Well Cairo Samuel has found his match…Lucy!  He likes her so much that he makes her scream probably 10 times in an hour!  Both of them are certainly going through an adjustment.  Lucy, making adjustments not only living in Cairo, but also how to get along with Cairo Samuel and 2 other kids.  We have been entertained by these two year olds and we laugh at them often.  Cairo will run by Lucy effortlessly and just barely brush her cheek or arm just enough to bother her and to get her to scream.  Lucy will say about Cairo…”He did not obey his mommy and he is in time out!”  She has also told Caroline to not touch her!  I love it!  Cairo is having to adjust to the fact that he will get into trouble every time Lucy screams!  He is having to realize that girls are delicate

Very soon though, I know they will be very good friends!!

I love the look on both faces!

Someday, maybe inseparable!

My mother has been emailing friends and family in Oklahoma about our adventures here in Cairo, I thoroughly enjoyed this last email and I thought it would make for a great blog post. 

Yes our team mates have finally arrived…it is great to have them here and they are all doing great.

Ok, the new little family moves in.  Everything is cool.  We’re up till about 11:30, Adam till after midnight, making beds, hanging shower curtains, etc.  I get up at 4:00am – Richard is snoring loudly because of his sinus trouble.  I get on the couch.  6:15am, Cohen comes in and gets right on top of me and turns on the TV.  I said, “Cohen do you realize you are on top of your Nana and not the couch?”  He says, “yeah, I’m snuggling”.  Well that’s sweet.  I go back to sleep to the sounds of Disney.  7:15am there’s a soft knock on the door.  Cohen jumps up to answer.  There stands the Osborns, fully dressed and ready to begin the day.  They woke up at 4:00am wide awake.  Showered, emptied tubs and needed to relax on some real furniture. All they have are some plastic outdoor chairs and no TV yet.  So they come in and I rise from the couch blinking my eyes, making small talk till I can excuse myself and go get descent.

 11:00am, a carpenter and their language teacher come to talk about Kenny and Ashley’s kitchen cabinets.  This meeting goes on till about 1:00.  I don’t know why it took 2 hours.  Meanwhile we’re taking care of everyday things and kids.  

Adam, Kenny and Matt go to by cable and I don’t know what all to try to hook them up on internet.  Successful!.

 In the hall some men are trying to replace the lights (those long tube things).  We hear a huge crash.  Look out and the boys who do Liz’s ironing come with bags of ironed clothes.  The bags have knocked over a few bulbs. They are yelling at Liz and waving their arms.  She yells back in arabic something about what do you want me to do about it, sorry!!  Cairo is peeking out from around his mom yelling too.  I’m just shaking my head.  

Liz won’t let me clean in the kitchen.  Her housekeeper is coming around three and will take care of it.  I say, “no problem, I don’t mind doing some stuff”.  She won’t hear of it, says she is paying him 80 pounds to do it. Well come 4:00 no Billeno.  I say ok I’m going in.  The light won’t turn on! And there is no window.  Very dark in there.  Richard tries to fix it.  Not successful.  Hopefully the light will come on soon.  Meanwhile messy kitchen.

 Adam says to be ready by 5:30 to go to the mall.  We’re taking the Osborns to buy some stuff at Spinney’s and have some dinner.  We get ready. Doorbell rings and there is Cairo’s pre-school teacher and her daughter. She asked Liz to meet with her from time to time and help her with her English.  Well, she is wanting to meet us.  So we sit down and with quite a language barrier we visit.  They are sweet and she wants to make us an egyptian meal while we are here.

 Finally at 6:30 they leave and we set out for the mall.  Liz says she wants to drive the girls and Adam and all the guys go in a taxi.  So here we go, Liz driving in this horrific traffic all the while talking to Adam on the phone about when to turn etc.  We come to the first parking garage and it is closed so we have to keep driving.  Bumper to bumper we inch our way to the next garage.  Cars and people are everywhere.  Liz said, “man, everyone and his dog is out tonight!”  We finally get parked.  It’s after 7:00. We join the guys in Fudruckers.  They’ve been there some time, having been dropped off by the taxi.  We slump in our seats but here you actually sit down and they wait on you.  Finally at 8:30 we’ve had our hamburgers and chicken fingers, free ice cream for the kids, and we decide to let the Osborns go to Spinney’s on their own and take a taxi home, so we can put our cranky kids in the bed.  I thought it seemed a little cruel to just leave the sweet family standing all alone out in front of the walmart on steriods but Adam assured me it was good for them.

