Happy December

Wow, I did it! I missed I few days here and there, but for the most part, got the month of November covered. Amazing how it flew by too!

Well, December 1st is here and the festivities start. I hope all of you have a wonderful month filled with friends and laughter and that you take some time to stop and remember the reason and meaning of it all. Which makes me remember the title of my blog....Save Your Fork....remember that something better is coming. After the meal you save your fork so that you can have dessert. There is an eternity after this, and just as November flew by in a flash our lives are going to fly by and we are going to leave this earth to meet our maker. So, Save Your Fork....

Our finite minds cannot begin to imagine what eternity will be like. Just imagine the beautiful scenery on this earth, the amazing sunsets, the most imaginative animals, the white pristine beaches with amazingly clear blue water, the grand canyon at sunrise....so many amazing things here on earth, it is hard to imagine that anything could be better. But that is nothing for a God who spoke it all into existence! Wow! I can't wait for dessert! :-)

Tuesday, November 30

Oh, it will be a nice day when I don't have to change or buy diapers anymore. I would be curious to know how much I have spent and will spend on diapers, although I am sure if I found out, I would be sick. So I will just remain ignorant and blissful and be thankful for these land-fillers that make my life easier. (sorry to those of you who are environmentally conscious) Our friends in India couldn't afford to use diapers, so it made me aware of how I take SO many little things for granted.

Dirty Eggs....

This is such a gross thing that is a reality in most of the world except the U.S. Some people wash their eggs before they use them, but in our house, where time is precious....we just leave 'em with skids. :-) Another thing to be thankful for when in the U.S., clean eggs and quality standards.

Monday, November 29

Not such a great pic, but Caleb got one of me putting up the Christmas tree. I don't think I have ever gotten a Christmas tree up so early. In fact, I think this is only the second year I have actually even put up a tree. But now everyday the boys are asking if Christmas is going to be tomorrow. I now understand the reason for advent calenders. :-)

Our beautiful tree.

Sunday, Nov. 28

We took a walk downtown today to get out of the house. Here is sergeant Caleb and his faithful sidekick Judah. Caleb found these matching shirts in a box of clothes that we got from their cousins in TX. (Thank you!!!)

Who needs a double stroller? This is nothing, you should see Caleb and Judah sit on each other's laps in our umbrella stroller.

Saturday, Nov 27

The Citadel

Amman, Jordan

Saturday we went to the Citadel with some friends who were going to take a family pic and thought we would hijack the idea. The kids had a blast running all over the place and climbing all over the big rocks.

Friday, November 26

Seven years ago today we were getting on an airplane headed to Asia. Hard to believe! Sometimes it is hard to believe we have been out of the US that long, and at the same time it seems like a lifetime ago. I found this picture from our commissioning, but was not able to find any pics from our first days over seas. I remember we gave away all our things and packed up all our belongings into 4 duffel bags. Wow! I know we flew into Katmandu Nepal and were there for about a week and then took a bus to India, not sure of where we were going to be living. Since then we have been all over the place and have definitely accumulated a bit more then 4 duffel bags full of stuff. In fact, our duffel bags have turned into kids and we have multiplied quite a bit. So thankful for these last 7 years and God's faithfulness to us. I could share SO many cool stories, but I will save them for another time.

Ok, picture for the day...We had about 13 adults and 14 kids at our house for Thanksgiving. It was a bit of chaos, but lot's of fun!! Here's a pic of the kiddos...and the next one of Isaac sleeping in the midst of the chaos.

Thursday, Nov 25

Happy Thanksgiving! My first turkey turned out great! It was SO cute because Caleb was so excited about the turkey and kept bringing everyone into the kitchen to see when they arrived. The cutest was when his friend Levi came in and looked so confused and said, "I've never seen a turkey like that! Have you ever seen the round ones?" Turns out that "round turkeys" are turkey lunch meat. So cute!

(ok, so we actually celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday here because Thanksgiving day is just like any other day here and Mike and the kids had school, and I forgot to take a picture on Thursday...so I am cheating :-)

Wednesday, November 24

Our new layout for Thanksgiving celebrations!

I moved all the furniture around while Mike and the boys were at school. Fun! Having the table in that other room makes me realize I really need stuff on my walls!

Tuesday, November 23

5 Months Already!!! Oh My!

I didn't stage this picture, I just thought that it's what it looks like they are both saying, don't ya think? Isaac is 5 months old today! Wow, how time really does fly. He is getting so big and is still such a good baby. He doesn't cry much, sleeps through the night, smiles a lot, and puts up with lots of little guys in his face all the time. We were talking yesterday about how he is either going to be a really tough kid, or a big whiner. I definitely hope for the first option, but one thing I am realizing as a parent is a lot of what we hope for our kids is up to them. Before having kids, raising kids seemed to be a pretty straight forward simple thing, oh my, how I was deceived!

Monday, Nov.22

The boys have recently been wanting to style their hair into a mohawk for school and you know how they say, "Pick your battles", well this is one I am choosing not to fight with them about. Actually they look kind of cute in a silly way, and I am hoping that the phase will pass into something that is not worse. But for now, here they are with their karate poses and silly hair! The young guys around town have this style for their hair where they brush it all to stand on end and they must use some kind of strong gel to get it to stay that way. It looks way worse then the mohawk and I will have to try and get a picture sometime.

