Miami Band 2008 -Shabab We Banat فرقة ميامي

In honor of our return to Kuwait, here's a video of Miami, a Kuwaiti group. I mentioned to DH that I heard them on the radio and liked them and he bought me the CD this song is from. Gotta love him!

The song is called "Boys and Girls" and they're *debating* who sings better...boys or girls.

Since Evan commented that his Arabic instructors couldn't figure out why soldiers were so interested in Arabic music, I figured my female readers would like to know why as well. ;)

In case you're wondering who won...they declared a tie. :D

Ana Yali Bahibak (Nancy Ajram)

Well, tomorrow's our last day here. In honor of that, here's another video by Nancy.

Our Lady of Lebanon

Well, things are winding down. Only a few more days until we're back in Kuwait. I'm starting to look forward to it. While I hate the idea of leaving here for the sandpit, it'll be good to be back home with Baba and I'm starting to get eager to see my friends from school, meet my new girls, and get back into a routine again. I've been trying to be as routine-less as possible over the summer. I'm even starting to miss that too.

Friday the kids got their vaccines. Not too surprisingly, the Little Prince had a fever Saturday night/Sunday morning. He also threw up Sunday morning but that was probably due more to the fever. But he's complained ever since of a tummy ache. Yesterday we drove up to Harisa to Our Lady of Lebanon. On the way back down he started crying that his tummy really hurt and then he threw up in the floorboard. He felt better later (but still had the tummy ache) and even felt like eating lunch. His doctor told me what to give him for the tummy ache and it seemed to help. Last night we met friends for supper but the twins ate while the Boss and I were at his taekwondo class. So they just kind of munched on a few things. He got sick in the car on the way home. No heat involved then and he hadn't eaten much. I'm just hoping that he gets over this soon. He acts fine most of the time in spite of the tummy ache. I'm getting really puzzled. I'll take him to the dr Friday morning if it's not gone by then.



Here are pics from Harisa. She was built facing out over the sea. But during some heavy fighting during the civil war, she suddenly turned to face Beirut. Apparently the Vatican has sent people to investigate and they can't figure out how it happened.

Here is the statue up close.





















Here is what you can see from the top of the platform.
























































Here she is one last time.

Madtv - Apple I-rack

Thought you'd get a kick out of this one.

Enjoy!

Want sheesha?

First you choose what flavor of tobacco you want. Our favorite is Two Apples. Then you fill the cup with tobacco and cover it with foil. Fill it, but don't pack it too firmly. You want air to be able to flow through it.

Then use a toothpick to poke several holes in the foil. Hold the bottom to your mouth and blow gently a couple of times. Fill the bottle with water and attach the top. Then place the cup in its place.

Light the coals. If you have a gas stove you can use that. Otherwise a small grill will work.

Place the coals on top of the foil-covered tobacco. When you suck on the hose, it'll draw the smoke down into the water bottle. You'll have bubbles in the bottom.

Enjoy!

Weird weather

Summer is winding down. A week from tomorrow we head back to Kuwait. Whaaaaa! The good thing is we'll be back with Baba again and Elektra can be a house dog again. Much better with temps just under 120F. The bad news is that we'll be back in the sand pit with Ramadan starting a day or two after our return. {sigh}


This week I took care of getting check ups for the kids and myself. On a couple of discussion boards I belong to it's come up a few times how expensive medical care is. I have to admit that I don't always miss the States. I love it, mind you, but there are times I really don't miss it. For example, my doctor is a cousin of the kids' godfather so I got a discount. I only paid $50. The total would have been about $130 or so if I'd paid for everything. That included the exam, pap smear, and ultrasound. If I'd gone for a mammogram (I don't need to again until next year) I would only have paid about $80. Or at least that's what I paid last year.


The kids went today. They all got vaccinations. Each of them got a shot and the twins each got the oral polio vaccine. The total for 3 office visits and 5 vaccines was $167.67. Try THAT in the States!


