Rome

I don't know how in the world I'm going to get words around our Rome experience. We learned so much about ourselves, our history, others' histories and how they've influenced us in ways that we didn't even recognize, other cultures... goodness, even in Italy, there are differences in food, land, people. Like America, as you travel throughout the land here, you note changes and things specific to each region. Oh, my how we've grown (we did have gelato quite a bit, but I'm not talking about our waistlines growing here!)...

We arrived after sunset in Rome and hit the trail after dropping off our luggage (at a hotel that was in the perfect location, I must say). It was a long travel day - took the slow train so that our budget would allow for our Germany trip - but we didn't relax upon arrival. Straight away, we went to the Church of Christ in Rome, where we know a family who worships there. Harding has had a "visiting missionary" on campus for the spring semester this year from Rome. A church elder, the husband and his wife (who has a lovely singing voice) and his daughter Vivi spent time in Searcy this spring getting to know our small town, so now we've spent a fraction of time in Rome - their town. We joined their Bible study, listening to Italian and English, and then the fellow-believers fed us pizza; Clay told me that he overheard some students say that it was the best pizza they've had so far in Italy. We ate and ate and ate until we could hold no more. We sang and prayed in Italian and English, sharing such a special evening together. Clay summaried the makeup of our group in Italian - he's quite good - honestly, I'm so proud of his learning this new language! He's well on his way. He led a prayer at the end, and I got chillbumps when he prayed for the "church in Rome." Rarely does a Sunday pass when Clay and I don't think about believers all over this world worshipping God together; we always think of Florence's church and now we'll think of our new friends in Rome, as well. I'm getting teary (surprise - you know I'm quite a cryer!) just thinking about how many people share in the love for our Savior and for each other, and we don't even know each other's names. There are millions of believers, and there's such power in that. Why is anyone on the Lord's team ever afraid of anything?

Vivi has gotten to know some of our BAT group and went on a walk around the city with the crew exploring the sites. I overheard a moment of a phone conversation of one of our BAT guys as we walked along: "Dad, I'm in ROME! It's as big and busy as New York City but with a lot of 'ancient' thrown in. Rome!" A BAT guy came up and hugged me at the first fountain we came to saying, "It just hit me that I'm actually half way around the world in Rome - where the world as we know it began; thank you for this opportunity." If you're a PARENT of a BAT student, please know that your kiddos (not really kiddos anymore in anyone's minds but your's - and ours because the responsibility is so heavy - good, but heavy) are thankful, smart, and interested in things around them....three GOOD qualities. The first night's walk consisted of the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Colonna, the Pantheon, and Pizza Navonna. A few of the humanities students had "on-site" presentations assigned at these sites to educate the entire group.

After getting to bed after 1:00 am, we let the students sleep in and left the hotel at 10:15. Our day consisted of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, St. Peter's in Chains (Michelangelo's Moses), St. Clemente, and St. Giovanni in Laterano. The humanities group led us again on our visits. Free time was enjoyed by all, and we got to bed a bit earlier than the night before.

Then today, we visited the largest church in Christendom, St. Peter's Basilica, seeing Michelanglo's pieta of Mary holding Jesus' crucified body. The church's grandness is indescribable. It's easy to understand how Martin Luther had an issue with Pope Leo X selling indulgences to finance this --- his frustration is understandable on several levels, and we discussed that with our BAT group. We'll get going to Germany and studying Martin Luther's actions a bit next week, tying the Rome trip and the Germany trip together, as we visit several sites important to the Reformation Movement (mixed with some non-humanities class fun, of course). Next, we headed over to the Vatican Museums with the goal of seeing the Raphael Rooms (School of Athens painting is my favorite--see Tara explaining who is who in the painting to our group - she did such a great job!) and the Sistene Chapel (words can't do this justice, so I won't attempt-let's leave it at that!). Afterwards, the BAT kids had some free time, so Clay and I took A-C to Rome's zoo on the Borghese grounds. She needed some real kiddo time, and she even got to swing on a swing set we found....

We arrived back at Avanti to the smell of garlic bread, steaks, ribs, grilled chicken, and sweet tea. We wrapped up the meal with banana splits - fresh strawberries and cherries and homemade whipped cream topped it off. Words can't describe this either! HA!!!