Thanks DAD and MOM

What a tremendous blessing to have my parents here to help with our newborn (and our rambunctious toddler) for over 2 weeks. I miss them already. Ugh...I hate goodbyes. You'd think they'd get easier by now...but they don't. And sending my parents off again was no different. However, we will be reunited again in the USA in about 7 weeks. YAY!

Thanks Dad and Mom for:

-changing numerous diapers

-getting the kids dressed and undressed

-sacrificing sleep as you took care of Jordan at night

-playing with Micah

-bathing Micah and Jordan

-feeding all of us

-cleaning our house

-washing dishes

-doing laundry and hanging clothes (your favorite, I know)

-making me take a daily afternoon nap

-playing cards with us and attempting to win Dr. Mario ;)

LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU

Last night with Poppi :(

My Dad had to leave to get back to work, but thankfully my Mom got to stay a few extra days and help us out.

Last night with GiGi :(

Shawarma

On the last day my Mom was with us we decided to go eat some of my favorite Arabic food, Shawarma, for lunch. Shawarma is basically the Arab's "fast food". It is a wrap with either chicken, beef, or lamb inside and then filled with your choice of cucumbers, tomatoes, pickles, and a yogurt sauce. We opted on the safe side and chose the chicken :) Normally I get it on the go, but this time we sat down to eat, and the waiter ended up convincing us to order a few other Arab dishes. Of course, everything was really good. I'm going to have to find a good Arab restaurant wherever we live back in the States!!

Iraqi Friends

We rent our apartment from an Iraqi family who moved to Jordan after the Iraqi war started. They have lived here about 4 years and live down the street from us. They have been so welcoming to us and have become good friends of ours. The parents understand English, but cannot speak it that well...and since we don't speak Arabic that well, we rely on their older children (who are around our ages) to translate for us.

When my parents were in town they came over to meet Jordan and then invited us over for lunch another day. They are always extremely hospitable, but this time they totally outdid themselves. They made about 10 dishes for us-seriously. We ate, and ate, and ate. Everything was delicious and just when we thought we were finished eating, they brought out fruit, tea, biscuits (aka cookies), and chocolates. Whew. We were stuffed :)

Meeting Jordan...

Lunch at their house...

A Peaceful Dinner...

...is a rare thing in this household. My parents spoiled us and took us to one of the best restaurants in Jordan, so we opted to leave our Micah-man behind (with a babysitter of course) and off we went. Everything was absolutely delicious and we all enjoyed a quiet evening filled with adult conversations :) Jordan was with us and slept soundly in her car seat throughout the entire evening. It was so nice to have a break from our usual dinnertime craziness which usually goes something like this:

"Micah sit down"

"No, you may not go "hide" (aka...crawling under our table to go the bathroom)

"Stop banging your toys, fork, feet, etc"

"Don't throw your cup"

"Take one more bite"

"Please stop whining"

"I hear you"

Gotta love the joys of parenting :) Thanks Dad and Mom for a fabulous evening together!!

Generations For Peace

Recently Paul had the incredible opportunity of working a Sports Camp as a "Coach" for a local company called Generations for Peace. One of the Prince's of Jordan started this Company in order to teach people all around the world how to bring peace to their countries. Seventy-seven people ("delegates") attended the 10 day camp from 17 different countries...and if you know Paul, you know he soaked up every minute. He absolutely LOVES to learn about people from different cultures.

These 10 days were packed full with lectures in the morning concerning different topics regarding peace and then teaching sports in the afternoon. The sports time was also used to discuss conflict, team building, etc. The idea is for these 77 delegates to return to their home country and use sports and the material learned at this camp in order to help bring peace to their nation. It was truly an amazing opportunity for Paul and one he will never forget.

One afternoon my Mom, Micah, Jordan, and I went over to the camp to see what it was all about. It was volleyball day...and sand volleyball...so we had one happy 2 year old running around kicking (not hitting) the volleyball in the sand :)

Another Coach from England

Two girls from Lebanon
Micah's new friend from Yemen

Grandparent Time

Hi. It's Micah speaking. Here are a few of the fun things that I got to do with Poppi and GiGi.

Play soccer.

Airplane rides.
Make trucks with my playdough.
Fisher-price games on the computer.

Take walks and get our picture taken.

THANK YOU POPPI AND GIGI FOR ALL THE FUN. I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!

Soccer Stud

Here is our little soccer star who is so excited about the World Cup. Poppi and GiGi bought him a small soccer ball and his very first uniform, so he had to show it off for us. Micah wants to wear it daily-literally! Ha. He looks like such a big boy in this outfit and is extremely proud of it because it shares the same number (#10) that his favorite soccer players, Rooney and Messi, wear. Living in Kenya and Jordan has definitely allowed Micah to learn more about soccer at this age than he ever would have known living in America. He has pretty good soccer skills too :)

I LOVE this-his face is too sweet!