Independence

First of all, Happy 24th Birthday to my bubba, Drew!  His birthday was yesterday.  I told him it is weird to think he is 24 because I still feel 24!  Oh well...it sounds as if he had a fun day and a great family dinner at Shane's with homemade turtle cheesecake afterwards.  Mmmmm...jealous :)  So I'm glad he had a special day, and I missed being there with him!

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I consider myself a very independent and fairly brave person.  I drove from Knoxville to Philadelphia by myself in college, I've made the Florida to Nashville drive alone a few times, I traveled the Northeast by plane, train, and bus solo...and I feel very able to take care of myself. 

Then I got married.  I find myself being so much more dependant on Taylor for things that I know good and well I can do on my own.  I couldn't get the dishwasher closed the other day...I fiddled and messed with it for awhile, then asked Taylor to do it.  Embarrassingly enough, it was a tall cup hitting a low hanging part of the dishwasher, and I would have figured that out if I was on my own. 

I have been putting off a trip to Ikea (about an hour and a half away) because I was nervous to go by myself.  Mostly I was nervous to be able to make it there on my own.  When determining what to do today, I decided to suck it up and head to Ikea by myself.  When I weighed my options...tackling the trip alone beat out listening to Taylor's complaints about having to shop with me. 

Now I feel my nerves to go alone to Ikea are PARTLY justified due to the language barrier...that makes everything much more difficult and a bit more nerve wracking.  But, we've been there before, so I had a good general idea where I was going.  So I loaded up myself, my nerves, and my pillow (to match curtain colors) and headed out around 12:45 today.  Of course 12:45 is right in the middle of reposo (the 2ish hour break in the middle of the day for lunch/naps when everything closes)  And I had a quarter of a tank of gas.  Yes, the gas stations close too.  Some of them have machines that allow you to pay in Euro and pump gas, but we buy gas with coupons that we pay for on base to help even out the cost of gas over here as compared to the States. 

For example:  We are allowed 300 Liters of gas coupons per month.  We buy coupons for all 300 liters of our gas for approximately 270ish dollars on base.  We have a year to use the coupons, so right now we have lots of extra.  We then take the coupons to the gas station and give it to them in payment for our gas.  There are two types of gas stations that take the gas coupons through out Italy.  So I decided to hop on the autostrada and hopefully I would come across one of those stations on the way to Padova (the city Ikea is located).  The gas stations on the autostrada don't usually close for reposo. 

Well I'm driving, driving, driving, gas is under a quarter of a tank, I'm getting more and more nervous, and finally a gas station, but of course it's not one of the brands that takes coupons.  I decided I needed the gas anyway, I'd just have to pay.  Just to make you feel better about what you pay.  I bought a half a tank which is about 7 gallons and it cost me 30 Euro...that is about 40 dollars.  That equals out to almost $4.00 a gallon!!  Thank goodness for our coupons!!  But anyway...I was feeling much better.  I pulled out the GPS, but I think it was more for my mental comfort rather then actually needing it because we discovered last time Ikea's address doesn't register on our GPS so it doesn't take you right there. 

Anyway...point is, I made it to Ikea just fine.  Just because I take a few more wrong turns and drive in a few more circles then with Taylor, doesn't mean I can't do it on my own.  And thank goodness I was alone for the shopping, I made the right decision since it took me an hour to pick out two sets of curtains (I already had my mind set on two I'd seen last time I was there) and two plants.  Ha!  But I had to make sure I was making good purchases!  I checked out about every plant and size and price and settled on a small tree and a tall palm like plant.  And guess what...they're LIVE!  What?  Who knew Ikea carries LIVE plants.  It seriously took me about 15 minutes to determine if they were real or not because they're all indoors, they are a perfect green and look full and fake!  I walked around to all of their plants touching a lot of them before finally convincing myself they were real plants.  I had intentions to go and buy fake ones because last time I was there I saw them and thought they were all fake! 

So I packed my two trees with dirt and all in the trunk of my little Accord (with the seats folded down so there was room) and I headed back home.  And I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself.  No parle Italiano can't stop me!

And funny story, when I got home I unloaded the trees and put one in our bedroom and the tall plant in the guest bedroom.  So an hour later Taylor comes home from work, goes upstairs in the bedroom to change and comes back down.  He said nothing, which I thought was odd because he thinks my love of trees and plants indoors is crazy and usually comments when I mention needing one for the bedroom!  So I asked him if he noticed the new addition to the room, he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.  I said, "there is a TREE in our bedroom!!!"  He says, "oh, no way, really?  Where did you put it?"  It's right in the corner next to our dresser- and can I mention that we ONLY have a bed, a dresser, and two night stands in the room and the tree is about 4-5 feet tall???  He said, "I put my bag right there, I don't know how I missed it!?"  Awhile later he went upstairs and said, "I'll be...there sure is a tree up there, and it's about a foot away from where I dropped my bag!"  Such oblivion!!!  We both were very amused at his lack of observation!!

