Terrazzo Dei Sogni: Our Accommodations in Rome

I have discovered Airbnb, and I am never going back.

I don’t remember where I first heard about it, but we decided to give it a try for our Italy trip. It’s a site where people all over the world can offer places to stay—options range from ordinary people renting out a spare room in their apartment, to traditional bed-and-breakfasts, to rental of an entire house with the owner not on site. (If you check it out, please contact me for a referral link--unfortunately I cannot post one here, but I can send you one personally that will give us both $20 credit toward a stay! ...here's a referral link I think will work! If it doesn't, still feel free to contact me for a link for $20 credit.)

The accommodations we found through Airbnb were, at least on screen, way nicer *and* way cheaper than the hotels our travel agent offered. We couldn’t really see a downside, so we booked and hoped for the best. And in Rome, did we ever get the best. Oh my goodness. We pretty much have nowhere to go but down from here!

Our expectations were high based on reviews and photos, and our hosts, Gianni and Maurina, were every bit as wonderful as we hoped! They are a retired couple, with kids just a bit older than us, and staying with them was a total delight.

I loved the way she threw her arms around him when I asked for a photo! How precious is that?!

As soon as we arrived, Gianni made us espresso and served us slices of cake, then sat down with a map to share information and recommendations. When we finished our cake, we continued chatting for a while and then he gave us a second snack, some sort of savory frittata.

Gianni and Maurina were so warm and friendly. One morning we sat and talked about their home in Sardinia, and they got out all kinds of photos and magazines to show us. Maurina is an English student, so she doesn’t speak a whole lot, but Gianni is fluent—we only had trouble understanding each other a couple of times—and Maurina so sweetly kept saying “Brava!” to my Italian :) We truly enjoyed getting to know them. It was so fun feeling like we were getting an authentic experience, staying in an Italian home.

The breakfasts. I still dream about them. Completely over the top and every bite was delicious.

Each day we'd have three different kinds of little panini, elaborate fruit pastries, fresh squeezed juice, and the best espresso and cappuccino we had in Italy.

 

 

It would have been a pleasure to eat them anywhere, but we got to enjoy them on a seventh-floor terrace overlooking a park!

Their listing on Airbnb is called “Terrazzo Dei Sogni,” which means “Terrace of Dreams”—not an overstatement.

As if all this were not enough, the location could not have been more convenient—half a block from a metro station, and within walking distance from Termini (the main train station, where we arrived via shuttle from the airport and where we caught a train to Naples) and the Colosseum.

It was wonderful to experience Gianni and Maurina’s hospitality; we would stay with them again without question. Definitely book this place if you are going to Rome! You will not find better accommodations for a more reasonable price.

[And again--if you decide to sign up for Airbnb, please use this referral link or leave your email address so I can send you an invitation! I signed up without one and wish I wouldn't have missed out on the free $20!]

Multitude Monday, Take 353

This fall has felt eerily just like a year ago: in the space of just a week or two, a brother-wedding and a "Broken + Beautiful" women's retreat!

Two weeks ago, we were in Ohio and Michigan for the wedding of Steve's younger brother. (Sadly I did not get any good pictures of the bride and groom, much less us *with* them...there were so very many professional pictures being taken that I did not want to ask them to smile for one more :P Swiped the one below off Facebook and am eagerly anticipating the pro shots!) Then this past weekend, I traveled to Cincinnati to speak at the women's retreat for New City Church. Both events provided countless opportunities to give thanks to God for His gifts. To name and number a few:

7542. handsome boys in pink shirts, so well-behaved on a long day

7543. their taking it very seriously when we told them to look out for Uncle Ben because he was NOT allowed to see Aunt Bridget before the wedding

7544. my in-laws' '65 Lincoln, the wedding car for all three brothers

7545. a new sister-in-law!

7546. cousins being silly and laughing together at the reception

7547. my own hubs, more handsome to me and more loved by me than on our own wedding day ten years ago

 

7548. the opportunity to dance some East Coast Swing with him

7549. kiddos watching the festivities and getting down on the dance floor

7550. Elijah's crazy dance moves (and the video I captured that he'll hate me for in about ten years)
7551. Jude dancing with his new aunt

7552. reunion with an old friend I hadn't seen in eleven years

7553. her inviting me to speak at her church's women's retreat
7554. sweet times of worship in the car by myself on the way there and back
7555. the way He restored my joy and renewed my own soul as I spoke to the women
7556. eyes to see His beauty in the women, opportunities to hear their stories
7557. the lovely ladies I got to be in a discussion group with

7558. dear friends lifting me up in prayer as I prepared and spoke
7559. the privilege of being a vessel of truth and grace and hope, speaking life-giving words and pointing women to Jesus
7560. deep conversation with my friend after the retreat
7561. her hospitality
7562. getting to worship at their wonderful church on Sunday morning

7563. the delight of surprising a friend on my way home
7564. an afternoon walk in the sunshine, catching up with her
7565. her persevering, confident trust in His love and sovereignty and provision through trials
7566. reunion with my guys on Sunday night
7567. safety over 1500+ miles on the road
7568. powerful reminders of His love for me

31 Days of Public Failure

So...nothing like declaring you're going to write on your blog every day for the next 31 days...and falling on your face on day three.

