A New Endeavor...

So today I decided to start a new blog. One that is dedicated solely to me and my "art". Whether it is paper in nature or my experimenting in the kitchen. I wanted one place for all that creativity to go.

So today I started The Crafty Cappuccino. Before you give me grief on the name I chose just let me explain that I am not creative when it comes to words. But I do so love having a cup of coffee, a latte, a cappuccino when I am sitting around trying to create. So I combined two of my passions for the name of my new blog.

I already posted several things there today...from bread that I was baking, cake that I was making and cards that I created. Go check it out and let me know what you think.

Unexpected guest

While making a cake today I was interrupted several times by an odd sound. It was a crackling almost electrical in nature sound. It spooked me enough that I finally stopped what I was doing to check it out. And that is when I saw this little guy.





Isn't he gorgeous? If you look closely though you can see that the nails on his little claws are way overgrown. He has not been cared for very well if he was a pet. I have never seen a bird in the wild with claws so overgrown so I am pretty sure he was an escaped pet. Now today was market day and they do sometimes sell pretty little birds like this one there. We are only a few blocks away from the market area so maybe he is just an escapee?

AIM Students come to town

Tracie, Brandon and Evan came from Prato to Vicenza to spend the weekend with us. We had a great time. On Friday night we went to the Octoberfest Celebration on base. (However, we left early due to the swarming mosquitoes that just wouldn't leave us alone). Saturday morning we got up early and headed to the base again. This time for breakfast at Burger King and Jared's soccer game. side note: The AIM students have been away from the states for almost 6 months and they really enjoyed this taste of Americana - same reason why we ate at the Taco Bell in the food court for lunch.
starting at the far left is Evan, then Brandon, Tracie and finally my sweet James before the soccer game


Jared's team after their big win. Jared is on the far left. This was an exciting game. We were behind 3 to 1 at half time. In the last few minutes of the game we came back to win 5 to 3. It was so awesome. James was absolutely hoarse from his yelling. Jared's team is the Red Bulls however, the kids voted unanimously to be the Grim Reapers. The female coach vetoed that and decided on the Red Bulls. During the game, James was yelling, "GO, GRIM REAPERS. COME ON BLACK DEATH!" He was so funny. Tracie, Evan and Brandon enjoyed the game as well.

After the game we headed for our lunch at the food court. We hung around the base, went to the commissary, and the library before going to the movies. We saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Very cute movie. We really enjoyed that.
Evan and Caleb making weird faces while we wait for the movie to start. Tracie and me eating our popcorn before the movie starts.

For the afternoon the boys played WII games while Tracie and I crafted up in my room. Tracie has a lot of natural talent. She made a wonderful card and we had a fun time.

On Sunday afternoon after church we came back to the house and made Cute Colorful Cupcakes for our dessert for the evening BBQ we had planned.




Titus & Angie and girls came along with Francesco & Lorenza and their daughters and Reynaldo (members of the Vicenza church) and from the Padova church we had Jeremy & Rebecca as well as Jeff and Tia and their kiddos. We really had a great time visiting.

playing in the yard during the BBQ

Jeff, Jeremy and baby Davis (one month old)

Me, Tracie, Rebecca and Tia at the end of the night.

Jared turns 11

On Tuesday, September 22, Jared turned 11. My baby is now 11 years old. Two more years and he will be a teenager! Ackkk! Not sure if I am ready for 2 teenagers in the house.

Jared's instructions to me on his birthday were simple...large baking potatoes and rib eyes for dinner. Chocolate and vanilla cake with LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of frosting for his birthday cake. This meant I had to make a checkerboard cake for him.



The cake turned out pretty good. Dinner was fabulous. The only problem was I forgot candles for his cake. I searched high and low thinking I had candles but what I discovered was that I only had candle holders - not helpful at this moment.



Even with my crazy Italian oven that doesn't always heat at a constant temperature we still had decent results on the cake. I also bake a no knead bread that night which turned out wonderfully. And the baking potatoes were perfect. Good oven night thank goodness.




As you can see we put a pretty good dent in the cake.

First Day of School

Here are the boys - getting ready to ride to school with dad on their first day. They were ready to go. No whining or comments. Just a few hiccups but otherwise everything went well. I think they are taking it W-A-Y better than mom is. I just can't believe how much taller than Jared Caleb is. Amazing how much they have grown the last couple of months. Time to measure again.

Encouraging words...

Today was another amazing joint service at church today. It is the last week of Italian vacations. Traditionally the entire month of August is when Italians go on vacation. So while the church is down in numbers due to this tradition, our church has been holding joint services. The Ghanans join us for the morning Italian service. All parts of our service are held in Italian and Twi and some English. The service runs a little longer because most things are said 3 times.

The best part, however, is the song service. Today, Stefano led songs in Italian and I think Abraham led the singing in Twi and English. Of course, we follow along in the Italian song book the best we can. We enjoy the English portion as well. We do not know the songs they sing in Twi but it is so encouraging to sit and listen to them sing. There is so much power and emotion in their voices that it brings tears to my eyes. Words really cannot say how moving it is to be a part of a worship service like that.

When talking to Sakyi Fastfriend, a Ghanan brother in Christ, he told me about some videos on youtube.com. I am posting the link here so that you can listen to this amazing music.Ghanan concert

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

PS. We had a BBQ at our house last week and many of these people came to our house to fellowship. In the front row the tall guy with the glasses is Sakyi, the gentleman on the far end is Isaac, the guy in the "toga" also came to our home but I cannot remember his name right now. And, YES, the ladies do dress like that for church in their traditional Ghanan attire.

Hot, Hot, HOT!!!

The last few days here have been smoking hot. Really it is just so uncomfortable at times. Not the same as when you can go from your air conditioned house into your air conditioned car and then into an air conditioned building. Our house only has 2 air conditioners so the entire house is not kept cool. Fortunately, the bedrooms are the 2 air conditioned rooms so we can sleep comfortably.

The lack of air conditioning does make working around the house quite sticky and sweaty at times. Not to mention trying to get your workout in.

Last night when we were preparing dinner for our Sunday evening English bible study we were just so hot. We were making fajitas and it was just roasting in the kitchen. I think it was around 87 in our kitchen when we were cooking. We did have fans going but it just didn't help.

We are thinking it might be good to just have sandwiches and fruit smoothies for dinner from now on. At least until the heat breaks and it starts to cool down. We have heard that in September it does start cooling down. So hope that is true. I would really enjoy having some cooler temperatures to enjoy.

Because it is so hot right now we are waiting until it cools down before traveling. James and I have no desire to walk around in the heat with a bunch of other sweaty people (many of whom do not use deoderant). I know we will enjoy seeing the sights more when we are not sweating to death.

There are quiet a few places we have on our list of must-sees. Rome, Cinque Terre (again), Mt. Pasubio, Croatia, , Pompeii, and more. The first place that I know we are going to see is Mt. Pasubio. Mt. Pasubio was very important during WWI. There are a series of 52 tunnels that were dug into the mountain as a way to keep supplies giong etc. The view is supposed to be amazing and I can't wait. We will be hiking the 52 tunnels 2 weeks after school starts.

Well, just wanted to give a quick update.

Ciao for now!