We are here (again)!

We arrived in Salerno at 11:30am Rome time on January 14th. That is 5:30 am Eastern time. We were 30 minutes late on our last flight that was an hour and a half from Munich to Naples. It was a total of 17 hours of travel time from when we left the Tampa airport. Grant slept most of the way in my arms making me sweat profusely. I thought I would preempt this problem by wearing shorts and a t-shirt on the plane. Then when we got to Munich and it was 25 degrees Fahrenheit we had to go out into the snow and take a bus to the airplane. All the Germans and Italians in parkas were looking at me like a crazy American. I was not super crazy thinking that I was going to be in climate controlled airplanes and airports all the way to Naples. In a nutshell, Grant did not have any jetlag because he slept a lot but us a combined 1.5 hours of sleep during the whole trip. Grant the first week was sleeping into about 9am here which was awesome for us!

The second week we were here we had to go to a conference in Spain with all the interns across Europe. We flew out of Naples and we got Marko to take us to the airport since he was going to pick the Valiquettes up (our team leaders). So we got to cross paths at the airport which was cool and got to meet their new nanny Evan and her mom also. We flew to Barcelona and had to stay one night because of the flight times. We use Easyjet, Ryanair and Vueling when traveling in Europe because they are cheaper than trains usually. You have to be careful though because Ryanair flies into the Rome airport that is way out of the way and not way easy to get to anything. We stayed an extra night in Barcelona so we could do some sightseeing since we are not really going to get to travel to much with Grant being so young and trying to stay in Salerno this summer. We got a deal on Priceline where you can name your own price.

The conference was awesome. We got to get refreshed and got to get back on the same page with our bosses and our team. One of the highlights for me was the session about all the different things that we need to check up on in the Lord. These ranged from our eyes, ears, tongue to our minds. There are so many things in a new culture that might cause us to check out emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. We have to stay close to the Lord and trust Him and not our own strength.

We just got back to Salerno on Friday evening and are settling in again getting ready to jump into ministry this week part time and full time next week. In the meantime we have taken a few pictures of Grant below.

Less Than 2 Weeks!

We hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and had great time bringing in the New Year. We did as we have had fun spending a lot of time with family as we are leaving to come back to Salerno in 9 days. That means that we are going to be crazy busy in the next week packing and getting ready to leave. We will be landing in Naples at 11am on the 14th. It is exciting and scary to be returning to Salerno. Mostly exciting because we have missed everyone and what God has called us to so much. Even with our child being born we know that being in Salerno and working on the college campus there is what we have been hand selected to do during this time in our lives. Scary, because we again have become familiar to the U.S. and its luxuries. We are going to miss our families and know that it is going to be hard for them to be far away from their only grandchild. We know that God will provide us an extra measure of grace to complete what He has called us to do.

Lately I have been thinking of some New Years Goals. Yes thats right I am a slacker and have not done them yet. No, I do not call them resolutions. There is a lot of stuff that I want to work on in 2010. A lot of stuff I am believing God to do in Amanda, Grant, and I's lives. Things I want to see happen in Salerno. For instance, I want to see a group of guys get together and study the Bible like the girls have been having before Christmas. We do have people we meet with to disciple. We have people we share the hope of Christ with and what He has done in our lives with individuals. We have not been able to have a consistent meeting with a group of Italian guys to only study the Bible. I have faith that God can do it.

Last I want to leave you with some photos of Grant, one from his dedication at OGC. He loves to stand up now, smile at you, and grab a few select things. Today he absolutely yelled while I was on the phone. Not upset yelled but just high pitched happy laughter. It was pretty funny.

Finishing Up At USF

Christmas time is fast approaching! We have been enjoying this time buying last minute Christmas gifts, getting to spend a lot of time with family, and get to accomplish some last minute things before we leave next month on the 13th. Time is flying as we are one week from Christmas!

One of the things I asked everyone to pray for over the last month or so is the time I have been investing at USF in order to get some sort of Fraternity/Sorority Community Group/Bible Study started. We have had two meetings with 2 USF Alumni who were apart of the Greek system, One Intervarsity staff, one Crusade staff other than me, Ross, and one active brother in Sigma Chi, Greg. The meetings have gone well. USF greek life is different than UCFs and a lot different than the south's. Starting a ministry here at USF is going to look totally different. We want to start with a core of believers and by believers we mean seekers, nominal Christians, or anyone that is even remotely interested in knowing more about Jesus Christ. It is going to take the Spring Semester for all the people in the fraternities and sororities that we even slightly know to be believers to build relationships with these people since the alumni and even Greg are a little removed from their chapters. The next meeting is January 5th. Please continue to pray as I phase out of this role that the Lord would be sovereign over bringing key people together to start this ministry. Also pray that we would know if Intervarsity or Campus Crusade are going to be the main backers with accountability to this arm of ministry.

I have also debriefed with Ross and John the two staff at USF Campus Crusade about what I have found in the IFC meetings I have attended, the presidents I met with, and hours I spent trying to basically survey the Greek system at USF since they were never in a fraternity in their prospective colleges. Going through all the stuff for a good 2-3 hours made me a little sad that I am leaving this "in the middle". I trust that God will use Ross and John to follow up some of the things I started or did. I, somewhat on purpose because I was leaving and knew it was going to be hard and somewhat because Grant being born called for me to have an active role in a lot more activities than I will in the future, did not participate in getting to know a lot of Kappa Sigs even after invited to do so by some of the guys I met at USF. It is hard being passionate about Italy as well as Fraternity ministry because Italy does not have any fraternities at the universities. It was probably still one of my main regrets this whole semester, but I know I did the right thing being there for my wife when she needed me ;)

It was hard but okay as I attended my last USF Campus Crusade meeting of this semester. I know that God has called us to Salerno. It is tough because they do need staff at USF. Maybe someday the Lord will bring us back here.

