Christmas in Egypt Video

You guys know I wouldn't go on vacation and not take the video camera. Here are the highlights of our trip through Jordan and Egypt this past week.


Christmas Highlight Video

Happy Holidays

We wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. B and I spent our Christmas holiday running around Egypt. Egypt is a good country..... Its really busy. Its a good place to visit, but I am very happy that we live where we live. It is so much more simple. It was a great test on how well we understand Arabic. Egyptians don't speak our dialect of Arabic. Best I can tell they speak Arabic like the Cajuns speak English.
We spent most taxi rides arguing over prices, dodging jaywalkers, and inhailing large amounts of smoke.
But with all that said, it was a wonderful trip. We hope you guys had a wonderful time with family and friends. We love all of you.
Dasha, we are soooo sorry. We got to Cairo and realized we didn't have your number. We are sooooooo sorry. We are horrible people.

Laundry Day Video

We had to do laundry. We had to. No more clothes. We also had guests coming to stay in two days, so we decided to do all of our laundry in one day. Then it rained, so we couldn't hang it all up on the roof. We had to improvise. I felt like I was living in a West Side Story scene. It was nuts for a couple of days, but it is all done. Watch and enjoy.


Laundry Day Video

Christmas Decorations Video

I must confess that this video was really just made on a need on my part and not out of the wanting to inform you guys or help you see a window into our lives. I just really felt like making a video and seeing, as it may be, that I am a horrible actor I need something inanimate to film.

Hence, the video on Christmas decorations. The song behind the video isn’t really a Christmas song, but several lines in this song grabbed me the other day, so I included it.

When thinking about the first Christmas night, it truly was “the night the world began again.” All of history past had been looking for this “new start” that Christ only can give, and history present and future cling to that “new start.” Truly through Christ’s birth the world began again.

The second line is, “the one, poor child that saved this world, and there is ten million more that probably could, if we all would stop and say a prayer for them.” I read this line and think of the potential of my child. (Christmas this year is a lot different from the Christmas past. I tend to think of the birth of a baby a little more often these days. Hmm I wonder why?) While Christ alone deserves the title “Savior,” think of what could become of my kid, or Jaden, or Emma Grace or any other of all the babies that have been born this year. Through the grace of God these will be the people that finish strong. The generation that will see peace reign, that see the borders of North Korea and Saudi open up to the Truth, that see gas prices soar above $10.00 a gallon. J So this songs takes my mind of the here and now and puts me praying for the world my kids and all the rest of “you that are trying to over populate the world”’s kids will live in. It gets me praying for my kid and that “Baby Bull” will run the race better, longer, and closer to our Father than I ever do. I am praying that Baby Bull plays a part in “saving the world.”

So, I am really sorry about all that. I am not even a father yet and I rambling on and on and Baby Bull doesn’t even have a SSN yet. Sorry, I can’t promise anything. It’s probably going to get worse.

So back to here and now, I needed something to make a video of e.i.: Christmas decorations; and a song to put on it e.i.: Better Days. So I just needed a creative outlet and you can suffer through it.

Cheers!


The Christmas Decorations Video

Baby Bull

For all of you that are looking at the banner for the website and are a bit confused. We would like to announce the expected arrival of “Baby Bull.” Due to the fact that we don’t know if he is a she, or she is a he. We are going to do away with the use of misleading pronouns and just call the baby “Baby Bull.” Baby Bull will be here around mid to late July. We are very excited and are going to do our best to keep all you guys informed on what is going on.

Every Public Speakers Nightmare

Being that I am learning a new language, I am sure that I have slip ups like this everyday. I just don't know enough of the language to be able to understand what I just said. I know you will enjoy this.


Pitching Tents Near Sodom Video

I Learned a New Word Today

I was in a taxi heading home from another day of school and a trip out to the American Embassy again, to pick another form and to fill out. Needless to say, it had been an experience. The embassy always takes something out of me. I guess the fact that they don’t let you go to the gift shop without an invitation or an employee of the embassy. I don’t know. I keep thinking, “Wait, this is my embassy. Why can’t I go to my own gift shop?” Anyway back to my taxi ride.

On the major street through our neighborhood there is a fairly big and rather nice median. It has trees planted in it and a place for you to stand to avoid the millions of drivers zooming in and out of traffic. At the traffic light the median stops and beyond the traffic light they are building one. Today I thought that maybe that would be a good conversation started, so I said, “That is going to look nice when they are done with it yeah?” Well, obliviously my Arabic stinks because I was talking with my hands and apparently the driver thought I said, “NO! QUICK PULL A U-TURN AND STOP HERE!!!!” So, of course what happened? He pulled a u-e and nearly killed us.

