Road 9 and 1st day of school

Today, Sunday, was first day of school for kids. We walked about 8 minutes to the school (across only 1 major road, where I become what Josh calls, "stressed" to keep all 6 of us from getting hit by crazy drivers) and then enter security gate. Kids loved their first day. PE is outside and they are doing track and field stuff now, so hurdles and high jump for all. Rebekah seemed to get her rotating schedule down well. Emma, Elisabeth and Josh all received letters from their whole class welcoming them....they ALL knew we were coming and are impressed by our "very large" family, as one secretary discreetly put it to me:) I think the kids will like it and will make friends quickly. Elisabeth is only one who is still planning on heading back to DC/Maryland any day now, though she is doing better with each passing day.


On Saturday, weekend day, we walked to the famous road 9. Turns out the big shopping street is really just a bunch of little shops with all the trinkets you would expect to find in a touristy place, but there is some beautiful alabaster, jewelry, metal pots, wooden creations and of course a McDonalds (WITH a playland) and a Baskin Robins shop, which was actually cheaper than US....things are looking up:) HAHA

Love to all....oh, and if you read about the bomb today (Sunday) in Cairo, don't worry. We are all well and only heard about it after the fact. Not really too near by. I do know that an Ambassador was visiting here these last few days, so thinking it may have something to do with that. Not worried, but will keep you updated as we learn more about it.

We made it...now the culture shock can begin:)

We left DC on Wednesday at 5 pm. Flight went well (we gave all the kids Benadryl) and we arrived in Frankfurt Germany around 7 am. We got off the 1st plane, went through 2 security checks, rode a train and finally got to the gate, only to be told we had to wait to enter the gate. Here is a picture of us "hanging out" on the floor, eating German breakfast pastry, drinking German juice and being glad we don't have to live on euros (only the pastry and drinks cost almost $20 US).


We got back on a plane, after boarding a bus out the gate door and riding it for a LONG way (Frankfurt airport is HUGE) and headed 4 hours down to Cairo. We arrived at 3 pm on Thursday. The airport was dirty, old (one could almost say "crumbling") and reeked of smoke, but an Egyptian gentleman was waiting for us and quickly ushered us to a bank in the airport to get some Egyptians pounds (LE) and then hurried us through customs (we didn't even have to wait in line like all the other people) and out into the sandy air (they just had a sand storm before we landed so the air was still a bit beige in color and we couldn't see the pyramids in the distance) to 2 large vans....one to carry us and one to carry the luggage.


The drive was a bit of a scary ride ---almost better than a roller coaster! It was rush-hour Cairo style and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. NO rules of the road, just fit in where you can and try to beat the other person....oh, and the biggest vehicle rules the road. I closed my eyes multiple times, prayed for safety and laughed to myself that the driver and our sponsor (who drives all the time here) didn't even flinch as we passed within inches of other cars and people. The pedestrians were crazy---just walking in between cars on the freeway. It was like the old game frogger, come to life with no sidewalks anywhere!!!We did see the "city of the dead" on the drive, which is the biggest cemetary in the world. Made out of clay/brick, it was amazing, made even more so by that fact that a lot of people live in houses fashioned amidst the tombs.

We got to the hotel( a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom with kitchen and living room kind of hotel), I went to the commissary grocery store (thanks goodness for American food that we are familiar with) and then we crashed into bed. We all slept for about 12 hours, which was great and then awoke to a beautiful day. Our sponsor, Barry, and his wife Jennifer came over with breakfast and a dinner for us to cook later. They have been so great to us---taking their time to set things up for us (like get us a temporary cell phone) and drive us around, walk us around Maadi so we can find the school on Sunday. The holy day is Friday here (so we have church then) and school is from Sunday-Thursday.
Here is some pictures of the road we will live on when we move into our permanent "flat", which happens to be directly across the street from the hotel we are in now, and right around the corner from the villa they use for the church here. Thursday night we were all a bit culture-shocked, especially about driving and the rampant poverty, but Maadi is a nice place and safer and there are a lot of expats really near by. Now that we have food, know how to walk to some places and know a few people (including having a branch Family Home Evening this Monday with a general authority) we are feeling a lot better. We will keep you updated.

