Newsletter - January 2009

Here is our January 2009 newsletter, which is the first newsletter for 2009. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Newsletter - December 2008

Here is our December 2008 newsletter, which is the fifth newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Newsletter - September 2008

Here is our September 2008 newsletter, which is the fourth newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Newsletter - June 2008

Here is our June 2008 newsletter, which is the third newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Newsletter - April 2008

Here is our April 2008 newsletter, which is the second newsletter for 2008. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Newsletter - January 2008

Here is our January 2008 newsletter. Click above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

How God Takes Care of Us

So....these last couple of weeks, we are constantly reminded of how God is there taking care of us, when we ask and even when we don't.

For instance, two days ago I was out for a meeting and was returning home. I had just talked with Angie and told her I could stop by our favorite pizza by the slice place and pick up some pizza for lunch, when she asked if I had been able to pick up some dishwasher calcium cleaner. I hadn't and she said not to worry about it that she would get it later in the day. I decided to go ahead and go by the store to pick it up to help her out. As I was walking I thought of the two air conditioner holes in our windows and how I needed to call the glass guy (in Italy you have a glass guy) to replace the panes before we moved. I thought of how difficult it can be to get ahold of this guy and kind of started to worry (my bad). You see we don't have much time left. So, I got to the street where our grocery store is (in Italy you have a grocery store - it's one block from our house) and I walked right by a guy carrying a pane of glass. Funny, I didn't think a thing of it...yet. I looked in at the grocery store at the line was extremely long...I thought about it and didn't think that Angie would want me to wait in the line that long just for the cleaner, so I turned around and headed home. Then I passed the guy carrying another pane of glass. I walked right by him and then stopped dead in my tracks. At first I just thought he was putting up some glass shelving in the store he was going in, but the panes were big....was he a glass guy? Could this be God's way of setting something up with some other glass guy so that we could get things moving in the glass department? I turned around and he was bringing another pane of glass up and I asked him, "do you work for this store or do you work with glass?" He said, "he was a glass guy." I said, "Good because I have two windows with holes that I need to get replaced before we leave." He said, "You'll have to ask the boss," then pointed behind me. When I turned around, there standing before me was our glass guy! I explained what we needed and that we were moving and he said he would come over right after that and measure them. He came and the next day they came and installed the new panes of glass. It was only 60 euro!

Then today, I planned on solving our moving problem. You see living in an apartment has some problems when you have large furniture. In Italy, they have these elevated platforms that you can rent that come up to your balcony and you put your stuff on it. You can also put smaller stuff on it and it saves you from using the elevator or going down the five flights of stairs (we're on the fifth floor). So, Angie helped me find some numbers and I started calling. We had a friend who had told us he knew someone who did moving and he would try to get some information for us. He didn't come through. So that's how we found ourselves four days before our moving date looking through the yellow pages. After calling a few places, it looked bleak. Many couldn't do it that soon because they were booked. And the prices for renting the elevated platform, moving van and having them help move was looking to be too expensive. The average move has a cost of 2,000 euro or more. Just the platform has a cost of 450 euro for a five hours. Remember we take even our kitchen with us, that means it needs to be taken down and then moved to storage as well as the rest of our furnishings. So, I finally called one guy by the name of Pino and he said the elevated platform was available for Tuesday, but we still needed a rental van. He graciously said he could be over in thirty minutes to give us a precise estimate for everything. He came and fifteen minutes later we had hired three movers, the moving van and the elevated platform. The Ancona team is going to be helping us that day too and he took that into account for how many other men he needed to bring. It is going to cost 600 euro for everything. God is awesome and he always takes good care of us.

Newsletter - October 2007

Here's our latest newsletter, enjoy. Click the thumbnail above to view it or right click and choose "save target as" to download it to your computer.

Look at the Size of That...

Have you ever seen a strawberry this big? It fit in the palm of our hands!

What's That Smell?