The timing of October's 31 Days challenge was rotten this year. We got home at 9PM on a Sunday night after 16 days out of town and had to hit the ground running Monday morning. I had just four days to catch up on laundry, juggle the usual household tasks, attend soccer games, deal with extra makeup homework, take a sick kid to the doctor, and finish preparing for a speaking engagement. Then I hit the road again on Friday for a women's retreat. Whew!

Because I was going to be gone all weekend, I needed to have my first four posts written and scheduled to publish before Friday morning. The truth is, I *could* have gotten this done if I'd managed my time better Monday through Thursday. Story of my life.

Even though I didn't have it all done before I left, I still went ahead and published the first two, holding out hope that I could finish up day 3 while I was gone and maybe get day 4 thrown together late Sunday night after I got home.

Ha. Hahahaha.

Again, I probably *could* have made even this happen, but when it got right down to it, other choices were wiser to make: deep conversation into the late night with an old friend. Being present with my family after a weekend away from them. Sleep.

So once again real life takes precedence over blogging, and I'm sort of #sorrynotsorry. I want to be a woman whose word means something, so I hate saying I'm going to do something and not following through. I also hate my ongoing failures to make wise choices about how I use my time. For those reasons, I'm frustrated to have dropped the ball.

On the other hand, my failure was in the end due in part to wise choices made. It's not like I let anyone down personally by not blogging (it's more like no one noticed or cared). And the reality is, it's good for me to fail publicly. It's good for me to be humbled, and it's good for others to see that I don't have it all together.

Among other things my friend and I discussed on Saturday night, she shared how knowing me exclusively through my blog for the last decade (after knowing me in real life when we were in high school and college) had led her to think maybe I was some sort of ultra-wise spiritual superstar (that's my summary, not her words--I can't remember how she actually put it). Thankfully a couple of days spent with me in the flesh set her straight :P

It's easy to forget that when we read blogs and Facebook/Instagram feeds, we are only getting a narrow slice of someone's life (especially when that someone blogs as infrequently as I do). No matter how much I try to be genuine and authentic, you just don't see the whole picture. This is something I want to be aware of and careful about. I don't want to craft some sort of misleading online persona; I want my writing voice to ring true, to sound like the real me in real life. At the same time, it's the nature of the beast--and, it's also worth remembering that everyone doesn't need to see everyone else's tender and vulnerable spots. There are parts of my heart and my life that are precious and private, things that I do not put here for everyone not because I am hiding, but because they are reserved for those closest to me, those who are invested in my heart and my life.

All that to say, if you are also reading along and have ever been tempted to think highly of me--by all means, let me set you straight on that immediately. I am broken. I am a mess. I can't even make it to day 3 of a 31-day writing challenge :)

I'm still going to come back to the 31 Days of Italy thing. I have lots and lots of stories and photos to share, and it will do me some good to get those down while they're still fresh. So, look for it starting back up tomorrow.

Italy Itinerary and Travel Tips

We settled on a loose itinerary for our trip relatively quickly: three nights in Rome, three nights in the Naples area (including Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast), and four nights in Florence. But before we could have fun in Italy, we had to take care of a thousand details, from passports to child care (praise the Lord for awesome grandparents!) to train tickets to comfy shoes. We booked everything ourselves, which means I spent countless hours reading reviews, shopping online, perusing guidebooks and studying maps. Today I’m settling into my “31 Days of Italy” series by sharing some resources and advice I found helpful—some specific to Italy, some applicable to all travelers.

Language Learning
I’ve been a language geek as long as I can remember, so I definitely wanted to try and pick up a little Italian before we left. The Duolingo app was a fun way to learn some basics. I only wish I’d started six months sooner! Even though I wasn’t anywhere near even proficient enough for basic conversation, I had learned enough to get a sense of how the language worked and be able to guess at the gist of signs or written instructions. Italian is way easier to learn to speak than other languages, because the pronunciation follows rigid rules. And because Italian isn’t spoken anywhere but in Italy, the Italians recognize that foreigners don’t really have a reason to learn it (unlike more widely spoken Spanish or French, for example). So they tend to be gracious with people who attempt to speak it when visiting.

I would have loved to be fluent, but I had to rely on Google Translate a lot, be willing to look/sound stupid, and give thanks that most Italians speak English far better than I speak Italian. Still, it was fun to try, and one of my favorite things was when people would say “Brava!’ when I understood a word or managed to produce an appropriate phrase. (You definitely need the Google Translate app, by the way--it is crazy amazing and helpful!)