 We make our way to our parked car, Liz decides once again she wants to drive home.  I protest slightly.  She says, “Mom, I’ve got to learn”.  She, Adam, Cohen in the front.  Me, Richard, Caroline, and Cairo in the back.  We’re dodging traffic and people.  The kids start whining.  Caroline drops everything given to her.  We’re in there so tight no one can bend over to pick it up.  She is wailing.  Cairo is saying, “my water, my water!”  There is no water.  Cohen is singing his ABC’s.  Then Liz begins to sing God is So Good.  We pass our turn and get lost.  The above mentioned keeps going on and on.  Finally we get back on our street.  It is bumper to bumper traffic and we are trying to find a place to park.  The above mentioned is still going on.  Then we hear women squealling and clicking their tongues.  Horns start a rymthic honking.  Traffic stops altogether.  It’s a wedding processional.  The above mentioned is still going on.  We finally park.  Go upstairs.  And the little ones are sound to sleep in their beds.  All that for some chicken fingers!!!!

 By the way, the Osborns did make it home safe and sound but not with everything they wanted.  They couldn’t fight the crowds any longer.  Also, when I came in I checked the kitchen light.  It works.  But I’m too tired to wash dishes.  But Liz is still singing God is So Good!

I cannot believe it is November!  It has not felt like fall here yet at all.  No pumpkins, no red, yellow, or orange trees, no mums, no scare crows, or hay bales on balconies, and no Halloween decorations.  Even the weather has been too warm to feel like fall until today!  This morning we woke up to a 59 degree cool, crisp morning!  I loved it!  We look forward to more mornings like this!  And I think this month I am going to attempt to make my home look more fallish by making some Thanksgiving Day decorations with the kiddos! 

We have been enjoying my parents.  They arrived last Tuesday and are both doing extremely well.  I think they are just about to get caught up on jet lag and are adjusting to our schedule.  The kids really love Nana and Grandad being here.  When Cairo prays at night he thanks God for his Nana and Grandad and that they are “in his home, forever!”  Cohen loves snuggling up close to his Nana and plays computer games with her.  Caroline has warmed up to them too. When they first arrived, she would just look and study their faces and voices!  She of course loves them holding her, what better protection from her brothers!

Adam has been taking dad on many errands getting ready for our team-mates coming this Thursday! (We are sooo excited)  And I too have taken mom to my many stops that I frequent throughout the week.  The other day we went to a kitchen store for wooden spoons, then to my baking store where I picked up some flour and butter, then to a small market to get noodles, and then to my Ba-el where I get my eggs and other small items.  I call it my Ba-el (it is like a convenient store) because they come by my home to see if I need anything.  One of the major benefits of living here in Cairo…delivery! 

Running errands involves a lot of walking, which is not a problem.  I actually prefer walking rather than riding in the taxis.  Here are some pics of this part of our daily life!  In one picture Adam looks really tall, and obviously I know he is tall, but I guess everyone around him was really short, or it was just how I took the picture.  There are tall Egyptians, just an FYI.

This is our street sign, we live on Cleopatra.

View of our building from the street corner.

We get stopped often because of Caroline....she is looking at this girl and thinking, "you are not taking my toy!"

The girl is sooo sweet, and Caroline is staring her down!

Walking to our frame shop.

I love this picture, even though her face isn't shown, I love the way it captures how she just hangs out in her stroller hanging on to her giraffe!

Here are some pics of how big she has gotten, and she is sooo sweet.  She smiles most of the time, and is so sweet to everyone who meets here.  She loves to make us laugh!

She loves to get in this basket.

As I said in an earlier post, Grandma San (aka, Adam’s mom) came for a visit for a/b 8 days.  We loved having her here.  She was so fun to watch as she explored the culture we live in.  Seriously after 3 days of being here she would walk to our closest supermarket by herself or with Cohen, or just go out exploring and taking pictures.  Sometimes I wish I had some of that courage to just get out and explore.  I tend to be a homebody though!  She also endured our family and the chaos that having 3 children under the age of 5 brings!  Many times while we were eating, we all would just look at each other and laugh at Cairo getting in and out of his seat, knocking down glasses of water, Cohen talking 90 to nothing, and Caroline yelling at me for not feeding her fast enough!  So much for quiet dinner conversations!  We wouldn’t change anything for a minute because I know all too soon I will miss these days! 

As the title says, she was the top chef according to all of us including Cohen!  She cooked most of our meals for us to give the parents a break!  She also came bearing wonderful gifts especially a couple of t-shirts that the boys adore.  My favorite gift was my cereal bowls and I’m gonna have to say cheetohs!  It was wonderful to taste the cheesiness of cheetohs!!!

Wearing his new Ben 10 shirt and holding up a new Star Wars shirt!

