One Week Left In Italy

k so we don't literally have one week left in Italy. I believe its about two years before we move on to our next duty station, but it is only one week before we leave Italy for the states! Next week is our last week of preparting to leave and getting our house ready for our newest addition! I seriously can't be anymore excited without probably exploding! Even my hubby is super excited about our future little man and he can't hide it anymore! It really is the cutest thing ever!

We (I think) are ready for this trip and to finally become parents. We honestly couldn't imagine building our family any other way and can't wait to begin on this adoption journey with our little man. We are also talking about doing it again in a couple of years, but we're actually thinking about doing an international adoption this time around! Wow, right?!? Adoption is definitely something you have to be called to do. Many people who cannot have children will never turn down this path, but so many more will and it really is one of the most amazing journeys! I'm am beyond thrilled that we have so many amazing people around us being so super supportive of our decision and of all those who are adopting/adopted and truly understand our calling to build our family in this manner! Thank you God for allowing us to have such amazing and inspirational people in our lives! Thank you God for giving us loving and caring friends that have been so supportive of this all!

When we do get to the states it will be about 5 days before her due date! Please pray that he comes close to his due date! We can't wait to meet this little man! We will most definitely post pics of him as soon as we can because I know many of you can't wait to see/meet him as well!

His nursery is almost done and ubber cute and doesn't really have a theme LOL. I do want to get a book shelf you know one of those small ones for all the books I've gotten for him this far and I think my sister may even have more books for him! Ok so here are some pics of things that I've bought or have been given to us by amazing people!

This was given to us from another momma. Isn't it super cute? I love all things aircraft related! Maybe that has something to do with my 6 years in the Air Force or maybe being an Air Force Wife LOL.

She also gave us these adorable little shoes! They look brand new but I guess babies don't really walk! She also gave us a bag full of clothes that were super cute and in amazingly good condition and the bag also had the cutest little brown boots in it! She was super nice and we're very thankful that she gave us all these baby clothes!

We also got another bag of stuff from another AF momma! Thank you! I think he is pretty set on clothes other than just cutesy things we want to buy for him! Which of course we have started buying and my family has as well!

Every baby deserves to have the cutest set of first booties ever! These are the ones I choose for our little man! I bought them off etsy (which I love etsy) and thought they would be ubber cute with his little football outfit (which I'm praying he fits into since its a newborn size).

I'm sure we have so many other things I haven't posted for baby boy but I'm sure you'll see them in pictures and what not!

Please keep us in your prayers and we soon begin our journey into parenthood!

Love you guys!

Venzone, Italy Pumpkin Festival (10/24/2009)

On Saturday we went to a nearby town (about a 1 1/2 hours away) to a local pumpkin festival in Italian Festa della Zucca. We went with a couple friends from the hubby's work the Volks (Rhysa, Codie, and Richard) and the Petraes (Ryan and Corina). The Volks rode along with us while the Petraes followed us. We got there early and we were thankful because we got parking right outside the entrance to the gates. It wasn't completely set up yet though (it doesn't start until after 3pm on the Saturday) but we got to watch as the city started to come alive. It was amazing to see the empty streets transformed into a such a beautiful place. The decorations were beautiful, the people in costumes simply amazing, the vendors, food, and entertainment more than we could have asked for.

I have never seen so many things made out of pumpkin and almost everything we tried was absolutely amazing. I think they have the best pumpkin bread ever! They even had pumpkin grappa (which we're sending some back home for everyone to try). I guess they even had pumpkin pizza which we didn't try we went for the sandwiches on fresh bread (so good). We did buy a few things to bring home with us and everything so far has been super yummy (I'm not a fan of the donuts but the hubby enjoys them).

We while we walked around we did take in some sites. We walked through their local church that was absolutely beautiful. I walked into their crypt where there are five mummies (totally strange to say the very least). We sat and just in took in the sites and sounds of the town and festival. Although some parts were in Italian we still enjoyed every minute of our trip. This is definitely something we look forward to doing next year!


History of the Pumpkin Festival in Venzone
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One of the most renowned fairs takes place the fourth weekend of October in the medieval town of Venzone, which is not far from Aviano and about 35 kilometers north of Udine. Venzone was destroyed by an earthquake in 1976 and had been rebuilt according to original plans. It started celebrating its pumpkin fair 14 years ago because of an ancient legend, which centers upon a pumpkin. According to this legend, in the 14th century Venzone was almost completely built and had many nice palaces. The city's cathedral and the tower clock had finished being constructed. Unfortunately, the city didn't have enough money to pay the artist who had just completed decorating the roof of the tower clock with a golden globe. The city committee decided to give him just one third of the amount he asked for his work because they thought that everybody should volunteer some of their working time for the town, especially during this hard time. He didn't have much choice, and he accepted the money that the city gave him. But that night he thought he would pay the city back in the same way. He went back up to the roof and replaced the golden ball with a nicely painted pumpkin. He left the city the next day. The Venzone inhabitants were happy for the completion of the work that embellished their city but, shortly, they realized that something on the tower was wrong because the ball was changing color. Only when big pieces started falling down did they understand how the sculptor had fooled them. Nevertheless, the city dedicates an annual fair to this important agricultural product that grows in the area. For a couple of days, the town is swarmed with thousands of visitors from towns nearby, as well as from Germany and Austria, who come to watch the parades of people dressed in medieval costumes ,musicians, jugglers, armigers and knights, who populate the narrow streets.

Now check out our pics from our afternoon in Venzone!









Our drive to Venzone.





The entrance to the town center of Venzone, Italy.













































All of the above are of the people dressed in their costumes, of the sites, and vendors. It really is a must see for everyone in their lives!







The crypt and the mummies...weird right?











We're all hanging out letting Richard walk around without all the crazy crowds running him over.