by love i sail: Everyone who lives, TRULY LIVES, is an artist of life

February brought the visit of David and many birthdays.

First--David!

He is a Southernfrenchman who returned home to his little town in France in September after spending two years with Heart's Home in the "Garden of Mercy" in India. He and Mathilde were brother and sister in community there for about four months!! He came to spend a month with us and helping us do renovation work in the apartment before he heads off to L'Arche where he will spend a year or so living and working with handicapped people. He arrived knowing absolutely no German, and a few words in English, with a serious Indian head bob (something you have to see to understand...I'll show you if you ask), a mouth full of new French cuss words to learn during the renovations, an awe-inspiring charm with kids, and a peaceful and loyal (I don't know why that word...it just sticks out to me as "his word") presence. He jokes around like a little kid which is really helpful in reminding you that life isn't that serious, that you should relax, stop thinking about your "to-do" list and take some time to simply live and smile and joke around.

I was the only one home when it came time to go to the bus station on the day of his departure. The 15 minute walk to the bus station was something I will fondly remember for its jovial childlikeness, for its simplicity and its laughter in the spaces between his broken english sentences and my wrongly conjugated French verbs. It had begun to rain and the wind was strong against our umbrellas. His roller suitcase had a faulty handle and a bad wheel and was having a hell of a time keeping up behind us as it stumbled across the cobblestones behind David. At one point, after whispering "Merde" and righting his overturned suitcase, he looked at me, eyed the suitcase suspiciously, and then looked back at me saying--"She's drunk. Sorry".

As soon as we came in sight of the Donau the wind was so strong we had to stop every couple of steps, laugh at the sorry sight we were, turn around to block the blustering wind, and flip our umbrellas "right-side-in". At one point, David's umbrella simply started pulling him forward instead of flipping, and as the long, slender legs of this towering man skipped along the pavement, his hand and umbrella raised higher in the air and he looked at me, smiling, saying, "Tschüss, I am Mary Poppings. I fly now. Bye-Bye". The sight was hilarious, so if you're not chuckling to yourself right now, you'll have to trust me.

To see some of the amazing new things that resulted from David's stay with us...see the next post!

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Considering that the worth and dignity of the human person, the importance of friendship and community, and the place given to beauty and togetherness --are all things that Heart's Home, and anyone truly human, highly values, fights for, and celebrates, its comes as no surprise how important birthdays are for us. Whether they be our own birthdays or those of our friends, we try especially not to pass up the birthdays--something date-wise I am not very good at, but something celebration-wise, I especially love.

In February we got to celebrate especially beautifully three birthdays: Irena, mine, and Monika's!

Irena was sadly sick on her birthday--she came down with the flu first, and took the rest of her family with her. So we had to wait till the beginning of March to celebrate together, but finally we managed. So the pictures are in a different post :)

So I'll start with my birthday :)

The Thursday before, the celebration started with an American birthday evening at the home of a dear friend of mine--Dinka. Although she is from Croatia and grew up in Vienna, she is married to an American--and not only an American, A CHEESEHEAD-named Lincoln, has three adorable American children (don't tell me there isn't a difference, because there is!), and speaks AMERICAN-English with the cutest little accent using all the familiar American expressions and exclamations. Oh she is just so precious to me! I am so thankful for her friendship!! (Aunt Joni: she reminds me of you!!)

Anyways...she's pregnant with her fourth!!...and since she has the curse of nauseous pregnancies, I have had an excuse to spend quite a few afternoons at her house playing with the kids so she can rest, or drinking coffee and keeping her company. Whether we are sitting on the couch talking about knitting or sitting at the kitchen table discussion our life adventures and love stories, I'm playing race cars with the boys or reading with Veronika, I'm accompanying her to the Gyno as a little support on a baby checkup, or she's taking me to the Karmelitermarkt (Market near us) so that she can introduce me to her Serbian market-stand friends and arrange donations of old produce for Offenes Herz, she feels like HOME to me.

but even more so on my birthday--which she and Lincoln went to extra effort to make perfectly American for me in every way.

the kids were still awake when I got there after a long day of being out and about, and I loved every minute of the "getting in bed routine"...

which of course could only start after we successfully convinced this charmer that he had had enough water to drink and needed to go brush his teeth and put his pj's on (this is Nico by the way)

then I had the honor of reading the bedtime story....as you can see, we've become good friends, and American kids are just that wonderfully cuddle-y.

then, after the kids were successfully in bed (at least for the time being), Lincoln, Dinka and I found our comfy places in the couch and ate GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES WITH WISCONSIN CHEESE (freshly delivered by Lincoln's parents who had been there visiting the week before)...never have I enjoyed a grilled cheese so much...I haven't tasted Cheddar Cheese for a YEAR! and I immediately remembered why it is so much better than any French cheese you could ever eat. Then, such wonderful grilled cheeses were followed by a colossal carrot cake with cream cheese frosting...the moistest and yummiest birthday cake I have had in years--and quite a feat to make when you are in Austria! But Dinka is an amazing baker and she outdid herself.

