the best game ever

Last night we dissolved into giggles while playing Activity.
A walrus became the tooth fairy, rabbit fur changed into donkey ears and Drew did the best impression of a train I have ever seen. Haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Salzburg it's great to be back.

We'll hit the snow tomorrow if we can find it :) Can't wait to see the lovely Sophie who's coming all the way from across the border to spend the day with us.

holiday mode

How was your Christmas week? Mine consisted of lots of family time, playing games, singing carols, watching silly movies, laughing until we cried, etc It was great.

The best part about being in Austria for a couple weeks is having enough time to catch up with lots of people I haven't seen for ages.
Yesterday I met up with my old friend Burn. We went for a walk and saw the remains of an old castle, before sitting down in a cafe to warm up and have a giant cup of tea. Love days like that, nobody is stressed out and people have time to sit and chat.
I reckon we don't do this enough. There are too many things that keep us on our toes, meetings to rush to, a career that makes life too fast, ...

In other news, My Glorious got to play in Bethlehem over Christmas and that made the news. Read everything here.

Merry Christmas

Thank you Jesus for being born and giving us a day to celebrate your life once more. Couldn't imagine my life without you.

Hope that everyone has an amazing Christmas and you get to celebrate with all your loved ones.

image taken from a Marc Jacobs holiday email :)

walking in a winter wonderland

My mum and I went for a walk Sunday afternoon... look how pretty it was. The sun was setting and the sky had come kind of peachy glow. It was beautiful.

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree

Joachim and I ventured out to get our tree today. As Ulrich was busy otherwise - or boring - the two of us went to my old school as they'd set up heaps of trees there.

Couldn't get myself to get into the school as I forgot so many names that it'd be horrible. "Nice to see you again, teacher who taught me for 4 years and whose name I forgot. Sorry, but lovely seeing you!" Maybe next time. I've always loved that school, 5 years of fun and fashion :)

Anyway here are our adventures in pictures

As you can see, all the snow has gone boohooo. So sad but very optimistic that there is lots more to come. Thanks for coming out to play Joachim.

dear snow

Thank you for being here when I arrived home, literally the icing on my cake

Thank you for putting a magic blanket on this place and covering up all grey bits we put around her over the years

Thank you for being all sparkly and pretty

Thank you for being very cold and making our cheeks red while playing outside

Thank you for making driving more fun

Thank you for reflecting the moonlight so beautifully during the night

I really hope you came to stay for the next couple weeks, I like you very much and would miss you if you leave!

lovely winter

Did I already mention that I'm excited about the snow :)

My brother and I went to an Advent concert last night to hear our friends sing. Paul and Gregor from my glorious were there as well, accompanying all their students. Was nice to see them and since they're off to Bethlehem it was a hello, merry christmas, good bye!
Nicest thing ever, my best friend's boyfriend came all the way from Linz just to hear her sing before he had to get up early the next morning and catch a train back and go to work. It was the cutest thing and it was so nice to hang out with them after.

Got to catch up with Ruth and Johanna today. A couple years ago the three of us went up to England and spent a week at Soul Survivor, which was amazing. Don't think we've met up just the three of us ever since so it was a special day :) Love those lovely girs!

snow snow snow

There is something about sitting in your cozy warm house and listening to the snow plough outside. Love it!
After a fun flight - we almost crashed into the plane ahead of us when landing, so we had to pull straight up and fly another loop!!!!!!!!! - I got to Austria and it was snowing. The poor Asian couple next to me got a fright when I saw the ground and started yelling "snoooooooooow". I'm a winter girl so naturally I do get very excited about it haha.
Can't wait to see all my friends and family over here. I'm glad to be home and so happy that for once I wont have to rush everything as there will be enough time.

good bye for now

Once again I packed my bags and am about to head to the airport. I feel like I only just got here and saying good bye to friends and family is not nice. It'll be almost 2 months before I'm back again.
London I will miss you!!!
On another note... Somebody needs to remind me, what the heck I was thinking when I booked a 6am flight!!! Being in London comes with all kinds of benefits, but if you need transportation to the airport it is a pain in the butt!! At least at that time of night.
It's not like I haven't had my fair share of staying at the airport due to missed connecting flights. Experiences range from getting really ill - thank you air condition for distributing germs - to phone calls from drunk friends nearby (who decided to check their phones at 1am after you've been calling for hours if you can have a little floor space somewhere that's not the airport) to finally falling asleep, in an embryo like position due to all those nice armrests they've put up in-between chairs, only to be woken up by construction work that starts around midnight. Happy days.
Tonight is special, I am going to stay at the airport on purpose so I don't have to pay a million pounds on a taxi at four in the morning. Yippie Yay. I'm equipped with books and my trusty ipod and will hopefully not fall asleep and miss my flight :) Jesus help me!

