An Italian Vacation

Hello Friends!

It's been a while. In between this post and our last, we have continued in ministry here, serving the students at ICSV and our local church. It's an ever-growing, character-changing blast! Of course, along with the adventures at school and church we always have our baby at the back of our minds.

Britney's diet now subsists of . . . 

• sour gummy worms
• pickles
• Culver's butterburgers*
• Arby's curly fries*
• Applebee's wings*
• fruit
• applesauce

*note that these delicacies are only fantasized about, not actually consumed. So sad.

Britney's current dislikes (as of 7:28 pm on the 25th) . . . 

• most kinds of cheese
• McDonald's (WHAAAAAAAATT?!??? Also, Burger King is a-okay)
• tomatoes
• sausages and most meats

As for Caleb, he still likes everything (except for his wife . . . not really :D )

Our next appointment with the doctor is on March 17th and we hope to hear a heartbeat! Please join us in prayer for the baby's health, as well as for our trust in the Lord. Sometimes, worries sneak up on us. Thank you for being great friends and for all your prayers already!

Another thing that has happened since we last posted is that we got to go on vacation to Florence, Italy! After some other plans fell through due to cost, we were SO blessed by some friends here who invited us to come along with them for an essentially free stay! The food was delicious, the art incredible, the sights fantastic, the laughs belly-busting.

It was a great time and we are so thankful for the opportunity to have gone - thankful for your support, for God's timing, and for our friends' invitation.

Check out the pictures below!! (we also went to Pisa, Italy and watched people mime-push the tower over).

NBD. JK.

I think it's safe to say this is the most exciting post we have written . . . 

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY! 

It has been an exciting, scary, unbelievable couple of weeks. We took a home pregnancy test on January 16th and, to our surprise, it was positive! So then we took another. Of course, that test was also positive. We were so shocked and incredibly thrilled. We found a doctor that speaks great English and had our first ultrasound. Our tiny baby was barely visible, and looked quite like a peanut. The little heartbeat was such an incredible thing to see (we haven't heard the heartbeat yet, but we expect that to be an equally amazing experience). It has been very hard to keep such wonderful news a secret. Now that we have had the time to share this with our families we are ecstatic to tell all of you! According to the doctor Britney is about 7 weeks pregnant, with an estimated due date of September 17, 2014. We hope you will join us in praying for this tiny life that is being formed. We are so thankful for this blessing and believe that it is all happening in God's timing. Along with the excitement come some fears. We know that miscarriages are quite common, and with Britney not being very far along this fear has creeped into our minds. But we keep reminding ourselves to trust in Jesus. We cannot dwell on the "what ifs." Instead we want to praise God for this life and thank Him continuously for giving us the honor of being parents. We know this baby is already loved so much, not only by us and our families, but by the creator of the universe. Thank you for being a part of this very new and exciting experience. Enjoy the fun photos we had a friend take for us! 

Peace, 
Caleb, Britney, & Baby 

Community

"Dear Friends,"

We often open our posts with that word. It is central to this blog; we aim to update regularly in order to share our lives with you. It is a word that is key to our very lives, as if there were something holy about the concept it conveys. Indeed, we feel that there is.

Friends.

Remembering the intimate, genuine communities that we experienced in Greenville and in our families back home, we sometimes find ourselves shying away from the word and the memories that come with it. Then, all of a sudden, we dive right in and spend an hour scouring Facebook history, laughing like maniacs (try it sometime).

And then we're in bed, and in the dark the people we love feel just that much more distant.

This has been the most difficult battle that we have faced in our move to Vienna. Struggling to "fit in" is hard enough; fighting to build lasting friendships, that fulfill a very real part of who God made us to be, is daunting. It's a little hard to write about because vulnerability is rough. The sandpaper of the spiritual world.

And now you're all like, well guys, sandpaper is a good thing, it brings about beauty from the scattered imperfections of a surface. And we're all like . . .

Yes.

Community is something humans long for because God made us in his image. First, we're built to grow in community with God; then, with each other. So, it's natural to miss friends when they are far away. It's also natural to search for community in any new place and we praise God daily for the people, the community, that he has brought us into. Our fellow teachers and church family are becoming dearer friends, day by day. They know exactly what we are experiencing - they've been through it all as well. That in itself is a great comfort because we can't pretend that we are alone in this.

We have our blossoming community here.

We also have our deep-rooted community in the States - and across the world as many of our close friends are serving overseas!

Thank you for being our friends. Please continue to pray for us, specifically that we would keep on finding and nurturing friendships here. We have great hopes for what God is doing in Vienna.

Peace,
Caleb & Britney

Fa La La La La

Thank you, friends, for your love and support these past few months and for all the gifts this Christmas! We meant to write this post on Christmas Day, but as things often go, we got too busy stuffing our bellies with delicious food.

Here it is, though, a simple thank-you for the gifts we were able to give and receive this Christmas.

Britney got a new scarf, some new tights, and a couple new dresses for Christmas. Caleb got a few books; among them were Phantases, The Iliad, and Brave New World. Along with those gifts, we received several Amazon gift cards that we were excited to put to good use.

On Christmas Day we were blessed to be invited over to our Pastor's home for an early dinner and we spent a great part of the day there, eating and laughing and celebrating the birth of Christ.

We felt extremely loved at Christmas - thank you for your gifts and prayers.

ps: we are starting some "Dossett Family Christmas Traditions." One of them is making peanut-butter balls (or Buckeyes as some may call them), which is something Caleb's mom does for his family!

Let's Take a Break

"And yet, term after term, the unbelievable happened. Fantastical and astronomical figures like 'this time in six weeks' shrank into practicable figures like 'this time next week,' and then 'this time tomorrow,' and the almost supernatural bliss of the Last Day punctually appeared."

Thursday was hardly educational. It was, after all, the Last Day that C.S. Lewis describes and throughout the school all the creatures were stirring, down to the very last mouse. Even we teachers could barely contain our excitement as we waited for that final bell.

Hopefully that doesn't come as a surprise to too many readers: yes, it's true that teachers enjoy Christmas break as well and we, the Dossetts, are not any different. We're crazy excited about getting the chance to sleep in and relax at home. We plan on watching movies and eating Christmas peanut butter balls. Also, we've got plans to check out every district in Vienna and find unique historical sites / cafes / etc. in each one. Even more exciting, one of Caleb's closest friends, Marjun, is in town and we are going to have the chance to hang out with him a lot! Christmas Eve is going to be romantic and peaceful - we're all praying for snow of course.

As you can see, we won't be bored over break and yet, we feel a little hesitant about jumping into these next few weeks without asking for prayer first. You see, it's amazing to reconnect with old friends - but nostalgia comes with that experience and with the nostalgia, the floodgates open and all sorts of emotions spill over. After all, it is Christmas . . .

We miss our parents and grandparents and brothers and best friends and cousins and aunts and uncles and Oakley (Caleb's family's puppy). That's undeniable and Tuesday is looming - who even knows what Wednesday morning will bring as far as emotions go.

And still . . . there's something nagging at the back of our minds. I think it's hope; it's confidence in the hope that God offers his children. 

Caleb & Marjun in Middle School

        

Caleb & Marjun now

Confidence that if a friendship in the Spirit can last as long as this one and be as fruitful despite the lengthy intermissions, then it will be the same with the others that we give to God. He's blessed us with this opportunity to serve and time will end up being of very little consequence. The Last Day always comes, no matter how distant it may seem at the beginning. In the meantime, the Present Days are indisputably vital - the Christian life is one of serving in the Now.

So, even though we would like prayer for Peace and Joy this Christmas, we would like to rejoice with you all in God's goodness and majesty. Look at all these kiddos. We've been serving them for only a little while and already it's been so fruitful.

2nd Grade

4th Grade

Caleb's ELL Class

5th Grade

3rd Grade

Primary

1st Grade

Look out for another post on Christmas day! We love you all and are so thankful for you.

