The Party's Over...Literally

I don't know why I can't find time to blog, but it doesn't seem to come first in my list of "to do" items each week. So, since I mainly blog to have a record of our time here, I can't just skip to present day. That means you'll have to bear with me for who knows how long until the timelines of my blog and my real life match up. 

For now, I'm back at the morning after Kylie's graduation party, which is ironic, because we are currently getting ready to start KARIS' senior year.  Crazy!

The morning after, the decorations were were taken down, and we pulled out all the boxes we had been hiding in the basement while the party was going on.

Time to pack.

Before and After.

(If you don't remember, our landlord had asked us to leave so he could try and sell the house.  

Present day (2021), we are 14 months from our move out, and he actually did sell it last month.

Doug told me a doctor bought it and gutted it, so I went to see for myself. 

Sad day.

December 4, 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                        August 10, 2021

They have taken out every tree on the outside and inside of the gate, and torn up the garden that was there. It was also sad for me to see my laundry room tile on the street.

August 10, 2021

Back to 2020, even though we were packing, Doug still made time to cut Karis' and Caleb's hair! This wasn't just a "quarantine cutting." This is something he does all year long for any of us that needs it.

Caleb got a LOT cut.

At this point, we still hadn't found another home to move into, so while we were still looking, we also had a plan put in place to store our belongings in an unused house of a friend if we never found another rental.

Because we were trying to get to America to get Kylie ready to go to college, we decided to get our rugs washed, dried, rolled up and bagged for the months we would be gone.

We took them to a big, open cemented area, and some men rolled them out, told us how much it would cost, and then they were dragged away to be hosed down.

And even though summer 2020 was a relatively mild summer here, it was still warm.

And as you can see, it was almost as hot inside as it was outside.

June 6, 2020

So, Doug, Keira, and I decided to camp in the yard for a couple of nights, and it was actually not bad. The temperatures dropped a night, and it was a lot better than being in our bedrooms.

It was quite the pressure situation.  

Packing. 

Not having a new house to move into. 

Needing to get to America, and at the moment, no way to get there (see picture below).

So, we kept working and kept praying.

Lockdown...One More Time

2020 continued...

We needed to re-stock a bit for the lockdown, but we decided to walk, and it's a good thing we did.

I wish you could have heard the honking and craziness of what this picture represents.

People went kind of crazy (again) the day before this lockdown started.

This is what one taxi driver gave Doug to use as a mask.

Yes, that's a paper towel.

This sign was at the airport as a notice for people to stay healthy while traveling:

*Eat only well cooked food

*Avoid spitting in public

*Avoid close contact and travel with animals that are sick

And this posting...I don't know what the punishment was, but it was a big deal around here for a while that people were saying the corona virus was fake.

 

Graduation Party 2020

The day after Karis' birthday, the country was put on a mandatory 72-hour lockdown, and Kylie's graduation party was 6 days away. After 72-hours, I guess the government decided that was enough for a little while, because after that, there wasn't another lockdown for six whole days!

So, on May 28, 2020, we celebrated Kylie.

 We printed some of her artwork and hung it on the wall, and after the party, people started asking if they could buy some of it, so she actually made quite a few sales that night and took orders for future projects.

My one snafu was the cake/cakes.  I knew which cake in town Kylie liked best, and I THOUGHT I knew where it was made, but I should have known better when I had to explain a L.O.N.G. time to get what I thought was the right one (and of course, they spelled "congratulations" wrong).

I called someone who had ordered it before and asked where to get the cake (which is what I should have done in the first place because cakes aren't cheap!), and she told me.

So, now I had two cakes on order for the party, which I guess wasn't too bad, since 34 people ended up coming.

This is the right one!

So many of our friends brought food, and Kylie and I made dishes, too.  It was quite a nice spread!

Look at the beautiful fruit tray one of our friends made!  Thanks, Jessica!

Doug welcomed everyone and said the blessing.

