Just a few extra pictures

Waiting to watch daddy fly the F-16.Woohoo!!! Go Daddy.

 

Ike got to fly an F-16. It's been many years since he's done this. The kids and I took the afternoon off so we could watch him take off. It was so cool!!!!

 The crib and twin bed were not going to fit in this little room.  We went out into the Italian economy and bought this bed.  It comes with closets and all.  Now that's a bed:)  It also provided places to stick stuff in. Italian houses don't have closets. Just another challenge to overcome. It might not seem like a big challenge, but sometimes when you're in the midst of it all, it seems bigger than what it really is.

Feeling Settled...What's going on with the Williams clan?

We have the house together( if that ever really happens) and have been doing school for three weeks. We are ready to get out and see Europe now. They ( those that have moved to Aviano) say it takes about six months to feel accustomed to the way Italians live. I've also talked to many that have moved from Germany and England to Aviano whom all have said Aviano is different and seems to take longer to adjust to the lifestyle. I can see why that is.

I've learned that I have grown accustomed to the convenience's of the American lifestyle. It's been a bit challenging at times figuring out how to live like an Italian.  The electrical outlets are different in Italy... none of our appliances, that I feel are a necessity :-) , actually work. My husband has been a champ in finding the right tools to help me in this area so I can "feel" like I can do whatever is I need to do with the appliance we own. The recycling is getting easier and I don't have to stop as often to think about where the trash is suppose to go. I have figured out how to wash the dishes in a tiny space without breaking my back. I get a good workout for my legs. I have also figured out that I can't use the dishwasher, dryer, and washer at the same time. I've popped the circuit breaker too many times to count. You would think I would learn after going outside numerous times to push the lever back up so our electricity works again, but I still forget until we have no power. The laundry takes 4 1/2 hours to do one load and that's only if you want to leave them at a damp dry. That being said, I am getting used to not having laundry or dishes ever caught up on. We usually have one or the other that was forgotten, due to not being able to turn it on. I also have figured out how to flush most of the toilette's and wash my hands without asking for help. I am not scared to drive down the one lane roads meant for two way traffic anymore, my breaks work really well. I've also figured out that the bikers on the road have the right of way. When you want to pass them,just swerve around them, even if there's on coming traffic because the other car will end up hugging the road so all three of you can fit on the road and nobody has to slow down a bit:-) Trying to communicate with Italians when neither one of us speaks each others language is quite entertaining. Hand motions, grunting, and blank looks are not rare for this family's way of communication. I think the people watching us probably think we are from the caveman era. All of this just takes time to get used to, patience, and lots of laughter( something we're still working on). We have a lot of mistakes to be made and things to learn, but we are feeling a bit more comfortable and sane.

We are involved in many activities. One of our highlights throughout the week is our weekly co-op on Thursdays.  It is held at the base chapel  with other military families.  We are taking many classes which include economics, art, music class that is looking into the greatest composers, book club, writing class, piano lessons, cooking class, and a dance class for Jana. Samantha was too small for the dance class. Jana also is involved in horse riding lessons, and violin. While she loves the horses and learning how to ride, it's been a bit of a challenge (good kind of way) because she is learning mostly through observation. Her teacher speaks a limited amount of English and all the other children in the same class speak Italian. Her teacher is wonderful and willing to learn how to communicate better to help Jana become a good rider. Jana told me her teacher said the other students thinks its really "cool" to have an American in class with them. That gave her that extra boost of confidence she needed.  James is involved in Taekwondo, which is on base, two nights of the week and Ike is teaching him how to play the mandolin.

Samantha is still learning the violin with the added piano.
 I am able to work out again and am enjoying  taking violin lessons with the girls. Ike and I are also on the worship team together. Ike plays the piano while I play the violin for church.
 Ike is feeling settled with his new job. He is getting into really good shape because the young men at the squadron are in charge of putting the pt together. He came home many nights sore from the difficult workout, he almost threw up at. They keep him on his toes.

 We have been attending a southern Baptist church. The pastor is American and his wife is Italian. They have a big heart for the military, Italians, and for people in general. The church has welcomed us in as if we were family, which in a sense we are. The congregation is made up from mostly military families so it is constantly changing. Our theology might not line up with theirs but there's something to be said about a family of believers gathering together to worship our Saviour. Sweet fellowship. We are gaining some amazing friendships through our church. I am thankful we can live across the ocean, yet still feel at home and loved by the people God has so graciously put us in contact with.

