Oh the Miles. . .

After four years, two continents, seven countries and hundreds (thousands?) of miles, our faithful stroller finally had to be laid to rest this week.

What a good life it had, and oh, how it served us well! We first got it just before we went to Florence on Summer Project four years ago. We went with an Italian brand, thinking they probably knew how to make strollers to survive the streets of Italy. And believe me, we tested its endurance in every way possible. We pushed, pulled, pummeled, dropped, beat, squashed and extreme-weathered it. Never did it hesitate or complain. Until recently.

Because we walk almost everywhere, and I almost always have a kiddo with me when leaving the house, I once commented that I didn't know what to do with my hands when I left our apartment without pushing the stroller. I felt like they were permanently attached to these handle bars. Good thing they were so cushy. :)

And oh, the places these wheels have gone! All across the US. The streets of Bologna, Florence, Rome, Venice and countless other Italian cities. Scotland. Austria. France. Belgium. The Netherlands. Pavement, gravel, sand, dirt, cobblestone and brick. . . you name it, our stroller tackled it. Superbly. It's been with us through some of the most significant changes in our lives--our family's first trip overseas, the birth of our last child, an international move. It's lugged groceries and backpacks and luggage, all the while allowing a child to sleep peacefully in its comfort. In Italy, your stroller practically gets more miles than your car. It's literally felt like an extension of our family.

And though it's exceded our expectations by two years and 500 miles, time has finally taken its toll. We've known things weren't good for a while, but we kept hoping we could make it 9-12 more months until Benjamin could make it on his own two feet. She just didn't have anything left give though. A piece on the wheel snapped, and in addition to making a horrible sound every time the wheel rotated, it drove like a car with four unbalanced tires. S-h-a-k-y.

It was time to say good-bye.

We've replaced her with the exact same stroller. We were excited to learn that Italian strollers are cheaper in Italy. The new one is tan. Not the same, but a reminder of all the ground we've already covered. The Inglesina Trip. More than just a stroller. A member of the family.

Pictures of Life

I thought I'd just post a few pictures from our everyday life this week. . . hopefully it will help you "see" what life for the Phipps in Bologna is like. Enjoy!

Do you have a stuffy nose just looking at this picture? Not snow, my friends. Cotton. It is everywhere! Needless to say, we're going through allergy medicine like nobody's business. It's getting warm enough that we need to open our windows to get a little breeze, but this stuff is getting all over our apartment.

So the biggest size of milk you can get is a liter. When I go grocery shopping, I buy 12 liters of milk, and it doesn't make us through the week. But I don't think our little fridge could hold any more. Cody's fairly convinced I'm going to completely break the top shelf one of these days. (That KC Masterpiece and Pace are precious imports! Neither salsa or BBQ sauce are to be found here).

Milk also doesn't last nearly as long here. When I buy it, the expiration date is five days later, at most. No fat-free either. This is the best we can get, and it's about 2%.

Cody with our friend Fabio, at Alice's birthday party (Fabio's daughter and Hannah's best friend). We've talked before about the incredible ministry we're able to do at birthday parties! We haven't been to one that has lasted less than 2 1/2 hours. This weekend we have two, and next weekend we have two. Between Hannah and Gavin both, I bet we're invited to about 30 parties a year.

Ah, the Italian soccer game! Here it is called calcio (cal-cho). This is Gavin playing with boys at a birthday party. Soccer is serious here from the earliest age. You can't just sign up at the community center for a beginner's class. You have to join a team. And when I mean a team, I mean one that has adult-competitive play. The idea is that you train under that team from the beginning, and as you grow and progress, you work up that team's competitive levels. So a "team's" club would have 5-45 year olds. There is even trading between teams, of which you don't get a say in. If you're traded (even as an 8-year-old) and decide not to play for the team you're traded to, you have to sit out play for a year before joining another team. It's serious!

Something else to note in this picture is that Gavin is the only one is shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. It was a very pleasant 70 degrees this day, but all the kids still wore pants and long-sleeved shirts. There is a great fear of "cold" here. We try to buck the system, but we've been called by teachers at the kids' schools on more than one occassion for not sending them in warm enough clothes.

Don't these look like sopapillas?!? They are a region-specific food to Emilia-Romagna (the region Bologna is in), and they are yummy! They're actually called crescentini. You put a little spreadable cheese on one side, with some salami or prosciutto, fold it in half and gobble it up. At Alice's birthday party, her grandpa made fresch crescentini, and they were so good. You can't find them anywhere else in Italy, and we actually just discovered them here in Bologna recently.

This was Gavin and I on Mother's Day. Earlier in the week, he asked me out on a date, so we planned it for Sunday afternoon. It was our first date, and he won my heart! He took me out for gelato (he paid!) and then taught me a few soccer moves. It was precious. Gavin is growing up into such a strong, tender-hearted little boy. It was a perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day!

Refreshment. . .

We just returned from our Spring Staff Conference, and we are feeling more significantly refreshed than we have in months. It was medicine for the soul! We have written before how key these conferences are for our morale, and this one was no different.

Twice a year, all of the Agape Italia staff (Italians and Americans) gather to hear from our leadership, talk with each other about what's working and not working across the country, and hear teaching from the Word to encourage us in the battle. We also get to just hang out with each other. This is especially encouraging for our kids, who for a few days twice a year, get to be with other kids who speak their native language and understand exactly how crazy their lives are. Hannah and Gavin literally played until they dropped for three days straight.

Our Spring Conference is held at a conference center on the Mediterranean side of Italy in a little town just south of Livorno. It was about three hours from Bologna. Every afternoon we had free time to play and catch up with staff friends who live in other parts of the country. After such a LONG winter, we savored every minute of sunshine.

This was Ben's first time to play in a pool, and though it took a little time to warm up to, he had a blast! It was so great to be able to splash all he wanted without Mom telling him not to make a mess. . .

We also savored great uniterrupted time with friends. It was so living-giving! Throughout the year, we miss the opportunity to sit for hours with friends who are in a similar season (i.e. a large, young family) and talk about living life in a foreign country. It was such a place of rest for us. We also had great conversations with other staff about things they are doing to help Italians grasp the gospel and the incredible grace God is offering them. As we enter into the busiest two months of the year, we are newly energized with some great reminders and new ideas.

More than anything else (and there was a lot!), we are so thankful to be returning to Bologna with a new spring in our step. We needed this kind of refreshment. We needed to get a boost of emotional and spritual energy before the wrapping up the school year with the Summer Project coming and then facing several months of ambiguity, as we work on developing the support we need to cover our new tax needs. We are so, so thankful.

And the kids are already asking when we're going to back to "the beach." They don't mean just any beach. . . they mean the beach where they get to be with their American friends. What a sweet gift that is.

One Unexpected Venue for Learning

As I continue (Cody here) to grow in my mastery over the Italian language (which really still has mastery over me), I find more and more doors opening up to allow me into the culture. While this is not a new or deep thought, it has lead me down a road I never imagined myself going.

Over the course of our first year here, I tried to educate myself somewhat on the basic principles of wine...more specifically Italian wine. I soon found out how daunting of a task this could be. In a country that produces around 1 billion litres per year and has over 1 million vines under cultivation, I found myself simply not wanting to sound completely ignorant walking into a winestore. As I've tried to learn how to master the lingo, I have also, unexpectedly, learned incredible things about Italy and the people and history.

A year later, and with far more Italian under my belt, I find myself wondering why I can't find a Sangiovese Superiore that I really like (I finally did last weekend!) and trying to figure out how to ship home the 1.50Euro bottle of local table wine that is impressively good. Of course, as with most learning experiences, if it can be shared with a friend, it's usually more enjoyable. So last April a friend and I decided to educate ourselves in the realm of Italian wine. What began as a get together once a month has now developed into a weekly dinner to discuss what we're learning, try a new wine or enjoy a favorite.

Last weekend, we spent the entire day visiting local vineyards to talk with producers and become more familair with the entire process (sorry I don't have pictures! It was incredible). It may seem kind of weird, but experiences like that are exactly the kind of language experiences I need. I have enough to follow what's being talked about, and it's in an environment where I'm stretched to grow in my ability to communicate. My friend and I are now talking about what it would take for us to enroll in a Sommelier course this Fall (a Sommelier is an official "wine expert"). Who knows. . . anything is possible.

With wine being so much more than just a beverage here in Italy, it has been a really fun way for me learn more about Italian heritage and culture, while growing in my language skills too. Again, who would have thought God would have used wine in this way?

So Very Tired

Ironic I'm posting this the week after raving about our great getaway and how refreshing it was! This is our life though. We think we're getting a little bit of breathing room, and the next moment it's gone.

We've been in Italy for almost two years straight now. And since we arrived, we have been bombarded with spiritual warfare. Some of those things have been BIG but most are nagging little things that add up to exhaustion. Someone likened it to having a paper cut. Not even worthy of a band-aid, but it can hurt like the dickens. We kind of feel covered with the annoyances of paper cuts right now.

Last night we decided that the bottom line is we're exhausted. Every day just takes so much energy to engage and understand and readjust and think creatively. And we're in a season with our young family where we're physically exhausted as well.

All of this was weighing on me this morning, as I spent time with the Lord. We've really been looking forward to some time in the States this summer--to being in the same time zone with friends and family, to having a little more space to spread out, to being able to run multiple errands in one day. And of course to enjoying some food that isn't Italian. Living out of suitcases for two months definitely has its stressors, but overall, we've been looking forward to the weight of the challenges of life in Italy being lifted for a little bit.

We realized recently that one weight is being replaced with another. Many of you might know we recently learned about some significant tax ramifications we're facing. Our summer of trying to just recharge is now becoming a summer of needing to raise an incredible amount of financial support. Since the kids' schooling plays such a huge role in our ability to be out of the country, we are beginning feel the stress of what the coming months in our family's life will be like.

So back to my time with the Lord. One, I realized that exercising faith can often be exhausting. I feel like our family has been in a period of "transition" for the past two years, and it might not be ending soon. Every day I am faced with an opportunity to exercise faith in God's provision for us--whether finacially, relationally, or within the context of ministry. Every day. What an incredible opportunity! I was so convicted of my desire for walking in faith to be "easy." I was convicted of how I look to so many other things to refresh my exhausted heart than to the One who made it and knows it so intimately.

In the midst of my Bible study, I read I Samuel 14:6. I was reading it in a completely different context, but it struck straight to my heart regarding the money we have to raise to remain serving here under the new tax policies. My faith can flounder sometimes when I look at the numbers and wonder, "Is it really worth it?" And when I think about the Lord raising that money in the two and half months we have planned in the States, I can only think, "That would be a miracle."

"Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." (I Samuel 14:6)

Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf! He is certainly able. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving. He desperately desires Italians to be saved. He longs to be their hope and refuge. An overwhelming tax situation will not hinder Him. Whether by many or by few. One of the heartbreaking ramifications of the tax issue are the number of current missionaries who will have to go home because of an inability to raise the money needed to cover them. Honestly, that could be us. We can only wait to see what the Lord has in store. But what great comfort we can take in knowing that even if the evangelical presence is diminished even further, it will not hinder the Lord. He will contine to save, even with fewer. Just as He did with Gideon's Army. And what greater glory He will receive!

I am so thankful to serve a God who speaks so directly to my heart. Yes, we are still exhausted. Yes, we're still longing for the weight to be lifted a little. But we are taking courage.

A New Rythym

Menton, France

I have never really thought much about vacations before. Every summer growing up we would take a family vacation, and I have years of great memories. But Cody and I took one "real" vacation in the first nine years of our marriage. Because we travel so much for our job, and because we're missionaries and don't make much, vacations just didn't seem "necessary."

And then we moved overseas.
I know what you're thinking, "Yea, you have so many great places to go visit now." Though that is true, and we love learning about the incredible history and culture that surrounds us, that is actually one of the very last motivators for us. The bottom line is, we just plain NEED vacations on a regular basis. Not week-long vacations, just little getaways and respites from the stress of life here.

It is shocking to us--SHOCKING--how exhausted we become in just doing life. Part, I think, is just due to all of the cultural and language stresses we face all day, every day. Part is also the extra emotional and physical energy required for almost any task. Accomplishing even menial tasks here are never "easy." But part of the exhaustion also comes from the isolation we are in. We have several really good Italian and ex-pat friends, whom we really enjoy hanging out with, but it is different than hanging out with friends who really know us well and speak encouragement to our hearts.

Our kids don't get a Spring Break, they get an Easter Break. They have the Thursday before Easter through the Tuesday following Easter off from school. So this year we spent five days in Menton, France. It is literally 2km across the French border (about 5 hours from here), so it looks like France but everyone still speaks Italian. I found a little apartment we were able to rent for next to nothing since it was low season. It is on the French Riviera, right next to Monaco. It was beautiful! Incredible!

Parks! Parks! Parks! We found them all. We spent as much time outside as we could, now that the cold and snowy winter is FINALLY over.

Since we really just needed to relax, we spent a lot of time finally enjoying some sun and playing outside. The kids had a blast enjoying the beach, and Cody and I enjoyed the simplicity of walking around the quaint little town, cooking French cuisine at the apartment and savoring some down-time. It fed our souls!

Dad, teaching the kids how to skip rocks. It quickly devolved into just throwing rocks into the water, but the kids still had a great time.

As our time in Menton came to a close, I realized just how much I had needed a little time away. Our lives look so different here than they ever looked while living in the States! I think one of those differences is prioritizing some regular getaways. If we are going to be here long-term and thrive, we have to build in time for refreshment. That just doesn't happen in our current environment in Bologna.

The water color was the most perfect blue

So maybe I am learning a new rythym to life. Work hard. Pray hard. Trust hard. And then relax and refill.

And it doesn't hurt that in this season of life we get to refill on the coast of the French Riviera. Never in a million years would I have thought this would be my life.

This was the quaint little street our apartment was on. Rue Longue.

Gavin could play on a beach for days--no matter what the temperature was. These clothes were soaked within 15 minutes.

This was actually in Nice, which was only 20 minutes away. It was nice, but we liked the smaller Menton better.

An Easter Outreach

Last month, we had a team from Switzerland come to Bologna to help us with an outreach geared toward helping students develop better study habits and acheive their goals of graduating from university. The main speaker at our two night seminar has a Ph.D in engineering and has given this seminar all over the world. Yet, he remains on staff with Agape Europe (CCC in Europe) full-time and loves working with students. During one of our meals together, he asked if we were doing anything that allowed Italian students to see and be exposed to the community that we have as believers...something that allowed them to see Christ at work in our lives through our relationships.


That thought stayed with me (Cody) and our team for sometime. What could we host that we could invite our friends to that would let them experince Christ's love through community? We eventually landed on having a dinner or "apperitivi" during the week leading up to Easter and showing the Jesus Film. Our team all committed to being there regardless of who else came but also committed to inviting the students we work with to come and join us. We came together as a team to prepare a feast and be a family. It was great. We had a handful of students join us for dinner and stayed to watch the life of Jesus. From that stemmed a conversation that ran almost to midnight.

It was a real encouragement to all of us, as it allowed us to see that Christ is moving here in Bologna. The work here is slow, and every opportunity we have to talk about the gospel bolsters our faith and encourages us to continue on. The gospel of Christ is being proclaimed in this city! That is ultimately why we came, and we praise God for the hope He has given us to share.

A New Generation of Jedi

This was just so cute I couldn't help but post it. Yes, our young jedi padawon, Gavin, has now become a Master to his youngling, Ben.

For the most part, Benjamin just seems to bother Gavin. He gets into his stuff, knocks down his creations and wakes him up a few minutes too early in the morning. Not until Ben picked up a lightsaber did Gavin see the potential of his little brother.

Benjamin is at this place where he loves to do whatever he sees someone else doing. That comes in really handy when it comes to dumping the trash. . . not so handy when it comes to using scissors. Gavin has demonstrated a lightsaber duel well to his little brother. Ben even attempts to make the same sounds Gavin makes. And though I tried many times to get a picture of it, I failed to capture his favorite part of this role-playing game--dying. It's hilarious to watch Ben get wounded and fall to the ground!

The weather is finally shining gloriously Spring-like, and with the time change finally happening this past weekend, we're soaking up the extra daylight. We leave on Thursday for an Easter trip just across the border into France. For those of you who know of Cody's previous disdain for anything French, you'll recognize what a momentous trip this will be! Seriously, we are really looking forward to some time away, exploring a new place, eating different food, and just playing together as a family. Next week's blog will be delayed a few days, since we won't be getting back to Bologna until Tuesday evening.

We'd love your prayers for a really refreshing time for all of us--especially that no one would get sick and that we'd have safe travels. Bon Voyage! (That's French, isn't it?)