Tennis Season Has Started.

Micah decided he wanted to try out for the High School tennis team- and he made the team! 

We are very proud of him, even though we now have no other life. I think 12 boys tried out and 8 made the team. Not bad for a freshman with no experience other than playing for fun occasionally! 

So, we now spend much time sweating on the tennis courts while being eaten alive by mosquitoes. He has practice M-Th for 2 hours after school and each Friday and Saturday he will have matches. Now, since we live in Europe but aren't European, it seems we play other European located American military schools and a few international ones. Which means travel. The good is that we only travel 3 weekends and we stay in Italy. One trip is to Rome and two to Naples- unless Micah does very well. Then he will also go to Germany for the Eurpean DODEA (DOD schools) tournament at the end of October. 

It seems that it is also customary to have private lessons, in addition to the team practices. So, here we are at 11am working with an instructor. It's still school, do not worry. We are getting all the PE in that we missed all those years in MI!  (Plus, I told him school still must come first and he has been great about starting school around 7 am to make up for the shorter day.)

Elijah is working on the practice wall behind Micah. 

And Judah is building and putting out fires. 

today we went to sciovie Verena 2000 - guest post by Elijah

Today we went to Sciovie, Verena 2000 it's a ski resort in the winter but in the summer it's a place to hike. First you ride a chair lift to the top and than there is a world war 1 fort and some really amazing views. then you can ride the char lift back down or walk back down. we walked and it was very pretty but very hard with Jude. 

This is in the world war 1 fort

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This is an Italian swing

  Hear I dont know but there were a lot of motorcycles and that's it

-Elijah wilhelm 

Unaccompanied Baggage!

This was our "quick shipment" that was sent by plane and only 650 pounds-one triwall! 

It took 78 days. 

I hope to have our household goods (coming by boat and weighing 13k) before Christmas 🙄

Jude is so happy for more toys and the other kids- more clothes and the rest of their school books😂

I had to all but threaten Judah to get him down to breakfast. He did not want to leave his toys. 

Three Year Old Wisdom

After destroying yet another placemat with a knife while waiting for his food....

"THIS is why they should not bring me a knife!"

The rain clears the horrible air here and we get some better views after it rains! 

We went to the art center and played with clay today. I do love all the incredible resources and opportunities we have being so close to a military installation, again. The other nice thing overseas is that everything happens on post, so we can have the kids in multiple things even when they overlap timewise because it's all in one place. 

Mom. Hold my feet. 

Waiting for dinner. It was so hot, despite the fact there was A mini split on the wall above us. 

Micah will be mad when he sees this. He was playing with my phone while we waited. 

Mom, I'm going to eat all your cucumbers. But it is okay becaise you can have all the other vegetables. 

We have made friends with one of the employees/owners of our favorite restaurant "wavy guy" as jude calls it. And so, now they treat us like royalty bringing out extra dishes and we eat like kings. It's so good. 

Still Alive and Well in Italy

Blogger is causing me all kinds of posting issues. Additionally, I have almost no free time, and I try to spend the little I do with God 😁

So, I'm sorry for the neglect. I write a lot of posts in my head as I take the photos! And I do hope to catch up when things slow down. 

Right now, I'm as Elijah's soccer assessment,  and Bryan and the rest of the kids are at the hotel. Kind of surprisingly, I don't see anyone I know here and so I'm being "that mom" on my phone to post a little update!

Things in Italy are good. Most of the complaints have to do with the fact we still live in a hotel or the miserable heat.  We are very much looking forward to living in a house and fall! It is also hard having left all our friends behind. We have made some here, and I'm probably getting the best end of this right now.  I have met some awesome Catholic women and am blessed to have new friends that . The unfortunate thing is a lack of teens in our current circle for the older kids. Jude has many new friends, but still only talks about his friends from MI. It'll take some time, but we will all adjust. (We won't forget you Michiganders, though! Come visit us! ❤️)

It's currently 90 degrees at 7pm, and in the shade with a hint of a breeze, it isn't so bad. It's been in the 90s every day since we arrived here, and what is so hard is no relief. The AC just isn't like it is in the states and it's never all that cool.  We literally have our hotel rooms set to max at all times and during the day it is tolerable and at night it gets a little chilly. Unless,  like last night,  they shut off the air. We had storms rol through yesterday and it cooled off quite a bit (was 64 when we came home from dinner and 68 when I got up this am!) But, we didn't know that meant no AC and it was miserable in our rooms all night. Judah did not sleep at all, so neither did I. Water,  itchy mosquito bites, more water, etc. This morning I opened the windows and it was so pleasant for an hour or two. However, there are no wondow screens, so now we have flies and probably mosquitoes living with us. 

It's just different here. 

It's now August. That means Ferragosto. Which means Italians are all on vacation. For the whole month, more or less. Yep, seriously. The cool part is that it is derived from the Feast of the Assumption. But let's be real, too one is celebrating Our Lady these days, just on vacation.

So. What's the housing situation, you all ask? 

It's August. We aren't going anywhere at the moment - or this month. 🫠

Our realtor is "working" on a letter of intent for a house. (It's August and it has already been a week, seems like it should be done already.)  It's a good house, nice and big, but it doesn't have a view of the mountains, church bells close enough to hear all day, and it hasn't been updated since it was built in 1995 and the kitchen and baths tell that story. 

So as we wait for the letter of intent (which Wil require a €3k deposit) We keep fervently looking for other options. It seems likely it will be that house, in a town called Gazzo, but we appreciate your prayers for either peace with it or the right house to pop up in time.)

We will also have to wait until late September or October for that house. The owner bought an apt in town and it was supposed to be ready 1 July. But it's Italy. Nothing moves fast here. Now they are saying 15 September, but he will then have to move all his stuff out of the old house. It seems like a long time to wait in a hotel!

And Bryan's agency has denied his request of pay for the hotel for September, so we also may be paying oit of pocket for the hotel. Please pray that is resolved, as well! I don't truly love the house, and paying so much and waiting so long make it feel that much less appealing, but  again, no real other options at the moment. A ton of people are moving in currently and there are only so many big houses. (Many of which have been snapped up by families with only 2 kids (or none!) But I digress because that us life.)

This house has plenty for space for visitors, so get those passports in order and start watching tickets! Pro tip- DO NOT COME IN JULY OR AUGUST. It is hot and crowded, and will be no fun because all you will want to do is eat gelato and lay around in the basement. 

I'll try to post some pictures separately.  It seems to go better if I just post a couple at a time. But if you really want to see what it is like- come visit! 🤎