This business is only for a season. All too soon it will be gone. I pray as we go through this time we will seek our Lord with earnest greediness not forgetting why we are here and what we are to do, to Glorify God and enjoy Him forever. I thank Him for life here on earth and the everlasting life that is to come.

Samantha and mommy's tea time

Isaac and his co-op group

Samantha enjoying the piano

Sick day. School in bed

M,M,M...banana bread

This is how Isaac spends his days


I will have more pictures of Jana and James when I get my USB cord. 

Movers are here

We had quite a surprise, when Ike went to work on Thursday, only to come home to tell us tomorrow the movers were coming with the rest of our belongings. Excitement filled the air for all of us. I felt excitement, disappointment, and a little anxious . I had just spent three wonderful days planning our school year out and was ready and excited to start learning through our books together. I felt like this was one of those annoying mosquitoes buzzing around my ear, yet unable to find it to actually squash that annoying little thing. It was a never ending process of complete chaos. I also knew the chaos that organizing all those cherished belongings, brings into a home. I wasn't quite ready for that yet. It was a bitter sweet moment for me. I wanted all our belongings, but not the work involved in getting all that stuff put into place. I so easily forgot of God's love and Grace and focused only on the difficult circumstance facing me.
It was interesting the day of the movers. The picture shows the big van trying to back down the road to go get the next load. I was amazed at the way they could maneuver that big truck in such a tiny area. The next picture shows how they unloaded. They had to unload the truck and pack it all into the ground floor. While the other two men went and got the next load, two men stayed and took the boxes to the correct room. They had to unload the truck quickly because if anybody needed to go up the road or down the road they would be stuck.
They were quick, polite, and it was funny communicating with them. They all knew a bit of English, but sometimes when they were calling out the number from a box they said it wrong and we would be a little confused. They started showing us the number as they were telling us after a few mistakes from one of the men. He was also teased by his coworkers for his communicating skills with Americans.
I'm glad we are moved in and feeling settled. The only thing missing was our couch and a bottle of vodka, which wasn't a big deal for us, three children potty trained on the couch:-) The big deal has been trying to find a new couch.

Caorle Beach

Day at the Caorle Beach                                                                                            July 28th 2012

As we woke up this morning, we decided it was the perfect day to be spontaneous and head to the beach.  Ike heard about this great beach.  It was 1 hour away from us and seemed to be the perfect place for us to go.  What we didn’t know, was that being spontaneous and going to the beach don't seem to match up very well… when you have nothing to go with.  We got off to a late start, but we were determined to go anyway.

The more we thought about what we needed, the more we thought how crazy we were.  We had nothing to go to the beach with except swim suits.  No towels, no cooler, no nothing.  I knew that the BX (Wal-mart military style) didn't have anything regarding beach stuff so we had to go out into the Italian economy to buy what was needed. Figuring out what store to go to was also another nice challenge.  It’s not easy when you can’t read Italian very well and even when you can read it, you still don’t know what it means.  We went to three different stores to find our “needs” for the beach.  Of course , we had to stop to eat lunch before entering the last store, those little tummy’s were telling us they needed food or this would not be a pleasant experience.  If you don’t already know, eating around here is not something you do fast.  You and they take their time eating.  By the time we were ready to depart we were mentally exhausted and tired from all the running around just to get the necessities. That wouldn’t stop the Williams clan.  We wanted to experience Italy so we were going to experience Italy.  Here we go….

