Just the Two of Them

Illegal Driving

The other day a taxi driver insisted Micah sitting on his lap WHILE driving. I tried several times to say "no, thank you" as politely as possible, but like I said, he absolutely insisted and practically grabbed Micah out of my arms. Thankfully, we were not going all that fast. I honestly don't know what the laws are here because you see small children in the front seat all the time. Our taxi driver taught Micah how to shift gears and to honk the horn. I think he regretted teaching him how to honk the horn because for the next few minutes our car was beeping like crazy :) Micah was loving it...and I knew we were in trouble. Paul and I had to constantly tell him, "This is a special one time thing Micah." Now every once in awhile when we are in taxi's Micah will look at me, point to the driver and ask, "Special, one time?" To which he always gets an absolute NO :)

Such a cheese-ball :)

World Cup

It has been so much fun living overseas during the World Cup. It is all everyone talks about. Plus, there are a million billboards and flags everywhere to advertise it. Almost every restaurant in town has set up a TV/projector to watch the games on. Needless to say, we have had a lot of fun following it this year. Micah is obsessed too and knows all the best players names. He can look at a billboard and tell me exactly which players are on it...quite amazing! His favorites are Ronaldo, Rooney, Messi, Kaka, and Donavon. These are a few pictures from our World Cup experience in Jordan :)

Go Messi!!!!!

Welcome NATE

Baby Nate is here! Our good friends, Allen and Sara, welcomed him into the world on July 22. We enjoyed going to the hospital to celebrate with them. He is a cutie-just like his big brother, Ben :) Sara and I enjoyed being pregnant together, but I think it's safe to say that we both are glad our babies arrived in time to miss most of this crazy hot weather!

Licky Licious

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary this year with a little girl at our side. Our friends were sweet and watched Micah for us so that Paul and I could go out for dinner to celebrate. After dinner we went and walked along one of our favorite streets. I made us pass up our favorite ice cream store in order to try a new place I'd heard of called "Licky Licious". This place was supposed to have cupcakes and ice cream...but to be honest, I just thought the name was catchy :) Well, we were quite disappointed when we walked in and the cupcakes didn't look all that fresh and the ice cream selection was quite slim. After looking over the menu, we both decided on a peanut butter vanilla milkshake. As we waited, I occasionally would glance over to watch them make our shakes. At one point I saw a guy cutting up a bunch of bananas, but I assumed it was for another customer's order. However, I knew something was shady when I saw them pour some sort of vanilla flavoring (NOT ice cream) into our cups followed by heavy cream. They handed us our drinks and sure enough, there was chunks of bananas in them...if you know Paul you will find that humorous since he absolutely HATES fruit. Not only that, but there was zero peanut butter flavor to be tasted, which made me one sad girl. After taking a few sips and literally gagging, we decided to toss them. We both came to the conclusion that maybe they got our order wrong??? However, we will never know as we will not be going back...unless it is for the soul purpose of teaching them how to properly make a milkshake! I was a little perturbed as myself for making us go there and missing out on a good dessert for the evening...but I guess it does make a good memory :)

And let me just say how incredibly thankful I am to be married to such a godly man. I love how we can talk for hours and still have more to talk about! He is hilarious and there truly is never a dull moment when he is around. He is just amazing and I look forward to spending many more years together. Okay, I could go on and on...but I'll spare you ;) I love you Paul!

Love seeing these two together :)

Oh Licky Licious, how I do not like you...but I do like this picture!

Pool Date

Some of our friends invited us over for a "baby pool" date. Micah was so excited to play with his friend, Ben, and it was so refreshing for me to get some time outside in the sun with my friend, Sara! Micah probably spent more time running and jumping into the pool than sitting in it. I guess that is to be expected from a two year old boy...I'm just thankful there was no injuries involved. He also had fun pouring water all over poor Ben's head. Ben handled my crazy monster very well. We packed our lunches and had a picnic lunch with our boys. As a woman living in an Arab world, it isn't easy to go outside and just enjoy the sunshine...plus, there really aren't many pools around. Oh how I long for us to spend time in a big pool-won't be long! Sara and I both agreed that this is what summer is supposed to feel like :) We hope to do it again.

Happy as can be.

Notice the water filled diaper that was about to explode!

Our little sunshine soaking in some rays :)

The Hawkin's

Prince's Banquet

At the end of the Generations for Peace sports camp that Paul worked, the Prince of Jordan held a banquet for the workers and delegates. It was sort of like a "closing ceremony" type thing. The Prince gave a speech to open the banquet for the evening and handed out certificates to all who participated in the 10 day camp. The rest of the evening was filled with eating, cultural performances, and some dancing.

Paul with delegates from Rwanda, Serbia, and Jordan
With delegates from the Russian Federation
And Nigeria
Finally, Prince Faisal and Paul

My Little Dishwasher

There are three things that I am really looking forward to buying once we move back to the States. The first two being a washer and dryer. The third item being a dishwasher. We have never had a dryer or dishwasher since we have been married, and only have had an automatic washer when we lived in Kenya (we currently have a manual washer and it is a LOT of work).

When GiGi was here, she taught Micah how to help wash dishes...or should I say she taught him how to play in the bubbles :) He loves it! Now every time I wash dishes he comes in the room and says, "I help wash dishes too". He is quite the helper. Ha.

Kenyan Company

It is always fun when visitors come in town. Recently some of our friends (Blake and Jeff) from Kenya came through here on their way to Israel. We got to spend a day with them on each side of their trip and had a lot of fun catching up!

Meeting Jordan before they headed to Israel...

And after their vacation in the Holy Land.

Tiny Baby, Precious Moments