I wet myself and then went on to tell him that I didn’t live here and I wanted to go straight. He looked at my like I was stupid and then commenced to back down the street we just came down the wrong way until he could turn around to go the correct way. Yeah, I nearly died....... Twice!

The good news is that I learned what to call the median in the road. I still don’t know the word for it, but I know how to say “between” now. So next time I will say, “Hey, what do you call that thing “between” the two streets?” I never knew a simple word could save lives.

He Was Injured Video

I obtained this video from a friend. Feel free to watch it over and over and over again. It will brighten any day.


He was Injured Video

The Sky is Falling

Due to the change of weather and the fact that we think the Middle is always hot and dry. We decided to make a video. Remember this a joke video, so if the acting looks really bad, remember...er....we meant to do like that.

The Sky is Falling Video

Quirks at the Grocery Store

I found this humorous, so I thought you might laugh with us. Because of the recent bombings in our city we have had an increase in security in many of the more populated places in town. i.e. the mall. We have to go through a metal detector and then get patted down before entering the mall. No big deal. I understand.

Today we went to Safeway to pick up some groceries for our potluck supper tonight. That’s right, I said potluck. Apparently it is an international plague sweeping from country to country. That’s right, hide your wee ones. This post may be too graphic for the shorties.

Anyway….back to Safeway...
We picked up our cart outside the store and ran by the ATM to pick up some money. The ATM is right by the main entrance in the patio area. Well, Safeway has obvisouly bumped up their security as well. They are now the proud owners of a brand new metal detector for the door. Well that’s peachy and all, but the shopping carts here are made of metal. So put this image in your mind. B and I are standing by the ATM and women after women are flowing into Safeway with the shopping carts. BEEEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEEEEP, goes the metal detector. I put my debit card in. BEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEEP goes the metal detector. I am serious. These are not just the normal, “oops I walked through and my belt buckle set it off for a split second. I am talking about loud, 2 to 3 second longs beeps. So we get our money and are ready to run through and make the machine go BEEEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEEEEP. We walk through and guess what? There isn’t a soul on the other side that is checking people. I mean I could have walked through there with a ton of explosives on me and it would have gone off, but no one was there.

I love this country. It has all the latest technology.

Arabs apparently don’t bag well either. You go to Wal-Mart in the States and the cashier tries to put your cheese in the same bag with your dryer sheets you can through a fit and its okay. If they smash your bread you can complain, but not here…oh no. No pre-hiring sacker training, no long list of do’s and don’ts. Nothing. They always seem to mix it all up smash our bread and use as many bags as possible.

We walked out of there today and I was thinking, “Man, these are a lot of bags. I didn’t think we got that much stuff.” Well turns out we didn’t. I had bought two sticks of deodorant. I found a kind of like so I bought two. You never know about availability here. You had better get it when you find it. Last week they had Fritos. This week.. yup, you guessed it. No Fritos. But, both of my deodorants were in bags by themselves. The hot sauce was a loner too. We did however get both the milks in the same bag.

Like I said before, “I love this country!”

Some Things are Just Easier in the States

If something goes wrong with you computer what do you do? You call the 800 Customer Services line and get on hold for several hours then finally talk to someone and eventually it gets fixed. Not bad. If you need to book a flight you go to Travelocity or a travel agent and take care of it. Not bad eh? This is a collection of stories that make life here really funny/frustrating.

Dell doesn't ship here
Did you know that if you get an international warranty that it may just be a "semi-international" warranty? A friend’s Dell computer came down with a cold and so we called Dell's 800 number from here to get them to get someone out here to fix it. That's what you do with an international warranty. Well, after four hours they told us they can't send someone out, and they can't ship to our country because of export clause. They can export to Israel, so if we can get to Israel they can ship the parts. Well that’s great. We would love to go through war zones to pick up a bunch of computer parts only to drive through the war zones again just to try to put them in ourselves. Yeah, great idea. Not!!!! As of right now the computer is still sick and various ideas are being hatched on getting it to surgery.

The American Embassy
I am an American Citizen! I am. I carry an American Passport and speak Texas English. I look like an American and definitely sound like an American. I had to run to the Embassy here to get more pages put in my passport (yes, I am very proud of that). Well our embassy here looks like a huge fortress. Going in I had to go through two pat downs and several metal detectors and they scanned my bags twice and took my mobile and my iPod. They all tried to talk to me in Arabic and weren’t very nice. I was thinking, “Hey, this is my embassy! What am I going to do to it?” Well I get in and I don’t see a single white person! Everybody there was Arab. Even in the citizen section. I thought that was cool, but it really was a bit aggravating. I thought I was going to be able to talk to an Embassy person in English without an accent. Nope. I was wrong. Even the magazines in the waiting room were in Arabic.
Well the next day I had to come back to pick up my passport and they looked at me real suspicious when I said I was a citizen but I didn’t have my passport because it was inside. Again I think, “Hmmm… if it looks like a American, talks like an American, and is trying to get in the American Embassy, then what do you think he is?” But I got in and retrieved my passport, therefore all is well.

