Etruscans were in Rome before the Romans

Our 41st anniversary was Jan 7th so we decided to take a couple of days to celebrate and check out the area just an hour and a half Northeast of Rome which is loaded with Etruscan history.  This little town of Tuscania has 2 churches dating to the 4 & 5 century BC!

We stayed in the town of Tarquinia which is just a bit inland from the sea.  Our apartment was located in the old town and was actually IN one of the towers.  Tom is just walking towards the apartment and it's just by this old church (on his left)  The name of the hotel/apartment was Palazzo Castelleschi.  It was extraordinary b/c it was full of the treasures that was found in the tower when they renovated.  It was like sleeping in a museum...but comfortable and nice as well.  The town had something like 30 towers.

Many little piazzas like this one sprinkled throughout the town.  The well is just next to an old Etruscan villa (which now is a museum)

Just outside the town, but still walking distance is a Necropolis.  Inside the tombs were some stunning frescoes.  Again, about 600 BC.  

It's January, so a little rain would be expected.  The walled city, the towers, the necropolis made this town a great place to base ourselves.

The Etruscan Museum, once a villa.  The showpiece was the 'winged horses' shown below.

This stop was in the town of Cerveteri.  Here is the Necropoli della Banditaccia.  Very unusual burial ground.  These tombs were carved from the rock,  all by hand!  It was an entire 'village' and it reminded me a bit of Ankor Wat again, but of course much more tame.

These tombs didn't have the paintings/frescoes but they were in better shape as far as the inside 'furniture' was concerned.  I learned that if the bedstead had a headboard, then it was a woman that was buried there.  This one had two women.  The next room held the pottery, jewelry, etc that would make their life comfortable for the next life...

Here is a better picture of one of the tombs.  This one was particularly large.  Can you imagine carving this out by hand with a pick ax?  Of course it was only the most wealthy that were buried here.  You were able to go inside via a staircase (slighting visible on the right side of the picture)  There were 100s of these tombs to make up a sort of village.  20 of those you could enter.

On the way home we stopped at the seaside at Santa Severa.  The beach was sandy but not too large.  This is only about 45 minutes from Rome.

This is Villa Guilia in Rome and also part of Etruscan history.  We toured the museum for free on our anniversary day (all museums are free on the 1st Sunday of the month)!  This is actually walking distance from our apartment.  So now we feel educated about Etruscan history, toured all the sites and museums and necropolis'.  

Bringing in 2018

I'm pretty sure we aren't supposed to have this much fun, but we decided you are only in Rome once for New Year's Eve and Rome puts on a 24 hour party to bring in the New Year, so we thought we would join in some of the fun.  The event we decided to attend was in Circo Massimo (the gladiator/chariot arena by the Colosseum).  It was packed as you can see.  I thought there were millions of people, but Dad thinks maybe 100,000 or so.

As part of the pre New Year spectacular, they had these acrobats that floated in the air making designs with their bodies.  I didn't get a photo of the best formation where they were all in one plane and they held onto their companions ankles and made a cool design in the sky.

Yes, a mechanical robot!   On the tummy was the Italian singer. (you can kind of see her)  I really enjoyed her songs.  She kept saying "Roma, Roma, Roma"  She is some famous Italian singer.  Italian songs really are mesmerizing to listen to.

Midnight fireworks were fantastic.  Coming from 2 directions and over the Palentine Hill.  

They lit the Palentine Hill after the fireworks.  This was the first time they have been lit up in 13 years.  

The metro was supposed to be open until 2:30am, but when we went there about 12:20am they were of course closed.  So we started walking home.  It was fun as there were so many people and we could literally walk on the streets b/c crowds won out over any vehicles.  The Colosseum was cool at 12:30am!  But sadly it took us 1 and 1/2 hours to walk home.  We fell into bed a 2am.  A bit past our bedtime for sure.  

The next day, New Year's Day,  we had a Senior Missionary outing to Civitta Bagnoregio where we arranged for everyone to go.  We had been there just 2 nights earlier and thought it was so great that nobody should miss the live manger scene and the reenactment of what Jerusalem was like at Jesus' birth.  We are lucky to have so many couples serving in Rome.  Makes for fun outings for sure.  Balzotti, Herway, Whiting, Kneiss, Paulsen, Sprague...12 of us in total.

The lighting was PERFECT.

Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus, and a live donkey.  The setting looked so real and so perfect.

There was another live presepe (Italian for nativity or French creche) was held at San Giovanni.  We took our home teachee there and had a lovely time with her.   I guess the live manger scene is the event not to miss and many villages and cities have one.  This one is in Rome.

