Italy- the first few days

Well to say life has been easy the past week would be an understatement. Moving across the world is not glamorous and it is nothing like the movies.  So far living here has been anything but glamorous.  It has been hard and frustrating at times but I think Adam and I are beginning to see God using this to sharpen us and becoming more aware of how He is faithful to those who believe in Him.  I thought I learned all about His faithfulness during deployment but I was wrong.. I still have a TON to learn and He is showing me everyday! I am so thankful He knows what is best for me.  Today was one of the first days I actually got into the Bible and was able to study some passages.  Grandma Elaine is keeping me stocked with BSF study notes and questions.. I'm currently reading through Exodus what a perfect place for me.  Anyways the study led me to Isaiah 55, go there and read it I encourage you!

Anyways.. life here.. things are getting more and more normal. I learned through deployment and watching my seasoned military wife friends that keeping routine is SO important.. doing the same things wherever we live is vital to our girls adjusting well.  SO we walk everyday a couple times a day we take stroller rides. Almost every evening we walk together as a family and at least once a day the girls and I take a long walk. It has been good for all of us. 
Our neighborhood is pretty big, a lot bigger than the one we lived in California but there is only one family housing neighborhood.  We basically live in the middle of farm lands. On our walk the other morning we actually saw a herd of sheep walking down the road with their shepherd. Not kidding it was awesome.  Although the shepherd wasn't wearing what  you think he would he was wearing Addidas work out gear. 
Our stuff hasn't arrived yet so we are still playing with the same few t oys we shipped in our express so creativity is my best friend right now.  We have eaten a lot of "picnics" on our beach towels and played with our carseats.

I believe everyone is over the jet lag. I would say Adam and I were probably ok by day 3 the girls were another story.  They were screaming their heads off the first 2 evenings so much so we went and asked our neighbors if they could hear them and they kindly said yes.  They were more than gracious to us but we changed our game plan. We decided to keep the girls up until about 11pm and then wean them back to their regular bedtime. It worked and by Friday they were sleeping through the night again. Their eating routine was off as well but it seems to be back to normal. 

Here are some pictures from our first week.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. You have no idea how thankful we are.  They were heard and felt by us! We could not do this life without all of our family and friends, we love you all and please know you are all greatly missed more than I realized. 

Ciaio -   (the only Italian I know currently)

Jen