So, Angie and I were at church yesterday when I leaned over and asked her, "do you smell that?" She looked at me and replied, "No, what did you do?" I was referring to the good smelling food that was being heated up for the monthly potluck. She thought I had meant something else and we had a laugh about it.

It's Almost That Spooky Time Again

I love music. I love using music to celebrate life as we go through it. I love most holiday music or television specials. Combine that with the fact that I liked to get spooked. I know, I know, there aren't such thing as ghosts, but tell that to my goose pimples and standing hair. I like movies that get me a little scared and stories that make me second guess if someone is staring at me in the dark. So, when October hits, I like listening to halloween music and spooky stories. Alas, I broke early this year and listened to some already. One annual favorite is an old armed forces radio show where a journalist is sent to describe the old frankenstein castle in Darnstadt, Germany. Each year, it was replayed each year on the Tulsa news/talk radio station KRMG. By following that link you can find the six minute radio clip online. It was also featured on Boing Boing. It is definitely one of my favorite old radio stories. Make sure you dim the lights before you listen.

In January 2005, Angie and I were driving back from the Mid-Witner Rally in Germany and we stopped in at the old Frankenstein Castle. I first reported back in January 2005, but I am finally getting around to posting some pictures from there.

Also, one of my favorite spooky songs is "Hey There Little Red Riding Hood" by Sam Sham and the Pharaohs. It isn't the lyrics particularly, although they sing them a little scary, but rather because when I was little my brothers (who were ten and twelve years older than I) would play it at night, while telling me there was someone skulking around in the backyard. There wasn't.

Kebabs, Not Shish-Kebabs

So for years, our team in Ancona has enjoyed a delicacy which does not hail from here. It is....(hold for it)....the Kebab. Not to be confused with the shishkebab, which is the small cubes of meat and vegetables skewered for grilling. But this comes from the Döner kebab variant, which in Turkish literally means "rotating meat". It's called this because the meat is on a vertical rotating spit that turns so that it is slowly roasted in front of a vertical glowing orange oven. As it turns the outer edges cook and the slice it off. They put this in a pita bread with various vegetables, including french fries, and mayonnaise and yogurt sauces. If you like it hot, they will also put some hot red pepper sauce. Wikipedia refers to the popularity of the take out kebab throughout europe..."Döner kebab is said to be the best-selling fast food in Germany, Poland and Romania as well as being popular in the UK, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Canada, and Australia." The meat used is usually beef, chicken or lamb. Our favorite place in Ancona has beef and chicken. Here are some pictures of our last outing at Tunital.

Newsletter - September 2007

Here's our latest newsletter, enjoy. Click the thumbnail above to view it or right click and choose "save target as" to download it to your computer.

Stuck in Time

One of my favorite TV shows is The Andy Griffith show. We have been watching it every day at lunch time, while we eat. Life back then, was different, more simple, in small towns for sure people were more trustworthy. The other day, here in Ancona, I was meeting Brian Rotert for coffee and I got to the Cafe a little early. I was the only customer, so I ordered a cafe latte (in Italian it is a Latte Macchiato) and sat down, waiting. I go there often for meetings of accountability and such so the worker knows who I am, but not much mind you. She called over and said that she would be right back, she needed to run down the street and do an errand. So, she left and there I was for several minutes completely alone in a small cafe in Italy. This would happen in America, normally only if you really knew the person, but most of the time, it just wouldn't happen. That is one of the things I like about Italy, the trusting nature of life here. Like when I left a ring to be fixed at a shop and didn't get a receipt or when my watch battery needed to be fixed and the guy told me when to come back and pick it up, yet didn't give me any evidence that I owned that watch for my return.

It's not all roses when it comes to trust though. Most often foreigners are not trusted, usually those from countries other than the US or Britain or somewhere equivalent. And when it comes to religion, politics or people in charge there is quite a wall to be broached. I believe in time this wall can be broached and I pray for it to happen.

Newsletter - August 2007

Here is our August 2007 newsletter. Click to above to view it or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer. You need Adobe Reader installed to view it.