Keeping in Touch Back Home
With little kids back home, being able to communicate internationally was critical for us. My understanding is that AT&T will provide cellular service internationally, but we use Ting (and, incidentally, we spoke with AT&T users in Italy who said their service was awful). So we contacted Ting to unlock our phones for international use, and then we bought SIM cards from Lycamobile once we arrived in Italy. We had a bit of trouble finding a place that sold them (the train station was supposed to have them, but we couldn’t locate any vendors), and getting service switched over took up more time than we anticipated, but in the end it was well worth the hassle. For roughly €40, we had 2GB of data and the ability to make calls from one of the phones. This gave us new Italian phone numbers, so calling the U.S. would have been expensive (and it would have been expensive for our families to call us), but with free wifi at all the places we stayed, it was easy to use FaceTime or Skype to talk with the boys.

For frequent communication with my mom, I used WhatsApp, which enabled us to send messages and photos back and forth, but using data/wifi instead of texting. This was a great way to keep in touch. I’m so thankful to be traveling in the age of technology that makes being away from your kids so much more manageable!

Portable Battery
No way could my iPhone battery stand up to the heavy usage of photos, maps, texting back home, looking up restaurant reviews, and listening to audioguides for an entire day. Buying a portable battery for recharging while we were out was essential. This one worked really well.

Airfare and Train Tickets
A few months before we bought our plane tickets, I ran across this article with tips on getting the best fares. Following some of these (searching incognito; using Google Flights and Skyscanner rather than Expedia) enabled us to find cheaper tickets than our travel agent could come up with.

Between cities, we traveled via high-speed train. This was a comfortable and convenient (and quick!) way to travel and worked out really well. We bought our tickets ahead of time and spent only $128 total on tickets from Rome to Naples and from Naples to Florence.

City Passes
Each of the cities we visited—Rome, Naples, and Florence—has a city pass, where you buy one card and get free or reduced admission to most major sights plus free access to public transportation.

The Firenze Card is the best, but also the most expensive: €72 gets you admission to every major museum and attraction for 72 hours, and you will thank yourself every time you bypass the long line and walk through a priority entrance for cardholders. The most popular museums require specific time reservations, but not if you have the Firenze Card, so it was really nice not to have to decide ahead of time when we wanted to visit the Uffizi or the Accademia (we ended up changing our planned times to visit both). It’s also supposed to get you free wifi citywide, but that was pretty spotty. One thing to note: if you plan a day trip out of Florence, you’ll want to make sure that doesn’t fall into the middle of your 72 hours. We booked our Chianti tour on Monday because many of the museums are closed on Mondays, but then our cards expired in the early afternoon on our last day, and we would easily have had time to use them for one or two more sights.

The Roma Pass and the Campania (Naples/Pompeii area) Artecard are cheaper, but the benefits aren’t as great. They say that the first two sights are free and the rest are 50% off, but in reality, some of the major sites (Pompeii, for example) still charge you a reduced rate even if it’s one of your first two. So it was more like “reduced admission and skip the line” for the sights, plus the convenience using the card for mass transit. I don’t honestly know if these two cards really saved us much money, but they definitely saved us hassle and waiting in lines.

Travel Planning Websites 
Reid's Italy provided a great starting point for coming up with an itinerary. He has helpful posts that lay out exactly what he would do (down to the restaurants) with two and a half days in Rome, or three days in Florence, or whatever. He also has tons of other recommendations I used and learned a lot from.

Viator has every kind of tour you can imagine—private, small group, within-the-city, day-trip-out-of-the-city. (If I were going on a cruise, I would book my excursions through them, as I have heard that cruise lines lose money on your room and make it back through exorbitant markup on the excursions, among other things.) We booked our Taste of Chianti wine and food tasting tour through Viator and can’t say enough about how great it was.

Napoli Unplugged was helpful for our time in the south, especially in looking up transportation information.

Italylogue was also a wealth of information on all kinds of topics.

Trip Advisor proved very informative both in its reviews and in the forums where fellow travelers give advice to common questions. It was through this site that I found out about the tour guide who led our Amalfi Coast hike, and we loved her.

Pack Light
We didn't go quite as radical as Rick Steves requires, but still, I was proud of how light we traveled. I have never packed so little, and we really could have packed less. This is all the luggage we took for two people for ten days in Italy: large suitcase, small carry-on, backpack for a computer, and my purse/camera bag.

Washing out clothes in the sink was a pain, but not as much of a pain as lugging a suitcase up to a fourth-floor walkup (our B&B in Florence), or dragging it for a kilometer on cobblestones, or pushing another carryon through a crowded train station and onto the metro at rush hour. Even with getting sweaty every day and not being able to wear clothes twice like I anticipated (it was around 90*F every day in Rome and Naples), I still didn’t really need quite as many clothes as I took. I would definitely recommend following this tip, though, which I didn’t and regretted: buy a Chinese jumprope and use it as a clothesline. We had a little trouble finding space to hang wet clothes.