We have been looking for bikes to rent and finally found some called oBike.  They were easy to find, easy to check out, but they only have one gear and the bikes were very heavy.  Wasn't as much fun as we hoped because of those reasons, but we were happy to be able to bike alongside the river as that had been something we wanted to do from the start.

And lastly, we found out that "The Greatest Showman" was playing in the original version at the Barberini Theater.  Problem is that is started at 10:10pm.  We had heard such great reviews from everyone that we decided it was worth yet another night of little sleep!  And yes, there were no taxis afterwards and we had to walk home again!  This time it only took 1/2 hour though.  It's been a fun, relaxing break over the holidays.  We have enjoyed the city and the festivities.  We loved our Christmas chat with all of you.  We have had fun, we have had time to rest, to read scrips, to appreciate that we get to be on a mission, to again celebrate our Savior's birth, life and example, and to review 2017 and welcome in 2018.  The holidays are serious business and everyone takes the time away from work to be with family and friends.  It starts with Christmas, a week later is New Years, and a week later is Epiphany (Jan 6) but we celebrate Jan 7th....Tom/Anita anniversary.  This year it's 41st anniversary!....so the celebrating will continue a bit longer!

2017 Family Christmas Gift

Thanks to the Herway family pooling their Christmas money, here is the outcome of this year's project:

I guess everyone sent their money to Seth, which he put into our bank account.  Dad and I added a small amount.
We took 200euros to Rosaria.  She is a major force at Baobab and knows everyone who is in need in Rome.  That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much!
Our money is going to help two boys that are in prison:  Samuel and David.  They are in their late 20's.  Both are from Nigeria.  David is married with a young daughter and his family is still in Nigeria.  His wife is the cousin of Samuel.
David and Samuel got on a boat from Libya with about 200 people.  They didn't have money for their passage so the boat drivers said they could come if they were willing to learn how to drive the boat.  They said, 'yes'.  Then not far from the shore, the traffickers left the 2 boys in charge of driving the boat.  When they were rescued, the boys were charged with trafficking.  And put in jail.  According to Rosaria, the investigators only asked one other passenger to be a witness about the situation, no other  passengers were asked or consulted about the matter.
The boys have been in jail since November 2016.  Rosaria visits them often, but she has a special permit to visit jails.  Those permits are hard to come by.  A very few select people have qualified for those permits.  The jail is located in Monte Cassino where there is a big monastery.  This monastery was fought over in WWII.  It's about 1 and 1/2 hours away from Rome.
Currently the boys can use the money when they are allowed 'out' for a couple of hours each month.  As time progresses, it is hoped that they will be allowed for a few days out, and eventually up to 15 days per month out of the jail, until the final verdict is finalized.  (Kind of like probation)
They can use the money IN the jail as well b/c there are many things that they have to pay for.  Some of the money they want to send to David's wife and child in Nigeria.  Some of the money they use to make calls home.
Rosaria will get the money to them, however she warned they won't get it right away.  The jail doesn't allow much into their premises.  Sometimes she takes food or clothes and some of it is allowed, and some of it isn't.  It is all checked very closely and she doesn't want the money to be confiscated, so she will get it to them on their probation days.   She has basically 'adopted' these boys and will host them if they ever get out of jail, and of course if they have many days or even a week outside of the jail.

Rosaria, the best!  She is kind hearted, knows the needs of the people in the camp, keeps the accounts straight, helps all the volunteers....she is gold!  She is the one who told me about the boys in prison and their needs.

The boy on the left, holding the little lion is David.

This is Samuel

PS.  I also want to share with you another experience.  We have people ask often how they can help.  We especially had a lot of requests at Christmas time.  As usual, who did I go to for information?  Rosaria!!!  I just got an email from one of the families in Rome 2 ward that was able to help another 'needy' family.  Here is what she had to share:

Anita-

Yes! We were able to get together with the family and give them some things for Christmas. Rosaria told us that they really wanted food and household items, so we decided to take stuff over twice. Ryan went by himself the week before Christmas and brought them food, and found out what they really needed. Then a few days before Christmas we took over more food, a rug, door mats, towels, a toy and clothes for each of the kids. 

We were able to go inside the camp and into their home. They were very gracious and kind, and the mother even prepared some food for us. We sat in their "living room" and talked with them for about a half an hour. We did not see them open the presents, or go through the bags of food and household items- so I"m not sure if what we gave them was what they wanted/needed , but they did seem very grateful for what we brought. 

It broke our hearts to walk into the camp and give lots to one family when we saw so many others in need - i wish there was a better way to know the needs of more than one family! But we were grateful for the opportunity to give and share.

Thanks again for all your help in getting us in touch with Rosaria. 

