Childhood Memories Relived

I remember my very first trip to Disney World.  I was probably seven years old.  At the time, there was only the Magic Kingdom.  Epcot was being built and Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom were not even dreams yet.

What do I remember most?  The Electrical Light Parade.  Could there by anything more magical than Cinderella riding in a carriage of lights?  I remember it being so incredible that my dad bought slides (does anyone remember slides?) so we could relive it over and over in our living room.

Thirty years later, I shared the experience with my own kids.  It was just as magical as it was the first time.

One of the benefits of the internship we're doing is that we were given season passes to Disney World.  Up to this point we've only gone during the day.  But a couple of weeks ago I took Hannah and Gavin, and we stayed until the lights started rolling down Main Street.  Honestly, it was even better than I remembered it. :)

Reliving your own childhood memories with your children has to be one of the most fun things about parenthood.  Seeing the pure delight and wonder on the kids' faces was even more magical than the lights.  I loved every minute of it, even thirty years later.

The Christmas Tree Hunt

Our family did something this year we've never done before.  We went and cut down a Christmas Tree.

The one perk to living in Florida is that there are lots of trees around.  Lots of Christmas trees.  That makes them cheap!  And since our fake tree is in storage in Ft. Worth, we decided we'd go all out and find a place where we could cut our own tree.  We had a blast!

We drove about an hour away to a Christmas Tree farm.  Obviously they know how to make the most of the season, so they had more than just trees.

The petting zoo was free, which the kids loved.  Notice they're in shorts.  It just felt wrong to be cutting down a Christmas Tree in 80 degree weather. . . but we tried to make the most of it.

Not sure what that creature is, but Ben sure liked it.

Once we were ready to pick out a tree, we took a hayride around the farm until we saw the type of trees we wanted.  They dropped us off with a measuring pole and a saw.

It was a hard choice, with lots of good contenders, but ultimately Dad had the last say.  Cody's family often got live trees growing up, so he has some very particular qualifications for an acceptable tree.  We finally found one Cody approved of and that the kids liked too.

So we cut 'er down.  All of us.

And hauled her back to the hayride stop to be picked up, shaken out and netted for transport.

Oh, and there was a giant trampoline pillow the kids were able to get some energy out playing on. :)

 It took a couple of attempts to get it securely attached, but it did make it back to Orlando!

And then we spent the rest of the afternoon decorating--senza the hot chocolate, since we had our air conditioner on.

The finishing touch was Ben putting his train around it.  We're hoping we keep it alive until Christmas.  It's already tipped over twice!  Making memories. . . .

MK2MK

Today I wanted to share a link to a story posted on Campus Crusade's website about a ministry that has greatly ministered to our kids through their transition back to the States.  Not only did our kids get to participate in a weekend retreat just for them, every other Thursday they meet together with other kids who are transitioning back to America.  Amanda Hill, who is mentioned in this story, is who leads that time with them.  She is fantastic.

We are so thankful Campus Crusade cares so much about our family.  Our kids' experience is totally different than ours, and in a lot of ways, a lot harder.  MK2MK has a blessing beyond measure.

The link to Campus Crusade's website, where this story was published is located here: MK2MK

But if you don't want to hassle with the link, I've copied and pasted the story.  In the picture, Hannah is on the left, holding the other little girl, and Gavin in on the far right.

Oh, The Places You'll Go

Helping missionary kids transition after living overseas.

By Rich Atkinson 

 5 December 2011

  

For missionaries and their families, returning from overseas requires adjustments long after their jetlag has subsided. Children tend to face the most difficult transition. MK2MK, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ is there to help. MK2MK’s mission is to build a global spiritual movement of MKs (missionary kids) who impact their world for Christ.

Staff member Amanda Hill says, “MK2MK ministers to third culture kids—meaning kids that grow up in between two worlds forming their own culture.” For example, their parents are American, yet the children may have only experienced living overseas.

MK2MK staff members help families transition from overseas through things like debriefing weekends and visiting them when they’ve returned to the States.

Amanda and another MK2MK staff member traveled to Texas to visit the Runn family who recently returned from serving in Europe. Their teenage daughter Courtney wrote on her blog about the difficulties of the transition process after living overseas for five years: "A girl in my English class asked me how my transition was going and I almost wanted to cry,” she said. “I couldn't believe someone I wasn't even close to thought to ask me that question and cared about my answer."

Her mom, Carrie, also appreciates the care from MK2MK. "As a parent, I am thankful to have godly men and women who serve with MK2MK pray and care for my kids in this new season of life," she says.

“Our heart is really to allow them to tell their stories,” says Amanda, “to be able to express grief if that is where they are.”

During a debriefing weekend in Melbourne, Fla., staff members gathered children and parents together to listen to the Dr. Seuss book, “Oh, the places, you’ll go!” and took part in a “hands-on” potted plant illustration. They showed the children the plant and said, “look how happy he is in his home.” But then it is time to move. They took the plant out of the pot, and with the kids, moved it from station to station around the room. They talked about what leaving feels like and they shook the plant up a bit, leaving the roots hanging out.

The staff members reminded the kids that transition won’t be like this forever, although it feels hard at the moment.

When they came to the station representing their new home, there was a bigger pot for the illustration, because the plant needs room to grow. The staff members emphasizes that God will help the Mk’s grow, too.

“We make it fun, too, like the places that they will go,” says Amanda. “The adventure of life being ups and downs and transitions.”

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we had our friends the Lows over.  They are a family who are from Singapore but who have been serving in Japan for the past nine years.  They're participating in the Lake Hart STINT with us this year.  We've enjoyed their friendship so much, as have our kids enjoyed theirs.  So it was a sweet blessing to share this holiday with them--their very first American Thanksgiving.

OK, so I know the turkey doesn't look so golden, but it tasted amazing.  It was really the first whole turkey we've ever cooked.  Not too shabby.

A feast.  Everything we missed while in Italy.

Either the Lows enjoyed the food or they were incredibly polite. . .  :)

The Thanksgiving trio of pie goodness.  Not a slice was left by the end of the day.

Us with Estella and Patrick.

It was a simply delightful day.  After filling our bellies and watching some football, we all headed out for time at the park.  And some Black Friday shopping.  Complete Americana.

A Family Serve Day

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, our family has finally found a local church to call for our time in Orlando.  We have been deeply fed by the Word being taught, and we've been brought into beautiful worship.  Saturday was a church-wide serve day, and our whole family participated.

(As a random side note, this will be the only time you will ever see our family in matching shirts!  What I think is fun on occasion, my husband is morally opposed to)

The group we served with went to an organization called Harvest International.  In addition to providing low cost food and clothing to locals who need it, the organization gathers supplies to send internationally to those in need.  We spent the first half of our time together sorting and folding bedspreads a hotel had donated, making sure they were in good enough condition to give away.  Soon they will be crated up and sent to South America.

This was one of the first times we had to work beside our kids in the gift of service.  It was great to be able to pray together for the those we would be able to bless through our hands and feet.  It was great to see so many others in the church come together to go out.

Hannah, especially, had a great time.  When we left, she said, "I could do that every week!"  We do hope this is just the first of many opportunities we will have to serve together.

We began our Thanksgiving week with hearts thankful for the ability to serve others.  We will be spending Thanksgiving in Florida with our new friends the Lows.  They are a family from Singapore who are participating in the STINT we're doing.  Though the 80 degree weather in Florida is challenging to all of us in terms of it feeling much like the holiday season, we are pretty excited to introduce our friends to such an American tradition.

We hope you all have a most blessed Thanksgiving Day.

Grandma's Visit

I'm sorry for the last posting this week.  My mom came for a visit.  What a very normal American thing to have happen!  Something that only happened occasionally and with much planning and fanfare in Italy. . . It was a simply delightful pleasure.  Though a certain three-year-old was somewhat bewildered and devastated that Papa (who was hunting with his brothers in South Dakota) didn't come too!

One of the very hardest things about being in Italy was being so far away from grandparents.  We value them and their role in our kids' lives so much.  Now that we're only one time zone away, instead of seven, we hope to make up for lost time. Grandma and Papa Simmons will be coming back for Christmas and Grandma Phipps will be coming at the end of December for Hannah's birthday.

