It is hard to believe that in less than a month, my husband, my aunt, our four children (ages 15 mos/3 yrs/ 4 yrs/ 6 yrs) and I will be starting this adventure. We are in the beginning stages of thinking through packing lists, figuring out how to get 2 1/2 months worth of diapers over to Italy, trying to decide how many suitcases we'll need for us all, and praying that it all comes together.

For anyone who is curious, we are going to be living in Massa, Italy (on the west coast of Italy) because my husband is going to be working in offices there (Marina di Massa).

Being homeschoolers, it would be an understatement to say that we are excited about this opportunity for educational experience.

I have had a dream of staying in Italy for an extended time since I was a teenager. I think it began when I first watched the movie "Only You" (which was filmed on location in Italy). In fact, the first time I saw that movie it was while having a sleep-over at my aunt Joyce's house. Joyce, ironically, will be making the flight over with us to help us with our children and help us get settled for the first couple of weeks while we're there. THANK YOU, JOYCE!

My husband, Mark, and I had a wonderful, albeit a whirlwind, vacation in Italy just before our first child was born in spring of 2001. We even chose her middle name (Firenze) because she was in utero while we were there. I am looking forward to getting to really take our time and enjoy the culture this time around. Last time, we were rather rushed trying to "see it all" since we didn't expect to be able to return for a long, long time (if at all).

The end of our trip will hopefully be the crescendo of an already wonderful experience as we plan to take a couple of weeks to tour some of our favorite places before we head back to the States and the BEST part is that both sets of our parents will be joining us for that part of the trip. We'll be taking them to the major sites in the Tuscany region and then heading to Rome for a week. I fully anticipate a beautiful time together, and hope it will be an amazing first experience in Europe for them.

Stay tuned.....