Stink!!!! I Forgot My Camera!!!

I cannot believe I left my camera at home last night! We were invited to eat at some friend's home last night. We met them about a year ago and have seen them from time to time but have never been in their home. We arrived at a reasonable supper time around 7ish and were worried because we were a little late....

When we first arrived I went to take a quick potty break. After returning to the living room I found a very strange look on Matt's face. I knew something was up but had no idea what was in store for the evening. The woman of the house soon left the room and Matt said in a very low tone, "We are having pigeon for supper!" I whispered back, "What!? I can't eat pigeon!" Meredith was there with us and she repeated, "I can't eat pigeon!" He kindly instructed us that we WOULD be eating pigeon, that we WOULD NOT be making the faces that we were currently making and that we would smile about it! :)

I don't know why we were worried about arriving late... The husband arrived home from work at around 8:30 (which is really the regular Egyptian time for supper) and we sat down to eat. I should have saved all of my worrying for what I was about to eat! Our menu: Pigeon (one for each person), mashy (stuffed zucchini), mululhaya (slimey green soup), refrigerated green beans with onions, baboganooh (eggplant dip), bird's tongue soup (no, it is not really bird's tongue!) and flat bread.

Now to be sure I have consumed foods more disgusting than pigeon. To be honest, its not bad. It tastes like greasy chicken meat and mixed with rice and an assortment of other items is hardly recognizable in the pallet. What was over the line was when Matt ate the brain. Our host suggested that it was delicious and proceeded to show us how to remove the skull and extract the soft grey matter. Before we knew it Matt had popped one in and swallowed it down!!! At that point Meredith and I forgot all about the faces we were NOT supposed to be making!!!

After dinner they told us that we were having mangos for dessert. It is the favorite fruit here this time of year and is considered very special. BUT I REALLY don't like Mangos...so, for me choking down the mango was even more difficult than eating the pigeon!

All in all it was a very enjoyable, interesting, cultural learning, encouraging, and funny evening....I just wish I had had my camera!!!

Needless to say, upon our return home, Matt promptly brushed, flossed, and brushed again.:):):)

Meredith's Movie Party! She's 12 YA'LL!!!

Today is Meredith's 12th birthday! She had several of her friends over last night for a pizza/cake/ice cream/popcorn/coke movie party. It is not cultural here to have "sleepovers" and Egyptians really don't understand why you would ever sleep at someone else's house. But they can come and stay until really, really late and that is not problem at all! Two of her friends were able to spend the night with us...they are so sweet and we had such a fun time! They stayed up until 3:30 and were awake again at 8:30...they watched a movie, played a little, and then made chocolate chip pancakes! It has been a very fun and special birthday for Meredith!





Here's a slide/movie of the evening's events complete with a mini-fashion show at the end!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The beginning of the Pre-teen Year!!!

This coming Thursday is Meredith's 12th birthday! She is quite the young lady...we are going to have to put a lock on our door and throw away the key! We are so thankful for her in so many ways....her tender heart, teachable spirit, obedience, spirited personality, faith in Jesus, love for others and their needs, understanding of scripture, and her heart for ministry...she is an amazing daughter, friend, big sister and lover of Jesus! WE LOVE YOU MEREDITH AND ARE SO THANKFUL THAT JESUS GAVE YOU TO US AS A SPECIAL GIFT FROM HIM!!!
Stay tuned for the pics from the birthday bash we will be having on Wednesday night!!

Kinda Funny Pharoah Land Moments...No. 6..In Cahoots for some Cake

Matthew Ray has a friend at his school named Lydia. Yesterday there was a birthday party at the school for one of their classmates. We were not aware of this party but as Matthew Ray returned home we were informed of how he felt about the day. Before I begin the story I must explain that Matthew Ray and Lydia are really sweet kids. They both have tender hearts and are usually mild, sweet and obeident. This is how the story unfolded:

Matthew Ray entered with a look of disgust and the first words out of his mouth were, "One of my teachers yelled at me today and I just yelled right back at her!"

Trying to keep my composure I asked, "Well, Matthew what in the world happened?"

"Me and Lydia wanted some more cake. The teacher left the room. There was a piece left...so we ate it. Then the teacher came back in the room and started yelling at us. She is mean. She put Lydia in punishment and I just started yelling at her!"

I asked, "Did you yell at her in English or Arabic?"

He said with a continued look of real disgust, "Some of it was in Arabic and some of it was in English!"

I really have never seen him this "put out." We have others in this house that get "put out" easily (ie..me) but he is never this way!

