A Christmas Greeting

Christmastime

Oops, Picture Captions

Okay, I am still struggling at putting the captions with the
pictures. This post explains the pictures in the post titled
"Trampoline, Tree, and Personality."

Here are the long awaited pictures of our fabulous trampoline. Ben
loves it. Ahem, I mean the boys are really enjoying it.
Isaiah has become quite the camera ham. Ahem, that is turkey ham, of
course. Isaiah is holding and playing with "Baby Reed" as he calls
our neighbor's son. His name is actually Farid but I am sure he
doesn't mind the term of endearment Isaiah has given him.
Ben and Isaiah were posing so beautifully in front of our tree as
they hung up our family ornament. (Isaac and I hung one up to but I
decided not to post that picture of me as my hair is particularly
stringy.)
The final picture is one of Isaac's newest and cutest faces. His
personality is coming out much more these days.
It's official. I have the best family in the world, or at least the
cutest! Where do you think Isaac and Isaiah get their cuteness
from? Hello, they are Xerox copies of their Dad!

Trampoline, Tree and Personality

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Cooperation

Please, no pictures.

Isaiah isn't always the camera op guy.

Cuteness Defined

Walking

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Isaac was dragging this toy around this morning and using it as a
walker. I told him he could probably walk better without it! He has
taken a couple of free steps with both Ben and me so it seems like he
should be walking on his own anytime!

p.s. As you can see, I haven't figured out how to do this blog thing
exactly right yet as I have had to do 3 separate picture posts in one
day. Oh well, more for the grandparents to enjoy. Be patient with
me, I am learning.

Isaiah, the Big Helper!

The Boys and Friends

Whose hair is the longest?

Healing

This morning I woke up with a bad sinus headache. Isaiah must have
noticed that I was rubbing my head because he asked me if I was
okay. I told him that I had a headache and asked him to pray for
me. He pointed to my head and said, "Buke it!" He then proceeded to
ask me if it was better. I told him it wasn't and so he pointed to
my head again and said, "Head be gone!" Well, my head isn't feeling
any better at this point but I am fully expecting the headache to go
in Jesus' name. (I did clarify with the Lord that I would like to
keep my head but He can take the pain out of it!)

This is such a lesson to me on many different levels. One is that
Isaiah is listening to our conversations ALL the time. Whenever
anyone in our family or group here has pain we pray for them. We
rebuke the pain, ask the Father to bring His Kingdom and His
healing. Then, we ask the person if they are feeling better. If so,
we praise God together. If not, we pray again. I am so glad he
caught some of the good things we discuss!!! We generally do try to
be very sensitive about what we say as we know that words can create
and destroy life (Prov. 15:4, 18:21). So, this was encouraging to me
that he is hearing and learning some good stuff! Praise God! It
also encourages me to continue to model the kind of words and
behavior I would like to see in my children. This may sound weird
but I am noticing that I want Isaiah to clean up his toys all the
time but I don't always clean up after myself. I want him to take
care of his things but he needs to see me doing the same. Little
eyes are watching what I do and don't do! This is amazing to me and
provokes me to more careful words and deeds!

Syria

Last week, I took a short trip to Syria with one of my friends. It was really great because it's cold in Syria, unlike Doha. It's nice to get out of the Gulf.

This is the view out of my hotel window (above) and

this is Souq Hamadia, a famous marketplace (below).

This is Ouda, our Bedouin friend and guide who invited us to Damascus. We had met in Doha last year. (below)

This is a typical street corner in Damascus (below).

This is the Street called Straight mentioned in the book of Acts, though the actual street is several feet underground (below).

This is the traditional site of Ananias' house (below).

The altar in Ananias' house.

This is Myrna, a mystic and stigmata recipient (the one on the right). See her full

story at: http://www.soufanieh.com/ (below) The locals refer to her as the not-yet-saint Myrna.

This is an icon that regularly exudes supernatural olive oil in Myrna's house. It's been doing so for 25 years.

This is where the head of St. John of Damascus (676-749) is entombed. The Muslims think it is John the Baptist.

Damascus at night.

It's hard to see, but this is an ancient picture of Christ on the backside
of a church-turned-mosque. Given the Islamic prohibition against images,
it's not surprising that the face has been erased.

This is the minaret, which, according to Islamic tradition, Jesus will land on when He returns. Strangely enough, in Arabic, it's called "The Bride."

Life

Life seems to fly by most of the time.  Don't get me wrong, there is
the occasional realization that we have absolutely nothing to do and
it's 2 hours before nap time.  However, as of yesterday we should be
encountering that realization a lot less frequently since.....we
bought a trampoline!  I am not sure who we bought it for, actually. 
We paid the extra money to get the bigger one so Ben and I could
jump--with the boys, of course. I keep telling myself it's a good way
for me to get some exercise and for Isaiah to burn some energy.  So
far he loves to run in circles, jump and throw the ball over the
safety surround net.  Isaac is a little more aloof to the newly
purchased monstrosity.  He likes to crawl under it and play (which I
can't let him do because of the colonizing stinging ants)! Anyway,
the trampoline is the big news around here these days. Both boys are
taking naps now so I'll have to post pictures of them on it later.  

Ben and I are keeping busy with the family and trying to find
evenings for date nights.  We have just decided to start
exchanging baby-sitting services with our friends across the street. 
They have a 3 month old named Farid.  I think we are getting the
easier deal! 
Okay, I am totally rambling here but I had an anonymous comment
(BAYLEY) that considered it a "crock" when I didn't post anything.  I
agree and apologize for not posting earlier.  As you can see there
isn't that much going on these days.  However, I am going to find
some pictures to add to this post because that is what most people
want anyway.  I truly love reading other people's blogs (friends) and
hearing about daily life.  So, having said that, let's start a new
string of posts because I noticed that a lot of people aren't posting
for 2 weeks at a time!  Bummer!  Let's be more regular so we can keep
up with each other.