Oh, and they're all as healthy as horses. The Boss is a little above average on height and weight but they're proportionate. The average weight for the Diva is 16 kilos and that's what she weighs. The Little Prince is 17 kilos. They're both a few centimeters above average on height. The Little Prince, being the most Lebanese of the three, pitched the biggest fit during the vaccination so there was a little girl in tears in the waiting room. I suspect she might have been even before, but even so, she was definitely not happy to be there after the Little Prince was done. They all got over it pretty quick though. Candy helps. LOL












































The weather here has been very un-Lebanese-like. Normally it doesn't rain here from June-Sept. the last few days have been very foggy. How foggy is it? It's soooo foggy...even the Lebanese drivers are driving carefully! I've almost fainted everytime I've gone somewhere! No, seriously, they've been showing much more caution and actually refrain from trying to pass on blind curves. Now that says something for the weather conditions here. In fact the photo above is the football field at Broumana High School. Normally you see a big brown field. Yesterday you could only see fog.


Yesterday I brought the kids home from summer camp and it was drizzling. We got out of the car and the Little Prince started dancing. He was so excited to feel water dropping on him. OK, nothing like real rain, but he felt it. So they twins decided to do a rain dance. Not a real rain dance, of course, designed to bring rain, but a rain celebration dance. They luckily managed to avoid the dog poop next to our parking space.












































I'm enjoying this nice weather change while I can. Soon enough we'll be back to dust storms for our weather activity so this is nice timing.

Nancy Ajram (Ah W Nos (English))

I found it! There are different commercials and videos that I've trying to find to share with you and here's one of my favorites.

When we came here almost 4 years ago for the twins' baptism this song was everywhere. The kids' godsister was only 3 or 4 at the time and went around the house singing and dancing to this one.
This song was popular in Iraq as well, so if you know a soldier who was there around Sept. '04, he might recognize it. Although I'm thinking the video might have been more popular than the song itself, considering how well covered the women there are. ;)

Anyway, enjoy!

First Things had this post up today. I love it!



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When Does Human Life Begin?
Posted by Keith Pavlischek on August 18, 2008, 3:48 PM

Dr. Hymie Gordon (Mayo Clinic): “By all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”

Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth (Harvard University Medical School): “It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception.”

Dr. Alfred Bongioanni (University of Pennsylvania): “I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception.”

Dr. Jerome LeJeune, “the Father of Modern Genetics” (University of Descartes, Paris): “To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion . . . it is plain experimental evidence.”

Rick Warren: At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?Sen. Barack Obama: Well, I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.

Math Call to 911

This brings back memories! When the Boss was 5 Jiddo came to visit us for a few months in the States. One night Baba called from work to check on things and Jiddo said things were fine and mentioned that the sheriff had been there. Baba asked him why and he said maybe he needed directions. Yeah, right! A deputy with a MAP would need to ask a Lebanese man who doesn't speak English for directions. Baba called the sheriff's office and gave his address and said that a deputy had been there and asked what was wrong. The woman said, "Oh, we always send a car out when a child calls 9-1-1." That night we asked the Boss why he called. He said, "I wanted to talk to a policeman." I told him from now on, that since we made weekly trips to the library, which was in City Hall and across the foyer from the police station, anytime he wanted to talk to a policeman to just let me know.

What she says

While I don't tend to post much on politics, I do express my opinions when the need arises. I have no respect at all for this man. He will say anything to get elected and when asked a direct question will do his best to get out of giving an actual answer.

The Rebellious Pastor's Wife has this post up on her blog. Watch it and you'll see why I just keep getting more and more convinced that this man is not for us.

Pink Curtains

A Blonde goes to K-Mart to buy a pair of pink curtains.

Finally she selects a lovely pink floral print.

The salesman then asks what size curtains she needs.

The blonde promptly replies, 'Seventeen inches.'

'Seventeen inches ?' asked the salesman. 'That sounds very small, what room are they for?'

The blonde says, 'They aren't for a room, they are for my new computer monitor.'

The surprised salesman replies, 'But Miss, computers do not need curtains !'

The blonde says,'Hellllooooooooo.. I've got Windoooooows.......'

I guess it made the news after all

Son of Hamas Leader Turns Back on Islam and Embraces Christianity

What an athlete!

Doing it for her little boy

I found the link to this story on First Things and couldn't resist passing it along. This woman is amazing! Yes, I'm loyal to the American team but this is one competitor who I hope beats the pants off everybody.

