Ash Wednesday and National Day-what a combination!

Today is Ash Wednesday. Today Christians around the world are told, "remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." I went to Salmiya Souk today on an errand. As I passed through the food court I saw a Phillipino couple sitting at a table with ashes on their foreheads. I almost stopped by and said, "Ah, you went to church today!" I wish now that I had. Solidarity is a good thing.

We had our Ash Wednesday service at the vicar's house tonight. It started at 7:30 and we were warned in our e-mail to allow plenty of time since traffic in Ahmadi is heavy during this holiday. No, not Ash Wednesday. Today is National Day (celebrating Kuwait's independence from Great Britain) and tomorrow is Liberation Day (celebrating Kuwait's liberation from Iraq). It's customary for children and *adults* to run around spraying cars with spray foam. They also spray from their cars. I regretted leaving all the cans of foam that Baba left in our bathroom at home. It was a quick trip from our house to the exit off the highway for this home. But that's all the good time we made. The rest of it was a slow crawl. The car was rather foamy by the time we got there.

The service was good and had just started when the Peanuts and I got there. The Diva wanted ashes too but the Little Prince didn't. One of these days he'll want them. We had fellowship afterward and a good chat. If you saw our vicar's bookshelf you'd think he was Muslim. Nothing like being prepared if you're going to live in a Muslim country.

On the way home we were creeping along again. These boys were running down the sidewalk and stopped to wave at the Peanuts. They bother to spray us though. They were covered in foam...probably had sprayed each other more than any cars. They went on ahead of us and did something to an SUV about 2-3 cars ahead of us. I don't know what it was but all of a sudden they took off running back behind us to their SUV. The driver of the SUV they did something to got out of his car and went running after them. He was a rather large man...not someone I'd want to have chasing me. And he was ticked! He chased them and kept them from closing their door. Their dad got out and went around to "talk" to him. The driver of the SUV in front us got out and went back to try to break things up. Finally they returned to their cars...the big guy was calmer but still ticked.

We left their house about 9 and got home around 10. Normally it takes MUCH less time than that. I'm thinking tomorrow I'm staying home after dark...unless I'm armed with some of that blue foam spray in my bathroom.

Please pray for Baba and his family back in Lebanon. His father passed away Sunday night from an apparent heart attack. His funeral was today. The Boss went with his dad on this trip. He was so happy to know that his father wanted him along and he was the only one to go. This is the only trip he and his dad have ever taken together.