Yesterday, Today and Forever

Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever."  

There is such comfort in those words.  They have come to my mind a lot since moving to Sicily. That although most things have changed for me and my family.  He has not.  What peace in knowing that He is the same.  That I can know Him and experience Him here.  In some ways I get to experience Him in a fresh way.  I am desperately dependant on Him and He is near.  Life has all changed but He is the same.

We have a house.  Praise the Lord!!!  We get to move in Oct. 1.  We counted it up and we looked at 17 houses before finding this one. This house is a four story house.  The lower level consists of a garage, bathroom and a storage room.  It is a tiled garage and we are going to use it as a playroom for the kids and a place to host people when they come to visit.  So come visit we have room for you!!!  The main floor has a living room, bathroom, laundry room and kitchen.  The 3rd floor has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  The kids will share rooms.  The Boschult's will be living in it with us.  They we be living on the top floor of the house and will have a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living area.  It is like a studio apartment. They also get a great view of the volcano and the sea!

Houses here in Sicily are a little different.  Here are somethings that are different.  We have to outfit the whole kitchen.  It is an empty room with the rough ins for the water and gas.  Yesterday we went to Ikea to design a kitchen for the space.  The girls went in to the free play area.  They loved it.  It was their first time away from us in over a month.  It was good.  Good for them and good for me.  As for the kitchen we found one we love.  Little more money than we want to spend right now with the house in Omaha not sold yet.  So we have down sized it and will get the basics until the house sells and then will add the island and some other features.  Josh loved using Ikea's design studio. The other things is all the light wiring is there but no lights.  It is just the wire hanging from the ceiling.  We will also purchase lights fixtures and bulbs to be able to see in the dark.  

We are looking forward to being in the house and settling into our home.  Josh went to the school to register the girls.  They told him it was full but three of the children have not showed up.  So if those kids don't show up by the 14 of October our girls will get their spots.  So please pray that those children have moved or decided on private school.  We are looking forward to feeling what the new normal is going to be for our family in our new home with the girls in their new school.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to Ikea and purchase the kitchen (including refrigerator, stove/oven and dishwasher), table, chairs, couch, washing machine, beds, bedding and lights.  I am sure I am forgetting something. Please pray that we are able to find everything at good prices and that it would be fun and not stressful.  So far we have had our ups and downs emotionally.  Pray that it would be an up day.  The hardest part for me has been to have to spend money on things that we already had but sold or gave away in Omaha.  It is hard to feel like you are starting all over again.  But once again I am reminded of what hasn't changed.  "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."  That is my peace.

3 weeks

Somedays it feels like just yesterday we arrived here in Sicily.  It has been three weeks since we said goodbye to family and friends and moved our family of six to Italy.  We have days where we are homesick and wondering why.  Most days we are trying to figure out life here.  Like grocery shopping, finding our way around and filling out paperwork to stay.  We also have been house hunting since we got here.  We found a house we thought would work but the owners backed out due to us wanting another kitchen put in.  Since then we have been able to see more then 8 houses.  Some we knew right away it wouldn't work for us and the Boschult's.  Others we looked at had potential but not enough to say we wanted it.  Yesterday we saw a house that was everything we wanted.  Right price, right number of rooms, right area for the Boschult's and a pomegranate tree.  Only problem is that a couple saw it before us and also wanted it.  We hear tomorrow if they sign a contract. If not then we have hope to get it.  

We would like to get into a house soon.  For a couple of different reasons.  The first being to feel settled.  Transistioning is hard and we are want to find a place to call home.  Establish a routine.  We also want to find a house so we can get the kids signed up for school.  School starts this week.  So our kids will start late.  We have decided to put Libby and Ryleigh Joy in preschool and Macy in kindergarden.  This will help them to learn Italian and give me a chance to learn it also with a tutor and rosetta stone.  We will start out slowly putting them in for a couple hours everyday and eventually work up to the full time of four hours.  We would like for that to happen soon.  We have been teaching them some words and phrases that would be good for them to know.  Like "bathroom" = "bagno", "what is your name" = "Come ti chiami" and "my name is...." = "Mi chiamo....".  They think it is fun when we practice it but freeze up when an Italian asks them their name.  