Another Embassy Story
I am trying to get a transit visa through one of our neighboring countries to I can visit some friends on the other side. If I do this then I pay 80 bucks for a bus ticket instead of 350 bucks for a plane ticket. If you think the American Embassy story was bad. This place had a huge steel gate that you go and knock on. Then they open a little eye hole and ask what you want. If they don’t like you or what you want doesn’t make sense then they shut it and game over. If you say something that makes some reasonable sense then they let you continue to talk. Then they tell you no and shut the eye whole. Out of three weeks of trying by several of us, only one of us has gotten in, but that was only to be told that we came at the wrong time and come back earlier in the morning. This week I went and they told me to go across the street and check there. I got and they tell me that I have to go to my embassy. So while I was there at my embassy I asked and of course I was struggling with the lady there because she, as I said before, had a thick accent. Eventually I got the point though: they said that they couldn’t help me. So…I gave up.

Yeah Right! You know how stubborn I am. So I called the Embassy that was in D.C. and guess what? They apparently just have a phone number for grins, because they don’t answer it. But I’ve got a few more cards to play and we will see.

Travel Agents
So in light of my troubles with transit visas I thought it wise to reserve airline tickets. I went to my travel agent and in a rough conversation with my broken Arabic and her heavy accented English I was able to get the tickets reserved. A week late I had to come back and change the dates. Well she told me that they didn’t have any flights the day before. I asked if she was sure and she said that she was sure. So I gave up again. And then I went home and check with her website for the airline company. Yeah, I found flights for the dates I wanted.

In Conclusion
Life here is a big miscommunication. If Dell could understand that Israel is dangerous and we ain’t going there, if the American Embassy security guards would let me into my own embassy without treating me like a criminal, and if I could speak Arabic then all my lives problems would be solved. Well at least I would know what’s going on then. But if that happens, then what are you guys going to be able to laugh about.

Quirks of the Life

Winter has landed. We are living a house with no central heating. Our house, well all house here, are made of cinder blocks. There is literally no insulation. Our houses closely resemble stone ovens in the summer and coolers in the winter. We are cold! It is colder in our house than it is outside. And get this we only have luke-warm water in the bathtub. We do dishes in our cold water. Our hands are frozen. For heating we have Sawbas. They are similar to the old gas space heaters some houses have back in the States. These have wheels and a space to set a gas can on the back, so it is portable. So we thought it would be fun to tell you some of our quirks. These are best if you can picture our faces as we encounter such obstacles.

Dishes
In order to do dishes with semi hot water we have to take our big pot and set it in the tub and fill it up with hot water. This is quite difficult to lug a pot of hot water back and forth between the bathroom and the kitchen.

We also have poor water pressure in the sink. Things that are difficult to rinse like strainers and big pots that don’t fit in the sink we have to take to the shower to rinse off because the water pressure it better.

Showers
Remember I said we only had luke warm water. Imagine a freezing cold tile house and picture a shower that is pretty wide open and only luke-warm water. By the time the water gets to you it is cold. To solve this we push one of our Sawbas into our little bathroom and crank it up. This is the only way we can manage without getting pneumonia.

It could be worse. We are thankful for our house and all the great “character building” we are going through.

A Suicide Bomber At The American Embassy

Before you freak out read the story.

The American Embassy here looks more like a fortress than a diplomatic building: high walls, security, the works. Yesterday we had house group and one of our members came in and was sweating and looked a little flushed. He went on to tell the story of “The Suicide Bomber at the American Embassy.”

That morning he needed to go to the Embassy to get more pages put in his passport. He had he backpack around his shoulder and his passport in his back pocket. He picked up a taxi and headed to the embassy. He had the taxi pull right up to the security gate so he could get out and pull out his passport and go in. He paid the taxi and got out. The taxi pulled off and he reached in his back pocket for his passport, and guess what!?! No passport. He checked again. No passport. He threw his bag down by the gate and took off running after the taxi.

I want to pull the attention away from him now and think of what the guards saw. A man got out of a taxi, looked at the gate, threw down a bag, and took off running. The guards went stiff.
Well he eventually flagged down the taxi and got his passport out of the cab and walked back the 100 yards to the gate where the guards were obviously very suspensions of him. Needless to say the thought of losing your passport and being an alleged suicide bomber in the same day took a lot out of him.

