Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

Wonderful! Truly! Wonderful!

Wonder-Filled

To imagine that we were on the other side of the world where we'd spent the first 30+ years.....to have the kids settled with friends and routines....to know I have friends here.....I put out a notice last week "hey, if you're around and have no plans for Tgiving, want to get together?" So three US families of the homeschool group gathered...what a wonder-filled day! The kids laughing like old-time friends. the women cackling so loud, we didn't hear the baby cry! The 2 husbands that could come discussing politics and religion from 2 world views and not arguing!

The rolling home was rough! (6 blocks with 2 overly tired kids and one momma who ate to0 much lol all while the giant fruit bats were escorting us with their screeching). WONDER-FILLED! I promise photos when my friend gives them to me ;) Yes, I forgot my camera! Silly me!!!

Friday while you all were bundled up and out early for sales....the kids and I slept in and then spent the day swimming! LOL

Saturday while you all slept in, we got up early and worked (kids and I) on misc tasks for 5 hrs with a fundraiser for needy in Egypt (blind, deaf, mentally handicapped, widows, elderly, etc).....then hooked up w/ a friend and shopped this fundraiser! I have some goodies coming back to the US with my mom! jiggity jig! couldn't buy something for everyone - only cuz my mom can't take that much stuff! lol but I did find the perfect gift for a few people!

Last night while you all were just waking, our day was ending and we were dressed up...escorted to the Opera House by our friend Mohamed in a sedan with driver. He made it possible for us to get 19 tickets to THE NUTCRACKER! ON DEC 26TH!! GREAT SEATS!!!! MATINEE FOR KIDS TO ATTEND! VERY EXCITED!

As we walked thru the complex, Joshua said "doesn't this remind you of going with Chase and Rebekah? It needs to be a lot colder, but the lights and music make me think of that time...."
sniff sniff - LOVE YOU S FAMILY! MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY!! I sniffled enough to make my friend look at me sympathetically before we continued on!
Every year, we've gone with a treasured family to sing Christmas carols on the Grand River and see the lights come on around a Presidential Museum. It's usually misting and extremely cold with lots of snow and great memories......I'm glad Joshua has those memories! WITH SUCH A GREAT FAMILY!

Rob's home today...he went for a bike ride and found a store with tiny Christmas trees! I went back w/ him (in a taxi thank you, we haven't gone "that" local with 4 on a bike!) - found out they "might" have bigger trees in a week, or they might only have these 5 trees the entire season...

well....today.....it may not feel like winter here..but we put up a corner of it in the house.....and it did all our hearts good!! So here I sit typing with Christmas music, and my little corner of Michigan winter in my background.....

My Christmas won't be blue.....or white.....it'll be JUST right! Focused on the Christ and all the blessings we have all around the globe!!!

and don't you just LOVE the snowman on our front door? Mr. Snowlavitz won't be in our family pictures for the first time in 9 winters.....but....this little guy definitely makes me smile JUST as big! :)

*Ah* so very comforting!

the smell of a lawnmower engine

chilly ears in the morning

cold drippy noses after sunset

riding in a friend's car laughing and listening to music

having full conversations with people in your neighborhood

a shower every day in relatively clean water that's also warm

watching children learn and excel at the English language

seeing lightbulbs pop on brightly for 3rd grade math at home

hearing detailed girly stories after preschool

a wide variety of experiences can be so very comforting no matter where we are.....this is my list from this week (however not exhaustive).......all gifts from our Creator. May you know of such comfort today, my friends!

Pioneer Week

We read about Samuel Adams declaring a Thanksgiving Holiday to be set aside nationwide to give due thanksgiving unto the gracious divine benefactor.

How does an expat celebrate Thanksgiving? Without a library, or an American school handy.....Gparents who sent a cool book about a Pioneer Thanksgiving and some craft supplies, that's how!! Here's some fun photos!

We read about nutting, then made nut baskets (tho ours are from yarn not sticks and such). Today about corn dolls (wheat in Europe is called corn) so we made corn dolls (ours are from yarn of course). A friend is returning from the US tomorrow and promises to have cranberries so we can make the pioneer cranberry sauce as well as a weather vane!

