Photo Update

Its been a full month, and the next month looks even fuller. Here is a few pictures of what we've been up to.

Trying out the new "Moby wrap" thingy that I put together with fabric from my mom. It still needs a little work, but as it is it works great!

Josiah is obsessed with the Mechanic. He loves going and helping them work on cars, or having them give him old pieces of cars to work on. They think its great having this little kid around helping them. He's even found a few settings on tools they didn't know existed!



One of the boys' favorite pass times is to watch out the window to see who or what is coming by. They get most excited about all the sheep, donkeys and goats!



It is super hot these days, so we take every opportunity to enjoy the beach. The boys LOVE it!

Hope you're all enjoying your summer!

A Fun Read.

Growing up there was only one thing we watched on T.V., Sports. And not just the big ones, you know Basketball, Football and Baseball. Nope we watched them all. Golf, tennis, soccer, etc. And on top of watching them we listened to them on talk radio. In fact to this day if I am feeling stressed out by driving I turn on talk radio to listen to somebody give a play by play about something just to calm down. My Dad also happens to have an incredible memory that is overflowing with facts about various sports teams, individual athletes, records and championship games. Needless to say a love for sporting events of all sorts runs through my veins.

However I must confess a deep love for the game of football. Seriously, I love it. Something about the tackles, passes, rushing and 12th man I just can't pass up. I also must confess there is a lot I don't know about the game, and a lot I am learning, but for a girl, I'm doing ok.

For Joey's birthday my mom sent him a book called "The Best Game Ever" by Mark Bowden. It is about the 1958 Championship NFL game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts. Now originally I was purely a college football girl. Loved the passion, the fact that they don't play for money and the mascots. Since getting married to more of an NFL man I have come to appreciate the pros and even find myself looking forward to Sunday afternoon. So as soon as Joey finished the book (which he did pretty quickly) I grabbed a hold of it and jumped in.

What a great book. I loved reading about all the action, the characters involved and the way the game has changed since 1958. It is amazing to read the stats and find out what made these guys tick. Not to mention the game itself. It was an intense game, one that kept you on your toes, even reading it 50+ years later I couldn't put it down I was desperate to find out what was going to happen next. Mr. Bowden did an excellent job writing about what happened, so good in fact I am writing about it in my blog!

So, if you find yourself wondering what to get your hubby for Fathers day, I recommend this book. Not only will he enjoy it but so will you! After he's done of course! :-)

Surprise!

I am not always a big fan of surprises. There is already so much in my life that is unknown, I like a little bit of warning before anything real big happens. My husband however LOVES surprises. Loves to give them and if it weren't so hard to surprise him I am guessing he would love to get them too. So when my little sister Kate emailed a while back saying she'd like to come and visit us here, and she'd like it to be a surprise, Joey got excited.

They planned and schemed and worked out every last lie until it was finally time and she arrived on May 5th. Since we were having a cinco de mayo party it was fiting that everyone would gather at our house and hang out for a while which is pretty traditional for Moroccan parties. Joey kept calling to say he was on his way the "mechanic" was running late but should be finished anytime. So I thought nothing of it and just went along, business as usual. Then, she walked through the door. My little sister Kate, came all the way to Morocco to surprise me! I couldn't believe it! It was the very, very, very best kind of surprise. I was speachless.

It was so great to have Kate here. She got to see what life looks like for us, what we're up to and she got to travel with us on our vacation down south. That was an adventure in itself. Here are a few pictures of our trip. She got all the good ones. I hope she'll post them soon. Thanks for coming Kate, I loved the surprise and I LOVED getting to see you!

Josiah standing by the pool of a Kasbah we stayed at as we traveled towards the Sahara.

Josiah & Benson playing outside the house of some people we stayed with. Dirt & trucks make little boys very happy!

This photo sums up our stay with some people in the Sahara. It was before 6am, we hadn't slept much, there were 500 billion flies swarming around us already and for some reason Kati grabbed the camera and took my picture. nice.

Kati & I riding camels. Alice the camel (that would be Kati's) has 2 humps.

A boy, A camel, and a rebuilt city from the movie Laurence of Arabia. Oh yeah.

I Cannot Stop Laughing At This Picture!

A Little Note, A Little Change.

