End of April Update

Photo of the whole group in attendance

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to go to a two day conference with nine of our church family members. It was the first time for seven of them to experience something like that. (Special thank you to The Door Church for their financial support, which made it possible for so many from our church to go to the conference) It was also the first Gospel Coalition Conference in Italy. I think it was eye opening and also encouraging for them to see so many others in love with Jesus and following Him.  Our hope is that being with other believers will encourage them and give them a renewed boldness in their faith and in how they live out God's love in their daily lives. One thing that really struck them was the dedication to God's word. Wanting to know God's word and applying it to our lives is something that continues to surprise our people that come from a non-practicing Catholic background. Please pray with us that the community they experienced as well as the teaching will spur them on in pursuing God and their walk with Him. It was encouraging for us as a family to hear stories of how the Lord is working through various churches throughout the country. It is easy for us to feel discouraged when we may not see the fruit we want to see in our timing. We are quickly reminded that God's timing is perfect and any fruit that we may experience is grace from Him.

All three of our birthdays are in April so it has been a month of celebrating in our house. It has been good and life giving to look back on all that the Lord brought us through in the last year. We are jumping into May with lots of joy in the Lord. We are thankful for a healthy pregnancy for Carli and the baby. We are just five weeks shy of his due date and we can tell that Luca is really getting excited about meeting his baby brother. He has been learning how to hold babies (by practicing with his animals) and getting diapers for us. Please be in prayer for us as the final preparations are on for becoming a family of four. We know that the Lord is writing our story and our hope is that our faith in Him is displayed in the coming weeks of intense moments like labor/delivery and recovery. Pray that all our interactions with nurses, midwives, and other patients would display our love not only for our new baby, but our love for God and His constant care for us.