Logistics aside, now the fun starts. Tomorrow: Rome, starting with "I've discovered Airbnb and I'm never going back"!  

Buon Viaggio: 31 Days of Italy!

[Scroll down to read Day 1]
Italy Itinerary and Travel Tips
Terrazzo Dei Sogni: Our Accommodations in Rome
Rome Day 1: Basilica di San Clemente, Colosseum and Roman Forum
Eating Our Way Through Italy: An Introduction to Italian Food 
Cucina Romana: Discovering the Traditional Foods of Rome
Rome Day 2: The Vatican
Rome Day 2, Continued: Castel Sant'Angelo, the Tiber and My First Gelato 
Gelato for Days
Rome Day 3: Heart of Rome Walk 
Rome Day 3, Continued: Villa Borghese 
Rome to Napoli: High Speed Train Ride
Villa San Gennariello: Our Accommodations in Campania 
Campania Day 4: Pompeii
La Tradizione: Unforgettable Restaurant
Naples Day 5: National Archaeological Museum
Naples Day 5: Spaccanapoli and Neapolitan Street Food
Naples Day 5: Cappella Sansevero - Veiled Christ
Naples Day 5: Santa Chiara 
Italian Traffic: Fearing for My Life
Naples Day 5: Churches, Piazzas and the Harbor
Dinner in Naples: Locanda del Cerriglio (Pasta alla Genovese)
Portici to Bomerano: The Great Taxi Disaster
Sentiero Degli Dei: Bomerano to Nocelle
Sentiero Degli Dei: Nocelle to Montepertuso to Positano
Campania Day 6: Positano and Sorrento
Return to La Tradizione
Cappuccino at the Naples Train Station: Onward to Florence
AM Collection: Our Accommodations in Florence
Florence Day 7: Galleria degli Uffizi
Florence Day 7: Santa Croce
Florence Day 7: Piazzale Michelangelo (and Hitting the Wall)
Tuscany Day 8: Chianti Wine and Food Safari
Tuscany Day 8: Lunch in Rignana
Florence Day 9: Duomo
Florence Day 9: San Lorenzo
Florence Day 9: Mercato Centrale
Florence Day 9: Santa Maria Novella
Foods of Firenze and Tuscan Legends
Accademia & Bargello 
Florence Day 10: Palazzo Vecchio
Florence Day 10 Heart of the City Walk
Italian Artisans
Florence Day 10: Il Latini



This July marked 10 years of marriage for Steve and me, and for years we’ve been talking about going on a special trip to celebrate our first decade. With the ages of our kids, plus the extra week of vacation time Steve earned by reaching the ten-year mark at work, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for an extended getaway.

Of course, vacations aren’t free, and one of the things that made this one extra special was how we were able to afford it. When my grandmother passed away a couple of years ago, my mom and her siblings all got some money from the sale of the house my grandfather built. Mom generously chose to pass some of her inheritance along to my brother and me, telling us to do something special with it in memory of Grandma June. Steve made some well-timed investments in 3D printing stocks and then got out at just the right time, and the money nearly tripled—enough to pay for most of a big trip. Then Steve got bumped from an international flight for a business trip this spring, and Delta’s reimbursement more than covered one of our flights!

The planning wasn’t without drama, though. We had long tossed around the idea of a Mediterranean cruise, and early this summer we finally started making official plans. By late June we had booked it, planning to spend three days in Rome before leaving on a 7-night cruise in the Western Mediterranean. But in early July, we found out that due to an error on our travel agent’s part, we had lost our spot on the ship and the cruise was sold out.

To make a long story short, after a crazy day of scrambling to assess alternatives, we chose to cancel the cruise plans but go ahead and travel on the same dates, spending all ten days in Italy. Our agent felt terrible, of course, and took full responsibility for the mixup, and while it was stressful and upsetting at the time, it was also an occasion to be encouraged by evidence of God’s grace at work in my heart.

There was a time in my life when I would have been very angry with the agent, and probably would have let her have it over the phone. I would have been so eager to distance myself from the possibility that *I* could ever make such a mistake. Thankfully the Lord has mellowed me out and replaced a lot of the pride in my heart with empathy. I can’t deny that I felt stunned and frustrated at first, but I was also very aware that I *could* make the same kind of mistake. I wanted to be upset, but how would I have felt if it had been my responsibility to make the final payment, and I’d forgotten—how would I have wanted my husband to respond to me? In light of the extravagant grace that God has extended to me, at the cost of His own Son’s life, for stubbornness and rebellion far worse than merely an honest mistake—how could I not extend grace to our travel agent for a simple error that could have been mine to make?