I had a lovely cup of tea, some yummy granola bar thingy left by the last group of volunteers and some free time while the boys napped so I thought I might update my blog. Well the internet was working, but it is so stinkin' slow I'll I've been able to do is change the color and a few little things. So that's all I'll do for now, more to change some day when I don't have 10 million other things calling my name. Until then, a bit about life:

* Josiah keeps talking about Jesus and how he likes coffee. I wonder if that means there will be coffee in heaven? If you ask Josiah, he would say yes. Sounds good to me.

* Benson is really into bothering his brother. Today he laid down on the train tracks Josiah was setting up and pretended to go to sleep. He is definitely a professional second born.

* Someone gave us a turtle. He lives outside in the "garden" also known as an area with dirt and a tree. Each morning we look for him and usually find him standing right in front of us wondering what we are looking for.

* We have no more volunteers until the end of May. So we're going on vacation. We don't know where we don't know when. But we're ready. Maybe we'll go tomorrow, then again maybe tonight. You never know with us. Anything may happen :-)

* I have a total of 6 bags of gummy type candies left by the last group of volunteers. Is God good or what?!

Photos

A family photo on the beaches of Tangier.

Watching the movie "Cars" and cheering Lightning on, Go Lightning, Go!

Josiah is really into drawing lately, and will draw any where there is space. Even in the back of the truck with all the whitewash gear. At least its shady there!

He's also learning how to be helpful on the job site. Here he is helping to sift the sand in order to make concrete.

I tried to find some pictures of the wild flowers, but with all the Joey has on his plate, I'm afraid he doesn't get much opportunity to take pictures of flowers. So I hope these beautiful peas will satisfy those who want to know. Isn't it just lovely?!

And most exciting of all, our new van! Josiah is so in love with this van he wakes up each morning to make sure the "nice" van is outside. Then he has to tell us all about it :-) It is too cute to see him so excited. And he should be, this is a very nice addition to our vehicle situation. We are so blessed that God has provided this!

Random Thoughts and a Long Overdue Hello.

I'm still here, alive and well. Life has been full to say the least. We've started volunteer season here which means new people coming in and out of our house every 2 weeks. Sometimes it is overwhelming but most of the time we are laughing and enjoying the ever changing situations. Hopefully I'll get a chance to upload some new pictures of the "chickens" (aka kiddos) sometime this weekend, until then here are some random things I've been thinking over the last month...

• The boys have been growing and changing SO much in the past few weeks. Josiah is saying such big boy things and Benson is FINALLY walking. How does it happen? Weren't they just born yesterday?! Now they are telling me about concrete trucks, where their belly's are and how to say "donkey" in three different languages!
  

• My mother-in-law is here visiting for the month of April. It is a huge blessing to have her. We've gotten to hear some news of our stateside home and I have been greatly helped here around the house and with the boys. Sometimes I even have moments where I find myself just sitting down (what?!) and Joey and I have even gotten to go on a date (amazing but true!)!

• There is no cheddar cheese in Morocco. Why is their no cheddar cheese in Morocco? Next time I am in the states I am going to go to Tillamook Cheese Company (or whatever they are called) and I am going to STRONGLY suggest they consider marketing over here. Until then I will just dream of cheddar and enjoy the other varieties of cheese available...

• God is such an incredible artist, you should see the hillsides where we are. There has been so much rain this year that that wildflowers and wheat are going crazy all around us. I am in love with Morocco at this time of year. Something I will strive to remember come mid-august, when I look out across the sea of brown.

• I have to give a "shout-out" to popcorn while I'm typing up random thoughts. We are having popcorn almost every day for a snack. Seriously it is so good, and not bad for you. The kids LOVE it and its cheap! So far I am not growing tired of it, in fact, maybe I'll go make some right now!

• We watched "Slumdog Millionaire" the other day. Pretty good little flick. Parts of the movie were hard to watch, you know rip you heart out kinda things, but I must say I enjoy ending a movie feeling happy instead of "why did I waste my time".

• Benson's Arabic name is "Moobarak" which means "blessing" which is also what Benson means. It also happens to sound a lot like the first name of our president. So everyone around here thinks we named him after Mr. Obama. Just so you know, we didn't.
  

Well, enough random thoughts for now. Off to a little nap in the sunshine and a little language learning. Hoping you all are well!