Friday...

Friday morning (after our breakfast spread) we, along with many other stranded travelers got in line at the ticket office at the West Bonhough train station. We managed to get four train tickets from Vienna to Paris. It would be 14 hours long, but who's counting when you get the view the Austrian/Swiss Alps by train?

Music from the Sound of Music ran through my head for a good part of the ride.
We slept, we looked out the windows, we laughed, we got to know Soo Jeung, we ran through train stations to catch connecting trains.

it was a full day of glorious vistas, adventurous unknowns, and stress and by the time we reached Paris at midnight we were exhausted. You can imagine our hearts dropping heavily as we were told that there were slim chances of finding a room in Paris as the city had been inundated with travelers. Apparently we were not the only ones with the clever plan to go to Paris and take the Euro-star home. The expected delay in getting out of Paris was a 3 day delay.
Grouchy? yes I was grouchy and a little complainy - not a very nice picture of myself as my heart was squeezed and what was truly inside me began to spill over. I think it must be good to be squeezed - it helps me to see where I really am.

Steve seeing the overwhelmed looks on our faces said we would find a place to stay and he would cover the cost for the night. And God was so good to provide for us a very comfortable hotel to rest our weary heads. We slept hoping that perhaps travel news would be more encouraging after a good nights rest and with the light of the morning.

Nathaniel said to me, "see honey, God gave us a night in Paris together before we move back to the States. Just what you wanted"
True, but not exactly the way I had imagined doing Paris with my love... he was right though, this was an unexpected treat to be in Paris together.

when the unexpected happens

A week ago this morning, we were dealing with the unexpected...all air travel had come to a halt and the best the airlines could promise us was a re-booked flight 5 days later, what were we going to do?
Well last Friday morning you could just about feel the panic and the doom in the hearts of the crowd sitting in the West bonhough train station in Vienna. We were all there you see, in a desperate attempt to purchase a train ticket out. Funny how a holiday can so suddenly go sour when faced with unknowns and no end of unknowns in site... how much will this cost? how long will this take? what if we get stuck? what about responsibilities waiting for me at home?
Well certainly this was an opportunity to trust God and a unique opportunity to be the light of Christ - though to be honest my heart wanted very much to be grouchy, and look out only for myself. (just get me home to my own bed and Clean Cloths!)

Thank goodness God does not leave us to our own devises. As my heart filled with worst case scenarios I was reminded of Matthew 6:25-34
'...do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on, Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?...But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness...'
Don't be distracted Abi! God has a plan and a job for you to do even in this!

This is how it went one day at a time:

On Thursday night we met Soo Jeung, a Korean student living in England for the year who was to be on our flight back to London. She was all alone - so we asked her if she wanted to join us as we tried to get back home. She said yes!

After much deliberating we went to a hotel subsidized by the airline, thankful for a place at least to sleep. Some how we got much more! A bathroom the bigger then my kitchen (which I guess is not saying much considering the size - but still it was a nice treat), and when we got up at 5am we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast which I very much wished I had had the appetite to sample more of then I could - who ever heard of fresh squeezed Kiwi juice? If only it had not been so early I definitely would have given that one one a try. Instead I enjoyed a nice coffee and croissant - delicious and not too heavy, just right.

While in Vienna...

and it rained, and rained, and rained. I thought maybe winter had returned. I wore just about every article of clothing I brought - which was not very much - trying not to risk my fashion sensibilities too much which meant that I went a tiny bit cold on one or two occasions. Nathaniel had a good laugh at me over this.

(I would have wanted to sit on these seats if they had not been dripping wet)

The weather certainly did not stop us from exploring that beautiful expensive city though ...

(enjoying one of the free things Vienna has to offer...
a statute of Mozart in the wet park)

thank goodness we remembered our umbrellas!

Sugared Pecans

Just in case you would like to try this "Easy, Fool-Proof" sugared pecan recipe:

1lb pecans (about 4 cups)

Mix together in a bowl:

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup sugar

beat together:

1 egg white

1 Tbs water

add egg white mixture to sugar mixture then stir in pecans to coat.
spread pecans on a baking sheet

bake at 200 for 45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes

Enjoy!

