Memories

I have these wierd thoughts running around in my mind. I just need to let them out, so thought here would be a good place. I'm still on my journey afterall, I guess. :) I am pretty tired, emotionally, physically and mentally. Add to that the jetlag, and well, that might explain the wierd thoughts! First full day home and I was running all over. Trying to get the house cleaned, getting the girls out the door on time, and then running back to the airport to pick up our luggage, and then out to mt. pleasant to take cory in to the doctor, he has pink eye in both eyes. Lunch with daddy and then back home. the kids are no longer reading this blog, so now i can get to the real nitty gritty if i feel so moved.

Paris was neat. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the culture. The first few days of our journey were really rough though, because I missed the kids already, and thinking of all the looong days ahead without them, coupled with the shock of culture change, language change and emotionally i was a wreck. i hid it pretty well until we were stuck on the train. it felt like forever since i had had one of my babies in my arms, and we weren't even halfway to going home yet. i lost it. once our roommates left, i just broke down and sobbed. it was completely shocking to me, that not being able to carry on a conversation with most people would affect me in such a profound way. i didn't realize it had bothered me, until i was overtired and already walking a thin line of emotional sanity. you would think with the language issue, that barry and i would instantly melt together and become closer, but we both realized that we had our own spiritual and emotional baggage to attend to, and snapping at each other was easier than moving closer. we still had an incredible journey, and we DID grow closer together, but it wasn't without a few choice words and a few snotty moods.

Rome was unbelievable. It was so overwhelming that I am still digesting half of what we saw and did. While in Europe, I had some very strong emotional and spiritual upheavals that I could easily explain. Now that I am home, I am still experiencing these same emotions, but the excuses are now gone. I feel very much like a doubting Thomas. I had faith before our journey, sure, and at some points in my life my faith felt rock solid. But having gone to Rome, having looked into Jesus' eyes from a copy of the shroud He was wrapped in, having seen two of the thorns from his crown, some of His cross, a nail that pierced His skin... not to mention St Peter's jawbone... it is so denomination ceasing. Every single last Christian church has this exact same foundation. Jesus Christ. Having journeyed to Rome, I felt in a way, so much closer to Jesus. The Christian music that I listened to before the trip now has a higher spark, a deeper meaning. I have a memory now of some things that before just seemed an unbelievable place. I'm hoping over the next few weeks I can really dig deep into my memory and write down all the details of my journey, both the spiritual and the fun, so if i ever feel like my memory is failing, i can just pull out this scrapbook and re-live it. what an incredible gift barry and i were given. to go on this journey and do and see what we did. i'm still reeling that it was real and it actually happened.

getting home, when the wheels touched down in chicago... i've never felt so attached to america before. some things you really take for granted. and some things are just harder to appreciate when you are in the midst of them. like my children. my babies. i always knew i was incredibly blessed with my children. but day to day life can really hide that for me. getting home and hugging them, having them in my arms again, i want to scream from the moutain tops i will never again be so oblivious to my incredible calling in life, to the extreme amount of blessings that surround me each and every day, even on the worst of days. but yet i know. i know the day will come when the trip will have sunk far enough into my memory that it just is. and the day to day life will again hamper the joy of recieving such wonderful blessings, even though they sometimes scream and cry and fight. i'm praying that i have learned a lifetime lesson and that i will always carry a part of Rome, and a part of all that i saw and did in my heart. That this trip wasn't just a celebration of a wonderful marriage, but it will also be the water and sun that helped my seed of faith grow to be what God wants it to be.

home sweet home!!!

we are home!! and we were able to bump up our flight and get in 3 hours earlier than planned. luggage did not follow, but at least we were home!!! more to come later. :)

today!!

today is going to be a loooong day. we woke up about 1am home time, and we will get home 9:23pm home time, IF there are no delays or anything. when we get into chicago, it will be 2ish in the afternoon in chicago, but will feel like bedtime to us, and then we have a 4 hour layover before the short flight to MBS.

we went down to the breakfast this morning here at the hilton. they do breakfast buffets right! it was included in our room, and soooooooo tasty. i ate so much. i haven't been this full since leaving the US!

now we are just packing up and going to head over to the airport a little early. we never made it swimming last night, i was just so exhausted. hopefully we can get a few naps on the plane.