Plane tickets and pictures

We got our plane tickets, so we are officially leaving on the 18th, with a short stop-over in Frankfurt Germany. This is our last weekend in the good 'ol US of A and that is a weird feeling! God Bless America.
Here are some pictures of the moving and Elisabeth and her MRI. About the MRI: Elisabeth is fine, but the doctors wanted to image the ear, brain, and sinus to see what is causing some symptoms. Looks like she does have an inner ear issue, but it isn't big and she will most likely grow out of it and that will eliminate her symptoms. So that is good and her brain and spine looked fine on the MRI, which is good:)

Also, the picture of Josh's AWESOME shark pinewood derby car. He and Brent designed and painted it. He didn't win the derby, but the car won best of show:)

No pictures...but here is the current scoop:)

Brent packed the cord to the camera, so until I find it, no pictures:( Sorry! Here is our status update: we have everything (paper work wise) except for plane tickets!!! I am VERY hopeful that tomorrow (Friday 13th) they will have the tickets ready (again, HOPING). We sent away all our furniture and other goods to store for the duration of our stay in Egypt. We are without anything to sit on, but the floor is clean and warm so all is well:) We will get to keep our sleeping bags until 17th, when last movers come through and pack rest of stuff up for taking to Egypt with us. We will get there first, of course, so we will get to bare-bones it until stuff arrives. Makes you realize how much "stuff" you really don't need to manage life!! Anyway, we are good, tired, excited, nervous and ready to go....instead of wait. But, all will work out in the end and we are just getting done what we can and trusting in Heavenly Father for the rest (or at least trying too:)
Love to you all and I will post pictures soon---aren't you dying to see photos of our house in shambles and Elisabeth sleeping for 20 hours after her MRI last week and Josh's very LAST pinewood derby for cubscouts.....yeah, he is that old now!

Hike turned into stick-hockey on a frozen pond

On Martin Luther King Jr. day, the 4 older kids and I bundled up and went for a hike in the woods of Rock Creek Park. The kids had fun finding small patches of ice and "skating" on them (ice is big here, since it isn't very often they have it!) It was beautiful. Along the way, we ran into Josh's school friend, who showed us a huge, shallow pond that had frozen completely. We joined he and his uncle on the ice and scrapped together an amazingly funny game of stick ice hockey. We called Brent and Sarah and they came over too. We stayed at the pond for 3 hours and really had fun laughing, falling down A LOT, and watching the girls try to "whip" the boys in full-contact hockey:) The kids slept great that night!!

Brent bikes down to see history first-hand

Brent got up early on Jan. 20th, with his route planned out, down to the free bike valet parking:) He headed off in the chilly, sunny morning to see what he could see on the National Mall. What he saw was NO cars on the roads at all (VERY odd), people EVERYWHERE, bike valet parking FULL so chained up to a street sign, along with hundreds of other people, excitement, security checkpoints, Obama being sworn in on the big screen near the Washington Monument (about 1 mile away from the Capitol, though as close as he could get for all the people there). I think he had fun witnessing history and most importantly, he got me a magnet from the occasion:)

Resurfacing

After a wonderful Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Kearns here, then a solid week of 4 kids with pneumonia, highlighted by a nice visit from my sister Angela and her boyfriend Evan, we are coming up for fresh, healthy (I hope) air and ready for the next few weeks of packing up, cleaning out and learning enough Egyptian Arabic to ask someone if they speak English and where the bathroom is:)

Let me go back a bit:
With Kearns grandparents here we played, went to the Atlantic Coast, saw the lights and Visitors center, did the 12 days of Christmas to John Doud and even "elfed" ourselves on the computer:)

Ocean City and Atlantic coast was awesome, but a bit windy. Probably one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever taken a mental picture of (I forgot the camera, though I think Mom and Dad took some great ones!) but also the most windy day I have been around in a long time. The sand on the beach was actually stinging as it hit an exposed skin---needless to say we didn't play on the beach too much. We did enjoy the pool at the hotel and Denny's:)

Sent our first shipment of household goods on 12/30 and sent our "new" van on 1/8, so now we are driving the old Quest.....still runs great, besides the squeaking:)

Now for the present:
We have our diplomatic passports, but are awaiting the visas and then we will be ready to roll---we don't have the plane tickets in hand yet, because they won't buy them until visas come in....yeah, the military does things a bit last minute!!

We are trying to decide what to mail to ourselves...oh, we don't have an address yet because they haven't secured a "flat" for us yet....maybe it is hard to find 5 bedroom flats:) Once we get the address, I will send out an email to all the friends and family so you can write us before you come for a visit:)haha......actually, no joke, you all have an open invitation, so start saving now!

Love to you all and glad my brother Andy and his family made it to Glendale and are settled and ready for the year there. GO ANDY (he is attending the prestigious Thunderbird University and is very excited for the opportunity)