Tell Me What To Do

I have a plethora of material I could put on a blog during any given week. Anything from funny stories of me failing at language learning, really funny stories of my friends learning the culture, to be great conversations with the family, to deep theological truths the LORD is teaching me, with an occasional video thrown in. The problem comes with that I only have so much time to update this and I can’t put everything. I know that this blog only will be read by you guys if you get what you want from me.

If I put nothing but theology I will lose some of you. If I plant nothing but silly, stupid stories some will think I’ve done absolutely nothing since I’ve been, and if I tell too many stories about the people I meet I’ve blown security and could be on the next plane home.

So here is the deal: I need you to comment and tell me your vote.

It’s the people’s choice awards in a sense. Would you rather have:

Theology
Funny Stories
Stories of Friends
Pictures of Everything
A Video for Everything, even stupid stuff.

Let me know.

We Have A New Nephew Video!

We have a new nephew! Jaden Dakota was born on Friday. We are so excited! I recommend this video to everyone no matter how long it takes to download.


Jaden Dakota Nowell Video


This footage was shot by my father who was there. This experience thus far has been the hardest things to experience overseas. Watching our family celebrate and the only way we get to experience it is through a video. But praise God. Every good and perfect thing comes down from the Father of the heavenly light. And Jaden is definately a good gift as well as the technology to allow us to see him only hours after his birth via camera. God is good.

Shikkin Buub

I wish this was my story. This happened to a friend that I go to school with, but I am going to tell it in first person just the same.

I went into a restaurant the other day to grab some food. I’ve been learning to read Arabic, so I try to read the Arabic script first and then if I can’t do it I revert back to the English.

So I am scanning my options when I come across in Arabic, “shikkin buub.” I was thinking, “What the heck?” I know most of my foods by now and I’ve never heard of shikkin buub. So I asked the waiter, “What’s this?” He told me it was jaaj and then it hit me. Jaaj is the Arabic word for chicken. You got it yet?

This was a transliteration from English to Arabic. This restaurant wasn’t serving “shikkin buub.” It was serving, and I kid you not, “chicken boobs.” Apparently grilled chicken breasts had gotten switched and shortened to chicken boob in the translation. Haha, I love this country!

Are All Muslims Terrorists?

The quick easy answer is, "no, of course not." I am probably the most pro-Arab person I know. I know that most people in the west have a skewded perspective of the Arab world and tend to lean towards the "shoot first, apologize second, and then maybe ask why later." So anyway, I am going to try to keep this as middle of the road as possible without jumping on my soapbox on how stupid, ignorant, and agrogant Americans are. :) Take that with a grain of salt please. Remember I am talking about us, myself included.

So back to me being pro-Arab. I love them, but I, as most foriegners, tend to look and think of them or any civilization as maybe a little primitive or "rough around the edges." So today the Lord used this guy to bring me back down from my Crusaders ego and "liberating the Holy Land from the infidels" mentality.

So I hopped in Nasel's cab today and on the dash was a picture of his two sons. They were cute! They were 4 years and 16 months I think. They were standing next to each other and they were in they little suits and their little matching ties. I asked him about them and his face lit up and he talked my ears off about them. The little one is getting to where he is talking everyone's ear off and how good they are and on and on and on in Arabic using words that I haven't learned yet, but I could definately tell I was talking to a proud Papa.

This was a glimpse of what I need to learn from them. I may have the answers on how to get to heaven, but I am telling you, I don't have all the answers on how to live heaven here on earth. This guy, even though he is a Muslim, had something that could only be from God. Every good and perfect gift comes from above from the Father of Lights (James 1:17) He knew that by the way he loved his children. I have a lot to learn about life and priorities from these people. The funny thing is that almost every Muslim I've met has been the same way. They want you to know how much they love their kids and what they are doing.

If you think all Muslims are terrorists than you obvisously have never met a Muslim.

Silicon Cookware Saved My Life!

Let me start off this story with a preface on the postal system here. The more you know about it the more remarkable and realistic the title of this blog becomes.

The postal system here is…..corrupt and terribly insufficient. They don’t have physical addresses here. If you want mail, you get a P.O. Box. With that it guarantees the Post Office has control. They process goes like this: If you get something that is to big for you box, then you have to go down to the main post office to retrieve it. You go upstairs to a guy that takes you slip and gives you another slip. You then go to a guy who looks at your new slip of paper and then sends you back to the “box room” where you give your slip to a guy who gets your box. Then you go back to the same guy who sent you into the “box room” and he sends you to a long line. Here the guy opens your box and looks in it. Usually you are charged a “custom’s tax.” I don’t know how legit this is, but you may end up paying up the 30 US dollars to get a package out of the post office, if they let you take everything with you. Most people stop by the ATM before going to the post office. Get the picture?

