Kidd's Ring

To end our the photo challenge month, a self portrait picture was to be taken.  I know this is super late...I got a bit busy with life and then didn't really want to take a self potrait...sometimes I feel funny taking those alone.  But today I've finally decided I've got a few minutes and while I'm at my computer, I'll just snap a quick picture with the webcam (cheating...perhaps a bit!) oh well ...  This has been a fun month.  I've enjoyed finding things to be thankful for and sharing my life with you.  It is a bit of relief though not to have to worry if I brought my camera though! :) Well, now it's off to our church Christmas party! Happy 2nd Advent everybody!

Light I love all the lights at Christmas time {well, minus the honky-tonk lights - as my family calls them}. I love candles, especially the ones on the Advent wreath.  I love white lights on a Christmas tree. I love all our little candle decorations that we have for Christmas. The atmosphere with all those lights is just ... magical!  {You should see the lights from downtown at this time of year - here's a sneak peak. }

So nighttime pictures are hard to take... especially when it's super cold out.  I tried to take one out of our bedroom window and they are all like this: But I still think it's kinda cool.  I love all the lights we can see from the train and subway bridge.  Sometimes there's fun lights from ships floating down the river, too.  We have such a beautiful view (at least from one the side of our apartment!) :).   I am so thankful for our wonderful little home!

Part of my daily routine is waiting for public transportation.  I am thankful for the monitors that show how long I will have to wait {usually they are right}.    I am also thankful for the frequency of the public transportation here.

Living in Vienna helps you really appreciate public transportation.  I'm so thankful for the great system they have set up here.  One of the greatest things is how easy it is to figure out! 

- Artwork -   A while back, we finally figured out something we would like to put on one of our empty walls.  Yesterday, it finally came!  I was hoping it would be here before our Thanksgiving dinner guests came and it just barely made it.  Felix was actually still working on it when the first guests trickled in.   I really like it ... the white and green are such a great combo. 

There is so much to be thankful for.  But today I'm especially thankful for the Thanksgiving Dinner with Rings and Kidds.  I'm very grateful for my parents being able to come visit.  I'm grateful for my mom's kitchen help and my dad's dish washing skills! :)  I'm grateful for a wonderful husband and a new family to share an American Thanksgiving with!  I am so very blessed... today was the first time that we had 11 people around our table! so fun!!

This is such a great thing to have in my closet.  It holds scarves quite nicely and helps give a nice overview of what you have and what might fit best with today's outfit.  Gotta love Ikea!

Last night we got on some of our best clothes to go to a fancy gala dinner that our school put on to celebrate its 25th anniversary.  We don't get to dress up like this very often, so it was kinda fun, but quite chilly ...  

Where we sleep will change tomorrow night, because my parents are coming to visit us!!  We are giving them our cozy bed and taking the air mattress in our spare room.  It's funny that we will sleep in a room we've never slept in, but many guests have.   I am so excited about my parents visits and I've enjoyed getting things ready for the visit and preparing the place where they will sleep! :) The amazing thing about this place to sleep is that it blows up electronically and it takes less than 3 minutes!  It's incredible!!  The only pain is folding it up and finding a place to store the huge monster...

These are pretty season! :) This year I've come to really love the Fall.  I've enjoyed all the pumpkin things and I'm a little bit sad that it's almost gone.  But I'm thankful for the fall, the beautiful colors and flavors God has given us.

Best Friends God has blessed me with so many wonderful friendships: from my days in German schools to college (both Word of Life and Liberty), from student teaching to teaching in Portugal and now Vienna.  I cherish and love my friendship with my husband and he's one of my best friends, but there is another friendship that I want to dedicate today's blog to. God has blessed me with two big sisters and a special connection between all three of us.  I am so thankful for the friendship I share with my sisters.  I am so blessed to have my sisters be my best friends.  We have experienced so many wonderful and sometimes tough things together.  They are always there for me, no matter what I may need - advice, a laugh, tips, recipes, hugs, encouragement or someone to laugh at me. :) I cherish every time we can be together.  I wish it could be more, but that ocean between us makes visits trickier (and expensive).  I cannot wait until I get to see them ...

This week has had lots of fog.  Today was the first day where there was something new - no fog, just overcast skies.  Then later on during the day, the sun actually came out and greeted us!  Sadly, I couldn't get a picture or actually get out in it, but was still nonetheless! So here's my something new that I saw on the way to work from the train window:

Memories.  How do you take a picture of Memories? I have so many wonderful ones. Family vacations in wonderful places, with an amazing trip planner Dad. My little brother being born. Grandparents coming to visit us in Germany. Our rabbits. Laughs and late night talks with sisters. The Kidd family hamburger nights. Christmas markets. Graduating from high school and college. Watching my siblings become parents.  Conversations with family that have helped shaped my life to where I am now. Loving on my sweet nieces. Visiting and living in many countries. Working in a Christian school. Building deep friendships. Meeting my amazing husband. Getting married! I have so many wonderful memories!  This list could go on and on.    When I left the States to student teach in South Korea, my sweet sisters got together and gave me a wonderful gift.  They gave me a photo album filled with tons of memories from our live...

....Animals... I don't really see them much during the day.  I do see dogs being taken on walks and ravens on occasion, but sadly that's it!  Usually, there's one particular dog that one class sees with me almost every day.  We've even named the dog.  However, we haven't seen the dog all week....so these animals will have to do:   Today I even saw a bunch of birds flying by as I walked away from school, but I wasn't able to get a picture of them.  It reminded of me this post .

Deciding what to take a picture of today was super easy.  There is one piece of technology that I am very thankful for. I am so thankful for computers (esp. laptops) and internet.  It makes the distance between family and friends seem so much less. Although it's cruel when you skype and can't touch the people (especially my nieces) on the other end! But I am so thankful that I can use the internet to keep up with my loved ones far away. Plus I really enjoy blogging. Not to mention my love for pinterest and facebook!

Movement....an easy one when you are working with kids.  Here is a moving shot of my Primary (Kindergarten) class.  There is always LOTS of moving in that class.  They were really excited that they got to move a bit more than normal for the picture! :)

Written words. What better to take a picture of than our canvas guestbook that we had at our wedding. Filled with lovely wishes and thoughts. Lots of colors. Much joy. Cute little pictures. All to remember our wonderful wedding day.

I love this right hand.  I love how this hand: ...is so helpful around our apartment... ...rubs my back... ...holds my hand... ...carries my heavy suitcases... ...goes grocery shopping... ...washes dishes... ...flippes pancakes... ...tuckes me with a blanket when I'm cold... I love this hand and his partner left hand!!

I kept wondering what I could take a picture of that is old and I just couldn't come up with anything.  I didn't have time to hunt down something downtown ... I thought about things in our apartment and couldn't come up with anything old.  But then tonight I had the most fabulous idea!! :)    When I thought of old, I thought of my beloved Grandaddy who lived to be 95 years old.  He was such a special man.  Us, grandkids, had so much fun with him!  He got a pool basically just for the grandkids (and we couldn't use it that often, because we didn't go to the States but every few years).  He played croquet with us whenever we came.  Often he preferred goofing off with us instead of taking part of the adult conversations!  I miss hearing his laugh and his wonderful stories.  I miss hearing his little sayings, like "Oh boy!" and his little observant comments that he always had...he would surprise us with his remarks even in the fina...