There and back again by, Samuel

Hello! I'm Samuel. For this blog post I'm you're guest writer. If you don't know who in the world am I, I'll give you a few words: I am 12 years old and in the 6th grade. I am 5'6''.  I've never written a blog post before, but I think it's worth a shot! Mamma thought I should write this post because there were a whole lot of things she missed out on when I was at the conference in Prague.

First there's the trip to talk about. This time we drove and didn't fly. When I heard Dada tell Emma and Luca that we were going to drive they rejoiced because they are sick of Ryanair (the airline we often use to go on trips), but if I were them I'd give it a second, maybe a third thought about it. When I heard the news I was like, "What!?" This was new to me, not flying and driving from Italy to the Czech Republic. I mean it's pretty far.
When we got in the car that we rented, we were so cramped in there with all the food and stuff to bring. I was the only one who had to bring homework. Just think about it. You're in a small car with only five seats with a fat bag between your legs that weighed, I don't know, 20-30 pounds!
Once we got halfway down Strada Salga I felt like I forgot something! I looked into my bag and I didn't find my camera! Papa and Nano's birthday present! We had to turn around and then we were on the road (again!)!

Road Trip Car Fun

We drove five and a half hours in the car from home to Munich, Germany. We went to three new countries in one day. That's a family traveling record we set. We went to Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Germany.
Switzerland was sort of a deja vu for my parents (the last time we were there was in 2007, which was the second blog post, but since I was only 3 I barely remember it). I took some beautiful pictures of the Alps and running streams.

Eating dinner in Lichtenstein with Castle behind me

Then came Austria, which was kind of cool, but I found Lichtenstein the most inspiring for the book I'm writing. I imagined a small village on this hill. I asked Dada what he thought would be on that hill. Unsurprisingly, he said Edoras (Lord of the Rings location) would be up there.

In all the trip for me was unpleasant at first not being used to it, but then we got used to it and were OK; plus we listened to the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer before we got to Germany.
Once we got to the Westside of Munich it was 10:00. No night-time reading for me! We got settled in there in no time. Emma and Mamma got separated in another room leaving me with Dada and Luca. I called these two rooms the "guys' room" and the "gals' room". Dada and I couldn't sleep until midnight (mainly because Luca stole my entire bed while he was sleeping)!
When we woke up, we checked out and set off to Starbucks to get some mugs, for what I call the "mug hoard", with Germany and München written on them and, of course, a cup of coffee.
After that we went to the Dachau Concentration Camp. It was just days away from the 70th anniversary of it's liberation. We took a two and a half hour tour of the place. It felt like a pretty sad place to me, how people were stripped of all their freedom and dignity. Only twelve toilets with no privacy for 800 people. A cremating furnace to burn the bodies. A gas chamber that looks like a shower to fool the people (even though it was only used to for gas experiments, not mass executions at this location). Seriously, notice that what happened should never happen again!

After that we set off for a four hour drive on part 2 of the trip from Munich to Prague. This trip was a little more pleasant than the day before now that I was used to it. But then things got complicated a little when we were stuck in traffic and Dada missed the turn to get to the hotel so we had to make an entire circle around it taking longer for us to get to the hotel. Luckily we got there barely in time to eat dinner. We arrived pretty late to the kids program where I found out they had been playing a bean bag game for a while before we got there. We went to eat breakfast at 8:00 every morning which was usually chocolate muffins, brioches, bacon and hot chocolate. We went to the kids program until lunch, ate dinner with the kids and got back to our room around 11:00 each night.

Day 2: we went on a boat tour of the Vltava River that runs through Prague. I took quite a bit of pictures and videos of the trip. We were told of some history of Prague and it's floods and saw a giant metronome that was supposed to be a music school.

Day 3: I went with the kids group to the zoo. It was pretty far because it took 14 train stops and quite a few bus stops. That stank also with a hurt foot. But it was totally worth it. I took way more pictures of the animals than day 2.




