New Year, Same Life:)

This is a picture of the traffic. This is a picture of the kids in traffic. Get the point?! DVD system in car a HUGE blessing:)

Here is Rebekah, smiling as usual!

Dad and Emma swimming in the middle of winter. Yeah, life is rough in Africa:)

Sarah in her natural state: a curtsy (which came right after some big ballet dance combo move)

This picture with Elisabeth in make-up explains why she will not leave the house until she is an adult....especially not with a boy!

And what depiction of our life would be complete without Josh asleep....this time with a lollipop in his mouth:) Rebekah took this picture and was particularly proud of herself for capturing it.

New Year's Greetings from Egypt

Goodbye 2009
In February we left the DC area and moved to a new continent! We live in Cairo, Egypt now and really like it. We have learned a lot so far. We haven’t learned to walk like Egyptians yet, but we sure are learning to drive like them
Here is what we have been up to all year:
Rebekah finished 6th grade, turned 12 over the summer, started going to Young Woman’s and the 7th grade. She loves to play the piano, sing, act, and make art. She just finished an amazing clay sculpture of a seahorse. She is excited because she got a digital camera for Christmas.
Josh finished elementary school and is now a big 6th grader. He turned 11 this summer and is getting tall—and getting big feet! He played soccer and basketball and is still playing the trumpet and piano. He LOVES to read and recently told me he actually likes to cook. He is doing well in school and likes Math class best.
Elisabeth finished 2nd grade, turned 8 and was baptized in the Red Sea! She is well into her 3rd grade year now and really loves it. She is an excellent reader, piano player and artist. She has set up her own “art studio” in her bedroom and paints pictures whenever she has a minute. She also played the violin this year and tried Irish Dance, which she LOVED.
Emma finished kindergarten and started 1st grade with serious excitement! She LOVES to play with “the boys” at recess and is quite the little soccer player. She reads a lot and was so happy to get The Magic Treehouse Books for her 7th birthday and Christmas. She still cracks us all up with her comments and her “can-do” attitude. Just last week she actually stopped sucking her 2 fingers! For those of you who know her well, you can understand what an accomplishment this is! Who knew that bribing her with money would work so well---thanks Grandpa.
Sarah turned 5 and started kindergarten. She loves to sing, to draw, to dance and watch Barbie movies After she read me a book recently, she ran around the house shouting, “I am a reader, I am a reader!” She is almost always happy and enjoys riding her scooter down our LONG hallway.
Brent and Amiee are watching the kids grow more each day and loving our time with them. Brent is traveling quite a bit with his work, but he is getting to see some very interesting parts of the world. He is really learning Arabic! Amiee did what all good mothers’ do when all their kids are finally all in school---she sat around reading books for a week or two! She is now learning how to play tennis and substitute teaching at the school.
2009 has been a great year and we look forward to the adventures that 2010 will bring. We feel very blessed to have so many family and friends who support and love us!
We love you all and pray that you will have a wonderful New Year!
WELCOME 2010

Recent pictures

Egyptian Culture Celebration at school

First of all, Josh would like to clarify, "galabeyas are NOT dresses!" The traditional dress for villagers in Egypt is an outfit called a galabeya. Mostly, in the city, the male boabs wear them. They are cooler than pants and made of cotton usually. Some are very fancy and even have rhinestones all over them. We all got one (except Brent---I couldn't talk him into it!) and we wore them to the school's Egyptian Culture celebration on the 10th. The celebration had lots of interesting foods, sufi dancers (they twirl around for hours adorned with bright hoop-like skirts), a traditional band and henna artists. They had demonstrators making papyrus, clay pots, embroidered quilts and wooden toys. It was pretty fun and very interesting. Here are pictures of the kids in their galabeyas and Sarah and I with henna art on our hands. Also, the sufi dancers and a great costumed demonstator:)

Emma's 7th Birthday

Emma turned 7 on December 5th. She wanted crepes for breakfast and tuna sandwiches with potato chips for dinner. She had a great day and got homemade presents from her bro and sisters. She loved the package from Grandma and Grandpa and she loved the "littlest pet shop" toy she got from Mom and Dad.