I was so disappointed and yet so very aware that the situation was the epitome of “first world problems”: “Oh no, my dream vacation got ‘ruined’—yet I’m probably not going to lose any money and I’m still going to be able to take an amazing vacation”?! Pretty ridiculous to use the word “ruined” in the grand scheme of things!

I believe that God reigns over the smallest details, including vacation plans, and whether or not I understand what is happening or why, at the end of the day I have to trust that His way is best. Peace did not come without wrestling, but God was kind to grant me perspective and kindness. (Of course, our agent’s humility and bending over backwards to make things right, including paying the penalty fees when we had to cancel our flights and start over, went a long way as well.)

While I would have loved to experience a cruise, I was also glad that we would be able to experience more of Italy. And I was encouraged to realize that God really is at work in me, growing me!

So with that, planning began in earnest. We ended up making all of our travel arrangements ourselves, and I won’t deny that it was a hectic couple of months spent researching and booking things. But in the end, it was worth all the stress. Our trip was so memorable, both in “wow, that was so amazing” ways and in “oh my goodness, what a fiasco” ways—experiences we will remember fondly and/or laugh about for a lifetime. We spent ten days in Italy celebrating ten years of marriage, both the vacation and the relationship extravagant gifts from an extravagant God.

So for this year's "Write 31 Days" blog challenge, I'm going to take time to capture memories from our trip while they're still fresh--to sort through my hundreds of photos and share highlights with you. Tomorrow, then: Andiamo a Italia! Let’s go to Italy!

Things I Learned in September

Did I ever get an education in September. I had the privilege of spending a third of the month in Italy! I have so much to tell you that I'm hoping to spend the annual “31 Days” challenge this October recapping our trip. Starting tomorrow, if I can get it together before I leave for yet another weekend out of town (just me this time--speaking at a women's retreat, so fun!) I’ll be posting all kinds of fun stuff: our favorite activities and restaurants and accommodations; the weird things we ate; the best gelato places (I miss my daily gelato!!); tips and tricks for travel and planning; and stories like The Great Taxi Disaster. And of course pictures…I may or may not have taken in the neighborhood of 1,800..

I chose not to post about the trip at all while we were gone, for several reasons: One, I didn’t want to broadcast publicly the fact that we were out of the country. Two, I wanted to be fully present in the moment, enjoying time with Steve and enjoying Italy rather than being buried in my phone. And three, I didn’t think the entire world needed to experience our anniversary vacation with us in real time. :) The break from social media was so refreshing—but now that I’m back, I’m excited to share my stories and photos!

In the meantime, I do have a few other of the usual random tidbits to share from September:

1. Set up your Medical ID on iPhone. 
You know how, from your lock screen, you can touch "Emergency" in the lower left corner and be able to dial 911 without unlocking the phone? Well, if you open up the Health app and touch the "Medical ID" icon in the lower right corner, you can enter all kinds of information: medications you're on, two emergency contacts, blood type, whether you want to be an organ donor, etc. Then when you get to that Emergency screen with the keypad, the lower left says "Medical ID"--and clicking on it takes you to a screen where medical professionals can quickly and easily access all that critical information, without your phone being unlocked. (Credit goes to a health professional named Katherine Jarmy who shared this info on Facebook.)

2. These flowers are called lantana - and apparently Instagram thinks "meta" is a bad word.

photo :: jennifergfreeman//Instagram

This photo popped up on the #itssimplytuesday hashtag a few weeks ago, and the photographer thus taught me the name of a flower I've seen and admired many times, but didn't know what it was. I thought it was kind of funny that I learned something from Emily P. Freeman's hashtag to share on Emily P. Freeman's monthly blog roundup, so I tried to comment to the effect of "that's so meta"--but Instagram gave me some sort of ominous warning message and didn't publish the comment. Baffled, I tried again two more times and never could get a comment to post. Weird. But the more I think about it, the more I think maybe it really wasn't an appropriate use of the term "meta" anyway...so maybe IG was trying to help me not sound dumb??

3. If you clean the house before you leave for vacation, your future self will love you. 
Usually when we head out of town, I am so frazzled trying to get everything ready to leave that cleaning the house is the last thing on my mind. I try not to leave a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, but the dishwasher might have some in it. The dining room table is often littered with papers, the bathroom is whatever it is, and I don't give a thought to the floors. This time, in an unusual burst of diligence and planning ahead, I managed to get my house clean before we left town: shower scrubbed, dining room table emptied and wiped down, kitchen tidied up and floors vacuumed. Even clean sheets on the beds. Coming home to that late on a Sunday night after 16 days away was GLORIOUS. I thanked my two-weeks-ago self at least four times.

What did you learn this month? Check out the roundup at Chatting at the Sky for more What We Learned posts...and stay tuned for a slew of Italy posts coming up here!

On Seeing and Being Seen

“Mama, watch!”
“Mom! Watch this! Watch me!”
“Did you see that, Mom?”

Little boys dangle upside-down from playground equipment; they leap from ledges and hurtle down slides. And this is their constant refrain, repeatedly called out to where I sit: Look at me. Watch me. Do you see me?

I may be decades older than them, but the cry of my heart is often the same. I plod through the never-ending tasks of homemaking, and no one is watching while I transfer laundry to the dryer or scrub the shower on hands and knees. I struggle to navigate how to use my gifts and passions for God’s glory in my particular context, and sometimes it feels like I am sitting on the sidelines, whispering to the coach: Do you see me?

*          *          *

God’s answer to that heart question begins in Genesis with an unlikely character. When He reveals a new name of His for the first time, it’s not Enoch or Noah, not the “big three” of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, who meet Him. It’s an abused, despised slave-concubine: Hagar.

I have an article up at Ungrind today reflecting on Hagar’s story and the present-day testimony of Sara Hagerty. So often, I have recognized that in my various struggles with sin, my main problem is that my eyes are on myself. I know I need to fix my eyes on Jesus--I wrote a 31-day blog series about it two years ago, for crying out loud!--and yet often I'm still not even sure how. I know that He is beautiful, but I don’t delight in His beauty. I know that He is good, but I do not taste His goodness.

These two women--one ancient, one modern--have been helping me think about seeing Him. Click over to read "Seeing the God Who Sees."

August Gifts + Instagrams

"To be a creature is to be a receiver. 'What do you have that you did not receive?' (1 Cor. 4:7). The great privilege of man is to receive everything that God gives in all the ways that he gives it, and then to know it and enjoy it and delight in it and sing about it, and to know him in it and to enjoy him in it and to sing about him in it." 

--Joe Rigney, The Things of Earth

Somehow the entire month of August slipped by without my getting a gratitude post up, so here's a big roundup. Thanking God for all that He has given and I have gladly received in the last month, including...

7472. the distant rumble of summer thunder
7473. the "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk" of blueberries hitting the bottom of a pail

7474. eating our fill right off the bushes

7475. purple passionflowers

7476. grace to slow down, stop yelling, see myself as no different from my boys
7477. beautiful promises in the Old Testament prophets
7478. learning the habit of adoration from Sara Hagerty
7479. flyswatters
7480. getting to hear the detailed story of how He miraculously, repeatedly saved a dear friend's sick little boy
7481. inter-library loans
7482. end-of-summer lunch date with Daddy

7483. fountains at Bicentennial Mall for splashing and playing

7484. how good it feels to wash off sunscreen and sweat at the end of the day
7485. oatmeal pancakes with warm peach topping
7486. seventeen years of our church growing and thriving
7487. our pastors' faithful preaching and shepherding
7488. Jude's Sunday school drawings of what God created: water, sea creatures, the moon, an astronaut, and hot lava

7489. abundant basil, plenty to share
7490. our church's beautiful process of selecting elders and deacons
7491. a nature scavenger hunt with the boys
7492. Jude looking through the binoculars backwards

7493. Elijah's enthusiasm about school
7494. my own fond memories of second grade with a beloved teacher
7495. amaaaaaaazing blueberry cheesecake flapjacks

7496. hearing the boys recite selections from Revelation 19 and 21 about the coming of the eternal kingdom
7497. morning walks to preschool, Jude's chatter
7498. snail mail surprise: card + awesome set of brush pens from a friend

7499. Elijah's friendship with boys whose mom is a dear friend to me
7500. the incredible, free(!) indoor playground at Cornerstone Church
7501. peach milkshake from Chick-Fil-A
7502. being near to all who call on Him
7503. His personal, specific salvation: not just "He will save people from sin" but "He will save HIS people from THEIR sins"

7504. feeling heard, respected, and valued by my husband
7505. the safe arrivals of two friends' new babies
7506. the sounds of locusts buzzing in the trees
7507. Steve's unflappable patience when I am inexplicably grouchy
7508. Jude's excitement about preschool and popularity with the kids there

7509. Steve's creativity in coming up with a Lego Ironman vs. Hulk cake

7510. a free oil change
7511. inviting me to ASK Him
7512. my cousin and a friend's son both preserved through bicycle accidents
7513. naked ladies blooming along the side border of our yard

7514. a visit from Grammy and Pops
7515. sitting in the sun chatting with my mom
7516. their babysitting so Steve and I could have a date

7517. free big band dance at Centennial Park
7518. fabulous burgers at Burger Republic
7519. laughing and foxtrotting with my handsome husband
7520. a friend asking if I was OK, and really wanting the truth
7521. Dad bringing his ice cream maker and laboring over a batch of mint chocolate chip

7522. how amazing that ice cream tastes

7522. the recipe, written down in his handwriting

7523. 23-pound and 27-pound watermelons from the farmers' market
7524. surrendering and drinking the cup I deserve
7525. Amber Haines's exquisite memoir