I’ve mentioned before how difficult it is to drive in Italy.  Well, this was one of those things that Ike knew where the city was, but to locate the beach was another story.  The GPS (almost a necessity in Italy)  gave us a few options, we decided that we had no logical guess to punch in, so the best option was to play "eeny, meeny, miny ,mo" and hope for the best.  That didn’t work very well.  We kept driving and ended up in an area we knew was not the beach.  We didn’t have our handy dandy map, so at that point we decided to look at the map through the GPS and saw the other options that would have been a better pick.  Our mistake only took us about 20 minutes out of our way.  Oh well, we eventually made it to the city and found a parking spot.   Parking an American sized minivan in the European underground parking area is no easy task.  Once we parked and found the center of the city, I gazed around and saw no sand, no water, and no umbrellas.  Hmmmm….it was well past three and now we don’t even know if there is a beach around.  My thoughts went to enjoying the scenery and busyness around us, while Ike’s went directly to finding the beach.  He stopped some stranger and tried to communicate beach to him.  The guy gave him a funny look and walked on. We soon found out why the funny look.  All we had to do was walk around the corner and there before our eyes was the beautiful Caorle beach full of umbrellas and dark sand.  The color of the water was an astounding aqua blue with spurts of rock formations at the shore side.  The excitement was in all our voices, but soon ended for the walk was quite a bit longer.  It seemed to us the thousands of umbrellas we could see were part of the hotels behind them, which made us cautious  in just going under an umbrella.  So we kept walking, thinking we would find a clearing somewhere.  We finally had enough and were tired, so we decided just to stop at an area…to our surprise, there was a little table set up for people to pay for an umbrella.  It wasn’t with the hotel that we assumed.  Thankfully the lady at the table spoke English and explained to us that we had to pay 10 Euro to have an umbrella and the one we bought (because doesn't everyone need an umbrella to go to the beach) and carried that far, couldn’t be used in the front of the beach.  We also asked about a free area to sit in and she said “yes on number 31”  we were on 12.  No thank you, we will just pay the 10 Euro.  We didn’t even end up using the umbrella because it was so far from the front of the beach we had no use for it, but to put our stuff under it.  Most of "our stuff" ended up in the front with us anyway, in fear of theft.  Oh well, lesson learned.  You can put towels down in front…just not umbrellas.

We were definitely known as Americans just by our swim suits.  Our full suits and shorts down to our knees for the boys were a true American style.  I even had some lady come up to me trying to make money by asking if I wanted my picture taken.  We didn’t see many naked bodies, but did notice girls around Samantha’s age who didn’t wear tops and  saw only one lady without a top laying down under her umbrella. 

It was a wonderful time when we actually got there.  The older children swam out to the big blue jump area with daddy, while Samantha, Isaac and I played in the sand.  Isaac was a bit fearful of all the waves and wouldn’t leave my side.  Once we were about to leave,  he started warming up to the waves, as long as he was sitting on my lap.

Around six we all started getting hungry and decided it was time to say farewell to the beach and go eat a hearty dinner.  We were the first ones at the restaurant to eat an actual meal. (That’s becoming a norm for the Williams clan)  There were others enjoying a drink and snack…but it wasn’t dinner time for them.  Jana needed the restroom “really bad” so I asked for the key and headed in that direction. I was surprised to find out the keys are entirely different than an American key. It was an old style key hole, where if you peer into it, you can actually see the other side of the restroom. I peered into it, but couldn’t figure out how it was latched so I could unlatch it to open the door. I wiggled and jiggled and looked and jiggled some more. That door was not budging. I had to humbly and sheepishly go tell the waitress this “dumb” American can’t figure out how to open the door. She took the key and I observed very closely, so I wouldn’t have to go through that again, and noticed she put the key in half way and turned. It opened easily.
  We were now all comfortable, enjoying a nice meal, and ready to go back to the TLF from our very adventurous and different kind of day. We learned so much just by making all those mistakes, and next time we will feel more comfortable going out…to make more mistakes. But now is time to relax and take in the day thinking of all the funny challenges and not so funny challenges.  Thinking of how we have fallen so short of what we were called to be and do which in return reminds us of God’s grace and love for his children. It makes me think of how in all of our hardness, mistakes, and failures, God gently teaches and conforms us and as we sit back, just as we did at the dinner table, and rest in Jesus we are able to have true peace and comfort in our souls because we have been loved more than we could ever imagine through it all.

Isaac enjoying his nectarine

Samantha and Mommy's sand castle

 

Leave the beach????

Rocks near the shore

The blue floating device the children swam to.  (They did have kickboards if they needed it.)

Finding treasures underwater

 

It makes me laugh every time I see it. My boy James.

This one makes me laugh too.  My little Jana girl. She loves her adventures.

Our 10Euro umbrella for about three hours of non-use.

This is how the Italians do it.  They strip them down and wash them off.  We couldn't figure out how to keep the sand off the tiny body after he was cleaned off.  I need to observe that one a little better.

All the umbrellas on the beach, closed down and ready for the next day.

 

 

Home Sweet Home...

