Young Theologians

We are always looking for solid Biblical children's material to work through with our little ones.  Some of the rich finds we have enjoyed as a family have been The Jesus Storybook Bible and Scripture memory songs by, Seeds Family Worship.  Our newest venture is a catechism for boys and girls.  By definition catechism means "a manual of instruction in the principles of the Christian religion, usually in question and answer form."  However, it is difficult to separate (at least in my mind), the association of catechism and the Catholic church.  Right now Samuel's classmates participate in catechism after school once a week.  So instead of bringing confusion to the matter, the kids have labeled this learning time as "The Jesus Questions."

Part I of this list of questions is working through the theology of God, Man and Sin.  In all there are six parts, consisting of 145 questions and answers.  The kids have learned 13 so far and are well on their way to being little theologians.  With each question there are scripture references that we read and discuss with them.  What an amazing privilege we have as parents to train little hearts with the truth of God's word.  Here is a video for you to see and hear for yourselves the great enthusiasm and excitement they have in responding to these questions.

Autumn

Pumpkin Farms.  Hay Rides.  Apple Picking.  Apple Cider.  Glorious Shades of Fall.  Bonfires.  Football. Jumping in Leaves...   

I suppose these would be on the top of our list of reasons why "We miss fall in America."  We try not to let out a sigh of jealousy when we see pictures on blogs and Facebook of those enjoying any of the above listed items.  Don't get me wrong, we are sold out in our purpose for living in Italy...and no doubt, we too can make you jealous at times.  

So what does autumn look like in Italy?  Well, it is not so colorful.  Mostly yellows and browns on the trees.  However, there is one bright spot in which I make a point to admire daily.  It is a type of vine that you see climbing on trees and this vine turns a vibrant red and orange in the fall.  Fortunately, for us there is such a vine growing on the fence in between us and our neighbors.

Emma lost her second tooth (at school) a couple of weeks ago.

We do not have pumpkin patches or farms here in Italy.  If you want a large, orange pumpkin to carve you can usually find one at the supermarket marked as "Halloween Pumpkin."  In the past, we have always purchased one to carve and one to cook down for use in pies, breads and other favorite fall recipes.  However, my choice of pumpkins to cook down for my puree has decidedly changed to this variety.  It is so rich in color, less stringy and tastes amazing in all baked goods consisting of pumpkin.

So as not to be deceived on the size of this pumpkin, it is only about 1kg.  
This is my third pumpkin purchase of the season and there will be many more for sure!

I cringe now to think of using canned pumpkin for anything!  Instead of picking pumpkins and apples the fall thing to do here is go chestnut picking.  We might go tomorrow but we have yet to see if it will work out.  Oh, and I do realize that I am in great need of posting pictures of the kids.  Hang in there and I'll try to take some over the course of the next few days.  Enjoy the beauty of fall and drink some apple cider for us!  

Church Life

It dawned on me the other week, just how transient we are as a family when it comes to church.  And I only stopped to think about it when Samuel prayed "...and tomorrow is Sunday.  I pray for church, but I don't know which one it is tomorrow."

To me, it seems ordinary and normal because we more or less have been "church hopping" for the past eight years.  Think about it.  All of the two and a half years we were on pre-field raising support brought us to new churches constantly.  Maybe we had a run of 2 or 3 weeks at our home church, but for the most part we were on the road.  When we moved to Perugia for language school, we attended one church and were consistent there for nearly two years.  Then the move up to Torino kept us stable for a while before we returned to the States for furlough and we were in a new church each week.  Then back to Italy, and we soon started up church services in Caselle that are held only twice a month.  Then back to the States for three months of church hopping.  Now Jonathan is on a preaching rotation between 3 churches in the area, so our poor kids never know where we will be come Sunday morning.  Torino, Caselle or Lanzo?

I guess that is life as a missionary and especially when working to establish a church plant.  Sometimes our kids struggle as each church provides a diverse experience for them.  But overall, they take things in stride and for that we are grateful.  It is hard to say when we might be able to give our kids the consistency of church location, but Lord willing, that will be soon.  Our current place of meeting is reaching the point of overflow.  We NEED a bigger place for sure, but until we can sustain a higher rent as a church we are forced to remain in our tight quarters.

