I can really see Heavenly Father’s hand in our lives over
the last year and a half. When Grandma died, I wondered why in the world I’d
uprooted my kids and moved to MT. I guess it’s easy to feel sorry for yourself
when your Grandma dies, your husband is in Iraq, you have 5 kids that you
homeschool, and 2 acres of lawn to mow, edge and water! But looking back I can
see that we were blessed because of our decision to move up there. We had some
great time with her on our trip to MT, and the snowball fight at the top of the
pass is something my kids are going to remember forever! And we really enjoyed the
beauty of the valley and the love of friends and the ward there.
It was after the funeral that Phillip noticed the roof was
caving in on Mom’s house. Because of the way the trees grow, you couldn’t even
see it a few weeks later. It’s unlikely anyone would’ve noticed before the
whole thing collapsed. So it was a blessing to find it when we did. Although it
didn’t feel like a blessing at the time -- add “roof is caving in over my bed”
to the previous whine list!
When the government did the force draw down, and The Linguist got
sent back from Iraq 3 weeks before the Air Force considered his tour complete,
it really seemed foolish to have
moved up to Montana. (Add “9 months apart from my husband count for nothing” to
the list.) But the money we made moving ourselves back to Texas, paid for a large chunk of the roof
repair. If he hadn’t been sent home, I would have still had to move out of the
house during the construction phase and then moved back in when it was
finished.
Then a spring wind storm damaged some of the shingles on the
roof. The appraiser said it was only a few hundred dollars worth of damage, but
since the shingles were old and you can’t buy them anymore, the insurance paid
for new shingles and installation on the roof.
The Linguist accepted an assignment to Qatar in order to fill the remote
assignment required by the Air Force. I was struggling to try and prepare
myself and the kids for another year away from him, when we were notified that
they didn’t want him for that assignment after all. A few weeks later, we
received notification that he’d be stationed in Italy. About a week later, we found
out that Italy
is one of the few “remote” locations in the Air Force where families can
accompany the military member!
From this vantage point I can look back and see the wisdom
in moving to MT. I can see the blessing of getting the roof fixed and having
the money to do it because of The Linguist being unable to finish his tour in Iraq
(and a freak wind storm!) And I’m still pinching myself -- but we get to spend
2 years in Italy
in place of another year apart!
I’m always amazed at the way Heavenly Father can weave
events that seem catastrophic into something beautiful. There’s an awesome
quote by Corrie Ten Boom (holocaust survivor) about the way mortals only see
the underneath of the magnificent tapestry God is weaving and that when we get
to heaven and see our lives from His perspective, we’ll have an understanding
of how all the dark threads were critical in the masterpiece He was creating.
In other news…we spent our summer camping with the youth
from the church. The Linguist was the sole ward leader at Scout Camp and ended up
with youth from several other wards and no other leaders. It all worked out, as
he came home in one piece and none of the youth died.
I thought the contrast in youth camps was interesting.
The Linguist prepared by buying some posterboard and clothespins. I think he printed
some schedules to hang on his posterboard, too. And I ordered him a book from
Amazon that he wanted to read to the boys.
Girls’ Camp preparations began two months before camp when I
had a meeting with my youth leaders and they outlined the “garb” they wanted to
give the girls (blue tutus, crowns, bracelets, rings and noisemakers) and the
cabin decorations they wanted (Heavenly/Princess theme so we used ribbon,
toulle, streamers, white lights, and the pink punch fountain with glowing
lights!) I spent tons of time in July pricing materials and buying things,
spray painting and cutting toulle, then we had a work day and put together all of
the items we needed for camp. I spent another day piling things I needed to
take to camp in a corner of my bedroom and preparing all of the things I needed
to teach camping certification. The ENTIRE car was full of decorations and
trinkets.
I have to say I reluctantly accepted the calling to go to
camp as a stake leader. Camping in TX with no air conditioning in August is my
idea of torture, not fun. But I’m really glad I went. It was fun to be with
Pianogurl and to feel the strength and faith of the girls. We have amazing youth!
I found a blue wig and made a fairy godmother costume (complete with a glowing
wand) that I wore each night when I went to read the girls bedtime stories. I
chose princess stories to go with our theme. I had found a couple of story books
with pictures that had good messages, but couldn’t find anything I liked for
the other 3 nights. I ended up telling those stories myself (well, the fairy
godmother did!). I was totally blown away at how enthralled they were by the
story of Jane Eyre. They liked it so much that we had a post-camp party to
watch a movie version of it! I also had a really good experience with a young
woman who kept sneaking out of the cabin at night to be with her friends. I
talked with her about being a leader and about trying to change rules that you
don’t think are fair or right – rather than sneaking around them. We worked out
a compromise with the stake leadership for the girls to stay up later in a safe
location, and she oversaw the girls who wanted to do that. I felt like it made
a difference to her to be heard and see changes happen because of her
ideas…anyway…
The Linguist flew out for training in OH the day after I got back
from camp. I spent the time while he was gone trying to get fall shopping done
and things organized for the packing. It seems like nothing happens for long
stretches of time and then everything happens at once. Within 2 days, our
orders finally came, the military passports came back, and I picked The Linguist up
at the airport. Three days later (he came back on a weekend when everything was
closed), we had plane tickets, dates for packing our stuff and appointments to
get Italian visas! And so it is that after just two weeks from the day our
orders came, we’re living in a pretty empty house. Our first shipment of
household goods is on its way to Italy,
and our van is floating somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean
(hopefully on a boat!). We still have a mattress, a dresser, a couch and 2
chairs. The Linguist built a kitchen table out of scrapwood, and we’re using our camp
chairs. I have minimal kitchen things left. Living this way, it sure seems like
we have a lot of extra stuff that we should be able to do without! We still
have a load that will go to storage here in San Antonio
and then a final shipment of stuff that should get to Italy faster – mostly bedding and
kitchen stuff.
Currently, we’re in the stage where we’re finding all of the
stuff that accidentally got packed – Songbird’s Girl Scout vest that she needed for
her bridging ceremony, the exercise videos I bought so we can stay fit, the
birth certificates that we need to get registered in the non-DoD system, Deep Thinker’s
church pants…I’m sure we’ll find more over the next few weeks.
We’ll fly out October 1st to Charlotte,
NC, and after a layover, fly into Frankfort, Germany!
From there we go to Bologna and then somehow
we’ll get from there to Ferrara.
The hotel our sponsor set up for us was built in the 1500s and looks quite
lavish. It only has 12 rooms, and we’ll need at least two of them, we’ll be a
presence I’m sure. So much for blending in! It’s in the heart of Ferrara -- which we learned has one of the best examples
of a Renaissance Wall in Italy.
We also learned that Copernicus graduated from the university there. Crazy!
We’ve been working on Italian, but haven’t gotten too far
with it. It’s similar to Spanish, which is making it easier and harder. With
the Spanish he learned on his mission, The Linguist can already listen and understand
most Italian! The word for “kitchen” in Italian is almost the same as the word
for “pig” in Spanish. Some of it sounds like the difference between English and
Southern English (that would be what I spoke on my mission!)
Rosa was cracking us up the other day. She’s learned a few
phrases and was singing “Mi sono fatto male” at the top of her lungs to the
tune of “I Love to See the Temple.”
Translated, it means I am hurt! I am hurt! I am hurt! Then she’d throw in a
“l’incidente” for good measure…which means “Accident!” I guess we’re covered in
case of disaster.
Deep Thinker has now resigned himself to accompany us to Italy. He hates
change. He refuses to learn Italian and told me he expects they’ll speak
English there. The only time he showed any interest was the day we learned how
to ask, “Do you speak English?” He asked if I could please repeat that one!
I’ve been reading the first chapter in Nephi for a week or
so and can finally read it in Italian and know what’s going on without
referring to the English. I can also understand Elder Packer’s talk from
conference in Italian. So as long as people talk about ragged orphans and trips
into the wilderness, I should be good! At this point we’re relishing the things
we can say to each other like – “When we go hiking in the Alps” or “Let’s go
swim in the Adriatic Sea today…” or “When in Rome…” (and actually BE IN ROME!) I know there will be challenges and
difficulties. There always are…but I’m hoping we’re in for some lighter-colored
threads for awhile!
