This is in honor of Micah and Emma Worthy, who start school tomorrow:

Twas the night before school
and all through the casa,
The Worthy’s were stirring
And most of all momma.

The bags were all packed
Laid by the door with care,
Filled with pencils and pens,
And notebooks that are bare.

The children were filled
with excitement and glee,
At the thought of
Classrooms filled with amici.

So the day before school
Came to a close.
Summer is over,
And that’s how it goes.

We have three weeks from today left in Naples. That’s right, only three short little weeks.

This thought invokes many varied emotions. I’m sure over the next three weeks I’ll write about different aspects of leaving and going back to America.

Today I’m thinking about all the things I’m going to miss. Simple things, like:

the smell of cornetti baking in the morning
being woken up by the sound of street musicians playing the accordion
sitting at a coffee bar drinking a hot chocolate
Sunday lunches
walking down the street to get milk
salami milanese
the liveliness of markets
sea-side walks
old men drinking coffee together

I’m sure there are many, many things I won’t even know I miss until I leave and have been in America for a while.

This past week six members of First Baptist Church, Kosciusko, MS came to help with an English Bible Camp held at the Worthy’s house. Their were 14 kids, 9 adults (but not all were there at the same time), and lots of fun….and maybe just a little bit of chaos every once in a while.
I like pictures, so instead of me just telling you what we did I shall use pictures in combination with words to describe our week.

We made visors. And for the rest of the week we were sweeping up the white paper that is on the back of the foam stickers and peeling the foam stickers from the bottom of our shoes.

English lessons were taught.

Every day the kids heard a Bible story from the book of Daniel. One of the workers would tell it in English and Shannon would explain it in Italian.

Snacks were eaten. Mmmm….plum cakes and pan di stelle.

It kinda looks like Shannon has something coming our of her nose here, doesn’t it?
Anyway, the kids also did worksheets that retold the bible story from the day.

Prayers were said.

The kids made a story wheel. Every “pie piece” is a different story of Daniel.

They decorated bags to take all their stuff home in.

They made cross necklaces. There were lots of crafts.

Cortney led music.

This was my contribution.

They loved on the workers and the workers loved on them.

They played games.

See….more crafts.

Doing English worksheets

Group shot

Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Candy was eaten.

Lily is almost 8 1/2 months old. At her last check-up she had gained a WHOLE POUND! She has never gained that much. She still pretty much looks exactly like Paul, except when she’s making faces like this. Glad to know I contributed something to her looks and personality.

What else is she doing? Walking holding onto furniture, bouncing on her knees, talking a good bit, crawling at fast paces, exploring the apartment, putting every tiny thing she can in her mouth, playing the piano….well it’s more like banging.

You can watch her make a big ole mess while eating like a big girl.

Or laugh out loud.

Before reading this blog post watch this video:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1052653776941#!/video/video.php?v=1052653776941

I will admit that I laughed when I watched this video, as I have laughed at many like it. About half way through though I started thinking, “Do husbands really feel like this?” and more importantly “Does my husband feel like this?”

What have we, as wives, done to our husbands? There wouldn’t be tons of comedians making fun of the way their wives treat them if there wasn’t some truth to it would there?

Let’s be honest and frank. Women say they want their husbands to be a certain way and do certain things. But is that what we really want? If it were then why would videos like this exist?
I think we want our husbands to be and do what we want them to be and do. We want to mold them into an image that we want instead of desiring them to be molded into the image of God.

Shouldn’t that be our greatest prayer and desire for our husbands? If they are imitating Christ, then they will be so much more than anything our nagging or negativity or tearing down could produce.

My friend Sharon gave me some great advice as a newly married woman. She said, “Once is telling, twice is reminding, and three times is nagging.” Good rule to go by, and honestly, I have to make a real effort to stop after that third time. I just wonder if our husbands stop giving their input, don’t like taking care of the kids, don’t help clean the house, stop dating us because we make it so difficult for them. Why should they give their opinion if we are just going to call it stupid and do what we want anyway. Why should they help with the kids or house if we are going to tell them they didn’t do it right and now we have do redo everything. Why should they date us if we are going to complain about going out or after we do go out complain about where we went to eat or movie we went to see.

How on earth can we expect our husbands to delight in the bride of his youth when we don’t give them a reason to do so?

Where were you four years ago today?

I was sitting in a room playing Mexican train with my closest friends, sisters and cousin.
I was eating turkey and cheese sandwiches.
I was smiling a lot.
I was playing the piano in efforts to release nervous energy.
I was eating a yummy lunch (I was eating a whole lot…I do that when I get nervous).
I was getting my hair and make-up done.
I was laughing hysterically.
I was walking next to my dad.
I was saying “I do”.
I was dancing the night away.
I was saying goodbye to my life as a single woman.

Where were you four years ago?

I was dancing with the man I love….as his wife.

How do you react when someone you love is hurting? What do you do when you can’t make it better, can’t take away their pain?

In the last few days I saw a friend hurting, hurting deeply and nobody could make it better. Sometimes there just aren’t enough words or hugs…not that words and hugs and mere presence don’t comfort.

But mere humans can never give the comfort of the Almighty God. He “is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1) and his rod and staff comfort us (Psalm23:4).

This is a comforting thought both to those hurting and those watching someone hurting or least it can be if we let it.

How sweet it is to rest in the arms of God, a loving Father who knows all our hurts and sorrows. I hurt for my friend because I know she is hurting but I know that she is resting in those arms that never let go and that is a comforting thought.

We spent a few days in Milano and Torino so I could do some research and get pictures for a new role I will be taking on (but more on that later). Every region here is different and unique, from the food to the people.

Below are some pictures that can explain some of the differences and unique things about the cities.

Torino is known as a Satanic hub. Apparently there is a man hole that is welded shut that is said to be the gateway to hell. Not sure if this is the actual manhole but it is in the same vicinity.

Don’t know if you can tell, but Torino (which is where the Winter Olympics were once held. I vaguely remember Katie Couric and Matt Lauer sitting in some chairs looking cold) is really, really clean. Not at all what we are used to down here.

Both Torino and Milano have lots of immigrants.

Meet Julia. The girl with sparking eyes and magically curly hair.

We had a long day of walking around Milano so Jake and I decided to cool off.
FYI: Jake and Julia are two of the three children of our colleagues (and friends) Jason and Allyson.

A Filipino making flowers and birds out of veggies. Those roses are made from beets.

Ok, so there are some things that don’t change no matter where you go in this country.

Mr. Di Vinci.

This is inside the Galleria Mall. Apparently if you put your foot where this ladies’ foot is and turn in a circle it will bring you good luck. I did not try it.

This is Barthalomew, the disciple who was skinned.

Here is the side view. That would be his face handing behind him. Gross.

The Duomo in Milano. It is the fourth largest church in the world.

Saturday we went to Sulfatara with the Worthy’s. Sulfatara is also known as The Stinky Volcano. It is a volcano crater that is 1)really stinky from all the gas that spews out 2)really hot 3)has pockets of steam 4)did I mention it is so stinky the two younger Worthy’s cried to while we walked through the crater?

There is also a playground where we had lots of fun.