I've been putting this off, waiting for time to add pictures.
So, what have we been doing since February? I actually remember very little of it, it all zoomed by so fast. So, I'll start in February and do the best I can.
The beginning of February, I got an email from an old friend, Brian, that had been living in Jordan (the country, not Utah) for several years. While he was there, he had a good friend, a Jordanian, who was a member of the church, named Salah. He was a convert who had been persecuted, thrown in jail, etc, for being a member of the "American" church. They accused him of being a spy, mostly. He also had some great experiences; traveling around Jordan, Syria and Israel, translating for Elder Holland being one of them. He met an LDS girl from Texas....an amazing story in itself...and got married and sealed in the Frankfort temple. (Just before he left to be sealed, he was arrested and they accused him of going to Germany to get more spy training. They let him go just before he was to leave.) Now he's not only a member of the American Church, he's married to an American. Made it very difficult to get work, even though he had a Bachelor's degree...in accounting, I think. So, they decided to move to America. He got a job teaching Arabic at the Defense Language Institute here, but needed a place to stay for about six weeks while he looked for housing and while his wife finished a contract she was working in Texas. Brian emailed me because Salah was having difficulty finding a place he could afford here and he wondered if we could find someone in the ward who could use a little extra cash to rent him a room. I forwarded the email to the Bishop, who then asked Sam at church if we could maybe rent a room to someone for a few weeks. I shoulda known it'd get back to us.
It's not like this is the first time we've done this. We are so blessed to have this place at all, that we don't mind sharing the "wealth". However, the whole Arab guy thing had me worried, which is why we didn't offer in the first place. I have friends who have been at DLI with Arabic men and they were all kind of worried about it, so I worried about it. But Brian, who I trust, said this Salah was like a brother to him. So, we agreed.
He got here on President's Day. Within a few minutes, I was no longer worried. He was a lovely, charming young man. We did tell him that he looked more like a Scot than an Arab, lol. After a couple of days, we were telling him that we wouldn't even take him to LOOK at housing that wasn't in our ward. Because, after all, THIS is the true ward. When his wife came a few weeks later, my friends and I worried about whether we were going to like her, because we decided we'd hate it if she wasn't as cool as Salah. But when Erin and their little boy Laith got here, we were just as hooked on them. He's cooked us some amazing middle eastern food, and they really feel like family now. Salah and I like to swap recipes. I teach him to make teriyaki stir fry, he's going to teach me to make hummus. REALLY good hummus. :0) This is Salah, Erin and Laith, making blankets with us for Project Linus to earn free Disneyland tickets.
In April, we went to Arizona for the wedding of our best friends' daughter, Stacy. It was great to see our friends again, it had been a couple of years. But, even greater was how happy Stacy was. It was hot, of course, it's hot everywhere but here, I think. We had a lovely lunch with my niece Emily, and her family, and Sam's cousin Vickie and her family, and my brother and HIS family, and my nephew Kevin and his family....etc etc etc. Started out a small party, ended up a big one. But it was great to see them all. Especially since Emily and her family moved to Tennessee shortly thereafter, and we're not likely to see them as often now.
In May we went on the Bailey family cruise to Alaska. We went with five of Sam's siblings and their spouses and his mom on a Holland America cruise to Glacier Bay, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria BC. It was a lot of fun, but it always is to hang out with Sam's family. Doesn't matter where we go. We had fun going to La Bufadora a couple of years ago, so it was a cinch that we'd have fun in Alaska. We took Meghan on this trip, her first cruise. She loved the entire cruising thing. We ate too much, laughed a lot and saw some beautiful country. I'd love to go back.
On the way up there, we stopped in Portland to visit with our old friends, the Dolenc's and many, many Coopers. We went to the Portland Zoo with Dolenc's on Saturday and then spent Sunday visiting with all the Cooper kids and their kids.
Having shot all our money on that trip, we haven't been too far since. Ryan and Susan came out for the 4th of July, and brought my nephew Kevin and his wife Emily and their baby. We had a good time visiting with them, and doing the touristy stuff.
Then, towards the end of July, I had a couple of friends come that I hadn't seen in at least 20 years...maybe longer. I was nice to see that we all still like each other and we took up like 20 years hadn't even happened. We're planning to get together again in September. Neither of them live all that far away, it's funny that we all ended up as close as we did, we knew each other in Utah so long ago.
We did go to Bakersfield for a few days this month, to work on Lizzie's movie. That was fun, although the heat reminded me why I live here. Ugh, it was really hot. We usually avoid Bakersfield and anywhere else that hot for the summer months. But, watching them do their movie thing was interesting and fun and Sam had a bit part as a preacher.
Now, homeschool has started again. Meg is in 8th grade and I'm hoping to send her to High School next year. I've told her that she's not getting away with as much this year, I'm going to work her harder than last year to get her ready for a high school load. It's taking more of my time than last year, but that's OK, there's a time and season for everything. I'll clean the house next year.
