Around 3:00p.m. we looked out the window, after anticipating it all day, and saw this…

(great picture, isn’t it?) We all put on some winter wear and headed outside to play in the pouring snow. It hadn’t accumulated too much at this point, but we had fun nonetheless.

We went inside after about 15 minutes. However, 30 minutes after going inside the warm, cozy house, Lily starts pitching a fit. She brings me my gloves and I think she just wants to put them on. She still hollers, brings me my gloves, I put them on her, she takes them, she hollers and the whole cycle starts over. This lasts for a good 10 minutes. Growing impatient with us, she then she walks over to the door, picks up her coat and starts to put her little arm into it. She then walks it over to us, asking us in her own little 13 month old way to please put on her coat and take her outside to play in the snow. We played for another 20 minutes or so and little Miss Lily had a great time!

For the past year or so I have been coming up with different ways that I might could earn our family some extra income without having to leave the comfort of my home. I’ve thought about everything from sewing (which I don’t know how to do) to making cookies. I think I have driven Paul crazy to be quite honest.

But…I make some pretty good cakes and I had the idea after Paul’s birthday of selling them. I have actually followed through with this one and the good thing is that I don’t have to learn a new skill (like that whole sewing idea I had. Really, in waht world was I living in?)

Here are a couple of pictures of the Italian Creme Cake I make. More pictures of different cakes will follow in the coming days. If you are interested in buying one, just leave a comment or you can send me an email or give me a call if you have my number or email.

I would like to use this post as a way to introduce you to John Michael (aka JM) and Jessi George.

I met Jessi….well, how did I meet Jessi? Let me think back…years and years. I believe Jessi and two of my friends went to Mississippi College together. Then Jessi interned at First Baptist Kosciusko, where I later interned. Somehow through all the people we each knew and places we’d both been we met.

She and JM journeyed to China several years ago with one baby and came back with another a year or so later. Now they have three…all girls…and I believe all are under the age of four.
Now they are getting ready to go to Papua New Guinea with New Tribes Mission (which you can read about here).

Jessi is one of those people who I know but I have always, since my first encounter, wanted to know better. I mean, I want to be really, really good friends with her. What is strange is that we have so many of the same close friends, yet she and I have never been in the same place to develop a real deep friendship.

Jessi writes a great blog…she makes me laugh and is very honest about what life is like as a missionary, thus it is a great blog to me. Can’t get much better than real. I thought you might to read about their adventures as well. Just click here to read about her life as a tribal wife.

I honestly can’t remember if I have blogged about what is next for us or not. If I have, then you get to read about it again!! YEAH!

Paul is going to be the missions pastor at a new church in Winston-Salem, NC, called Revo Church. We got connected to it through a friend we went to school with, Russ Bennett. It is kind of a long story, so I’ll try to condense it. Russ brought some teams over to Naples from Anderson University several times. The last time he came he told us about the church and asked us to pray about whether or not we would like to be involved, with Paul serving as the missions pastor.

At the time we were still trying to figure out what our next step was going to be. We honestly had no idea. We did feel, even though Naples was home and some awesome things had been happening, that the door to Naples was closing for us. Paul had sent in some applications and been looking for a job in churches in LA but nothing came of it. So we prayed and after much prayer (and some tears to be quite honest) we felt that God indeed was leading us to NC. It was a job that Paul has always wanted to serve in, in order to equip others to live missionally. Neither of us have ever had any kind of church planting experience and what better way to gain that experience than with a group of people whose passion is planting a church that will serve God in all aspects.

The way the church is set up the staff have to raise their own support for the first two years and hopefully after that they will be able to be on a salary from the church. So, that means fundraising. That means trusting God is going to provide for us to go and do what we feel He has asked of us. That means learning how not to worry about it all.

If you’d like to learn more about the church, including where the name Revo comes from, check out http://www.discoverrevo.com.

Which expression do you think conveys the most excitement?

I had a few responses from yesterday’s blog, and I think I should clear a few things up. First, I, MacKenzie, am the writer of this blog. Paul just posts it on his facebook page. Second, I am not sad about being in America. It is just that I would like to be in two places at once.

This morning I feel compelled to write the things that make me happy to be in America.

Waking up knowing my family is either in the same house or only 10 minutes away.
Being able to drive if I want to.
Wide open spaces
Seeing too many stars to count
Lush green grass I can walk on without fear of what I might be stepping in
Talking to my grandparents face to face – and Paul’s grandparents as well
Hugs from people I have missed
Screams and shouts when I see friends I haven’t seen in a long time
Having a yard
Bacon
Worship in my heart language
Understanding every thing that is said to me
Watching Lily play with her cousins, grandparents, and great-grandparents

These are just a few.

We have been back in the good ole U.S. of A. for right at 3 months. It seems like a lot longer. It also seems like I was in my little apartment in Fuorigrotta only yesterday.

Since coming back we have had to relearn how to live as Americans. The first few weeks were hard. Going from being surrounded by 1.5 million people, walking most places and taking public transportation to others, buying fresh fruits and vegetables for almost nothing to 6,000 people, driving everywhere, and Wal-Mart has been, to say the least, challenging.

I have stated this fact a few times and someone once asked,”What’s so hard about it? You lived in America much longer than you lived in Italy.” That’s true. And honestly, I cannot imagine how hard it must be for those who have lived longer in other countries than their home country. But nevertheless, it is difficult.

It is difficult because I loved my life in Naples. I loved my friends. I loved going to the market and shopping. I loved the art of making a great meal from hardly any ingredients at all. I loved sitting in the kitchen of my neighbor, drinking tea and talking about everything and nothing at the same time. I loved taking a walk every afternoon. I loved worshiping at church with people who are unashamedly in love with their Savior. I loved squeezing into a four-seater car with five other people. I loved the slow-paced attitude of everyone. I loved walking to get a gelato across the street. I loved making the hour-long trip to see the Worthy’s. I loved the oldness that surrounded me around every corner and that it was all new to me. I loved the smell of freshly baked cornetti in the morning. I loved meeting people I knew on the street everyday. I loved old Italian ladies teaching me how to cook.

I loved my life.