Happy Halloween

 We got the last of the "Halloween Pumpkins" at the supermarket on Saturday.  The stickers made us laugh.  On the backside of the pumpkin there was another sticker with instructions on how to carve the pumpkin using the stickers.  Too funny, but what can you expect from a culture that has only recently started to celebrate the holiday.  The kids got free cotton candy at the grocery store in anticipation of the holiday.  Luca loved it, and Samuel and Emma were not impressed as you can see from their faces.

 We liked our silly face better

Happy Halloween from Italy!

Sweet Aroma=Sweet Memories

While on a morning date with Jonathan we stopped in several stores in Caselle.  First of all you know you are on a date, when that includes perusing a yarn store, candle store and florist shop with the hubs!  The owners of the florist shop attend Jonathan's English class and as we were walking past we decided to just stop in and say "hi."  I have to tell you it has been a long time since the smell of something brought out such deep emotion.  The owners gave us a tour of their work area and cooler room and immediately I was taken back to my days of working for my dad on the farm packing flowers.  It delighted my heart to be there at that moment.  Such familiarity and appreciation for what they do.  I told the owner how much it made me think of my dad and grandpa all the while fighting back unexpected emotion and tears.  It took me by surprise.  It is amazing what a scent can do to congure up memories!  As we were walking out of the store Enzio gave me this beautiful rose.  A simple thing that made me smile today (apart from spending some great quality time together with my love).

 

Pumpkins of unusual size

A friend gave us this pumpkin last night, that he recieved from his neighbor's garden.  I am curious as to the variety of this pumpkin.  Anyone want to gander a guess?  I guess we will be eating roasted pumpkin for a while with absolutely NO complaints from us!

Chestnut Picking

Truly, fall must be the hardest time of the year to be distanced from living life in the US (apart from Christmas Day of course!) There are so many unique traditional fall activities, that just make things feel like fall.  Know what I mean?  Thinking back to all the fun fall activities as a child that included: pumpkin farms, apple orchards, hay rides, leaf pile jumping, trick or treating, pumpkin carving, apple cider, bonfires, and concluding with Thanksgiving and in there absense has made us a bit nostalgic this year.  To be honest, it really has been Jonathan feeling the nostalgia more heavily.  He has taken it upon himself to find our own fall traditions here in Italy.  With his driving urge to just "pick" something, we started looking into a good place where we could pick chestnuts, since that seems to be the thing here in northern Italy.

Chestnut trees hold a long tradition of importance in the Italian culture and cuisine.  Chestnuts roasting on an open fire (in the US) are most likely largely imported from Italy.  They are a delicious nut, but do require some work and effort to get to the point of enjoyment--as we are finding out.  The chestnut tree is also referred to as the "bread tree" here in the mountaneous regions of Italy because the grinding of the chestnuts into flour was often substituted in the absense of grain flour.  There are many regional dishes using chestnuts that I am anxious to test out.

So back to our Italian fall adventure...we drove out to Giaveno yesterday because a friend of a friend recommended a grove of trees in that area that was not on private property.  It was a cool fall day that concluded with some sunshine, making our chestnut picking day picture perfect.  We set off on our adventure well equipped with bags and rubber gloves, to protect our hands from the prickly chestnut casings.  The kids were troopers and did not complain ONCE in our 2-hour wooded excursion.  After getting pricked just once myself, I thought maybe this wasn't going to be enjoyed by the kids.  Those spines were like needles--man they hurt and we are still digging out fine splinters as a result!  Everyone had a fabulous time nonetheless and all agree this needs to be our family fall tradition.  Thank you Lord, for providing something to ease our longing for home and allow us to enjoy your creation together as a family!

Giaveno, everytime we go there we wish we could have lived there.  It is such a beautiful town and area right at the base of the mountains.

Walking through some farm fields to reach our destination

 Chestnuts were everywhere!  

The trick was to find the ones that were already starting to explode open.  

 The kids would find the ones open and Jonathan would break out the nuts to put in the bag.

 A dangerous weapon

 Acorns too were everywhere

 An impossible job without those gloves

 Trekking up the hillside and digging through leaves

 A 10 for form

 So much fun to be had with just sticks

 After our time in the woods we stopped by our colleague's house for some coffee and popcorn.  Bea was happy for the company and attention too.

 Konked out from all that hard work

15 lbs. of chestnuts! We'll be roasting and experimenting with chestnuts all winter long.  And bonus is we saved more than 30 euros!

And we're off

October is already well under way (before we know it it will be Christmas!)  Oh, mamma mia--did I just say that?!  Last week was our re:start-up week for ministry activities.  We distributed flyers for our English classes and guitar club the week prior, but did not get much of a response for either.  I heard back from 4 out of 9 students from last year wanting to continue the children's English course, but that was pretty much it.  I didn't know what to expect come Monday afternoon.  Sure enough though, they showed up in mass.  I had 11 students for my first lesson.  Two of them will transfer to the middle school class and those two spots have already been filled by others.  This year instead of alternating weeks of teaching, I will teach the elementary students weekly and Catherine will teach the middle school students immediately following my class.

There is a vast difference between elementary and a middle schooler's focus and attention span.  If you think of it, pray for much patience and stamina for me as I teach and try to maintain classroom control with 12 jittery students.  As of week 2, Catherine is now simultaneously teaching 2 middle schoolers in the back room during my class, so it can be a lot to handle on my own. 

Still no calls have come in for the adult beginner level 1 course.  Really strange as there is usually a big interest.  Maybe the time of the class is too early (7pm)?  Who knows.  It will however, cut down on Jonathan's marathon Wednesdays.  He orginally planned to teach 2 English classes followed by the alternating weeks of guitar club and seeker Bible study.  So as it stands he weekly teaches the level 2 beginner course at 8:00pm, followed by the study every other week.  The guitar club may or may not get off the ground, I'll let you know.

Our first service of the fall went well on Sunday.  We were small in number due to work, travel, sickness and a loss of one family who have decided to stay at the Torino church.  We are dissapointed and pray that God will bring others to fill their spot who desire to serve and help in our church plant.  The kids now remain in the worship service with us and did quite well with the change of structure.  They each were given an activity sheet that was focused on the message.   It seemed to hold their attention and teach them a few key points from the sermon.  It will be nice now to have the back room reserved just for the toddlers.

Tonight is our first seeker Bible study.  We are excited for this and the four individuals partcipating.  I've got a light dinner/snack in the works to bring to the study tonight and am hosting another dinner tomorrow, so I best be getting back to the kitchen.  Week two of our new norm is coming to a close and now that I am hitting my stride hopefully blogging will become more regular too.  Thanks for checking in.