IKEA Opens!

IKEA opened today!!!! We got there in the late morning and although I was afraid it would be crazy crowded it wasn't too bad. I just love IKEA. There is something about walking through the upper level and seeing all the rooms set up that inspires me to take good care of my home and make it a comfortable place. Today we were inspired by this office set up. My husband has indured haveing an office/storage room since we moved into this house. His office has always gotten the handydowns from all the other rooms. It is just a collection of cheap furniture. Today we saw this great office set up at IKEA and I think over the next months we are going to work on getting his office looking nice. Some paint and some new furniture. Today I didn't buy much. Really just a few storage items and odds and ends here and there. But I am SO excited that we have an IKEA now. Good times!

Italian in Me and Books

I noticed something about my self the other day. Italian culture is rubbing off on me. The other day I was at lunch with my hubby and Josh. We were trying a new restaurant. Matt has been wanting to try it for a long time and we finally decided to go. They advertised a meal for 11euro that included a first (your pasta), second (your meat) and cooked veggies. It is supposed to all be out similar to a buffet where you choose the food yourself. But when we got there they had already put everything away except the veggies. So we went and loaded up even though these usually come at the end of the meal. They were good too! The waiter then brought out our first and second plates at the same time. This hardly ever happens here because Italians always eat in cources but since we were late they brought it all at the same time because they were cleaning up. We finished our meal in less than 30 minutes. When we were ready to leave I told the guys that was one of the fastest Itaian meals I had ever had and that honestly I felt a little bit robbed of the experience because it happend so fast. Look at me becoming all Italian! :)
We got 10 of our 12 book bags from America the other day. We have been wanting to send these books over since we moved to Italy but never had the time and money at the same time. We finally got the sent just days before we came back to Italy in June. It was like Christmas opening them up and looking at all the books inside. There were lots of kids books and teaching books. I was so excited to get them here now that I am teaching the kids English Club. Finally so many of the books and resources that I have been collecting since college are going to be put to good use. I am so excited! I have always wanted to be a teacher....God has finally brought things full circle and even though I am not teaching in the place or way I thought I would be, I am teaching. It amazes me how God has a long term plan for our lives and when I finally see those plans all I can do is stand in awe of Him!

Kicking off September

This has been a fun weekend. We kicked it off with Heidi's 30th birthday. 30 is a big birthday so Brian wanted to plan something special. So we planned a surprise party! I love parties but especially when it is a surprise and you can really pull it off. Heidi was so surprised. She kept saying "Are you serious?" It was great.
Then on Saturday it was OU game day. Unfortunatly the game didn't start until 1am our time. But we grilled burgers for dinner and hung out. Josh and Maurizio came up for dinner. Then Randy came up to watch the game with Matt. Josh and I only made it through the first quarter. Randy and Matt stayed up for the whole thing. True fans! Then good news is that the rest of the games are at normal times for us. And OU won!
Then on Sunday Brian and Cheryl Bazay came to Ancona! They were here in Italy and we had been trying to find a day to get together but their travel schedule and our work schedule were not working well togehter. They were supposed to go back to the states on Sunday but after some paperwork problems they can't leave until tomorrow. So they came to Ancona! It was great to see them. We showed them around town and took them to Il Forte a restaurant that sits up above the city. You have a great view of the port from up there. We could see the city fireworks as we ate. There were fireworks last night to celebrate the end of the summer. It was really good to see them. Turned out to be a pretty fun weekend. :)

Dinner in Numana

I think it is time to say goodbye to the beach. The weather has started changing here. You don't need the airconditioner any more. We have started wearing jeans, sleeping under blankets and maybe even a light jacket at night. I love the fall! There is something about the sun being out with not a cloud in the sky with a cool breeze blowing that is invigorating. I feel so much more energized and every afternoon I am bursting with energy and excitement to get things done.
Last night we went to dinner with some of our Italian friends, Valeria, Luka, Emanuela and Luka's brother. We went to this neighboring city, Numana. It was such a nice evening. We had dinner and ice cream afterwards. We had been praying that God would open up an opportunity to share more about Him during dinner. Of course, He answered and Emanuala asked us if we were ever going back to America. That led us into how we decided to come to Italy and how a person might know when God is speaking to them. It was so great! We have been praying for God to open the hearts of these dear friends of ours and last night we saw God doing just that. As we shared how God has spoken to us they were listening intently. They were very interested in what we were saying. Matt said he saw Valeria's eyes watering and Emanuela seemed to be challenged by what we said. You could tell this was something they were going to need to think about. I loved it!!!!! I know that in the big picture it is only a small step but to me it is a victory. God is working, God is opening their hearts and He is using us to make a difference one small step at a time. This is why we are here and nights like last night make it seem so worth it!!

Hit The Ground Running....

So, it has been two months to the day since we flew out of the Tulsa International airport. A few days after arriving we hit the ground running. We had a pathways team from our home office, which constisted of four interns who were here a total of two months.

Dave and Joyce Embree came through town during the first week. Dave is the campus minister at Missouri State University. They brought a group here in the summer of 2002.

A week after arriving John and Judy Webb arrived. They are Pastors to our team. They got here just in time to be here for our biannual team planning retreat. We had seen John and Judy in California while we were in the states for our Home Assignment, but it was good to have them on the field. It had been four years since they were here.

Then the day after the retreat, the Caseys headed to the states for their Home Assignment for six months, leaving me as the interim Team Leader while Jason is gone. I have been working on my own ministry tasks as well as taking on many of Jason's on site administerial tasks for the team.