SEE you soon!!! love, mom and dad

we made it back to paris!

we are staying in a hilton paris hotel for our last night overseas. talk about a nice hotel!! wow!!!! this will be a nice relaxing break before our long flight tomorrow morning.

girls, we checked oovoo, and it was playing it in fast forward!!! it was cute to see you, and very funny to listen to!

well, we are off to take down our luggage cart and check out the pool and see where we will eat dinner.

we can't wait to see you kids tomorrow!!!!!! love and miss you terribly!!! love, mom and dad

I am uploading some pics from the ruins, and our journeys from yesterday. I have to look at a picture that is about half an inch and try to find the best to upload, so I haven't actually spent a lot of time trying to find which ones to upload. so far, we have taken 776 pics, so i do have to pick and choose which ones to upload!! :) I will be doing a lot of reviewing and re-posting when i get home and can spend a little more time on them. :)

hopefully we can blog one more time before getting on the train tonight. love and miss you kids!!! love, mom and dad

vatican museums and the true cross church

Mommy and daddy's fatigue level is starting to affect our sight-seeing. yesterday we had tickets for the vatican museums and sistine chapel. the bike place was closed when we needed to leave for the vatican, so we walked. i was so sore and so tired when we got there, that i didn't enjoy the museum much. it was breath taking, don't get me wrong. but i was so tired i just wanted to sit every 10 feet. we didnt stay very long at all. we saw the long hallway, and the sistine chapel and then we skipped the eygpt and other parts. we walked a distance to find a metro station (underground train), and then took the metro to hard rock cafe. i don't know how we manage, but somehow it seems in rome we have to walk uphill both ways. lol. we take different paths on the way there and on the way back and both times it is up hill. hard rock was such a breath of fresh air. it was pure american, right down to they actually had seats on their toilets!! right after that we walked back and i was walking sooo slow because everywhere on me hurts. my hips, which i feared would give me problems, actually feel great! it is my legs and feet.

we got back to the hotel and rested and took a nap. i woke up 2 hours later, took a tylenol and we were off again. our first stop was san clemente. this church doesn't look like much from the outside, but when you step in, you are just in awe that this is just another one of the churches in rome, right there in the hub bub of the city. we got our tickets (yup, tickets at a church) and went down. this church has some serious history to it. you go down one level, and it is the church from the 4th century. then you go down a level below that and it is the pagan church from before the 4th century church!! this was a self guided tour, and it was so neat to just wander around down in the pagan church and then up in the 4th century church to justimage what it was like back then. then we continued on and went to san giovanni in laterno. this is a basicilia, and very impressive. then on to the church i wanted to make sure we went to. santa croce. pretty church, both inside and outside. i was looking for the relics. a piece of jesus' true cross. when we left our hotel, it was 5pm, and so by the time we made it to this church, it was 7pm. the chapel was closed. we waited around until a daily mass in another side chapel ended, and then barry asked if we could go in the relic chapel, and a priest said he would let us in in a minute. he was a busy guy!! when he came back over to the door, he said we have increased passions. it took us a minute to realize his english was limited, and he was saying thanks for having patience. i was so thankful that we were able to go in there and pray and see. when you first walk into the chapel, you have to go up these small stairs, and it is a very humble looking chapel, with the stations of the cross on the walls. then you get to the top and you have to turn a corner. in a glass enclosed showcase, behind a rope, are 6 small, precioius shrines, each holding a different relic. there was of course the cross, in a beautiful cross shaped shrine. there were two thorns from jesus' crown. there were pieces of the rock from the pillar jesus was flogged on. there was the plague that was on jesus' cross saying king of the jews (but not in english of course). there was a nail that pierced jesus hand. to see these, up close and in person was so chilling. so humbling. you could feel a difference in the room. stronger than what i feel when i am in a catholic church with a tabernacle filled with hosts of a true jesus. somewhere along our journey, we have seen a portrait of people on the ground, and then up above them angels reaching down to us, and then above the angels is God. and one of the people in the painting stood out and had his eyes fixed above. but it showed the clear struggle of human life and trying to keep our eyes on the Lord. and when i was in the chapelle delle croce, i felt so close to jesus. seeing and being in the same room as something that jesus actually touched was so moving to me. we obviously couldn't take pictures, but i hope i will never forget what i saw and what i felt last night. in a side room in the chapel, was a copy of jesus' shroud (the cloth that jesus' dead body was wrapped in), and you could clearly see jesus face in the middle. it was very chilling to look into the eyes of jesus. it was just a copy, but incredibly moving just the same.