cold days

Our boiler broke on Thursday which wouldn't be a problem if it was summer and people came and fixed it. Oh no it is early winter and wonderful 5 degrees in grey London. 
To be fair, someone actually came to fix it on Friday only to realize that they had to order in the part that was broken.
It's true that you only miss things when they are gone. No heating or hot water has left us a bit frozen over the last couple days. Nights are not the problem, but spend a day or just an evening inside a cold house. Not even mentioning not having showered in days. (Thank God for baby wipes!!)


Please Mr Plumber come quickly!!! You'll even get a cup cake!
Until than I'm left sitting like Willy Wonka's grandparents - as my mum said earlier :) 

one more thing

My favourite photographer of all times is Sam Taylor-Wood. 
I love her work, especially her series "Crying Men", it makes me tear up every time and beautiful is all I can say. She's also done self portraits of her being suspended in the middle of a room, but you can't see strings so it looks like she is floating or falling. Amazing!
Her movie about John Lennon's teenage years will be released this month and I cannot wait to see it. Check out Nowhere Boy.

Christmas special

We had our Christmas special at church today and it was legen... wait for it ...dary!!
Once again I was blown away by the people and talent that comes together, for a local church to put that kind of production on is pretty massive! Truly West End worthy! Loved it and am so proud of everyone who was involved! You guys did an amazing job!! 
You know as fun and great all of this is, more important than any of that was that people got a chance to make their peace with God and meet Jesus today. 
Every time we have an altar call I remember what someone once told us in staff meeting "Today I'm sitting in salvations row" and that has been my prayer for the last couple months during each service. 
It's an honour and privilege to be part of this crazy amazing God journey and I do not ever want to take it lightly.

As Tall As Lions

Lydia and I hit the barfly in Camden tonight to see above mentioned band. It was the second time I got to see them and flip they're phenomenal!! 

The venue was packed and it had about 100 degrees in there, sweat was dripping off our faces. Found myself in a sea of plaid shirts - what is it about boys in their 20s and plaid shirts??? Is it just winter or something else. Anyway, fun times!

Realised that this will be the cheapest I'll ever hear them play live, as they will do great things for sure!

Thanks to the guys in front of us, who knew every word to all the songs, danced hard, failed at crowd surfing and made us laugh so much. 

Thank you London for bringing all these different kinds of people together, one of the reasons I like you!

life in storage

Ever since I left Vienna in 2005, I haven't had a steady home for more than a couple months at a time. Although I love the travelling, adventure life I seem to have, sometimes I wish I'd have a permanent home base. A place to return to, unpack your stuff and repack to head out once again. A place where there will be no more boxes! Amen.


As my stuff is spread out around Austria and England(thank you Jesus for friends with attics and garages!), I took a trip up to see my friends in Northamptonshire and get some boxes. Opening the box with all my winter stuff felt like Christmas. Cardigans, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. I had the best time :)
It was the best excuse to see my friend Hannah again. We shared a house together in Sydney and went through all the ups and downs of studying at bible college together. She is a legend and does an amazing job as a youth worker in her town. The difficulties that get thrown at her and how she masters life anyway is inspiring. It was so good to catch up over a cup of tea and wish we had more time together.

hanging with the Zekestar

Spending the day with my favourite little boy

big cities and bread

As I went on my little shopping spree to get ingredients for dinner tonight, I once again realized why I love this city so much. Even though it is a massive city - all Austrians could live here and we'd still have room for another 4 million people -  you still feel like you're in a village or rather lots of little villages.
Rather than having a massive super market, there are still your bakery, butcher, fruit and veg shop, post office, bank, chemist, etc. It's lovely when you pop into a shop and number one they're not rushing and number two it's personal.
My favourite place right now is this little french bakery around the corner. I love listening to them talk and so wish I would remember more than "Je voudrais un croissant". Five years of french down the drain! Anyway, they have sourdough bread and let me tell you, it is divine. 
Seriously is there anything better than bread? The person who made that up was a genius or very lucky. No matter what it was, from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much!!!

sundays should be fun days

Woke up to the wonderful sound of rain hitting the overhead windows this morning and just the thought of getting out of bed was terrifying. Let alone walking down the road to catch the tube into the city. Did it anyway and it was well worth it.