One seriously cute and funny thing was the card that she wrote to herself. It said, "I love my self becose i share and i Love others thats what i love aboute me. love Emma".

I just LOVE Emma:) Happy birthday, sis!

Coming to you from the highest peak in Egypt

Brent and Josh got back on Sunday night from their 4 day backpacking adventure. They hiked many miles, including to the top of Egypt's highest peak--Mt. Saint Catherine. They felt truly cold weather for the first time in many months and saw some beautiful scenery. Brent said it was peaceful and beautiful, but his favorite part was spending time with Josh. They slept out under the stars and even climbed up Mt. Sinai in the dark so they could see the sunrise. They ate MRE's, lots of oatmeal and trailmix, but they did get a real turkey dinner on Thanksgiving night, thanks to some careful planning and a few hired camels:)

Josh on top Mt. Saint Catherine










Brent and Josh on St. Cath.












Josh climbing down Mt. Sinai

Thanks and Service

Thanksgiving was different here in some ways, but not really in others. We had the traditional foods(thanks to the military grocery store!!), we celebrated with good friends and we all tried hard not to overeat:) We skyped with my parents and my brother Aaron, who just got home from his mission on Wednesday, and we got to skype with Andy/Heather and kids too (who are moving to Boston in February---yeah for the new job Andy!) We all feel so very thankful for family and friends and we are so glad that even though we are far away, we are able to connect....and that we have made some great friends here in Egypt who take some of the homesickness away.

On another note: Thanksgiving for us is Eid for the Muslims. It is when they believe Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael (NOT Isaac, even though that is what my Bible says). They slaughter an animal in honor of Abraham not having to sacrifice his son. Last night we could hear an animal making a terrible sound all night---some sort of braying or something. Today, as we walked to church, we saw a pile of fresh bones, stripped of their meat, laying in the rubbish pile on the road. I guess that is also when I noticied I hadn't heard the sound all morning.

Brent and Josh were not with us on Thanksgiving. Brent got home from DC area late Wednesday night and he and Josh left very early Thursday morning to go camping with the Boy Scouts. They are backpacking for 4 days and climbing Egypt's highest peak, Mt. Saint Catherine. We haven't heard from them, but I am sure they are having fun. I just hope Brent doesn't collapse from lack of sleep. He flew for 24 hours and then only slept for about 4 hours before heading out. It was great to see him, even if just for a bit. Thanks so much to all of you who took care of him in the US while he was there. We missed him, but it was great knowing he was seeing family and friends and sharing some time with you.

Another reason I am thankful is because of our little church branch here in Cairo. Last Saturday our primary (about 15 kids and a few adults) met and cleaned up trash and painted a mural over some graffiti. It was such a great experience. Mostly it was great because the people who live behind the wall came out and helped, they welcomed us and they even fed Jill Smith (she is one of my counselors in the primary presidency) and I an Egyptian breakfast. They sleep on a dirty mattress in the courtyard of a large, unoccupied villa. They care-take the garden and grounds, but don't have the luxury of living inside. The breakfast was fuul (a kind of bean), bread and tamaya (like falafal). They also gave us a green onion stalk, some spiced, pickled eggplant and carrots and we got to drink water out of 1 cup, all together. That may sound kind of gross, or at least at risk for some food poisioning, but really it was so generous and kind. These people had so little, but they offered their best to us. The women and children all stood around watching us eat, while me and Jill sat with the men and ate the food. I tried to offer a child some food and was told "NO!" I don't understand it all, but I am grateful for their generosity. It was a good experience and it made me realize again that we are all children of God and we can and should help and serve one another while we are on this earth.

Here are some pictures: