Tortillas

I used to get so disappointed and frustrated when I could not find food items here in Italy.  The first few years of living overseas, I depended so much on having family send us food items.  There was the unfamiliarity with products and foods here and the mentality that it could only be found in the states.  I have come a long way, thankfully.  Now, if there is something I am craving or need to have I search the internet for recipes and/or find substitutions.  There are still things I have to request from the states but they mostly fall in the spice category.  I laugh at myself now for packing cake and corn bread mixes, coffee creamers, baby food and peanut butter in to our precious pounds of luggage when we first came.  All of these things are so easy to make and a million times better homemade!

My latest cooking venture was making homemade tortillas.  My grandma always used to make them but she was the grand master that no one else in the family ever even attempted them.  I don't know why, they are not that complicated to make (except for rolling them out into a perfect circle).  Thanks to the adventuresome spirit and fellow ex-pat of a sister-in-law, who sent me a recipe for easy flour tortillas.  We can find tortillas here, but they are rather expensive and not that great.  However, knowing that Michelle and Cody succeeded in their attempts at making tortillas in Iraq gave me the courage to try them myself.  Oh. my. goodness.  They are so easy to make if you have the time and are absolutely delicious! Not being able to find food items here is turning out to be a VERY good thing!

This recipe makes 24 tortillas

Maybe a tortilla press would be a worthy investment

The final product of complete yumminess!

School Spettacolo

It is the end of another school year - so hard to believe!  We are thankful for this year and how our children have grown and excelled in school.  Luca has nearly completed his first year of "Scuola Materna".  Slowly, slowly he is learning the language, which was the major goal for this year.  He has one more year yet before beginning elementary school and hopefully by then he will communicate more coherently and willingly in Italian.

Each year the scuola materna has an end of the year program.  Nothing truly spetacular as far as programming goes.  This year was particularly disappointing as the kids did not participate much at all.  So there really isn't a lot to share in way of pictures or videos.  The school chose to bring in a magician to perform a magic show.  The children dressed up as bunnies and little magicians.  And the graduating children received their diplomas and recited a brief poem.  Luca was quickly bored with the magic show and soon after he spotted us in the crowd, inched his way over to us and wanted to play.  His "partner in crime", Ricardo, did the same thing.  Can't say we really blame them.  We left after an hour and a half and the program was still not over.  We had our final film discussion night so we had to jet out to get dinner before leaving for that.  Anyway, here are some pictures.

 The inching away from his seat begins as does his refusal to wear his bunny ears.

 The kids were all saying "Luca, move!" as he slowly passed in front of them.

 The only two kids who determined they would rather be playing.  Luca and Ricardo are two peas in a pod.  Alike in so many ways, that one day they are the best of friends and the next they are fighting.  Mostly though they love to play together and race each other in to school.

So many people there, but unfortunately we were unable to converse and mingle after the program. 

Oh, and right before we left for the spettacolo, Emma lost another tooth.  She is very proud!

Book of the Month: April

I had to laugh at my dear husband the other night when I told him I really need to post about my book of the month for April.  He sincerely asked (or maybe he was mocking me) if I was posting on THE best book I read that month?  Seriously?!  He should know by now what a great feat it is for me to get just one book read a month!  Maybe I'll be able to rise to the challenge during the summer months and double up on my reading time, we'll see.

The book I read in April was A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller .  It was a wonderful, challenging, honest and insightful book.  I actually was reading this book at the same time that I listened to the 2011 Pastor's Conference put on by Desiring God.  Paul Miller was one of the featured speakers for the conference and really the book and conference audio together were an amazing blessing to my heart.  I would highly recommend both to you!

This editorial review written on the book reflect my thoughts as well of the book:

Prayer, the concept and the practice, exposes our core doubts and desperation for God. Paul Miller captures the promise of prayer as a gift that connects us to the heart of the Father and as a path for transforming the world. Paul Miller's honest struggle with living a life full of prayer and his childlike delight in hearing the heart of God invites us to gratitude and calls us to speak boldly to our God. This book will be like having the breath of God at your back. Let it lift you to new hope.

Or for any even better and more elaborate review of the book go here.

Spring Street Fair

Our table under the blue tent

Yesterday we as a church participated in our second street fair held in Caselle.  (Go here to read about our first experience in December.)  This is an all day event and we are again thankful for the participation from many within our church to distribute the gospel of John, information about our church and other evangelistic materials.  Jonathan went to help set up at 7:30am and then stayed until around 1:30pm.  During that time they passed out about a couple hundred books of John.

Cinzia, Giulia and Pino

The top two reasons given for not accepting our gift was 1. "I don't know how to read" and 2. "I am on my way to church."  Maybe we should start to offer literacy courses at the center too. J  The second response I can only gather to mean that the priest will tell me what I need to know from the Bible.

Pino "chasing" people down.

We will get a better report of how things went in the afternoon and the exact numbers of literature given out when we reconnect as a group this coming Sunday for church.  (Jonathan left for Portugal today and returns on Thursday).  We pray that all who received this gospel will in fact take the time to read it, and that the Spirit would open their hearts to receive the truth of God's word and his gift of salvation.  Only God knows what seeds will be planted through this.