this morning we are packing up and checking out. there is a few more churches i want to visit. a little more shopping i want to do. and then we get on the train tonight and head back to paris for our last night in europe and then we head home! we miss you kids and home something fierce! with all our love, mom and dad.

Today we are heading back into the vatican for our last time. We are going to the vatican museums and sistine chapel. Our tickets are for 9:30, so we will be renting bikes again, even though our bums are still sore. If we stand up on the bikes (don't try this at home kids!!), it doesn't hurt, but you have to bike a little faster to maintain balance while standing. Our ride back from the vatican yesterday on bikes while standing was very fast. A good workout too! lol.

Our hotel bed is as hard as a rock. When we were doing the tour of st peter's, a seminarian (a guy studying to become a priest) was saying that when you are on a pilgrimage, there will be suffering. so i guess it is just part of the journey. :)

After the vatican museums today, we will probably have lunch one more time over in the 'cheap' district, and i want to make sure i have all my shopping done while there. then we are going to hmm. well, not sure exexactly what we will do be3tween lunch and dinner, i know we will fill our time though! and for dinner we will bike up to hard rock cafe.

rome has been so incredibly nice. english is spoken a lot more in rome than it was in paris. all the restaurants we have been to have an english translation on their menu, and most waiters when they see us say hi instead of bonjourno.

last night we asked our hotel guy where a good italian restuarant was, and we went there, and they didn't open until 7pm. which is pretty normal for the non-tourist type places. they have lunch hours and dinner hours and close in between. so we walked around the forum. it is a lot bigger than it looks on the map!! lol. i think we walked just about as far as it is to the vatican, just walking around the forum. it was amazing though. one of the many things i wanted to be as a child when i grew up was an archeologist. not sure if i ever verbalized that, but it has always fascinated me. so yesterday with the scavi tour and seeing the buildings and walking around underground, right next to these walls that were older than Christ, and seeing the fenced off area where they are still digging. it is just so amazing. same as the forum. you can see these little areas that look like it would have been a house or a store, and these columns. on the far side from our hotel, (when i thought our walk would never end, but enjoying it just the same) was this room, complete with a doorway, and on the other side of the room was just a hill and grass. nothing else around, just this room dug out from the hill. so when we finally get to the restaurant, it was just like the hotel guy said, very reasonably priced, not a lot of tourists and very good. I have cheese ravioli. i have been looking for that since we arrived in rome. :) we have been trying to find and order fetticini alfredo, but every restaurant we have been to has NOT had that on the menu!! the lasagna is out of this world. soooo good. and the pizza. i always order a cheese pizza. and each one tastes a little different, but is incredible. it will be hard to go home and order a pizza hut or little caesars pizza now.

well, i suppose it is that time i need to crawl out of bed and get ready to head down to breakfast. im really feeling the pain of missing you kids. i'm anxious to be home, to america, with fast food and chain restaurants. lol. no, that part i honestly don't miss. but i do miss you kids something fierce. i will always hold a part of rome in my heart though. i will be very sad to leave rome and st peters behind. i never thought we would ever make it here, but now that we are here, i want to come back again some day in the far, far future, if it be God's will.

i'm finding a lot of comfort in the fact that our train station in rome is big and most of it is inside, so tomorrow if our train does get delayed, at least there are shops and a mcdonalds! and warmth. the paris train station was mostly outside, a small part was inside, but it was very small and there were a TON of people all over. seating was not really an option at that station. ok, i'm off now. i sure ramble a lot. :)

miss you kids!! love you to pieces!! thanks for oovooing with us last night!
Love, mom and dad