Excited a/b his new Ben 10 shirt along with a Cars shirt!

Grandma San and her boys!

Grandma San, thanks for coming and making wonderful memories with our kids!  We were so happy you came and appreciate all that you did for us!  We love you!

I am so relieved to have consecutive usage of our internet for now!  Sharing a USB modem stick (or whatever the little thing was that gave us our temporary internet) was not fun! Adam had to use it most of the time for work!  But for now we are back on!!!  I wish I could tell you the problem, but language and also language of computers are huge barriers for me.  It wasn’t our problem but it was the company we use.  Something about a data issue at the Central.  

We have been doing really good.  This week and last week we were back to our normal schedule of language and I say back to normal because 3 weeks ago, Adam’s mom came for a visit as well as our language helper moved apartments.  So once again things are settled for now. 

Our kids have been great!  Cohen is back in the routine of school and loving every minute of it!  Cairo is doing well his school too.  He is really picking up on Arabic.  Our language helper will speak to him in Arabic and he answers in English or points to what she is talking about.  He is also struggling with his asthma as the air quality here has been exceptionally bad.  Some of our Egyptian friends say October is the worst month for this.  We have taken him to the doctor and are going to try some medications to help him.  Caroline is growing like a weed.  She is becoming more and more vocal and we are really starting to see her personality come out.  She is very playful and loves to make us laugh.  She is strong too (she kind of has to be) beginning to take steps by herself!  I can’t believe how fast time flies.

Hey everyone who reads this! I have to apologize yet again for our crazy internet.  It is down again, very splotchy and just is not consistent.  They (meaning the people at the internet company) are supposedly working on it, so please be patient with us and with the company !  I hope to post pics and a new blog posts soon, but it is impossible to do pics with this small modem usb we are using right now.

We are all doing great, Adam’s mom just left after a 10 day visit! We had an incredible time with her.  The kids are all in school and doing wonderful.  And Adam and I are trekking through our language.

I will try to update soon.  Pls check back soon!!!

Sometimes I have to remind myself of how fun kids can be beCAuse when all you seem to be doing is mopping floors, changing diapers, saying NO, picking up after kids and husband, laundry, etc. you kind of forget to have FUN!!  This week and through October 6th at least, Adam and I are working on a serious schedule for us so we won’t be frustrated parents.  Egypt’s government has shut down ALL schools until then due to a small outbreak of the swine flu.  It is extremely frustrating because we actually were going on a great schedule with language lessons and with 3 small children at home all together, it makes the leasons very difficult.  Thank goodness our language teacher is sooo patient and she loves my kids.  Not only will I be doing language, keeping up with the household, and oh yeah living in another culture, I will also take on for a few weeks teaching my oldest son.  At times it seems overwhelming, but I am excited that I get to have some more time with him at home  

We will keep you updated on the progress of “homeschool”….wow I never thought I would write that …not that homeschooling is bad, I just don’t know if I will be good at it!  We have heard rumors that this freeze on the schools could last until December!

Yummy chocolae wacky cake batter!

Is he enjoying this?

I can't believe she is big enough to sit on her daddy's shoulders.

The last two weeks have flown by because we were able to spend them with Adam’s dad and step-mom!  We were so blessed to have them come (both first timers to Egypt!).  They did amazing…and really enjoyed seeing how we live our daily life.  The traffic freaked Adam’s dad out a little  along with our small elevators with no doors.  They also were able to experience Ramadan, the Muslim’s Holy month.    Every evening from about 4pm until 8pm, everything is closed, meaning the country is shut down…and  so that put a little damper on us going out anywhere in the evenings…no restaurants, stores, etc are open, or if they are open, there is a set price for your meal and it is very expensive!  So we cooked A LOT at home and just enjoyed spending time with one another.  The kids were so excited to have them here, probabl they were eager to have new playmates other than their parents.  We are officially in withdraw today trying to get by without Grammie and Pops!!!  They were so helpful from changing diapers to playing on the floor with the kids while Adam and I cooked without interruptions (a rare occurrence). 

As I have been reflecting on our time together, I had so many mixed emotions.  I was so glad to see them and yet the moment they walked in the front door, I immediately began dreading the day they would leave.  I also was so reminded of Tulsa and all the good times we had together and the times that my kids would miss seeing all their grandparents whenever they wanted.  On the other hand, my kids are getting to make new memories, they get to have their grandparents all to themselves and be completely spoiled for two weeks!!  And for that I am grateful.  I prayed each and every moment would be a new bonding experience with their grandparents! 

Pickng up Cairo

Pops and his boys

Pyramids

Loving on Caroline

On the falucca

Quality time on the balcony