Jen

New Year's Day 2018. Remembering 2017.

TH

TOM
January - February

Seeing Maui and Hawaii for the first time.  Qahu is still my favorite.

Skiing two new resorts in Utah (Snowbasin and Powder Mountain)

Missionary farewell parties

Entering the subculture of senior missionary couples

March - December

Back in Italy as a missionary - this time with a companion of MY choice

Realizing we would get to travel all over Italy seeing wonderful places, meeting amazing people, and helping a lot of people in our new calling

Walking into the San Lorenzo chapel in Florence to be greeted by a roomful of grateful refugees in soccer uniforms we purchased for them so they could form two teams to play in the local soccer league

Taking Abraham and Mohammed to lunch at a restaurant in Rome and having them tell us it was the first time they had ever eaten with white people

Mohammed telling us he and Zizi were going to name their new son Tom

Getting so many of our projects approved and funded (35 projects in 2017)

Living by and hanging out with the Elders and Sisters in our District.  We are their surrogate Mom and Dad.

Lows

Saying goodbye to family for 18 months

Living in Montespaccato

Driving in Italy

Trying to deal with our crazy boss in Frankfurt

Happy 2018!

AH

ANITA
I find the highs/lows are usually connected.

High:  Serving a full-time mission 

            Low:  finding out it is more confining/harder/different than I thought it would be

High:  cuddling a new granddaughter and visiting with some family members

            Low: leaving that new granddaughter and family members.  Actually missing all        family members more than ever.                                                                                                (We are anxious to come home and start serving each of you!)

High:  getting projects approved from our Boss

            Low:  the predictable, unpredictable boss

High: Meeting, coming to know, and working with amazingly unselfish, giving people

            Low: the unrelenting needs and hopelessness of some of the people we work 'for'

High:  living in Parioli

            Low:  living in Montespeccato

High:  Low cholesterol (147) and going to Brussels for the tests and the Christmas Light-Show in the Grand Place.

            Low:  High cholesterol (264)

High:  Traveling in Italy for work, and traveling in Italy for fun (Ischia Island thermal baths)

            Low:  Being stung by jellyfish (Lipari Islands)

High:  Living in Rome (listening to the church bells peal as I write this)

            Low:  Driving in Rome (we plan to use public transport and use the car only when essential)

Some are just plain low:  Paperwork!

Some are just plain high:  Working full time with my companion!  Sunday calls from our kids and feeling their love and support (this cannot be overstated how much we appreciate this).  Being healthy.

We welcome 2018.  

May we all be as blessed in the New Year as we have been this past year!

Love to everyone!

Mom

SH

SETH
High: Penny being born, having the move and new job work out so well and liking our new location so much (me, at least), Jonah becoming much easier to handle as the year went on

Low: loud cars by our house and city council deciding to approve 74 houses on the farmers fields behind our  house leading us to still be up in the air with our housing situation

HH

HEIDI
Highs: our move going smoothly for the most part- Seth loves his job and kids adjusted quickly. Kauai with Seth. BABY PENNY! 

Lows: leaving good friends in San Diego, not being settled with our housing, morning sickness for half of my pregnancy, most painful headache of my life which led to my first real ER visit. 

JH

Jake Herway 

Low - the way I ate for 3 weeks in Utah and Idaho. Lily’s broken arm. Online training for scoutmaster...100x more painful than camping with other people’s kids. 

High - being a one car family again. :) Going to Brussels for work. Quebec ramps and bakeries. No work Travel for a full summer! Still feeling close to Melanie and each of my kids one year later. 

MH

MELANIE
Highs: Running a 5K with Rachel, going on waterslides with my kids at the wolf lodge, Rachel winning a local poetry contest, getting a new play set, camping with the horses in Assateague, spending time with family in Utah and Idaho, seeing the Tetons and Yellowstone, our relaxing weekend in the Adirondacks and kayaking under the stars, Quebec Canada, the cranberry harvest tour with Jake, reading and watching all of the Harry Potters and experiencing the Wizarding World with my kids, seeing Tommy's flag football team win the championship, staying in Times Square for Thanksgiving, having snow at Christmas time.

Lows: Having tender swollen lymph nodes for half the year and multiple blood draws (I'm fine, just a bad sick season), Lily breaking her arm on the trampoline, losing our Corolla and adjusting to being a one car family again (95% of the time it works great, the other 5% of the time it's a real pain)

LC

STEVE
I know, last one to comment. I'm so unreliable. I get it. We do get to use the excuse of having family in town, however, so there's that.

