Buona Pasqua, tutti!
(Happy Easter, everyone!) :)

I pray your Easter was lovely. Everyone in Rome spent Easter Sunday at Amy's apartment-- she cooked beautiful food, decorated with beautiful eggs, flowers, and other lovely things, and gathered together beautiful people to talk about the MOST beautiful news in history------ Christ, dying for the sins of every person who has ever/will ever live--- and rising from the dead--- to claim victory over death, sin, destruction-- and allowing US to claim that victory, too, as we choose to receive Him as Savior, Lord, and Redeemer!!!!!!! What a beautiful, beautiful story. I pray I never tire of listening to, or telling that story--- for it has changed my life, and continues to, on a daily basis. Praise Jesus--- He is risen!!!!!!

Here are Amy's beautiful eggs she dyed! (They look deeper even than the "normal" pastel colors because she started out with *brown* eggs... cause that is what the grocery stores normally only have!) Cool, huh? :)

Speaking of color, everybody really got a kick out of using the Color Select feature on my camera (a Canon PowerShot-- I highly recommend it! :)... so I decided to include one of myself in my blue Easter dress! :)

Jenny and I, celebrating the joy of Easter--- Christ is Risen!! :)

Getting everybody on our STINT team together for a picture-- always hard when everyone is so FUN! :)

There we go! What beautiful friends. :)

Ostia Antica & the beach :)

On Tuesday, April 7th, I went with some friends to Ostia Antica (read more about the ancient port city of Rome here).

It is a beautiful city, even though it is now in ruins.

I love bees! :) I think the Lord uses them in my life to help me remember to stay busy and be a good steward of my time/energy! (even though I sadly don't always do that).

Then, after walking around the ancient city, we went to the beach that is nearby. (Ostia is right on the Tyrrhenian Sea-- the sea right West of Rome).

Above, Chris, and below, Jimmy, play some Frisbee @ the beach.

April and Amy, enjoying a warm blanket and curling up with the Word of God-- to be refreshed and restored! :)

A Protest, Walks around Colosseo, & Steve's Birthday Bowling Bash

1) A Protest

When our bus stopped in the middle of its route, we wondered what was going on... especially when we saw the crowd of people begin to develop outside.

Kerry and Jenny wonder what's going on?...

So... I walked off the bus to see what was happening, and lo & behold, a man was sitting in front of the bus, having a sit-down protest, not allowing the bus to move forward. Even though I still don't truly understand exactly what he was protesting, it was really interesting to be in this situation. It was yet another moment where the Lord reminded me to be in prayer for the people of this city-- that they will walk with Jesus and therefore experience PEACE... even in times of frustration, saddness, and trials.

2) Walks around Colosseo, with lots of sweet friends!

From L to R: April, our Italian friend Lucia, Kerry, and myself. Lucia picked us up in her car one night and we drove to the Colosseum and took a little walk. The night was beautiful and we had a lot of fun with Lucia!

On the walk to the car, April and I found some trees, and being curious as usual, I asked Lucia what kind they were... and she explained that they were Laurel bushes/trees--- to make Laurel headbands like Caesar used to wear! SO COOL! So April and I decided to pretend we were queens of Rome for about 2 seconds for this picture. :)

When Kerry's friend Holly came to visit Rome for a week, we took a walk around Rome at night with Lucia again. It was so sweet! (me, Lucia, Kerry, and Holly in a lovely piazza). :)

Those huge smooth stones under my feet are HUNDREDS of years old--- they are original ones that haven't ever been redone/torn out of the ground. How amazing. Every time I walk on them, I think of the thousands, maybe millions, of people who've walked on them before me-- and think, "how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News"!!

In this last walk around Colosseo on a different day, I met up with my friend Lizzy (in the pink/purple shirt)-- she was in my cohort at Miami-- we had all our education classes together over the four years we were there, and worked on a TON of projects/papers/etc. together! It was SO fun to see her again! :)

3) Steve's Birthday Bash, at "Bowling Roma"!! :)

Me & Kanda having a great time at the bowling alley--- "Bowling Roma" :)

Steve-- the birthday man!-- looking fierce and intense! He was the overall bowling champion of the evening! Yay!

Holly and Kerry! (Kerry's friend from home who came to visit!)

Team Wild Cats!!! :) Ella, Amy, Brian M., Brian E., & April :) Such fun friends!

The scores after Game 1 for "Team Wild Cats" :)... Lynx = Amy; Tigre = Brian E.; Puma = April; Leo = Brian M.; and Cougar (Representing VWHS even though I was in last place, haha) = me. :)

Maratona di Roma!

On Sunday, March 22, Rome had a marathon through the city, and FIVE of my teammates and friends ran it!! -- Jimmy, Sam, Chris, and Kanda here in Rome, and also a friend who is on STINT in Salerno: Halley. It was SO FUN to watch the race and cheer on our friends! What a feat-- 26.2 miles throughout a city full of difficult cobblestone streets-- but they did it! :) :) Praise God! :)

Jimmy was the first of our friends to blaze by!!! Woo woo!! (Jimmy is in the pack with the yellow shorts, gray T-shirt, & white headband).

Haha, typical Sam. Having fun and coming up on about mile 24-25 in STYLE. :)

You can see Chris coming over to the side to chat with us for 1 second -- he's right behind the guy in the red/orange shirt.

Here comes Kanda!

Halley, Chris, Jimmy, Sam, & Kanda. Each one of them, just like Gladiators in the Roma Marathon!!!! :)

All 9 of us Rome STINTers-- The fans-- with the signs we created to cheer on our friends, and the runners-- looking victorious! :) :)