Students Of The Globe - A Family Travels The World: Umbria

The last few days of our second week in the Villa brought Ray & Lisa to visit for 3 nights and it just could not come fast enough. SJ asked everyday during the first week and their arrival was hugely looked forward to by all. With one full week of down time, we spent a day making a grocery run and planning what meals we would have while they were here. We hadn't been in a location to truly host any of our visitors this whole year, and we were excited to make this special. During our grocery run, we decided to check our the town of Orvieto, which was the largest town around and about half an hour away. Orvieto is known for having the most beautiful Duomo in all of Italy. Given the size, we were skeptical, but once we parked and began walking we were enchanted with this town and its beauty, and the Duomo was amazing.

Orvieto's Duomo

Amazing columns with mosaic and gold-leaf detail at Duomo

Small shopping area in town

We found a few quaint shops along the way and even a high end butcher where we (over) purchased some steaks for our first meal with our guests. The plan was to try our hand at cooking them in the wood-fired oven. The next night it was homemade pizzas, which we already felt we were good at, and the final night would tried our hand for the first time at homemade gnocchi and roasted pork dish which we studied at our Florence cooking class and the kids insisted we teach to Ray and Lisa. PHEW - good thing we started working out again!

The night before they arrived Dad presented the boys with a gift of Widow's Mite he had purchased back in Jerusalem. They were quite taken with the coins and really wanted to buy their own, but they could not afford them on their budgets. The Widow's Mite is a small copper coin referenced in Mark 12:42-44 where Jesus explains to his disciples that the widow's small gift amounted to more than the large sum put in by others because she gave from her heart. Dad encouraged the boys to keep this coin and live generous lives utilizing all their gifts, both financial and otherwise.

Widow's mite gift for the boys

With our meals purchased and planned, we did not venture out too much with our friends, but rather continued enjoying our new-found routine of working out, relaxing by the pool, cooking and watching slideshows at night. Ray and Lisa were gracious enough to go with the flow. Getting some adult conversation was more than welcome. The weather got a bit cooler and one day the adults escaped for a couple of hours to a local vineyard and sampled some wines and explored a nearby village hoping to find some dishwashing soap to no avail. The kids enjoyed having some new faces around. Ray held poker class 101 with the boys and we put the "chips" he brought to good use. Mom enjoyed some girl time and loved having a female to take walks with.

This week, while to some extent, was more of the same, had a different vibe with our guests and continued fertilizing the seeds of home that are growing. We miss good friends and were thankful for Ray and Lisa's generosity of time and money to join us for a few days of memory making and fun.