Thursday there are 3 of us families gathering to give thanks, share laughter and of course watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (lol).

Ain Sokhna Vacation Spot

2 Hours Southeast of Cairo, along the Red Sea.....

blissful!!! I read an entire book (Unlocked by K Kingsbury - must tell you that I got so upset at one pt I threw the book down, didn't even mark my spot - READ IT! really a great read, as are all her books!) THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR THAT VACATION TREAT!! it came JUST in time!!!

We had planned to go away for 3 days over Rob's birthday at Thanksgiving.....but it is an Islamic holy time here right now (in observance of Allah sparing Ibrahim from having to sacrifice his son Ishmael)...so Rob's bosses actually bugged out on LONG treks and left the pilots to be home. Then they leave on Rob's birthday...so...we just decided to LEAVE! we'd been sick.....we were still reeling from saying good bye to Gpa Bob and feeling a bit sentimental about no seasonal change.....and no water for 5 days.....it was PERFECT!

the temps, the sun, the water, the sand, the people, the non-sleezey atmosphere (Sharm is very "sin city" ish bleck!)...

REALLY NICE!!!!!!!! I just can't find words to put it together! We hired a car/driver to take us and to pick us up. We arrived at noon, had a picnic lunch and spent 4 hrs on the beach! Yesterday we spent 9 hrs on the beach and today another 5!! WONDERFUL! just "to be"!!! We played, we splashed, we ate AMAZING EGYPTIAN FOOD! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! and sunk our toes in SOFT sand, we repeated every night for a least an hour crab hunting!! We didn't actually "acquire" any beyond sightseeing ;) ha!

I think we may have brought home 1 million shells...ok maybe only 100...but it seems excessive! HA! I plan to make 3 photo frames - one for the living room, one for each bedroom, of our time together - place shells/coral all around!

no worries, the coral was in the sand....we weren't on a reef poaching it!

The kids are SO tired, they were BEGGING to go to bed at 4pm when we got home! HA! So they're in front of the tv, completely zoned out while I make supper and clean up the 2 gallons of sand from pockets and swim suits ;) Well, keep looking! Pictures now follow! I hope you will enjoy!! and nope...no one got sun burned! but we did get chilly off and on! ha ha! we're acclimating!










simple pleasures



giggling morning buddies - the sand is SO cold in the morning, that the water feels VERY warm! but then as the sand warms up...it feels like Lake Michigan actually...except the sun here is ALWAYS so VERY intense! This was at 8 am today....

Breakfast and Suppers (mmmmmm already miss them!!) obviously this was during an electricity outtage! ha! and it was about 7 am...WAY too early for anyone but us to be up, I think! Mmmmmmm crepes with fresh local honey.......fresh graded potatoes made with some type of stinky cheese MMMM!! MISS IT!!

We must've spent half the time making elaborate (more like "attempting to make") elaborate cities complete with running water! ha! I only got this one photographed tho.


Jasmine grew a LOT on this trip!! I'm not sure if ANY of her pants will fit now!


Lunch under the cabana. This was just before we left today. I love the Europeans in their sundresses in the shade - ha! Us Egyptians in our bit warmer gear! hee hee!!

Without You

I feel a country song...by Dixie Chics coming through my head all day today....

And without you I'm not Ok, and without you I've lost my way.....

although it's not meant for my broken down truck, 8th husband or run away dog.......
(tee hee, sorry, bad humor)

it's meant for THE WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ode to Water
I need you water, strong and true
Without your consistency, laundry is hard to do!
I fill buckets with your drips and drizzles,
then stay up all night to pour and make fizzles!
Repeat for rinse 'til wee hours of the morn
and just to do laundry is making me forlorn!

I send the kids out after 7 days with sickness
now they're covered with sweat and sand, MY GOODNESS!
A hose in the garden for shower is become my new friend,
tho if I join the children, I think my stay will quickly come to an end!
Bathing in public is not appropriate
but neither is the smell of this expatriot!

You made a commitment to return yesterday
but you're still not here, so what have you to say?
Just give me a good reason, I promise to understand
just don't leave me hanging with my sweaty man!
Acceptance should be my middle name by now,
but by this day 5, I think I may have a cow!

