Italia

Not sharimisu.

We just got back Saturday from our trip to Italy with our friends Zac & Cara. It was so much fun & Italy is now even more my favorite place on earth. I want to write out as much of it as I can remember, so, enjoy!

Josh & I drove up to Austin Thursday night since the boys were staying with my parents. We woke up super early that morning, after about 3.5 hrs of sleep, to head to the airport. We flew to Atlanta, then Miami, then switched airports via taxi for our international flight. (Josh & I always opt out of the cancer machine screeners [you know, the nekkid picture ones] so we had to do the whole pat down thing. Something showed up as sketchy on the gloves of the guy checking Josh, so he got taken to a private room to do it again. It was kind of comical because you could tell they didn't exactly find us suspicious, but had to go through the motions anyways. He checked out fine after that one.) We then flew 8.5 hours to Dusseldorf, then 1.5 hrs to Milan, where we took a train from the airport to the Milano Centrale train station, then waited a couple of hours for our train to Florence. In short: we were STINKING TIRED by the time we got there. So. Much. Traveling. But worth it, obviously.

In Florence, we stayed down a narrow street in an apartment that was located between a trattoria & a ristorante. Totally charming. We were so happy to see Zac & Cara. Our time with them (since college with Zac, & for as long as we've known Cara) has been limited to vacations or their weekend trips to SA, so we cherish every moment with them.

We went out to dinner after we dropped off our luggage & had pizza & wine. Bufala mozzarella is plentiful in Italy & we had it at almost every opportunity, starting with our margherita pizzas. We walked around town a bit & got dessert in the Piazza della Repubblica, then crashed for the night (Josh was D.O.N.E. after dinner).

The next day, I woke up before everyone else & headed out to walk around. Florence had been my favorite city when we visited Italy in 2009. I love the charm of the city - I'll never get over it. Since it was a Sunday morning, it was so quiet out, & the streets were almost empty. I walked along the river, grabbed a cappuccino & a croissant, & sat in the small piazza near our place to eat. This was one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.

(I must pause here to say that no one does coffee like Italians. They mean business! Even convenience stores off the side of the highway have espresso machines. I love their cappuccinos. I had as many as possible, even though they made my tummy hurt sometimes since I don't consume much dairy these days. Going from gluten & dairy free to eating lots of pizza, pasta, sandwiches, gelato, cappuccinos, & cheese did a toll on me!! But it was SO GOOD.)

I headed back to meet everyone else before we headed out. We had scheduled tickets to the Uffizi Museum & the Accademia that day, so we headed to the Uffizi at 9 & walked around for a couple of hours, admiring all the paintings & sculptures. We grabbed lunch at a sandwich shop (which are a very popular Italian lunch option) & sat at the apartment for a while, & the other three had a little nap time (I couldn't sleep; for some reason jet lag on the way there left me with tons of energy, but coming back, I am still exhausted) before we went to the Accademia, which is where the David is, along with many other Michelangelo sculptures. We may have been shushed at one point. Our laughter wasn't very museum-like. But we enjoyed ourselves!

That night we wandered around & found a restaurant in a small piazza to eat at. That was where I got the best tiramisu of the trip. But I was also left feeling really yucky afterwards - dairy overload. So I passed on the gelato after dinner. (Don't judge - we had gelato every day at least once, along with tiramisu three times, appetizers every night at dinner, & cappuccinos at every turn. We like to think we walked enough to make allowances for all that deliciousness.)

Monday morning, we climbed up the 460+ stairs in the narrow tunnel up to the top of the dome of the Duomo. We got some beautiful views of the city from the top. Zac & Cara then headed to wait in line to go inside the Duomo, but since Josh & I got to do that last time we were there, we grabbed lunch & walked around a bit before meeting back up with them. That afternoon, we walked across the bridge to the Pitti Palace & toured the gardens & the costume gallery (since we were too cheap to pay for admittance to the palace). I also believe this was the day we got the best gelato, at least in my opinion, also across the bridge. That evening's dinner was one of our best. We sat outside & had delicious food & a very kind waiter. (Appetizer: fried pasta dough with mozzarella & proscuitto - SO GOOD. I got pappardelle with wild boar ragu. Tiramisu for dessert.) We walked around town for the last time before calling it a night.