Save Your Rations

One of the things, that is hard to find in Italy is Dr. Pepper. Sometimes we have visitors from the states bring some with them, in the past when we have travelled to Germany we brought some back with us (it's easier to find there) and finally we found a store in Rome that carries Dr. Pepper some of the time, so when we go there we bring some back with us. It is enough to get us by while we are here, actually the Dr. Pepper is more for me, Angie is more of a Root Beer fan, which is also hard to find in Italy. I have been rationing what we have, drinking one as a special drink every once in awhile. I just looked up in the cabinet and there are ten cans left! And since we have about ten weeks left before we leave that means I can have one per week until we depart! Now, if I could just find some more Root Beer for Angie and maybe a little Strawberry pop.

Tomato Juice, Rain and Graphics

So, earlier today it rained. It was a good rain. Not pouring and flooding the streets, but it wasn't sprinkling by any means. The rest of the day it has been cool (in the 60's) with a nice cloudy overcast. I love the rain.....just as long as it doesn't rain all the time!

I have been working on graphics for our new team. Mainly, prayer cards, but it is part of the overall design of our team's promotional materials. What I mean by that is, while I have been working on prayer cards, I have been keeping in mind the banner that I am going to work on next. And while I am working on both of these items, I am imagining/creating the design of our new website, stickers, etc..... But the prayer cards are almost done, just a little tweaking to do after receiving feedback.

Who else likes tomato juice based drinks? I don't drink tomato juice on airplanes anymore because I read that it can affect your stomach and you really don't need to mess with your biological functions and organs anymore than flying already does. But here on the ground, I love em. I just poured me a glass of tomato juice, then sprinkled some pepper, salt and tobasco sauce and finally finished by squirting in some lemon juice. Mmmm good. You should try it some time, although if you have other stomach issues you should leave out the tobasco sauce.

I guess, I need to get back on the graphics. That banner is not going to create itself.

Cars....Who Needs 'Em? We Do!

It is interesting to note that we don't always realize how much we use cars until they aren't around. A couple weeks ago, I went to pick up our niece at the airport in Rome. When I hit the major Rome traffic, something happened with the car. I had been in snail speed traffic for about forty minutes, when all of a sudden the car died and never restarted. I wasn't sure what to do, but then a emergency tow truck came by, he looked at it and then said I needed to have him tow it to thier garage......it looked bad. I still hadn't picked up our niece, but had no choice but to let him take me and the car to the garage. After the mechanic looked over the engine he delivered the bad news. The engine block had overheated and they wouldn't be able to get me the car for several days. I had to leave it in Rome. I called a friend who lives outside of Rome (about forty minutes from where I was) and he got me and our visitors from the airport. He and his wife provided us with lunch before we took the late afternoon train back to Ancona.

About a week and a half later, we returned to Rome, via train travel, and picked up the car. It is a staggering large amount that three of our churches helped us cover. When supporters rise to our needs it always makes us feel supported, and basically feeling the love of God through his Body. About five minutes after picking up the car, the air conditioner stopped, then I noticed the level of gas was noticeably lower than when I had left it in Rome. Start the conspiracy music......Not only do I think they overcharged me, because I was a foreignor, but I also think maybe they even siphoned my gas and took out my freon for the air conditioner!

We came drove back to Ancona, with the windows down the whole way, reminding me of when I would ride with my Dad in his ol' green pickup truck also with no air conditioner. It wasn't bad, but for a four hour ride it the noise got to you a little. That was about a week ago, today I took it into our mechanic here in Ancona. He thought that they definitely overcharged me too, but agreeing there wasn't much I could do. Hopefully, the air conditioner just needs freon, but I'll find out tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I am thankful to God for the life He has provided for Angie and myself. Thankful for all the good that we have seen in our lives. And thankful for seeing God's people act.