Peace,
Caleb & Britney

How We Learn How We Yearn

Hello Friends!

We are sincerely sorry for this long break between posts! We don't even know . . .

Anyway, thanks for checking back in with us. Lots has happened in the two-ish weeks since we last posted and we'll try our best to cram it all in, right now.

First, check out a blog kept up regularly by our dear friends, Andie and Garrett Rea. They recently posted on what they've learned as twenty-somethings. Through that, they inspired us to share a couple things that we've learned since being here in Vienna:

• Receive humbly. Since becoming missionaries, we have been given so, so much by so many. It's been a huge learning and re-learning experience; like most people, we've got a sense of independency that borders on idolatry of self. Okay, it doesn't even border, it dwells there. Receiving so much love from others has been humbling and it's taught us that we should simply receive with joyful and grateful hearts. 
• Give lavishly. The second step is to give in response to how we've been given. Others have loved us entirely more than we could have expected. God has loved us more than we could ever deserve. Let us give.

So, that's what we've learned. Let us know what any of you have learned as twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, sixty-somethings . . .

Along with learning, we've also been laughing. Christmas is GORGEOUS HERE!! See evidence below.

We've been roaming the streets, staring at the lights, and collecting Christmas trinkets. We've attended a Before After-Christmas-Party Party and we've hosted our very own Christmas Party for the 10th grade class. This was such a blessing, to get to have the students over and show them love. It's exactly how we prayed God would use us. Please pray for more opportunities to serve the students in our home.

Besides learning and laughing, we've been listening. The Holy Spirit has been speaking to us and guiding us. He has prompted us to take part in a mission's trip to Romania this coming Spring. The school does this trip every year; over a dozen students, typically, go along with chaperones (us) to serve in Romania. We are really excited and planning is in the works! Also, Caleb has been asked to step in as the full-time worship leader at church for the next six months! The current leader and his family are heading back home to the States for that time and Caleb is going to be serving in that capacity until they get back. For both ministries we ask for tons of prayer! 

Finally, we also ask for prayer for joy and peace this Christmas. We're really excited to spend it together and lots of surprises are in store . . . but we still miss home and family. Please be praying for us this season. We are praying for you, dear friends, that you will also experience the joy that is God come down as one of us, to redeem us.

Hallelujah!

Caleb & Britney

It is Good and Right to Give Thanks

Greetings Friends!

We hope all of you are enjoying this beautiful holiday season! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving, as we are sure all of you are as well, and preparing ourselves for waaaay too much food. 

At the same time, we can't help but look ahead even further to Christmas! Part of that is because both of us have agreed that we start looking forward to every Christmas, every year in January, but another big reason is because Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in Austria, so all of the decorations throughout the city are for Christmas.

Not that we are complaining - they are stunning!

Still, before we get ahead of ourselves and start buying out the nearest grocery store of all its candy canes, we do want to take part in the greatest tradition of Thanksgiving: giving thanks. We are overwhelmed by all of the blessings God has showered us with recently. 

We are so thankful for this fantastic, warm, cozy apartment.

We are thankful for the Spirit's guidance in terms of which areas of ministry to get involved in. We are thankful for how he is using us to advance the kingdom.

We are thankful for Skype and the power it has to keep us connected to friends and family back home.

We are thankful for new friends at the school who encourage us.

We are thankful for Milka chocolate.

And, we are incredibly thankful for you, dear friends. We are thankful for those of you who are praying for us, for those who have sent us letters and cards. They are huge sources of encouragement. 

We are thankful to those of you who are supporting us financially - without you, we would not be here. God is using you mightily. In the past few months, we have been humbled so much and it's been a great feeling! Know that your gifts are carrying us in ministry here and they allow us to continue serving God through education; also, now as we begin serving in our home church here, New City Wien, we are only able to continue to serve in child-care and music through the gifts you give.

Again, thank you.

We hope that you all have a very happy Thanksgiving this week! 

Peace,
Caleb & Britney