October: A Month of Keira

Blog Post About October 2021

Keira turned 9 with cappuccino muffins for breakfast, a day at school, a scavenger hunt for her presents, and a dinner at a restaurant with fun milkshakes (because that's the only way to judge a restaurant).

You've gotta love moms who take your picture right after you wake up!

A travel kit for her dolls.

And who doesn't need a colorful "My Little Pony" onesie?

This little girl traveled all over America with me last summer, and the benefit was, she got to pick out her birthday presents and travel back with them.

It doesn't always work like that, but she had fun spending ours and grandparents' allotted money amounts.

Washable skin markers

Now you can see why she chose this restaurant.

Three days after her actual birthday, we had a party with some of her friends at a "Fun Zone."

The next week, she performed as a swan in a ballet and participated in a gymnastics routine at a local art show at a hotel.

We love Keira just because, but some of the fun things about her are her great laugh, her joy, the way she loves others, her quickness to apologize, her sensitivity, and the way she eats ice cream bars ;)

This is not an act. She LITERALLY eats ice cream bars like this, and we have no idea how it happens!

Too Much Food and Loud Noises

Blog Post About March 2021

A friend of mine wanted me to come over for lunch, and again, I realized what a horrible host I am in this culture. 

They make sure that they cover surfaces with all types of food. It might be something small, but I just wouldn't think of doing it.

Later that night, a couple invited Doug and I to eat with them at a hotel the man owns.

The food was incredible, and it JUST. KEPT. COMING! Our host said, "Do you want steak or seafood?" When we said it didn't matter to us, he ordered both plus SO many other things on the menu.

I basically consumed too much of that raw meat from Italy on the plate behind the nuts.

More of that story later.

Closer to midnight, our host told Doug and I to go sing with his lounge singer (think Kenny Rogers, John Denver).

My friend took videos that I grabbed these shots off of, but you can kind of see the guitar singer on the left, me in the middle, and Doug on the right.

Our host wanted to join in the fun so he went to the piano and played beautifully by ear, matching the guitar player. I think we sang 4 or 5 songs, and then I politely declined to sing anymore. 

Thankfully, only one couple was left in the restaurant that close to midnight!

When I got home, I did not feel so well. I got rid of most of what I had eaten that night (and I'll spare you the details) and I was sick for TWO days. Doug was also a little sluggish.

Every time I see them they say they want to go out again, but this time I will be a little more discretionary about what I eat :)

Three days after this dinner,  this is a message we received on our phones.

It made me smile that they were actually informing the city. 

We have heard bombs explode near the airport about 4 times this year, so I guess the powers that be know they need to let us know when a loud "pop" is actually supposed to happen.

Food, Food, and Cold Weather (not in that order)

Doug flew with Karis and her friend back to Turkey on February 6th and met up again with her mom.

She left just in time before we experienced a stretch of bad power in our neighborhood and before Doug had to go to the school to talk about someone slapping Keira.  Oh, the joys of parenthood!

On February 13, 2020, it actually snowed in our city.

Yes, this is as much as we got...a few snowflakes in the morning, and then...nothing.

The lack of power was a real issue though. Usually, we can stay warm by crowding in front of one of our propane heaters, but there was a shortage at this time, so without the use of electric heaters or propane heaters, we were just like Texans during the snowpocalypse of 2021. 

Below are some of our empty propane bottles waiting outside.  

Trucks playing the old national anthem on loud speakers usually drive through every neighborhood in the city at least once a day so you can hear the music, go out of your gate and stop the truck, and trade out your empty bottles for full ones.

At some point, Doug heard of a place that had a few, and he drove to go get them, paying a much higher price than normal, but we were grateful!

A few days later after school, Keira was invited to play with some girls that go to a different school.  Their mothers' got together and made quite the feast for an "after school get-together."  

February 16, 2020

One of these ladies (two days earlier) had held a birthday breakfast brunch for her daughter (turning 9 or 10) at a nice restaurant in town.  Keira and I were invited, but we were WAY underdressed.  First off, I had never heard of the restaurant, and secondly, I didn't know that the birthday girl would be switching between a party dress and a floor-length formal during the festivities. Not to mention, most of the moms and their daughters were also dressed very nicely.

At a few nice restaurants here in the city, they have their basements made into play areas so parents can visit undisturbed.

While you are dining (and after kids have eaten), you can take them downstairs and a restaurant employee will watch them.  Sometimes it's free.  Sometimes it costs around $1.50.

I thought this basement was pretty impressive!

Trampoline

Pretend kitchen

Make-up and hair

And I love that you can see evidence of all the moms who come down to get their kids.

Small tricycle track

As I was leaving, I saw several of these "dust busters" plugged in the walls around the restaurant, and thought these guys must be pretty smart, especially when I saw them cleaning up parts of the kid table with one.

I had one when my kids were smaller, and I used it A LOT!

Acceptance Letter

Kylie's college acceptance letter came in November.

The trick is that the letter was mailed to my parents' house, and so my dad scanned it and forwarded it to us by email.

What I didn't know is that he also forwarded it to Kylie.

Nevertheless, Doug and I wanted to make a big deal out of it, so we sealed it in a beautifully scripted envelope (writing creds to Karis), and we told the kids we were going out for a special lunch (Keira was at school).

We took them to a fancy steak house, and they kept asking, "What's up?"  

(Note: There is actually a "gold" menu in this restaurant where you can get your steak, coffee, dessert, etc. covered in edible gold. Don't worry, we didn't try it, but a few of us did try some of their beef.  Good, but nothing compared to Doug's steaks or those I've had in America.)

Back to Kylie.  We gave her the letter, and of course she had seen it already, but we still wanted to make the day memorable for her.

Ta-da!!💗

Since everyone was looking so cute, when we got home, we decided to have a small, silly photo shoot.

It started small.

And got sillier and sillier.

I convinced Caleb to jump in,

and then he got silly.

After the "smolder," I knew it wasn't going to get any better than that, and I love it!

Kylie calls this one: Dreamy, Smolder, and "Fashun"

November 6, 2019

Thanksgiving in the Middle East

Our teammate had a wonderful idea last year. 

Her children wanted to experience an "American" Thanksgiving meal over here, but she wasn't sure she could pull it all off.  She confidently asked the chef from one of our favorite restaurants (he's from South Africa) if he would be willing to cook for a bunch of people and prepare our Thanksgiving lunch for us.

He needed to be shown recipes and gain understanding of green bean casserole and pecan pie, etc.

He had shoppers searching the city for things he needed, and he pulled off the most amazing meal!

I've never had a green been casserole with such a presentation!

The restaurant is owned by Believers, and they had decorated for Christmas and put a fire in the fire place for our get-together. 

We were two American families, three national men, and a family from Nicaragua, but we also invited the restaurant owner and his wife to join us, so Keira, Doug, and I sat at another table with them.  We told them the story of Thanksgiving, and they were so excited to get a chance to share our tradition with us.

Keira was glad we waited until her school was out so she could join the festivities!

The chef couldn't find any pecans (they are tough to find here), but he made a beautiful walnut pie, using a pecan pie recipe he found on line.

He even threw in something extra for all of us!

We couldn't thank him enough!  It was a lovely Thanksgiving! 

This particular chef is now at another restaurant across town, 

so we'll see what the future holds for this Thanksgiving.  

There's always a story to tell.