this is...

this is our new years day lunch with rosa (our cook and friend) and her husband felice (remember, his name means happy). it was wonderful!

their beautiful home

felice with his bird, figaro, getting kisses

appetizers, yes please

the group (notice me already going for the silverware)

danielle and lulu

the hubs

sweet rosa

this is a normal day with david

these are homemade brownies with blueberry frosting that i made for my student last night. she came over and we watched movies and played phase 10, my family's favorite!

recipe for the brownies from joy the baker here

recipe for the blueberry frosting from a random food blog here

(i always forget the "finished" picture because i'm just too excited to eat)

movie and popcorn

intense phase 10 playing

this is zoey learning tricks (emily is teaching her not to eat something if she calls it "poison")

this is the hubs fixing bikes

this is just another week at the bible school!

summing up december

i guess when we took a break at the bible school for the holidays, i took a break from blogging.

i needed to let my brain shut off. half of us are back at the school now and we are trying to get back into a routine this week. we don't start classes or bible study back until the week of january 17th, but are trying to get a lot done now so that transition will be easy.

so after thanksgiving we continued our classes until the 2nd week of december and then i guess the bible school officially closed for the holidays. david, debbie, ermenita, emily, angela, and andrea all headed back to the states for most of december, while the 2 couples and peter held down the fort here. danielle and lulu (a young couple at church) stayed in david and debbie's apartment the whole month to look after things too.

we had 2 weeks for official vacation and our sweet family blessed us with the christmas present of a lifetime. during our 2 weeks we were able to travel to france, scotland, and ireland and celebrate a glorious 2 year anniversary on the cliffs of moher. we had a amazing time that cannot be summed up in a normal size blog post, so you'll just have to look at ryan's facebook pictures and use your imagination. our trip was very much needed rest and relaxation for us and we came back to the bible school feeling so energized and ready for another semester.

we returned to the bible school december 21st and since then:

ryan and i went to a nice restaurant in town christmas eve

we had 2 christmas dinners (one at a man's house from church, one at elizabeth whatley's, the pepperdine director)

i have crocheted 3 scarves & 3 hats

i have cooked a lot of food

i have painted

we have been practicing italian with rosetta stone and rosa (our cook)

we have washed a lot of clothes

we have cleaned the bible school

david has repaired the dryer

david and ryan replaced the brakes on his car

david and ryan replaced the tires on 2 bicycles

we had a church potluck

we renewed our health insurance

ryan and i have started a regimen of reading the bible through in a year

we have skyped our friends and family

i have made a lot of popcorn

we have started searching for apartments in florence

we had new years day lunch at our cook rosa's house

we have taught the kids bible class at church

the guys have watched a few football games

we have gone to lucca and fiesole and spent some more time in downtown florence

we have written thankyou notes and birthday cards

we have received some sweet letters

we are preparing for our spring classes

we have had friends over

so, we have kept ourselves busy. half of us are back at the school now and we are trying to get back into a routine this week. the other half of the group comes back at different times this week, and i'm excited to be all back together again. we don't start classes or bible study back until the week of january 17th, but are trying to get a lot done now so that getting back into the swing of things will be easy.

ryan and i have been asked by the church in florence to stay here and work with them and we feel that God has lead us to this specific ministry. we will continue one on one english classes throughout the semester but we will be starting a ministry aimed at students. we will be planning things to do with the students/kids at church like: VBS, field trips, weekend retreats, movie nights, holiday parties, camp. at the same time we will be trying to get involved with high school/university students in the community through concerts, movie nights, weekend retreats, holiday parties, cooking schools, game nights, and any other suggestions we might get. david has also talked to us about starting a soup kitchen and we are very much excited about the possibility of that. we are so thankful for the blessings God has given us to be able to be a part of this work here.

since new avanti workers will be coming in the fall, we have to move out of the bible school to make room. we also want to be closer to the church and the university. that is why we have started searching for an apartment. i think tomorrow ryan and i are going to go with david and look at some places. i'm really excited about having our own place to have people over and have bible studies.

please continue to pray for us and our work here. we want to be effective and useful and we are so thankful for the things God has already shown us and the ways he has already been using us. we could not be doing any of this without the unconditional love and support of the friends and family that God has blessed our lives with. thank you!