So, today we got that slip that says that we had to go to the post office and get shuffled around. I was a bit hesitant but everything ran really smooth. We finally got to the guy and he opened up the box and what did he find? Silicon cookware! Its floppy and folds up and is ideal for travel. Does it work? Of course! Does he know what it is? Nope!

You should have seen his face when he pulled out a floppy muffin tin and a floppy cookie sheet. He just looked at me like, “what is this stuff?” I told him that it was the oven. He held it up and yelled out the all his buddies, “Hey, look at this! This is for your oven!” They loved it. Then he let us go. For free! With all of it. I don’t whether he just thought it was stupid and wouldn’t work or that it was so cool that he let us have it, but whatever the reason…..

Silicon cookware saved my life!

The Umayyad Palace Ruins Video

This is a video of our search for the Dead Sea Scrolls. We found them. The musuem is in the midst of the ruins from the Romans, and early Islamic Period ancestors in this region. It is on the hill in the midst of the city. Great place to see the city.


Umayyad Palace Ruins Video

Shopping At Ramadan

Ramadan is upon us. The best way to describe this event without taking a whole post is to say that is a month long daytime only fast. Fast when the sun is up and feast while the sun is down. It has the feeling of Christmas and the food like Thanksgiving.

Today we had to run to the store to pick up the essentials. . .Coke, sugar, cheese, more coke, some candy. . .you know, all the important/healthy stuff. Well, have you ever been to Wal-Mart the Wednesday before Thanksgiving? Do you recall the huge masses of people?

Imagine something similar to that, but with Arabs. Arabs don’t have several key attributes that we seem to find important in the West: patience, the use of deodorant, or the ability to form lines. Not only that but they have huge families, and not only that they are shopping for food to feed those huge families for the equivalent of 30 Thanksgivings! Moms had their carts with their kids pushing the other carts. It was mayhem.

We made it out. We are alive and I plan to go back with a camera and try to capture this amazing site on camera for all to see. Expect to see “The Crowds At Cosmos” coming up this next week. Inshallah.

The Birds In The Window Video

This is video of the baby birds outside our window. I know this has really nothing to do with anything, but I just wanted to put together a video of something so here it is.


The Birds In the Window

Little Kids Playing Video

I was doing the dishes (yes, I do the dishes sometimes) and I spotted these boys playing outside about three buildings down, so I grabbed my camera and ran up to the roof. You need to take a look at this. Most of the kids you know this age are in their rooms playing Playstation and veggin in front of the TV. These kids are livin' it up. Check it out.

Kids and the Tire Video

An Arabic Lesson Learned, A Good Laugh Had By All

This is another one of my Arabic mess ups:

Feel free to laugh out loud at me, all the Arabs mentioned below did and probably still are.

Arabic has a root word for nouns and adjectives. It then adds things or rearranges things for the masculine singular, or the feminine singular, or the dual tense, and the plural. So for each noun and/or adjective you could have as many as four words to memorize. So here is my mistake.

Sometimes after school B goes out with a girl or girls from school and goes shopping or to buy fruit or things like this. When I come home alone the family we live with (henceforth: The Family) always ask, “Where is Bethany?” So I’ve always told them, “Hiyyi ma9 sadiiqha (She is with her friend)” Mama always smiles and just leaves it alone when I tell her that. This has been going on for the past month.

Tonight it all hit the fan. One of Mama’s daughters that live in another town came to visit and Mama evidently told her what I would say about where Bethany was. Then they laughed and told the rest of The Family sitting on the porch. Well, apparently I’ve been using the masculine word for friend instead of the feminine word for friend. So I should be saying, “Hiyyi ma9 sadiiqitha” See the difference? A little "it" makes a big difference. Do you see where I am headed?

For the past month when people have been asking me where’s Bethany, instead of saying, “she is with her friend.” I’ve been saying, “she is with her boyfriend.”

So the past month The Family has been laughing about the mystery boyfriend that Bethany has that her husband not only knows about, but obviously approves of.

More bloopers to come. Allah kariim (God is generous)

Yes, I Have A Mustache

I just want to go on the record and say that I personally would rather not have a mustache. I would rather not look a bad flashback to the 80s. This is one of my many lessons I am learning on "cross cultural communications" You know....fitting in with the people you are trying to reach.
All of you "youth people" know what I am talking about. You guys get to wear cargo khaki shorts and flip-flops and do the cool little "front tuck" with all of you designer T-shirts that say something off the wall and look like they've been wash a hundred times before you even buy them.
I am wearing pants, button down shirts and growing out mustaches...... I am realizing that life here ain't a walk in the park. I am just commenting on how funny we are as people. I didn't mind dressing like a youth or a college student when I worked with them. Why? Because I was in style! I could walk into Wal-Mart and not look like a state trooper!
But all of a sudden I am here and I am freaking out because I have to wear a mustache. Its really not a big thing you know? I just have a mustache and I fit in that much better. But this has been a great lesson for me on whether or not I want to be "cool" in my own American perspective of what "cool" is, or do I want to do all I can, in speech, deed, or dress to knock down as many barriers as I can between the people here and myself. This has been a tool in the hands of the LORD to show me my selfishness and dependance on what other people think. I pray that I will let the LORD make me "the fool" in order to make Himself known to these people.

