Good-Bye Birthday Season

If you know our family well, you know that we all have our birthdays in the summer months, beginning with Madison in June.  This year she chose a "Mixed-Up Makeover" theme, celebrating her 10th year at our house with friends in crazy face-paint and "Who-hair".  It's the only party I've ever hosted where the guests asked to have their hair and faces washed before we could cut the cake.

Following Madison is Teddy in July.  Yes, that's right, I'm talking about our cat, and yes, that's right, he had a party, too!  Teddy turned 1 this year and the kids celebrated by throwing him a party. Complete with a gift, making him a tuna fish cupcake, and inviting guests, the family who adopted Teddy's sister last year.  It was our first party ever thrown for a pet, but I'd say Teddy rather enjoyed the attention and especially his CAKE!

Mackenzie was next in August, celebrating her 7th year.  She opted for another birthday party at the park.  Instead of tuna fish, Kenzie chose 2 cakes, one strawberry and one pineapple.  Lots of friends came and games were played.  One special guest was Nana, imported from Texas to enjoy the party with us.

Dad's birthday was also in August.  He chose to skip the party, and settled for pizza and cake at home instead.

Also in August, Ethan turned 14!  We all enjoyed having Nana with us for another birthday as Ethan chose the food court at one of the nicer malls in town so he could have super-spicey hot wings for dinner and a Cinnabon for dessert, all in one place.

Here E is with Nana in front of Dad's birthday present, an Arabic painting.

Mason turned 12 in September and felt like there no other place like Chili's to spend his special day.  He had friends over to celebrate the occasion with movies and ping-pong a few days after the date.

Mom's day was in September and she chose dinner out with the family for Chinese food.  But since we have no pictures from that day, here's one from our anniversary (19 years!!) just a little bit later, where dad took her for Syrian food.

Somewhere in the midst of all the celebration, we took Nana to the beach and taught her how to snorkel and "swim with the fishes!"

Kenzie's suited up for a snorkeling lesson.

It was a sweet way to close the summer.  We are so thankful Nana could come and see us, as her visit really was the highlight of our summer.  God is so good!

Summer 2013

 We visited a favorite historical site with some friends.  Always a place for some great photo op's!

M shows off his jumping skills.

This guy was kind enough to help K climb up for her photo, so he posed for a picture with her.

Then his friend wanted one, too.

 Of course, M is always all smiles for the camera.

Mom poses for her pics from the ground.

 E the daredevil...

 and the comedian!

 Pretty!

 The reason we went to the ruins that day was to see a troupe of Circassian dancers performing a type of Russian dance there.  They performed in this ancient Roman colosseum.  It was SO COOL to sit in this huge ancient stadium.  We all loved it!

 This guy was supposedly the best accordion player in the world.  His fans in the seats behind us were swooning and screaming for him like he was Elvis!

 The dancing was brilliant and energetic, reminding me of a fast Russian ballet.

This wasn't our first time to this coliseum.   On our first visit to this place, it was Craig who was on stage dancing... with a guy playing bagpipes!

From My Kitchen Window- Ramadan Nights

This is the month of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.  For 10 days most of our friends and neighbors here have been fasting from all food and drink from around 3:45 am to about 7:50 pm each day.  The purpose of the fast, for Muslims, is to focus their attention on God, to earn His favor, and they hope, to be forgiven of their sins.


One interesting pastime, is to monitor the activity from my kitchen window, to gauge what's happening in the city.

7:51 pm  
Just after the call to prayer goes off, it's time for iftar, time to break the fast.  Not a single car moving on the street.  Everyone is home eating.  Any car you do see is speeding madly to get home to eat, and who can blame them, considering they've been fasting for 12 hours!  If we stand out on the balcony, it's eerily quiet, except for the sounds of forks scraping plates that we can hear through our neighbors' open windows.  Looking at windows in several homes, you see families gathered around tables, some dining outside, as the families break their fast together.  Most stores and businesses are closed at this time, and it would be IMPOSSIBLE to catch a cab.

11:59 pm

The streets are packed as everyone goes out to visit with friends. 

12:41 am
... still packed...

2:46 am
Some people stay up most of the night, and sleep most of the day.  It's not uncommon to hear very young children outside laughing and playing at 2am!
The cars parked together here belong to several "shabaab", young men, who are hanging out and visiting  in the street together.

3:16 am

Still pretty busy...  Many of the restaurants in town are open at this time serving "suhor" or breakfast.

In order to get through each day, most people get up very early and eat this large meal before the 3:45am call to prayer.  In many neighborhoods a "public servant" comes through the neighborhood at about 2:30am, beating a big drum and yelling to the neighbors to get up and eat before the fast begins!  We were so fascinated by this, we had to get up and take a video of the fellow.

