Winter Wonderland

A couple of weeks ago, we had a real heavy fog followed by freezing temps over night.  I snapped a few pictures of the "snow" that crystalized and covered everything, thinking it would as close to snow we could get this season.

The first snow fall of the season came over the weekend.  I don't think the kids could have been happier!  There was as much anticipation of waking up to a snow covered ground as there was for Christmas morning.  The snow did however, foil our plans to get to church as it took Jonathan 2 hours to dig ourselves out to the street, thanks to the 3 feet of snow the snow plow shoved into our driveway.  My man has some real brawn and even at that, there is something about heaving wet and heavy snow (not exactly the white fluff like in Michigan) in the drizzling rain, then later turned snow that really takes it out of you.  Makes for a good excuse to have a pot of coffee on all day.

This is our snow in Leinì...

One Thousand Gifts

For Christmas, I received from Jonathan, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, by Ann Voskamp.  It was a book that I have been wanting to read for a year, but was waiting to get it in book form instead of on the Kindle. I had heard it was a book I would want to read over and over again.  After reading it, I would agree.  One reason being, I felt there was so much to absorb and take in.  It is written in a poetic style that requires much concentration and contemplation as to what she is even trying to say at times.  For some, that style of writing might be a huge turn off and distraction, but for me I found it beautiful and inspiring.

Ann uses the book to tell her testimony and how the act of thanksgiving and intentional gratitude has transformed her life and her relationship with God, providing a way of seeing ALL as grace and thus allowing her to fully live.  She takes you on a journey through her pain, trials, questioning and discovery of the joy that is found in Christ.  I appreciate how she didn't just leave the challenge to list our gratitude for His graces, but to then BE grace to those around you.  "A life contemplating the blessings of Christ becomes a life acting the love of Christ" (p.184). And "to give the thanks away. That thanks-giving might literally become thanks-living" (p. 192). "

This year I am taking the 2012 Joy Dare Challenge of listing 1,000 gifts and moments of graces in my life.  Praying that I may learn to see more of Christ through the messy, mundane and every day moments of life.

FOR ALL IS GRACE!!

Sur.viv.al

Sur.viv.al:  The act or fact of surviving, especially under adverse or unusual circumstances.

Being in "survival mode" is really a place I don't like to find myself.  That feeling of sometimes just barely getting by is draining.  However, for the past two weeks that is where we have been as a family.  I have not had the strength to keep up with more than the bare minimum to keep our home functioning.  I have handed off nearly every task as a mother and homemaker to my husband.  He has worn so many hats these past couple of weeks, and has done so with joy as he has selflessly served me, our kids and our King.  Our love and appreciation for each other has certainly grown through this recent trial!  Did I mention that not only has he had to care for me, but two kids who had the flu during this time as well?

I am making progress in my recovery, even if it is frustratingly slow.  Sometimes it is two steps forward and one step back.  As is the case for me today.  I went to the grocery store yesterday and made dinner last night, and today I am feeling the strain and toll those tasks took of my body.

In the forced quiet and rest of these past weeks, I have been learning so much.  I have seen and marveled at God's grace over and over again.  I have been broken and strengthened in my weakness.  Resting in Him I have found joy and peace.  I have wrestled with fear and the what if's of my own body's frailty, and have had to cast those constantly before the Lord.  I have struggled with feelings of worth, only to have the Spirit reveal to me that I was putting my feeling of worth and value in the things I can accomplish, rather than in my Creator and who I am in Him.  I have had lots of reading time and have been challenged and convicted deeply.  This has not been wasted time for me, even though it may be tempting to think so when I have spent more time sunk into the cushions of the couch than I wish to acknowledge.  

God is working and right now he has chosen to do as I am wholely drained of all physical strength, making me wholely dependant on His strength.  I am thankful for this trial and pray that He will be glorified and His name lifted high as a result.

His Protection

Our Christmas vacation ended with quite an unexpected bang, of sorts.  I had three blog posts I was hoping to get written before the weekend, but my delay can be explained by the following happenings in our household...

I woke up Thursday morning around 5am with some extreme itching.  I felt like I had gotten bit in several spots, so got up to put some anti-itch cream on.  I returned to a light sleep before feeling as though I was getting bit again.  I got out of bed at that point, not wanting to continue to be live bait for some happy little creature.  The itching subsided and I had no more issues apart from still seeing a couple of red spots on my stomach and arms.