At this point, I really didn't know exactly how to proceed next because I wasn't sure of the entire story. I told him that we never yell at adults and just ignored the part about the cake. I immediately called Lydia's mom to see if she may could get some more details about the whole incident from Lydia. Lydia had not yet informed her mom of the incident but was not remorseful (and neither was Matthew Ray) about taking the cake. She told her mom that this teacher is always mean. Lydia's mom asked her what Matthew Ray yelled and this is the report:

"You're always mean! You always yell! You're always mad at us!!!"

Lydia's mom and I talked about it and decided that these two had just had their fill. I think they were just tired of the un-called-for treatment and decided that a little cake and some yelling back might do this teacher some good. We will both be talking to the school's owner this week and getting to the bottom of things.

Life with kids...whew..they really keep things hoppin!

We wish good things didn't HAVE to come to an end...

Juliana and Ashli leave us tomorrow and we are all a little mopey around here! We don't know what we are going to do without them around....no more middle of the night cupcakes, no more middle of the night homemade croutons, no more Facebook lessons, no more bathtime help, no more hanging out on Stacey's bed chit chatting with her about EVERYTHING, no more Junie B, no more "my baaaaaby moments", no more glass coke and sprite bottles everywhere, no more internet cafe' look on the dining room table, and NO MORE fun times(at least for a while) with TWO WONDERFUL COLLEGE Girls!!!!

What an awesome summer we have had!!! It has been a blast having Ashli and Juliana here with us this summer. They did an amazing job teaching at Madison and Matthew Ray's pre-school and they were personally such a blessing to our family! You made a difference here in so many ways! Thanks guys sooooo much! We love you so much and can't wait for you to come back soon!:)

We tried to talk both of them into staying...who needs college anyway?:) But they must return to finish their education so they can come right back and work here with us!:)

Big Helpers!

Madison and Matthew Ray are becoming quite the big helpers these days. Not only do they do regular chores but they help out when we really need them around here! :) Here's two videos back to back...the first is of them helping with the paint project and the second is a clip of them washing dishes together. (Notice their conversation...Madison KNEW I was videoing and Matthew Ray did NOT know I was videoing). Madison asks soooo nicely, "Matthew can I have the sponge PLEASE?" Matthew Ray says, "Nah, I'm usin' it." I wish they acted like they were on video all of the time!:)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Some Re-decorating at 10 PM!!!!

Meredith felt that she needed a "more grown up-ish" room (with a little help from Juliana and Ashli). As many know, I am a planner but I didn't marry a planner and I also have a sister who is not a planner! Matt and Juliana began the project of painting Meredith's room on Saturday afternoon. Matt, Juliana, Ashli and Meredith left our house at 8 pm to go buy paint and supplies. They returned at 9 pm and we began the "family project" at 10 PM!!! CRAZY! Anyway, everyone got involved and we had a great time!
We decided to paint her walls a sage-ish color and we have ordered pink polka dots to stick on her wall. Dada will be bringing us the polka dots so we don't have the finished product to show you but so far, it looks pretty good!

Future Mates???

Maybe we could pre-arrange these cuties for marriage one day!

Juliana's Photography

I really think Juliana has a future in photography. She has a gift of capturing moments. And she even does it with just a regular camera, no fancy equipment, and sometimes some uncooperative kids! Here's a slide show of some of her work:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Red Sea Relaxation!

We took another trip to the Red Sea this year for a few days of relaxation. It was so much fun to get away from the city and just do NOTHING! Juliana and Ashli also got to go with us. They needed a break for sure!! We lived in the pool, played some on the beach, rode some jet ski's, ate and slept. It was great! Juliana took lots of pictures of us. She is a great photographer! I have so many to share. I will try to get a slide show posted in the next couple of days so you can see all of the fun! Here are a few until I can get some uploaded:

My BAAAAAABY!

Matthew Ray is LOVING the presence of Juliana in our home this summer! He no longer calls her Juliana...he calls her "my baaaaby!" It is the cutest thing ever but I am kind of sad that I have been replaced! :)
Here they are at the July 4th celebration dancing together:

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

Funny Pharoah Land Moments...No. 5 on the 4th

Today we celebrated the 4th of July by going to the big celebration here in our city with all of the other Americans who live here! It was a great time of visiting with friends, games, dancing, door prizes, hamburgers and PORK hot dogs!! We told the kids last night that we were going to the 4th celebration today. Madison ran into the room to inform Ashli of what we were going to do:

"Ashli, Ashli!!! We are going to the big party tomorrow and there is going to be...be....be...WIRE FORKS!!!!" (well, we didn't get to see any WIRE FORKS or FIREWORKS tonight but it was still a grand time!:)

One more funny Madison moment:
At the end of the evening we were trying to gather everyone up to leave and we couldn't find Madison. I (Stacey) finally found her in the dark beside the trampoline/bungee jump. She was hysterically crying. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that a girl called her little and told her she was a baby. I told her not to worry about it and then we headed home. After she had been in bed tonight for at least 30 minutes she called me in her room and said, "That makes me sad about that girl calling me little and a baby!" I told her, "You don't need to worry about it. You are almost 6 and you really are big." She said, "If I see that girl again and she says that, can I just pinch her???!!" (I think we have our work cut out for us with this one!!)

FUN FUNFETTI!!

Can you believe this??? EIGHT boxes of funfetti cake and the icing to go with it!!! We have some dear people in Tulsa, OK who love us and love to see our kids smile! We had a friend from there come here for a visit and we opened a suitcase full of funfetti, cookie mixes, brownie mixes, and lots of fun spa stuff for me! (they knew I needed to be taking it easy, I guess!) So, I baked cupcakes tonight, just ate one, and now I am off to take a bubble bath!!

Thanks guys! We love you!

Coptic Cave Church with Ashli and Juliana

The Plagues Have Returned to Egypt!

Do you remember the story in the Old Testament where God brought judgement on the Egyptians for their sins by inflicting them with different plagues? Well, we feel like the plagues have returned to Egypt and are appearing in the Dunavant household! But I don't think we have any really big sins out there! :)
Plague one:
I, Stacey have had a terrible month and we could not figure out what was wrong with me. I was crying all of the time, couldn't focus, was confused and had terrible headaches. This all started happening a few days before Juliana and Ashli arrived. Finally, the doctor has discovered that I have a bad thyroid and that was what was causing all of these symptoms. I have been ordered to rest for about a month to try and allow the meds to catch up with my stressed out body! That would sound great to a lot of folks but it is driving me crazy! I am a tasker and it is not normal for me to just lay around.

Plague two:
Matt was being such a sweet husband as he entered the room quietly last night so he wouldn't wake me. As he was tip toeing through the bedroom he slammed his pinky toe into our elliptical machine and immediately began to scream. It soon turned blue.
Plague three:
One of the airconditioner fuses went out last night in Meredith's room (immediately after the toe stubbing incident). So, Matt hobbled into her room to fix it. He and Juliana had to move the bed before he could get to the fuse box. While moving the bed Matt cut the bottom of his other foot and blood starting gushing everywhere! The poor guy came hobbling into our room to show me and I was too sick to even care! So, he had to bandage his foot all alone.
Plague four:
Matt was walking out of our room tonight and stumped ANOTHER toe on his office chair! At that point, we knew these event really needed a blog!



Plague five:
I almost forgot that 3 of the people in our household are battling summer colds. It seems so minor compared to everything else! :)

Even though all of this has been a bit trying, we are still very thankful that we are not being overtaken by a bunch of frogs...ewwwww....gross!!!!
We are also very thankful that Juliana and Ashli have been here during this time! They are really a God-send and we couldn't have done it without them!

Here's Ashli reading Junie B. Jones with the kids before bedtime. This has been a nightly event and Madison and Matthew Ray LOVE it!


Here's me and Juliana in our "all natural" look! Isn't she beautiful..it is sickening to look that good without make-up!

New Do's..

Juliana is loving the way Egyptians are pampered at the coiffure! She and Meredith decided to go and get "new do's" a few days ago. Juliana added a few highlights and Meredith is sporting a new cut. My hairdresser, Mohammed, was afraid I was going to kill him for giving Meredith such a grown up look. Meredith told us that there was a woman at the coiffure that asked if it was okay with her mom for her to get such a cut. Egyptians make me laugh! Anyhoo, here are the new looks:

Daddy Takes the Stage Today!!!

Daddy,
We love you! We thought of all of the reasons why you are so special to us and decided to make you a slide show! Today is YOUR DAY!!! We are so thankful for you!

Of all of the things that we are thankful for, we are MOST thankful that you are a picture of Jesus to us and you show us the unconditional love of our Heavenly Father!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADDY!

Hey Daddy! I know you are traveling and not home right now. I figured you wouldn't be checking your email so I downloaded your Father's Day Slideshow for you (and everyone else) to see! I love you! You really are the GREATEST DAD! I love you so much!
Love,
Stacey

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