7526. technology: reading a picture book about boats to Jude, seeing an aircraft carrier, and within seconds, pulling up a video on my phone where we could see planes landing on a ship. What is this world we live in?!?
7527. restraining His freedom in order to set me free
7528. boys making ninja masks out of shirts thanks to Lego magazine instructions
7529. sweet time in prayer on a quiet afternoon
7530. the fact that He is sovereign and can be trusted

7531. eyes to see and confess my sin
7532. humility to receive criticism and take it to Him
7533. getting to hold my dear friend’s adorable grandbaby
7534. being able to share with friends how I’m seeing evidence of His grace at work in me
7535. gorgeous calligraphy in my Instagram feed

7536. reminders that my days with Jude at home are precious and fleeting

7537. eyes to love him and say “I see you!” with enthusiasm

7538. the glorious promises of Romans 8
7539. girls' night, with friends being transparent and vulnerable
7540. the beauty of Jesus in their gracious bearing up under trials
7541. a new EP from Nichole Nordeman after ten years!

Things I Learned in August

Here we are again at the end of another month, and I have just a few interesting random tidbits to share about what I've learned...

1. A pangram is a phrase that includes every letter of the alphabet.
Last month I came across a fun community of calligraphers on Instagram who were doing an ABCs challenge. After they finished the alphabet, they extended the challenge with a few bonus prompts, and one was pangrams. The most famous one is probably "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," but Sharisse of @piecescalligraphy called for more and got all kinds of fun ones:

• Grumpy wizards make toxic brew for the evil Queen and Jack.
• Six jelly doughnuts for breakfast very quickly zap my willpower. 
• My girl wove six dozen plaid jackets before she quit.
• Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.  

photo: @piecescalligraphy

Incidentally, the extended ABCs challenge morphed into a whole new Instagram account, with a new challenge posted every Sunday. I have enjoyed having my IG feed filled with lovely lettering from so many talented people!

2. Related: Brush markers are not magical tools that make you instantly able to produce the kind of lettering you admire. 
I discovered Tombow in August (which was how I got on a rabbit trail that led to all the calligraphers in the first place) and though I didn't win their giveaway, I received a generous gift in the mail from a friend: a set of brush markers! To my dismay, I immediately learned that brush markers do not make you magically able to write beautifully. I gained a whole new respect + admiration for the talented people who create beautiful calligraphy so skillfully. As I practiced, it was a good time to remember The Nester's slogan "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful," and also to apply a quote from Goethe that I'd just read in Italian Journey: 

 "I can see clearly what is good and what is even better, but as soon as I try to get it down, it somehow slips through my fingers... However, feeble as his efforts may be, the amateur should not despair. ...One must not compare oneself with the artist, but proceed in one's own manner. Nature has provided for all her children: even the least of them is not hindered in his existence by the existence of the greatest. 'A little man is still a man.' Let us leave it at that."

3. "Hispanic" and "Latino" are not interchangeable terms.
A friend who has a son adopted from South America shared this enlightening comic that set me straight. It turns out that "Latino" refers to geography and "Hispanic" refers to language. You can be both; you can also be one but not the other. I had no idea!


How about you: What did you learn in August? Head over to Chatting at the Sky for more sharing of fascinating facts. 

Things I Learned in June and July

I learned all kinds of interesting things this summer--today I'm linking up with Chatting at the Sky to share my random tidbits :)

1. Pink lemons actually exist. 
I always assumed that "pink lemonade" was colored either by berries (berry lemonade has been a love of mine ever since the late 1990s...Snapple broke my heart when they discontinued the flavor) or by good old Red 40. But it turns out, lemons come in pink varieties! As usual, it was Smitten Kitchen who opened my eyes to this surprising delight.

2. Alcoholics Anonymous isn't evidence-based treatment.
Until I read this eye-opening article in The Atlantic, I took for granted the common teaching about addiction: the only way to be free is to quit cold-turkey and never, ever have a sip of alcohol again. As it turns out, more than a few mental health experts are questioning the prevailing wisdom. Studies don't really support the dogmatic assertions of AA, and many care providers have found other methods to be more effective for helping alcoholics turn their lives around. 

3. An "array" can refer to an orderly arrangement in rows and columns. 
It isn't often that my husband schools me on vocabulary words :) This one came up at dinner one night when discussing the boys' latest memory verse. We've spent the summer learning Revelation 19:11-16 and 21:1-6, and have worked out a system that seems helpful for our family: I practice the memory work with the boys at breakfast, and then at dinner, they tell Daddy what they worked on, and he helps them understand what it means. One night we were discussing Revelation 19:14: "And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses." I had assumed it was referring to the armies' being "dressed" in fine linen, with "arrayed" used as a synonym for "dressed." But Steve saw the word "arrayed" near the word "armies" and immediately thought of the term "array" as "an arrangement in rows and columns." In context, I think it's probably the former definition, but I learned something new, since I had no idea the word "array" indicated such a specific arrangement.