On the Italy front, continue to pray for the two girl Bible studies and the one on one follow ups from Thanksgiving get together that have been been taking place and will continue to take place over the next few months. Continue to pray for Marko as the Lord is bringing him closer to Himself. There is a plan in place for Marko to come to Unveiled Christmas Conference in Atlanta not only to grow in his faith but get to share with college students what the Lord has been doing in his life. Please pray that money comes in to make this happen.

I will leave you with a picture of Grant sucking his thumb. He tries so hard to get his hand in his mouth and when he finally does, it is a grand sense of accomplishment!

What a happy baby...

Here's a little video clip of Grant. The cooing and smiling are both new in the last week or so. It's been so fun finally seeing him react to all of our talking with him and the silly faces that we make. Grant truly is a great baby. Of course, he has cranky days (but so do I, for that matter). But most of the time, he is truly a delight. We are so blessed :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

Every year, during Thanksgiving, what I have to be thankful for seems to get simplier and simplier. This year I am thankful to be in loving relationship with my heavenly father and thankful that I have trusted him for Salvation. I am thankful for my wife, son, and the rest of my family. The Lord has truly blessed me.

This Thanksgiving weekend was a full one for us as we spent time with Amanda's family on Thursday, went shopping and decorated Amanda's mom's house for Christmas, had a second Thanksgiving with my family, and then spoke at Glenwood Presbyterian in Orlando about our summer and God's workings in Salerno. This trip to Glenwood was one of Grant's first out in public. He actually did pretty good. He had poopy explosion while Amanda was holding him sharing about us in Sunday School. He went through two of his three outfits in one morning something we did not anticipate, but hey we can't complain!

We have made it a tradition to have a Thanksgiving outreach in Salerno every year. This year we had twenty people. Some were new people and some were people that were invited by our friends. Please continue to pray for those relationships to go deeper.

The holidays are much among us. Of course there are really only 3: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years that we celebrate in a 5 week range. These 5 weeks are usually busy for everyone, with gift buying, vacations, holiday parties, decorating for the holidays, families, and the actual holidays themselves. Usually during this season, I get so busy that I do not pray as much as I should. There is not as many people that want to hear about our ministry. Students go on their break. As well as praying for my diligence, could you commit to remember the true reason for the season is our Savior Jesus Christ?

Below is a recent picture of Grant :)

Prayer Requests and Reflection

Grant is almost a month old. Time has flown by in a lot of ways. We have been doing well, thankful to God for everyone's prayers during this time of transition. Its amazing that soon it will be Thanksgiving and then the end of the year. Please continue to pray for our support to come in we still need about $600 monthly before we can leave in January.

Earlier this week in one of my times with the Lord, I have prayed through 1 Thessalonians 2 over both the ministry at USF and in Italy. Would you pray that over the ministry in Italy, too? . God has been doing awesome things in Salerno with two girls Bible Studies going on consistently. Continue to pray for the ministry as Justin and Abbey Valiquette have come home for a few months to raise some extra support and Bentley and Sarah Love Crawford are coming home soon to have their baby in the U.S. we will not have any men on our team until we get there. Pray that we do not lose momentum in the ministry with these things happening.

God has done some awesome things at USF. I have not done a lot there lately as I have been really been trying to focus on being available so the Lord can raise our financial support. We are really close to starting to launch a Fraternity/Sorority Community group. The Lord has raised a few people up to do so. I have also gotten to meet with a few fraternity presidents to get ideas of how we can be resource to the Greek community. Continue to pray for our efforts that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide us and show us exactly what this community group is going to look like.

Our Anniversary

Two years ago today Rodney and I were married. It's one of those weird things to me where in some ways it seems like our wedding was just yesterday and in other ways it seems like we've always been married. Obviously, there have been a lot of changes in this year of our marriage; raising support, moving to Italy, having our first child. But through it all, I am so glad I'm able to look at my husband and be thankful for all that the Lord has done and is continuing to do in our lives. I remember people telling us that marriage would reveal so much our selfish nature. There is nothing like living in such close proximity to some one else and having your lives be so intertwined to bring out the best and the worst in yourself. I can definitely attest to that now. Our marriage has challenged me and grown me so much over the last two years. My mom watched little Grant for a couple of hours last night and Rodney and I had the chance to go out for a nice dinner. We reflected and talked about the last year and all of the changes. We talked about our first year of marriage compared to our second. And I realized how much better I know myself now than I did two years ago. I've learned so much more about how what really encourages me, what really upsets me and how to communicate what I'm feeling and why. What an unexpected blessing! When I walked down that aisle two years ago I woul have said that I knew a lot about myself and a lot about Rodney. And now, when I look back, I feel like I hardly knew myself, let alone any thing about Rodney. The Lord has been so gracious to us as we've grown and learned so much over these past two years.

And now, a little note to my sweet husband- Thank you so much for all that you are and all that do for me, and now for our family. The Lord has used to in such a powerful way in my life. I am so grateful for our love and our marriage.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (from The Message)

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies.