Layla's School Birthday Party

This is Layla's first grade class - it is an international school with 95% local students and an almost completely South African staff. Layla was pumped to have cupcakes to hand out!

Mom and Dad and Jen and my niece Lily are visiting us for 2 weeks to celebrate my 40th and Layla's 6th birthdays. It has been a great visit but the rest of life is very busy this September so it is a bit rushed at times. 

Azeb is our Ethiopian househelper. She really is a part of our family and LOVES babies. She is desperate for me to have another child (!) but is enjoying Lily while she is here (= We couldn't survive without Azeb....we maybe but all we'd do is keep the house running and little else!

A work of Art

I just have to share these photos of these AMAZING quilts made by the father of our Tutu Lisa (tutu is grandma in Hawaiian and Lisa is from Hawaii and married to Tom's dad). She has brought some fun things into our family and one is a FATHER who quilts! Stanley made a quilt for Layla when she was born and now we have one for Ryan.

As soon as he opened it up it wanted to be rolled up like a paratha sandwich which I guess is "burrito" to most folks (=

Here they are side by side.....I didn't realize Layla's quilt was folded under until the moment past....they are tired of posing for pictures every five minutes!

This is Layla at four months with the quilt in the crib. This was how it was for ages and ages.

Here she is again at the same age.....you can see the quilt is fish in the ocean. SO amazing.

Thank you Stanley!

Best buddies and wiggling tooshes

Layla and Sally have been in class together for two years - they are now in first grade in Ms Rosie's class. Perfect name, right!?

Last week she was BEGGING me to take her on a playdate to visit her house but I didn't have the mom's phone number or anything so we just stopped by....at 830 at night. Love the Middle East. Sally was thrilled and Layla and she ran around and did 6-year-old stuff together.

Sally's mom is from africa and her dad is a local guy who works for the petroleum industry. They are a bit more liberal and open to foreigners than the average local family. They are also better educated than the average family.

Here they are at the wedding! Layla is wearing what she thinks is a lovely head covering though it is more like a missouri farm girl than local arab girl (= Bless her. They are holding big glasses of thick sweet juice. Lots of that at weddings!

While we were there we were invited to a wedding and Layla was THRILLED to be able to attend this past weekend. I have to say it was the most fun wedding I have attended in the seven years we have been here. Really. Mostly because a LOT of the women danced! Those african ladies can shake their tooshes let me tell you.

There were two outstanding ladies - one was young, slim and in a shocking;y tight red dress. There is a catwalk that goes through the room (basement of a hotel with a large banquet hall) so the bride can walk through the crowd and be admired. Before she comes out though, the children run around and the ladies can dance (= Anyway, the gal in red was young and stunning and had a BIG booty that seemed to float around separated from her body. It really was amazing and not at all dirty or shameful as we so often see it in the US.

The other lady was old, SHORT and very fat. Sorry to offend, but they call each other old and/or fat here all the time so all you Americans just have to deal with it (= Anyway, she was the total opposite of the gal in red but she had STYLE and a huge sense of humor....she was loving it up there! What a treat to watch. You'd see this lady walking and have no idea she could wiggle her large toosh so skillfully. She even did that thing where you kneel on the floor and still wiggle. You probably don't know what I mean because you'd never be caught renting a video that would have a sample...too risque in the US. Here, it is just ladies having a good time.

I just loved this older gal and would have given my right arm to take a video or picture but of course nothing is allowed. It was such a great example of someone being young and being old and how we gain confidence and personality and learn how to OWN it all as we age. Love it. This is coming from a gal who just turned 40 so I am all about owning my age these days (=

Anyway - it was a treat and I was able to bring one of the new gals in our little community to see her first wedding. Sadly I had to tell here that they were mostly going to be less interesting than this one! Very few weddings have such expert dancers!

What do you do when it is 106 degrees outside?

Layla turned six last week and she has learned to ride a big-girl bike REALLY well. So for her birthday Tom looked in 4 cities for a bike for her! She is so excited to ride this all the time!

Ryan only recently learned how to pedal.....he would only run beside the bike and push it while watching the wheels turn.

This is the view from our front door....while it may look like dirt....

.....it is really a race track! Their are five kids that live next door to us and while they are overwhelming to Layla when they come inside our house...she really enjoys running races and such with them outside now that the weather is a mere 106 degrees!

I know this is blurry but it is too cute. I learned the arabic equivalent of  "ready, set, go" I translates to "hold your place, stand, move!"

The girl on the left is the same age as layla and while she may be barefoot, chubby and wearing a dress, she wins EVERY race ever since we've moved into this house. She beats the bikes half the time too!

Dates

This is a bucket of dates. This is the normal sized bucket - there are larger ones and also 10 pound flat-packed dates in clear plastic bags. This is date season and it is WONDERFUL! I was quoted two prices for this bucket from two different vendors. One guy said $16 and the other guy said $7. This is one of the reasons shopping takes FOREVER...prices vary so much!

Everyone can flavor their dates however they like.....this one has sesame seeds.....I've seen fennel and cumin as well.

This part of the world subsisted on dates and camel milk and the very occasional meat product cooked underground since biblical times. Now the have access to all sorts of food but mainly eat meat and rice for lunch (Biryani for those who know) which is actually an import from India. Their "arabic" food is actually what you would see in Lebanon or Iraq. Very very delicious!

Layla's Birthday!

Thank you Nana for sending a BOX FULL OF FUN!

We opened the dresses one day early so she could pick one she'd enjoy wearing....and we also opened the Viewfinder!

Family Visit!