4. Alfredo is the Italian equivalent of buttered toast or saltine crackers.
Alfredo sauce won't be found on a menu in Italy, except at restaurants that cater to naive tourists.
According to this article I stumbled across, you won't find "fettuccine alfredo" on a menu in Italy any more than you'd find "saltine crackers and ginger ale" or "buttered toast" on a menu in the U.S. Because that's essentially what pasta alfredo is to the Italians: an incredibly basic food that your mother might make when you have an upset stomach, but not something you'd ever order in a restaurant. The Italian version, called "pasta al burro" (pasta with butter) or "pasta in bianco" (white pasta), is plain pasta with some butter and Parmesan to dress it up just a little. It has since been Americanized, with copious amounts of heavy cream, but it is not an authentic Italian dish. Neither, for that matter, is spaghetti and meatballs (Italians eat both, but not in the same course, much less mixed together in the same dish).

5. Duolingo is a fun, addictive (and free!) app for learning a new language. 
Speaking of Italy...! I admit this method of language-learning is way outside my ordered, linear-thinking box (I keep wanting a list of verb conjugations, or wanting to ask WHY you use this word and not the other), but I suspect in some ways it's more effective. At any rate, I'm having fun trying to learn enough Italian to get by! And it's not even one of those "free" apps that tries at every turn to get you to purchase extras. Just fun and game-like. I've actually thought about getting Elijah started with Spanish, since it's supposedly so much easier for kids to learn new languages. FYI, there's also a web-based version, so you don't have to have a smartphone to try it out.

6. A horrifying number of Africans were enslaved and brought to the Americas during the 16th-19th centuries, though most did not end up in the United States.
During the slave trade from the 1500s-1800s, more than 10 million Africans were brought to the Western Hemisphere, but fewer than 4 percent came to North America. Most went to the Caribbean and Brazil. This animated map provides a stunning picture of the way Africa was plundered.

7. Growing peaches is a fascinating combination of science and art. 
We've been buying big half-bushel boxes from The Peach Truck every summer for the last few years. I also follow their gorgeous Instagram account (and the story of how they got started is charming). Earlier this summer they shared an interview with the owner of Pearson Farm, where the peaches come from, and it was full of interesting information about how the fruit is grown. The farm is in Fort Valley, Georgia, where about 95% of Georgia peaches are produced. They prune the trees "to look like a hand, palm up, holding a softball." And after the trees blossom and begin producing 2500-3000 peaches each, pruners return in April to thin the fruit to about 500 peaches per tree. For the record, their results speak for themselves. We eat our weight in Pearson peaches during the few weeks they are available!

8. The peregrine falcon is the world's fastest animal. 
It's not the cheetah, as you might expect. Peregrine falcons are far faster, achieving dive speeds over 200MPH. Though, to be fair, they're going that fast in a freefall, not by flapping their wings or sprinting. But then again, as Steve pointed out, if you can freefall that quickly and yet be in control and not kill yourself, it's still pretty impressive. The boys and I learned about peregrine falcons and several other birds at this year's animal show at the library.

9. Rit color remover can save a ruined white sweater. 
A couple of months ago, my white cardigan somehow ended up with large, bright green ink spots on it. I tried all the usual remedies (hairspray, straight rubbing alcohol, OxiClean) all to no avail--the ink faded to a light blue, but the sweater was still ruined. I was about to try bleach as a last resort, or if that failed, just dye the sweater black. But then I found Rit color remover at JoAnn. And (for less than $2!) it worked! My beloved sweater was rescued and looks good as new.


What have you learned this summer?

Is Messy More Real?

When a friend of mine visited last week, I welcomed her into my cluttered house, its floors badly in need of vacuuming, by saying, "I'm not even going to apologize for the mess--this is just what it looks like at my house. I'm keeping it real."

That was the truth, and it's good as far as it goes: Let's be honest about our messes, instead of putting on a front. But while my desire is to be authentic and encourage others not to fake it, I sometimes forget that this mindset can also carry a frustrating subliminal message. If "messy is authentic," then "you're only real and authentic if you're a mess." And is THAT the truth?

I don’t want my friend to clean frantically before I come over; I want her to remember that I’m interested in seeing her, not her house! But so often, it doesn’t stop there. My healthy perspective morphs swiftly:

“I want your house to be messy because it will make me feel better about my own messy house.”
“If your house is clean, I feel threatened, inferior.”
“If your house is clean, I’m afraid you will judge me.”
“If your house is clean, I will preemptively judge you for being fake and trying too hard.”

How do we break out of this gross whirlwind of comparison and competition? I'm asking and attempting to answer such questions today over at Ungrind. Click over to read my thoughts on "Chasing a Standard We Can Meet."