I feel the mustache is just the first of the "anti-cool" things I am going to have to embrace in order to be effective, so when we get back to the States sooner or later... Please don't treat us like fashion rejects. Just hug us and realize that we......well.....are out of touch.

P.S. I know that my noise is crooked. I, nor my family, nor the doctors have a clue on when or why that happened. In Arabic the word for this is, "hayk" (that's just the way it is).

Things We Miss About America

Last week B and I got together and made a list of things we missed. This is not exhaustive or inclusive or in particular order.

· Air conditioning
· Automatic washer and dryer
· Dishwashers
· Traffic rules
· Wal-mart
· Temperature control knobs on the oven
· Hot water at the kitchen sink
· No water restrictions
· Carpet
· Upright vacuums
· Flushing Toilet Paper
· Microwaves
· Green stuff, shade, trees, flowers for sale in all the stores
· Kraft Mac & Cheese
· Ham
· 5lb. ground beef logs
· Corn tortilla chips
· Taco Bell
· Sonic
· Whataburger
· Well,… any fastfood place at all really
· Bags of Salad
· Frozen Broccoli
· Dr. Pepper
· Strawberries
· Miles and Pounds
· Barnes & Noble

Drive to School Video

This is what we go through every morning to get to school. I tried to keep the camera steady, but it is a bit shakey. Enjoy.

Drive To School Video

It's Like We Are Almost Home

Today was what I would say was almost a normal day. We slept in then B cooked a great meal of baked potatoes w/ground beef and cheese. I drank a Dr. Pepper. It was almost normal. Something else was interesting. It took awhile to notice though. The sky just seemed different today than most days. Then it hit us: We had clouds today for the first time since we've been here. I'm serious. We had clouds in the sky! They are big, white, and puffy. I know that doesn't sound amazing to most people, but you don't notice how boring a dusty blue sky is until you have something to break the monotany of it.
The weather man promises rain next weekend, but I think its a joke, we will see.

Beware of the Black Thread!

Last week I went and got my first haircut in Arabic. Ha! That is something everyone should experience. Everyone should have to try to describe, "yeah, gimme a 6 on the sides and the top just long enough to comb" in Arabic. Well it worked out fine. My bangs were a bit long, so in the mornings it looked like I had contracted the 80s "big bangs" disease.
After the haircut he gave me Elvis sideburns. You know the ones that come to a point and look similiar to boots.
Then he said something to me in Arabic that I didn't really understand. He was holding this black thread. I guess my dumb look is very similiar to the Arabic look for, "yeah, go ahead, I don't care" because before I knew it he was on me with this thread. What they do is use this thread to pull out random hairs along your cheeks and eyebrows. They spin this thread along the skin and voila! Instant hair removal. But did I mention the excrusiating pain. It caught me so off guard. I was kicking and screaming and yelling. I was in pain! It was like those experiences in elementary school when the bully would grap your nipple and twist and say, "Whistle and I will let go!" No matter how good you are at whistling your brain is screaming so loud you just can't remember how to whistle. This was the same way. My brain was screaming so loud that I couldn't remember the Arabic word for pain, or stop, or quit, or I hate you, nothing....the only thing I could manage was.....aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!
Well the little kid next up in the shop died laughing. He literally fell out of his chair laughing at me. He was still laughing as I was leaving. His dad definately had a good time with it as well, but he was a little more understanding. He just shook his head.
So, the moral of this sad tale of whoa is this: stay away from the black thread. Do this and you will live longer and live happier.

Dance The Night Away Video

I wanted you guys to see a video of some of our entertainment last night. These are two of the girls from the family that we live with.

Our Entertainment Last Night

Dr. Pepper Isn't A Fish You Can Catch

I just wanted to make it know that I have found Dr. Pepper! However I will know be drinking it often. This particular can was bottled in Plano, TX. and was imported. Therefore it is about $1.20 per can. It is good to know though that when I really need one. I can get one.

