melted smoosh

a month ago, we got an email from the intrepid Beatrice, our liaison at the seminary who deals with visas and immigration. she has truly been a godsend throughout the process of applying for our permesso di soggiorno  (permission to stay), which is what allows us to stay in Italy for more than the 90 day tourist allotment so Nick can work. she started working on our application before we even arrived in the country, and one of our first forays into Italian bureaucracy involved going to the post office to pick up the permesso kits on our second day here  when we didn't know our tartufo (truffle) from our tiramisu -- and failing, because the post office was closed. we had better luck the next day , but then we had to reschedule the second appointment from August 28 to December 11. if we had kept that original appointment, i'm sure we would have been done with the whole process much sooner, but as it was, we trotted down to the police station in December to be fingerprinted  and

we were thrilled when Nick's mom came to visit us for a second time in the spring! during her stay, we had a nice balance of sightseeing and just relaxing time at home (and we happily took advantage of her offer to babysit the girls on more than one occasion!). one of the best parts of her trip happened right at the beginning, when we went down together to pick up Greta from school. she knew that Nana was arriving that day, but i don't think she expected to see her at school! best surprise ever! we celebrated with gelato, and later that afternoon, i headed back over to St. Peter's to pick up our tickets for the papal audience on Wednesday morning. the tickets are free, but you do have to go through the security line at St. Peter's to get them the afternoon before the audience

every single mass is a miracle, an incredible moment when heaven and earth meet, when the saints and angels we can't see worship around the altar right next to the priests we do see, when we kneel in front of Jesus Himself lifted up before us and sing along with the choirs of angels, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts". but at some masses, that otherworldly sense is stronger than others, and the Palm Sunday Papal Mass was exactly such an occasion. just like the papal audiences, the papal masses require a free ticket. i wasn't sure exactly what to expect, apart from knowing it would be a long outdoor mass so i had the backpack ready with the girls' notebooks, mass magnet set, water, snacks, hats and sunglasses. to make sure the girls weren't at the end of their rope before mass even began, we headed down to St. Peter's at the last possible time that we thought would be feasible for us to make it through security and find a seat. of course, the lines for

Blair and Caleb came to visit for a week in March, and we had an absolute blast together! they actually arrived while we were still in Croatia, so they stayed in a hotel in the north of Rome (near the Borghese Gardens) for a few days, toured the Catacombs of St. Priscilla, saw a lifetime's worth of pottery at the National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia, and then joined the craziness in our apartment. and they came bearing gifts, namely a gigantic bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch (i requested the Ranch, but said that a store brand was fine... you know it's love when they went all out for the Hidden Valley!). we wasted no time in sightseeing the next day. i had a very specific itinerary for introducing them to the churches of Rome, including San Giovanni dei Fiorentini just across the river from us. when we walked inside, their jaws practically hit the floor, and i took great pleasure in announcing that this is one of Rome's more "homely" churches as not every s