Two Years Ago Last Month

In a few weeks we'll be heading back to Kuwait. I need to buy a new suitcase since one of ours is in the States. It was a tight squeeze to get our stuff in the ones we had to come and we need to replace it. I hate packing for trips. Ugh! I'm not looking forward to it. At least this trip to Kuwait will be better than the one 2 years ago.

Two years ago fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah. If it weren't for the TV and the sound of more planes than usual overhead I wouldn't have noticed in our little town. (I don't call it "Mayberry with a funny accent" for nothing. We even had our own version of Barney Fife.) Well, I take that back. The usually heavy traffic during the summer was heavier too. Besides the usual influx of people up here during the summer there were people who'd fled the south. Fortuntately Aunt had come up to stay with us so I could walk to the market without having to deal with the tandem stroller that I was normally pushing.

Every afternoon, while the Boss was at summer camp and the twins were napping, Aunt would prepare the arguile (water pipe) and we'd sit on the terrace and listen to the sounds of jets flying overhead. Baba and I would chat daily, as usual, and he'd check on how things were going here. I was content to stay where we were. Our area is quiet, not much ever happens. We'd planned, originally, to alternate years between the States and here. We'd have been heading back home except that we'd decided during the year here that we'd join Baba in Kuwait. We were stuck in a hard place. While we were safe here, we knew that we needed to get the Boss enrolled in school and find a teaching job for me. It was July and the airport was closed due to Israeli bombs. They intended to keep it that way indefinitely. The embassey was evacuating people so we were checking on what we needed to do about taking advantage of that. We kept going back and forth. Evacuating would be a real hassle when it came to leaving with what we needed to take with us. But if we waited we could be stuck between the last evacuation and the reopening of the airport. So finally we made the decision to evacuate.

Did I mention how much I hate packing?! It was a nightmare. We were limited to what one carry-on per person would weigh. Luckily Baba was able to get past a recording and find out that to help us out, I could use one regular suitcase instead of 2 of the carryons as long as weighed the same. That helped quite a bit. But it was still a mess. I don't know how many times I packed and repacked our stuff, trying to get things to fit without going over the limit. But I finally did it. I had to leave behind a bunch of stuff I wanted to have there but I just made a trip back at Easter to get it.

The night before our trip SIL did a lot of cooking for us. We needed to use up some stuff so there was less for them to take home with them. I was still packing, unpacking, repacking so I was not getting to bed. The Little Prince was too wound up so he was up almost as late as I was. By the time I got to bed we had to be up about 2 hours later. SIL and Aunt drove us to a port not too far from where SIL and Jiddo live. They said goodbye to us and we waited in line.

It was kind of fun. One of the men asked if they could plan something in one of our bags to keep the dogs in practice. I was game and the kids had fun watching. Only the Boss understood what was going on but the twins liked seeing the dog. Then we went to check in and board the buses. I recognized one of the men checking the passports from the embassy. The last time I'd seen him was on my birthday when I was renewing my passport. This time it was the Boss's birthday. What a way to spend it, huh?

We got on the buses and went to the port of Beirut. We were supposed to be on a cruise ship that would get us to Cyprus in 12 hours. (I'd been hearing stories of people riding on cargo ships and being stuck on deck the whole time.) Unfortunately it had been delayed by the Israelis (something I'll never forgive them for and in a few lines you'll understand why). So we were on a catamaran (sp?). It was much smaller than a cruise ship but we were inside and on one of the upper decks. It would get us there in 6 hours. Why am I still ticked at the Israelis? It cut off 6 hours of travel time, right? Just wait.

The twins hadn't slept much the night before, the Little Prince least of all, so as soon as we started moving they were out. We weren't even out of the port before I heard sweet, little snores. Almost as soon as we were out on the open water and picked up speed I realized this boat wasn't quite the blessing it appeared to be.

This next part is something you'll never see in an advertisement aimed at getting young people to join the Navy. When your unit is assigned to assist people who are evacuating a war zone you ride along with them, carrying your weapons. Some of you get to carry weapons that is. Most of your unit will be on barf bag duty. That's right. Most of the Navy guys, who were wonderful, by the way, spent the whole trip delivering clean baggies and napkins, collecting the used ones, and cleaning up where someone didn't quite get the bag in time. Not something they want you to know before you join up.

