Male di Schiena

Last Friday, (after only two days of working out at the gym that we finally are members of), Jason hurt his back (male di schiena = bad back). He was practically immobile for the first couple of days. Then, Saturday evening, he was finally able to walk (with a lot of help) around the house. Sunday and Monday showed no real improvement. Tuesday morning, it seemed to be improving, however, after walking down to the TAC Centro Vomero (the CT scan/MRI place in our neighborhood) to find out if he could get an MRI, the pain returned in full effect. This morning, after a good night's rest, he was feeling some improvement, but basing this on yesterday's experience, we decided it was still a good idea to get the MRI.

This morning, we walked to TAC Centro Vomero, and he was taken to the specialist within 30 minutes. We expected to only be setting up an appointment this morning, so I was thankful that I brought my book just in case. The doctor took Jason back to the machine and I sat in the waiting room reading my book. Maybe 20 minutes passed and Jason returned to the waiting room ready to go back home. We will be picking up the results to his MRI on Friday.

Please be praying for healing for Jason. This is a major hindrance to ministry since he cannot get out and be in the neighborhood. Please pray that, during this time, he would take this opportunity to draw near to Jesus and that God would reveal to Jason His purpose and plan in this situation.

Happy Birthdays!!!

Happy birthday to the most wonderful man I know! Jason is 30 today!!! No...not really. He's just 28 (which is practically 30, so tell him Happy 30th). ;)

Here's a picture of his birthday cake:


It's a strawberry shortcake cake. Here's just one small example of why Jason is the most wonderful man in the world. I gave him about 5 cake choices (one of which was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing), but he chose the strawberry cake...because he knew that's what I liked. And just so everyone knows, we stayed up until midnight last night, just so we could eat some of it.



Mmmmm.....It was good!


AND Happy birthday to my most favoritest sister in the whole wide world!!! Happy birthday, Jill!


For those of you who don't know, my sister is awesome. She's always full of encouragement and nice things to say to brighten your day. I love you, Jilly!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JASON AND JILL!!!

Haircut

So...I got a haircut. I asked my friend Shannon (who speaks fluent Italian) to come along with me just to make sure there were no mix ups in my description of what I wanted. Of course, as usual, when presented with the opportunity to speak the language I know I can, my brain left my body. So, Shannon did all the talking...until the guy who actually cut my hair spoke English to us. What a blessing!

I gave him a picture of the haircut I wanted. This haircut would involve losing about 5 inches off the bottom and adding layers. Since he had the picture, I didn't feel the need to tell him how long I wanted my hair to be after the cut. He made the first cut in the back where I could not see. As soon as he made the cut, Shannon's eyes got real big. Then, noticing the fear on my face, the guy stepped back and put his head down, realizing he hadn't asked me how much to cut off. We assured him that it was okay and to continue in whatever he felt needed to be done.

In the end, it came out a lot shorter than I would have asked for, but I like it. And I definitely enjoyed the people there at the salon. While I was too nervous to remember to get any names this time around, I hope to get to know the girls at this salon soon. In the mean time, please pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit and the softening of their hearts. For now, enjoy the before and after photos.

Before - facing front


Before - from the side


Before - back


After - facing front


After - from the side


After - back

Do What???

There is just something to be said about being able to understand the sermon that is being preached on Sunday mornings. On occasions, we are now able to understand what our preacher is saying. However, today was not one of those days.

So there we were, sitting in church trying desperately to understand what was being said. We knew that The Lord's Supper was going to be part of the service (but mostly because we could see the table of bread and wine up front). Near the end of the service, still trying to catch any word we might be familiar with, we heard something we knew! It was the pastor was calling Jason's name and motioning for us to come up front.

We slowly made our way to the front of the church where the pastor asked us to stand on either side of him. He then proceeded to announce to the church who we were and why we are here and that we do not understand the language very well. That's always nice...we understand enough to know when someone says we don't understand their language.

Usually, during The Lord's Supper at our church, there is a large metal wine glass that the pastor and occasionally one or two others drink from. The rest of the congregation is served wine in tiny plastic cups. Turns out, we were the "two others" this Sunday. Talk about awkward. First, he handed the wine glass to me.

Now, I feel the need to explain that the shape of this large wine glass prevents you from just pretending to take a sip without receiving a wine mustache. And nobody likes a wine mustache, am I right? So, after what seemed like an hour of me slowly tipping the glass more and more, trying to get only a small sip of the wine, I was successful. I handed the cup back to the pastor, who then looked in the cup (I can only assume to see how much I drank, lol), and then handed it off to Jason. Jason followed in suit, trying desperately to only take a small sip. Success! Then the pastor looked into the cup before drinking out of it himself. He laughed a little and shrugged and then took his drink.

Then we took around the bread and the already prepared tiny cups of wine to the rest of the congregation. Even though we did not understand most of what was said this Sunday, there is an unspoken language between believers that connects us to the sweet people in this church. Praise God for the fellowship of believers in this dry land.

Flowers and doughnuts...

We were walking down the road and we had some spare time and saw a sign that said "fiori" at a fried food place that is just a glass case on a sidewalk. It's a place for eating on the run.
Oh, and "fiori" means flower... yep that's right we ate a fried flower!



On the same street is another protruding glass case. This place is GREAT! These things are kinda like a doughnut but with granulated sugar instead of a glaze. Oh, and stuffed with hot Nutella.



Paul Davidson's first stuffed doughnut like thing.



-Jason