Wow, what a day! Sometimes it's hard for me to believe I'm actually living in Italy...so yesterday it was a bit hard for me to believe I was really celebrating my birthday here. All of my new friends and family in Christ made me feel so special! Here is how my November 11th started out...
The very moment I arrived at the church, Vana was heading out the door, and she returned with this delicious brioche con crema cotta uvette (like a cinnamon roll with raisins) and cappuccino d'orzo (I don't really care for coffee, but I really like a drink similar to coffee--it's made with a toasted orzo grain and doesn't have caffeine). Just around the corner from the church is a little coffee shop where we always go for coffees and cappuccinos. Paulo, the bar (coffee shop to us) owner even let her take those flowers from one of his tables!
The creativity of our friend, Paulo! :)
What a wonderful start to my morning! Thank you, Vana!
After preparing materials and lessons for the after-school program, Steve & Patti took us all out for lunch! (Joel is taking this picture, so he was there too) We celebrated my birthday, and the upcoming "going away" of Maira, Joel, & Melody. Maira is going home to Brazil on Nov. 26th and Joel & Melody are going back to America on Dec. 6th. I can't think too much about all of them leaving...it makes me very sad! So we're all enjoying the remaining time that we have together! Lunch was delicious...an authentic Italian meal...4 courses--pasta, meat, vegetable, dessert, and then coffee. They serve coffee at the very end of your meal...to help with digestion. Wonderful! Thank you, Steve & Patti!
We taught the kids in the after-school program, (they all sang happy birthday to me in their native languages and prayed for me) and after that was finished, the college student group had a special movie night. It was an opportunity for the students in the group to invite their friends to an "event." They were thoughtful enough to celebrate my birthday too. Below is the chocolate chip cheesecake and homemade tiramisu that Amy made for me. Mmmm!
Complete with candle! True story--Amy remembered to bring everything but something to light the candle. Vana immediately dashed out the door and came back with a lighter that one of the homeless guys who usually sleeps around the corner from the church let us borrow. This was even more interesting because the movie that was shown was a version of Pay It Forward, and we have been discussing treating others the way you would want to be treated. After the movie, Amy talked for a bit about "paying it forward" to other people. Sharing the love and kindness of Christ, whether you have love and kindness returned to you or not. She mentioned the homeless man letting us borrow his lighter may have been a man that our church has fed before or helped in some way. And there he was being kind to us, letting us borrow his lighter.
Thank you, Amy! Both the cheesecake and tiramisu were absolutely delicious! So thoughtful of you...it was wonderful to celebrate with you guys! She even brought some confetti to throw at me and a happy birthday streamer...as you can see, they wrapped it around my neck :)
What an experience...everyone at the movie night singing happy birthday to me in their native languages...Romanian, Italian, English, Albanian, Portuguese.
And this is what I found waiting for me at the end of the day. Maira left this little surprise for me to find! A card that says "Buon Compleanno" (Happy Birthday) and the little cake that says "Tanti Auguri"--which is just perfect to help me remember my birthday here in Italy! The Italian "happy birthday song" isn't really saying "happy birthday." It goes like this,
"Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri a te, Tanti auguri Sarah, Tanti auguri a te."
Maira explained to me that it is saying, best wishes to you, best wishes to you, etc.
She also gave me a picture frame for a good picture of us in Florence!! We are headed there Sunday afternoon! She wanted to visit Florence before she heads back to Brazil and thought it would be really nice for us to get to go together...so she talked to Patti and got it all worked out for me to go with her! Yah! We are staying with the McGehee's...A/G missionaries in Florence. We are so excited to see them and Firenze (Florence, in Italian) or as they call it, "The city of EVERYTHING"! :) They are so great!
What a wonderful day! I definitely missed celebrating with my loved ones back home, but was so blessed to receive all your emails, facebook birthday blessings and wishes, packages, cards, etc! God is so good! Thank you all so very much!
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3
No comments:
Post a Comment