Nan Making

I went out to heat some water for our morning coffee this morning at 6:00 a.m. (I feel like I’m needing the coffee a little earlier these days) and Kaleen informed me that she was making dough for nan. Hard to believe she’s going to tackle another all day cooking task for more carbohydrates! She said she makes nan weekly, but since we’ve arrived and guests keep coming to “see the guests,” the nan supply only lasted 5 days.



I missed out on the pictures of her actually mixing the dough, but I did manage to capture the rest of the process. Homemade nan is a lot denser and it seems to be made with more of a brown flour. The density is to make it more filling. It’s all about getting filled up and staying filled up on less.

Samboosa Day

Today, I spent much of the day with the women of our family, daughters and aunts included, making Samboosas. It was fun to not only be welcomed into the actual process, but also to be called on whenever we did something new so I could get pictures! They’ve already figured out I enjoy taking pictures and they definitely enjoy having them taken.



The Samboosas are similar to Samoosas I ate growing up in Africa. Yet they are without the spice or flavorings. The dough was flacky, almost like a phylo dough. At one point I asked Kaleen if she had called people and let them know that we were making samboosas, as the women just kept coming to help out. She laughed and said that she hadn’t called anyone but “Thanks be to God” that they came. We had a lot of fun cooking today.

My new wardrobe

It seems my wardrobe is getting yet another major overhaul. This is the national dress that I’m finding most women wear at least a majority of the time; a long dress with pants (not always of matching fabric). School girls and business women can be found in skirts, but then it is usually black dress skirts with a white blouse.

This is the dress I had made while we were waiting in the capitol. Austin thought his white athletic socks were photo worthy; as I've been borrowing since all my warm clothes are in bags in the UAE. My attempt at the “no-smile shoot” failed. I figure I’ll just smile even when my national friends don’t.

I inherited several “cortas” from someone returning to England. She didn’t think they would be all the fashion there. So this is the current color of my wardrobe. It seems I have a purple/pink theme going. I love purple, so that is fun. But I think I’ll branch out on the next color of fabric I choose for myself.

A welcome gift

This was a little welcome gift from a member of our host family. I thought they were so pretty. Any ideas on what kind of flower they are? The fun blue tea pot is painted in a pattern unique to our city. Equally as pretty, but currently a borrowed item from my friend Janel.

Our First Day

We have officially moved into our homestay and are excited. We are definitely going to live up close and personal with the precious family that has agreed to take us in. I thought you would like to meet them and get a glimpse at what our little home for the moment looks like. Excited for all the stories we’ll have to share of our time with this family.

What I’ve since learned about our first night here (a bonus of keeping a running, not yet posted blog) . . . the family prepared over 2 ½ kilos of rice for our first dinner with them. Family, neighbors, our friends all joined in the party. And all 5 ½ pounds of rice and then the meat, carrots, potatoes was consumed.

Story of a Stick

Ethan is really into sticks lately. And now that we are in a lush spring setting, they are everywhere. (Palm trees don’t really have the best sticks for little boys to use as swords, etc. Thus the recent stick shortage in Ethan’s life due to living in Sharjah.) He had found “the perfect stick” the other day at a friend's house and has carried it everywhere I would let him (of course we have stick rules).

Today the kids and I headed out on an adventure to get my first national outfit made. It involved riding in a small 6 passenger van taxi and of course the stick came along. It was raining pretty strongly when we set out on our adventure. After finally finding our number 4 van, a kind man helped us get loaded with our stroller. However, before lifting Ethan into the van, he took the stick and threw it on the ground. We were on the side of a very busy road, so I was unable to retrieve the prize.

Ethan was not very happy and struggled the entire van ride with the "mean man who took his stick". I made promises of looking for a new stick while we were out on our adventure, but he was not easily consoled. The morning went on and there were no “perfect sticks” to be found.

We met up with Austin at a Chinese restaurant for lunch with our friends. (CHINESE RESTAURANT, this is a huge gift of numerous ethnic restaurants in the capitol). After lunch the kids and I headed up the hill, in the rain, on our way back home. We passed by the same busy corner, Ethan again grieving the loss of his stick. And low and behold, his stick was laying on the side of the road. He was one excited little boy. And the first thing he said, “Praise Jesus for my stick!” The whole way home he talked about how good God is; that he found his stick; that a car didn’t drive over and break his stick; etc. He just learned the song “God is so good” and has now created his own verse about saving his stick. It made this mamma smile!

A new pot!!!

It’s crazy the things you quickly get accustomed to using without even realizing it. Within the first couple of days in our first home, I was using a pressure cooker. And quickly I began using it for everything from a one pot meal in less than 20 minutes to perfectly crisp fresh green beans. Everyone there uses pressure cookers.

This is the pot I learned to used in our first home

Nobody here even knows what a pressure cooker is. But when we were here in February, I saw a couple lone pressure cookers at a large bazaar. I was praying that they would still be there when we got back. So today I ventured out with the kids to find one. There were a couple versions from Turkey, but they didn’t look like they would last very long at all. But we did find a kind saleswoman, amused by my accent (in their language) and eager to help us. She rummaged through her back store room and pulled out a great pot from Germany. I splurged and went for the extra nice pot and Austin has added it to the list of things we’ll take with us if we have to move again.

My upgrade

This mama is so happy to have a tool I know how to use when cooking from scratch in the third world!

What the Water's like

Water . . . our first area of culture shock. Apparently with all the rain of spring all the runoff from the mountains makes it into the water that is piped into the capitol. Last night we had hot water and were ready to bath the kids. This is what we found.

Needless to say we opted not to bathe them until we figured out how to get some of the sediment out. I think our bodies are cleaner before the bath. Ethan was grossed out by the water. Elli was oblivious and excited for bath time.

This is how we can drink the water. We pour it through this amazing filter. When we left our old home in December, we were unable to take our filter with us. We’ve been praying for one to use in our new home. God answered and we were able to buy one from a family leaving in June.


We’ve since learned that we need to boil the water first to get the sediment to settle out before putting it through the filter. Apparently the water is clearer in the Valley. So we’ll soon learn how to get drinkable water there.

Cucumber Face

We’ve arrived in the capitol. As we get all the paperwork formalized before heading to the Valley, the kids and I are hanging close to home. Making some tea yesterday, Ethan had this idea to make “cucumber faces” in the tea pot. These pictures capture much of what life looks like these days.

Doing normal things but trying to do them with joy. It’s starts off just making tea, Ethan comes up with a silly idea to make it fun and we try and capture/celebrate the moment.

Post-date Blogging

So here is my plan . . . I know that I won’t have regular internet access for quite some time. But I’m also pretty sure there is a lot before us that will be fun to share and process with you. So, I’m hoping to keep a running document on my computer as those things happen. Then, whenever we are connected and up and running, I’ll upload them as I can. So, it will probably be a while until the stories are shared, but at least they will be current when I write them. Probably by the time you read this, there will be quite the “back log,” so hopefully you have some time and a warm drink (cause right now it’s rainy and cold here) and can enjoy the stories to come. Here goes with delayed communication.

Ethan's Newest Joke

Walking to the car on Sunday, Ethan asked "Mommy, do you know what the taxi driver says?" And then, in his own version of a Pakistani accent, cause all taxi drivers here seem to be from Pakistan, he said . . . .

"Too much traffic"

The really funny thing is that is what all taxi drivers say. Austin and I died laughing. Almost 4 and he's already working on the accents. :)

Sharing Secrets

Ethan started the secret sharing

Elli wanted to follow suit

And you can tell, Daddy's loving every secret!

Our Easter

We did not do an Easter basket, per se, this year. But when you are planning to be in traffic for possibly 1 hour, on your way to more "sit still" time at a worship service, it's always good to bring snacks. Marshmallow Rope, a close second to Peeps, seemed like a great festive transit snack. And Ethan seemed to agree.

We celebrated with our friends at a beach side park. Rather than the traditional Easter fare, we cooked out. And per the request of no pork, we enjoyed chicken hot dogs. So really not much traditional about it at all.

This was our little Easter bunny

And this was our attempt at a cute Easter picture together. I can't have them in too close of proximity for very long before the "loving" starts. Ethan of course giving the love and Elli always trying to escape it!

More Artwork

After our fun swim date yesterday, Ethan has been super excited about all things swimming. And of course if Ethan's excited about it, it makes it to the page! I thought his most recent picture was so great, I had to share it! Let me explain the mastery: Ethan is swimming in the water, with floaties and flippers. There is a horse with a bad guy riding over top. I thought he did pretty good capturing that imagination of his!

A swimming celebration

The moving company came for our stuff today. So much of the morning was spent with trying to finalize all the details. After they left and we had a quick bite to eat, we thought we would celebrate another step forward with some swimming. Our friends have a pool on the roof of their apartment building and they had invited us to swim anytime. Even though it was "women's swim time" we went, willing to get out if other swimmers arrived. The only other swimmers that came were 2 little boys, their mother totally covered. So they were fine with our mixed group staying. This was Elli's first real experience swimming. The water was a little chilly and she was a little hesitant. Ethan, however, LOVED it!



We hadn't swam since last July, so at first Ethan wanted Dad close by. But by the end he was jumping off the side all by himself, no spotter. It was a fun way to get out of the house and be excited for one step closer to our new home!

