Home

I've been home now for just under two weeks. It is so nice to be back. So nice to be surrounded by the familiar. Before we headed to Spain I had become annoyed and bothered by everything having to do with this country. People, food, culture, Islam, etc. It all just left a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to get out and I wasn't sure I really wanted to come back. All I needed though was a little perspective and a nice big reminder of why I love this country, why I love these people and why this is my home as much as the states is. Six weeks in Spain provided all of that and I am happy to say my heart is content once again.

**When I got home our final volunteer team was here. They had already completed a weeks stay with us and were getting ready to start their second week. It made for a crazy arrival and the necessity of jumping in with both feet. I had also planned to start both English school and Arabic school with the boys on the first Monday of October. Since our stay in Spain was longer than expected that meant I had just a few short days to get everything in order. Thankfully I had been able to get everything ready on the computer before hand and thankfully the boys are enjoying school again this year. It makes everything so much easier when they are happy.

**The house we stayed at in Spain was up for sale so the owners didn't have much in terms of furniture or decoration. It left me anxious to de-clutter our house. I've been working on it since getting back. Slowly but surely trying to put things away, get rid of things we don't need and create more storage. We're still in process but I'll try and remember to show you once things are presentable.

**Isabelle has been liking Morocco and has been growing quickly. Joey and I are realistic parents and therefore recognize that while she is still a cutie she has been going through some pretty "ugly" moments. Joey has been trying to capture them on camera, for blackmails sake. That future husband is going to love these :-)

**Here is Morocco they have a tradition of having a baby naming party roughly 8 days after the baby's birth. Since we weren't here we thought we'd pass on the party. However everyone told us we should have one anyway. So Joey bought a sheep, ordered 40 whole chickens, 80 loaves of bread and bought 30 bottles of soda. We gathered the people and had a traditional Moroccan party. The food was amazing and the mint tea wonderful. Its a good thing too since that is all that happens at a Moroccan party :-) Food and tea, is there anything else?! We are still trying to settle on a good Moroccan name for Izzy. Everyone seems to be familiar with the name, but no one can seem to remember it. Thankfully we don't have to throw another naming party! I am still trying to recover from the original:)

**Isabelle's Great Aunt Jeanne sent her this beautiful dress and it worked out perfectly for the party. I confess it felt a bit strange to be putting a dress on a little baby, but she was SO adorable I quickly got over it. She loved the dress (I assume) and couldn't stop moving around which made photos difficult, but we got a few ok ones. 

 

Its been a full, and joyful two weeks. Now it is time to settle back into life and enjoy every minute that we've been given in this place. As of this moment I couldn't be more grateful and excited about that opportunity.