27February2011 Party of Five

Our party of 6 became a party of 5 when D left this morning for a women's conference in Dubai.  The kids all survived the first 12 hours so I reckon we did alright.  A few questions for you moms out there:

1. If a child eats cheese at every meal, does giving them apricots at the end of the day reverse the clogging factor?
2. How long does it take to get rid of burnt plastic smell?
3. Is it okay for little girls to wear baseball caps to school?  Subsequently, does anyone know of any good YouTube videos for tying ponytails?
4. Can one reverse the effects of Clorox on dress shirts, say with a magic marker or shoe polish?
5. Are Legos digestable?

On a serious note, when we had our family time tonight, J pointed out it was weird not being able to share it with mommy.  I'm inclined to agree.

26February2011 Quickshot: Preface to Spring

What a nice surprise! Almond blossoms in the neighbor's garden this morning.  Spring is coming!

23February2012 Quickshot: Composting

Folks place their yard clippings out by the road.  Shepherds bring their flocks along to eat the debris.  The result; nutrient rich fertilizer.  It's composting in its simplest form! 

22February2011 What we're watching, listening to, reading...

P's favorite new downloads:  City Harmonic, Art Amidextrous and Gungor.

D just finished the final installment of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Stand, P just finished Son of Hamas and started Stones to Schools.

Gandi, The Office Episodes (sorry Mom), Radio and the updated version of True Grit.

20February2011 Quickshot: Some "friends"!!!

Some "friends" sent us these pictures from their recent trip to 5 Guys!  It took P 10 minutes to clean D's saliva off his laptop screen!

19February2011 Results II

One thing we didn't mention in our previous post was the unbelievably intense pressure placed on high school students to do well on these standardized tests.  Not only does their entire scholastic and/or career path hang in the balance but it also to some extent affects their family's future. 
Yesterday one of P's friends was describing his sister's experience.  Layla is very bright, making straight A's every year.  In preparation for these tests she stayed in her room, reading and studying for months in advance.  As the examination day approached family members began calling her parents and siblings, checking on her and exhorting her to do well.  Layla got so stressed out that she got she couldn't eat, stayed up until all hours of the night studying and eventually got sick.  On the day of the exam, when she arrived at the testing sight, Layla became so paralyzed with fear and couldn't complete the questions.

18February2011 Results

Normally Fridays in this neighborhood are quite tranquil, peaceful even.  Yom al-Juma (Friday) is the Mus. day of prayer so all schools are closed, most businesses are shuttered (the ones that open do so after noon) and people sleep in.  Even the kids playing football in the street wait until later in the day to do so.  But not today.  This morning our neighborhood exploded into an impromptu, exuberant ruckus.  Car horns blaring, drums beating, trumpets blasting, singing, cheering and screaming.  No, it wasn't  the second coming, it was teenagers, and their parents, celebrating the results of the interim, high school exams.
Our apartment is near an all-girl high school so we get to witness these events as they unfurl.  Around 7 o'clock the students start showing up at the school.  They gather in small groups.  Nervous chatter and some giggling emanates from these groups in anticipation of the results being posted, which happens around 8.  As scores are revealed the celebrations begin, celebrations which will continue throughout the weekend.  Students will ride around town, hanging out the windows and sunroofs of automobiles.  Horns will be honked to near exhaustion.  Guns and fireworks with be fired into the air.  Music and dancing with take place and of course their will be lots and lots of food involved.  It really is something to behold.

16February2011 Quickshot: BK

This name sounded very familiar.  Funny thing is there was a Burger Queen across the street.  We didn't run across Burger Princes or Princesses though. 

14February2011 Quickshot: Toast!

Valentines:  In honor of that infamous day, nearly 18 years ago, P spotted D from across the JBC cafeteria.  He knew at first glance he was.....wait for it......TOAST!

12February2011 Protests III

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"   

Vincent van Gogh

This part of the world was glued to the TV last night as news of Hosni Mubarak's departure from office echoed across the Middle East.  For 18 days millions of people in Cario and throughout the rest of Egypt took to the streets demanding democracy, new leadership, better living conditions, etc.  Finally the elder politician succumbed to the pressure and abdicated his office of three decades.  Its going to be interesting to see how the world's 30th largest country transforms in the days ahead. 

Just this morning I was reading about another similar, large-scale protest.  It seems the people were very upset about their living conditions, lack of adequate nourishment and apparently non-caring leadership.

These protests occurred just outside of Egypt over three thousand years ago.  In spite of their recent liberation, the people wanted to return back to free baskets of fish, melons, cucumbers, onions and....slavery.  Blinded by fear of the giants and especially fear of the unknown, the people despised their promise.  Rather than savoring abundance, the land was after all flowing with milk and honey, they wept, whined and nearly stoned their leaders.  As a result they savored punishment instead.  The entire nation, except for 2 men, died in the wilderness.

Fear of the unknown is powerful.  Because of it we make poor decisions, fail to move forward and miss the opportunities to embrace His promises.  This lesson is especially poignant for us as we consider our next steps.  Our hearts desire is to proceed in faith and seek Father's will regardless of where it takes us. 
We're hopeful for the people of Egypt as they step forward into uncharted territory.  We hoping, as well, for you. Don't whine, don't turn back and don't let fear of the unknown hold you back.
12bf

10February2011 To market, to market...

Some pictures from a local market today....

6February2011 Quickshot: By Popular Request

By popular request:  A photo (taken by J) of the adults!  As you can see D still looks beautiful.  P still looks...errrrr...blessed to have a beautiful wife!

3February2011 GRAND OPENING

We're proud to announce the kids' new blog, 8LittleFeet.  They're so excited about telling their stories and sharing their photos and other creations.  Check it out.

2February2011 Protests II

Here are 2 compelling photos from the Egyptian demonstrations (from totallycoolpix):

1February2011 Quickshot: Southern Comfort

D has become an expert and making southern delicacies, like these cinnamon rolls!