We have had a good weekend, we spent time around the house, around town, and we saw some friends. Even Elmo enjoyed a bike ride today!
Random picture, but I am in love with Ben's hands. They are so little and chunky, and I just want to eat them up. His little hands can now hold his bottle, grab for everything in reach, and squeeze my finger so tight. I just love these little hands!
On Friday, our neighbors invited us to church with them. It was a contemporary service, and the message was very good. After the music, the kids went off for kids church. Nathan went with Caleb and said they sang songs, listened to a Bible story, and did an art project. Many people are gone for the summer, but when fall starts, there will be more people and kids. We really liked the service and are thankful our neighbors told us about this church, because everything we found so far would have been hard to attend with small children.
In the afternoon, I went grocery shopping with Caleb. I enjoy grocery shopping, especially when I learn the layout of the store....I know, sounds kind of weird. Almost everything is in Arabic since I shop at our local co-ops, so I am still trying to figure out what is what. There are lots of new foods we are not used to, and we hope to learn about and try some of them over time. Our grocery stores here are very nice. We can get whatever we need, but things in general are a bit more pricey than in the States. We are trying to buy local products to keep our bills lower. Some things that are much cheaper than what we are used to are gas (obvious), in season fruits and vegetables, olive oil, hommus, grape leaves, to name a few. Some things are a lot more expensive, like cereal (almost $7/box), broccoli (right now close to $8/head), pretty much anything American. We are doing some online shopping for non-perishable goods, but in general we are trying to adapt to what is local.
Later that evening, our neighbors had a going away party for some of the people that are finishing their tour. We got a baby sitter for a few hours and we enjoyed hanging out with everyone and meeting their families. It was a nice treat for Nathan and I to go out:).
On Saturday morning we went swimming at the Embassy, and our neighbors' daughter also joined us. She is 9 years old, and she loves little kids. The Embassy has an awesome kids pool and lap pool. It is very big, shaded, and there are lots of toys to play with. Caleb loved getting in and out of the pool and playing in the water. Ben had a great time sitting in the water and splashing around too. I think we will be doing a lot of swimming over the next two years, and we are grateful for the nice facilities we have available.
When we got home, we saw one of the landlord's workers, that we have been talking to. He is from Afghanistan and speaks little English, but somehow we seem to communicate ok. He has a nice garden close to our home, and today he invited us back to pick some fresh mint leaves. He taught us a few Arabic words today. I think he was saying he will teach us one word a day, and by a couple of years we will know "too much Arabic", probably he meant we will know a lot :). One of our next goals is to figure out how we can start learning the language either through the Embassy or a tutor.
Since we don't have our shipment yet, we are still missing a lot of things for the boys. We did ship a good amount of toys, but we can tell that Caleb is getting bored, especially because he has to be indoors most of the day. Caleb loves music, and this afternoon Nathan made him a homemade drum. Caleb decorated it and played us some songs. We definitely have a music loving child.
This evening we had some friends over for dinner. They were our sponsors, and they took very good care of us when we arrived. They have two children who are 10 and 12, and they liked playing with Caleb and Ben. I made a lasagna and some appetizers, and they brought over delicious chocolate chip cookies. We had a good time talking, eating, and playing with the boys. We look forward to more get-togethers with their family.
Caleb had such a good time he wanted to run around in his diaper :).
It was a good weekend, and we are ready for another week. Still getting used to Sunday being 'Monday.'