We feel lots of grace but ready for this time of being unsettled to be over and for things to seem normal.  We also have some lose ends in Omaha.  We have our house that still needs to sell and our van.  Please be praying that those sell soon.

Hike

Yesterday we decided to take a family hike. Josh had seen this hiking trail when we were in Pedara.  It seemed doable for our kids.  So we gave it a try and it was fun.  The weather was perfect and we enjoyed just being outside.  For our kids it was a perfect adventure that they were capable of doing without it seeming like just a walk.  Josh got to push Titus up in the umbrella stroller.  The wheels are now all wobbly.

Hike up a mountain in Pedara, Sicily. 

Pedara, Sicily

Old ruin

More of Pedara with the volcano in the background

The mountain we hiked

Ryleigh Joy "just resting"

THE BEACH

On Tuesday, we decide to take the kids to the beach.  It was already late afternoon and Josh and I had been working most of the day on the paperwork needed to get the Permit To Stay.

 Which brings me to something you can be praying for.  We need to get the Permit To Stay even though Josh has already been given a visa.  The Permit To Stay requires more paperwork and money.  Wednesday we ran to two different place, one for a stamp and another one for a signature.  Things run slower here and many stops in the process.  And language has been a big barrier for us.  Josh has an interview for November 11.  Which is 10 days before my 90 day tourist visa is up.  It looks as if I will have to come back to Chicago to get my accompany a family member visa.  Pray that Josh gets this permit.

Okay back to the beach....
I googled Cataina Beaches and found a blog called Lost in Sicily.  She writes all about the beaches here and has some amazing pictures on it.  She recommended the Lido Playa for children.  It was beautiful.  We told the kids they could just put their feet in since we knew that the beach closes at 8pm.  Well that was a lofty though thinking they would only get their feet wet.  Here are some pictures....

5 days 4 nights

The last five days and four nights have been a crazy adjustment. Really the last couple of months have been a blur. But I will stick with our time here in Sicily.... The six of us arrived in Sicily Thursday morning. Our friend Marco and his wife and daughter were at the airport to pick us up. Familiar faces are nice to see after a 16 hour trip. All of our luggage and car seats made it. Yay! The next couple days were a blur of emotions. Ups and downs. I have decided transitions are for the birds.  We know that this is what God wants for us.  So we know He will get us through the transition.The kids, Macy (5), Liberty (4), Ryleigh Joy (3) and Titus (22m), have done....not sure. Again we have had our ups and downs. Sleep wise, we have only gotten one night of normal sleep. And normal for us is being woken up 1-4 times. The other three nights were very very abnormal. Let's say 8-15 times and sometimes up for hours at a time. Yikes! Yet I am coherent enough to write this blog. Pray for sleep!!!!Josh and I are...well transitioning. Transitioning to a culture that is not our own. We are staying with Mr. Peter and Mrs. Syliva.  Who we stayed with in February.  They are an English couple who moved here from the U.K. 20 years ago.  They have done what we are doing.  Young kids and all.  We are grateful to have a place to live and not be living out of a hotel.  They had the apartment ready for us and made lunch for us.  Peter has also be such a help with getting here and all the paper work that is involved with that. Here are some pictures of where we are staying.  Once you walk through the front door, there are three doors.  One is the bathroom and the other two are the two sides to the apartment.

Door #1  leads to that kitchen and the kids sleep area

Door #2 leads to living area and our bed

We have also been using the garage to play in.  It is cooler and more room to run and play.  We spend a lot of our time in here.  The kids play with toys that we brought in February.  They love seeing their old toys.   Josh and I spend time in it because it has Internet.  A big deal for us.  Inside that apartment we don't get a signal.  We will live here until we find a house to rent.  Peter and Syliva have been so kind to us.  They have been helping us with the basic things and paperwork.  Lots and lots of paperwork.