Buona Pasqua!

Happy Easter from Italia!
Of course, I missed celebrating with my family and church back home. But I enjoyed celebrating pasqua here in Italy this year. I even had part of "home" here with me! Megan and Wade Housh are friends from my church in Kansas who are currently serving as missionary associates in the Republic of Georgia. They came for a visit this past weekend. It was wonderful to see them and introduce them to a number of my friends at ICF and in Padova. Their first night here they jumped in and helped with the kids program Danielle and I do every Friday night.

Wade was our pilot and Megan our co-pilot/flight attendant :)

Inviting the children into my home in Afghanistan. I taught them the true story of Jesus coming to teach Afghani women about Himself.

Megan helping us with the activity/game

We have so much fun with these kids!

In the airplane on the way to Argentina from Afghanistan.

ICF had a longer service this past Friday, so we went to visit two different countries with the kids.

Then came some UNO!

Not sure what's happening here, but Uno really is one of their favorite games!

I enjoyed part of the Italian pasqua tradition, thanks to the Dentons!

Yes, it's a huge chocolate egg...with Baci chocolates and a little prize inside!

Almost too cool to eat...key word "almost"

 My first bite!

My second bite looks like I'm drinking it!

Patti was so kind to invite her daughter & husband, the Gerke's, Megan, Wade, Danielle, and I over for Easter lunch after church. We enjoyed ham, potatoes, salad, fruit salad, and much more! Even lemon meringue pie and pineapple upside-down cake for dessert! After lunch, Patti surprised us by giving us big chocolate Easter eggs! Yum yum! Grazie, Steve and Patti!

Another surprise on Easter morning! Megan and Wade had gifts waiting for me to open...they had just come from Switzerland, and brought me a swiss chocolate bunny. They also brought me a beautiful scarf from Georgia...which Megan told me also works quite well for a table runner or decoration. Beautiful, and so unique! They also brought a gift for Danielle...a cute coin purse from Georgia. She had given up her room, so they could stay in the apartment with me. Grazie, Danielle!

And thank you so much, Wade & Megan! So kind and thoughtful of you! So very glad you got to come for a visit. 

Wade, Megan, & I enjoyed playing Ticket to Ride (Europe edition)! Thanks Ben for sending me this game for my birthday!

Another major happening during Easter weekend was our ICF children's church program! The kids did great! Gezim was kind enough to video the program for me...grazie mille, Gezim!

Here is the link to see in on my Facebook page:

Part 1---https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=653417694002

Part 2---https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=653422274822

Part 3---https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=653429749842

I hope it works for those of you who don't have facebook to view it. I've set it to "everyone" being able to view the videos, but that might mean only everyone on Facebook. If you have facebook, check it out on my profile! If you don't, I'm so sorry if this doesn't work. I'll try to get it onto YouTube as well.

The day after Easter, ICF had a church picnic at a lovely park. We've been enjoying wonderful spring weather here. It was a sunny, breezy and beautiful day. We played soccer, frisbee and enjoyed lunch and a nice time of relaxation together.

As you can tell, it's been quite busy around here!

Happy Easter, everyone! So grateful He is risen! Hallelujah!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

1 Peter 1:3