Lino placing bookmarks at John 3:16

I was unable to attend once again.  If Jonathan didn't have to get some much needed rest and prepare for his departure the following day, no doubt we would have gone in the afternoon as a family.  Next time... My participation was in preparations as I printed and cut out 300 business cards with our church information and made matching table cloths.  It was something that made me feel like a contributor at least to this very meaningful opportunity.

Friends for Life

So all you Cedarville College gradudates will remember the whole marketing slogan that if you come to the 'ville you will make "Friends for Life".  Apart from meeting my husband who is my friend and partner for life, I did make friends who have stood the test of time and whom I consider true friends for life.  Granted our paths cross minimally because of our geographic locations, but I am so thankful for the encouragement and support they continue to be in my life.  They are the kind of friends that even though we go years without seeing each other, we can still pick up where we left off when those precious times do come.  That is the amazing thing about being sisters in Christ who keep Christ the center.

Sarah, Tara, Noella & Jodi - April 2008

Last week I received this gorgeous family tree necklace from Sarah.  A gift that brought tears to my eyes.

She sent it to be a reminder as I pray for my family and model Biblical family to those around me.  She also did so to support her brother in their pursuit of growing their family by adoption.  I love how missionally minded these dear friends are!  I am humbled and honored to have such godly friends.  It just makes me long for a closer connection and the desire to have the daily connection with those who have the same goals, heart desires and passions as I know it would sharpen and challenge me.  We really need to figure out a way to do that on a more regular basis girls!!  Love you my dear faithful friends for life!!

Meet "Mac"

Today we welcomed to our family, "Mac" the guinea pig!  That would be short for "MacGyver".

The kids (well, mostly Emma) have been wanting a pet for a really long time.  We were always a bit hesitant, as the reality of our lives is that when we leave we have to find someone to take care of the pet.  We had a fish acquarium in the past and that was great, but we never replaced the fish when we got home from our first furlough.  We all would love a dog, but that is a lot more work and imposing on someone to watch when not everyone has a yard like we do.  Recently, we have been giving the idea a lot of thought, mostly because of the insistence of dear Emma who adores animals.

Today we headed to a garden store that also has a zoo garden (i.e. pet shop).  We did not make any promises to the kids in case things did not pan out as we wanted.  We ruled out the hamsters because of their nocturnal disposition and plus I didn't want to lose something that small in our house.  The guinea pigs seemed like the perfect choice.  They are cute, small and love to be held.  The kids thought they each could pick one out.  Umm, no.  Thankfully, Mac was a unanimous choice for all!

The kids all know that this is their pet, NOT mom and dad's.  They will learn responsibility in feeding, cleaning, holding and looking after something other than themselves.  I am excited for them and I have to say my heart is captured too.  I grew up surrounded by animals and I am so thankful that now our kids can enjoy this little pet.  (And hopefully next summer we can find a 3 month Mac-sitter.)

Easter Camp

Thank you so much for your prayers for us over these past few days while at the Easter youth camp.  We were exhausted going in to the camp, and we are even more so now afterwards.  However, the time between was truly used by God and we are so thankful for His daily strength and grace he gave us.  Speaking twice daily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is a lot!  Not to mention that sometimes Jonathan didn't even get to start speaking until 9:30 or 10 at night!  Jonathan spoke on our new identity in Christ using the gospel of Mark.  There were 27 campers in total.  One girl put her trust in Jesus on the final night!  Many others came forward to rededicate their lives and confess sin in their lives.

We are so grateful to have had this opportunity to minister to teens.  We also were able to develop friendships with many of the staff and counselors.  They were truly a blessing to us.  This camp was run by another evangelical church in Torino, so these brothers and sisters in Christ are new friends to us.  How encouraging it was to us to see this national run church serving and growing.  25 years ago they were a handful of families (like us in Caselle), now they are around 150.  That seems to be the trend in Italy...25 years to see a church grow to this size and serving on their own initiatives.  Yes, we are in this for the long haul and yes, we need to remind ourselves of this often when we get discouraged.

Jonathan began each morning with 7am staff meetings and his day ended around midnight on most nights (the final night was 2am).  The kids and I began our day with breakfast at 8:30 followed by some free time before the morning meeting.  I brought a storage container of activities, books and games for the kids to do during our free time.  They were well occupied with Leapsters during the speaking sessions, so I was able to listen and take in what was being said.  We had fairly good weather during our time.  Lots and lots of wind and just one day of light rain.  But what can you expect from the mountains in the early spring?  The kids stayed up late each night, which went over much better than our camp experience 3 years ago.  Emma and Luca got naps a couple of days which helped.  The food was awesome!  Next time, the kids should be big enough that I can work on staff in the kitchen.  How great would that be?!  The dishes are so simple, but the flavors are absolutely incredible.  Our kids scarfed everything down (all except Luca of course).

I took snippets of video and put them together in the following video.  Nothing spectacular, but it does put more life in to our time at camp for you to see versus just pictures.