Crazy Week

Meredith had CRAZY WEEK at her school this past week. She had backwards day, crazy outift and hair day, alien day and school color day. Here she is sporting her crazy outfit and hair. She absolutley loves events like this!!


Here she is as an alien.

It Was a Great Time....

Dada and Mimi left today to head back home. We had such a great time during their visit! This was Mimi's first time overseas...she handled all of the differences pretty well. On our last day they got to see Meredith's final girl scout ceremony for the year. Meredith was the M.C. for the program. It meant so much to her for them to be here for her special ceremony! Come back soon! We already miss you!

Here's a few pics from the ceremony:

Funny Pharoah Land Moments...No. 4

Matthew Ray moment:

Madison and Matthew Ray had a deep conversation and prayer time at the breakfast table this morning.

Matthew Ray: "Madison, you know if you tell Jesus you don't want to die you won't die."
Madison: "Really?"
Matthew Ray: "It's true..you won't die. Why don't we pray right now about that."
Madison: "K!"
Matthew Ray: "Dear Jesus, I pray right now that me and Madison won't die. In Jesus' Name. Amen."

These two are really full of questions these days about life, death, heaven, Jesus, and Jesus' death. I love to watch and listen to them as they search for the real meaning in life. I can't wait for them to fully understand that they can have eternal life when they fully give their lives to HIM! For now, I am sure Jesus looks down on them with a smile and chuckles! :)

A Night with Egyptians

Last night we were invited to eat dinner with some of our Egyptian friends. He is the pastor of a Baptist church here. It was so much fun, we used lots of Arabic and the food was delicious! After dinner we headed to the outdoor shopping area called the Khan a Khalilly. It is always a great cultural experience!

Camel Ridin' Again...

Today we went to the pyramids once again! Dada and Mimi were amazed at the pyramids. It seems the more we go, the more we are amazed! How did they do it? I'll tell you how...with lots of time, work and sweat! Do you want to make an impact in this life and put a mark in history? I know I do...sometimes I have to keep that in front of me...time, work and sweat (and of course GRACE from above!)
Here's our amazing day!

Marathon Day with Dada and Mimi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew! What a day! The day started out getting all of the kids off to school which is eventful all by itself. Matt and Don decided to treat themselves to Starbucks down the street after they delivered the children. We then headed for Garbage City. While there we visited the recycling center and the Coptic Church in the Cave. Our next stop was the Citadel. We made it back to our place to pick up the kids, grab some supper and then head out again for the evening. We went for a relaxing ride on the Nile...Madison was scared as usual...Matthew Ray did his regular search for Baby Moses in the bullrushes...and the rest of us just sat back and relaxed from the craziness of the day. BUT our craziness was not over. We got off of the faluka boat and caught a taxi (all 7 of us). As a group we decided to drive through downtown. We arrived downtown. I (Stacey) saw the Metro (the subway) sign and said, "Hey, how about if we ride the metro back home?? It's a real experience!" By this time, everyone was up to anything! :) We entered the metro car along with what seemed to be the rest of everyone that lives in our city! All decided that they had had enough about three stops down the track. So, we got off of the metro, caught another taxi that all 7 of us crammed into, and then drove for another 20 minutes back home! We told Mimi and Dada that they are ruthless...we have never had such a marathon of a day! I think we will just rest tomorrow!

Dada and Mimi are here!!!

Dada and Mimi (Matt's parents) just arrived at 2 am this morning. We have had a big day. The kids got new watches, new stuffed animals and LOTS of chocolate. (of course, the chocolate is for me and Matt, too!) They saw a little of our city today and then spent the evening with the kids. Dada helped Meredith with a power point project. Mimi and Matt did a devotion time with Madison and Matthew Ray. It was a great first day. I will try to post often over the next few days to show you all of our activities. We will be seeing a lot of the city...so it should be interesting!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun in the Sun!

I am a little behind on our life. I will try to catch up in the next couple of days. This past week we got to go to our local water park. Yes, we have a water park..it is in the middle of the desert but it is a water park! Anyway, Matthew Ray was so excited that he was up at 6 am ready to go! He got dressed and then asked if he could eat his breakfast on our balcony. (Way cute!) We had a great day! Hopefully we will get to go many times in the next few months!

Funny Pharoah Land Moments..No. 3

No funny phrases this time...The pictures pretty much tell it all!! We caught both of these funny moments on camera this past week.

We guess Madison is itching to get summer started and get to a pool! She asked us if she could take a bath. We said yes and I passed by the bathroom several times to see her playing in the tub. On one of my trips by to check on her, this is what I found. She told me she was at the beach..guess she is missing a litte of home!




Before bed one night Matthew Ray said his head hurt and he wanted "orange medicine" (ibuprofen). Matt sat him up on the breakfast table and told him that he would be right back to give him his medicine. When he returned this is what he found. Matthew Ray was sound asleep!

Hangin Out in Dubai

I finally had a chance to sit down and put all of my pics from last week into a slide show. I had the chance to go to Dubai with some friends from here and meet some friends from Jacksonville, Florida. We had such a blast! It was so refreshing just hangin out and being crazy! We played games, had a pajama party, got massages, talked a lot, slept very little, goofed off even more and really enjoyed each other's company! There was a "chubby bunny" contest that I won...imagine that..the biggest mouth in the bunch! We also had an American Idol contest and my group won thanks to our excellent song writers! Our friends from Jacksonville also brought us presents and sent presents to our kids. It was great time! Thanks so much Jacksonville ladies for the REFRESHING time! We love you!

SEVEN Story MALL...A girl's dream..

Well, my pictures are still not all together to show you what I was up to last week. So, I thought I would show you a couple of pictures of our 7 story mall (City Stars Mall) that is just a 10 minute taxi ride from our apartment! We usually just go there to eat at some of the American restaurants. 'On The Border' is American, right? We rarely shop in the shops because it is WAYYYYYY too expensive! Well, we do shop at Claire's when they have a sale. Meredith loves that! We go to feel a little American. Sometimes the culture here can really get to us and we feel like it is a little getaway. As I am writing this I am laughing because I remember going to this mall within the first 2 weeks of living here and thinking how foreign it seemed at the time! I think I was just walking around in a fog during all of those cultural adjustments!
Soooo, if you like to shop (or window shop) come see us and I will take you to an amazing mall

Been Busy!

Sorry! I know it has been a week since I have posted! I (stacey) have been gone for a few days and then things have been a little crazy since I have been back! I will post my adventures from last week in the next couple of days!
I wanted to add a picture of me and my precious language helper! She is such a sweetie and helps me learn this monster language! Please pray for her as she deals with us in language and the difficulties of her own life!