Jordan

Abram and his friend from across the hall

Abram wearing the purple and pink mittens that the people across the hall gave us. Kirk wasn't so sure about his boy wearing purple or pink but here pink and purple are not girl colors, babies wear whatever color!

The girls with their friends across the hall

snow day


Our month in Jordan was COLD!!! Our apartment was nice, but the living room was not closed off and so the little heater could not keep the room even remotely warm. We had lots of family time as we all ended up staying in one bedroom most of the time. The gas heater could keep that room comfortable so we did school on the floor in there and for a few of the coldest nights we pulled another mattress on the floor in there and the girls slept in the same room as us. Abram had a pack n play in that room too. So all six in one room, we have some fun memories of our month there :)
A few days before we left we had rain, sleet, hail, and then snow!

However, God was faithful and gave us a family next door to visit. As I was thinking how cramped we were in one room, I soon became very thankful as I met this family. A mom and her 5 grown sons 3 of which were married so their wives and two grown daughters and 4 kids all living in the apartment across the hall. They were not from Jordan they were from a neighboring country that is also having lots of political unrest. They are all living in this apartment until it is safe to return home. The great thing for us was that they had two girls that played with our girls and one couple had a baby boy the same age as Abram. It was their first baby and I got to spend a lot of time with that mom. She was having a hard time being away from her family as they stayed in the country. She was also feeling very overwhelmed by having to stay inside and not having any friends there. Also being the newest of the wives in the family isn't always the easiest and she was taking a lot from the other women. If you think about her, please be lifting her up, her name actual is the arabic name for Mary. She has heard the Truth, please pray that her eyes would be opened.

funny story:
The day it started hailing we had been out and we were trying to get home before the weather got really bad. We caught a taxi and headed for home. Jordan has crazy traffic and where our apartment was, was really bad traffic. The taxi driver was a little crazy and we both think he had to be on something. His driving was insane! worse then normal! He was talking 90 miles an hour, sometimes to himself. Anyway as we got close to home, he asked if we could just get out there and walk; probably just 3 or 4 blocks i guess. We said no problem, thankful to be out of the taxi, but cold and now wet and cold; as it had started raining. Abram was wrapped to me and so we started home. Kirk stopped to buy fruit so the girls and I continued. By now it had started hailing, so here we are running down the street, freezing and all laughing so hard that we could hardly run. I know the people thought we were crazy for being out, especially with a baby, but we could not stop laughing. Ayden had a piece of hail go down her shirt and she start jumping around as the cold ice/water was running down her back. What a fun memory. Even though the taxi driver should have brought us home, i was shocked that seeing a baby in the car he let us out knowing we would have to walk in the rain; but i was so thankful for the memory!