Sunday, Nov.21

We had a week off of school around here because it has been a Muslim holiday called Eid Adha, so today was the first day back to school for Caleb and Judah. Not sure if Mason enjoys having the boys gone or not. He does get more of my undivided attention, but he does get bored not having his older brothers around to pick on him. I definitely enjoy the quieter house and being able to get some things done without having to break up fights. :-)

Sat. Nov.20

Wow, the excitement continues! Here I am living in a far off country, and this is all I've got for you. Two pots on the stove! Wow, Heather you are too much!

Ok, the story with the pots is that it has started getting cold around here and with the cold weather, it has been super dry. So, I looked online to see if I could make my own humidifier and the suggestion was to put pots of water in the room at night. So, this is my attempt. Not sure if it will work, but anything can be better then the dryness now. (Did it and not sure if I noticed a difference or not.)

Friday, Nov. 19

Trying to take a picture a day has made me realize a few things.....1) How incredibly boring and mundane my life is at times, 2) How I am not a very good photographer, 3) At the times that there could be a very cool photo, I have not taken my camera with me. At any rate....I will continue and try to see if I can make the rest of the month a bit more interesting. So, today was laundry day. The task that is never ending in this house and if we let up for a day or two seem to get ourselves in trouble. Anyway, here is mound of clothes on the couch waiting to be folded. Oh the excitement!!!

Thursday, Nov 18

This is Mason at the bathroom door while Mike is trying to take a shower. Usually I am on the other side of the bathroom door trying to take a shower and this is Mason at the other side, wiggling the door handle trying to get in. His brothers have actually figured out that if they get a knife from the kitchen they can get the door unlocked. Thankfully, he hasn't caught on to that one yet. It's cute when I am on this side.....not so cute when I am just trying to take a shower in peace. :-)

Wed, Nov. 17th

In light of the sickness in the house, I decided to make Chicken Noodle soup for dinner. It went over well with one child and Mike and I ate it, but it definitely left Mike feeling hungry, so......he went and got pizza.

Tuesday, November 16

In America we have Kleenex, but here in the Middle East they have Fine. Instead of saying, "Could you please pass me a Kleenex?" You say "3atini Fine, min fadlik" I have been wiping out the Fine in our house and hoping that this cold goes away soon. Yuck!

Needless to say, this Tuesday turned out to be a not so terrific Tuesday!

Monday, November 15

I think this is the day that sickness struck me. It has been passing through our family, and now I am the lucky recipient! Ugh....so no pic for today.

Sunday, November 14

First of all, let me say Happy Birthday Carrie!!!!! Today is my sister's birthday! Yay!

Today the boys went to school and had a party to celebrate the Eid. It is one of their big holidays here where they sacrifice a sheep or a goat and give the meat to the poor. Sadly I don't know too much more about it then that, and that the boys came home with little sheep hats, like this one. Caleb has one on in a later picture where he is laying next to Isaac.

We walked downtown tonight to get out of the house and get some fruit and we ate at a famous little hole in the wall restaurant here called, Hashem's. They serve Hummus, falafel, and foul(a bean dish) and the boys enjoyed themselves.

Friday & Saturday, November 12 & 13

Oops.....my camera ran out of batteries, and sometimes finding the charger to recharge the batteries and then a plug converter that will work, other then the one we use for the computer is a feat in itself. So, no pics for Friday and Saturday.

Thursday, Nov 11

Tea time! Judah stayed home sick from school today, so we had a tea party out in the garden. Even though I have a house full of boys, they love to have a tea party.

Wed, November 10

Thank God for naps. All my kids took naps at the same time today, and it was SO nice to get some things done around the house. Seriously, I think God created naps more so that mom could get a break then anything.

Tuesday, Nov. 9

Terrific Tuesdays!!!!

Ok, this was the 23rd picture of us that I took last night. I had forgotten to take a pic all day, so I decided to take one of Mike and I, and every time after we would take the picture, he would look at it and say "nope". Either his smile had gone stale, or his eyes were half closed or whatever. It was getting to be a bit funny, but finally we took this one, which I thought was alright. Anyway, I am deciding to start calling Tuesdays, terrific Tuesdays, because on Tuesday we have some friends who have offered to come over and babysit our kids and clean our house. Wow! You can't get things much better then that, right? So, for the first time in actually our whole married life, Mike and I have a regular date night, and it has been SO nice. God is so good!

Mon., Nov.8th

While the 2 older boys and Mike were at school, I was home with Mason and Isaac trying to get some things done. While I was in the kitchen cleaning up, Mason was in the living room watching a movie, although he was a little too quiet, so I had to check on what he was up to. But....this is how I found him.....zonked out in front of the TV.

Sunday, Nov. 7

Judah and Isaac in the morning before getting ready for school. Not much exciting happened this day, but I did manage to take a picture!

Saturday, Nov. 6

Here Mike is trying to get his homework done, with a porch full of boys. Not sure how much success he had, but we had a crazy day with the boys in the house all day, so we put them to bed at 6:30. They have school here on Sunday, so it was a school night. :-)

Eating zayt u za3tar on the front porch. It is a pizza dough with thyme, sesame, and olive oil. Very yummy and the boys love it!

Friday, November 5

The garage sale was a success and I sold most of my cinnamon rolls and Chai, so to celebrate the boys and I got in the car and headed downtown to get some movies. Right now we are borrowing a car of some friends that have gone to the US for a few months. God's provision continues to amaze me and His timing is perfect.

Here are some picture of downtown Amman, referred to as "The Balad". It is a much older and traditional part of town. Pictured below is a cafe called Jafra's that Mike and I have gone to on occasion. It is a great atmosphere to people watch and much cheaper then the West side of town.

The downtown Mosque

Here is a pic of Judah in the car while we were stopped in traffic. You can see the busy streets outside and the long dresses for sale in the shop outside.