Night Wedding Video

Hey, its been awhile since we showed you guys a video. However, this video isn't very good. It was made on a whim with little artistic thought put into it. It also is a bit shakey. Not for the faint of heart. :)

Wedding Video

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Funny Story:
B and I were sitting on the couch relaxing and enjoying a quite afternoon. I really mean it. It was quiet. You will appreciate silence more when you never experience it. Anyways, this was, for some reason, a quiet afternoon.
We hear the noise of someone coming up the stairs. It is quiet again and then we hear, "Cla-toon." This is Arabic for my name. Either that or "Clinton." I am getting to where I just introduce myself as Clinton, because it is easier. They all know how to say Clinton, because of our former president.
Well, this particular "Cla-toon" sounded alot like the 9 year old that lives next door, so we call out, "ahlan (come in/welcome/hello)" as I am making my way to the door a boy walks in. A boy I have never seen before in my life. He says, "Cla-toon, wayn Bulos (Clayton, where is Bulos{the kid next door})" I told him I didn't know and to check downstairs, so he ran off and we haven't seen him since.
So this place is very much like Cheers, because its "where everybody knows your name."

The New Addition to the Neighborhood

I apologize for the recent posts' lack of pictures. I know you guys need pics, so I thought appropriate to include one of our recent additions. We have this guy and his two donkeys and herd of goats. He was heading down the street when we saw him this morning. We have a donkey also that likes to raid our dumpster. We really want to get a picture of him, but he is crafty and doesn't allow himself to be caught in the act. We will keep searching and supply you guys with the evidence as soon as we get it.

Stupid Americans and Backgammon

There are tons of things I could comment on: Relgion, the weather, how I am doing in school, the latest crazes, but I thought one of my "stupid American" stories would be good today.

The thing to do in the evening here is to go out on this one street that is lined with open air coffee shops and just sit, drink, and talk. You can get a backgammon board and just sit, drink something and play backgammon. Their backgammon boards are huge and ornate and made of olive wood with mother of pearl inlayden and they are just a beautiful work of art. More on this later.

The Story:
A couple of nights ago me and a buddy head out to sit and drink coffee and see if we could maybe meet some new friends and enjoy a "guys night out." We stake out our table and have a seat. We order two cocktails (banana, mango, strawberry) drinks. We sit for a while and then try to ask for a backgammon board. Did you know that backgammon isn't a cross cultural word? They has no clue what we said, so we had to resort to a game of gestures, which didn't really work. The tables nearby began to get involved and try to help or guess what was going on. Finally we get the point across and they bring us back......

a little kiddy board, that is broken and missing the pieces and made of plastic. The whole place was roaring with laughter. It was like asking for a bike and getting one with training wheels on it. It was so........funny? Needless to say, I 've learned my lesson. I will always remember the Arabic word for backgammon......ta'wiila.

So laugh you head off! Because that won't be the last time I do something stupid or use the wrong word. More to come from this stupid American.

The Exploding Whale

In Oregon several years ago a huge dead whale washed up on show. The Oregon Transportation Department descided the best way to deal with problem was to blow it up! Its all on video! Its not goury or gross. It shows the whole thing from afar, but it was a huge mistake on their part. You have to watch to find out more. Click on the title above or Click Here

Hashmi Shmali Video

Here it is! Thank you all for waiting so patiently. Here is our apartment. It is a rather large file, so you have two options for your downloading pleasure. For you hi-speed DSL “let’s get this quick” type of people, we have a DSL size/quality video. For you Dial-up “I will get this eventually” type of people, that don’t mind going with a smaller/lower quality we have a video for you. If you happen to be a “let’s get this quick” type of person on a “get this eventually” connection…I feel your pain and better luck next time in the Internet game of Life.

For the “Let’s Get This Quick” Types

For the “It Will Download Eventually” Types

Please feel free to leave you comments, questions, and insults by clicking on the "Comments" link in the lower righthand corner of this post.

Today was my first day at school. Arabic School. It was like being in kindergarten again. We talked about letters and how to pronounce things and had a little school assembly. Its really odd, because the school just recently moved into an old kindergarten building, so it fits.
I have three differents periods in the morning. Bethany and I aren't in the same class, so its fun to listen to her first day and her class compared to my class. We are covering the same material. We just have different teachers. Here is a picture of all my books for this semester. These are just my books. B has her own set just like this one. So for all of you thinking we have it easy, I will coin a very good Arabic phrase.."go sweep the desert!" :)

Headaches of a Foriegn Land

We have had for several days and ready to post a video of our apartment, so you can marvel at the wonders of our living conditions. Sadly enough, we are experiencing what we might call, "technical difficulties" with certain fickle "technical things"
We apologize and urge our faithful and loyal viewers to keep checking in for the ever-so-promised, yet ever-so-illusive, "apt. video"

Video Blog Try

This is our first attempt at a the "blog cam" so if it works then great.
We don't have any cool videos at this point, so here is a video of the zoo.

CLICK HERE!

