New House

This is our new house!!!  Look at the YARD!  We are very excited.  Our landlord wanted to go up on rent and we wanted a bigger yard so decided it was time to start looking.  We signed a contract today and can start moving in on the 15th.  The house is about the same size as ours, maybe a little smaller, but we didn't care, we just needed a place for the girls and Abram to play!  This has a big concrete area and dirt!!!  We can even plant a garden.  On the other side of the house there is a small yard and the kitchen has a door that opens up to it.  We are even thinking we could get some chickens to put back there.  It also has a guard house that Kirk can use for his office and it has a door that opens to our yard but also a door that opens to the road, that will be much better when he has people over.  This house is still in walking distance from our old house, which is great!  We can still visit these neighbors and make friends with our new neighbors.  And we love our neighborhood and this part of town so we were glad we didn't have to loose that.  We can't wait to get in and make it our new home!  Now we just have to pack up everything, Yuck!

at the house

Poor Abram! His pacifier got hooked to all the links and he couldn't figure out how to get it off, but didn't want to give up his pacifier.  So he just walked around the room kind of crying and kind of sucking on it. So funny, we did rescue him from his misery eventually, but it was very funny!

 Kirk and Abram playing soccer against the girls in the house! Amazingly nothing got broken!

remodeling

Went and visited some neighbors the other day and they had finally had their "living room" painted and "decorated"  just wanted to give you some ideas :)

The heart is was just in the middle of a blank wall and the other pictures is the center of the ceiling.  The room is long and skinny so there were two more decretive things on the ceiling just now quite as big as the one in the picture.  Also each corner had a shelf thing pictured below.  Then on the other long wall with the windows was two pictures like the ones below except with writings about God.  I know this probably looks very tacky to you but other then the heart I really liked it.  Not necessarily the colors I would choose but lots of houses here are so "decorated" on the walls and ceiling, that I have come to really like it.  and it is much better then just plain concrete.  

The Dog!

Kirk and I were about ready to kill Miley when we came home to this.  A box of tissue and a couple of rolls of tp.  Crazy dog.  Now we have to make sure everything is up when we leave.  She gets bored or mad, not sure which when we leave her for more then an hour or two.  Thankfully the next house has a yard and that is where she will be when we have to go somewhere!  But in spite of this we really have enjoyed having her and she has been such a blessing for the girls!!!

back to normal

Well I think we are all back to "normal" whatever that this :)
Kirk and I and the girls started back with language study and we are all going to the school at the same times to it worked out great.  Abram did good staying with G and i'm sure that will work well because she will give him her undivided attention the whole time!  So after a crazy last week of Ramadan and a week of Eid we are all back to normal.  We started home school about a week and half ago and things are going good.  The girls do school at the table with me while Abram walks around the house destroying everything he can.  It might be a long year with him :)  Our schedule is a little different in that our weekend is Thursday/Friday so we are almost finished with our second week.

Our first week back in Sheba

We are back in the land of Sheba!

We have been back a little over a week and what a week it has been.  Less then 2 days after being back Addie feel and hit her head, an hour later she was throwing up and an hour after that Kirk was at the hospital with her.  Thankfully the CT scan was clear and everyone's guess is a mild concussion.  The next morning we went and had breakfast with a friend, sometime between 8:30-11:30 someone stole the back two tires off our van.  With Ramadan it is probably much safer at night instead of morning.  No one is out until around 11:30 or 12:00, so of course no one saw anything.  Then three days after that  Abram fell from the couch into the windowsill.  He knocked two teeth back up into his gum (we are hoping!!!)  However, we are finally getting back on schedule!!! PTL  The kids are still begging to go to bed about 7:30, a problem we have never had before and they are getting up around 5:00 but so much better then a few days ago.  Kirk and I are almost back on schedule and I even made myself stay up late last night so that I could go visit some neighbors.  The thing about Ramadan is that you can't visit people until around 9:00 at night, so I made it till about 11:00 with my friends then I had to get to bed :)

Saying goodbye

You would think that with as many times as we have said goodbye that it would get easier.  But it doesn't!!!  Always tears and always very hard.  As much as we love the people here and know this is where we are suppose to be, it still is hard!!!  I think the one thing that we have realized or learned along the way is how important family really is...  we miss lots of things from America, but we have gotten use to everything except not being with family and friends.

 The girls have a really hard time saying bye to their cousins!!!

Abram's 1 year old pics

Did pics in the traditional dress from this country...

 from the country of G (our house helper)  she gave him this outfit for his b-day...

 and these are our american pics... :)

Abram's b-day!

Turning 1 is Big deal!  Abram got to have a party here and back home in America!!!  

This is the day of his b-day, we stated with our traditional cinnamon roll and his gifts.

 G wanted to see Abram eat his cake, so I made a cake that day.  So this is right after lunch, we really celebrated all day :)  

Then we had another party that night.  This one at a friends house.  Abram shares a b-day with a friend so we partied together.  Too much sugar for one day!!!

 Then we partied again with family in America.  Brylie made his cake, it was a map of the world with a dotted line from Louisiana to our country.  

 He enjoyed everyone of his cakes!!!

fun times at home

Abram loved the 4-wheeler! He like the golf cart at first but after he rode the 4-wheeler he decided the golf cart just wasn't fast enough!  Anytime he would go outside he would head straight for it!!!

 All boy, if it has a motor he wants on!

 So much fun with all our cousins!!!

 How many people can fit in one bed?  They didn't care what it took they just wanted to all stay together!!!  I guess being away really makes you appreciate each other.

 We spent lots of days swimming. 

 Everybody gets a swing :)

 making a big bubble at the museum 

 Thanks Emily for the hair cuts!!!  

 Annie Lynne was so funny, she sat perfectly still and then when it was all done, she went around showing everyone her new haircut, she was very disappointed when we had to wash it and it wasn't fixed exactly the way Emily had fixed it.