How God Comforts Us

We started out this morning on what could have been an incredibly exhausting and spirit broken day...but it wasn't. Every year or two, we have to renew our permits to live and minister here in Italy. We had reached the time to do that once again. We had gotten everything together during the days leading up to this day...the day our living permit expired. A couple days ago, I went to the police station where we have renewed and picked up permits many times in the past in order to ask a question. We had heard that maybe they had changed where and how to renew your permits, so I went to inquire about this. Now, change does not come readily to Italy nor Italians, but for some reason they love exercising their creativity and independence in changing how foreigners apply for and renew their permits. So, when I asked the lone guard at the booth that night, I expected to hear that they had made changes. Unfortunately, he didn't know and said that I just needed to come the next day (Thursday) to get a number for the following day, today. He said that would be my best course of action. So, I followed his advice. The next day came and Angie and I went on a scavenger hunt of sorts to gather all the paperwork needed for our renewal. A government stamp used on legal documents (worth about $20), copies of many legal forms, copies of insurance, four new photos (that ended up costing much more than they were worth since we noticed too late that the machine we used didn't give back change.....and we had used a 10 euro bill, worth about $14). All these things together and the number we had gotten earlier in the evening were enough to put us to bed soundly and uncharacteristically confident the night before going to the police station. That should have been our first sign.......

The next morning we got ready and prayed together before heading up to the police station for the morning....this is usually a two to three hour process, so we were prepared. So, we arrived at the police station, in Italian known as Questura. There were about ten people waiting in the entry way, which is a pittance compared to past visits. Our number was 86, they give out forty numbers for the morning, and ours was not at the beginning, therefore we arrived about forty-five minutes after they opened their doors. I went up to the booth and asked the officer behind the glass, what number they were on since we had just arrived. She said they weren't going in order, how novel. Instead, as long as you had a number you should get in, in fact it didn't matter which day you got it, as long as you had one. Ten would be let in at a time when she let you and those who had been there waiting would get first dibs. We shuffled back through the entryway and found a section of the wall to slide up against. As we stood there, the throng of us watched many Italians, who don't have to wait, as well as others with "supposed" appointments go through the doors. However, not a single one of us with a number went through the "magic" doorway. Finally, an hour and fifteen minutes of waiting and something seemed to be happening. The officer had come to the doorway, outside of her booth, and was pointing at people saying things like, "you're okay", "you can enter", "yeah you too". Angie and I pressed forward and I was trying to make eye contact with the officer. She looked my way and said "okay, you too". I replied, "and my wife?" The officer said, "of course". We were in. Finally we were in. It wasn't long now.

We walked into the immigration chamber that we have been in many times before to see a mass of people with no apparent organization. It seemed incredibly chaotic. I edged to a window to ask for the proper paperwork to fill out and the person behind the glass, seeming frustrated told me to hold on for now. Angie and I gathered with the herd of people that had just made it in near the window, while the man behind the glass told all of us to "stay behind the yellow line please". We all complied, with no real designation as to who would be next in either of the two open lines. In Italy, lines are not sacred, but desire is. If you desire to be next, then you will...if you try to wait for lines...then you will be waiting for a long time. Well, it seemed to be going quickly, in the man's line on the left, person after person seemed to leave the window. I saw my opportunity and when up to the window just as the current man left. I pulled out our paperwork, told the man we needed to renew our permits and happily handed the man our paperwork, knowing the worst was almost over. He looked over it and said, "this is for religious reasons?" I replied affirmatively. He handed the paperwork back to me and said you need to go the Post Office to renew our type of permit now, along with about twenty other motives for legalized permits. I said, this is why I asked the guard in the booth the other night where I needed to go to renew my permit and said that he didn't know, but that it would be best to just come here. The man shook his head, as if to say that guard should know better, we have told him a hundred times. Then said unfortunately, you still have to go the Post Office for this. I asked him if it mattered which, and he replied "asdlka asdhlkasd asdgoirwiohd". Yes, I speak Italian and yes, I understand Italian, however when thirty people are talking and people are yelling over maltreatment and problems with their applications it is hard to hear. I asked him if he meant the Post Office in downtown. He said, "no, not downtown, but sdj assd;j a;sdjjs train station." I said, "oh the one at the train station?" He said, "NO, not the train station, the PORT, PORT, PORT." I couldn't tell if he was yelling because he thought I was stupid, or couldn't hear him, or just because he was frustrated with his working environment. I am not sure at that point if it really mattered, because now, not only was it later in the day, but we knew we had to start all over with the process and it was now a completely new process to work through.