And speaking of brave...I must have been on a roll this week.  Yesterday I went to the Aviano Officers and Civilian Spouse Club (AOCSC) luncheon.  It's pretty much a spouse club that does social events and charity events and it's a way to be involved on base.  I went alone, knowing no one!  As you can imagine it's tough to go to a luncheon alone...just picture me walking around a bit awkwardly attempting to find a seat at a table.  I finally did and ended up at a table of wives from the Maintenance Squadron.  I found out that most the ladies congregate by squadron (Pilot, Medical, Maintenance, etc) but none of the officer wives from Security Forces participate in the group, so no one was there.  But the ladies from the maintenance squadron were very welcoming and nice to me!  We had a good lunch and I got a couple girls numbers.  They go skiing on Wednesday mornings at Piancavallo (the mountains right by base- about a 20 minute drive) so hopefully I'll try that out!  And I made plans with one of the other girls to head down to Nove to replace some ceramics that broke in the mail to my parents!  So it was a productive lunch, but the jury is still out if I will join the AOCSC, I'm still thinking and debating it.

And now on to something totally opposite of what I have been talking about.  In fact my post will sound quite frivolous and mundane in comparison...

In my last post I asked for advice and suggestions and I appreciate all the responses for places to visit as well as blogs to read.  I have to mention on here one of the blogs that was recommended to me by my friend, Leanne.

This blog is written by a girl from Brentwood.  For those non Tennesseeans, Brentwood is a neighboring town to Franklin.  This girl, Katie Davis, graduated from Ravenwood High School in 2006.  She took a year "break" to work in an orphanage in Uganda after high school.  She fell in love with the country and the children of the deprived country.  She ended up staying over there.  She just turned 21 and in the last 3 years she has started a non-profit organization that sponsors 400 children to go to school, provides them with school supplies, medical care, and meals, she feeds approximately 1000 children a week from a shunned, poorest of poor village, she has bought a house, and has adopted 14 girls of her own.  She knows with all of her heart that she is doing God's work with the children over there.  She speaks so beautifully of her faith and her confidence in her calling to live and LOVE in Uganda.  She is unbelievable and her blog is so inspirational.  I started reading it from the beginning, two nights ago and after two nights of staying up until 2 am readin, laughing, and crying I have finally been caught up to her recent post from today.  Anyway, point is I HIGHLY, HIGHLY encourage you to check out the blog and read a bit.  I am going to include one of her posts on here so you can see a clip of it.

The blog address is:  http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY JULY 19, 2008
"there once was a woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do..." (from an old nursery rhyme)

Actually, I think that shoe is a small African house and I am that woman. So many children. So much joy, I don't know what to do. Last night 140 children spent the night on my floor. (well about 17 slept in my bed) Lauren, one of my visitors, said, "I have never seen so much chaos!" Oh, its good to be home. Yesterday at Friday Bible study, all the children sang me a song that they made up and practiced all month. They sang : "We the children of Amazima, we are happy to see you mommy. We missed you mommy Katie. We love you, We love you, Welcome home!" And I was afraid that my heart might burts. Yes, what we lack in money, and medical care, and food, we make up for in joy.

On the topic of lacking in medical care and food, money is tight as always. This morning I noticed a rash on little Zuula, one of this kids in my program, that I thought was syphilis. Upon inspection of her other brothers and sisters though, we concluded it was scabbies, a skin disease caused, basically, by constantly being filthy and not bathing. It sharts as a rash and then grows, open wounds festering on the skin. Eventually it looks like somthing has been eating the flesh. Scabbies can be spread through skin contact so six out of the eight children from that family were infected. I have been to their house a while ago and remeber it being one of the worst living conditions I have ever seen. All 8 children live with their widowed aunt and dying grandmother who do their best to provide, but often all their hard work is not enought to keep 8 children healthy. They live 6 miles from the nearest water hole, so they use the same water over and over. all the children sleep in a pile like dogs in the corner of the small dirt house. Somehow, these children dance and laugh and sing just like any others.

The on call nurse at the nearest hospital told me that to cure scabbies the kids must bathe twice a day in warm water and then rub a certain ointment on their skin. They can not share water, towels or ointement, obviously. But you have read the description of their home. How in the world will these children get enough water for all six of them to have their own bath. If they can get the water, how will they make it warm. They dont own one towel, let alone six. This is where I come in. I have running water, a heater when power is on and a fire in the back yard when it isn't. I have extra towels and sheets. I have strong hands that can rub ointment all over these darling children. And the truth is, I couldn't be happier to help them. Yes, if I had it my way, I would just bathe children with sabbies all day every day.


So now, instead of just my seven gils, there are 13 children living in my house. To a mom of 150, this shouldn't be a big deal, but it still feels overwhelming at times. The six children : Moses, Saazi, Vivian, Bashir, Zuula and Shadia were delighted by their warm baths. They seemed nervous as i rubbed their peeling decaying skin with ointment and for a brief moment I was too, what if i catch it? But my fear lasted only a split second. Didn't Jesus sit amoung the lepers? Yes. Hasn't He assigned me to "do unto the least of my children"? Yes. He has given this assignment. He has given me these hands that have the ability to help and heal. I am simply blessed to be able to use them.


Needless to say, we could use your prayers. It is going to be a challenge to bathe and dress six children's wounds and find them clean towels and at the same time keep them far enough away from my own children that we don't all get infected without making them feel like outcasts. It will be near impossible to come up with all the money I need to pay for all these children's medical bills, pay my employees, and feed my family.


Yes, it will be brilliantly, wonderfully difficult.


"But who, being innocent, has ever perished?"