Summer 2016 Update

As I write this post, I'm sitting in our living room with our life-saver fan blowing on me a full power in this 90 degree weather with 40% humidity. At least it's not over 75% humidity like it has been in recent days.

Alan and Davey having their weekly playdate with Naomi

We've reached the slow days of summer here in Catania. From now until the beginning of September our work load drops off dramatically. It's hard for people who've never been to Italy to understand, but literally everything closes in the month of August and everyone is on vacation.

I'm currently 9 months pregnant with less than 3 weeks to go until we meet our baby girl. So, after VBS finished (about 3 weeks ago now) I "officially" went on vacation.  Alan has a few students still who are sticking it out during the heat of summer, but many are already starting to drop off for the summer.  So now that VBS is over, Alan is busying himself with fixing up some things around our apartment, hanging out with our students outside of lessons, and prepping for lessons and youth group that will start back in September.



Speaking of the youth group, after we finished our first Bible Bowl we asked the teens if they wanted to prepare for another Bible Bowl or if they preferred to do devotionals. They surprised us by saying they wanted to do Revelations and Jonah for Bible Bowl. They've already started studying for that, and Alan decided to have them take turns bringing the devotional each time. He's given them an outline of questions/points to look for in whatever topic or passage they choose from the Bible. So far, we've had one teen-led lesson by Alessandro, and it went really well. He did a great job. Also we've been told to expect some of their friends this coming fall to come with them to devotionals so we are looking forward to that!

Youth Group 

Alan and one of his students have started passing out food, drinks, and clothes to the homeless once a week.  One of his students wanted to do this, and this has been something that Alan and I have wanted to do since we've been here. We've invited people from church to come along as well. Currently it has been just Alan and a couple of his students who have gone, but all of the clothing and personal care items they've passed out have come from church members.

Agostina and I teaching Sunday School

VBS went really well this year! All the ladies and a few of the men from the church did some major work in planning, organizing, decorating, translating, and teaching this year. This year we based our lessons off of a packet that we ordered. The theme was the sea (very appropriate for here), and the kids learned about how God knows them, listens to them, strengthens them, loves them, and sends them.  We did VBS over 3 days from 0900-1300 every day. Everyone worked so hard this year! We had 40 kids in total come over the 3 days with an average of 36 each day, and if I didn't lose count we had 12 visitors.  Many of the parents of the visitors stayed, and I was told afterwards that Stefano had the opportunity to evangelize and speak to them in his office during the vbs.  He said it was a great opportunity. So we hope and pray that this brings forth contacts, as this, along with teaching the kids of the church family, is one of our main goals.  I'm including a short film that you all can watch if you want.


Here's a quick VBS slideshow for you all to check out:

Vbs Catania Italy 2016

During vbs we also got to meet two of the new Avanti workers who are up in Florence. Bethany and Erin kindly wrote me one day volunteering to come down and help during our vbs.  We enjoyed having them, and they of course were a nice help and encouragement for us here.  Also, Claudio, a young man from Paterno` (a church about 30 mins away) wrote Alan one day asking if he could help with vbs. So we had lots of volunteers and we are thankful for everyone who worked so hard. I wish I could name everyone from the church who helped but I'd surely forget somebody and I don't want to offend anyone by leaving them out. So thank you all!

We took the girls up to Zafferana one evening to get Siciliana's.
You can see the tip of Etna from the piazza. 

I want to thank all of you who have written us letters of encouragement over the last few months. I cannot tell you how appreciated those notes are. We are truly thankful for all of you and the support you give us financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Again, this work is not possible without your support.

Rachele and I and our bellies. 

We had lots of encouragement specifically for our adoption process so I will update you on that. Since I am pregnant, our agency advised us to wait until after our daughter is born to do the homestudy since we would have had to do another homestudy after she was born anyways. However, we were told which country we would most likely have to adopt from based on the countries' requirements, and we were told that we would most likely have to adopt an older child. We were also told that if and once we are approved after the homestudy, we could have a child within 9 months.  So again, prayers are appreciated as we pursue something we feel is something we are called to do if able and willing. A lot depends still on if we get approved.

Agape in the countryside. 

Davey keeps me busy at home, and I'm working on prepping for baby number 2 when time and energy permits. He's now an active 21 month old toddler who looks like he's 3. He's starting to go through his clingy phase and his stubborn phase (perfect timing, kiddo!). He's a very friendly kid and makes friends wherever he goes.  He literally yells "ciao" at people until they respond. Each week we take him to the park and we've made several contacts through him.  Davey and I have had some play dates in others' homes with some moms that we've met at the park. So that's an interesting way that we've made contacts that I hadn't really thought of before.

Angelica and I on one of our many walks at the Villa

Until next time!