Now, you may be wondering....the post office?? Why would you do that at the post office? Well, in Europe, post offices are marvelous things indeed. You can accomplish many wondrous things at the local post office. You can pay utility bills, open a post office bank account and do banking, shop for books, music or DVDs and many other fascinating procedures. Add to the list, apply for legal residence permit and renewal of said permits. Angie and I were a bit incredulous to say the least. Really, what would it look like? Would they shove all the foreigners into one office and make them sweat until one by one they got their chance? Like the Questura, would they yell at all of us, when one or two, due to language hurdles, push them too far in asking questions and demanding respect? Would we have to get a number and come back the next day? Or on Monday, since the next day was Saturday? Our permit expires today, so we hoped against all hope it wasn't the latter.

We drove from the police station to downtown, where we live and could have walked to the post office if only we had known. Parking is always and issue and thinking it would be faster, since we were closer, we went to the parking garage that is near our facility. We went down the ramp and up to the gate in order to pull a ticket that raises the bar and.......the LCD said the parking garage was full. In this very technological parking garage each parking space is monitored and if all are taken it doesn't let anyone else in. Nice normally, but we were in a hurry, we didn't know how long it would take at the post office. Since there were two lanes and cars in both, I waited with my finger poised on the button waiting for the green light to come on showing there would be a space available. Flash, the green light lit, I pressed the button and the ticket started printing. The bar lifted and we followed the arrows until we found the space with the green light lit above it. We exited the garage and made our way to the post office.

On the way we passed by our friend, Yuri's family's Cafe. We stopped in for a quick bathroom and water break. This was the first oasis in the morning. It felt so nice to feel human. Yuri and I chatted briefly and Luana said hi with a smile. Then his Dad, came up from storage and greeted us warmly, finally as we were leaving, Yuri's mom, Francesca said goodbye dear Matt and Angie. It was the boost we needed to continue on in our journey. We briskly walked down the street the twelve or fourteen blocks until we got to the post office at the port. We walked in looking for something telling us where to go. There was nothing. No sign, no instructions. I glanced through the forms available to fill out, and there was nothing there besides payment slips and mailing forms. Angie saw a section that said customer counsel, must be some kind of help service. We waited about ten minutes for the employee to finish with the lady in front of us, all the while looking around for something to tell us we were in the right spot. The postal employee finished with the previous customer and told us she would be right with us and proceeded to do a couple of other tasks. I said, I just have a quick question. She listened. I asked, "Is this where you come to renew your resident permits?" She said, "yeah, is that all?" in a very sweet way. I said yes. She then pointed out that we needed to go stand in line number five. Line five was behind a pillar, so until she pointed it out we did not see the four people in the line who had also been at the police station earlier. So, we felt closer and waited.

Another ten minutes went by and we stepped forward to the clerk. He gently helped us understand what we needed to do and how we needed to do it. He said we could take this kit home with us, fill it out and then bring it back OR we could go over to the Immigration Office at the Prefecture building. He said it was free for them to help us fill out the paperwork and it would eliminate any risks of us filling out the wrong thing. Oh and we had a pay a new fee of about $35 per person, for what I don't know, but it was in the brochure we found at his window, so we knew he wasn't just ripping us off. We took the kits and went on our way. First we made our way over to the Prefecture building to the immigration office. The police at the door told us that the immigration office was closed and only open on Mondays from 9 to noon and Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:30pm....what great hours. But then he said there was something other kind of office we could go to around the corner that might be able to help us. We went around the corner and saw a few more of the guys from the police station that morning, it was like some kind of twisted city-wide scavenger hunt that we had not chosen to be in. We went in the door, there were no signs or instructions anywhere, except the ones that said they accept the public, Monday through Thursday 9-12. There was no title to this office either. The waiting room was small, hot and had about ten people in it. They weren't busy but the few workers acted as if they were all but ignoring everyone else in the room. In the corner, found some forms to fill out, which we for people on work permits. They were contracts for the foreigner to have filled out by their employer so that they could get work permits. This didn't seem to be the right place. After starting to sweat and feeling more miserable by the minute we decided to leave and try the kit on our own.

We left the office, and upon reaching the street we sat on a step to the side and composed ourselves once more. We were feeling drained from all this leading astray. It was already 1 pm. three and a half hours after starting this process. We decided we needed a little comfort food, so we headed to McDonald's. There is nothing like American comfort food to strengthen your soul! This fast food restaurant was another blessing used by God to comfort us. When we left we set out for our air conditioned apartment to refresh our selves and fill out the paperwork.

After a little time working on other projects, this wasn't the only thing we had to do today, we got back on the paperwork. We wanted to get it in today and the post office closed at 6:30pm. So we filled out the sixteen pages of form for Angie and I, made more copies to ensure we had all the right documentation with each request and put the packets together. Then around 5:30 pm we walked back down to the post office by the port. We got there waited in line behind a couple of other people and then stepped up to the clerk. She was very friendly and helpful. We showed her how her colleague that morning had not charged the right amount on the $35 fees that we paid, for whatever it is we paid them for. They laughed at him and his ineptitude and fixed the mistake. Then she noticed that we had only photocopied the page of our passport with our picture and information, she nicely informed us that we needed copies of every single page in our passport, including the blank ones. She told us there was a copy store down the street. So, we left with about thirty minutes left before the post office closed.

We found the copy store and she made all the copies of our passports and we grabbed a few other things at her store to purchase. We went to pay and after two tries she told us her bak card machine wasn't working, so she could only take cash. I had cash to pay her, but there was now a new problem. When we had gone to the post office I had put enough cash in my wallet to cover the next $45 charge that they were going to request for us to send in the renewal request. This was $45 per person and now after spending some of it, we would need to find an ATM to get a bit more out to compensate. Fortunately, there was one that worked right next door to the post office. We walked through the door, we could smell the finish line. We had almost made it.

We went back up the the woman's line that had helped us before, in fact it was the only one open for permit renewals. The sign at the desk said, "sportello amico" which means "teller friend". That is a nice thought that this stranger would be a friend to us, and in some ways had already been. We showed her where she had stapled a receipt of mine onto Angie's application, and Angie's receipt onto mine. We all laughed, now at her ineptitude instead of her colleague's and she fixed the error. She looked over the envelopes, through the check list of required documents, took our $45 per application and gave us a shiney new receipt. This receipt is our current proof that we are legally permitted to reside here and do ministry. I asked and she told us it could be as long as two months before our permits are ready. So, I guess now all we have to do is wait and we thankful for the ways that God comforted us through a potentially 'zapping' day.

Fiat Club in Piazza Roma in Ancona

So we were out at the Flower market, which comes around every year at this time. Then we walked down to Piazza Roma, where we heard there was a car show or something. It ended up being a Fiat Club hosting a car show with many little old Fiats, some decorated, some not. Here are some pics.

Expansion of Ministry in Italy

If you only read about us on this blog, then you may not have heard our latest news. Because of some new interest in Italy from potential missionaries, we are going to be leading a new team in a city yet to be chosen in the North. We will be praying, surveying and researching many Italian cities before determining which one God is leading this new team. We are planning to come back to the states in November 2007 to raise awareness and funds, as well as recruit and prepare a new team. Then in May/June of 2008 we hope to return to Italy with the new team and head to the new city.

