Happy Saturday!

As I walked to the screened porch at the back of  our home here in Virginia, I was shocked to see a hole in our screened door, and the hole was big!

Then as I walked around to the front porch, there, sitting on the porch, as if he owned the place, was Mr. Groundhog. The exact size of the hole in our screened door.

After my loud screams and chasing him in a frantic way, he quickly realized the owners were back home.

Mr. Groundhog was not the only one who took residence in our dwelling while we were away for a month - we had a new family of mice who were feeling very comfortable inside our home. And in case you did not know it. mice love organic!

It appears my No Trespassing Signs were not being read by the wildlife in our neighborhood.

Yet, with all that, our tour of Rome, Italy and Greece were very joyful.

I wanted to share some key highlights that deal with blood, prison and of course, food from our trip.

BLOOD

The first was our stop at the coliseum - You may remember how this ancient entertainment center was home to wars between gladiators (which ate a lot of barley, just to note :)) and also the place where many Christians were executed in horrible ways.

The interesting note on the wall shared how after any killing of a person there were designated people to go out with sponges to mop up the blood, squeeze it into containers and then sell it for its healing properties.

The plaque even noted that the blood of martyrs was sold for higher amounts since their blood was noted as having greater healing ability.
Isn't it sad that the blood they needed was not the blood of the martyr but the blood of the Savior the martyrs were willing to die for.

PRISON - both the Mamertine Prison and Auschwitz

First we stopped at the Mamertine prison to see where Paul and Peter were held in Rome. It is interesting (no picture shown) to see where they lived for a long time and yet the entire time they were in that hole with no sunlight and continous wet conditions, they were writing and encouraging others.

The next prison is shown on this gold plaque below. We visited the Jewish Ghetto in Rome. This was the first and largest residence of Jews outside of Israel. As you can see on the plaque below, the date of notice is 1943. In front of the doors where people were taken from their homes and hauled to Auschwitz were the names of the people taken from each home. This was on the ground in front of each door. The doors still have the bang marks from the guns and bullet holes as the army guards were battering the doors to get the people out. If you ever watch The Hiding Place, you can imagine what I am trying to describe.

Such a tragedy and yet God saved a remnant of His people to continue His purpose.

FOOD

And although not the end of my trip but definitely a highlight - Cooking Class in Italy - Rome.  We made tiramisu, Ravioli and Fettucine!  As you know I rarely eat white flour products, but this was so much fun,

I definitely enjoyed eating it with new friends.

Now, if you get the chance to go to Rome, please add these stops to your list.

If you are not going to Rome anytime soon, there is still learning here for us to remember.

1. Father God is an everlasting God, he never leaves us or forsakes us. Times may be stressful, but we can sit in a prison and still know he is there.
2. Only the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
3. Food and the daily reminder of hunger and satisfied are designed to remind us of our daily need for our Lord and Savior.

Now, let me tell you what happened with the airline! You won't believe it.

We were ready to leave Rome and head to Greece to catch our cruise. I was trying to check in at 10 pm the evening before for our early morning flight. The website would not allow us to check in. Then I called the airline to which they replied - We have no record of your flight!

To which I prayed - Lord help me.

After that I called Priceline who saw our predicament, after explaining it several times and several phone calls, and said "I can just refund your ticket"

That is the worst of all answers! In case you are not aware of this, if she refunded my ticket We would be stuck in Rome and all flights from then till we get home were cancelled!

Which would mean we are on our own to get all connecting flights from there on out.!

My response "NO, No, No, Please do not hit refund!"

After being on the phone for 7 hours, we finally left for the airport with no sleep and no flights.

As we arrived they found us a flight to Greece and we waited.

We did make it to the cruise and enjoyed knowing for 8 days we did not have to deal with travel.

But then as we were leaving Bologna, Italy for home, I was checking in on our flight in the evening for our 6 am flight.

The airline said - "we have no record of your flight"

Yep, again!

I then started the process of calling Priceline and had to start the story all over again!

She attempted to offer us a refund. You already know my response.

In case you are wondering, offering a refund releases her from having to find me a flight. And it puts the burden on me.

She then found that we were booked on two airlines!

Eventually we did get a flight to come home and we realized sleep on a plane is possible if you get no sleep the night before. And when we reached American soil - it was such a blessed feeling!

So, groundhogs - no problem, mice - no problem, broken dryer - no problem, life's problems - no problem - we were home and it feels good.

Plus with our Lord and Savior - there is never any need for a refund. He paid it all and we are held in the palm of his hand.

Blessings to you and your friends as together we see God's Recipe for Excellent Health transform us physically and spiritually.

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