Start of Fall

It has been a good and busy week for us. Jonathan was asked on Sunday to give the first devotional for our fall kick-off with our small group. I guess it is a huge compliment to only be given four days notice to prepare a lesson in Italian. Needless to say, he spent the first half of the week working diligently on putting that together.

Catherine was able to come over last night for dinner and then stay to watch the kids for us. For the first time since March I was able to attend the prayer meeting with Jonathan. It was great to see everyone and to be a support to Jonathan as well. He did a great job working his way through the overview of Acts. He will conclude next week and give the answer for why he asked us to turn to Acts 29 in our Bibles. We are praying that Catherine's schedule will allow her to come over every other week so that I can join the small group meetings. She is such a servant to volunteer her services to us!

I also registered for my private lessons and will begin this coming Tuesday. I will have my same teacher, Alessandra. She is a wonderful teacher and I pray that I might be a shining testimony and that she might start to ask some "why" questions that will take our conversation to a deeper level. So that means I need lots of prayer as I continue to learn and grow in the language.

The kids are doing well. We have noticed a marked difference over the past few weeks in their use of the Italian language. We are so excited to hear them interject phrases and words in to their everyday interactions with each other. Even Luca used his first Italian word yesterday. He brought over his sort shaper (you know the blue and red Tupperware ball?) and said "Apri" which means "open." I was blown away! Okay, so it may have been a fluke thing but I don't think so since we all know that we have the most intelligent kids, right? Haha!

Here are a few pics that just put a smile on my face...

Super-Emma...did we mention she is petite?

Emma found this bicycle helmet that goes with the child seat (still needing to be attached to our bike) and she would not stop wearing it for entire week. The mark by her eye was caused by Samuel who threw a book at her and now she has a lovely scar.

Hat day

Yes, Luca is quite the ham! He is such a chatterbox without his cuicio!