We want to take a minute to thank all of our friends on both sides of the water that have been so faithful in encouraging and supporting us throughout our overseas journey. We plan to continue using the blog but may not be able to update as often as we would like. When we get settled, I will upload photos from our last few weeks in Central Asia. We hope to be able to began our new stateside journey around the first of August. Stay tuned for scenes from our last few months and our return to the great state of Georgia.

There are still a few items remaining that we have not sold. If you are interested, please let us know by Sat. the 20th of June. Thanks!

the water heating pitcher is the only item that hasn't sold from this set

stand up floor lamp

small misc.basket(I used for holding salt and pepper)

spice rack and canisters

floor lamp/red shade -sold

photo frame and side table

round table

As you can see, (indicated by no current updates to our blog) it has been a little crazy since our Austria trip. We still live in the same region and we still have a lot going on but we are mostly posting photos on our FaceBook pages because it takes so long to post things on the blog and on FaceBook. So, if you never had a reason to "join up" in the FaceBook craze, now you do!
We only have a few months left before we make the trek back to the states and a lot in between now and then so we may get a chance to update....or we may not. Just know that we are continuing to ..."go about the Father's business" as we make pivotal decisions concerning the future path the Father has planned for our lives. We covet your prayers concerning our direction as our hearts are now in two opposite sides of the planet. Thanks for all of your encouragement and support through your earnest prayers to the Father.

Our first day of travels took place in Innsbruck. It was a bit of a haul, but nice to see the countryside. These are just a few of the photos we took during our "too short" visit. You will have to continue scrolling to the bottom of the page to see where we started. Unfortunately with blogger, it loads photos and posts information in reverse order from how it is entered. Just so you know- the evening I loaded these, I was too tired to make my brain try to think backward! (As I already have to do when speaking this language we are learning!)

The Christmas Markets at night

front alter of the St. James Basilica

the organ

the pulpit

The inside of St. James Basilica was amazing! These photos do not truly capture the incredible detail and beauty of this place. The current building has been restored because of prior damage from past wars. It dates back to 1720 but some information we read said that there was mention of a church in this location in manuscripts dating as far back as the 700's.

St. James Basilica-I think it is the oldest in Innsbruck

The city of Innsbruck has many places to explore! Sadly, we only had time to see a few basilicas and visit a couple of the famed Christmas Markets. Everything was so festive! We didn't leave until after dark so we got to see the city as the millions of lights came on that night.




There were a couple of these giant figures near the Christmas Market that were kind of funny (I think they are from folk tales) Of course, I declined getting my picture taken with them.

clocktower

at the top of the clock tower we could walk around. The views overlooking the city were awesome!

This gate is really old (date??) It served as both a wedding gift and a memorial for the royal family. One side is a wedding gift to the future King for he and his bride from the Queen Mother, the other side is her memorial to her deceased husband.

detail of the King's profile

detail of the King's crown




the future Princess' crown

This was in the first Basilica we visited. (I didn't get the name) The figures are in a niche to the right of the main alter. It is really beautiful but I think it is also in honor of a deceased archbishop who is" buried" in the alter beneath the figures.

Christmas night they lit the REAL candles on the REAL fir tree! Something I had always wondered how they did" back in the day". Many families here still prefer to do it this way.

Beautiful!

Loved our place....

And the view from our room!

These are some shots from where we spent Christmas 08. Our little hotel was great and the service (and breakfast) was unbeatable! The last day of our trip we went up the mountain we saw every morning from our balcony. It was amazing!

Post Holiday greetings from the Waters! As you can see, we have been blog entry deficient since our trip in October. I hope to be able to load photos from our activities since that time to the present (we have taken about 500-maybe more), however, it takes a considerable amount of time to do this. Please be patient and remember that loading the blog is an "extra curricular" activity. During the last few months, our free time has been rather limited to connecting with each other and with friends. Keep checking back-it will happen, eventually! We hope you have a very blessed and joyous holiday season as we anticipate new opportunities and a New Year!

WELCOME BACK! I am happy to say that we are once again able to display items on our blog. You may or may not know that last week it was blocked by those who have all our best interest in mind. I suppose that what you don't see on blogger can't effect your mind or decisions you make in the future. So, for now we are back (although, I admit that the thought of having one less thing to keep up with was a little freeing). If "they" determine that the open fields of blogger are too risky-then we will be unable to access it again. Sigh....so enjoy it while you can, this free flowing access may not last long!
The following posts are from our most recent trip with friends to Cappadocia. If I ever have the opportunity to go back there I will go in a heart beat! If you ever get the opportunity to go-don't hesitate! It is one of those places on the planet that escapes description. Our photos are sadly lacking in the incredible beauty of this region. We gladly share them with you and we hope you enjoy them as much as we did experiencing this trip.

First rest stop on the road! What a long night that was.

We arrived in Cappadocia at the exact moment the sun broke over the valleys. Words and photos can not describe how amazing it was! The "driving all night thing" was tough but SOOO worth it to arrive at that particular moment. Just think, if we hadn't made the right amount of stops along the way, we would have missed it altogether!!!!!

Balloons at sunrise. You have to get up pretty early to catch shots of these filling the sky. Fourtunately, we already were....sort of.

Another view of our hotel

The hotel had some original cave rooms that were once lived in by ancient inhabitants. Ours was not in one of the "cone" formations. But they were really neat.

Yeah for lunch! This was after having been awake for about 27 hours! Yikes!

Our cozy cave room-it really was a great place

The bathroom

in front of the "nunnery"

This is one of the larger cave churches. You had to pay an extra 8ytl to enter after we had already paid the 15. entry fee. Oh well, maybe next trip...

This painting was one of MANY inside one of the cave churches.
As you can see, thousands of years (and desecration)have taken a toll on the images.

This is a cave "nunnery". 7 floors where the nuns lived, and studied theology and worshiped. Unfortunately, it was closed because of interior structural safety hazards.

more cave homes

An Empty tomb! The stone "door" was much like the one I imagined covered Christ's tomb in the garden.

The only current inhabitants of these caves.

The wonders of this His hands are unending!

Awww...Posed, but a touching moment, none the less...

More cave dwellings..we got to climb up in some of them. It was REALLY cool!

Crazy guys commandeering the local's only mode of transportation!

We toured an underground cave that they believe to have been used by the early Christians fleeing invading armies. These tunnels and living spaces were a huge network of passages and deep containment spaces. There were several levels that you could go from one to the other but there were also holes cut out for communication and for transporting objects from one level to the next. It was really amazing how each tunnel was connected from living to cooking to storage and worship spaces. They even developed a plan to battle against oncoming invasions from behind the massive boulders that they used to close off passageways.
Steve got stuck in this hole-not really, but it was really funny.

This was the
best place for this motley crew!

I can't remember how many meters this "well" was but it served as venilation to the surface air also. One of the guides dropped a coin down in it and we never heard it hit the bottom.

Ancient Cave dwellers???