The moment I stepped foot into church it felt like being back home. I love the house of God - better is one day in Your courts, right. Biju Thampy from Vision Rescue was speaking this morning. He and his team do an incredible work among street children in Mumbai. It's one thing to oversee a ministry like that, but to hear him tell individual stories of how lives have been transformed because Jesus stepped in and brought hope, healing and restoration, is just amazing. He said something really profound today that still keeps ringing in my head,

"Partnership extends your hands."

I remember someone else say something similar once, why start something fresh when you can get behind someone else's work and partner with them? It is a privilege to be involved in their work and see what is happening all the way over in India.


Rest of the day was spent

lunching with Lydia and Maria

a trip to the British Museum - had an hour to fill before church so we did a 45 min eyeOpener gallery tour. Instead of getting overwhelmed with everything you could see, we spent 45 minutes in one room and learnt about the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial :)

back to church to hear Sanga bringing down the house. He used to be our high school age youth pastor in Sydney and does a great job with Youth Alive NSW and travels with United. If you want to listen to his message click here, it should be up tomorrow.

lastly a little detour to Winter Wonderland, a pseudo Christmas market in Hyde Park. So much fun to stroll around and people watch.

God, good friends, fun - what more could you possibly want... By the way, from the moment I stepped outside, it hasn't rained once for the rest of the day!!

no pain no gain

Jamie Cullum once sang:

You know the sunlight always shines, 
Behind the clouds of London Skies.

That was my mantra yesterday as it was pouring down and would you know it, today we had clear blue skies. With very very low flying planes, rules must have changed in the last couple weeks. Weird!

Despite the rain, I went for a run yesterday. 

Now let me explain, I don't do running I'm a walker and it's the biggest deal for me! Still think it's the most boring thing and somebody needs to explain the whole "endorphins get released when you exercise" deal again -  so not happening!!!

For now I'm blaming my wonderful new runners and early new years resolutions. At the end of the day it'll be good in the long run and help me when I'm 70, ha take that brother who make fun of me.

Today I'm sore all over as I haven't been running since school days and I pray to God that it will stop hurting the more I do it.

Here some photos of our tree decorating shenanigans. Poor Zeke didn't know that you can't lean on the tree so he fell head first. It got caught on camera and is therefore kinda funny :)

Loving Kings & Queens  the new 30 seconds to Mars song at the moment, can't get enough of that and the new Vampire Weekend song. Too funny.

rain, rain, rain - welcome to the UK

After 2 flights, a trip on the tube and a taxi ride I am finally back with my favourite London family.

Sometimes I love travelling alone as you get to chat to all these people. This time I became the friend of the elderly on my 5 hours layover in Toronto. They all had wheelchair assistance, so I met a couple from India on their way to Goa, which I apparently would love and have to go to :) They've lived everywhere(Asia, Africa, Europe and now America) and it was fascinating to listen to their stories. Also got to chat to a tiny old lady - seriously I could have put her in my pocket - even though she's old and needs help getting around, she still loves travelling and we bonded over not liking how wet England is in the winter.

Got to pick up my favourite 2 year old from nursery last night, he immediately ran up to me and I got a big hug!! Crazy how much he developed in those 2.5 months.
It is so nice to be back here, can't wait for the weekend and church!
Gotta go and get my wellies out of storage now.

bye bye USA, London calling

2.5 months in Tennessee end tomorrow. A time where I've encountered the beauty of this state and also its people. Seen the good and the bad, not to mention the weird in people :) It's been a great and challenging season.
A special mention goes out to all family P. members, I've been blown away by your hospitality. When Jesus talks about storing up treasures in heaven, I think you just put a truckload up there! I truly hope that I can return the favour one day. THANK YOU...

London will be two weeks of fun, family and friends before I head down to Austria. My first day will bring Christmas tree decorating with Mr Zeke (Can't wait for all the Thomas related things he will show me) and looooooooooooooooooooooooooooots of catching up.