An Affinity for Mystery

Zebra was my family’s pet bird for about a decade. He was a parakeet and we named him Zebra because of his shocking black streaks against a pure white background of feathers. The blue bump above his beak indicated his gender, but for the longest time we couldn’t figure out if it signified “female” or “male.” I don’t know if my parents were as confused about it as I was, but I remember being baffled for months. I’m still not completely satisfied that I know he was a boy.

In fact, there were a lot of things I didn’t understand about that bird:

Why does he always fly in three perfect circles around the living room? Why does he always, always land on our heads, when our shoulders are just as comfortable for perching? Why doesn’t he ever fly into the hallway?

Why can’t he learn that we don’t want bird poop in our hair?

I found myself asking those questions and others as I grew up with Zebra – especially in the early years. He was interesting and different. Eventually, however, he became a fixture in our home and I stopped noticing the mystery.

I was reminded of it just a few days ago when the friends who adopted Zebra when we left Austria called me into their office down the hall. They had some pictures of him that they wanted to share. They shared stories with me about their time with him, mostly funny, and reminded me of the intelligence and personality that he really had.

They also shared with me the story of the day Zebra died.

It was a week day and they were getting ready to go to work. Zebra had been sick for a while, coughing, and they knew that he wasn’t going to live much longer. So, when he refused to stay in the living room and kept flying into the bathroom with them, they knew something was up. Instead of taking him back into the living room the last time, the husband let Zebra land in his hand. Zebra settled in the palm of the man’s hand and looked up at him, into his eyes.

A second passed and nobody made a sound.

Gently, Zebra shuffled around to lie down. He kept his eyes on the man’s eyes. Then, he died.

Why did Zebra do that?

It was a few days ago that they shared that story with me and I’ve been asking that question since. I think I have an answer, but it simply opens up more questions, so I’ve been dancing around it . . . Zebra didn’t want to die alone. He wanted to be with somebody . . .

Like I said, this opens up more questions than I have time to think about, let alone answer. Yet, it also takes the lid off a piece of me that I put in a jar sometimes, that I let idle. It’s okay to be okay with mystery. This story of a bird dying in the palm of a man’s hand evokes mystery and that very feeling is good. This idea has been a source of comfort to me over the past few days: mystery is good.

I think about that truth when I think about finances. I rest in the mystery when I watch the minutes fly by as I try to prepare solid lessons.

Shh . . . it’s okay to not be in control. When direction seems enveloped in mystery and I just don’t know, then it’s the perfect time to be still. God gave us all an affinity for mystery in certain circumstances, perhaps to help us not be so scared of it. He recognizes that we enjoy mystery as long as there’s not too much risk involved. Like a good father, he recognizes that and wants to teach us trust. Faith. Mystery offers me the opportunity to depend on God and, really, I should look forward to that because, after all, that’s not much of a risk.

A Few Updates and the Downlow

Things are going great for us here in Vienna! It's hard to think of ways to update everyone, but we have a few things to share. We have been very busy with school, church, soccer (for Caleb), bible studies, and just everyday life. 

Today the Korean Ambassador came to visit our school! The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders welcomed him by singing Jesus Loves Me in Korean. 

(Thanks to T.S. for the picture!)

Britney really wants to learn German, but classes are quite expensive. One day she was working in the Elementary German room, and she decided to stay and listen. The teacher said she could come everyday, so Britney has been going to beginner German classes with 2nd and 3rd graders. It may seem silly to be in an elementary German class, but she really loves it. Right now she learns about 4 words a day. Within the next week or so she will start with sentences. 

Here are some words she has learned (all from memory, no cheating!) 

Messer - knife
Saft - juice
Salz - salt
Salbe - ointment 
Arm - arm 
Ameise - ant 
Sessel - chair
Sonne - sun
Sommer - summer
Ananas - pineapple
Engel - angel
Eltern - parents

All of the 2nd and 3rd graders love having Britney in their class. They always want to be her partner and yesterday a cute little 2nd grade boy told her "You are sooo smart!" 

Britney has also been working in the classrooms more. She has a set schedule everyday in which she goes to different classes to help teachers. Sometimes she works one on one with students to help them with math, writing, or another subject. It has been really great for her to work with the kids more. 

Here are some cute pictures from Britney's recess duty: 

Caleb is having a great time coaching JV soccer for high school. This Saturday they have a tournament in Budapest! He has also been asked to lead worship at our church this Sunday, which he would like prayer for. 

We are still waiting for our visas, so please pray that we will get them soon. 

Please continue to pray for financial support to come in. 

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Peace,
Caleb & Britney

Finding a Church

God's grace is truly amazing. It has been incredible for both of us to see God working in our lives. We see him in so many new ways. He is constantly showing us that he has us right where he wants us. 

It has been really important to us to find a church here in Vienna. In Greenville we found a church that we loved. We looked forward to worshipping there every week. The sense of community was so powerful. This made us have pretty high expectations for our Vienna church, but as always, God didn't disappoint. For the first month or so we were attending two churches every Sunday because we really loved both of them. However, we felt like in order to really get involved and become part of the community, we needed to pick one church (but we still plan on visiting the other church every now and then). 

Our new church is called New City Wien. It is a small church that was started by missionaries about 6 years ago. The service is in English and German, which is a pretty cool experience, especially for Britney. Caleb has been able to help lead worship there for the past few weeks, which has been a great blessing to him. We love the people at this church. Every week after the service we come together to share a meal, and it is wonderful. We are so thankful for this place that we can go to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

This past weekend our church went to an Apfelhof to pick apples and have a picnic. It was a great time getting to know our church community better, and the weather was beautiful! Below are some pictures of the day (we were babysitting for some friends that day so their daughter Kailyn is in a lot of the pictures). 

Thank you for your continued prayer and support. It does not go unrecognized! 

Peace, 
Caleb & Britney

Going on the hayride!

Picking potatoes to eat for lunch

Making fresh apple cider (so delicious!!)

Delicious apples!