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.