Schooling Decisions

Tim and I have been praying all along that God would direct us as we make decisions for our kids' education. I have been planning to homeschool my kids and I can't wait to do it! I got a lot of great ideas from the homeschool conference that I recently went to. God is faithful to continue to direct us in this decision and we're so thankful!

Read more »

Read more...

black gloves

This week I bought black gloves. I have seen some very conservative ladies wear them with their abaayas, but I never thought I'd have any.

The thing is that I got henna on Wednesday. I went to a friend's house in the village so she could do my henna. During this time my friend told me that another friend's grandmother had died the night before. So there would be three days of mourning in the village.

But, right away I knew that I couldn't show up to sit with the family with henna on my hands. You only get henna when you're happy or celebrating.

So, I bought gloves out of respect for a mourning family.

Read more »

Read more...

Tea Club

I have been meeting with a new group of students from the English Institute for the past few weeks. Each week we meet at a different place where we can sit together and practice speaking in English. Sometimes we go to a coffee shop, but this week we met at the Tea Club!

Faith came with me this time and the ladies enjoyed watching her. She loved drinking tea with us! She also got to color and play on the iPod. She felt pretty special to be a part of this group!

Read more »

Read more...

Mother's Day

I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a mom! Mother's Day is such a treat for me! This year my husband and kids made it very special. They took me out to the mall for lunch and a pedicure.

I am so thankful for my kids! As we walked into the mall, I thought it was totally appropriate that there was a big heart on the greeting sign. I love these two and I love being their mom! Seriously, my heart is bubbling over with gratefulness for them.

I thought it was cute...after we took the picture Joseph leaned over and said, "I love you, Mommy! Happy Valentines Day!" haha!

Read more »

Read more...

tomatoes

Last week Faith and I went to one of my Arab friends' farm. It was really huge and there are lots of vegetables as well as animals. They were really proud to be able to show us their family farm!

Read more »

Read more...

Wedding Time!

It's officially wedding season around here! I love weddings on this side of the world! Over the last few weeks Tim and I have been to several weddings.

It's such an important part of the culture here, but it's so totally different than the way we do weddings in the States. One of the biggest differences is that the men and women have separate wedding parties. The men's party and the women's party can even be held weeks apart from each other!

This picture was taken when we got home from the wedding around 11:30pm. Joseph said, "Daddy, take our picture! We're married now!"

Read more »

Read more...

Our New Pets!

This week we got two birds for pets! I have been wanting to have birds because I had one when I was a kid and it was a lot of fun! Tim has been hesitant about it, but he's warmed up to them already!

Birds are a very common pet among our Arab friends. Just a couple days ago we saw a boy walking around the village with a bird on his shoulder!

I met a new Arab friend at a local souq (market) where she helped me pick out and buy the birds! This friend has a lot of small birds as well as a big parrot. Most families have a bird and I've heard of a lot of parrots that speak Arabic! I have yet to hear a bird greet me in Arabic, but I hope to soon!

Read more »

Read more...