Graz, Austria

After the school in Poland we went to the school in Graz, Austria. All I can say is WOW!!! It was absolutely beautiful. I'm sure Poland was pretty as well but we were not able to see Poland because school started early and then by the time we finished it was totally dark outside. In Europe it gets dark at 4:30pm. So in Austria was a great time of rest and thank you Abby for praying that for us because we really needed it. We were able to spend one whole day before the school started so we got to take hikes in the woods and just really look at the country side of Austria. This was the last session for the school and they were graduating. So this topic was spiritual warfare. What an amazing topic!! Both James and I learned so much. I know that especially over the last year we have been in a battle for our family. The enemy has stolen two of our children and we are on full battle with him. And WE WILL WIN!!!! So while we were there Gerlinda asked us if we wanted to go to the opera. I of course said yes and let me tell you James was so excited!! (wink wink) We went to the Magical Flute by Mozart. The opera house was so beautiful. I mean I have never seen anything like it before. I didn't take my camera because I wasn't sure if they would let us take pictures and of course they did. So you will just have to take my word for it. The Opera house is over two hundred years old!! So of course I did not pack any opera wearing clothes so I had to go shopping. So Gerhardt took me shopping. That was quite a funny experience! This man was taking me to stores and handing me black pants and telling me where the dressing rooms were. The only thing is they were the wrong size and I didn't like them. So as nicely as I could I would look at the pants and say there nice pants but let me look around. So he finally got the hint and let me look by myself. James was entertained just by watching this go on. So Gerhardt walked us around the city and was showing us all the history. It was amazing as well. Just the city was over two THOUSAND years old. So we had a great time with Gerhardt. He really blessed us in so many ways. He is a dear dear man of God!! So at the opera ( in was in German) during the intermission Dawn, Drew, James and I looked at each other and just started laughing because we had no idea what was going on. Drew fell asleep during the first part so we were talking about what we thought was going on and he said "I never saw that", that's because you were asleep!! We had a great once in a lifetime experience!! We met so many incredible people and left absolutely blessed. Marina was quite a special lady. James took one look at her and she reminded him of his great-grandmother. She was Austrian so that was really neat to see some of James' family heritage. She is the lady who runs the house. She is in charge of cleaning and cooking for all the guest so she has a very busy and big job and she did a awesome job for us. This part of the trip for James and me was purely building relationships and boy we made some lifelong friends!! Here some pictures of Austria enjoy!!

This is the house we stayed in and it's called BLAST Hill





This was a hill that was famous because it is the only place Napoleon did not conquer.


James and Gerhardt enjoying a hot drink