 I'm sitting here in the bedroom with all the windows open enjoying the cool breeze coming through, listening to crickets chirp, frogs croak and Italians party.  Yes, we have found our new home and are moved in. Our first shipment has arrived so we have our instruments, sheets, school books, a few dishes and a radio.  The rest of our belongings will come in a few months.
 It's so exciting finding that special house to make new memories in. We enjoyed the looking, but are glad it's over and can now enjoy what we've found. The way housing works around here is a little intimidating at first.  All the people in the plane ride over here are looking at all the same houses, and all the same websites, and at all the same time.  So, basically you are fighting for the position over the best houses.  If you take it first you get it or, from what we've heard, you lose it right from under your feet. 

We spent two days looking at houses. We debated between two houses.  The first house we saw was nestled in a town called Maniago.  It was directly at the bottom of the Alps.  It had a small fenced in yard and was surrounded by mountains and hiking trails.  A fresh water spring was just behind the home that was easily accessible and ready for four little mouths to drink from:)  The only problem with this house was the actual house itself.  It didn't have much room, and the set up wasn't to our liking.  The trail was free to roam for all people, used by many from what we saw, and  the safety of the children was a concern.   But, the hiking trails and scenery behind the house was exactly what I was looking for and was very enticing which made it difficult to turn it down. 

 The ambience of Italy surrounds you the minute you enter the doors from the house we decided to rent.  It is located in the center of a little town called Polcenigo, a town of great charm.  The spring of Gorgazzo is directly behind the house.  As you follow the spring down, it empties into a river, which leads to hiking trails.  The road passing our house, one we will be parking on to enter our house, leads up to a church and an old castle from the 1600's.  We haven't explored the castle yet, but look forward to that little adventure. The only problem we saw with the house was the fact that the yard was across the street, very small, and with stone stairs.  You can see in the pictures below.Coming from a 2.3 acre home, means we have quite an adjustment to make.  Otherwise, this house was perfect.  It was built in 1680, but modernized to some degree. It  has Cedar Wood beams in the basement from 1680, lights from Rogerro's family from the 1700's, and even has a few American luxuries, like a large fridge and small dishwasher.  This four level home was the home for the Williams clan to make new memories in.
 The top floor has three bedrooms with wood beams at the ceiling of each room, dark colored wood floors and one large remodeled bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub.  The middle section has been beautifully done with texture looking walls in rich colors, a fire place, and beautiful wood floor in our "music" room. The library, which is a room lined with book shelves and deep red and brown stone floor has the bathroom attached to it. This is where you will stay when you visit us:) (wink, wink)  The ground floor (Italians don't call the bottom floor 1st floor, it's called the ground floor, then 1st floor, then 2nd floor ect...)  so...our ground floor is the floor you would walk into as you enter the house.  It has two rooms.  The first room you walk into is the larger sitting area or welcome area and as you walk further into the home to the left is the kitchen.  The kitchen has been remodeled with tile around the new stove top and two deep sinks for those dirty dishes. The kitchen also has a fireplace that was used daily, by the owners. We haven't tried cooking over an open fire,but are thrilled to have the option.  There is a little corner kitchenette sitting area that will work perfectly for simple eating times.  The last part of the house is the basement with a full fledge wine cellar and laundry facility.  It has  dirt and stone floor which will rarely need to be swept:)
We have a lot of little things to get accustomed to, but are willing and ready to learn new ways of living.  For instance, the Italians recycle everything and it's been quite a challenge to learn how to recycle appropriately. We have four different trash cans.  One for plastic and cans, one for cardboard and paper, one for non-recycable items, and one for only food.  We walk down the street to recycle anything with glass. I think I have it figured out now, but it's not second nature yet, so it takes time to think about where everything is going when we clean up from eating. It also has taken me much longer to cook because half of our appliances don't work here in Europe due to the different outlets. We need different wall attachments to make our American appliances work. So we're in the middle of trying to figure out what can go where and how to work it all.
 Our home is next to an 80 year old Italian woman. The language barrier is such a huge gap with us that I'm not sure how or if we will ever be able to communicate effectively with her. We had an incident where she was trying to tell us not to keep our car running because the exhaust goes directly into her home.(Something I wish we would have thought of before she had to mention it to us.)  She has no air conditioning and keeps her windows open all day. We have to park under her windows to get into our house so if our car is running, the fumes go into her home which can make her sick. Well, as she was speaking to us in her Italian language, we had no clue what she was saying.  We just smiled and nodded trying to express to her we didn't understand Italian. She just kept repeating herself smiling at us and waving her arms around. I thought she was about ready to give up or get frustrated with us, but by the grace of God a young man came walking by ready to translate for us. Once we understood, we apologized for our past offenses and let her know we wouldn't do it again. I hope we will be able to communicate to her at some point, but for now we will try our best and pray we have somebody that walks by knowing both English and Italian when we need them. 
Our landlords are also great people.  One is an American and the other pure Italian so they can translate for us when we get into a bind.  They only live 3 minutes away and want to have all of us over for dinner, that's not common to have your tenants over for a meal.  They are such gracious and giving people.  Roggero already brought us 6 bottles of wine...just to start our collection off.  They have asked us what we would like in their home and been very willing to change if we needed them to.  I pray our communication will stay strong and the relationship will  remain.
The military has provided beds, closets, a fridge, a table with chairs, highchair, washer and dryer. Once our large load comes we will have our own beds and tables. They will take theirs back. All of our basic needs are met and it feels so good to have some of our own belongings. Our hearts are filled with excitement and nerves, being out of the military base and fully immersed into the Italian culture. I'm thrilled to be able to experience Italy and feel so blessed to be here. I pray we will keep our eyes on Him who has poured out His many blessings on us.

