The Beginning:)

Howdy and Welcome! This is the first post on the adventures of the Hatchett's. I am super excited to be able to share our life with all of you and hope this will be a blessing. Living in Italy is very different than back home but it has been a lot of fun learning how to live here. The language barrier is sometimes frustrating (ex: I wanted to mail a letter at the local post office to the UK and I was charged at 2.40 Euro, I now think I got in the line that was mailing letters for first class but again you have to learn as you go here). We have made it a goal to learn as much of the language as possible. Italian is a really fun language because it is spoken with such enthusiasm. Our house is a four bedroom apartment with two bath. The floors are all hardwood or tile-very common in Italy. It is located a block away from the square in Aviano. We have a view of the mountains on one side and the square on the other. We found a sweet little Baptist church right here in Aviano that we hope to really get plugged into. Albert is really enjoying learning how to do his job in the AF in Force Support. I am currently volunteering at the passport and soggiorno(long term visa all dependents have to get to live here) office. We were finally able to get AFN (American Channels) this week, this helps make life feel a little more normal. Our internet will hopefully be hooked up this week sometime (a favorite life motto in Italy "Why do today what you can do tomorrow"-everything is done in tomorrows time:0) ). Although that motto can get frustrating at times, I have learned to appreciate the Italians' way of life. Everyday, dinner is a time for family and friends to get together and spend time with one another. Dinner can last up to four hours sometimes-usually four or five course meal with lots of visiting in the mix. I love the way that they greet each other on the street as if they hadn't seen each other in weeks but in reality its probably only been a day. They also don't have a business is everything attitude, shops are open at odd hours and closed days in a row with a daily nap time from 12:00-3:00. With all that said, we still have a lot more to learn about the culture and way of life here. We are taking one day at a time and thankful for the experience and blessings God has in store for us.