The Middle School Basketball (Boy + Eagles = Beagles) team continues to impress. After starting the season 4-0, we suffered our first loss in a hard-fought match against AIS Vienna.

We rebounded with a win against DIS, went 2-1 at our mid-season Festival in Budapest, and finished off a run of 7 games in 9 days with two more wins.

Our first game of the new year yielded another win for the Eagles. Or, as we’re now known, the “Beagles.” Shorthand for Boy Eagles. Apparently we needed to distinguish ourselves from the girl Eagles.

The home court at QSI Bratislava, if you can’t tell is in a bubble gym with and astroturf surface. This always makes dribbling a little adventurous. Entering the gym involves opening an outer door, crowding into a small entryway, making sure the outer door is shut, then pushing open the inner door to the gym. Opening both doors at the same time would begin deflating the gym.

In any case, the “Beagles” shook off the rust accumulated over Christmas break, played well and defeated QSI Bratislava on their astroturf court.

We hit the ground running next week with games on Monday and Tuesday. Stay tuned for more updates.

So, yeah, this is a new one. In case you’re having trouble reading it, that stamp does in fact say “Missent to HO CHI MINH CITY.”

People have mistaken Vienna for Venice and Austria for Australia, but I don’t know that anyone’s ever mistaken Vienna for Vietnam. Sure, they have plenty in common. They both start with ‘V’. They both, um, have, um, you know, um people?

Yeah, so not much in common it turns out. In the US Post Office’s defense, the sender did neglect to write Austria in as the country. I’m not sure it’s that great a defense, though.

In any case, I’m glad this Christmas letter’s incredible journey ended in our mailbox.

Basketball season is well underway again and we’re just about to kick off another round of games. Before Christmas break, we won our first two games handily, executing well on offense and defense. I’m very proud of how my boys have played and look forward to the season ahead.

This Thursday we start a busy stretch of games, playing 5 games and a tournament in less than two weeks. Please pray for the next two weeks as we train and compete and stay tuned for more updates!

More pictures below:

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On Friday we took a trip to the Haus des Meeres with our friends the Stocketts.

The Haus des Meeres is Vienna’s aquarium. It’s built in an old Flakturm, which I think is an awesome way to redeem a not so awesome thing.

We got to see lots of fun creatures.

We also got to watch an amazing sunset from the roof. You can walk all the way around the turm, thus getting a 360 degree view of Vienna. Beautiful!

We finished our visit with a rousing game of Peek-a-Boo. Pretty great day all around.

 You can see more pictures here: Haus des Meeres

My sweet friend, Jill, asked me to write a guest post on her blog “Joy in the Small Things.” I wrote a little about our story, but mostly about how we find joy in the midst of life’s ups and downs. You can read the post here - Gnade: Our Story.

You should check out Jill’s blog and her shop. You can even like her on Facebook. She makes these awesome folk art banners. Ours says “gnade” which is German for grace.

New Year’s Eve in Vienna is something that we are going to miss greatly when we return to the States. There are fireworks, and fun hats, and Gluehwein, and a fun little tradition called Bleigiessen.

Bleigiessen is a game that is played after the toast on New Year’s Eve. Each person melts a small piece of lead over candle flame in a special spoon. The pieces of lead are in the shapes of things that are considered good luck or are associated with New Year’s Eve: mushrooms, bottles of Sekt, pigs, gold coins, clovers. Once the lead is melted, you drop it into cold water. It instantly cools into a new shape.

After the lead cools, you must decide what you think it looks like. Each shape is supposed to tell you what kind of luck you’ll have in the new year. We decided that our lead took the following shapes:

A: Drache (Dragon) – Victory

B: Jagdhorn (Hunting Horn) – Great luck will come to your house.

C: Quelle (Natural Spring) – You will have enviable health.

D: Geweih (Antlers) – Do not gamble when the stakes are high.

E: Elefant (Elephant) – You will need to have thick skin in your professional life.

This is a bit like opening a fortune cookie, but a lot more interactive.  We hope that you all had a great New Year’s Eve!

If you missed my three part marathon series on running the marathon:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

After Tricia found me and I regained my ability to walk, I began my slow journey around the track. I received my finishing medal, and outside the stadium collected a small bag containing a banana, a bottle of powerade, a bottle of water, and some bread/muffin thing called “Feedback.” My feedback: not great.

For some reason we had to use this makeshift wooden bridge to get to the gym. I’m not sure we crossed over anything significant. I think someone just thought it would be funny if they could make people who just completed a marathon climb up and down a set of stairs. Cruel!

Somehow I ended up in “Sponsors Village.” Not where I wanted to be, but I benefited by receiving a couple of pens, a plastic rain poncho, and some bright yellow Chiquita wristbands.

When I finally found the gym, I made a beeline towards the massage tent. Ahhhh….

If you’d like to relive my marathon experience in a fun interactive way, follow the link below. It’s almost like running it with me. Well, except that it only takes a minute and doesn’t require any actual running.
Run the Athens Marathon with Matt

Official Race Results:
Find me on this list!

Photos from the Marathon:

 In case you missed them:
 Part 1 and Part 2

11:31: I pass the 30km mark and glance ahead towards a long, steep hill. Not cool, Athens Marathon! Not cool! The course has been a steady climb since km 18 and I know if I make it to the top of this hill, it’s mostly downhill from there.

11:46: 10 km to go. Legs are starting to cramp. Can’t quite get a full stride into the downhill. I try drinking more water and powerade to stave off the cramps.

12:00: The joy of being in single digits has worn off. My feet hurt. My legs are still cramping. I push on. 7km til victory.

12:15: There is a steep climb (or maybe any hill seems steep at this point) to a sharp downhill towards an underpass tunnel. There is a small detachment of drummers from a marching band in the middle of the tunnel laying down a beat. The beat compels my legs to stride, and I use this momentum to carry myself through the tunnel and up the hill back to the main road.

12:33: I begin my final descent into the historic stadium in Athens. The cramping in my legs is keeping me from fully enjoying this last downhill. The sun emerges for the first time all day, casting its warming rays on the last 400 meters.

12:35: I enter the stadium and the rush of the finish and the cheering fans implore me to sprint this final 100 meters. Two steps into my sprint, my legs threaten to cramp up completely and leave me a crumpled mess on the home stretch. I still manage a pace I consider “fast.” And my hamstrings hold out to the finish…barely.

12:36:40: I hear the beep of my timing chip register my finish time. My right hamstring seizes and I limp to the edge of the stadium to lean against the wall. I glance at my watch. 3:36:40. Much better the the 3:45 I set as my goal. I am cold, wet and exhausted, but most of all I am FINISHED!

Note: If you’re wondering why the clock above my head is different from my official time, it’s because I crossed the starting line about 11 minutes after the first starting group left Marathon. So really, all the times in these blog posts can be shifted 11 minutes. If you want to be technical.