There is always food ... and wine!

I suppose it has been quite a while since my last post. Yes, it has been busy and great on this end! The weeks go by fast and the weekends are always full of food and fellowship =)
One evening two weeks ago, Monica took the girls and me to a cute little shop in the square and we drank hot chocolate. The girls chose regular milk chocolate, but Monica and I opted for something more exotic ... hot chocolate with mint and rum! It was think and creamy and really, really good! That week, Monica cooked cow stomach ... I had seen (and smelled) it in the sink earlier =P I tried it. I couldn't eat too much of it. Just a horrible smell, not a terrible taste, but the feel of it being chewed in my mouth was difficult. On Friday of that week, I made black bean burgers with broccoli play day salad and mixed steamed vegetables. Marco (Monica's boss) and his two sons, Fabio and Giuseppe, came over to try this American cuisine. I thought it turned out good, considering I couldn't find all of the spices I needed ... so the burgers were a little bland, but the rest was great =) Fabio is a senior in the scientific school. (they call the high schools different things, like scientific, classic, language, ...) He told me he would ask his teacher the next day if I could come to his class.


That Sunday, Monica and I talked about the family coming to Texas for a visit! Marco has already said they are all coming to the wedding in April =D Monica hopes to come one August with the family for maybe two weeks. I told her I would get a list together of places in TX and Mexico that she must visit ... any advice would be great =) For lunch we went to Sergio's parent's home. His mom makes the best lasagna in the entire world!! Wow!! I'm going to pester her until I get that recipe lol. 

During this last week, there have been many things happening! On Monday, Monica told Greta she wasn't able to watch T.V. or play on the computer because she hadn't finished her homework like she said she did ... Well, Ms. Greta had a good plan. She told her mom she was sick, so she spent the evening on the couch, but when Monica left, she was healed! Haha! Tuesday night, I made breakfast for dinner for Monica and the girls. A few weeks ago, I had seen maple syrup at the store, but it wasn't there when we looked today =P That's okay because we found honey that was good and runny. I got to pick up the girls from the swimming pool ... I enjoy driving. Even though the Italian drivers are impatient and scare me, I really like the time I get to spend behind the wheel. Everyone loved the pancakes!! Immediately after Greta finished eating, she grabbed two pancakes to take with her to school for a snack the next day. She also brought me the T.V. remotes ... This made Monica and me crack up laughing, because whoever has the remotes has the power, and Greta handed it over to me =) Monica thought this was hillarious because Greta never does that to her; it's always a fight for T.V. control.  Wednesday morning, I had a meeting with the director of the classic high school ... but she wasn't even there. Bummer! I had an appointment and everything =( But God had a different plan for me ... I walked around the rest of the morning, looking in different shops, and then felt led to sit on a bench in from of one of the catholic churches. Not two minutes after I sit down, two women walk up. I said, "Ciao," and they began speaking to me in Italian. When I told them I didn't speak Italian, they told me they were Jehovah's Witnesses. They didn't speak English well, but we were able to communicate to some degree. We spent a lot of time in the Scriptures, showing each other what we believe ... I had no idea they didn't believe in the Trinity! When I got back to the house, I looked up their beliefs. Next time I see them, I have some good Scriptures to give them. God used that meeting to tell me that I am not fully prepared to give an account of my faith as Paul urges us to do in his letters. I'm thankful for those women God sent to spur me on in growing in my faith and knowing more of the Word of God. Thursday, Monica had a meeting in Tuscany, and I got to go with her =) Never thought I would go back so soon! Long drive for maybe an hour and a half of a meeting, but the sun was out and it was such a great opportunity to share with Monica about God's love ... I had colored a picture that said "Love never fails" from 1 Corinthians 13. When we were in the car I prayed God would open up a door to talk about Him. Monica said, "I don't agree with what you said, 'Love never fails'." I told her that I didn't say it, God did. Wow, were the doors opened!! I shared my heart about God romancing us in such a way that we can not be satisfied by anything in this world and that people can try to love, but if they are not followers of Christ, they have no idea what love is. God's love never fails. I read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 to her.

Friday, Sergio helped me look up some information on my trip to Venice I hope to take at the end of the month, God-willing. Here's a really cool story: Rosita had told me about a nice, and cheap, hotel her family stayed at when they were in Venice, but she couldn't remember the name. When I went over Friday night, she gave me the information ... it was the hotel Sergio and I thought was the best option for me!! That was such a confirmation from the Lord =)

Saturday, Monica went to a concert with Tatina in Rome. Sergio, the girls, and I went to Rosita's dinner party in Cupra on her father's farm where he has olive trees, a vineyard, and farm animals. I wish I could have seen the property in the daylight. There were over 30 people there. It was a late celebration of one of the saints that was related to the Day of the Dead. Rosita hired a man who owns a restaraunt in San Benedetto that is opened during the summer season. There was so much food ... and wine!! Here is the menu: salsiccie di cinghiale - sausage of wild boar (one kind was liver sausage ... one man told me that as I took a bite, and I almost didn't get it down. It honestly wasn't very good, and I didn't eat the rest), fried mortadella with vegetables and mozarella, ceci soup with chestnuts, vegetable lasagna, salad with pears, apples, walnuts, almonds, and fennel (finicchi), pork from Sardegna (the second island of Italy), beef with mushrooms and red wine, croccantino al cioccoato - almond bark crushed up and mixed into gelato and drizzled with chocolate on top, and chestnuts. There were maybe 6 different wines that I wrote down ... One is very famous and expensive, called Kurni and it is from the Marche region (where San Benedetto is). Everything was delicious!! And I really enjoyed the company =)

Sunday morning we were all worn out from our Saturday. We went to the cemetary so the family could pay respects to their deceased relatives (which usually occurs on Halloween, their celebration of the Day of the Dead, but we were in Tuscany). We went to Paula's, Monica's mom, home for lunch. The whole family was there! It was great =) Lunch was very tasty ... spaghetti, salad, baked french fries, artichoke, chicken, rabbit, a wonderful bread, tiramisu, and chocolate chip cake. I wouldn't have been able to tell the rabbit from any other meat ... It was surprisingly good. I just had one small piece though =P It's like the stomach, mind over matter kind of thing. One thing that is hard to get used to is the serving of spaghetti or lasgagna as an starting dish ... I would usually eat spaghetti as my main dish. Always lots of food. I don't know how they can eat so much in one sitting! We drank new wine from the recent harvest. It is sweet and good =) Monica's family is great ... I enjoy watching them interact with each other. They are kind people. Sunday evening we went to the cinema. No time to watch a whole movie, but Sergio and I watched the last bit of the Facebook movie. Then Monica and Sergio went to see part of a scary movie that I had no interest in seeing, so I sat in the lobby and read. I also got to visit with a few of the workers. Everyone knows Sergio and Monica (and now me because I am always with them);it's really nice to go somewhere and see familiar faces =)

It is almost impossible to get into the schools here in Italy ... I haven't given up!! But Fabio's teacher said I couldn't come. I'm going to keep going back to the classic high school and hopefully go at a time when the director is in.

Woke up feeling really under the weather today. I've been getting good sleep, but I think the changing weather is messing with me.

Thank you all for your continued prayers! I'm excited that I can almost say I just have a month left, but I'm truly enjoying my time here =) Not that I'm going to stay, but I don't want to let any moment pass by and forget that I'm in Italy.

Grace and peace,
Jodi