Family Gigi Farricella 2004

Finally I have found the time to write something about our family. Last year we did not manage it, but this year we started a little earlier and we hope that our news will reach you before Christmas.

How did it go in 2004? Well, as usual, with some difficulties. The task of bringing up four children is not easy and problems pile up, as you can imagine. Fortunately we have been physically well, even if sometimes we were a bit weak from the psychological point of view. Let us see how things are going a little more in detail.

Sofia is now in the third class of high school in the European School in Munich. She has become a real teenager, also in her behaviour, even though we can hardly complain! At school she works a lot to overcome some past difficulties, but she is a hard worker and we are sure that she will get good results in the end. In the picture here at left you can see her just before we went to see the medieval tournament at Kaltenberg.

Marta is in the second year of high school, also at ESM. Her behaviour is always a challenge, causes worry and wears us out, especially her parents, but sometimes also her brother and her sisters. At school, she is not having great results and her “nonchalance” worries us a lot. We hope that the situation will improve, since Marta is now being helped by a psychologist. Marta, however, is the innovator in the family: she likes all that is new, fashionable and modern. This is a source of enrichment for us all. Here you see her in a typical “pose”, during a trekking expedition last summer.

Alan is in the fourth class of elementary school, and he's doing very well. Mathematics, science, geography ... he knows it all! And he shows it off! At school he has some problems with some of his schoolmates, but the situation is getting better. He loves to eat and we have to slow him down a little (just like his father, you might say). Sometimes he moans and groans and complains too often, but in general he's an open and frank kid. He fights often with the sisters and he would love to have a brother. He owns a real arsenal of guns and swords and he would like to become a Samurai. For the moment he has to limit himself to be a young pupil. Here you see him on a walk in the Aosta Valley.

Ester is the “little beast”of the family. She is small but very “spicy”. This year she started elementary school and she's very happy there. In the last few months she has learnt how to read and a new world has opened up for her: she reads everything readable that comes within her reach. Obviously, she is learning to read Italian, but we live in Germany and sometimes the German language causes some surprises: good reasons for us all to laugh together. She's always very active and her voice can be heard clearly throughout the whole house. She realizes that she is the youngest of the family, and sometimes takes advantage of this but ... what can you do? Here in the photograph she is helping her mother to prepare pumpkin soup.

Flavia is still studying German. The presence of many Italians in Munich does not help her in her studies: practically everywhere in the city it is possible to find somebody who speaks Italian. On the other hand, she is happy with her friends and acquaintances and with the normal life she has here in Germany (with the exception of some aspects of the European School). Her full-time job (mother of four children, including two girls of 13 and 12 years!) is rather demanding and sometimes she feels tired. Here you see her sitting at a table in a nice little restaurant in Franken (it was a week “without kids”!)

Gigi is still struggling with his psychological problems, even if the therapy is giving some good results. His motivation for his job, on the other hand, is rather low, also because of some developments in the working environment at large. Luckily, his job is rather quiet and leaves a lot of time to spend with the family. In the last year there was not much time available for activities outside the family. At the moment his only external activity is going to piano lessons (Alan and Sofia are also taking piano lessons – unfortunately Marta does not want to carry on with her singing lessons). In the Church there are also not many activities to be mentioned. We are now going to a Baptist Church here in the neighborhood, but we are not really active: it is a period of “retreat”.

We wish you all a peaceful and blessed celebration of the Christmas Holidays, and a happy 2005.

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it." (Iesaja 40, 3-5).