So for two hours I reclined in my seat with the Little Prince curled up in the seat next to me and the Diva on my lap, listening to their sweet snoring mixed with the not so sweet sounds (and smells) of sea travel. {sigh} After those first two hours they woke up. I wish they'd slept longer. Much longer. The first thing the Little Prince did was throw up. The Diva immediately did the same. (Did I mention she was on my lap?) Fortunately it was just a sympathy puke because she didn't do it again the rest of the trip. The Little Prince, who wasn't talking much yet, came to understand "do you need the baggie?"

A very nice man from the State Dept. sat with us the whole trip. He'd helped us in Beirut and he was finished there so he was heading out with us. Poor man. He wasn't feeling well himself but was faring better than the Little Prince. At one point he watched them so I could try to clean up. After standing outside the bathroom for a while and realizing it would be even longer before I got in to try to clean up my clothes, I finally just asked the one Navy dude who was cleaning up a spot on the floor to just spray me and hand me some paper towels. It probably worked about as well as soap and water but didn't get me as soaked.

I've neglected to mention a few other people. There were many who were ill but there was one woman who was not only ill but seemed to be in actual pain. She moaned the whole time. She wasn't just being difficult. She was in very dire straits. Her sister and I chatted later at the airport in Cyprus. She'd come up from the south, an area that was being bombed and they'd almost immediately gotten on the boat. She thought the stress of everything combined with the seasickness was just taking its toll on her.

A priest from the Maronite church in St. Louis was on the trip with others from the congregation. They'd been in Lebanon and were evacuating with us. I'd visited with him a bit before we'd left the dock and caught up on a few things. Baba and I had visited the church several times while living in Florissant and Baba had enjoyed a few of their Wednesday lunches where they would cook up and serve Lebanese food. (The one time I got to take advantage of a snow day and go with him the people who organize it were in California for a meeting with the diocese.) The priest was doing everything he could to help this poor woman. Every known home remedy was put to use but it did her no good. The poor woman just had to suffer the whole 6 hours.

Once we arrived and slowed down, the Little Prince stopped being sick. We got off the boat and got on more buses. We went to the airport and got our tickets and went to the gate. I left the Boss in charge of the twins (who were strapped in their Ride On Carry Ons-the pic above) and went to change clothes. While we were waiting one of the State Dept. guys who'd checked us in at the airport came looking for me. Baba had found a friend who was able to get us tickets to Kuwait from Cyprus. (The plan had been to head to the States and then in a few weeks head to Kuwait.) So I followed him back out, left the kids with him, followed one of the airport employees outside to find our luggage that had already been check in, and went back inside. I then had to find a taxi, preferably driven by someone who spoke English well enough to understand "take me to a hotel that's nice but won't cost me everything in my wallet". He did very well.

We showered, went to bed, enjoyed a nice breakfast downstairs, and then took a shuttle to the airport in another town. Halfway there I realized I'd forgotten a big paper shopping bag that had the twins blankies and most of their sippy cups. Ugh! The blankies were made by our neighbor back home and given to them to take to Lebanon with us. I was heart broken! The Little Prince had to sleep with his blankie! Oh, well.

We got to the airport and were packed in like sardines in every line. I forget where we had to change planes now but we finally made it to Kuwait. It was about 3 in the morning and the thermometer above the exit said it was in the high 40's Celcius. Ugh! I hate it when the temps are that high during the day! This was the middle of the night!

Let's just say that whenever I'm in Lebanon, packing for the return trip to Kuwait, I thank God that I'm not repeating that trip.

BTW, if you want the greatest thing every invented by woman for making traveling with small children easier, get a Ride On Carry On. I bought ours when the twins were babies. They were actually too small for them but I didn't care. I still managed to get them to work and they're fantastic.

Another joke from a friend

I got this from a friend of mine the other day. Enjoy!

UN Survey

Last month, a worldwide survey was conducted by the UN.

The only question asked was:

'Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the
Food shortage in the rest of the world?'

The survey was a huge failure because....:

In Africa they didn't know what 'food' means.

In Eastern Europe they didn't know what 'honest' means.

In Western Europe they didn't know what 'shortage' means.


In China they didn't know what 'opinion' means.

In the Middle East they didn't know what 'solution' means.

In South America they didn't know what 'please' means.

In the USA they didn't know what 'the rest of the world' means.

And I've seen bigger!