The next morning, we did some souvenir shopping & got to eat lunch at one of the best restaurants in town, which was my favorite meal. I got the stuffed cabbage leaves. So wonderfully spiced! I'll attempt to recreate it soon but I know I'll fail. Then we went to get our rental car to head out to the country. Zac had rented a Fiat 500, & after considering the upgrade but deciding against it ("It's only for an hour!), we squished four people, four large suitcases, five backpacks, a camera case, & a purse into a tiny two-door car. We viewed a church at the top of a hill across the river on our way out of town & got some good pictures of Florence, then headed out of town. About an hour in, I got carsick & would have barfed if we hadn't pulled over, & Zac graciously switched places with me. A bit further down the road, we realized we had been going the wrong direction the whole time. So an hour on the road turned into more like 4+. Oops. That's what happens when you don't have WiFi, y'all.

(Josh really, really enjoyed driving the manual Fiat, & driving like an Italian. Driving laws are more like suggestions there, so he zoomed around & drove well over 130 kpm - around 90 mph. One of his favorite parts of the trip by far.)

We eventually made it to our awesome apartment in the medieval town of Montefollonico, on top of a hill in Tuscany. It was a beautiful, quaint little town with three restaurants, some artisans, & one small grocery store. It lives off tourism now, though it seemed to be mainly Italian tourists. It has two short streets that run long ways, & a couple small roads that barely fit our small Fiat. That night we had a very late dinner at the closest restaurant, La Costa. Delicious crostini appetizer with truffle oil, & homemade pasta & risotto. The next morning, we drove to the next hill over to the old town of Montepulciano. Montepulciano is known for having some of the best wine in Italy, so there are many wineries there. We did some sampling & walked through the cool, dark wine cellars, & I bought a ceramic olive oil jar to bring home (the Roberts love us some good olive oil). We relaxed a bit at our apartment, then went to a local pizzeria for dinner & good conversation (& lots of laughs).

Thursday, we went to Siena, about an hour away. What a beautiful, charming city. Like the other Tuscan towns, the old part of the town is on top of the hill, surrounded by the old city walls. We did a little touring of the town, & of course some eating. One of my other favorite parts of the trip, though, was when we bought gelato & sat in the main piazza & simply enjoyed the moment. There is so much to see in Italy that it's tempting to just go go go, but I loved when we were able to stop & bask in the beauty around us. Shortly after, it began to rain, so after about 30 minutes under a restaurant canopy, we ran through the rain back to our car. We ate dinner at another restaurant in town for our last evening together.

Friday morning, we recreated the stuffed-car situation & drove out to a vineyard about 20 minutes away, where we were able to get a tour & a wine tasting. We also got a bread plate & some of the best olive oil I have ever had. This was another one of my favorite parts of the trip. We headed back to Florence, checked our bags at the train station, hustled over to a restaurant that attracts the locals that served us some really good roasted beef, pork, & white beans, received & consumed in about 15 minutes time. We grabbed some gelato on the walk back, then said goodbye at the train station as we headed back to Milan & they left for Venice. Throw in another marathon day of traveling, & we were home again with our boys (of which, the oldest told me upon seeing me, that he didn't want to go home, he wanted to stay at Mimi & Papa's. They definitely didn't miss us too much!).

We had a great time in a beautiful region of a lovely country with wonderful friends. I love Italy. I love the people & the culture & the food & the language & most of all, the coffee. (Just kidding. Not really.) Tuscany is so gorgeous to me, with its rolling hills, vineyards & olive trees, & old world structures. Many times during our trip, I just stopped & thanked the Lord for the blessing of being able to go there, not only once but twice, & to spend lots of time with Zac & Cara. We'd love to go back again one day. If nothing else, I'll be spending a lot of time there on the New Earth; that's where you'll find me. :)

Today...

I made salsa using onions & jalapenos from our CSA (community supported agriculture - we get 5-6 lbs of veggies each week, locally & organically grown).

I jarred up some cucumber & dill from our CSA to make pickles. I've never made them before so we'll see how they turn out later this week!

Josh grilled deer burger steaks (from a deer he killed) for dinner & I roasted some squash, carrots, & onions from the CSA.

