So much for keeping up with the blog. I guess it’s really only been two weeks. Life just gets crazy and I want to write legitimate entries because I hate short ones. They can’t accurately describe anything. Not that I’m great with words anyway but still.
Italy has been amazing. We went to Argentario last week (an island just off the coast in Tuscany) to the Mom’s parent’s summer house. It was incredibly beautiful there. I’d forgotten the charm of Tuscany. And the island we were on made it even better. Even if you were in the middle of the city in traffic the air and the sea and the grass were as fresh and beautiful as the day God made them. Also I was with the grandparents who hardly speak English and then only when they have to…I came back thinking in Italian. I’m going to completely lose my grip on English. And I’m totally ok with that. Even though I can’t speak it well I love Italian. To me, it’s the most beautiful language. Italy definitely won the fallout of the tower of Babel.
The other day (oh no now I’m using my dad’s phrases even….time matters so little here. I’m at that point I’m sure you all know that you get to on retreat or in similar situations where you ask yourself what time it is and then remember and revel in the fact that it doesn’t matter.) I made a random friend on the train after I told some Italian girls who came on asking that this was the right train even though the number on the sign was wrong. We had a whole conversation in Italian. I now officially pronounce myself proficient.
Two of my American friends are in Rome, and it appears that there is Murphy’s law of trying to hang out with your American friends when they’re in Rome. Or it’s all their fault because they don’t have a phone and it’s hard to communicate. A little of both, I think. It’s just funny all the things I’ve had to figure out. We’re in Anzio right now at the other grandparents’ house so I have no internet (I’ll be posting this when I get home) so I can’t talk to them at all. They can call my cell phone but they don’t. They got into town Wednesday night, I talked to them on Thursday morning and told them to come before we left for Anzio. And they didn’t come. I still don’t know what happened or where they are. My plan is to go back into Rome and see them on Saturday. Hopefully that happens. I’m psyched to see them.
I just realized yesterday that I’ve been gone for 5 weeks now. Relative to life that’s not too long at all, but it surprised me that it’s been 5 weeks already. There have been hard parts where time has gone slowly but looking back it seems to have flown by. And overall it’s been so ridiculously good. Every day I wake up and remind myself that I live in Rome. And then I still can’t believe it. Maybe I’ve already written about this (I don’t have internet right now so I can’t do my usual double-check and see if I have) but I can’t believe how awesome my life is sometimes. The Lord has blessed me so much. Even when I’m having a really hard time and I think everything’s going badly He gives me the grace to get through it. And when things are going well my heart overflows. There’s something indescribably consoling and just good about being where the Lord wants you to be in your life. And I know that for right now, I am.
Things have been going well with my family here. I’m still having a hard time getting and English to ‘stick’ to the kids, but a couple weeks ago something just kind of clicked. It was a little awkward at the beginning because I met the family and then dove right into living with them. Not that anything was bad, it just took some getting used to for all of us. But the other day they asked me to stay longer in Italy with the mom’s brother and his family. I don’t know if I will or not, but if they like me enough to ask me to stay longer that’s huge for me. The kids and I are really close too now so that’s been really good.
Sorry if this post jumps around, I wrote it in bits but I figure it's better than nothing. Love and miss you all!