Yet, after much anticipation I present the revealing of the 2017 Highs and Lows of the Other Idaho Herways:

Highs: 

Steve's new job with Residence Inn

Steve's boss moving to a different office

Following grammy and pops mission blog

Moving into our first (rental) house. Loving the fenced-in yard

Our new ward is wonderful

We've all been relatively healthy this year

Our trip to New York

Felicia's discovery of being a ninth generation New Yorker

Felicia going back to college through Pathways

Felicia's weight loss

Going to Yellowstone for the first time

Kent being awesome

Kent growing up

Lows:

Kent growing up

Having a miscarriage early in the year

Steve's boss

Having more expenses along with the house

As per usual, our highs outweigh our lows. May our new year be just as blessed!

NP

Natalie Portugal

High: Actually moving to Hawaii. We made it happen! 

Everyone liking everything here for the most part (neighbors, school, church, location of our house) and even though our house is a bit small for 5 people I was surprised to find we do fit. 

Finally finding a place for 4 months so we can move back to the beach house in May (low would be trying to find a place. It was a nightmare.)

Starting over (sort of) with only what was in our suitcases. Kind of surreal and refreshing to feel free of “stuff.”

Finally convincing Noel we only need one car.

Visitors 

Low: 

Cockroaches 😩😵

When our renters backed out so we had to relist the house and then we found out the property manager hadn’t secured the deposit like she was supposed to and all that entailed (for example: politely “fighting” with the property manager and keeping our house clean for showings (including having to stop packing or painting and clean it all up at a moment’s notice for showings) while moving which is an oxymoron because only a moron would attempt that)

I forgot to mention one important high:

The small miracles that led us to our house. We felt very blessed with the way things worked out even though there were some disappointments along the way.

We searched for months for somewhere to live on Oahu. Couldn’t find anything in Laie so we started looking all over the island. They do things differently we found out- which makes finding housing difficult esp from the mainland. 

Our house got rented so we bought our tickets to come. 

We decided to get a one month vacation rental so we could find something while here. It was non refundable. 

The next day the beach house was posted in the town we wanted and even on the beach but it was available immediately. They wouldn’t wait for us to get there. We had to start renting right away- may 1. Our renters were coming June and we were flying June 7. So we would have to make 3 housing payments in one month. We couldn’t/didn’t think that was very smart way to spend our money. 

After a few days we finally heard back from the vacation rental. He refunded us even though it was supposed to be nonrefundable making it possible for us to get the beach house. 

Then Our renters backed out. Manager didn’t secure deposit so we had no renters and no deposit but a plane ticket to move and a lease on another house. After much back and forth we came to an agreement so we didn’t lose too much money (she gave part of the deposit to us) and she was able to secure renters only a few weeks later so we only lost a few weeks rent.

So it all worked out but not without difficulties every step of the way but also small miracles too. I wanted to share because we truly felt Heavenly Father guiding us and supporting us and blessing us during this time in more ways than I can explain here.

DH

DAN
Steve/Felicia, you aren't the last ones.  The Other Other Idaho Herway haven't gotten theirs in either.  Nobody's hating on you.  Grammie doesn't put a due date on this tradition and she's really kind about letting people just respond when they can.

Highs:

- Family trips to new places - Seattle/Vancouver, Costa Rica, Boulder White Clouds Wilderness backpacking trip

- This past Christmas was chill and awesome

- Lara's Equador trip

- Dan's job

- Listening to Scarlet and Daph singing/guitar/piano fill the house

- Daph getting her driver's license and qualifying for State in XC

- Zane deep sea fishing in Florida and shooting his first buck

- Scarlet loving wakeboarding, singing the national anthem at the Boise State game and learning that she loves to sew

- Brau having the option of contacts, getting straight A+, throwing a guy out a second base from catcher, two homers (one grand slam)

- Levi rocking pitching machine baseball, loving his new school and watching his unique personality develop

- Another year of still liking each other

Lows:

- Paying $1000 to not see Hamilton

- Zane's summer math class.  We wanted him to get a year ahead.  Dude fought it HARD every morning.

- Not being ready for how different and exhausting teenagers can be.  We feel blessed to have really good-hearted, kind teenagers but we forgot that being a teenager sucks in so many ways.  It's a blast but it's a wild ride that caught us off guard this year.

Love you all and Happy New Year!

NICOLE

High: Cora’s expanding vocabulary and humor, Cora "getting" Christmas, Jed completing his code school, my new job, having a healthy pregnancy

Low: miscarrying in the spring, morning sickness, double double foot surgery for the second time

Jed's

High: second child on the way and hearing her heartbeat, finishing my program, moving out of marketing and into front end development

Low: Utah air, not getting a job I wanted in Kansas