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!

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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!

Funny Phrases From Pharoah's Land...No.2

Liar, Liar...pants on fire!

Matthew: “Mom, can we say…liar, liar pants on fire?”
Mom:“Hmmm…why don’t you ask your dad that?”
So, Matthew Ray asked Dad who was busy working on his computer: "Daddy, can we say liar, liar pants on fire?"
Dad: “Yeah, just make sure you say it sweetly.”
Matthew Ray: "How do I say that sweetly??!!”


Meredith’s conversation to Madison and Matthew Ray about visiting a farm this week:

Meredith: Hey, guys we are going to a farm tomorrow. We will get to run around and there will be grass and maybe there will be some animals.

Madison: Hey!!! I didn’t think there was grass in Egypt!!!!

The Rachael Ray of Egypt! :)

Anyone that knows Howard knows that he LOVES to take a million pictures and videos of EVERYTHING!!! (I had to get you one last time, Howard!) Today Howard leaves us to go back to the states. We are sure going to miss having him around. Anyway, back to the million pics and videos...After my language lesson the other day I asked my language teacher to stay a little longer and watch me try to make Egyptian rice. She has been making it for me for the past year and I thought it was about time that I learned. I tried once before and it turned out terrible...who knows why...but this time I did it and it turned out great. Howard took a lot of video of the process so I thought some of you may enjoy seeing (and laughing at)the Rachael Ray of Egypt in action!! I need to work a little on my cooking presentation like Rachael but I would like to see her try to have an Arabic lesson while cooking! It can drive a person CRAZY!! Take a look...

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Nile Stress Therapy

Howard has been visiting for the past week and we have had a blast! We ended our crazy race day and "mix-up" meeting day at the nursing home with a ride on the Nile. It was a beautiful evening with a beautiful sunset that relaxed all of us from the stresses of the day.

A Little Cultural/Language Mix-up

I had an appointment to see an orphanage after our 5K race on Saturday. I thought we would be done in plenty of time for me to go to a friend's house and change into "appointment clothes."(Egyptians dress up WAY more than we are accustomed to.) We got done much later than I had expected so I had to change in the back seat of another friend's car while Egyptian traffic wizzed by!:)


We arrived at the "orphanage" just in time, only to find out that it was a nursing home. The nursing home is for 16 elderly men that people found homeless on the streets. The people there were so sweet but it was NOT what we were expecting! I had been telling the kids all day that we were going to an orphanage and they were so excited. Needless to say, they were a little confused. We ended up staying for several hours to visit. I guess the most interesting part of the whole day was visiting with 2 Spanish speaking women that help with the nursing home. I didn't understand one word from them so an Egyptian man translated into Arabic for me! I have never been so relieved to hear Arabic!! Whoo! Hoo!!

Race in the Desert!

Meredith's school hosted a 5K and 2K race in the desert this past Saturday. Meredith ran the 5K and Matt, Madison and Matthew Ray ran the 2K while I cheered them all on! I would have run but I had a meeting right afterward and didn't have time to go home and shower first. (I will post that story next...it is VERY interesting!)
Anyway, we all had a great time. Meredith came in first in her division!!! Yeah, Meredith!!! Matt went with Madison and Matthew Ray. You can see in the slide show below that Matthew Ray lost his shoe within the first 10 steps so he was behind the whole time. Madison did a fabulous job! She didn't slow down (well, except when she chit-chatted a little with one of her friends along the way)! She did manage to finish the race strong! (see her video below) Finally, Matt and Matthew Ray made it to the finish line with Matthew Ray hitting his forehead the whole time. I asked him why he did that and he said, "It all made me so nervous!" He is too sweet! Howard went with us and was so sweet to take all of these pics for us! Thanks Howard!!

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Juliana is Coming SOON!!!!

The day is getting so close when Juliana will come and live with us for the summer!!! We are all so excited. Meredith, Madison and Matthew Ray love to spend time with their Aunt Juliana. She is so good to them and allows them to just "hang out" with her even when it hasn't always been "cool." I just thought I would put together a little slide show of times with Juliana. Some of these pictures are of the kids dressing up in different outfits in the mall (one of their favorite pass times to do with her!) Juliana, we can't wait!!!!

We have A LOT going on right now and have much to post soon! I will try to get the pictures uploaded to let you know of all of our recent adventures!

Meredith...A one of a kind Jewel!!!