*oh yea, last night and tonight in searcy, arkansas, debbie is conducting an italian cooking school as a fundraiser for the bible school. i guess i'm a little late to tell you to go to it, but i can tell you that she has compiled 2 italian cookbooks that contain recipes for some of the best food i've ever eaten and they are for sale at mckinney supply in searcy. if you're in the neighborhood of searcy it will be way worth the $10 to get yourself one.

have a happy new year!

a thanksgiving to remember

preparation for our thanksgiving meal has been going on all semester because we had been anticipating the largest number of guests yet. we had an estimation of about 70 people after inviting all of our english students and their families, but when all was said and done last night, we had 80 guests...largest number of dinner guests at the bible school ever!

on thursday afternoon, debbie, angela, ermenita, and i peeled and prepared 50 apples and pears for the apple crisp, and made all the dips and the jello salad.

friday afternoon everyone began working...

andrea and jessica decorated

the boys cleaned and moved furniture,

and the rest of the women were in the kitchen. we cooked from 3 until 11 friday night. we prepared everything but the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.

(it was chaotic but so much fun, it really felt like thanksgiving)

(making 2 of leslie's chocolate pies. i stirred each one for 45 minutes each and only one "set up" so i ended up making my mom's chocolate chip pies on saturday)

(using my "love from my kitchen" cookbook that leslie gave me for my birthday, i made 6 homemade pie crusts from my grandmother's old school recipe)

saturday morning, we reported downstairs at 9:30 to begin getting everything together:

jessica and andrea finished all the decorating,

debbie, ermenita, and emily prepared the turkeys, peeled potatoes, and cooked everything,

and the boys finished cleaning the house and then cleaned out one of david's garages.

(this is the after picture of the garage, we forgot a before picture but it was full from ceiling to floor with everything you can imagine. they took everything out, got rid of a lot of it, swept it out, and put it back together like this)

(they found this little guy while cleaning out the garage, we named him sonic and let him go in the backyard. he buried himself in our compost pile, so cute)

meanwhile, angela and i planted all of the plants and flowers we bought almost a month ago. we filled 18 hanging planters, 3 huge concrete planters, and about 10 miscellaneous ceramic pots.

(pansies and sedums)

(half of the 16 hanging planters on the front of the building, the left side of the building mirrors this side. these have ivy, pansies, something called erika, and something that looks like a little dusty green afro. they are all supposed to be winter hardy, but we'll see)

(sedums, they are my favorite and they are everywhere in italy. i'm going to bring these inside eventually)

(our entry way, the little ivy topiaries were there, but we added the planters of bittersweet and the charlie brown christmas tree)

ok, so after we finished and cleaned up outside, i hurried to get ready, and then returned to the kitchen. i made 2 more pie crusts and 2 chocolate chip pies and then joined debbie in the game of musical ovens with the about 20 pans of casseroles, pies, turkeys, and rolls that needed to be cooked/reheated. we hurried to make gravy and whipped cream, and before we knew it, it was 7:30 and there were 80 people in our living room! everything turned out wonderfully and i think everyone had a great time. once we got all the food out we could just relax, and it was so fun to have all of our new italian friends and students together and just enjoying being together and sharing this special meal.

(andrea read the history of thanksgiving to our italian guests since they don't celebrate this holiday. we wanted them to know that it's more than an excuse to eat like a glutton, and why it's special to us today as christians)

(almost 70 of the guests ate in the "classroom", the rest of us ate in the living room)

(our sweet cook, rosa, and her husband, felice. they are the sweetest and i had a blast sitting with them. i almost felt like i was at home with my grandparents)

(ryan with felice and his student valentino)

the last guests left at 11:30

(after the feast, debbie with her feet up, stripping the turkey)

(bags and bags of non-perishable items that we asked our guests to bring for the food pantry at our church, everyone was so generous)

we washed dished for 2 hours and my body was more tired than it has ever been in my whole life, but it was so worth it. i hope it meant as much to our students as it meant to me. people were so grateful and thankful and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. people were giving christmas presents, singing, talking about the food, telling funny stories, playing with kids, making new friends, and planning the next time they would get together...it really felt like a huge family.