It's common over here, when you have guests or are at a restarant, to have a platter of fresh vegetables. They don't just have your run-of-the-mill tomatoes. No, no, no. They're huge.

I went to the vegetable market after taking the twins to camp to get pears, nectarines, etc. I had my camera in my purse and had to snap this picture. I would have put one of these beauties next to a regular tomato for comparison, but I was already acting strangely by taking a picture of tomatoes. I figured that made me look strange enough without setting up the shot.

But while these tomatoes are big, I've seen much larger on the table. They just slice and salt them and dig in. And they're welcome to it! I've never cared much for tomatoes. I like them cooked, preferably in a sauce, but I've never cared to eat fresh tomatoes. I come from a long-line of tomato-growers who loved to sit down at the table in the summer and salt and pepper a plate full of tomato slices. I'm a disappointment. {sigh}

It guess it just isn't newsworthy

Son of top Hamas official becomes a Christian


I guess it just wasn't considered to be of enough interest for the newswire. You'd think that the son of a top official of the main terrorist organization in Palestine converting to Christianity would be of at least minimal interest. Luckily I enjoy reading First Things or I would never have stumbled upon this story.

That's what I love about the blogosphere. You learn something new everyday. Speaking of which, if you want to learn something about Arabic names (and which ones aren't), check out The Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake today. He explains how the name Abdul isn't a name. BTW, this is one of my pet peeves, madrasse is the Arabic word for school. It doesn't mean terrorist training camp. Otherwise all the Catholic schools over here would have a lot of s'plain' to do! Funny how westerners pick up a word and run with it (often in the wrong direction).

I hope you enjoy these links. I sure did.

Things about me - Meme

A Soldier's Wife tagged me for this meme. I noticed it after I'd posted something already that day and meant to do it the next day. Then, well, you know...life. LOL So now, here goes...

Here are the rules:

1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

(I'm afraid these might be a bit repetitive, but I'l try to avoid that.)

My 7 Facts:

1. I'm half Swedish, half mutt. My great-grandparents on my dad's side came from Sweden. (Grandma's father worked for years on the Burlingon-Northern. He'd be out all week and come home on the weekends. She and her sister loved to rearrange the furniture, so if he came home after dark, he often found himself walking into it.)

2. My paternal grandfather was a Lutheran pastor. He loved to serve rural congregations, especially if he had to start them up himself. (I remember visiting them at their parsonage in Nebraska when I was small. My main memory is of Blaze, one of their horses, breaking wind during my ride.)

3. I used to be part Cherokee. (I can see a lot of head scratching out there in blogland.) According to my maternal grandfather we're Scotch, Irish, English, French, and Cherokee. After his death I asked two of his sisters about this (who were into geneology) and they just look bewildered and said 'no'. So I just proudly say I used to be part Cherokee. ;)

4. Shortly after 9/11 one of my students' parents called the FBI on me. You see Baba is Lebanese and the girl was flunking Spanish. Now you have to understand that this was in September. You have to work pretty hard to flunk Spanish (or any other class) that early in the year or else sit and do absolutely nothing, which was actually the case here. Apparently they thought if they made a stink about my husband's ethnicity it would improve her grade. Fortunately the FBI is smarter than that girl's family (like it takes much effort).

5. When we lived in Lebanon 3 years ago we spent the first two months with my in-laws. Everytime Baba would call and ask Jiddo how the kids were, Jiddo would just laugh his head off. The Little Prince is Jiddo's payback.

6. I'm a fair Swedish/northern European. Baba is a dark, curly-haired Lebanese (and when he's not shaving his head, that hair's curly as well-lol) . The Boss has dark brown hair and almost bright brown eyes. He can be a bit fair complected during the winter but tans good and dark in the summer. About typical for the mix, right? But the twins were a shock. The Little Prince is blond (with Baba's big brown eyes) and the Diva has very light brown hair and blue eyes. Baba would wonder who the Little Prince's father really was if it wasn't for his temperament (he's the most "Lebanese" of the three).

7. I'm a couch potato and proud of it! Exercise is something I suffer through several times a week because I should. But if I could find a weight loss program to do while knitting or cross stitching, I'd be on it like a bad rash.

Now I'm going to have to cheat a bit and not pick 7. Just send me a comment to let me know you did it.