Later that afternoon, for our family fun day we headed to the Egyptian museum in Torino (post to come).  I started to feel itchy again after getting in the car but had forgotten to bring the anti-itch cream.  I thought, oh well, I am sure I will survive a few hours.  The itching kept getting worse and I would rub and scratch only feeling slightly gratified by the relief that would provide.  We continued on and I tried to enjoy the museum but was completely distracted by the growing discomfort.  Thankfully it was a small museum!

When we got back to the car I lifted up my shirt only to discover welts and redness across my entire torso, front and back, and arms.  Something was not right!  We stopped at the pharmacy on the way home and got a mega anti-histamine.  The pharmasist was convinced my reaction was not from a bug, but rather a food or contact allergy.  Nothing changed in my diet, so I knew it was not that.  I had to then think back over 24 hours previously when I used a sample liquid talc I received from a store.  That was the only thing different and I am convinced the cause of my allergic reaction.

I nearly cried when I got home seeing my body covered in hives, but not much time to dwell on that with dinner that must be gotten out and a family to be cared for.  The drugs started to kick in after dinner in which I started to feel pretty groggy, but unable to sleep because of the pain still.  A baking soda bath was taken and finally around midnight I was able to doze off and get some good sleep.

The itching did not return and just some slight skin discoloration remained when I woke up.  I took my second dose upon waking up in the morning as instructed by the pharmasist and was back in bed two hours later sleeping.  After lunch I started to feel some chest pain and pressure, almost like I had a piece of food in my esophogus that I could not swallow.  I felt completely lethargic, struggled to put thoughts together and just not all there.  I decided I would not take my 3rd dose in the evening but rather when I went to bed that night.  After eating dinner I started to get severe chest pain and felt nauseous.  The sweating followed and when I got up to go to the bathroom my world started to spin and turn black and it was hard to breathe.  Apparently my lips were blue and face ashen.  I called Jonathan and told him to call emergency.  He was giving them our address when I started to pull out of it.  I never completely lost consciousness, thankfully.  I started to recover and he decided to bring me in himself.

So pajama adorned and kids in tow, we headed to the "guarda medica" here in town.  We figured best to go locally before having to drive the distance to an ER.  The doctor on call there is equipped to handlle some basic non-emergency medical care.  She checked me out and although my blood pressure was still low, everything else was okay after experiencing anaphylactic shock.  She took me off the drug I had and gave me a cortezone shot to continue the treatment for my allergic skin reaction, which had not reappeared since the previous night.

I am so thankful for the Lord's protection over me.  For the strength given to Jonathan and the kids when seeing Mamma not feeling well.  His grace is always sufficient and all glory is given to Him in the good and hard experiences of life.  It is Monday, and I am still experiencing weakness and not 100% yet.  The hives are gone, but the body is still recovering internally I guess from these 2 back to back allergic reactions.

I know that was a long post, but I wanted to write it out so I can look back and be reminded of God's protection and watchcare over our family.

Christmas 2011

...the little ones slept in by our standards, with the last one rolling out of bed at 8:00am.  We began our morning by concluding our readings of the Jesse Tree Advent and the Noel Piper Advent Calendars.

Then before digging into stockings and presents we wanted to give some special gifts to those who may not even have food to eat or a warm home on Christmas day.  The kids enjoyed chosing gifts of chickens, blankets and Bibles for people in Asia.  We chose to give through the Gospel for Asia organization and pray that these seemingly small gifts would be an enormous blessing to those in physical and spiritual need.

Presents were opened with sheer delight and we enjoyed watching the faces and reactions on the kids faces.  (Far too many pictures to filter through, as I think there is a photo of each gift they opened.  To family: if you want to see any of them, let me know.)

Luca has a crazy face, I know, but it was the clearest picture that I got of them

We enjoyed our traditional Christmas morning cinnamon rolls.

Then began lunch preparations.  We had our colleague, Melissa, over for lunch and the remainder of the day.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable afternoon, but this mamma started to hit a wall by late afternoon.  We also enjoyed a weekend full of skype chats with family around the world.  So thankful for technology and the ability to see our precious family members!  It took several days to kind of catch up, but that is what vacation time is for.  Nothing major went on this week and nothing major is planned for New Years.  We have our fireworks ready and the kids are looking forward to staying up until midnight playing games and watching movies.  We'll see if they last.