About a week after taking on these new responsibilites our internet went off, due to a billing error. And did not come on until two days ago. It has been fairly smooth during these first two months and I pray it only continues to be so. The summer has been extremely mild, and has been even more mild for us since we got a new air conditioner that not only works, but also keeps more than one room cool at once.

The thing that really is neat to me is everything that has been happening since we got here. I have been able to continue working ahead on our children's curriculum. And we have met at least 26 individuals, some through the team and some on our own. Also, we have reconnected with at least 45 individuals. So out of 61 days we have reconnected or met more than one person per day on average since being back. There are probably a few more people that I haven't remembered. When I look at these people, I can't help but imagine in what capacity God might use them in if they should come to Christ and submit fully. Would they be doing dramas? Or leading in women's ministry? Helping cook for events? Loaning equipment to use to lead people to Christ. I can't wait to see God using some of these precious souls that are here in Italy represented by hair stylists, postal workers, students, restaurant chefs, hotel clerks, waitresses, waiters, computer programmers, store clerks, butchers, cashiers, stockers, store owners, newstand owners and more.

I do miss America when we are here, but I do love living in Italy and am excited to see how God is going to work in the next year and ten months.

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday was a few days ago. It is hard to believe that I am 31 now. I still am not coping with the 30's that well. Maybe coping isn't the right word it is just that I sure don't feel like I am in my 30's. But I guess I am so sometime it will sink in.
We had the team and interns up to the house for dinner. Matt made fajita's and we had chocolate cake and chocolate icing from the states. Yum! Matt did a great job cooking. He wouldn't let me left a finger and took care of the whole meal. I got calls from the family. It's always good to hear their voices. I even got a package in the mail from my sister on my birthday! How often does that happen??? It was a great surprise. All in all turning 31 wasn't too bad. :)

Let's Play Dress Up!

Today is my niece Macy's birthday party. She is turning 4. Her actual birthday was last week but her party is today. It is a dress up party. So cute!!! All the kids are supposed to be coming in their dress up clothes. Macy will be Cinderella today. During the party they are going to play pin the purse on the girl (an actual game my sister found at the store) and the girls are going to decorate crowns while the boys make sports themed door hangers.
I asked Macy what she wanted for her birthday but she said she didn't know. I started suggesting toys and she kept saying no. Then I asked her if she wanted clothes and she said YES!! A girl after my own heart. So being the sacrificial aunt that I am I made myself go clothes shopping. I found the cutest little outfits with shoes to match! She also just got her ears pierced so I had to get her some fun earings too. Thanks to Wal-Mart for such low prices that an aunt can go crazy and still only spend about 30 bucks!!

Blogging In Downtown Tulsa

I am parked in downtown Tulsa, listening to Rush on the radio and enjoying free wireless internet access on my laptop. Earlier I drove over to Coney Island to get the perpetual special of three coneys with everything and a drink (any size). As I was manuevering through the many one way streets, I found it even more challenging because several streets are closed temporarily. The streets are closed because of an annual festival in downtown Tulsa, called MayFest. It is a festival of the arts, with live music and food vendors filling the closed off streets. I also saw that the Lion King musical is coming to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on May 25. I think I would like to go to it. As we wind down our time once more here in the states and more specifically, Tulsa, I start entering a mood of bittersweetness. We have a good life in Italy. We have good friends, a warm home, job responsibilities that we enjoy and a routine that is very comfortable. However, to experience those things, it means we must once more say adieu to the life we once knew here in Tulsa. The life that we get a good glimpse of every couple of years. Our families are both from Tulsa along with many lifelong friends. To me it is natural to miss home, whether it is Tulsa or Ancona. There are aspects of each that mean so much to us. When we are in Tulsa, we miss Ancona. When we are in Ancona, we miss Tulsa. And when we are in either we long for Heaven. We go to Italy not because we necessarily want to, but because God has led us to go there. So that means it matters not whether we always like every apsect of it, but that we must be content in every situation God leads us in.


As a side note here is a great article on downtown Tulsa:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/31/AR2006033100598.html

The Drive-In

Last night, Angie and I went out on a date. Married guys should definitely take their wives out, it helps in marital harmony and Angie and I just like doing stuff together. We went and got some Taco Bueno (great fast food tex mex restaurant) and went to the Admiral Twin Drive-In. It was alot of fun. Before the movie started, (you have to wait until it's dark), they had an eighties pop radio station playing and in the distance you could see an American flag waving proudly. I got a little wistful thinking that we would be leaving to go back to Italy in less than two months. It's not that I don't like Italy....it's that I am very patriotic and I know who and what we will be missing when we go back.

Nowadays you turn your FM radio to a station to listen to the movie, instead the old boxes you hung on your window. As we finished our dinner some old (maybe from 50 years ago) cartoons came on about the movie getting ready to start and to head on over to their concession stand. Right before the previews, they started playing the National Anthem with a video of the flag waving. It was really nice. The two movies we watched were both good...Mission Impossible III and Failure to Launch. During the second movie I sauntered over to the snack bar and got an ice cream cone. It turned out to be a really great evening.

Mind Shifting

We are less than two months from returning to Italy and so my mind is starting to shift back into that way of thinking. While we are in the states, Angie and I minister in one way. Then when we get back we minister in another way. It takes a bit to shift gears in our heads and is inevitable that we must start making this transition before we actually make back onto the continent of Europe.