Corrupting Lebanese Influence

I guess it was inevitable. Just a matter of time before being married to a Lebanese would totally corrupt all my ideas of what's right and wrong.

Before I met Baba I would never have thought of eating any meat that hadn't been thoroughly cooked. Now, look at me. I'm eating it raw. The above picture is known as habra nayyi. Similar to kibbi nayyi but different seasonings. The white sauce in the dish next to it is garlic. Lots and lots of garlic! {smile}

When we went to eat tonight at a local restaurant I asked if they had it. He asked me a couple of times if that was really what I wanted. Then he brought me the menu again for me to be sure that I was ordering the right thing. I'm guessing he doesn't have many westerners ordering raw meat. LOL

I wouldn't order it from just anywhere and or just because someone served it to me in their home. You have to trust the person or restaurant preparing it. And they have to trust their butcher.

And tonight's helping? Yum!

The other day I was listening to my favorite talk radio program and they were discussing prayer. The discussion came around to the Lord's Prayer and how it is the perfect prayer. It's the prayer that Christ Himself taught His disciples to pray. He precedes the prayer with directions, "Pray in this way:..." Matthew 6:9 and in Luke 11:2, "When you pray, say:..."

He precedes the instructions in Matthew with, "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." (vv. 7-8; NASB)

There are people who think that you shouldn't pray the Lord's Prayer. "It's just an example." "You're supposed to pray from your heart and not use vain repetitions." But they don't realize that after Jesus warned His disciples about those vain repetitions He gave them this prayer. This is the perfect prayer. It covers everything we could need to pray for. We may wish to be more specific, but do we need to be? Remember, "your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." Everything we could possibly need is summed up in that prayer.

That's not to say that we shouldn't pray our own prayers. But we must be careful not to make our prayers a Christmas wish list. I love what the pastor being interviewed said... When we're praying, instead of trying to say what we mean, we should try to mean what we say. Do we really want God's will to be done or our own? Do we really want Him to forgive us the way we forgive others? I know that I, for one, am not a very forgiving person. I'm like a dog with a bone. Do I really want Him to forgive me like I forgive others? No, I don't. I would want Him to be more forgiving of me, but do I really deserve that when I find it so difficult to forgive?

For the longest time I beat myself up because I would never remember to pray. I knew that I should be starting my day in the Word and prayer. But I'm not a morning person. I set the alarm to give me just enough time to get me ready to head out to work in the morning. I do my Bible reading at night which means that my evening prayers are done in bed. Not a bad thing except for the fact that I'm usually falling asleep before I've said much. I honestly think that if I ever finished a prayer before falling asleep God would faint from the shock. I wonder if I want to be the one to go down in history as making that happen.

Part of my problem with prayer is that I've never been particularly comfortable with the idea. I feel strange when I pray. I feel too conversational. Not always a bad thing. I have no problem "chatting" with God while I go about my day. Laughing about funny things, ranting about injustices, etc. But for my "prayer time" I feel like I should be more formal. But when I try to be it seems strange. After all I'm not in church. I'm in bed, for crying out loud! Besides, He knows I don't normally speak like that. Am I trying to butter Him up for something? He knows I'm not but I feel like I am. {sigh} It was easier just to "forget" to pray. Then I found this in Luther's Small Catechism:

Morning Devotions
As soon as you get out of bed in the morning, you should bless yourself with the sign of the
Holy Cross and say:
May the will of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be done! Amen.
Then, kneeling or standing, say the creed and pray the Lord’s Prayer. If you wish, you may
then pray this little prayer as well:

My Heavenly Father, I thank You, through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, that
You kept me safe from all evil and danger last night. Save me, I pray, today as well,
from every evil and sin, so that all I do and the way that I live will please you. I put
myself in your care, body and soul and all that I have. Let Your holy Angels be with
me, so that the evil enemy will not gain power over me. Amen.

After that, with joy go about your work and perhaps sing a song inspired by the Ten
Commandments or your own thoughts. (In case you're wondering, no, I don't actually start singing. I love to sing, but I'm also a very self-conscious person. lol)

The Evening Devotions
When you go to bed in the evening, you should bless yourself with the sign of the Holy Cross
and say:
May the will of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be done! Amen.
Then, kneeling or standing, say the creed and pray the Lord’s Prayer. If you wish, then you
may pray this little prayer as well:

My Heavenly Father, I thank You, through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, that
You have protected me, by Your grace. Forgive, I pray, all my sins and the evil I
have done. Protect me, by Your grace, tonight. I put myself in your care, body and
soul and all that I have. Let Your holy angels be with me, so that the evil enemy
will not gain power over me. Amen.

After this, go to sleep immediately with joy. (I usually can get to sleep, but not always immediately. Sometimes with joy, but usually just sheer exhaustion.)

I've found that by building this into my routine, I have two moments during the day that are not "routine". They are special times that I spend in prayer. If there are other things that are weighing on my mind I can include them, but these prayers cover everything so I rarely do. Since I've begun these morning and evening devotions I sometimes find myself wanting more. Instead of stunting my prayer life (as some would claim) they have helped me want to pray more often.

If you would like to listen to that interview on prayer, go here.

Issues, Etc. On-Demand

Then, go to Tuesday, July 29th, and find the interview with Pastor Ken Schurb.

OMG! Stoplights!

Today we went to pick up Aunt and headed to Baabda to have lunch with Baba's cousin. I'd been to Aunt's house once already this summer, but due to the lack of brakes (they'd gotten too hot on the way down the mountain so thought they could take the rest of the drive off) my mind didn't register what was new in Lebanon.

This trip, however, was going along nicely with no mishaps so I actually noticed the change. There are stoplights in Lebanon! You have to understand...when my principal at my old school, who's married to a Lebanese, said he made it from the airport all the way to Jounieh on his first visit here and saw no stoplights, he was NOT exagerrating! The few stoplights that were in use here were mainly for decoration. During the civil war police hesitated (OK, just plain old didn't want) to pull over people for speeding or running red lights. Let's face it...if you're a Christian police officer and pulling over a Muslim terrorist with a machine gun (or a Muslim police officer pulling over a "Christian" terrorist with a machine gun), you usually didn't live to regret it.

The major intersections in Beirut and its environs typically have police officers "directing" traffic. (I used quotation marks because I think that's what some of them are doing.) But today, at a couple of heavily travelled intersections there were honest-to-goodness stoplights! And the Lebanese drivers actually seemed to know what to do with them. Cool, isn't it?

(BTW, Soldier's Wife...I haven't forgotten the meme. I'm just not feeling well the last few days and have been going all over the place. I'm hoping to put it up tomorrow or Monday. But you might need to nudge me past that. I have a mind like a sieve.)

Last night we went to the kids' godbrother's birthday party. He turned 8 and they had his party at the sports club at his school. There were 2 lifeguards there but the pool was deeper than I cared for. The twins weren't big enough to have their heads above water if they stood on the bottom.

I was very happy that the Little Prince had fun. A couple of weeks ago one of the monitors put him in the water at the water park and his head went under. He hasn't wanted to get in a pool since unless I was along. So he had a blast with the lifeguards holding him and then when he discovered the noodles, he was in heaven!

He was swimming happily along with the noodles and so was the Diva. They also enjoyed floating in the big flower.
























But then, disaster struck. The nice lifeguard decided to have some fun with the twins. He swam under the flower and capsized it, sending the twins not just in the water, but under the water. Oh, no! There goes any chance of the Little Prince ever wanting to go back in the water again! But, after chewing out the lifeguard royally (is there any other way?) the Little Prince helped him flip the flower back over and he was happy again to have his favorite perch. And the Diva? Well, she was royally ticked off. You don't dunk the Diva!!!

After playing and swimming for an hour, the kids were called out of the pool and the it was time to blow out the candles on the cake.
























After the candles were blown out it was time to eat. (Notice how a lot of my posts since arriving here have to do with food or at least mention it?)































If there's one thing you can count on if you ever visit Lebanon? You'll never go hungry.

After we got home it was time for the twins to hit the shower. They must have played another hour in the tub and then they still pitched fits at having to get out. And the Boss? He had a blast...that kid is a fish. He could spend all day in the pool if he was allowed. Soon the twins will be the same way. Oh, wait...the Diva already is. Remember how many times the lifeguard at the water park a few weeks ago had to retrieve her because she "wasn't ready"? I'm thinking we'll have the same problem the next time we go.