Not too long ago I was cleaning out one of our drawers in search of an important piece of paper. As it often goes with me, I got distracted by a pile of envelopes and their content. Most of them needed to go into the bin, but there were a few keepers - one of which was a pretty little card from my mom.

Funny enough, this card was written back in the spring of 2008 and somehow it made the cut to move to London with us (I am sometimes surprised at the little bits that I decided to pack into our precious suitcase space back in the summer of 2008 when we headed to London). Well I am glad it did make the cut because tucked inside was a small piece of card which contained the recipe for sugared pecans - Delightful!
Now I love, just love sugared pecans...and we have a special bond, sugared pecans and I do...here is a bit of our history. It was the month of my wedding, over the past few weeks Mom and I had been compiling welcome boxes for our out of town guest. Fun little things like, a lovely hand knit wash cloth and a recipe card with our wedding soup written out. Also to go in the boxes were small containers of homemade sugar pecans (pecans from our own back yard none the less!).
I took on the sugared pecans. For a week, any spare moment I had was spent shelling pecans - my fingers and nails being the worse for the wear! It was worth it though and finally I had enough shelled to being the 'sugaring process'. I followed the recipe to the T - but somehow I burnt the sugar and instead of yummy sugar coated pecans, I had hard burnt only worthy of the bin pecans. What a shame! I had to start the whole process again, now my fingers were really feeling raw from shelling pecans.
A long story short, I proceeded to burn a whole other batch of pecans at which point mom (ever so kind) took over. She found a new recipe that came out so wonderfully, we were in the end able to tuck little packs of sugared pecans into the welcome boxes.
Looking over the recipe card I found - I laughed when at the little note mom put at the bottom of the card 'This recipe is easy and fool-proof' she wrote. I imagine mom was remembering the struggle I had making them before and was reassuring me I make do these despite past failure!

I made my first batch of sugared pecans last week and have been munching on them ever since... just a few with my coffee I tell myself.

a little poem I found...

DEAR March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat—
You must have walked—	5
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,	10
I have so much to tell!
I got your letter, and the bird’s;
The maples never knew
That you were coming,—I declare,
How red their faces grew!	15
But, March, forgive me—
And all those hills
You left for me to hue;
There was no purple suitable,
You took it all with you.	20
Who knocks? That April!
Lock the door!
I will not be pursued!
He stayed away a year, to call
When I am occupied.	25
But trifles look so trivial
As soon as you have come,
That blame is just as dear as praise
And praise as mere as blame. Emily Dickinson

I found culture shock came slowly when I moved to London. It took a good six months for it to really sink in that I truly was the foreigner. Mostly I found it was in the nuance of the vocabulary where I most felt like the outsider.

Just for fun, I have been putting together a list of words and phrases I have encountered since arriving in London. I thought you might enjoy a few.

to faff (v./adj.): a waste of time, to dither about.
'Sorry we are late, Abi kept faffing about with her makeup.'
or
'I would rather not fill out those forms, it is such a faff.'

To take the micky: to make a joke at someones expense or to make fun of someone

Elevenses (n.): a late morning snack just to tied you over till lunch, usually to go with a cup of tea.

Queue (v./n.): a line you have to waitn
someone may ask you, 'Is this the queue for the toilet?'
or
'People have been queuing for ages and ages to get a look at the Van Gogh gallery'

Moreish (adj.): when one helping will simply not be enough, usually given as an excuse to take a second (or third) helping when a person knows he probably shouldn't.
person standing next to a plate of yummy chocolaty cake might say:
'I really would like a piece but it looks so moreish that I won't be able to stop once I taste it.'

I caught on quickly that if you through words in like,
Brilliant! or Fab! to describe anything I was excited about,
by putting 'a' in front of coffee or tea (ex: a coffee),
& by complaining about the weather
(which really I don't because, well that is not cultivating a thankful heart, and on the whole I really do love rainy drippy days!)
I would not stick out like a sore thumb any more than I had to.