Love

During our first Christmas season in Vienna, we redefined most of our Christmas traditions.  We don't have our extended family with us, and the holiday is so different in Vienna that the redefinition was actually born out of necessity.  Over the past four years we have developed some really great traditions that allow us to celebrate Jesus, be with our friends and family and enjoy our city.  One of our favorite ones is picking out our real tree.

It is quite a challenge to get a real tree home from the store when you don't have a car or truck.  It is possible to bring home trees on the bus or subway or to drive it home in a store shopping cart, much to the enjoyment of native Austrians, but it isn't easy.  So the first year we were in Austria, a wonderful couple from Costa Rica that we had just met, offered to drive us in their van to pick out our tree.

It was a magical night.  Several inches of snow had already fallen as we drove to the store and huge lacy flakes continued to fall.  We picked out our perfect tree while the snow fell. we laughed as a family and got to know our new friends.  The men hoisted the tree on the car as the flakes got bigger and bigger and we all ate gummy candies on the way home.  The very, very slow way home as the Cosa Rican and West Texan laughed about their inability to drive in the snow.  And this began our tradition of getting our tree with the Pachecos.

Since that time, our friendship has grown and this family is very dear to us.  We have worked closely together at the school.  Their children have watched our children; we have eaten at each others homes; they have met our family from America and we have prayed for their family in Costa Rica.

The time came this year for us to get our tree and the situation is a little different.  We don't see this family every day now and we have a car, so even though we invited the Pachecos to come with us to get the tree, it wasn't really necessary and their schedule didn't allow it.  We had planned to go Friday night, but after a long week, we decided to wait until Saturday.  So Saturday around noon, we loaded up in the car, both excited and a little heavy-hearted to pick out our tree.  We went into the store and started looking for a few home improvement items that we needed before we went out to look for trees.  The kids ran a few in-store errands for us and came back at a run..."Senor, Senor is in the store!"  Joe and I went to investigate and sure enough, Mr. Pacheco was in the store, looking for home improvement items too.  Mrs. Pacheco joined us a few minutes later, her hands filled with items.

Together, we walked out to the trees just as the snow begin to fall and picked out our Christmas tree.  Although they weren't able to stay for long, we were able to complete our Christmas tradition together and spend a few special minutes with a couple who is very dear to our hearts.

Oh, how Jesus loves us.  In this season that has been so difficult for me, He reminded me again how much He loves us.  He placed this couple in that exact store at the exact moment we were there so we could continue our tradition because it mattered to me.  Oh how great the Father's love is for His children and for me.