~copyright, tired and becoming annoyed Wendy

;)

ha! Thanks for letting me get that out ;) I'm not quite as honorable with my attitude in my meeting another day w/o water!

So - we're leaving for a 3 day vacation tomorrow! truly! WE'RE OUGHTTA HERE!!!

See ya when we return - hopefully I'll be shaved and freshened by then! In attitude, heart, rest, home and body!

Precious Moments....

a boy who had the first bit of water of the day....and used it all up in less than 5 minutes under a dripping shower faucet....

a girl who got cleaned up by daddy pouring water accumulated last night from a large glass pepsi container.....

a boy who is coldd and feeling crumby from his fever and itchy spots, who is wearing his momma's fluffy socks and a blanket adorns him from his sister...

a girl who loves her brother and couldn't handle his hair sticking up any longer while her brother waited for his spots to dry....

Precious Moments.....warms me better than the Egyptian sun!

Nothing Surprising.......

Nothing should surprise me anymore!

This morning, I got up..and like many mornings, I use the toilet.....flush..and realize that was the end of the water.....that flush was it.......

but I've come to accept that.

That should be the first surprise. HOW can an American come to accept that?

ha!

Then as the day goes by, we get drizzles throughout the day. I took a shower under a dripping faucet in the bathtub.

I've done that before too, didn't bother me one bit.

That should be the second surprise!

Then at 5pm, I got an email from my friend at the Embassy....letting me know that last night, a news bulletin was on the EGYPTIAN channel to stock up on water...because 40 million people will be without water for 9 Nov through midnight 12/13 Nov.

That should be my third surprise...but it was so shocking, that I laughed! Rob threw a minor fit. I started thinking through how to survive without running water for four days.....

you know, not washing hands..no showering...not washing dishes....

hmmmm....??

all the while we have CHICKEN POX IN THE HOUSE!

It just made me laugh.....so we finally got a drizzle again, Rob has filled everything possible ;) I had my market guy zip over one of the last bottles of water in the surrounding area for drinking and cooking. But now w/ 2 buckets of water, we're hoping to at leas flush a few times?! eek!

none of this surprised me to tears or to immobility...I just laughed and moved on.....nothing surprises me anymore! Can you imagine? a city just shutting down water for that long? If you're on the ground floor, you're like to have more water than us on the 4th floor..if you're on the 10th floor or up, forget it...you won't even get a drizzle when the drizzle comes!!!

Jasmine was wearing a rain jacket and rain boots today - play hand-me-downs from here.....and THAT surprised me more than anything! I wanted to get a photo and I'd have labeled it...

"hope remains"

ha ha ha!!

Garbage City, Egypt

All the time I've been here, I've heard there's this part of Mokatam (across from the Citadel, go see pics of it and you'll see the rest of the "hill")....I've heard there's this part of Mokatam is literally a city of garbage. I live in a city that is - well there's no words to describe the garbage here EVERYWHERE....so I thought..hmm...wonder!

WELL WONDER NO MORE!

buildings 4-5 stories tall, making roads JUST BARELY wide enough for ONE vehicle and people on bikes side by side! 30,000+ people!!!!!!!!!!!!

garbage gets dumped there (35 mill people in Cairo) from Cairo and they sort it...all day...in/under their houses....try for a moment to imagine JUST the laundry bottle amounts?! ok?! perhaps you can imagine!

and the depth of the poverty was so immeasurable, that I felt gross in attempting any photos. I kept the camera down.....

HOWEVER, in the "middle" of this city that within the last few years has been given gov't subsidy for running water, indoor plumbing and an elementary school.....is an AMAZING oasis!! The Cave Church

I tried desperately to get photos to show you the granduer of the "rock" and the beauty of the carvings.....but I'm positive I didn't grasp a portion of the "wow" factor!

Thanks for looking!




I wish to somehow explain the GINORMOUS size of everything!!!!!!!!!!!!




Haven't seen Hala in awhile - she did a GREAT tour for us today! A homeschool family and their visiting IL's came as well - REALLY amazing!! Adore Hala! We'll see her again in Dec for a tour with my mom


fabrics are cleaned and recycled - these women support themselves and their families! HOW NEAT!!


a store for the items made by the recycled fabrics