Pumpkin Time

We found our pumpkins at a local fruit and vegetable store this year. No pumpkin patches to be found here, but maybe someday. Halloween is just starting to become a holiday here. Costumes are all witches, ghosts and scary stuff. Sunday someone in church made Angel cookies and gave a lesson why Halloween should not be celebrated by Christians during the Sunday School time for the older kids. I had a conversation with Barbara today who really doesn't know what to do about sending her kids to school on Wednesday because they will be partying and celebrating Halloween and other believers are telling her not to send her kids. I honestly don't even remember the whole reason behind Halloween anymore as it is all about dressing kids up in cute little costumes and getting candy in the States. But with it just starting to be recognized here in the past 5 years or so, people are asking the why and purpose. Guess I need to do some more research.

With Cody's birthday falling on Halloween we always had an excuse growing up to be partying for another reason. By the way Happy Almost 23rd Birthday Code-ster!

Samuel's pre-school is having a party on Wednesday but he will not be going only because we have a very important date at the Questura. Our permits to stay (permesso) are complete so we need to go pick them up and every family member is obligated to be present. So that will be our excitement for the day (and year) to finally have those in hand after 6 months of processing and waiting.

Sickbay

This week we have been house bound with heavy colds, probably an upper respiratory infection for all and touch of influenza. Samuel stayed home from school all week and is still working his way through this nasty cold. The week has been abundant with sleepless nights, soar throats, fevers and throw up. We love that Samuel is able to go to pre-school but this is definitely not one of the aspects we enjoy...him bringing home all kinds of lovely germs. Oh well!

So to pass the time and make things fun we have played lots of dress up and made some crafts.

The other night as we began our family devotions Luca crawled up in to my lap looked straight in my eyes and pointed his index finger at me and said "YOUUU!" It was the funniest thing because he kept his lips in a perfect little O for the longest time. Of course, my burst of laughter and surprise of his language use just egged him on to keep doing it. So here's a pic of Luca saying "YOUUU"

"American Girl Dolls"

As a mother I would probably would never spend the money to buy a doll and matching clothes for my daughter. But hey, GRANDMOTHERS are totally allowed! Emma was very excited to match her baby. Samuel kept saying Emma is a "Cheetah" and she kept responding: "I'm not a cheetah, I'm a GIRL!"

Ups and Downs

God holds all things in His hands--praise be His name! Although, sometimes it is still hard not to question His plans and ways. Today I spoke both with Giulia and Manuela on the phone. Both were discouraged and struggling. Giulia is still emotionally and spiritually down after the loss of her baby. She trusts in God's sovreignty but the pain is still very deep. God's ways are higher than ours. I pray that she will be drawn closer to her Savior and that His comfort and peace would flood her aching heart.

Manuela slept very little last night and was very emotional on the phone today. I can totally sympathize with her and how lack of sleep affects the mind and body. She has a 14 month old daughter to care for and just feels overwhelmed. She has less than a week before her scheduled c-section but each day feels like an eternity. I can't help but wonder how differently she would be treated if she were in the States...I have never hurt so much by looking at another pregnant woman. We hope to have her, Raffaele and Naomi over on Sunday afternoon if she is feeling up to it.

Jonathan's parents left on Monday and arrived safely back to Michigan. What a joy to see them, for the special bonding with the kids, and for the mutual encouragement their trip was. We treasure these special family times!!

Miguel also had his appointment with the Italian Embassy in the Dominican Republic. It was an awful experience and things did not fair well at all for him. Pray for wisdom as they try to determine if they attempt one more time or if this is God's answer in closing the door. I will copy a portion of an email that they wrote to describe the outcome:

Upon entry into the consulate, Miguel was given #7 in line. But then they asked to see his bank statement and laughed and said that if he wanted to wait he could but they were going to deny him and then they switched his number with an old lady's number which put him last place in line. So when he finally got to the interview, they just reemed him out and said all his paperwork was bad. The bank letter was no good because it was obvious we put the money in there just for this interview; the work letter was no good because any person his age doesn't make that much money in this country; Jon's letter was no good because he isn't Italian, etc. etc. In the end they kept his passport and told him to return for it in 15 days and if we wanted we could reapply at the end of the month. In the end, Miguel left saying they were a people badly educated because of the way they treated people. I guess they were calling people stupid idiots and other demeaning things. If it weren't for wanting to play with the nieces and nephews in the snow...he said he has no idea why anyone would want to go to Italy if thats the way they treat you. So I guess now we know how to pray for you guys!

