"Red fish, red fish, in the sea" and "Little Boat on the Water"

..... two enormous hits with the kids at the daycare - something incredible, seeing as I made them up on the spot about two minutes before teaching them to the kiddies. Simple is best! Cheesy is better! :) Everything is going great here in Scandicci, our classes are as full as ever and our new activity schedule is a big hit. I'd say we average at least 10 students at movie night, 7 students at Book Club, and Cooking USA is overflowing - usually about 15 students or so. Game Night is the only area that's taking a while to catch on, but we're not giving up on it!

So much to tell about. Back in February we participated in the women's convegno which was held in Velletri, a town near Rome. It was wonderful to spend time with women from all over Italy and all over the world. We had about 55 participants, and this year our theme was "The Beatitudes of Our Time". We broke into 8 discussion groups (one for each beatitude) and there were two group leaders per group to guide the conversation. Ermenita and I were group leaders together, and we were responsible for "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...". Everyone had great things to say and interesting comments to jumpstart our thinking caps.

We said "goodbye" to the two married couples, Eric and Jessica and Ryan and Laura. I say "goodbye", because Ryan and Laura didn't really go anywhere. They moved into an apartment in Brozzi, a suburb of Florence and are still working with the church in Florence. We get to see them all the time still! :) Jessica and Eric moved down to Taranto to work with the churches in that area. From what I hear they are doing really well down there and the people love them. We miss them around here though!

Because of some repairs going on at the villa, we had Harding students living with us at the Bible School this semester, which was different and fun. They were great to have around - we're gonna miss them too!

We just have about a month and a half of classes left until we break for the summer, so we're trying to make these last 6 weeks count. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement that we get from all of you! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers!