Twana...the team captain and our friend giving Annie the BIG team trophy to take home!
consulting on the court during a time out
tim making a great shot, he actually made this 3 pointer too! we were so proud!
we all made signs and noise makers to cheer him on...it was one of the hottest buildings in Koya though...we were all sweating horribly!
i don't know how there came to be such a big body of water surrounded by utter dryness...but there you have it! it's actually pretty refreshing too. you would think it would be near a boiling point, but it is a perfect temp!
our friends Paul and Wendy have blow up rafts...although this one barely made it and was leaking air fast! we paddled over to a little island with a little cove and inlet. it was the perfect picnic spot.
we have found various flotation devices at the local bazaar...you can't tell but these are actually two different arm floaties on toby
here's annie feeding the fish....if you stood still long enough they tried to eat you in the water.
tim and tobs having a great time...
this is the little cove we picnicked under! it was such a great day! we will do it again soon...
This is NOT the moon...as annie and tim set out on their date today...the sky was covered in what they call "hor baran"...dust rain! it was perfectly clear and all of sudden this. it's crazy when the sun looks like this...but much cooler!
here's my little explorer with her water bottle, dirty face (from ice cream of course) and a bag of rocks! that girl LOVES her some rocks!
they even got to explore an old hide out of saddam's...boo!
here are the two love birds on their date! she came back FULL of life and tons more rocks!
okay...so let's be honest...we are just figuring out quiet time for ourselves regularly, it's a hard road to include family quiet times. i will say it is sporadic at best and ever changing. some days it's at breakfast, some days it's the whole family, sometimes it's just me and the kids. sometimes it whichever kid i can get to sit still. but it is a special time no matter what and we desire it to become a part of the kids' DNA and to love it and need it as much as we do. This is Toby and I...we learned a great principle that is going to become the boys' key motto now: "Do not let evil defeat you. Defeat evil by doing good!" i love it. my boys are all about good and evil and this gives them something to hang their cape on...if you will!
sweet annie...ever the conscientious one trying to do her best and please mommy and daddy...may she KNOW she is LOVED for WHO she is and not for what she can DO!
toby "reading"
This is jesse's version of quiet time...sneak out too early and fall asleep in my arms once again! i love it! such precious time to hold him when he isn't talking back or being a wild man! maybe some of what i am reading will seap into him! =)
Well, our office is officially open! we had our open house on sunday night and today they started placement testing! we had a great turnout for the open house, including the local news. we were featured last night on a minute long piece. we recorded and are trying to upload it to the blog! annie and i were highly disappointed we did not make the cut! we also had 18 people show up today for testing. we expect many more as word gets out!
we had many public figures show up, including the mayor and a woman from parliament! Paul is up front delivering a speech!
Carol, Erin and I...the girls on the team!
Tim and I with some of our favorite people in our town...Delsoz and Nergez. He is the one that made our tables and podium and swamp cooler stands and covers! he worked tirelessly. he is a real artist in welding and is such a kind and gentle man! we honored him at our opening and gave them a plant to symbolize "new life."
Jesse, Tim, Benjamin, and Josh. Benjamin is one of our newest friend, he just moved here and knows our father, so we are so excited to get to know him too!
Tim, Karwan (our language teacher), and Paul
this is the office part of the center....all the curtains are hung and everything is finally clean and nice!
the reception desk
an old picture of our town that we found and blew up to put on the wall...very cool!
a local artist made this painting for us.
For Tim's bday we had a game night complete with costumes and prizes!
This is Paul, another american who works here...he really actually does have a leg. isn't this a great costume! he totally won the prize for best costume. the prizes were bottled pepsi's, candy bars and a couple random soaps (including the breast enhancing soap). i will let you know how that works out...since i won it! =)
this is toby's silly costume. the kids went all out and went totally wild trying to pick out silly costumes. they had so much fun!
jesse in his get up!
ms. carol and annie went all out with make up and all! annie wanted to wear undies on her head, but tim vetoed it, so i dared carol to put them on and she did!
it might have been a little out of paul and erin's comfort zone...but they had fun anyway in their little matching outfits. oh...funny aside story...yesterday annie overheard tim and i having a conversation about paul and erin being our leaders and she said, "what?? i thought WE were the leaders?" we laughed and asked her why she thought that and she said, "well...i guess we just always are the leaders!"
the men playing "i can do that" and tim having to slide under the trick-a-ma-stick!
josh having to tip-toe around the stick...no he doesn't usually wear his jeans pulled up real high! he is such a cool guy, this was his costume along with annie's backpack on his back!
the real men playing candy land...they really got into it and were talking about it afterwards even!
okay...so i didn't make this flower...but i have been able to nurture it from a bud. against all odds, including burning heat and chickens from the neighbors yard trying to eat it...this flower has grown from a tiny bud into this beautiful thing. it's not much, but it brightens my yard and makes me happy to see a little color out there. actually shortly after i took this picture, the chickens attacked once again and this little guy's stem was broken, so now he lives on happily in a glass coke bottle on my table. if i could have a fresh flower on my table every week, i would be so happy.
these are a combination of my hands and tim's hands. tim has been very handy and helpful in the kitchen lately. he does dishes, he flips pancakes and he rolls out and flips tortillas. he LOVES it too! there is just something about your hands making something and it being very satisfying.
this is our new fav. we have worked and worked on this recipe and finally perfected it. granola...so delicious. we figured out if we boil our oil, sugar/honey and cinnamon and then pour it on the oats it crunches up much better.
this is our bread...still a work in progress...it's crumbly and i am still hunting for brown flour. the bread is moist, but the top always crumbles. anyone with hints or tips, let me know.
here is proof of tim having a great time in the kitchen. he has not 1, not 2, but 3 pans going on the stove! now, that's a real man! =)
yesterday morning while i was having my quiet time, my neighbors came to fetch me to see if wanted to get fabric for a "moxi"...this peddlar sells it out of the back of his truck. all bright colors and women haggling over the prices...and yes i did buy a fabric for annie and i to have a moxi made...more pics to come.
these kids are just some sweet kids on the street. the little guy on the right is nicknamed by the whole street "big headed one"...poor little guy. i have a special love for him since i have a boy with a larger head. =) but the other day he pooped in our driveway...or at least i am pretty sure it was him. gross.
isn't she beautiful? her name is Rangine!
so this is a process that the whole town has been doing over the last couple of weeks. they start a fire in the middle of the street and bring out a giant pot and cook this grain. they stay outside for hours cooking it and stirring it with...a shovel of course!
so i had to give it a try. i think i will stick to inside cooking! it was SO hard to stir and the fire was SO hot! now this grain is sitting on top of their roofs drying out and they will use it all year long! I suppose we will be the lucky recipients of some of that throughout the year as well. they love to bring us food. they think i don't cook, because we don't make rice every day and all we eat for lunch is sandwiches. they are very worried about our health. =) but i am happy to say that i am enjoying the kitchen more and more.
