March Marches On

Salve! (practicing: Italian Lesson #1.)

Just checking in...we had a couple of warm days this week, and now we're back to "winter."  Brrrr!  The sun fools us into thinking that spring is close.  Then you walk outside and the wind hits you.  Ugh!

Here are some highlights of the week:

GUN CLUB.  Frank was given some rifles that his dad and grandfather owned.  He is officially "licensed," now, to have them in Massachusetts!  He found a gun club in a neighboring town that had reasonable hours and fees.  We went to check it out yesterday.  It's still snowy and slushy and muddy out!  But Teresa, Frank and I shot at some targets at their range yesterday.  I think it will be a good place to practice in the future.

D.C. TRIP.  The 8th graders around here take a trip to Washington D.C. in the spring.  It's a fabulous trip, with monuments, U.S. government buildings, and museums.  The 8th grade curriculum is filled to the brim with history, U.S. law and constitution, and studies of the Revolutionary War.  This D.C. trip in April will be the culminating event of the year, tying all these studies together for the students.  They take a train down, pack in a ridiculous number of historic attractions and activities into 3 days, stay in hotels and eat food court food.

EARNING MONEY. While it's a great trip, it is also expensive.  We have basically required each of our kids to make half of the money to go to D.C.  So David went during our first year here in Massachusetts.  We had house projects up to our eyeballs that year, and every door inside the house needed to be painted.  Twice.  That was his "D.C. project."  Teresa was also earning money for Peru that year, so she earned for both trips, and she made loaves of zucchini bread and sold them (many. many. loaves) to neighbors, friends, people at church...lots of zucchini bread.  So...we don't have house projects going on right now (Thank You, Thank You--so tired of those).  What could Kara do?

PERSONAL CHEF.  Kara actually likes to cook, including baking of course.  Her friends at school know that on their birthday, they can request what kind of treat they want at school, and Kara will make it and bring it in to the lunch room! (Public schools now don't allow food in the classroom, and there are allergies galore, but as far as we know, the students can still bring food into the lunchroom.)

So I have hired Kara to cook meals for our family! I find recipes online, get the ingredients, and she makes the food for us.  I stay within earshot for questions, but I read, work on the computer, etc. while she makes dinner!  She has prepared:

Salmon & Zucchini Skewers & Couscous
Pork Fajitas w/Pepper & Onion
Chicken Picatta
Crispy Panko Cod with Kale & Mango Salad
Rosemary Chicken Lasagna
Gnocci w/Spinach Salad
Crispy Shrimp w/Canellini & Kale

and lots more!  It's perfect for me.  I'm afraid I'll be sad when she's earned all of her money for the trip.

Time to move to the next thing, getting ready for the week!  Hope it's springtime where you are.  Thursday is the BIG DAY: 1st day of spring, officially!  I'll keep telling myself that, anyway.  Even tho our temps are far from spring-like.

Happy Monday tomorrow!  Kari

Exciting News for David

Hola!

Except now I will be using a different greeting, to help me with my Italian: I have discovered there are 3 possible greetings I can use with you.

“Ciao” is absolutely informal.
-“Salve!” is quite informal, but more friendly and polite than “Ciao”.
-“Buongiorno” is a formal polite manner to salute in a friendly and respectful way.

There is your Italian lesson for the day.  I love the Internet.  Really :)

In our church, the college-aged kids are encouraged to serve a "mission."  Boys and girls are encouraged to serve and help in different areas of the world.  It's a 2-year time commitment (18 months for girls).  It's a time of service and gospel study, a chance to focus on others, to be a part of something bigger and outside of yourself, and to solidify your own knowledge of scriptures and the teachings of Jesus Christ.


There are 400 missions worldwide.  The missionaries work closely helping the local church leadership, and church members in that area.  They also participate in community service X number of hours a week.

They teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those searching for more meaning or purpose in their lives.

Frank went to southern Spain in the 80's.  I didn't serve a mission then, but now I really see the benefit of going.  We hoped that David would want to go. And he did decide to go!  In the last couple of months, he went through all the steps of applying and interviewing, getting physical and dental forms in, and even having his wisdom teeth removed last month.  (Well that would have happened anyway.  But they do want the missionaries to be able to "focus" for 2 years on the mission, not worry about their teeth or other problems.)

So timing for the missionaries can vary.  The oldest you can go on a mission as a single person is 25.  The youngest is 18 for boys, 19 for girls.  They also have missions for adult couples, but that happens usually after all of their kids are grown, and they can somehow leave their job and house for an extended period of time.

David has decided that he will serve a mission for our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after he completes his freshman year of college the end of this April.  People cannot choose their location; instead, they are assigned.  He completed the application and received his "mission call" -- assignment -- this week.  He's going to the Italy Milan Mission, and leaves June 25!

So, that's the reason I am now interested in Italian: David will be learning the Italian language and culture, and also much about himself and others when he goes to northern Italy this summer, and for the next 2 years.

There are 2 missions in Italy: Milan (northern), and Rome (the southern 2/3 of the country).  The Milan Mission includes Venice, Milan, and a tiny bit of Switzerland. It is the "top" part of the country:  if you put flowers in the tall boot of Italy, he'd be where the flowers are sticking up out of the top.  Not Rome!  That's another mission.  But they are building a temple, visitor's center, meeting house, and patron housing (dorms or hotel rooms) in Rome right now, to be completed in 2015.

My friend did send along a news article about Pope Francis.  He was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year!  It's a neat article, actually.  I learned some things; it's a quick and easy read if you have 5 minutes: here is the link.

We are excited for his new adventure!  He received the mission assignment packet in the mail on Wednesday.  Thursday he skyped, and we watched while he opened it.  David doesn't show much emotion usually, but when he got to the "location" part of the letter, he paused and got this big smile on his face. "Italy Milan Mission," he read.  We were all surprised.  It was a fun Skype call!

We'll be learning along with him.  A new adventure!

Have a great week, Kari