In the oven I have a gluten free blackberry crumble baking, using the blackberries that Elliot & I picked on Friday with his friends Claire & Will (& my friend Amy).

I also have some pesto in the fridge from last week's basil. YUM!

It's been fun to experiment with the veggies we get each week & find new ways to cook them. I also enjoy making pesto & salsa (& eventually tomato sauce, once we start getting tomatoes) each week, in hopes that I can perfect a recipe. Cooking is an escape for me - just me & the food, chopping away & getting to see the result each time is somewhat therapeutic these days. Not to mention, I love feeling good about what we're eating. Less & less chemicals in this house!

So THIS is what it's like!

Jack loves him some food.

Elliot is a super picky eater - has been since day 1. He has always had some crazy, unknown system for deciding what he'll eat, conveniently resulting in only eating things like fruit, dairy products (which we limit because of his eczema), bread/pasta (again - limited, or gluten free), bite-sized (no larger!) chicken nuggets etc. He'll eat plenty of what he likes, but what he likes & what he's willing to try makes up for a very short list.

So we prayed that Jack would be a good eater. We didn't really do solids until 8 months, with the exception of letting him taste something here or there, & we skipped purees all together & only offer pieces of whole food. He didn't seem interested before 8 months. But since then, he has wanted to eat everything offered him, & he does it with gusto. He lunges towards my fingers or the fork, & if he has food on his tray, he grabs several pieces with his hand & shoves as many as possible in his mouth. It's hilarious. He will eat anything, & I can tell he doesn't love avocado (I think it's too plain for him - I bet he'd love guacamole) but so far he has loved vegan chili with baked potato; beef, chicken, fish, & pork; blueberries, melon, & pineapple; squash, green beans, tomato, & broccoli; & other things I can't think of at the moment. We went to get frozen yogurt yesterday & he was SO MAD that he couldn't have any, that he cried & reached for my bowl the whole time. I love that I can just feed him whatever I am eating, without having to worry about preparing something different; I just give him bites in between mine.

I'd say I'm a fan of this good-eater thing! I'm praying he keeps it up!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

WE GOT A POOP ON THE POTTY!!! WE GOT A POOP ON THE POTTY!!!

That is all.

Wait, no.

I AM GOING TO THE FINALS GAME FOUR!!!

Okay, I'm really done this time.

:)

Discerning Idolatry in Desire - John Piper

John Piper posted this article & I really liked it, so I thought I'd copy it here for safe keeping (& to share of course).

Most of us realize that enjoying anything other than God, from the best gift to the basest pleasure, can become idolatry. Paul says in Colossians 3:5, “Covetousness is idolatry.”

“Covetousness” means desiring something other than God in the wrong way. But what does that mean—“in the wrong way”?

The reason this matters is both vertical and horizontal. Idolatry will destroy our relationship with God. And it will destroy our relationships with people.

All human relational problems—from marriage and family to friendship to neighbors to classmates to colleagues—all of them are rooted in various forms of idolatry, that is, wanting things other than God in wrong ways.

So here is my effort to think biblically about what those wrong ways are. What makes an enjoyment idolatrous? What turns a desire into covetousness, which is idolatry?

1. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is forbidden by God. For example, adultery and fornication and stealing and lying are forbidden by God. Some people at some times feel that these are pleasurable, or else we would not do them. No one sins out of duty. But such pleasure is a sign of idolatry.
2. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is disproportionate to the worth of what is desired. Great desire for non-great things is a sign that we are beginning to make those things idols.
3. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is not permeated with gratitude. When our enjoyment of something tends to make us not think of God, it is moving toward idolatry. But if the enjoyment gives rise to the feeling of gratefulness to God, we are being protected from idolatry. The grateful feeling that we don’t deserve this gift or this enjoyment, but have it freely from God’s grace, is evidence that idolatry is being checked.
4. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it does not see in God’s gift that God himself is more to be desired than the gift. If the gift is not awakening a sense that God, the Giver, is better than the gift, it is becoming an idol.
5. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is starting to feel like a right, and our delight is becoming a demand. It may be that the delight is right. It may be that another person ought to give you this delight. It may be right to tell them this. But when all this rises to the level of angry demands, idolatry is rising.
6. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it draws us away from our duties. When we find ourselves spending time pursuing an enjoyment, knowing that other things, or people, should be getting our attention, we are moving into idolatry.
7. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it awakens a sense of pride that we can experience this delight while others can’t. This is especially true of delights in religious things, like prayer and Bible reading and ministry. It is wonderful to enjoy holy things. It is idolatrous to feel proud that we can.
8. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is oblivious or callous to the needs and desires of others. Holy enjoyment is aware of others’ needs and may temporarily leave a good pleasure to help another person have it. One might leave private prayer to be the answer to someone else’s.
9. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it does not desire that Christ be magnified as supremely desirable through the enjoyment. Enjoying anything but Christ (like his good gifts) runs the inevitable risk of magnifying the gift over the Giver. One evidence that idolatry is not happening is the earnest desire that this not happen.
10. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when it is not working a deeper capacity for holy delight. We are sinners still. It is idolatrous to be content with sin. So we desire transformation. Some enjoyments shrink our capacities of holy joy. Others enlarge them. Some go either way, depending on how we think about them. When we don’t care if an enjoyment is making us more holy, we are moving into idolatry.
11. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when its loss ruins our trust in the goodness of God. There can be sorrow at loss without being idolatrous. But when the sorrow threatens our confidence in God, it signals that the thing lost was becoming an idol.
12. Enjoyment is becoming idolatrous when its loss paralyzes us emotionally so that we can’t relate lovingly to other people. This is the horizontal effect of losing confidence in God. Again: Great sorrow is no sure sign of idolatry. Jesus had great sorrow. But when desire is denied, and the effect is the emotional inability to do what God calls us to do, the warning signs of idolatry are flashing.

For myself and for you, I pray the admonition of 1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

A Learning Moment

Yesterday, we decided to run to the mall to kill some time before meeting some friends for dinner. We were walking in & witnessed a guy driving into the parking garage who knocked the ladder off his truck because it was too high. He was having trouble getting out without losing his ladder. One woman was standing by the door making fun of him, & Josh decided to turn & go help him. I bent over to tell Elliot that Daddy was helping that man, & that we help people, even those we don't know, because Jesus loves them & we want them to know that. Elliot was listening & watching, & when I was done talking, he said loudly, "That's my daddy!"

I am challenged remembering this. Our kids see what we do; we are teaching them how to live in this world. What are they seeing from me? & I am encouraged by Josh & I desire to be more like him. The answer to these things: abide in the Spirit. This is my prayer!

The Here & Now (& the Italian)

I had a horrible dream last night. We were going to Italy & I had, for some reason, only a few minutes to pack everything before leaving. I had to think of everything I could possibly need, & quick. Talk about stressful! This is actually the second time I've had this dream in the past couple of months. Let's just say I'm motivated to start our packing list now! Who knew we'd ever go back? But indeed! We were approached by our wonderful friends Zac & Cara with the best idea of meeting them in my favorite city, Florence, & spending an entire week in Tuscany. I can't wait. Seriously. Can. Not. Wait. I'm even looking forward to the terribly long plane ride. Alone time with my man, & a book, & my thoughts. & we love every moment we get to spend with our sweet friends (who will soon, finally, be living on the same continent as us, yay!).

(Of course, there is also the obvious amazing views, fresh food, olive oil, wine, gelato, history, & beautiful Italian culture. Ahh.)

Aside from our trip, which I am really looking forward to, I feel like we are in a season of just being. We're not looking toward the next thing, we're not experiencing change, we're just living the day-to-day, in Josh's job, in our city, at our church, in our life group, as a family of four. We haven't been in this place since August of 2009. At that point, we waited to get pregnant, were pregnant & waiting to have a baby, soon afterward we were thinking about baby #2, waiting to get pregnant, pregnant & waiting for baby, & now almost 4 years later, we're finally just... living. As much as I tend to look forward to the next thing, I'm really okay with being in this place after the past few years of change. I know God has more for us in the coming years, likely including much more change, so for now, we're just taking it all in. I'm definitely still treading water at this point, surviving & not quite thriving, but trying to enjoy the now.

I will say though that we have tossed around the idea of taking our first big family vacation next summer - Elliot will be 3.5, Jack will be 1.5, & the timing seems ideal, so we'll see!