Blessings amidst difficult times

The last several months have been a challenge for us, difficult at times, and a few times we were ready to just give up. I have shed several tears in the past weeks and asked the Lord, "What are you doing? Why?"


My study of the Holy Bible and the teaching of my Christian faith remind me that "... we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)


So as I reflect now, back on the past 6 weeks or so, I am able to see more clearly the blessings and good things that came out of this experience. I record in my personal journal my thoughts along the way. I am drawing from that to list here a summary of the good things.

Blessing of Unexpected precious family time 

We were not planning on returning to the US until August, so it was great to have time with my sister and brother in law, even though for a sad reason. We ended up being at their house 3 weeks, which really was the longest time we have ever spent together. There was a lot of work during that time, going back and forth to my brother’s house, taking care of that business and planning the Memorial, but, it was time for a lot of good conversation.

Blessing of English-speaking medical help

There are many good doctors in Italy but the language barrier is always an issue, as well as being a struggle just trying to figure out where to go and how to negotiate through the system. So when I was not feeling great when we left Italy, and I was starting to get really sick about 5 days before the Memorial, my sister took me to ER on a Friday night. I agreed to go at both her’s and Johnnie’s urging. Sure enough the chest X-ray showed pneumonia. At least there was a name for how crummy I felt. Three hours later we returned home loaded down with medication. I am thankful for good medical care.

Blessing of learning more about my brother

Going through his personal affects, sorting out items for the Memorial, trying to figure out who to notify among his friends that are not in the area, and where he kept all his papers and accounts you get to know quite a bit about a person. Even though we were pretty close in recent years, there are sides to him I didn’t know before.

Joel and George with they new "baby" - espresso machine

One surprising thing was the soft spot he had in his heart for family memorabilia. Mom had saved his school papers and plays he was in, music he wrote, newspaper articles, old photos and yearbooks, etc. He always said he didn’t care about that stuff and laughed at what  a packrat I am when it comes to that stuff. So weren’t we surprised to find two large underbed boxes stuffed with memorabilia of the younger years.

We also found out how many young people he mentored over the years and how much admired he was for his help and his talents. So many people heard of the Memorial through the word of mouth, and we ended up with a full house. That was the testimony to the kind of impact he had. I know there will not be that many people at my Memorial!

Blessing of time for meditation and prayer

In total I was down for about 3 weeks in total, some days in the beginning in bed most of the day. As I improved some, I sat in the living room but still didn’t feel like reading, or sewing or doing much of anything. So I used that time for thinking, and for prayer. I can honestly say it was a huge blessing to be in prayer on and off all day long without interruption or my mind wandering.

Blessing of time with friends in Everett

During my three week convalescence in Everett, we were able to spend time with lots of our good friends and church family in Everett. Johnnie had several breakfasts and lunches with his fishing buddy. I connected with several girlfriends and got together with the former Boeing group several times. These were wonderful and encouraging times!

Dinner at Giorgio's

Lunch at Applebees

Blessing of time with our Monday night Bible Study Group

What a special group of people these are! We were amazingly blessed by getting to attend 3 Bible Studies! The first night they spent time praying just for us. The fellowship was a tremendous boost for us spiritually since we have not yet connected with a group in Italy.

Blessing of worship with our MVCC Church family

We were able to attend a Sunday morning worship service and praise the Lord together with them. We collected lots of hugs and encouragement. Also speaking that day was a visiting missionary from Russia. Many of the challenges he described about going to Russia to live are the same things we are finding in Italy. 

Blessing of the Women’s Friendship Tea

I was able to attend the annual tea with the women of MVCC, friends and neighbors. One hundred women came together and had brunch and heard the story of one of our women and the how she has gone through tremendous spiritual growth in the past 7 years. That was very encouraging!

Jenny, Kristine, Elaine at the Women's Tea

Blessing of meeting some new friends

During the course of cleaning out my brother’s house and planning the Memorial we met some very special people that were friends to my brother for many years and will be friends to us as well, in the years to come.

Blessing of kindness from strangers

One person who is a friend of a friend, volunteered to do a video recording of the Memorial. She will not accept any money for doing it, only asked that we make a donation to the fund of Amina Bowman, 9 year old girl in Bremerton who was accidently shot in school. 

Blessing of kindness from Italian friends

Two of our new friends in Italy emailed us regularly to see how we are doing and when we are coming back. How precious is that! Many expats come and complete their two year assignment without ever making any Italian friends, so we are already hugely blessed! Our landlady at the villa had her maid come and do a walk through of our villa (at our request) to make sure everything was ok. She cleaned out the refrigerator of stinky stuff since we left in a hurry and had not done that. There was a power outage as well while we were gone, so I can just imagine what it would have been like to arrive home to that mess, if she had not this kindness for us. She also turned down our furnace which we had left on as well.

Blessing of time spent on the family history

With lots of extra time on my hands, I was able to spend hours working on the family history and family tree. Between the documents we found in my brother’s things, some new photos and materials our cousin sent, and my own research on line, we made good progress. I also connected with several other people that research our family name and started sharing information with them. We started a tree for Johnnie’s family also.


Now that we are back in Italy and life is returning to "normal" (whatever that is!) I have gained a new appreciation for an easy rhythm of daily activities that is full of the joy of everyday living. I wouldn't trade the difficult or challenging times because that is what makes us grow and gives us keen appreciation for the things in life we often overlook. But it is really nice to be home!