We are SUPER blessed this month with having my mom and dad AND sister and little niece come to visit! I turned 40 this month and Layla turns 6 tomorrow so it is fun to have them out to celebrate both birthdays! Jen has a SWEET 8 month old baby who has the hugest cheeks you've ever seen. She is very mellow. Layla and Ryan are enjoying her (=

Here are a few pictures....

Our community....New in town

Not sure what I've shared on here but we have been a part of several communities during our time overseas. There is a lot of shifting of people from around the globe and much of it is connected to the fact that one of the few language schools that teaches the local spoken dialect is located in our little town.

As a result...we have started seeing the world tromp through our little town and it is growing more and more.

We believe in working in community and that we really need each other - this is even more so when living overseas. Consequently, we have a small community with some friends who gather for dinner, play-dates, general emotional and work support.

Currently in our community are W+E who have four kids the same ages as our kids. They are Dutch and we stayed with their family in Holland this summer. We totally love Holland and Layla wants to move there permanently (=  They moved from one house in town to another one nearer to us in June...that was move #2 of 4 that we helped with this year.

F+J moved here this Spring (the 3rd of the 4th people we helped to get set up) and he is teaching English at a university in town. They have two small boys.

S+K are brand new since August and are attending language school full time. This new couple don't have any kids so that simplifies things. Ryan is completely in love with both of them so we might have to set up separate playdates for him! We did the rounds of house set-up again for the fourth time in ONE YEAR!

Just a flash back SEVEN YEARS ago this January!! We had a guitar, a full keyboard, a box each of computer stuff, a computer screen, books, house stuff and clothes for each of us. It was wild. Someone told me to just bring whatever I could I was so grateful for the advice! We didn't have any kids though (=

 So this last 12 months have seen two international trips totaling 5 months, moving house ourselves and helping three other families. That is a LOT of trips to the real estate agents and carpenters and plumbers and electricians and so on and so on and so on (=

This is a photo in front of our new house as of August last year. We are so happy that God provided such a great place to live....I grumble about certain aspects of it but we are SO HAPPY to have good electricity, money for enough water and AC and food and two have to working (mostly) cars. We love that it is situated on a huge dirt lot away from roads.....the kids have tons of space to run around outside and get really really dirty. Awesome. The second floor you see on top is the surprise room - a nice large office for Tom to work. We haven't seen this before in a house so it is really unusual and is a great fit for our family.

Summer Photos!

We are HOME!

We've been gone for about 5 weeks this summer. It was a big treat and also a lot of work! Traveling with a three and five year old have a whole host of challenges and you need to stay a few steps ahead....which I'm not sure we did.

Here are some random snippets because I can't think of how to weave them all together in one story:

It was our FIRST TRIP IN SIX YEARS without a car seat or stroller or baby crib. Big news people. Inshallah we won't have to lug those items around ever again.

Ryan had no idea of the difference between a sidewalk and a street. Go figure....he walks around on sandy dirt all day or is in a car. Walking on sidewalks is not something we do. Sidewalks are not common where we live! We had four days in Paris. Totally stressful for me...remember we did not have a stroller this time!

Throw in the fact that we stayed in Holland for three weeks which has bike paths EVERYWHERE....and Layla was also equally ignorant of the constant danger of wandering around on the sidewalk. For a mom this was a major stressful part of our entire summer. I was not at all expecting to be dragging them away from streets and bike paths the entire time. Not so fun.

We loved Holland. Go there and go there with kids if you have them. We had a sweet deal of staying in the home of a friend the whole time and were able to borrow bikes and a car so it was AMAZING. They have great playgrounds, gorgeous scenery and great food (see below).

Apparently it is very Dutch to eat bread with "toppings" for breakfast and lunch. Toppings can include butter, thin slices of meat OR slices of cheese (they don't mix!), or apple butter, honey and best of all CHOCOLATE SPRINKLES. They even have licorice sprinkles! There is an entire section in the grocery store that is dedicated to "stuff you eat on bread" in the meat AND dry goods sections. So interesting.

We loved biking! Layla is not one for strenuous physical activity unless she is really motivated. But she got on that little bike and went for an HOUR with Tom. It was amazing to see. She is totally wimpy when walking around a mall but can bike like crazy apparently. Note to self: she is all about internal motivation.

Rain is so so fun.

Amsterdam is best seen on a bike for sure. Cheap, great exercise and "exciting" at times as you negotiate traffic. Bring along a spouse who can strap BOTH kids to his bike, read a map and remember it and take you around town.

Yes....we took a WRONG turn at one point and saw some ladies standing in window in their "swimsuits". Tom didn't notice (remember he is the only one paying attention to directions) but I sure did and apparently Layla did too. I didn't really know what to say but we started talking about swimsuits instead. sigh. This almost-6-year-old girl doesn't miss much. It made the trip much more interesting in that she wanted to point and ask about everything....blue hair, pink hair, tatooes, funny looking women etc etc etc.

We ended our time at a Family Camp which was really lovely. Great great kids program, good stuff for adults and just beautiful green hills with rain and clouds. It was really encouraging all in all.

I'll put some photos together soon but we are still dealing with the last bit of sickness we all contracted from Ryan's little class. I was the last one to get it AFTER we got home which was great.

It took us 24 hours to get home!! How did that happen?!!? We've started thinking family vacation in Europe is the better choice because it SO MUCH cheaper to fly there than the US and if we stay with friends it is way cheaper than that US. Add in the time change of a mere two hours....it is an all around winner. However, somehow it took us 24 hours door to door on our return path. Ugh. And Tom was sick the entire time we traveled. Poor guy.

So. We loved Holland. It was Intense Parenting to be sure (my new phrase for having young kids out of their routine and out of their normal space!

Pictures to come later.......