Tomorrow is a Caselle church day...and don't feel bad if your prayers for us often sound like Samuel's for as you can see life is pretty varied from Sunday to Sunday.  We appreciate your prayers "even if you don't know which one it is this week."

Staggering...

...but still standing, by His grace!  This week started out rough as I got hit with the flu bug pretty bad Monday night.  This time it was not the kids who needed that spare towel in the car, but me.  When we arrived home from our shopping outing, I crawled in to bed and there I remained for 36 hours (literally!)  It is tough when Mamma is out of commission and everyone in the household agrees.  Jonathan did well meeting my needs and yet keep a safe distance, and so far so good for him.  When he picked up Samuel and Emma for lunch on Tuesday as soon as Samuel got out of the school gate, he hurled all over the ground.  Poor guy!  Emma's teacher told us too that she had been complaining about her stomach that morning.  Jonathan had the kids return inside for their school bags as it was obvious this flu was going to make it's rounds.  Samuel and Emma did get sick, but thankfully not as bad as me.  Oh, for a child's resiliency to bounce back.  Oh, and I have lost my voice as well, yet again.  So that was the start of our week.

The past weekend, however, was great!  Friday night we viewed another apartment rental with Catherine and we think this is the one.  The moving time is not what she wanted as she will have to wait until January, but the wait will be worth it.  Lord willing, all the pieces will fall in to place for this to happen.  Saturday, I was in the kitchen all day putting together some meals for a co-worker of ours who had surgery yesterday.  Sunday, was the first service in Caselle since our return this fall.  It was a full house and everyone in our group, plus visitors were in attendance.  Thirty is a full house for us.  We are excited to have the services up and started again.  Jonathan began a series in Psalms and although I did not hear him, I'm sure it was great.  Catherine taught the kids while I took care of an 18 mos. old and tried to keep the other 6 kids quiet and seated.  One room for toddlers - 9 years old with just a curtain divider is quite a challenge!  After the service we had our Agape meal together at the Farina's.  It was a wonderful and much needed time of fellowship for us all.  Our kids were thrilled to try on roller blades for the first time and had lots of fun with that.  One pair of skates went far being shared with 6 kids.

Monday, we had our field council prayer meeting and then the ladies meeting in the afternoon.  Tuesday night Jonathan began teaching a course entitled "How to Study the Bible" and tonight is English classes for him.  I will give more of an in depth update on our ministries...soon, I promise.

Well, that is in part the first half of our week.  How was yours?

Unusual Sightings

Last night Jonathan came home from his first night of English classes around 11pm.  Which, by the way went extremely well.  Two students expressed to him today their extreme delight in the fun and interactive lesson last night.  Jonathan is using the TPR (Total Physical Response) method this year, so the structure and method is new to him as well.  However, it sounds like a lot of fun and that the students might actually learn and absorb more this year using this method.  I will have to write more on English at another time.

So back to my story...when Jonathan arrived home he walked across our lawn and noticed something moving underfoot.  He was out there for a while checking the critter out before coming in to get me.  He said, "You gotta come out here.  There is an animal in the yard, but I don't know what it is.  I think maybe it is a porcupine."  Since I am the animal expert of the family, I figured this would be an easy identification.  However, I too had never seen such a critter in person and in the dark it looked pretty spiny and prickly to me.  My best guess for someone who just woke up off the couch was that it might be a baby porcupine.  We took a picture just so people wouldn't think were crazy to find this unusual animal in our yard and away from any kind of forest.  It was the size of a guinea pig more or less and really, really cute, but no way was I going to touch it with those prickly looking things on it.

Wanting to make sure that my animal identification was correct before making a blunder to all who might read this, I searched the internet for a picture of a baby porcupine.  Okay, so what we saw was definitely NOT that!  My second guess was a hedgehog.  Although my only association was to Sonic the Hedgehog, and he is blue!  I was delighted to see from pictures on the internet that it most definitely was a hedgehog in our yard.  And then, after reading a few sights about hedgehogs, I just about kicked myself for not knowing that because apparently they make really good pets.  The kids would have loved to have this guy around!

So now the kids and I are praying he will come back to our yard so we can keep him for a pet.  Apparently, they are considered an exotic pet to have.  Maybe he was a lost pet in the neighborhood or maybe wild, I guess I would have to research some more whether or not they are a common in this area.