so sorry to anyone who has regularly been checking the blog… I know it has been over 2 months with no updates. But the fact of the matter is that there isn’t too much to report regarding this stage right now. I am still waiting on word from the Italian consulate that my mom has received her citizenship. Not really expecting anything until around August.
All of us have been going through some major trials. I have not worked much at all this year, and other than some residual pay in January for some work I had done in the previous year, I have not recieved any money yet either. Thankfully Shelly has been blessed at her work and gotten a pretty significant pay upgrade. We are also now getting some tax money back, which should keep us alive for a few more months. I know the Lord knows how much we need, and truth be told… I’m not really in any sort of panic over the situation, but this year has been a trial. Shelly also has some health issues: There was a slight scare over some swelling that the doctors thought might be arthritis, but it turned out to be a virus. She also has some sort of shadow on her chest X-ray… which we aren’t sure what that is, but tests should be coming back early next week. Thankfully however she has a great attitude about her health and is willing to go through whatever the Lord has for her. Ultimately I really believe that all we are going through right now is for the good and the Lord is working things in us that we will need in Italy. But honestly, Italy seems far away right now.
I have also found several friends on skype from Italy that are helping me with speaking Italian. And I continue to read my Italian Bible every day as well as trying to increase my fluency in the metric system.
And……. I’ve started riding my bike to work!!!!! I know… you’re asking… is that to be more Italian? do you want to help reduce emissions and save the planet? Do you want to get more physical exercise and be heathier? …um.. sure. All of those. But mainly my car is about to give up the ghost and I’m trying to prolong its lifespan a bit. But it does save some gas money, reduce emissions, make me healthier, etc, etc….
I’ll see if I can get Ronnie to give you an abbreviated version of their trials over the last year. But there have been many. Blessings too, but definitely a lot of trials.
In everything we go through, I can see how Satan would want to break us down and demoralize us, cause us to want to forsake the whole idea. I don’t know what the future holds, but I believe that we continue to hold fast to what we believe the Lord has given us and move forward until we hear differently.
God bless and take care,
dave