All of us are treasuring this specific blessing of being back in America.  We treasure it even more, perhaps, since we didn't know it for such a season.

It was a great week.

A Culinary Schizophrenic

Can I confess one of the most paralyzing things I've experienced since being back in the States?

Deciding what to cook and going to the grocery store.

It seems like it wouldn't be that hard.  Kind of like getting dressed in the morning.  You just do it.  For the first month after we returned, I was struck every day with panic over what to feed our family.  I would walk into the Super Target right across the street and meander aimlessly through the aisles.

For the first 34 years of my life, I shopped at an American grocery stores and cooked American food.  Why did that all of a sudden seem impossible?

I guess this is a classic expression of reverse culture shock.  Did you know there is culture shock in returning to your home country?  I think I had heard about it before, but I certainly hadn't given it any thought.  And then I was paralyzed.

I am not exaggerating when I say I cried every time I went to the grocery store for the first three weeks we were back.  It was absolutely overwhelming.  I had gotten used to cooking Italian food.  Now I couldn't find the ingredients to make what I was used to cooking and I couldn't remember what the heck to cook with the American food on the shelves.

A wise friend offered great words of advice.  Having lived overseas herself, she said, "Your life in Italy will always affect your current life.  Think of that as a good thing."  Yes.  Good that I don't want to make hamburgers or pot roast or Bar-B-Que.  It's OK that we are craving mozzarella balls and pasta carbonara.

So step one was accepting the new culinary schizophrenic I had become.  I don't have to cook like an American and I can't cook entirely like an Italian.

Fast forward two months and our meal plan this week has two all-American dishes and three Italian dishes (and a Chinese dish just for the heck of it).  We made Bolognese Ragu for the first time last night (it's been way too hot outside to make it before now. . . ), and it was divine.  With the coming of Fall in Italy always came Ragu.  It just felt right.  And on Christmas Eve this year, we will have have Tortellini and Brodo, just as every family is Bologna will.  Of course, Christmas Day will bring a big, ole' turkey or ham--neither of which will be eaten by an Italian.

Step two was finding somewhere to shop where I wouldn't break down in tears!  I found a great little "market" of a store called Freshfield Farms that helped me imagine a manageable shopping experience.  They have beautiful fresh produce, and they have fresh meats they cut themselves.  That's it.  On Saturdays I drive up to Winter Park to go to their Farmer's Market, which is life-giving to me.  Small vendors, fresh produce, seasonal vegetables.  And there is even a vendor where I can get some of the Italian cheeses we desperately miss.

There is still much I miss being able to get at the store, but I'm slowly filling in the gaps.  And no tears in weeks!  Once more, I am learning how to embrace the new me.

Rest

Without a doubt, the past six months have been the most stressful of our lives.  We were at the absolute end of what we could give when we arrived in Orlando three months ago.  We desperately needed rest.  Not the lay-around-and-do-nothing kind of rest but deep, emotional rest.  We needed care.

I think we were feeling so beat up that weren't even sure how to pursue the rest we needed.  We serve such a good God.  He knew exactly.  Three months in, we are feeling so much more rested.  We feel like we are beginning to move from surviving to thriving.

He has given us physical rest.  We have slept.  A lot.  We have committed to very little outside of work.  We have been horrible about returning phone calls and e-mails.  Our bodies are beginning to feel a little more like normal.

He has given us spiritual rest.  Every Wednesday morning, we hear from a speaker at our LHS meeting.  A professor from Reformed Theological Seminary spoke one week on Ecclesiastes.  God used it significantly.  One week we learned the practice of Lexio Divina--a method of meditating on Scripture.  Last week was an hour of worship.  And God has also led us to a church where we have been deeply fed each Sunday.  First Presbyterian Church of Orlando will be our church home while we're in Orlando, and we're really thankful to have found a church that fits our family so quickly.  The kids love going and are learning incredibly rich things during Sunday School.  Next week they will begin studying the "Solas" that define the protestant movement.  Cody and I have savored the opportunity we've had to worship in English and every week our spirits have deeply agreed with the Word being taught.  The gospel is being proclaimed.  Yes, God has fed our souls in the past months!