that's what i'm thankful for this year...this feeling of family that we have here that makes me feel so comfortable in this home away from "our home". what a blessing!

our menu:

cheese ball

veggie dip

clam dip

turkey

ham with cranberry glaze

peas

mashed potatoes and gravy

corn pudding

veggie casserole

sweet potato casserole

dressing

rolls

pumpkin pie

apple crisp

chocolate pie

pecan pie

jello salad

sweet tea

wassail

american coffee

away we went to vicenza and...pie day at pepperdine

i know it's already thursday but i haven't had a chance to talk about last weekend and we really had a great time!

so last saturday morning, eric, jessica, emily, ryan, and i got up early and rode in "cicio" (emily's small blue panda fiat that she has so lovingly named "cicio" or "chubby little one" in italian) to vicenza. it took us about 3 1/2 hours and we went straight to the house of these lovely people and their 2 beautiful girls

francesco and lorenza

they prepared an amazing lunch for us, including the best lasagna i have had yet in italy...and i have had a lot of lasagna. we had so much fun getting to know them, they are such a wonderfully warm and hospitable family.

so after lunch, francesco led us to the soccer fields where our good friend marco was playing

we first met marco at the youth weekend that we had here at the bible school the first weekend ryan and i were in italy. he is a new christian but he is quickly making a huge impact on his group of friends and the church in vicenza. he speaks english really well but graciously allows us to struggle though italian with him to practice and have him help us. he's really great at soccer too, it was very cold but so fun to watch him play.

after the game, the 5 of us, francesco and his daughter went to the church in vicenza to meet some of the other members, walk around downtown, and eat pizza together. after dinner, we all went up to lindsey's (the avanti worker in vicenza) apartment and sat around talking and getting to know the members of the church. it was such an enjoyable evening and we got to know so many wonderful people. when we all got tired we retired to the houses where we were staying. emily stayed with lindsey, eric and jessica stayed with marco and his mom, and we stayed with this sweet couple

sonia and cristian

they live in verona, another small town a few miles away from vicenza where of course romeo and juliet was set. we stayed up and talked with them for a little bit longer when we got to their house saturday night, but my brain had all but shut off completely and my italian had been exhausted. when i was to the point of grunting and playing charades, we decided to call it a night.

view from their balcony

sunday morning was church at vicenza, obviously, where we met some more people and enjoyed very uplifting lesson.

jessica and i quasi helped lindsey with kids class and quasi provided crowd control, but the kids were really sweet

cute kids from ghana, there are a lot of ghanaians living in vicenza for work and a lot of them go to the church of christ in vicenza

some new friends sonia and begonia

after church we went home with marco and had HANDS DOWN the best meal i have had and probably will have in all of europe. marco's mother was born and raised in spain, has a spanish mother, a german father, swiss grandparents, a brother living in haiti, and has lived in about 10 countries, so needless to say she is well traveled. if the fact that she is fluent in 5 or 6 languages isn't enough, her cooking is the proof! this woman is a genius with food and showed us her heart in this meal. she was the most hospitable hostess i've ever been in the home of, and she was so happy to have us in her home loving her food. man, was i glad too. it was truly amazing. we laughed and ate and laughed and ate until we were all about to pop.

their NINETEEN year old dog, gigi.

(i hope all the dogs in my life live to be this old and still healthy)

after lunch we piled (difficultly, i assure you) back into cicio and made the journey back to firenze in time to prepare for another week of classes and skype my parents.

the other exciting thing this week was on tuesday when jessica, emily, and i got to go to the pepperdine campus in florence to help them make their pies for thanksgiving.

together with a few of the pepperdine students, we made 30 pies (10 apple, 10 pumpkin, 5 blueberry, and 5 pecan)

emily's pumpkin cooling technique

ryan and i spent our thanksgiving morning taking an oral exam in our italian class and the afternoon walking around florence together looking at the christmas lights, sharing a sandwich, enjoying the sunshine (2nd day it hasn't rained in over 2 weeks), stopping to talk to our favorite artist in the piazza of the duomo, and talking about the things we are thankful for (we have a lot).

happy thanksgiving to all and don't forget to tell others you are thankful for them today and everyday