At the end of Ramadan he goes house to house, asking for a donation for performing this task for the community.

11:54 am
"He who hoots with the owls at night cannot soar with the eagles in the morning."

The mornings are quiet with a lot less traffic.  Those who do work during the day are known to be a bit groggy, and sometimes irritable, as they fast from food, water, and smoking all day.  Many people try to be more diligent with their 5 times daily prayer times.  Men pray at the mosque, while most women pray at home.  It's not uncommon to see men on the side of the street on their prayer rugs, on their faces in prayer, seeking God the only way they know how.

Pray that Father would speak to many of His TRUTH during this time of Seeking Him.

Easy Bake Queen

For Christmas last year K asked Santa for an Easy Bake Oven.  Although he tried his best, Santa was not able to find one in this area.  So K received many others gifts that were in her letter to Santa (like getting to keep her kitty, Teddy!) but she did not receive an Easy Bake Oven.  Recently, K remembered this fact and was asking again for one for her birthday.  Although Mom tried to play the EBOven down, "Really, Honey, it's just a light bulb in a box!  You can bake with me anytime in the real oven!" :-)    (Nice try, Mom!)   K wasn't convinced.  Finally, I told her, "They just don't sell them here, Honey.  I'm sorry, but you need to let this one go.  I've looked everywhere, but this one is impossible!" Disappointed in my answer, K went off to play, but she later told me she prayed and asked God for an Easy Bake Oven.

THE NEXT DAY... I saw an email about a multiple family garage sale in the area.  And what do you think was on the list of things for sale?  An EASY BAKE OVEN!!!  But unfortunately, the sale was 8:30 Friday morning (The beginning of the weekend here), and we had a 8:15 baseball game.  I had doubts that I could get the family up and ready for a day at the ball field and make the sale on time and be there the moment it opened, which was when I was certain the oven would be claimed.  It was still seeming pretty impossible!

BUT THAT NIGHT was date night, and one of the couples we had date night with casually mentioned she was selling stuff in a garage sale on Friday.  Did she know anything about the Easy Bake Oven?  "Why, yes!  My friend is selling that... Are you interested, cause I could have her hold it for you?"  Are you kidding?........

So here is K with her new Easy Bake Oven.  I couldn't wait for her birthday.  It even came with a bunch of mixes.  But we've been making lots of brownies with a little brownie mix, mixed with Pepsi, which works great, too.

I love that God loves this little girl even more than I do.  I love that our heavenly Father loves to give good gifts, that He loves to indulge us some of our "wants" along with meeting our "needs".

Nothing is impossible for God!

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"  

Matthew 6: 25-27

Things you might see...

Here are some things you might see should you come visit us in the Middle East...

Take those "No Parking" signs seriously!

A guys got to eat, right?

A day at the pool...

 Nice day for a walk!

 Death-defying acts of cleaning!

 

SO MANY things wrong with this picture!  This guy appeared to be WASHING the building!??

A Taste of Home

Sometimes we forget for a minute that we live in the Middle East.  On occasion, like on a recent jaunt to a nearby country, we find a lot of things that are so familiar...

A favorite coffee house...  If you can read Arabic, then you know this sign says, "Starbucks Coffee."

E shot a panorama of the mall.  You can see the movie theater right in the middle of the picture.

OHHHHH!  We so wanted to stop and eat at this Mexican food restaurant, but we had to catch a plane!  Bummer!

Oh... We were SOOO excited to see this sign!

 We had just enough time for Blizzards and shakes!

       Another mall we visited was over-the-top in Western cuisine.  You name it... They had it!   

More Starbucks!  

Food Court!

  

Ice Cream! 

 Mexican Food!

Rides and Games! 

 Fried Chicken!

 Burgers!

 Asian Food!

 More Ice Cream!

Bakeries and Coffee Shops!

With all those choices, we were so happy to find the Olive Garden, because this mall was incredibly expensive! $$$!  But Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks was on the menu, so it was the cheapest treat we could find, with good ole sweet tea!

That mall was amazing!  We all had fun exploring... Mema and Nana enjoyed it, too!...and I went home with my usual Starbucks mug for a souvenir. 

We found this store at the airport... E & M found a $1200 jacket that they liked, but we had to pass!

Back at home, our McDonald's has just started serving breakfast!  A beef sausage/ egg McMuffin is a great treat after a long week!

So, for any of our friends who think they'd like to visit, but they don't want to leave the comforts of home....  Come on over!  We've got all that stuff!  Plus we have amazing Arabic food!  I promise... You won't starve!

Ahlan wasahlan!  (Welcome!)