And He has given us emotional rest.  Through the grace and love of many new friends, He has given us a really safe place to process the past three years of our lives.  He has challenged the things we needed to give even more fully to Him, He has worked in our hearts to be able to offer genuine forgiveness, He has begun the process of placing a new call on our hearts.  He had begun the healing process.

We are still feeling pretty fragile, but we have more energy than we've had in a long time.  We have more hope than we've had in a long time.  That is deeply good.

"Who would ever know the greater graces of comfort and perseverance, mercy and forgiveness, patience and courage, if no shadows fell over a life?"

--Ann Voskamp, 1000 Gifts

The Phipps Six

A couple of years ago at dinner, Gavin announced, "One day there's going to be six of us."  Cody and I both caught our breath, lest his words be prophetic.  We certainly weren't planning on expanding our family!

But today his words came true (at least in his mind).  We are now the Phipps Six.  Maximus Braveheart the Bruce Phipps came home last night!  We are all in love.

Is he not one of the most handsome little guys you've ever seen?

Hannah has been asking for a dog for years.  Our excuse for a long time was that she had to wait until Ben was at least three because we couldn't handle a puppy and a toddler.  Then he turned three. . . and we dog sat our friends' dog, Preacher (see the March 7 post). . . and we returned to America. . . and Hannah started doing serious research. . .

So here we are.  We looked into a lot of breeds and decided the labradoodle was probably one of the best options for our family.  There was a great breeder located here in Orlando, who we met back in August.  After one trip to her house, Cody was sold (who knew he was such a softie toward pups!).  We reserved a newborn puppy, and yesterday he was old enough to come home.

After years of wanting a dog, Hannah was beside herself in anticipation of Cody coming out with Max.  I think she's still in shock he's actually ours.

It's been five weeks since we last saw him, and he's almost tripled in size.  At the vet today, he weighed in at 11 pounds.  He'll probably grow to 60.

Coming up the steps to our apartment for the first time.

Savoring a few minutes before having to leave Max behind for school.

Now I know I'm a proud Mommy, but I really do think he's the very best puppy in the whole entire world.  He let the kids love on him until we made them go to bed.  He walked right into his crate last night and slept like a dream.  We woke him up once to go the bathroom and didn't hear a peep until we got up in the morning.  He's picked up walking a leash and has done great with house training so far.  And he's just so darn sweet!

Really, really fun.  In the midst of so many changes for our family, looking forward to Max's arrival has been a sweet blessing.  I'm sure there will be many more pictures to come!

The World Coming to Us

As you know, one of things we most loved about ministry in Italy was the communal nature of the culture. We loved seeing the same people walking on the street every day and running into school friends almost everywhere in our neighborhood.

American culture is just totally different.  You walk from your door to your car to the door of the store you're going into.  There aren't common areas people gather.

Sharing the gospel in these relationships was so natural.  These people saw our lives.  We talked with them regularly.  We couldn't hide the impact Jesus has on our lives.

As we moved back, Cody and I have both prayed we would have very intentional eyes as to how to maintain a similar ministry mind frame.  How can we become more involved in the lives of our neighbors? How can we break culture to stop and visit with people we see regularly?

Our apartment complex has been a great first place to start.  It's full of kids!  And because it's completely gated, there is an increased sense of safety is letting kids go outside and play together  A lot of the kids are other families doing the same STINT program we are doing.  But there are many who are not.

One of the boys who Gavin has started playing with is a boy he called "Colin."  He is about Gavin's age, and every afternoon he is looking for a way to kill time outside of his apartment.  Sometimes their relationship has not been easy for Gavin.  Colin can tend to put on a certain amount of machismo.  The day he came to our house to play just he and Gavin though, we saw a kinder boy full of need to fill his time productively.

This weekend Colin's little brother and mother knocked on our door looking for "Haleem."  All along Gavin thought his name was Colin, when it was Haleem. :)  As it turns out, Haleem's family moved from Saudi Arabia only a year ago.  When his mom and brother knocked on our door, I could only see his mom's eyes.  She is a completely veiled Muslim woman.  I was shocked to see her because we were told Haleem's parents never leave their apartment.  He and his brother always come and go to the bus stop by themselves in the morning.  It is usually only his brother who comes looking for him.

Not only that, she asked my name and where I had gotten the skirt I was wearing (wouldn't you know, I was wearing my brand new Maxi-length skirt that day!).  We chatted for a bit before Cody came to the door, which promptly ended our conversation.  A really good introduction though!

I know this interaction seems like such a small thing.  But it was a really sweet answer to prayer for us.  We are committed to taking the gospel to the world.  In that regard, it was hard for us to leave a foreign assignment--even though we know our effectiveness will probably be tenfold doing what we're doing here.  It was the personal relationships we were most going to miss.  But as God is doing all over this country, He is bring the world to us.  He is bringing non-believers from literally all over the world to live alongside Americans, to drive by churches, to be given the opportunity to know someone who walks passionately with Jesus.

My new friend's name is Terah.  Would you pray for their family?  Pray our whole family would be a part of showing Haleem what it means to follow Jesus, as he is in our home.  Pray for more opportunities for me to get to know Terah.  Pray for the other believers in our apartment complex to have the same opportunities.

And since I'm feeling bold and impassioned today, can I challenge you to look for how God has brought the world to you?  Chances are, it's just around the corner.

Provisions

Sometimes I forget there are folks who check our little blog regularly. . . thanks for continuing to check back.  Now that life has settled down a little (after only five months of intense stress and chaos!), I do hope to begin posting regularly again.

I feel like I am finally coming out of a long, dark cave.  The past five months have been filled with so many things that absolutely drain Cody and I.  There's barely been a minute to breathe.  But I think that season might finally be coming to an end.  Our things arrived safely from Italy a couple of weeks ago--boxes have been unpacked, pictures have been hung and our apartment is beginning to feel like home.  It feels really, really good.

Cody has been in his new role now for a month, and he is so energized!  For the first time in a really long time, he feels like his experience and his strengths are coming together in his role.  Specifically, he is working with staff who have been serving overseas for awhile and are in danger of having to leave the field because of financial crisis.  Not only is he able to offer practical input, he is able to offer encouragement and counsel in helping them to remain where God has called them.  We were so grieved to be leaving Italy, yet God has allowed us to transition to a role where our impact on the gospel going into the world has been greatly multiplied.  We are so excited about that!

A definite highlight of the past month has been watching Gavin play soccer again.  Cody and I have been amazed at how much he has improved.  He is not one to put a lot more effort into things than absolutely needed, but he has worked hard to hone the skills they are learning at practice.  It's been so much fun to watch him play and experience the fruit of his hard work.

And in other news, in two weeks we will be welcoming our first family pet!  In the spring I mentioned how much the kids have been wanting a dog (for years actually).  We finally felt like the time was right, and we think the Lord has led us to a great breeder and a precious little puppy.  Maximus Braveheart Phipps.  These are some pictures from the day we picked him out.

The whole family has been busy preparing for his arrival.  I can't wait to post some more pictures soon!

Thank you so much for your faithfulness to our family and for keeping us in your prayers during this time.  I hope to update our prayer request page tomorrow.

A Stranger at Home

We have now been back in the States for a month.

Even after spending six months back last fall, I feel like a stranger in my home culture.  Re-entry is going to take so much longer than I ever anticipated.  Grieving leaving Italy is going to be so much harder than I ever anticipated.

All packed up.  So weird to see our apartment empty.  I am missing the view from our living room window immensely.

"Normal" things in our lives: The kids are enjoying their new school and seem to be doing well.  Gavin is playing organized soccer and thrives at it.  The big kids already have friends who come over to play after school.  Ben got to have lunch twice with Papa at Chick-Fil-A last week.  We grilled thick bacon-wrapped steaks last week and savored every last char-grilled bite.  Cody is loving carpooling into the office.  We visit Target just about every other day.  We comment, just about every day, on how thankful we are for air conditioning in our apartment.

