Things I see (Vol 12)

Welcome to "Things I See."  If you want to see the previous installments, you can click on:

 Volume 1 , Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7, Volume 8, 

Volume 9, Volume 10, Volume 11

A car with "this" on the back windshield was parked in front of our house one night, and I just thought, "You can't get any more wrong than this."

After 60 years of research, they are still "staring" instead of "starting."

Yes, you are seeing correctly.  This woman is watering astroturf.

We use one gas bottle for a long time on our stove/oven.

These are the weekly exchanges of gas bottles outside of a naan (bread) shop.

That's a lot of bread, folks.

Bread is a serious business here.  

People line up at 6am for their morning bread, 11ish for their afternoon meal, and 7pm for their evening meal.  

You just lay your money under a piece of long rope, and the man at the window takes the bills closest to the window and asks whose money it is and how much bread they want.  Then the next bills get asked about and so on.  It's quite a system.

The shop above was being charged rent that was too high, so they started construction 3 plots down on their own shop.

You can see that the size if very unassuming, but it is still the heart of the neighborhood.

Reminders of all of God's promises are a happy thing here in the Middle East, because sometimes the darkness feels heavy, and knowing He's near is a beautiful thing.

I still don't understand the Christmas and Easter decorations in this country.  The people really don't understand the meanings of any of them, but they adopt what they see from the West.

After I heard that some people think we worship the Christmas tree at Christmas, I can't imagine what they think about celebrating Easter with eggs for.

Life at the French school.  This is what happens when you say jé instead of jai.

She didn't seem to mind, and apparently, she wasn't the only student that got drawn on.

This reminded me of how big of a splash "Covfefe" made in May of 2017.

End of Ramadan and Dancing for the School Year

We celebrated the end of Ramadan with a family we've come to know better this last year.

My friend's mother came up from the south of the country to celebrate (and cook) too.

This year, Ramadan starts on April 23rd.  Did I tell you before that Ramadan starts about 10 days earlier every year because the Islamic calendar is different than ours?

The end of Ramadan also signaled the end of dance for the year.

Kylie and Karis gave certificates to their classes on the last day, after they performed for their parents.

Then, a few days later, they had a last performance of their own.

Parents are invited to attend, but since the class is mostly made up of expat adults, we are the only parents present.  The class calls us their "parents," and Doug videos them all and I take pictures to give to everyone.

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Karis, June 8, 2019

Kylie, June 8, 2019

With their teacher, Ms. Natalia.

It was truly a day to celebrate for all of us.  Kylie injured her leg October 1, 2018, and after a long recovery, we were so thankful that she could participate in this last class and be healed enough to travel to America the day after these pictures were taken to participate in a month-long ballet camp in Mississippi with Ballet Magnificat.

Karis worked so hard this year.  She took many classes alone because the other adults couldn't always make class.  Taking a class alone, getting rapid-fire instructions, and not getting any breaks while other students are corrected made for some long, exhausting nights for her, but she excelled!

Fifteen Amazing Years!

I arrived back home just in time for Karis' 15th birthday!  When I came in from the airport, this was on the wall:

And this was on the table waiting for Karis to wake up in the morning.

Kylie had designed a multitude of cards to cover the table to celebrate her sister's birthday.

After seeing all of her cards the next morning, we took Karis to her favorite place for breakfast.  

Sadly, we will have to find a new place this year because the restaurant has changed its menu, and we are all sad.

 May 22, 2019

And of course, what would a birthday be without an orthodontist appointment.

So we took advantage of the ballerina fountain outside the office to take some birthday pictures.

Is it strange that their hair forms a heart ??

Happy birthday, Beautiful!

Kylie's post about Karis on instagram shares a little of their relationship :)

"You're 15 today, and I couldn't be happier to celebrate your birth!  You're the rhythm to my beat.  You're the lyrics to my song.  You're the Monica to my Rachel.  You're the peanut to my butter.  You're the pop to my corn.  you're the hummus to my pita.  You're the petite to my allegro.  You're the Darcy to my Talutah Shani.  I luv ya sis!"

Keira's card sums up her thoughts about Karis.  

(Her world is pretty much Rainbows and Unicorns)

And these pictures sum up how her siblings feel about Karis.

I know being the "middle" child isn't always the easiest, but we love you, Karis!!!

You are hard-working, loving, considerate, kind, self-sacrificing, and generous.

We all love you!

Happy Birthday!

 May 22, 2019

And we get to celebrate you again in 4 months...the big SIXTEEN!

A Little Fiesta in the Middle East

A few of my friends here in the Middle East are from South America.

One afternoon, they decided to teach a few Americans and several Middle Easterners how to make tamales.

Let's just say, we should leave that job to the experts.

We had a lot of fun visiting and laughing while we worked.

But I'm from Texas, and I know this is not how my tamale was supposed to look.

We all tried, and these were our finished products.


Thankfully, no matter what the outside looked like, they were delicious on the inside!

While I was Away

Doug took care of everything and everybody while I was away.

He and I always share duties, but for the days I was gone, he was the lone ranger, arranging play dates for Keira, taking everyone to their respective ballet and soccer practices, and cooking.

A sweet momma had all of these girls over to play on a week's break from school.  Keira had such a good time, and the mom sent me pictures so I could see all the fun they had.

My brother was apparently on TV while I was away, and I STILL haven't seen the episode.

Caleb was awarded defensive player of the year in soccer, but before the award ceremony took place, a little boy was playing around the awards table and broke the trophy intended for Caleb.

Caleb was given this cheap one as a stand-in until the coach could order another.

I had a great trip, and the kids had a good time while I was gone.

Thank you, Doug, for being such a Super Dad!