After the zoo we ate pizza at Sbarro that considered itself "inspired by true Italian pizza". When it didn't get near to Italian pizza standard, I was very disappointed (I used almost half of the napkins just to soak up the extra grease). After that we split up: Emma and the girls went to a leader's house and me, Luca and our friend Isaac went to the kids' room to watch The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Day 4: we checked out of the hotel and began the ten hour drive back to Italy.  On the way we stopped at Flossenbürg Concentration Camp were Bonhoeffer was executed. We got caught in a thunderstorm and got soaking wet, but luckily we found shelter inside until the storm passed.  It was only a short stop there at the camp. While we were going back to the car the air was being filled with somber music because of the commemoration service that was being held for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Flossenbürg.

We listened to two Chronicles of Narnia books on the way home. In Switzerland it was raining and cloudy. It was pretty scary when you're up in the mountains and you can barely see anything and at every turn there's a cliff. But thank the Lord who protected us and helped Dada the entire way to drive correctly. I slept for an hour or two and when I woke up it was midnight. But at least we were safely home.

Spring Piano Recital

Samuel and Emma picked up the piano again this year after having taken a year off.  They have enjoyed their lessons and always have a good time with their instructor/director of the school.  Franco is a character and is always making the kids laugh.  I think the first time they met him they thought he looked like a pirate with one large hoop earring, long hair and medallion necklace.  He is passionate about music (and keeping super short nails!!) and just a really fun loving guy who makes the kids feel comfortable.

This is the first recital that they have participated in and so they were kind of nervous what to expect. It was held at the school and so felt very intimate and crammed with standing room only.  Thankfully,  only the piano, voice and violin students participated in this portion of the the recital making our evening relatively shorter.  It began at 8:30 but our kids didn't get on to play until 10:30. Both kids did fantastic! We are so proud of them and their efforts in learning and progressing with their piano skills.

Emma played "Il Nuovo Giorno" (The New Day) by Bastien

Samuel played "Largo" by Dvorak-Bastien and "Come Rock Stars" duet by R. Vinciguerra

I wish I could translate this video and Franco's comments about Samuel and Emma, but maybe you'll just have to ask the kids what he said.  I will say, however, that Franco did mention to the crowd how Samuel is writing a 500 page book and how he has completed 12 pages so far. I missed the comments he had about Emma in the video, but it had to do with the little American correcting his English. 

And just because the sky was so spectacular on this evening here is our painted pink sky, pink tree blossoms and pink blooming flower bush....welcome Spring!!

New Teammates Arrive

It has been a long time in coming for us to receive new teammates on the field. In fact, we were the last ones to arrive and that was nearly TEN years ago! Can you believe that?!

June 2005 - Samuel (2), Emma (7 mos)

Five and a half years ago Lindsey and Meredith started their journey to Italy as career workers. With much perseverance, determination, blood, sweat and tears God was faithful to provide for them and bring them finally here.

They were scheduled to arrive in Torino on March 21, but unfortunately they got caught in the Lufthansa strike and were unable to depart as planned.  They ended up being delayed four days and requiring us to adjust our plans too. Welcome to cross-cultural living where flexibility is key!

We are thankful for their safe arrival and for the four and a half days we had them in our home. Their kids are just precious and actually about one year older each than Samuel and Emma were when we arrived on the field.  Just seeing their little ones brought back such a wave of emotion and memory of our own arrival. And now that Jonathan has been with them in Perugia these past four days, he too has been walking down memory lane of our time spent there. Like driving by our old apartment, the park our kids played at and the hospital where Luca was born...

Our apartment was on the 3rd floor

We are so grateful for the Lord's faithfulness and for his sustaining grace and mercies to keep us here and now to bring a new family to serve here alongside us (well in 2 years that is when they learn the language and move up here). Please keep this dear family in your prayers as you think of them. Their son got sick the night they arrived to Perugia and required an ER visit the next day...nothing like breaking them in easy with the medical system! But at least Jonathan was there to walk alongside them through the process.

Now let's pray we don't have to wait another 10 years for new teammates!

Happy 9th Birthday, Luca!

I tried my best to get this post up during the month of March, but once again it got pushed off until April since parenting solo the past four days while maintaining ministries is kind of tough. Poor Luca was really sad the other day when he was perusing the blog trying to find posts about him and his birthdays and could not find them listed in the month of March. He said "Mamma you don't like me very much because you don't write about my birthday." I immediately showed him that sometimes he has to look at the month of April, but without fail his birthdays are indeed ALWAYS documented and that he is very much liked and loved! With his birthday being on March 29th I am glad he extended some grace towards me once again as I blog about his birthday in April.

This year we celebrated a day early as we had our new teammates arrive on the field and Jonathan had to leave on Luca's birthday to go to Perugia to get them settled in. It was a busy week of hosting a family of four in our home, plus dog-sitting and piano recital over the weekend, so I guess it was pretty amazing that I found time to make him a cake at all. More time would have meant more detail, but he was happy with the rushed result. Luca requested a Jedi Star Fighter cake this year.

This year marks the final year where we will have a single digit person under our roof.  We are passing through these seasons of life far too quickly in my opinion!

Luca you are the energy of this family, always on the move and always ready for a good rough and tumble with your dad.  You are a force to be reckoned with, powerful and strong even with your selected dietary intake. You have grown and matured this past year showing more confidence, perseverance and determination to do hard things, especially in school.  You are a friend to all, ready to defend the weak and not afraid to go against the flow.

You love to make people smile and laugh at your silly antics. You are still a LEGO maniac who loves to create and imagine.  You love math and are a genius at doing it all in your head. This year has been challenging for you at times as you have learned division and multiplication of multiple digit numbers and get frustrated that you have to show your work long hand, when you already know the answer in your head. But we all need to learn the foundations of math that will help us excel when problems get even harder.

You are super competitive in games, sports and with your siblings. It is hard to not always be the first or the best, but you are growing in emotional self-control even though it is a process. You love dogs and it is hard to pull you away after school as you just love to pet your friends' puppies.

You are so loved, Luca! You always will be no matter what! Our hearts cry is that you would trust in Jesus with all your heart, mind and strength, that you would use your God-given talents and gifts for His glory to serve Him and love and bless others. You are one very special boy whom we are so very proud of to has a son.

Happy 9th Birthday, Luca!

Madrid

Jonathan was home one day after returning from Hungary. Just enough time (barely) to wash and line dry a new set of clothes for the week before his departure for the annual Western Europe Field Leader's Meeting. This year's meeting was held in Madrid, Spain. All went well both for him and us on the home front. The only pictures he took during the week were from his dining experience at the oldest restaurant in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Their specialty...suckling pig!

Pig brains--yum! I told him this picture proves nothing and that a video would have been more convincing that that actually went in his stomach. But it did get a reaction out of the kids and therefore, accomplished his goal of grossing them out.😝

Budapest

We flew in and out of Budapest for our conference because really how could we not when it cost only 250 euros for our entire family of FIVE! Isn't that crazy-wonderful?! Anyway, after our conference concluded we drove back to Budapest where we spent the night before flying out the next day.  We basically just had a few hours on Friday evening to sightsee as it turned out. The kids were beyond exhausted after the week and were not exactly in the mood for traipsing around the city.  At one point I had two kids in tears on top of Castle Hill because of a sore foot and the other one was missing her new friends and bawling.  We had hoped to see more, but for the sanity of our family we called it quits after seeing St. Stephen's Basilica, Chain Bridge, Castle Hill and dinner.  We will just have to return maybe another time to explore more of what looks like a fabulous city. 

 St. Stephen's Basilica

 Walking along the Danube River on the Pest side

 Ready to walk across the Chain Bridge to reach the Buda side of the city

 View of Buda Castle

 View of the Hungarian Parliament building from Castle Hill

We hiked up the side of the hill in the dark to reach the top of Castle Hill, thus explaining and probably justifying the child melt downs. But the view was totally worth it!

We were surprised by a cultural experience that made the city appear very dirty and literally, trashy. Throughout the city on just about every block there were these huge piles of trash dumped on the streets with homeless digging through the piles. It was dark and very unnerving for Emma--she was not impressed at all with Budapest! We later found out that each city district, not only in Budapest but throughout Hungary has an annual dump your trash day where the city will remove your trash for free. It must be expensive to dump trash because the entire city seemed to have exploded. Guess we hit the special night!

Street performers were out as well and we were particularly impressed with this man playing water glasses.

The metro ride at the end of the night...need I say more about their tiredness?!