Tim and Jeni

>> Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Some people have asked us about the kind of food we eat in the Middle East. We love the food that we get to eat! We haven't had much of it since we've been in the States and we miss it.

Often times it is chicken or lamb with rice. Our Arab friends eat a lot of rice and they always tell us that we should eat some more!

>> Monday, March 28, 2011

In the last week we have enjoyed some wonderful time with friends!

Taz & Brandy Painter came to Albuquerque and we got to spend some great time with them and their kids!

We also got to have some great quality time with Mark & Renee Horlbeck and their boys!

We're really so thankful for great friends!

We were so blessed to get to go to Disney World with Grandma & Grampa! I'm pretty sure that the grandparents had more fun than the kids did!! I think my favorite part was watching Faith get so excited about seeing Minnie Mouse!!

Click "read more" to see more pictures!

IN-N-OUT

>> Saturday, February 26, 2011

We were excited to go to In-N-Out while we were in Phoenix!!! They have such tasty burgers and fries. Thanks to Tonya, we knew to order our cheese burgers "animal style," which means extra sauce, extra pickles, and grilled onions...yum!!!

Even though it was great food, we were so glad to share it with our wonderful family! We went twice...once with Tonya and her kids and another time with my grandma!

Enjoy the pictures!

Reconnecting With College Friends

Last week we were in Phoenix to visit family and to reconnect with friends from college! Some of these friends we hadn't seen for 9 or 10 years...wow, time sure passes by quickly.

I felt like we were back in college laughing and joking with these friends. The funny thing was there were a bunch of kiddos running around and two of them were mine.

The picture to the right is Tim and his three roommates.

Railroad Park

>> Thursday, February 24, 2011

On Monday morning we took a trip with Tim's sister Tonya's family to the Railroad Park in Phoenix! We packed a lunch of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and loaded up two vans full of kids. We followed James & Tonya in their new blue van that said "B Bunch" on the back window.

Joseph was excited to ride on the train. Faith kept saying, "Train! Choo choo!!" We got our tickets and Joseph sat down next to Daddy while Faith sat between her cousins Tori and Jackie. We had a fun time waving at people. Joseph screamed as we went through the tunnel...silly boy!

After the train ride we went to the carrousel. Tim held on to Joseph, but I had to ride the horse with Faith. The kids played on the playground before we ate lunch. Then after lunch the boys played catch in the field, while the girls whisked Faith away to go down the slide some more.

It was a fun day! We're grateful to be able to spend this time with family, making lots of fun memories!

Enjoy some pictures below:

note from Emma

>> Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Look at this sweet note from our niece, Emma! We've had it on our car window for a week. Every time I see it, I feel loved! :)

Snow Pictures!!

I love snow! When we were in Colorado we got to see so much snow!!! I couldn't stop taking pictures with my new camera! I'm including a few of my favorites in this post.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the beautiful snow as much as I do!

Chick fil-a

>> Saturday, February 12, 2011

We have enjoyed eating at some restaurants that we can't find in the Middle East. Chick fil a is one of our favorites! I'm sure we'll be sick of it by the time we go back overseas.

The kids love to play in their play area. They always hope that the cow will be around so they can shake his hand and give him a hug!

Time with family

>> Thursday, January 20, 2011

We have had a fun and busy couple of months! We've enjoyed time with family around Christmas time. It's been so fun to catch up with both of our families. It's been a whole year since we've seen most everyone. Last time we were in the States Faith was so new to us and still so tiny and malnourished.
Here are some pictures of our time with family:

About This Culture: Dancing

>> Monday, November 29, 2010

The dancing in the Arab world has a lot of varieties depending on the region. The gulf countries are similar in that the men and women don't dance together. The women only dance in front of women. The men will often dance in a line and swing their canes.

I hope you enjoy some of the videos that we've taken of some dancing! We sure love this culture!

About This Culture: Incense

>> Friday, November 26, 2010

Incense is used by many Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula. They use it to make their homes and their clothing smell nice! The malls have special shops that sell the best kinds of incense!

My favorite kind of incense that I learned to love right away is frankincense. It has a light, sweet smelling scent. You put it in an incense burner on top of a red hot coal. The picture on the right is an Omani man in his shop selling frankincense and incense burners. The picture below shows the frankincense burning.

About This Culture: Fancy Abaayas

There's a huge variety in styles of abaayas. Recently we were visiting another gulf country and saw these abaayas on display. There's a lot of decoration down the sides and the back. Often times the sheilah that is worn on the head matches the abaaya. Most of the ladies where we live wear simple abaayas without very much decoration.

About This Culture: Clothing

>> Saturday, November 20, 2010

We have gotten used to the local dress here, but I know it's not as common in the States. We've lived in three different countries in the Arabian Peninsula and each country is slightly different.

Women

It's most common for women to wear the abaaya, the long black cloak. It is long sleeved and goes all the way to the ground. It's a way of being modest. They cover their head with the sheilah, also called hijaab. Some women go even farther and cover their face using a niqaab and then you can only see their eyes.

The picture on the right is of a lady at the beach talking to her son. She's wearing the niqaab so you can't see her face at all.

About This Culture: Hajj, Ramadan, and Prayer

>> Friday, November 12, 2010

I don't claim to know very much about Islam, although I have learned a lot over the last 4 years. There are five pillars of Islam and I wanted to mention three of them here.

"The Five Pillars of Islam are the five obligations that every Muslim must satisfy in order to live a good and responsible life according to Islam."

About This Culture: Henna

>> Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I went with some friends to get henna a couple days ago. This is what it looks like today. I love the brown color of this henna!! We went to get henna because one of my friends was going to travel to see her family and she wanted to have some beautiful henna to show them!

This is one of the many things that I've grown to love about this culture! Henna can be done for special occasions or just for fun.

Tallest Building in the World!

>> Friday, October 15, 2010

A few weeks ago we took a little trip to the Big City! We had a great time catching up with friends and enjoying the malls! One day we got to go up the tallest building in the world!!

Teaching Joseph the Arabic Alphabet

>> Monday, September 13, 2010

Joseph is learning two alphabets right now, English and Arabic. He seems to be doing pretty well with the English alphabet and he knows a few of the Arabic letters too.

Happy Birthday, Tim!

>> Friday, September 10, 2010

Tim’s birthday was also the first day of Eid! A national holiday on Tim’s birthday!!! We were busy the day of his birthday, but we celebrated the next day too! We sang happy birthday and had cake at some friends’ house.

Eid Al Fitr

After Ramadan there is a three day holiday called Eid Al Fitr. It’s a fun time of celebration. The first day is important for visiting. In the morning there are micro-visits. Just stop by and say hi. The kids get money.