I hope you are able to read these receipts from our 11 year old, Meredith. She has become quite responsible and is very good at "short-time" babysitting. The other night we went down to another apartment in our building to meet with some friends. Meredith babysat Madison and Matthew Ray while we were gone. She did an amazing job! When we got home, we found these receipts on the table.
The first paper has the list of activities which she entitled "Pre-Teen babysitting schedule." This is what it says if you are having a hard time reading it: watch tv, brush teeth, have devotion, punish Matthew(he through a pouting fit), play, read bedtime story, get them 2 bed. The second paper was our actual receipt we had to sign stating that we could pay her in one of two ways: we could pay her 20 Egyptian Pounds (our money) or we could just give her more minutes on her cell phone. The last paper just says it is our decision (thanks, Meredith!) and then the little "love ya" at the bottom.
I just had to blog this!!! Meredith is such a jewel and a joy to have! She definitely is one of a kind!

Funny Phrases From Pharoah's Land...No.1

We have decided that our children live to crack us up! There is so much that goes on in our lives that I never take the time to write down (or type down or blog down) any of the hilarious things they say. So, this is my first attempt to blog down a few of the funny moments from this week. We'll see if I can keep up with their comedy!!

These first two stories seem to reflect how much my children think of my cooking!
1. One of our family devotions this week was on the story of Peter's Mother-in-law, sick with a fever. Madison and Matthew Ray still have to be quizzed over what we are actually reading about so Matt stops frequently and asks questions to make sure they are listening. This is how the devotion went:
Matt began reading, "Simon Peter's mother-in-law was sick with a fever."
Matt: "What was she sick with?"
Madison: "She had the flu or something like that."
Matt continues reading, "When Jesus healed her she got up and PREPARED a meal for them."
Matt: "What did she do when Jesus healed her?"
Madison: "She got up and ORDERED them something to eat."

**Some of you may not be familiar with where we live but ORDERING food is very common here! Everyone orders from everywhere here because almost every place delivers! (even McDonald's)

2. I was sitting with Madison and Matthew Ray in the kitchen one morning before school. We were talking about some of our favorite things. I asked them, "What is the most favorite thing mommy cooks for you?" There was silence...more silence (which is so uncommon for these two!) Then Matthew Ray looks over at the fruit bowl and says, "Momma, I really like your fruit!"

3. Meredith is becoming quite the "teen-agery type" these days and comes out with some "teen-agery" sayings. She called her Grammie today to tell her Aunt Juliana to bring her two things when she comes to visit this summer. This is how the conversation went.
Meredith: "Grammie, I need Juliana to bring in some very RANDOM things for me this summer. Now, they are really RANDOM. There are only two things and they don't have anything to do with one another. They are really RANDOM!"
Grammie: "What do you need her to bring?"
Meredith: "Now they are RANDOM...but I need a teen-girl devotion book and some string cheese. They are RANDOM, aren't they?"
Grammie: "Yes, I guess they are."
Meredith: "Well, I guess I could read the devotional book while I eat string cheese!!"

4. Matthew Ray was helping me put things up after supper tonight. He opened the refrigerator and saw a bag of marshmallows. He said, "Now mom....this is only a marshmallow. I know it is for camping but you don't have to be afraid of it!" It quickly dawned on me that I have told my kids many times that we don't camp as a family because I am scared of all of the creepy things that could get me. Anyway, I continued with his conversation and said, "Well, camping really does scare me because I don't like all of those creepy things." He said, "Mom..REMEMBER, you don't have to be afraid!! God is always with you!!!" Then there was a pause followed by, "Now can we go camping??!!!"

Need a Laugh? I do!!!

Matt and some of his "goofy" friends! The video says it all!

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Sad Day

We went to a mass last week while our friend Mariah was here. We sat in sadness as we watched them try to have their sins taken away. Mariah was brave enough to catch some of the ritual on video:

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A Little Time Away

We were able to get away for a few days from the craziness of city life and take a trip to the Mediterranean. Some dear friends came with us from the states and spent LOTS AND LOTS of TIME with our children. They taught them stories, songs, games, made many crafts with them and LOVED on them. It was a breath of fresh air in more ways than one! The last night the kids performed for the adults all that they had learned from the week. They even brought new clothes and shoes for the kids, presents for the parents and U.S. snacks!! Yummy! Thanks so much guys for EVERYTHING!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!

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