


Then our team celebrated after we helped to pull off a weekend conference called Leadership Akademie.

And finally Naomi celebrated her 3rd birthday!

Firsts: Our Week in Pictures (2.16.14-2.22.14)

This week was Evangeline's first big outing. Can't you tell she is excited?

We rode the U-bahn to get where we were going.

Big sister came along too.

This week was also Evie's first real bath.

Waiting for Evangeline

We wait no more! Evangeline Pearl Eck is here! While we were waiting, though I took pictures and documented them in a short video like the one that I did for Naomi. I hope you enjoy.

Waiting for Evangeline from Matt Eck on Vimeo.

Jim and Brenda’s Visa

On Tuesday afternoon December 31st our team gathered to help Jim and Brenda fill out their visa application and pray for their visa process...

Shortly after we finished praying we got a call that people were already lining up at the visa office a full 38 hours before the office opened much earlier than the last time we had to stand in line with our team mates.

So because of the type of visa we must apply for we all took turns standing in line for Jim and Brenda until it was time for them to turn in their paperwork on January 2nd!

Our Year In Pictures

The Church in Austria: Our week in pictures 6/16-6/22/13

Austria is a country with unquestioned religious heritage….

…however churches are empty and tens of thousands leave yearly…

…that’s why when last weekend we had 5 people publically profess their faith by being baptized in the Danube, it is such an encouragement to all!

Blogger Labels: Church,Austria,heritage,churches,faith,Danube,encouragement

May Visitors (Our MONTH in Pictures?!)

I was not as fastidious with my picture taking and posting last month! It was a busy month with lots of guests.

First we had Jim and Brenda Brosch come by on their way to Texas from Romania. We are hoping to have them join us for a stint sometime soon…

..then we had James Arnold drop by for a few hours on his way to teach in Belgrade…

…and finally no longer visitors we had Tim and Lori ford move over here last month. We are so glad to have them here!

Central Europe Flood: Viennese Danube

There has been some major flooding around central Europe this week. The Danube was out of it’s banks and causing major damage in towns across Germany and Austria. Fortunately for us Vienna has really good flood-protection measures in place. None the less we are watching it pretty closely and ready to go if we need to.
Here is a video I took yesterday showing the swollen river and where it is in relation to our home.

Danube Flooding 2013

Here is a before and after shot. Keep in mind that usually the water is about three feet below that grassy area.

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Here are some other pictures of the river near our neighborhood.

		Danube Flood 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Rain Rain Go Away: Pictures from May 5th- May 18th)

It’s been raining a lot for the last couple of weeks…

…which has given us a chance to try out Naomi’s new Regenmantel…

…and has caused everything to bloom.

Blogger Labels: Rain,Away,Pictures,Naomi,Regenmantel

Labor Day: Our Week in Pictures (April 28th- May 4th)

 

Russ and I were busy getting things ready for our new teammates- Here we are looking at an apartment for them…

…May 1st (Labor Day) is always the annual Calvary Church picnic…

…We snapped the photo on the right of Naomi at last years picnic-so hard to believe she’s grown so much in just a year!

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

Making Memories: Our Week in Pictures (April 14th-April 20th 2013)

Someone is trying to grow up too fast...

...mommy took a day off this weekend so daddy and Naomi had a day to themselves...

...and with Matt in better health He and Liz finally celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. 

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

Spring Celebrations: Our Week in Pictures (April 7th-April 13th 2013)

We finally got to enjoy some spring weather here so we went out for the first ice cream of the season...

...we also celebrated the fact the we received extensions on our Austrian visas... 

...we also celebrated five wonderful years of marriage!

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

Easter Monday: Our Week in Pictures (March 31-April 6th 2013)

We celebrated Easter last week which in Austria means colorful  Easter markets...

...there was a big celebration at church of course...

...and, like the Austrians, we took off the Monday after Easter (instead of  Good Friday) and took a quick trip to Salzburg with our friends. 

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).