Happy 2nd Birthday Luca!

Our surprise little guy! What would our lives be without you? Two years ago Luca was born to us in Perugia, Italy. His life has been one big adventure and he has embrassed every moment with a twinkle in his eye and smile on his face. He is one easy going boy who has always loved to sleep and play hard. He has been nicknamed: "Gumby" for the way he bounces off stuff without letting it phase him. "Our Running Back" for the way he footballs his sippy cup and never fumbles it on all his falls and tumbles. "Cold Turkey Boy" for the way he instantly drops stuff out of his life like quitting nursing at 9 mos., stopping his 2 hr. morning naps without a gradual weaning off of things. Luca is so outgoing and so friendly with everyone. A very independant guy who is dangerously quiet. He doesn't say much yet but you better always keep an eye glued to his activities and explorations. We love you so much Luca! Have a wonderful 2nd Birthday Lukey-boy!

Campa Update

Thank you for praying for Noella's grandpa yesterday as well. Everything went smoothly and without complications on his quadruple bi-pass heart surgery. Praise the Lord! He will remain in ICU for 2 days and be hospitalized for 5 days in total. Then he will be moved to a home for an undetermined amount of time so they can more closely monitor his healing and to intervene if any stroke symptoms should arise. Obviously, each of these initial days are crucial and we as a family would appreciate your continued prayers on his behalf. We were able to see and talk with him via webcam on Easter and it was so special for us. We look forward, Lord willing, to seeing him in person in a couple of months. By the way, the picture I posted was how old Emma was the last time we saw him.

We Made It!

The flu hit Jonathan on Wednesday morning and the extra help with the last minute packing was left in my hands. Thankfully we knew that the flu would only last 24 hours, but the amount of energy and fluids it sucked out of him was certainly not what we had in mind the day before taking off. We managed thanks to a last minute plea for your prayers on our behalf. God certainly sustained us yesterday in our long and weary day of traveling.

We left home around 3:30am and everything went really smoothly with our flights. Okay, so we did have moments of crying and complaining kids, but can you really blame them? In a 24 hour block of time Samuel & Emma only slept 2 hrs and Luca 3 hrs. When we landed in Detroit Samuel was at breaking point and was crying and asking every 5 seconds..."Where is the Michigan??" We could not reason sense in to him with our answer of saying, "This is it! We're here!" I'm not sure what he was expecting. Maybe one giant amusement park? I guess their dreams were realized when we finally reached Munga & Grandma's house. Emma threw up all the way home in the car, too many goldfish crackers on a shear exhausted little body and car sickness.

It was so precious to see the kids greet their grandparents. Seeing them run and wrap their arms around their necks easily launched me in to tears (I wasn't the only one crying). Our bodies are very tired and our internal clocks are still set on Italian time. Fully waking up and seeing 2:30am on the clock is not really the best feeling to have. The boys woke up at 4am with the same problem and Emma was the only one who slept according to Michigan time.

Yesterday it was raining and snowing on the way home. We woke up to a good covering of snow but are thankful the sun is melting it quickly. We left spring and came to winter!!

More later...

This Thursday

This Thursday Noella's paternal grandfather, Campa [Elmer], will be having open heart surgery. We would so appreciate your prayers for this wonderful man of God of nearly 87 years of age. The doctors are optimistic about the surgery, one major reason being for Campa's extreme optimism and joy. If ever there was a more determined, perseverant, hard-working (still going to farm daily with dad) and joyful person it would be him. No matter how much pain he is in, "everything is always just great!" We praise the Lord that Campa is a believer and as my dad said to me, "it is a win-win outcome." However, we pray that his days will be prolonged with us. Keep my dad, Jay, in your prayers as well as he and his dad are very close.

Addmition to the Hospital: Wednesday @ 10 am (California time)

Surgery: Thursday @ 7:15 am

Also, we will be flying back to the States on Thursday. We would so appreciate your prayers and especially for the kids. During this past week, Noella, Emma & Luca got the flu again and Samuel acquired a really bad ear infection on Sunday. Pray that the medications will heal his ear quickly and that there will be no problems for him during the flight. Here is our itinerary:

Thursday:

3:00 am - depart from home

7:10 am - fly from Milan to Frankfurt

10:15 am - fly from Frankfurt to Detroit

2:35 pm - Arrive in Detroit

Drive 3 hours to Munga & Grandma's house in Hudsonville, MI

School Pics.