Until then, we will continue to minister here in Ancona, doing the tasks we have been doing for years and still connecting our relationships to Christ. As we learn about the cities we are studying, I will post items of relevance.

Welcome 2007

Well, we went out and made it back home without being hit by fireworks. We rang in the New Year with our friends, Uri and family at their cafe. If you have Quicktime you can click on the link below to watch us countdown.

Video link

New Years' Eve in Italy

In Italy, they like to celebrate New Years' with fireworks. Right outside of our apartment, down in our piazza there are several people setting off fireworks. In fact we saw some people throwing lit fireworks out their window down onto the piazza below. Whoa, crazy people throwing live firecrackers out the window!

We are supposed to meet up with some friends at their cafe tonight in about 30 minutes. We will be toasting in the New Year. Who knows, hopefully no one throws a firecracker on us as we walk by.

The Day After Christmas...

Here in Italy, the day after Christmas is another holiday. It is St. Stephens Day. You may have heard it as the feast of St. Stephen. Stephen is known as the first martyr for christianity. An interesting one to note, because before his conversion Paul (known then as Saul) stood by and watched as Stephen was stoned to death. You can read more about it here. For us today, it has been a great day of rest. Everything is closed so we can't really do anything. I think some restaurants are open but nothing much else. Angie and I have spent the day relaxing and enjoying the time off from work. Throughout the rest of the week until New Year's Day, we have either days off, vacation time or holidays. We have been looking forward to this for several weeks now. Even last week I was working extra to make sure I didn't have to do anything extra this week. It is good to be refreshed in the Lord. We hope that everyone of our community (friends, readers, family, etc...) has had a wonderful Christmas season and will have a blessed New Year.

An Evening in Ancona

Tonight after Kids' English Club, we went to dinner at 'Movies Pizza'. It is a half of a block from our facility, "La Via". All the pizzas are named after movies, in Italian of course unless the movie went by the Italian name. So, La Ciociara means "The Woman from Ciociaria" and in English is called Two Women (1960). Then there is The Mexican which is called "The Mexican" in Italian but is pronounced a little more Italian. The pizza was good. Afterwards we walked over to Piazza Pertini, which is across the street. In this big city square was "Santa's Village"...temporarily. It just went up this week and will stay up until Christmas Eve, I think. There are all these little wooden buildings that are divided into four sections for four separate vendors who are sharing their wares. They are selling everything from Christmas decorations and sweets to jewelry and purses. In the middle there was a little cabin with Santa Claus inside, or so I thought because of the line of kiddos waiting to go in. They have the windows covered so that you can't really see inside to see who's there....but you know. After that, Angie walked over to Piazza Roma, where we bumped into Carlo, who works at the clothing store 'Zara" and played guitar at our October Coffee House. While we were talking to him Francesca, our friend Uri's mom, came over and said their Coffee Shop will be reopening on Tuesday and that night they will have a inaugural party, we were all invited (it has been under renovation since the beginning of November). We said goodbye to Carlo and walked over to peer into the windows of Uri's family's Coffee Shop. There were workers inside working on last minute finishing details and outside stood several boxes of new chairs and tables. Angie and I left and began the ascent towards our house, which is about six blocks away. On the way, we passed one of my other favorite coffee shops and I asked Angie to come inside with me. I had a Cafe' Latte and Angie had a Cafe' Macchiato. The drink I had is an espresso inside a glass of milk. The drink Angie had is a spot of milk inside an espresso. Both good, but I like mine better. Then we walked home. We had a good evening out.

Today I Was Born

Ok.....so, today I was born. It is cold and huge here, whereas I am small and wrinkly. I feel so dry and chapped, hopefully that will change. Not sure what is supposed to happen next, the past several months seemed to have moved pretty slowly. Who knows what I am going to do, or where I am going to go....This seems pretty unstable but maybe things will get more clear. And hopefully everything won't look so blurry.