And we've been to DisneyWorld twice (we got season passes, as a part of our internship)!  Granted, I think we might have scarred Ben from ever going on another ride after the Pirates of the Caribbean kind of freaked him out, but he could ride the train that circles the Magic Kingdom all day long.

The kids on their first day of school

Not-normal things in our lives: We hear so much Spanish here (which is very close to Italian) that sometimes our brains are quite confused as to what language to reply in.  I am paralyzed by what to buy at the grocery store--somehow I've forgotten how to cook American food.  I'm aghast at the price and quality of the pasta here.  Our kids complain almost every day they have to eat lunch at school--they've become total foodies.  We stay at home on Sunday afternoons because we forget things are open in America on Sundays.  When I pick up the phone, I find myself still rehearsing how I would ask for what I want in Italian.  I still can't bring myself to touch produce when buying it, since that's a major taboo in Italy--I pick everything up with the bag you purchase it in.  And I find myself a little disgusted with all the people who are putting their hands on the apples I might buy!

I know one day our normals will outweigh the not-normals.  But I also know we are permanently different than we were when we left for Italy three years ago.  We will always be part-Italian now.  I wish figuring out what that looked like didn't feel so strange, but it comforts me to know we don't have to leave Italy across the ocean.

And soon more of it will be arriving at our doorstep! We got word our container arrived in Miami last week.  We're just waiting for it to be cleared through customs so we can sleep in our own beds again and unpack the treasures we picked up while we were there.  Hopefully it will be delivered next week. . .

The Truth

OK, truthfully, it is so hot in our apartment that we can barely breath.  I mean really, really hot.  We sweat from the time we get up to the time we go to bed.  It's ugly.

But tomorrow is vacation!  And Paris is only 70 degrees instead of 95.

It was my greatest intention to post an update before leaving, but I move much, much slower in said heat.  I think we're barely going to make it out the door.

So this is it from Italy.  Those words are still shocking to me.  God has been so good to us over the past three years, even though it has felt excruciating with every step.  When next I write (sometime in August), we'll be in Orlando.  I look forward to sharing more of the beautiful footprint God has left because of our time in Bologna.

So Ciao for now.  Hope you're enjoying lots of air conditioning.  More from the other side. . .

A Blip

Hey y'all, I know it's already Tuesday, and I haven't posted a substantial update.  As you can imagine, life is pretty crazy.  We are leaving on vacation a week from tomorrow before returning to move all of our things, so I hope to get one final post in before then.  Just wanted you to know I hadn't forgotten about you!  Check back soon.

Full Hearts

One of the things we have been praying ever since we found out we were moving back is that we would experience great closure with the friends we have made here.  We've prayed that for us and for the kids.  God has met us beautifully in that prayer.

Last week Hannah had her Goodbye Party, and it was everything she wanted it to be.  She had such a great time having her friends in her home.  They ate, giggled, danced, sang, made bracelets, took pictures and loved on each other.  It was such a sweet gift.  Here are some pictures:

When each girl left, Hannah gave them a necklace with a note sharing about the importance of her faith in her life.  The girls cherished them!  We are praying God will continue to use those gifts to soften their hearts to hearing the gospel.  And we are praying God will give them many opportunities to respond.  We could not have asked for a better good-bye.

God has also given Cody and I numerous opportunities to be with the friends we are going to dearly miss.  Our lives feel so crazy, and yet, He is giving us exactly what we most want.

AND!!! Our closest Italian friends have already booked tickets to come see us at Christmas!  We are so, so thankful for God's grace in allowing us to remain involved in the lives of these friends who have become so dear and who we long will one day experience faith in Christ.

Last, but not least, life continues to spin around us, despite all the chaos our move has added.  Yesterday, Gavin lost his second front tooth.  I always feel like that is THE marker that they are now "Big Kids."  They just don't look the same with adult teeth.  My precious little guy is really growing up.  He is such a joy with such a tender heart.

So I celebrate his precious life with his beautiful, toothless picture. :)