Here are some pictures that we received from Samuel's teachers a couple of weeks ago that I am now just finding time to post. I'm so glad they took pictures of him on the snow trip. He had a great time! You can see how he towers over the other kids in his class. The little boy (Ivan) celebrated his 5th birthday the same time as Samuel. Sam definitely has his father's genes!

The Results Are In

Thank you to all those who were upholding me in your prayers today for my language exam. I so appreciate your concern and desire to see us suceed in speaking the language. It forever will be a point of growth for us, so keep praying for all us including the kids. Our main goal (ministry) over these past three years has been to learn the language and culture without which how can we ever expect to reach others here. We give God the glory for allowing us to make some major significant steps in the process.

I had a good night of sleep for the most part and had a peace going in to the exam. After 4 hours of stress and tension taking the exam I am pretty much destroyed! Seriously, I felt like throwing up the final hour of the exam and pretty much went straight to bed when we got home around 2:30pm. I really hope it was stress related and not an oncoming illness. It took a while for me to get my brain in gear and untangle the mess of grammar rules and verb conjugations that where spilling out of my brain. I don't remember how many sections there were but I do have to retake two: listening/reading comprehension and another section filled with pronouns, prepositions and the like. I am pleased to have passed all the other parts and this will much relieve me of some stress on furlough. I will plan to retake these two sections by the end of the year along with completing some other writing projects.

Anyway, that's the latest. Now I can fully focus on packing suitcases and home for 5 months in our remaining 8 days! Where does one begin??

Sunny Weather. Foggy Brain.

This past week for me has been nothing more than studying every free moment that I could find. Thankfully, there was lots of sunshine so the kids were less inclined to climb all over me while studying on the front porch. I don't understand why Jonathan can study and read without the kids yanking on his arm, jumping on his back and trying to divert his attention. With me, as soon as a book comes out I'm like a magnet to them and my reading time includes three kids climbing in to my lap and saying "Mamma, mamma" every 10 seconds. I have a fantastic husband and he has been doing his best to create the extra study time (kid free) for me this week. Please pray for me on Tuesday at 9:30 am (4:30 am EST--the night before works as well too!) I am a tad anxious to get this test over with and Lord willing I will be able to successfully pass most of it. The exam will take about 3 hours to complete and includes: written, essay, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, reading out loud and speaking. Pray for a good nights rest as my ability to think in Italian greatly depends on my state of mind and alertness. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

"Our State of Health Address": A week ago we took Samuel and Emma to the doctors and came away with both of them being diagnosed with ear infections and Emma having bronchitis. The antibiotics cleared things up real quick and this week Luca acquired a strong cough. We took him in to the Dr. and he was given an "all clear" report and the cough syrup prescribed is working effectively for him too. Friday night we think Samuel came down with stomach flu. He was vomitting from midnight to about 3am every 15 minutes. We finally took him downstairs so Luca could get some sleep and it amazes us how alert Samuel can be during the night. He slept from 3-6am and was feeling fine in the morning with just a diminished appetite. Jonathan and I were dragging like none other for the whole day. This kid has far too much energy! What 5 year old can function on 6 hours of sleep and act like he got 13?! Today we are well....we'll see what this week holds for us.

Signs of Spring

This past weekend we enjoyed soaking in the mid-70's temps. What a refreshment to air out the house with a warm breeze passing through and not to mention not needing to heat the house over the weekend! The temp has dropped some in to the high 40s and 50s for these next couple of days. Buds are emerging on the trees and I am anxious to see the spring flowers poke their heads up from the ground. We are still trying to battle through the most recent cold attack that we acquired last weekend. We were told that upon moving overseas to a new climate, country etc. that the first year always hits everyone hard as your immune systems need to adjust to the new viruses. In our first two years on the field the pregnancy was the only "change" in health that we noticed. But this last year, we have more than made up for it. Watch now that our kids have gotten all their Italian viruses in their systems they will then go back to the States and pick up all the ones they are missing. Haha! We pray not, but we'll be prepared.

Not much to report in the way of news. We are just busy trying to wrap up business here, doing spring cleaning, studying, preparing studies, Jonathan's kickboxing classes and keeping up with normal family activities.

Here is an Emma story: I love to cook but sometimes I just don't know WHAT to cook because I myself don't have any particular craving. Usually, I ask Jonathan if he has any wishes or desires and then go from there. The other night he didn't have any suggestions so I went to the kids. It's usually not much of any help but you never know. I asked Emma what she wanted and without hesitation she said: "I want chicken and smashed potatoes!" It was so cute to hear her decisiveness and to actually get a good meal plan. I haven't made mashed potatoes in a while so it was an out of the blue response. Maybe I should ask her more often!