Change of Address Notice

Be Advised! We are no longer living in the United States. We and all our luggage made it to our new home almost a week ago. You would not believe how hard it is to set up internet and get it all running smoothly in another language. We are still without internet, but limping along with a substitute. Hopefully this will allow us to keep the blog up and kickin' though. Inshallah (if God wills)

The Giant Panda

Hello to all you animal lovers! To the right we have YeYe and to the left we have NaNa. These guys are two of the remaining 1000 giant pandas alive today in the world. These guys eat 40 lbs. of bamboo a day. No wonder they are a dying breed. Have you ever seen 40lbs. of bamboo in the same spot? They are really cute though. Just wanted to make all the PETA people happy and say, "Save the Giant Panda!"

Thanks to the McQueens

One of the hardest things for us is saying good-bye to all of you guys. Harder than that is to try to find ways to say good-bye to you guys spread throughout the US before we hop the pond. Randall, thanks for taking time to drive down and see us from IL. It made my week. I pray you guys have a great year and we look forward to having you guys move, I mean come, over to see us. :)

Brownwood to Houston via Farmsville, VA?

This is a picture of two dear friends and ourselves. Tom and Nona have been friends the past several years and we had the opportunity to meet them for dinner in....none other then Farmsville, VA.
For all you geography people and friends that know that they are from Houston and we are from Bwd who are confused by this, just call Tom for the story.
I just wanted to post this and make the Courtney's (hopefully by this time all three of them) and the Pershalls green with envy.
Tom and Nona, thank you for a lovely evening and being such a pillar of encouragement and faith in our lives.

Happy Belated 1 Month!!

KD, I was thinking about you today while I was sorting pics on the computer and I thought about how cool it was to be a part of you wedding. Happy One Month! I love you very much

A Child-Like Faith

This is Josh. He is 18 months old and became one of my best friends last week. He just climbed up in my lap, played cars with me and wanted me to flip him around. Pretty simple eh? Its no wonder Christ calls us to come as little children to hang out in his lap, run with him, and trust him enough to allow our worlds to be turned upside down by his grace.

Weekend Pic

B and I hanging out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon last weekend.

Good Things That Really Stink!!

To truly experience this you must remember back to the days of yester-year when you were 6 years old and mommy and daddy, who said they loved you and would protect you from everything that would ever hurt you, take you to the doctor for .....shish...(shots) WHAT!!!!! And so you run around the house, under the bed you go, behind the big comfy chair in the living room, everywhere and anywhere to avoid these horrible people, who say they love you.

Now, you got that picture.

I took part in 1 of 3 immunization clinics we have here to help keep us "safe and healthy." My main job is to take patients in, get there shot records/shots, and to bring them back to the room. The room I am a "runner" for is one of the family rooms, meaning one of the rooms that gives shots to the kids.

I held down kids for 3 hours while nice people, with big needles, stabbed and poked these small ones with things like....rabies, polio, japanese encephalitis (spelling unknown), and hepatitis. I am no longer....Uncle Clayton!.....But a leper to the children, they run and turn away. They see me, they relive pain and agony.
Its okay...Wipe your tears, don't cry for me. The next clinic is....Friday...whoohooo....Tb testing, typhoid, MMRs, and tetanus. You can laugh if you won't to, but remember it may be funny to you that I go through this, but its not funny to those kids... :)

Williamsburg, VA

If you seek the historic, go to Williamsbug, VA. A word of wise to you: if you plan on seeing Colonial Williamsburg you'd better sell the farm or the extra car, because it ain't cheap! $34 bucks a person. That is for all you math minded folk: almost 70 bucks for B and I to go see it. Because of this tragedy you will not see any pictures from there, for we counted the costs and decided that eating the next couple weeks was more of an urgent need.
Jamestown, however is a short drive down the Colonial Parkway and gives you two options for 20 bucks a person.

OPTION A) HISTORIC JAMESTOWN: This is good for all you history buffs that want to see where it was, the original rocks, the actual location. It is in fact a bunch of rocks and mostly an archelogical dig site, but it is a site to see.

OPTION B) JAMESTOWN SETTLEMENT: They rebuilT what the fort at Jamestown looked like. You can run around on it, look at the tools, people will show you how life was. You can look at the Powatah Indian villages and huts as they were in the 1600s. You can even get on the replica ships in the harbor that they sailed on. If you want to see pictures of these check out our gnome, Ibrahim's, site with the hyperlink to your right over there. Overall this was a pretty cool experience.

This is the map of the Jamestown Settlement.

Great Grandma

Our journey to our roots. This is a statue of my Great(x12) Grandmother, Pocahontas, at Jamestown Island.

This is one of the six groups Bethany read with this past school year.

This is Matthew. He is almost six years old. He was one of my(Clayton's) students this past year. He was cute enough to make the web page in celebration of the fact that we don't have to teach anymore.

My Parents

My Parents