Heart lessons from the Island of Sodor

Ethan loves Thomas the Tank Engine. We have pound (cause everything these days is measured by weight) of wooden track and a good variety of trains. We even have several Thomas books to give life and personality to the little toys he plays with. In light of my last blog, I thought it was a fitting time to share what has been "puffing" through my heart lately.

A couple nights ago I overheard Austin reading Ethan a Thomas story and I thought to myself, "the engines sure whine a lot. I can't remember many stories where they were happy with what Sir Topham Hatt asked them to do." And as the thought passed through my mind the still small voice asked "are you happy with what I've asked?" It's been something I've been wrestling with and pondering and I guess Thomas just cemented it all the more.

So I kept thinking through the Thomas analogy. In many of the stories Sir Topham Hatt tasks the trains with something to do. If he really wants them to do their job he'll use the caviot of being a "really useful engine." Sometimes the engines agree to the task and the detours come from outside circumstances. But often times the engines don't like what they've been asked to do and don't even think it is being "a really useful engine." So they give in to whinning, complaining, etc. through the process. They may have finished the task by the story's end, but they have displayed far less character than that of a useful engine.

I've been challenged to see in my own heart how circumstancial my contentment can be. When I'm not motivated by the task, it is easy to give way to grumbling and complaining. And even if deemed a "really useful engine," a bad taste in ones mouth remains when the process was done in whining. I could carry the analogy further, but those are some of the heart lessons learned from the Island of Sodor.

Making it work

We are so grateful for our little one bedroom apartment. For this season it has been what we have needed; giving us some space to process and be family. All the closeness however has brought on some new "techniques" for making life work. Our typical morning routine these days:
4:45 a.m. a VERY loud call to prayer
4:50 a.m. Elli wakes up frustrated with the VERY loud call to prayer
4:52 a.m. Mom gets Elli settled back down
5-5:10 a.m. 2 VERY large planes skim over our apartment. Elli stirs again, frustrated, but quiets back down.
5:20 a.m. a repeat of the VERY loud call to prayer
5:25 a.m. Elli is now officially sick of it. She nurses and is back fast asleep, much happier with life.
6:00 a.m. the alarm goes off (followed by several snoozes) :)
between 5:50-6:10 a.m. Ethan wakes up, comes to the edge of our bed "Mommy, I want to watch cartoons" (his current DVD is Lion King 1 1/2)
6:15 a.m. Lion King is running on Mom's computer and I've sucessfully snuck through the bedroom to the kitchen to make some coffee
6:30 a.m. Sitting down to have a quiet time

But in the picture you see a pair of bright orange ear plugs. The coffee helps me make it after the series of wake-ups with Elli. The ear plugs . . . they help keep Lion King out so I can try and get more Jesus in. :)

An Update on our plumping endeavors

Elli was sick most of last week; running high fever and not wanting to eat anything. Those are the days when I really miss nursing throughout the day, cause at least then I know shes hydrated and is well nourished. So the week fast has set us back in our weight gain efforts. And I'd really like her a little plumper before we move to a region with greater incidents of diarrhea, etc.

2 days ago Elli also dropped a small casserole dish on her toe (from the second self). To console her, one of the guys in the office brought her an ice cream sandwich to "ice her toe." We thought we'd give it a try, and she has since eaten 2 whole ice cream sandwiches.

Following a trip to the dentist, Austin and I stumbled upon a "Buy 6 get 6 free" deal at Dunkin Donuts (conveniently right across the street from the dentist). We figured 6 donuts would make great compensation for our babysitters and would be a breakfast for our champions. Ethan is also reaping the benefits of Mission Plumpify.

Mommy and Daddy however are on Mission Minimize. So it was another bowl of oatmeal!

She's talking!

After a brief skype talk with my mom (Gogo), Elli didn't want to stop talking. We found our web cam and were trying to use it. It ended up that the kids just talked to themselves the whole time, but it sure got Elli talking. So she's got "Gogo" down. If you listen closely, she may even be saying "I don't know" and "where are you?" But she spent much of the remainder of the evening walking around the house looking for Gogo.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Fridays are the Holy day here. So that also means it is more appropriate than on other days for families, mainly the women of the family, to be out in public. It was a windy day, so a perfect afternoon for a kite flying adventure. And in a little shop next door to our apartment we found a kite for less than $1. Only more reason to go.

And Ethan LOVED it!

Elli enjoyed the sand and sharing her smiles with all that passed by. This family of 3 women accompanied by a male family member is typical of what we see! It's crazy for me to think of what my children are coming to identify as "normal;" definitely a broader definition than their parents at their ages.

A great family afternoon!

Snack Time

It is so fun for me to see my kiddos do the same kind of things, without knowing each other has done it. Granted Ethan was 9 months in this picture and Elli is 13, but they both are such sharers. Unique is so many ways, but yet similar in others!