Our parking area.  The house with all the flowers is our 80 yr. old neighbor.

Girls bedroom

Large bathroom



Boys bedroom

Music room

living area/play area

library

Kitchen

Kitchen

Ike going down to the wine cellar

Wine cellar

laundry room

Just outside our window.  Wow!

 

Our yard.  Easy care...  Ike won't have to take time out of his weekend to mow anymore.

Going down the steps from our yard.

Just below our welcome room window.  Isaac thinks it's  fun throwing his toys down.  Jana's been a good sport in retrieving those toys 

Glad to be in our new home!

What is a home?

We've been with bare necessities for awhile now.  I'm starting to miss the comforts of our home.  Those soft downy fresh sheets to lie in, the special tea cup with dainty flowers I drink from, and even looking at the beautiful paintings Grandma Russell painted.  I miss it all, all those special things that make our home,a home.  Why am I missing all this stuff?  It's just stuff that can be lived without.  I began to wonder if I was materialistic or if I have such a hold on the things of this world that I miss it when I don't have it. I know  I don't need all this stuff to be happy or to even be content.  I can be very happy and content even without all the stuff. It's not a discontent feeling I'm having it's just a missing home feeling.
I know if you haven't had to go without your own belongings for a long period of time, you may not understand what I am going through. It's a type of empty feeling inside of you when you know you don't have a "home" to go to. It seems like this has just been one long vacation and we're ready to go home now...only we can't just go home. Try to think of the enjoyment you get when being on a long vacation and then knowing you are going home. Isn't that a great feeling, just knowing you are going to be home soon? We all have that deep inner desire to be home again. Vacations are great, but there's no place like home. I began to wonder why that is. What makes home so special? We have all our "needs" provided for here at the TLF with laundry facility, dishes,clothes, even pictures on the wall. I have all my children and even my husband with me, yet I still miss home. I don't think it has anything to do with the actual home itself or even most of the stuff inside the home. I think it has something to do with all those memories, people, and objects with memories attached to them, that are inside that building we call home. God has so designed us to have this amazing mind to remember those things that are most significant to us (both good and bad). That "stuff" that's inside of your home is all a part of who you are. Where you hang the picture and what picture you hang, or what plant you place in the corner, or even just where you put the dishes and what type of dishes you own. It all tells a part of who you are and where you've been. There's something to be said about all that stuff we have in our home. It's part of bringing back some of those most loved and cherished memories. It's part of telling your story and the story to come. I'm not saying to store your treasures here on earth, but I am saying that all that stuff does have a purpose. I'm so glad God has allowed us to have those treasures that bring back such sweet memories. We can live without them, but my choice would be to live with them and enjoy those special memories in what I call a home. Our "memories" should be on a ship coming across the Atlantic Ocean. I do pray it all gets here safely, but if for some reason it doesn't, I know God will provide new memories, new stuff, and new people to create memories with. Praise be to God for providing for all our needs-memories and all.

Some of my most loved Treasures!