Home, Brown, Home!

Home, brown, home! That's what Annie said as she excitedly looked out the window as we were landing in Kurdistan! It is so brown and so hot and so dry here...but it's HOME and somehow it is beautiful to us! We have only been home just over 24 hours, but we hopped in the car on Tim's birthday yesterday and went to visit our friends that have the same Father in another town! We couldn't wait to see them! Jesse was trying out Tim's present as we drove. Then we realized if we had the binoculars out at checkpoints we might get searched because it looks suspicious. so we hid them after that!

We got to meet and hold our friends' two week old baby, Seroo, which is the word for a tall evergreen that grows here. fitting for the beauty of their family...a family that remains "green" all year long and grows tall among a people that don't know how to grow and thrive. they will spread and grow through this nation.

their older boys, Hamwar and Nassad

fighting against the bad guys together

sadly this is my garden...even though my neighbors faithfully served us and watered every day, twice a day, it just wasn't enough to beat the scorching sun, heat and wind. only a few things survived! I am so thankful for neighbors that love us so much that they would try to battle the heat for us. our basil survived and the sunflowers. the grape vines are hanging on by a thread....

and i found one zucchini buried under the leaves of it's bush

so i peeled it, sliced it

and diced it

then i secretly hid it, along with fresh basil and garlic in our pizza sauce

covered it in cheese

and baked them to a golden crisp

all of the kids declared it delicious....

tim said it was the best yet....this picture taken as i told him the secret ingredient...he hates zucchini...happy birthday tim! i was so proud of myself!

singing happy birthday to tim and enjoying him blow out his candle 32 times...annie made this yummy chocolate cake for us! we are so happy to be home!