And to top it all off...we had this little midnight feast while enjoying the good old sarcastic American humor only found in one of my favorite TV shows--Modern Family--all the seasons of which Lincoln of course has recorded! What a simple and decadent night.

. . .

Then came birthday morning:
We started the morning off a little later than usual (they gave me sleep for my birthday!!) with a beautiful mass! Since Fr. Clemens and Fr. Jacques were both not in Vienna on my birthday, Monika and Alina had coordinated with Fr. Edward (from Africa, the first priest we befriended in Vienna, the assistant pastor at the parish near Monika's apartment where we always went to church when we lived with her) that he would come to our house to say the mass! Monika and Ulli prepared the music and we even got to welcome Thibault (a friend of Heart's Home from France) and his mother who had just arrived in Vienna on vacation!
After the mass, as you can see, we had a birthday brunch!

complete with Peanut Butter....an American birthday grocery exception!

this is Fr. Edward!!!

Thibault with flowers in his hair!

. . .

At 3pm I met up with my Austrian Momma--Agnes--(who I don't think I've ever talked about or posted a picture of, but who has become so very very dear and important in my life since the very beginning!)--for a tea at the Haas&Haas Teahaus near Stephansdom, followed by walk through most of the city, finding our way to the Hundertwasser Museum where she treated me to an exhibition I had been DYING to see--"Henri Cartier Bresson"--a fabulous French photographer and the highlights of his Soviet Union, Indian, and American photographs. The exhibition was very well done and I had a wonderful time discovering the world anew through his lens.

. . .

Unbeknownst to me, Agnes was in on the surprise that awaited our arrival back at Offenes Herz after the museum! I walked into a candlelit living room full of dear friends who sang happy birthday, flicked on the lights and stayed for more than a couple hours simply enjoying being together, having a little something to eat and drink, hearing Tomoko's musical birthday treats and opening presents.

Dinka and Alina

listening to Tomoko play!!! such a wonderful birthday gift!! She even played my favorite--Carmen--which she plays without a fault, and from memory!!

Thibault's Maman

picking some music

listening

Tiramisu!!--second year in a row--made by a different Italian, but one still soooooo dear to my heart!

Alessandra (responsible for the Tiramisu) and Keiko and Reiko (Tomoko's daughters)

candles of course

What a surprise--Alina even got in touch with Mary Johnson (a Little Flower sister of mine and fellow graduate of FUS with me who is studying currently at the ITI in Trumau), who came into Vienna for the party and to spend the night!

Fr. Clemens arrived back in Vienna in the middle of the party! He had been leading a retreat in Tyrol.

Thibault, Monika, and Tomoko

Dad's Whisky

My dad left some Jim Beam behind after his visit, so we got to toast my birthday the way I like best--with those dearest to me, and with a good shot of whiskey!

Fr. Clemens, Ines, Mathilde, Mary, Agnes, Alina, Patrick

Such a mix of ages, studies, vocations, nationalities!!

Prost with Ulli

one half italian, one full-blooded Italian : two great party planners!

And thank you to everyone who sent me a letter in the "Birthday Post"--it took me a couple days to read through them all but each one touched me in a special way on my second and more home-sick birthday spend across the sea. Herzlichen Dank!

. . .

Then a couple days later we got to celebrate Monika's Birthday!!

Fr. Clemens celebrated mass in the Karmeliterkirche accompanied by the beautiful organ playing of Thibault!!

Afterwards I treated Monika to a coffee at Cafe Korb (continuing our Kaffeehaus-Date tradition).

later that evening we had a beautiful evening/dinner together : the community (minus Fr. Jacques who was in Berlin), David, Tomoko, a friend of Tomoko's visiting from France, Ulli, and Wei Wei.

following last year, I made Monika obey "American" tradition (I don't know if its American, or a Smith Family thing....someone tell me!)---each of the women slipped a ring over a candle before Monika blew them out!