Then, after eating, Doug shared some memories of Kylie and read scripture verses over her.

This shoe picture is one you rarely see in America, so I always think of you and strange things you might want to see.  I also see someone getting a drink out of the bathtub we set on the porch, which ended up being quite a source of entertainment for all the kids who attended.

One of Kylie's dear friends was able to make it. She helped steer Kylie into graphic design, tutored her in French, and also danced ballet with her. 

And finally, at the end, we got a picture together.

Congratulations, Kylie!

Sad and HAPPY...Birthday Time!!

The day after Kylie took her graduation photos, our landlord told Doug that we needed to move.  

He wanted to sell the house so that he could have money for his son who was getting married.  Selling the house would help them pay the bride price and get the new couple started in life.

Doug tried to convince him it would be hard to sell, and that if we kept paying rent, at least he would have some income.  No go.

On a side note, I'm writing this blog on April 7, 2021, and he STILL hasn't sold the house.  I was just over there last week!

The news about moving was also the same time that our language helper's mother died, so we went to her funeral. Death is an especially sad thing here for me. 

But a happy thing is celebrating one of our children's birthdays, and at the end of that sad week, we got to celebrate Karis turning 16!

She woke up to art that Kylie and I had made her for her room.  Knowing that after Kylie left for college, Karis would have her own room for the first time in her life, we wanted her to have pictures for her walls of things that she loved.

Kylie also designed a special piece for Karis, printed it, and had it framed.

Since Karis is lactose intolerant, the best cookie cake for her was a tahin cookie.

Tahin is made from ground up sesame seeds, and for some reason, it tastes better over here than the jars you can buy in the grocery store in America.  Kylie and Karis have perfected tahin cookies over the last couple of years, and this just happened to be a giant one.

Karis is a lot of fun to be around.  She keeps people laughing and has a great sense of humor.

She is so smart and works hard at everything she does. She is dedicated, independent, a very loyal friend.

As I write this, she only has one more year at home, so I'm trying to take advantage of the time I have left.

Happy birthday, Karis!

The DAY AFTER these pictures were taken, we had to go into a 72 mandatory lockdown.

It was the end of Ramadan, and numbers were rising. 

We had a graduation party planned for Kylie that was supposed to take place in 6 days, so we held our breath!

Not Your Average Graduation Photos

On May 18, 2020, Kylie drove around town with a new girl we were introduced to who said she would be glad to take Kylie's graduation pictures. We are thankful for Ashley Eleazar and her photography skills and for the colorful and unique city backdrop that provided us with some beautiful pictures.

They started out at the city center where colorful crafts are sold and then moved to places less colorful but just as unique.

What a blessing she could be en pointe two years after her injury (and before her surgery in America)

May 18, 2020

Kylie, you are a beautiful person, and I love seeing how He is moving in your life. 

Happy graduation a year late :)

Locked In?

On May 10, 2020, we decided to do some "talking" as we walked around the old city. 

This particular day, our "talking" was answered, and we met a family, which started some Good-news chain of events.

There weren't a ton of people out, but it was so nice to be outside.

And on any given day, I normally wouldn't have taken pictures flowers, but I saw these on my photo roll and realized I must have just been really excited to get out and be in "nature" this particular day.

May 10, 2020

As if "lockdown" wasn't enough, Caleb decided to go for "locked in."

The story, as I understand it, is that Caleb, Doug, and Karis were in the kitchen, 

and Caleb told Karis he didn't want her to leave, so he locked the door.

Karis said she was leaving and walked over to simply unlock the key in the door.

Caleb told her if she got closer, he would throw the key under the door...

and that is exactly what he did.

He tried using a pen and a toothbrush (as evidenced in the picture) to get the key but to no avail.

That's when the hollering started.

We were upstairs, but eventually we heard them, and Keira saved the day.

I was laughing too hard to help, but I decided to document it with a picture.

May 17, 2020