The first stop on our tour of Jordan was a night of camping glamping in Wadi Rum. The weather was rainy and chilly in Amman, but once we hit the road and headed south, we saw the sunshine. We arrived mid-day and began exploring. After a great Jordanian cuisine lunch, we took a sunset jeep (really back of a Hilux pickup truck) tour, that took us throughout the surrounding desert.
The desert is vast and wide and the colors are incredible with the red sand and blue skies. Some of our stops included where the movie the Martian was filmed, where Lawrence of Arabia wandered and stayed in the desert, and a major stop on the old Silk Trade route.
Benjamin and his footsteps
Caleb mighty on a sand dune
Our touring vehicle.
These boys had a blast running, rolling through the sand, and exploring.
Dad and Aaron
The crew!
We saw a lot of camels on this trip!
Dad and mom. These Hawaiian/Floridians were freezing!
Sweet boy
Uncle Aaron and Caleb
One of the many desert races
It was a cloudy day, but the sunset was still beautiful!
Our bedouin guide that took us on the tour
Camels just chilling outside the camp, waiting for someone to take them on a ride.
Exploring the rocks with Nathan and Uncle Aaron
Our camp, Sun City
Inside of the tent
It was such a fun time with my family at Wadi Rum...next stop, Petra!
I didn’t send holiday cards and our annual family letter this year, so here it is online:) We have so much to be thankful for in 2017, and we pray that it has been a wonderful year for you. We are grateful for the opportunities we have had to explore new places, enjoy several family visits, and continue living in Jordan. In July, we celebrated Caleb's 6th and in October, Benjamin's 5th birthdays.
This fall, the boys transitioned from a Jordanian School to the American School, where Caleb started Kindergarten and Benjamin started his final year of Pre-School. They adjusted quickly, and love their new teachers and friends. The boys continue to take Tae Kwon Do, and this year they earned their yellow-green belts.
Caleb loves building with legos, he is learning how to read, enjoys science experiments and magic, telling jokes and stories, and he continues to have an incredible imagination. Benjamin is a great helper around the house, and he loves being outside, playing soccer, singing, dancing, drawing, building puzzles, and he is getting very good at making paper airplanes. They are great buddies (most of the time), and we are so thankful for the strong and loving brotherly bond that they have.
In October, Nathan and Heather celebrated their 8 year wedding anniversary. In the middle of the year, Nathan transitioned to a new job at the Embassy, and we are excited about the opportunity to live in Jordan until the summer of 2020! Heather is enjoying work and continues taking Arabic classes. We love being involved with our church, and we are thankful for the wonderful friends we have made through our church community. We are especially thankful for Tes, who has been with our family for 4.5 years, and how she takes such good care of us.
We love exploring Jordan and visited some of our favorite places several times this year: Mt. Nebo, Madab, and the Dead Sea
The highlight this year was a late summer vacation to Lebanon and Cyprus. In Lebanon, we explored Beirut and visited many sites in the city, drove through the lush mountains in the north to see the Cedar Forest, and explored the beautiful coast and sea-side towns.
In Cyprus, we were beach bums, and enjoyed swimming at some of the most beautiful beaches in the warm and pristine Mediterranean Sea, and the pool.
We are thankful for several family visits this year! In the spring, Nathan’s sister, Elizabeth, came to Jordan to run the Dead2Red race with Heather and some friends. The race started at the Dead Sea and ended at the Red Sea. Nathan was still recovering from his foot surgery from 2016, but he was a brave volunteer to be one of the drivers. Heather injured herself before/during the race and ended up on crutches and in a walking boot, so we just passed along the crutches and moved on!
Shortly after, our family spent a few weeks in the U.S., and we road tripped from Virginia to Illinois to visit Nathan’s parents.
We had a very relaxing time in Illinois, eating lots of ice cream, enjoying being outside, driving through the country, and we got to visit with a lot of his extended family during the trip.
We took a few day road trip with his parents to Kentucky, where we visited the Louisville slugger museum, spent a couple of days exploring the riverside town of Newport, and visited the Noah’s Arc museum. It was such a fun trip!
We had a great visit during the summer with Nathan’s sister’s family. Even though we are geographically close, it is not always easy to visit, and we are thankful for the opportunities when we can be together. We played at a couple parks in Amman, and took a trip to Madaba and Mt. Nebo, We had lots of laughs together, and it was so fun and wild to have all 7 cousins together - 6 boys and 1 girl!
Elizabeth returned for a quick visit in the early fall, and she and Heather did a non-OSHA approved waterfall hike through a wadi, and we all explored ancient caves in a town outside of Amman.
In the fall, we were thankful to have an extended visit with Heather’s family. Her mom stayed for 6 weeks, dad for 3 weeks, and brother for one week over Thanksgiving. The boys loved having everyone here, and they spent much quality time together. Heather’s mom experienced lots of day-to-day life, and was a big help when Nathan had to travel for a significant part of their visit.
They enjoyed seeing sites in Amman, and when Heather's brother arrived, we took a whirlwind tour of Jordan, camping in Wadi Rum, visiting Petra, the Dead Sea, Madaba, and Mt. Nebo. We had a non-traditional Thanksgiving in Petra, eating delicious Jordanian foods, and it was our first Thanksgiving that we were all together since 2012!
At the end of the year, we enjoyed hiking at the Scandinavian Forest, just outside of Amman, taking in the greenery and the views from above, and getting up close and personal with a herd of sheep.
We look forward to what 2018 has in store for our family, and thank God each day for placing us here, now. We invite you to visit sometime over the next 2.5 years, to experience the beauty of this place and the people. We have a spare room and two boys who especially love visitors :).
Blessings to you and your families in 2018, may it be a great year for you all!