Happy New Year everyone!  Thanks for tracking with our family in 2011!

Christmas Eve

A very busy week for us leading up to Christmas.  Just one of those weeks where you find yourself up on your feet from morning 'til night.  But, hey at least I WAS up on my feet with no illness...a huge point of praise!  I made 375 cookies in one day during the middle of the week for the outreach and our neighbors.  As a family we made a visit on Thursday night to one of Jonathan's close friends, who is struggling financially, to deliver a food basket to him.  After that I got my birthday dinner in at a Chinese restaurant.

Saturday we made our annual delivery of cookies and calendars to our neighbors.  Such a simple thing that requires a little advance planning, but that really says so much.  Our neighbors are always taken a back by the gesture.  One elderly woman invited us up for a coffee and we enjoyed our time with her and she more so.  She said she would always remember the gift and act of kindness.  Praying these traditions will also speak greatly to the hearts of our children as well.

We hosted our home group meeting over Christmas Eve dinner.  Then we went out for the first time since living in our fraction of town to visit the live nativity.  It is an annual event that takes place just around the corner.  We wanted to go out last year, but it got cancelled due to rain and I'm pretty sure the years previous we were sick or something.  So glad we made it this year!

It was really a fun walk through Bethlehem with various stalls throughout the street leading up to the parking lot where the kids' school is and local church.  Many of Samuel's classmates were participating in the reinactments so there were many greetings to be made along the route.

Getting a slab of freshly curned butter, that was as thick as the bread.  Loved the free samples!

Samuel and Emma with a schoolmate at the bakery

Wood cutters at the carpenter shop

The stable and manger.  Baby Jesus gets placed in the manger at midnight, followed by Mass.

Our kids and Nathan posing for a photo op

Shepherds were watching over their sheep

They even created a pond with live fish

The desert where the wiseman lived (no camels)

Warming up over the many open fires

I think I forsee a new family Christmas tradition.  Three late nights in a row and hoping the excitement for Christmas morning would not awake anyone too early...

Christmas Outreach

 

Thank you to everyone who receives our newsletters, and who knew to be praying for our recent outreach event.  This was, for us, a late addition to our holiday season of activities.  The initiative was taken by those within our group to request the participation from the children's group, reserve the theater and distribute over 500 flyers at local schools and shops for this event.  We are so thankful for the willingness of the workers and performers from our mother church in Torino to add this second performance to their schedule.  It was afterall the 23rd and the first day of vacation for the children, and yet a full participation was given.

This was a first for us in Caselle, so we really had no idea how this was going to go over or how many to expect.  We did discover that that same night was the live nativity followed by Mass in Caselle.  We had many say they would like to come but that they were going to Mass that night.  Definitely a schedule conflict we want to avoid for next year!  The theater holds 140 and to give a rough estimate, we would say it was about 80% full.  It was a great facility and a place we will keep in mind for future events, considering it was a free rental to us as an association.  Many from the church in Torino were present, however, we were thankful to see a handful of new family faces from the community.  Please continue to pray as we try to faithfully make our evangelical presense know to our community through love, service and sharing of the Good News.

A very much before shot of the atrium area where we had two tables of food and one for gifts for all who attended:  Scripture calendars, candles, balloons, panetone from Compassion and a Manga booklet of the story of the Messiah.  The ladies of our church provided all the food--and there was plenty of it!  I failed to get any during the event shots, as my hands were completely occupied pouring drinks and blowing up balloons to give to very anxious recipients.

Waiting for the program to start and the arrival of more people.

"Jesus-the only Savior"

Jonathan was able to give a 5-minute presentation of the gospel at the end of the program.  He did a great job tying together the pieces from what was presented in the program and making clear the reason and importance of celebrating Christmas.  Again...no picture of him as I got up to catch a new family as they were leaving and then to ready the refreshment tables.  Our kids jumped right in to serve along Mamma and hand out balloons. They did a great job!  By the end of the night they were shot--we all were.  Thankful for the night and most of all for our Savior who gives us His great message of hope, love and peace!