I know this is getting long but there were some upsides to the week (I'll try to be quick). On Monday the kids were playing out in the yard when I saw that Luca had initiated a conversation with a passing neighbor, who was out strolling her 5 month old daughter. We struck up a conversation and she was thrilled that we were American (really rare!) She speaks English very well and has an uncle that lives in Boston. She has been on maternity leave for almost a year from a job that requires her to speak English. She was so excited to use some English again. Her name is Aida and she has already offered to be my language helper. What a blessing to have someone so close, willing, and really very sweet and easy to talk to. I think she too craves for something outside of the home and some conversation with another young mother (she's older than I, my guess is later 30s). I met her husband, Carlo, yesterday as he was driving home and Aida and I were chatting. He said that his wife was SO excited to have someone who speaks English close by and that is younger. We hope to have them over for dinner in the next week or so and then will set up a time to have our conversation exchange of English/Italian. So please pray for Carlo, Aida and baby, Lucia. We are thrilled for this new God-sent contact!! (and for our dear children who continually open doors for us!)

Points of Prayer

• Munga and Grandma left this morning to return Michigan. Pray for physical and emotional strength for their long journey home. Pray also for the kids, they are missing them already and keep asking to go to The Michigan. The concept of seeing them in six months is not understandable to them. We were so blessed by their visit!
• Tuesday at 9am (EST) Miguel has his interview at the Italian Consolate in the Dominican Republic. Please pray that he will be granted a tourist visa so that he and Jennie can join us for Christmas. The papertrail already has been ridiculously complicated and difficult, pray that all his documents will be accepted and that they will have a definitive answer tomorrow. (For those who don't know...Jennie is also pregnant and due in May! So excited for another niece or nephew!)
• We have been officially approved for our furlough from April to September 2008. Now we begin the process of scheduling visits at our supporting churches, seeking new supporters as we are $600/month undersupported, and visits with family. If your church is looking to take on new missionaries let us know!
• Pray for two of my friends: Giulia was 3 1/2 months pregnant with her second child when they found out that the baby did not have a brain. They removed the baby last week. Please pray for her, her husband, Lino and 10 year old son, Rudolfo. Manuela is also pregnant and due with her second in just a few days. She will be having a c-section on the 17th. She can barely walk and is having very poor circulation in her arms and legs which is resulting in sleepless nights for her. Pray for strength on this final stretch. Pray that we might be able to be a special encouragement to these two families.

Sandbox

The highlight of the week was Munga building the kids a sandbox. The materials were bought on Monday and thank goodness it was completely assembled the next day. We would have worked through the night just to stop Samuel from repeatedly saying every 30 seconds...put the sand in the sandbox! No joke about the time span there. If ever there was a persistent child, it would be Samuel. Emma kept asking for the beach and may have been slightly disappointed that there was no water to accompany the sand. Luca was pretty hesitant about putting his feet in the sand...come to think of it the last time he was at the beach was when he was 3 months old. He quickly joined in the fun and likes to disperse the sand across the yard. Thankfully the weather has been nice as well for them to enjoy some play time in beach attire.

Thank you Munga and Grandma!

Happy times with Grandma

"Appy" Luca

Munga working on winterizing our windows to prevent some major drafts and water

Samuel helping build the sandbox

A new found joy

Some serious playing and digging

Sand, sand everywhere!

Precious little feet

Weekend Travels

Here is a quick recap of the weekend. Saturday we had a break in the rain and therefore took a day trip to Briancon, France. It is a very quaint city just across the boarder and in to the mountains. The historical part of the city is enclosed in an old Fort. Unfortunately, we went in between the peak seasons of summer and winter skiing, so most of the shop owners were vacationing because almost everything was closed. We still had lots of fun and enjoyed our picnic lunch at the park as well. On our way home we stopped in the center of Leini' for some amazing gelato (ice cream) and walked a bit around town.

Sunday we went to church in Avigliana at "Il Faro" (The Lighthouse) and was able to introduce Jonathan's parents to the rest of our ABWE team. Next Sunday we'll be able to finally get to our church in Torino. Sunday afternoon we went to a birthday party for Diego who turned 2. He is the Farina's grandson. It went well and things were more under control than the last two parties we have been too. In other words our kids weren't beat up by the end.

Jonathan and I have our Quarterly Field Council meeting tomorrow morning. We hope to get our furlough proposal approved so that we can start to officially plan our return to the states this spring. Wednesday we have a parent's meeting at Samuel's school. So it is a very busy week with school, meetings, dinner engagements this weekend etc.

Here are a few pics of the Kleises visit: