I've been thinking about this for a while and decided that it is officially time to move on. In many ways, this particular season of life for us is about moving on and changes all over the place. So, it seemed appropriate that our blog be reflective of this as well. We heart community for life is being officially retired. We have started a new blog called Life on Purpose. We hope it will be a place to keep you updated with the changes happening in our life, stories about life, and of course lots of baby pictures. I hope it will also be a place for us to share how we are living life on purpose.
Thanks for being a part of this blog for the last 4 years, it has marked a significant journey for me (Erin) and one that isn't over yet, but has certainly expanded with the addition of family members, living overseas, and returning home again. We're excited about what is ahead and invite you to follow us on over to the new blog.
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
12.21.2009
11.17.2009
surgery update
I'm scheduled to get my gallbladder out on Friday! Woo hoo! I never thought I would be this excited about surgery, but I'm looking forward to it. It is an outpatient procedure, so I will have surgery in the afternoon and hopefully be home by dinner time. Pretty amazing huh? The doctor thinks I might have a thyroid problem that caused the stones so I'm getting an ultrasound on Thursday to have that checked out. Hopefully it is something that can just be treated with medication.
Here is a cute Haydn picture for the day!
isn't that the cutest face you've ever seen?
Here is a cute Haydn picture for the day!
isn't that the cutest face you've ever seen?
11.12.2009
Week One
Well, we made it through the first week of parenting without any major problems and it was a pretty great week. So far we've had:
- approximately 80 dirty diapers
- 1 4 AM 'HELP, what do we do?!' phone call (thanks again Karen)
- 238 kisses from Daddy
- 2 sponge baths
- 0 uncontrollable fits of crying
- what feels like at least 300 feedings
- like 7 loads of laundry already
- lots of visits from family and friends
- 2 doctors visits with good reports
- 1 simultaneous pooping, peeing, and spit up incident
- 2 very sleepy parents
Here are some pictures from Haydn's first week.
Coming home from the hospital. Thanks Aunt Elyse for all the decor!
This was the much hated sponge bath
Haydn was so happy his Abby Teyze came to visit!
This is Haydn's burpy face. I'm kind of in love with it.
Stay tuned. More adventures in parenting to come...
- approximately 80 dirty diapers
- 1 4 AM 'HELP, what do we do?!' phone call (thanks again Karen)
- 238 kisses from Daddy
- 2 sponge baths
- 0 uncontrollable fits of crying
- what feels like at least 300 feedings
- like 7 loads of laundry already
- lots of visits from family and friends
- 2 doctors visits with good reports
- 1 simultaneous pooping, peeing, and spit up incident
- 2 very sleepy parents
Here are some pictures from Haydn's first week.
Coming home from the hospital. Thanks Aunt Elyse for all the decor!
This was the much hated sponge bath
Haydn was so happy his Abby Teyze came to visit!
This is Haydn's burpy face. I'm kind of in love with it.
Stay tuned. More adventures in parenting to come...
8.30.2009
Journal Entries
I don't usually offer my journal for public viewing, but as we are preparing to finish out this year in Iraq (when we return it will be 2010) I have been doing a lot of looking back and processing about our time here so far – the good, the bad, and the ugly. One of the reasons I have kept a journal for the last 10 years is for times like these – when I need to remember and get an accurate look back over the last several months. It has been a pretty rough year, but I think we’ve learned a lot and grown a lot in ways that I hope will make us more successful in the coming years that we spend overseas. Below are some excerpts from my journal since we’ve been here because I want to give a real (well somewhat, I've been fairly selective in my sharing) glimpse of some of what the last 7 months have been like.
January
1/22: I can’t believe today really came – we are on the plane on our way to the Rock. It was sad saying good-bye – I still feel sad right now, but I also feel eager excitement and anticipation of all that is ahead for us.
Lord, I bring to you now all of my tears, all of my sorrow, all of my fear and tell you that you are the only one who fills me and that following you, even to the ends of the earth, is better Lord. It is better than home, better than comfort, better than family, friends and money. Jesus you are better than all of these things. Please rise up inside me, inside of these vacant places, I need you more than I can begin to imagine.
1/23: There is nothing to fear, but God alone and he is for us! God is my home – when I don’t feel at home anywhere else He is trustworthy. Lord, you will establish peace for us, since you have also performed for us all our works. Isaiah26; 12
1/25: What a great first day we had, Praise the Lord! I’m still feeling so excited about life here and getting settled and learning language. It was great with the team and I’m so encouraged by their confidence and ability here.
February
2/2: Well, we made it through our first really bad day here – thank you Jesus! I was reminded last night about keeping the first things first. It seems that here (as anywhere I suppose) there are so many ways to divide your affection and attention. There are dying children that need surgery, there are families needing updates from us on their child’s status, there is Kurdish to learn and study and practice... and everything seems so urgent. The only way to have any strength, energy, life, light and power to draw from is to be seeking first the Kingdom. Satan wants to distract us and keep us so busy that we miss it completely.
2/9: My first trip out to the villages was a success. The families we met with were wonderful and it was great to get to be involved actively with what is happening now in the life of PLC. It seems unreal that 2 weeks ago we were trying to figure out how and if we could send kids this quarter and here we are 6 days out from sending the first batch of kids. God really does laugh at the impossible, and it must be so that no man can boast… As hard as it is to see families who are hurting, I would rather be a part of this and deal with all of the hurt than to not be here reaching out, providing support, praying, hoping, and loving these kids and their families.
2/10: So, the water is back… but the tanks will only fill ¼ of the way full without a pump and we didn’t get any national electricity today – I guess it is always something. It will be really interesting to see what it is like living in America after this.
2/12: The water is gone again – and the $400 washing machine doesn’t work. I cried for about 2 hours tonight. I think I needed to be really broken and let myself feel sad (even though I still struggle with feeling guilty about my sadness)… It has been much harder than I expected to have a home that I can’t make work right. It would be easier to live with someone else than to have this be our problem every time something else breaks…In the midst of feeling guilty over my frustration and sadness I realized something – although the bible talks about rejoicing in suffering that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. If I didn’t have to choose joy and there wasn’t anything to push my limits – then there wouldn’t be anything remarkable about joy would there? It isn’t as though my oldest child needed a heart surgery he might not be able to survive…but it is still my suffering this week. I’m humbled tonight by my own weakness. It will not be by my own willpower or ability that we will stay in Iraq.
“What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1Corinthians 4:7”
2/15: Thank you Lord for the good reports on the children and their families. I pray that you will continue to comfort and strengthen them.
2/22: It has been 1 month since we left and today was a pretty bad day here. I feel kind of homesick tonight. I just miss my family and friends. I miss the comfortable things of America. I had my first recognizable moment of culture shock today – Lord, please help me to draw from your strength, I feel pretty weary tonight.
2/24: We made it through month 1, we have even made some pretty significant accomplishments, praise the Lord! Lord, let month 2 be twice as purpose filled, joyful, submitted. By your grace Jesus, only by your grace.
2/28: Thank you Jesus for the hope and encouragement I feel tonight. God please continue to speak to me about how I can pray for Jeff. I’m reminded tonight that you are ‘Not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with you.” Ps 5:4. You are only holy and righteous and whether you heal and save these children or not, that truth will not change.
March
3/2: Baby Honyar died yesterday morning. I’m not sure how to process it all other than to choose Hope. Hope has meant something special to me these days.
3/11: So, today is the day I found out that our whole life was going to change. That’s right, I’m pregnant! I still can’t quite believe it. I’ve said it enough times today that I thought it would sink in – but it still seems so unreal. I can’t believe we are going to have a baby!
3/14: Lord, thank you for your mercy and continued goodness in my life. I pray that you could continue to give me grace and wisdom to know how to take care of this baby growing inside me.
3/18: I can’t believe it is ending when it feels like it just begun. I’ve only been knowingly pregnant for 8 days and I’ve started to miscarry. One week ago our whole life changed – and we were so happy about that. I can’t believe how quickly I grew attached to this pregnancy, this future, this baby… and now it is all ending, just like that. There are no words to the grief that I feel about everything that could have been…
3/26: Lord, I don’t know how to feel – I’m hopeful and fearful. God you alone hold the power of life and death. The life of this baby belongs to you. God, let your will be done.
April
4/1: Well, it’s a miracle, we saw our little baby and it’s heart beat! Thank you Jesus, I’ve had so many feelings about all of this – of which you are well aware. Help me to rest and take it all one-step at a time.
4/6: Lord, help me! This has been so much harder for me than I ever imagined – the constant nausea and pains. Father, please give me the grace to be able to receive this joyfully and to know how to take care of myself.
May
5/4: Father, thank you for your Word and the life that it brings. Thank you for truth that sets us free. I pray for wisdom as I seek to be a better wife and teammate.
5/8: Oh Lord, it was another hard day where my circumstances just threatened to relentlessly crush my spirit. I wish I felt like I had fought for joy harder but I’m not sure that I really tried. At the end of this day I don’t want to feel hopeless or wonder how many more terrible days await me – I just need you.
“Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Ps 55: 23
5/11 Thank you Jesus for letting us see a healthy, squirming baby today with a good heartbeat. I just confess that you are in control and you are trustworthy.
June
6/4: God, I pray for Shad tonight, please give his body the strength to heal and let him recover from these procedures. God I pray for peace and comfort for his family and for Jeremy and our team. God we trust you and we are asking you to heal Shad, to give him life again.
6/16: “ From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever, let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings.” Ps 61: 2-4
July
7/19: I think I’m finally ready to admit that the closeness I wanted with you (Jesus) that I thought was alluding me as a result of location isn’t any easier half way around the world. I don’t feel any closer, the light doesn’t seem any clearer and being obedient in big things doesn’t change all of the every day things that I am still disobedient in. Nearness to you and closeness to the Spirit doesn’t happen with out me…I know I can’t keep asking you to help me and expect that to produce results without my waiting on you.
We were out of Kurdistan on vacation for most of August and are getting ready to go home now so I don’t have a lot of entries relevant to this post for August so I’ll just end it here. It has been a really trying and meaningful 7 months so far and we are looking forward to coming back in January and doing this again with a baby! We’ll see if I can still find time to journal then… I’m not getting my hopes up.
January
1/22: I can’t believe today really came – we are on the plane on our way to the Rock. It was sad saying good-bye – I still feel sad right now, but I also feel eager excitement and anticipation of all that is ahead for us.
Lord, I bring to you now all of my tears, all of my sorrow, all of my fear and tell you that you are the only one who fills me and that following you, even to the ends of the earth, is better Lord. It is better than home, better than comfort, better than family, friends and money. Jesus you are better than all of these things. Please rise up inside me, inside of these vacant places, I need you more than I can begin to imagine.
1/23: There is nothing to fear, but God alone and he is for us! God is my home – when I don’t feel at home anywhere else He is trustworthy. Lord, you will establish peace for us, since you have also performed for us all our works. Isaiah26; 12
1/25: What a great first day we had, Praise the Lord! I’m still feeling so excited about life here and getting settled and learning language. It was great with the team and I’m so encouraged by their confidence and ability here.
February
2/2: Well, we made it through our first really bad day here – thank you Jesus! I was reminded last night about keeping the first things first. It seems that here (as anywhere I suppose) there are so many ways to divide your affection and attention. There are dying children that need surgery, there are families needing updates from us on their child’s status, there is Kurdish to learn and study and practice... and everything seems so urgent. The only way to have any strength, energy, life, light and power to draw from is to be seeking first the Kingdom. Satan wants to distract us and keep us so busy that we miss it completely.
2/9: My first trip out to the villages was a success. The families we met with were wonderful and it was great to get to be involved actively with what is happening now in the life of PLC. It seems unreal that 2 weeks ago we were trying to figure out how and if we could send kids this quarter and here we are 6 days out from sending the first batch of kids. God really does laugh at the impossible, and it must be so that no man can boast… As hard as it is to see families who are hurting, I would rather be a part of this and deal with all of the hurt than to not be here reaching out, providing support, praying, hoping, and loving these kids and their families.
2/10: So, the water is back… but the tanks will only fill ¼ of the way full without a pump and we didn’t get any national electricity today – I guess it is always something. It will be really interesting to see what it is like living in America after this.
2/12: The water is gone again – and the $400 washing machine doesn’t work. I cried for about 2 hours tonight. I think I needed to be really broken and let myself feel sad (even though I still struggle with feeling guilty about my sadness)… It has been much harder than I expected to have a home that I can’t make work right. It would be easier to live with someone else than to have this be our problem every time something else breaks…In the midst of feeling guilty over my frustration and sadness I realized something – although the bible talks about rejoicing in suffering that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. If I didn’t have to choose joy and there wasn’t anything to push my limits – then there wouldn’t be anything remarkable about joy would there? It isn’t as though my oldest child needed a heart surgery he might not be able to survive…but it is still my suffering this week. I’m humbled tonight by my own weakness. It will not be by my own willpower or ability that we will stay in Iraq.
“What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1Corinthians 4:7”
2/15: Thank you Lord for the good reports on the children and their families. I pray that you will continue to comfort and strengthen them.
2/22: It has been 1 month since we left and today was a pretty bad day here. I feel kind of homesick tonight. I just miss my family and friends. I miss the comfortable things of America. I had my first recognizable moment of culture shock today – Lord, please help me to draw from your strength, I feel pretty weary tonight.
2/24: We made it through month 1, we have even made some pretty significant accomplishments, praise the Lord! Lord, let month 2 be twice as purpose filled, joyful, submitted. By your grace Jesus, only by your grace.
2/28: Thank you Jesus for the hope and encouragement I feel tonight. God please continue to speak to me about how I can pray for Jeff. I’m reminded tonight that you are ‘Not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with you.” Ps 5:4. You are only holy and righteous and whether you heal and save these children or not, that truth will not change.
March
3/2: Baby Honyar died yesterday morning. I’m not sure how to process it all other than to choose Hope. Hope has meant something special to me these days.
3/11: So, today is the day I found out that our whole life was going to change. That’s right, I’m pregnant! I still can’t quite believe it. I’ve said it enough times today that I thought it would sink in – but it still seems so unreal. I can’t believe we are going to have a baby!
3/14: Lord, thank you for your mercy and continued goodness in my life. I pray that you could continue to give me grace and wisdom to know how to take care of this baby growing inside me.
3/18: I can’t believe it is ending when it feels like it just begun. I’ve only been knowingly pregnant for 8 days and I’ve started to miscarry. One week ago our whole life changed – and we were so happy about that. I can’t believe how quickly I grew attached to this pregnancy, this future, this baby… and now it is all ending, just like that. There are no words to the grief that I feel about everything that could have been…
3/26: Lord, I don’t know how to feel – I’m hopeful and fearful. God you alone hold the power of life and death. The life of this baby belongs to you. God, let your will be done.
April
4/1: Well, it’s a miracle, we saw our little baby and it’s heart beat! Thank you Jesus, I’ve had so many feelings about all of this – of which you are well aware. Help me to rest and take it all one-step at a time.
4/6: Lord, help me! This has been so much harder for me than I ever imagined – the constant nausea and pains. Father, please give me the grace to be able to receive this joyfully and to know how to take care of myself.
May
5/4: Father, thank you for your Word and the life that it brings. Thank you for truth that sets us free. I pray for wisdom as I seek to be a better wife and teammate.
5/8: Oh Lord, it was another hard day where my circumstances just threatened to relentlessly crush my spirit. I wish I felt like I had fought for joy harder but I’m not sure that I really tried. At the end of this day I don’t want to feel hopeless or wonder how many more terrible days await me – I just need you.
“Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Ps 55: 23
5/11 Thank you Jesus for letting us see a healthy, squirming baby today with a good heartbeat. I just confess that you are in control and you are trustworthy.
June
6/4: God, I pray for Shad tonight, please give his body the strength to heal and let him recover from these procedures. God I pray for peace and comfort for his family and for Jeremy and our team. God we trust you and we are asking you to heal Shad, to give him life again.
6/16: “ From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever, let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings.” Ps 61: 2-4
July
7/19: I think I’m finally ready to admit that the closeness I wanted with you (Jesus) that I thought was alluding me as a result of location isn’t any easier half way around the world. I don’t feel any closer, the light doesn’t seem any clearer and being obedient in big things doesn’t change all of the every day things that I am still disobedient in. Nearness to you and closeness to the Spirit doesn’t happen with out me…I know I can’t keep asking you to help me and expect that to produce results without my waiting on you.
We were out of Kurdistan on vacation for most of August and are getting ready to go home now so I don’t have a lot of entries relevant to this post for August so I’ll just end it here. It has been a really trying and meaningful 7 months so far and we are looking forward to coming back in January and doing this again with a baby! We’ll see if I can still find time to journal then… I’m not getting my hopes up.
8.23.2009
Randomness in the mind of Jeff Pt. 3
Right now we are out of Iraq for a couple for a couple of week. I finally have time to sit down and write a blog post or maybe two. So here goes:
-The other day Erin and I were going to pick some packages up and she noticed a monkey on a leash tied to a light pole One doesn’t see monkeys everyday tied to a light pole especially ones eating carrots!
- I have grown accustomed to visiting the bazaar (large primarily outside market where one can go to find almost anything you need. I typically take a taxi into the less crowded part of the bazaar and then walk out of it when I am ready to leave cause there is lots of traffic in the bazaar. As I was on my usual route walking out of the bazaar I noticed an old man sitting in a chair sleeping waiting for someone to hire him. Since then I have seen him sleeping in his chair in the morning, at lunch time and in the afternoon. Personally I think it is bad business because I wouldn’t wake someone from sleeping I would simply move onto the next person. But then someone who thinks differently than myself might think I will hire the sleeping man he should be well rested. Any thoughts?
- A month or so ago every time I sat down to type something I kept hitting the comma key and it really annoyed me so I am happy to say that since I started typing this post I have not hit the comma key once on accident.
- Being here in Turkey has been great. I have had some amazing chicken (something I don’t eat much of in Iraq). And I had a McFlurry and a chocolate dipped ice cream cone. I really miss great ice cream. We are staying in a friends house that is located pretty stinking close to the water so it has been great to hear and smell the water. It reminds me of home and then I get to thinking that I’m going fishing in about a month with my dad and Allen. Having lived in Corpus most of my life I am accustomed to seeing seagulls, some that are big and other that are small but the seagulls in Turkey are extra large. I took a picture of one cause I figured people wouldn’t believe me.
- Back to Iraq. I with the help of a couple of our interns finished painting the upstairs of our house. That is a huge relief!
- We also bought new curtains that are thicker, heavier, and darker for our living room so now that room is a little cooler and much more tolerable. I am still going to get a larger split (a/c) someday, hopefully!
- Thanks to one of our interns, Josh, I have started to get into photography. Part of the benefit to living overseas is that you get the opportunity to see amazingly beautiful places. Now I am just trying to learn how to take a little bit better pictures.
- Hopefully I will take some great ones in Thailand and you will get to see them.
That’s about all I have for this post. I hope you leave comments cause that is my favorite part about blogging, getting to read comments people left.
-The other day Erin and I were going to pick some packages up and she noticed a monkey on a leash tied to a light pole One doesn’t see monkeys everyday tied to a light pole especially ones eating carrots!
- I have grown accustomed to visiting the bazaar (large primarily outside market where one can go to find almost anything you need. I typically take a taxi into the less crowded part of the bazaar and then walk out of it when I am ready to leave cause there is lots of traffic in the bazaar. As I was on my usual route walking out of the bazaar I noticed an old man sitting in a chair sleeping waiting for someone to hire him. Since then I have seen him sleeping in his chair in the morning, at lunch time and in the afternoon. Personally I think it is bad business because I wouldn’t wake someone from sleeping I would simply move onto the next person. But then someone who thinks differently than myself might think I will hire the sleeping man he should be well rested. Any thoughts?
- A month or so ago every time I sat down to type something I kept hitting the comma key and it really annoyed me so I am happy to say that since I started typing this post I have not hit the comma key once on accident.
- Being here in Turkey has been great. I have had some amazing chicken (something I don’t eat much of in Iraq). And I had a McFlurry and a chocolate dipped ice cream cone. I really miss great ice cream. We are staying in a friends house that is located pretty stinking close to the water so it has been great to hear and smell the water. It reminds me of home and then I get to thinking that I’m going fishing in about a month with my dad and Allen. Having lived in Corpus most of my life I am accustomed to seeing seagulls, some that are big and other that are small but the seagulls in Turkey are extra large. I took a picture of one cause I figured people wouldn’t believe me.
- Back to Iraq. I with the help of a couple of our interns finished painting the upstairs of our house. That is a huge relief!
- We also bought new curtains that are thicker, heavier, and darker for our living room so now that room is a little cooler and much more tolerable. I am still going to get a larger split (a/c) someday, hopefully!
- Thanks to one of our interns, Josh, I have started to get into photography. Part of the benefit to living overseas is that you get the opportunity to see amazingly beautiful places. Now I am just trying to learn how to take a little bit better pictures.
- Hopefully I will take some great ones in Thailand and you will get to see them.
That’s about all I have for this post. I hope you leave comments cause that is my favorite part about blogging, getting to read comments people left.
8.22.2009
back in Iraq
Just a note to say that we made it safely back to the country! I will try and post some more pictures of our time in Bangkok this week. It was quite a trek to get back here and in the future I will try to not travel internationally in my third trimester, but in just 3 weeks and 4 plane rides we will finally be home!
We returned just in time for Ramadan so that will be interesting, we've never been in a Muslim country during this time of fasting. It already seems so different. None of the restaurants are open during the daylight hours and lots of shops are closed for the 30 days of fasting. I'm glad we get to be here to experience a little of it and will hopefully get to break the fast with some of our friends and neighbors before we leave.
I was awake extra early this morning, half jet lag, half our electricity going off and as I was grumbling over the heat and lack of electricity I was reminded of something important that came out of our time at the conference....be thankful! The last 7 months in Iraq have been varying degrees of hard and harder and I let myself get so bogged down in it that I forgot to be thankful for anything! So, I spent time this morning being thankful that I had extra time to pray and read and remember the things God has done for us.
We returned just in time for Ramadan so that will be interesting, we've never been in a Muslim country during this time of fasting. It already seems so different. None of the restaurants are open during the daylight hours and lots of shops are closed for the 30 days of fasting. I'm glad we get to be here to experience a little of it and will hopefully get to break the fast with some of our friends and neighbors before we leave.
I was awake extra early this morning, half jet lag, half our electricity going off and as I was grumbling over the heat and lack of electricity I was reminded of something important that came out of our time at the conference....be thankful! The last 7 months in Iraq have been varying degrees of hard and harder and I let myself get so bogged down in it that I forgot to be thankful for anything! So, I spent time this morning being thankful that I had extra time to pray and read and remember the things God has done for us.
8.03.2009
Vacation!
We're so excited, it is the long awaited eve before our departure tomorrow! We are heading to Istanbul tomorrow afternoon and will spend a couple days there before heading to Thailand for two weeks. After saying farewell to our neighbors tonight we are ready and excited to spend some time out of the country. I think I'm most looking forward to cooler temperatures, non-Kurdish cuisine, and hopefully even some Burger King and Starbucks thrown in there. It's amazing what being out of America for 6 months will make you crave (pregnancy probably doesn't help with this either). While in Thailand we are planning to see/ride some elephants, go on a dinner cruise, and Jeff is going 4 wheeling in the jungle, so it should be pretty awesome. I'll try to post some pics while we are gone, so keep checking back. I'm kind of nervous about the long flights so please pray for me and baby to have a safe and uneventful trip. As they say here "Xwat Legal' - that means go with God.
5.25.2009
My trip to the Salon
It wasn’t my first time to get my hair cut here, but it was the first time I’ve had enough language and knowledge of the culture to really understand and appreciate the whole experience. The salon is in the same building that our office is in. Just to give you a picture of what the ‘salon’ is like, it is a room with a mirror, a counter, a couch, and one salon chair. I guess since there is only one lady who works there it makes sense to only have one chair. The lady who runs this place is fully covered. She covers her head and wears the long shirts to her knees. The first time I went to get my haircut she left me in the salon by myself for about 20 minutes so that she could go to her house and pray because it was time for afternoon prayers.
So, when I showed up yesterday there was quite a crowd… I wish I could have taken a picture of the women there, but it would have been pretty rude! The first woman was dressed from head to toe in sparkly red. She had the traditional Kurdish clothing on and was going to a wedding that evening. She was getting her makeup and hair done for the occasion. Women here REALLY like their makeup, especially for special occasions. The women also think it is beautiful to have really light skin, not their naturally really dark skin (I know, the grass is always greener huh?). So, she only has one shade of powder and it is really light. It requires much caking of the powder to conceal the women’s actual skin coloring. There is also nothing sanitary about make up application. There are no separate wands, or brushes, or cloths. After the make up she did this lady’s hair. They really like big hair here, I mean like 1984. The finishing touches were a can of hairspray and some glitter in her hair. I guess it’s a little bit like getting ready for prom, only with way more sparkles and gold jewelry.
The next lady came in to get her face flossed. I don’t know what you call it actually. You know those people in the mall who do people’s eyebrows with the string. They do that here too, but they don’t stop at the brows, they do the ENTIRE face. I mean cheeks, forehead, chin, lip, and sideburns. I felt pretty bad for this lady as she was grimacing in pain and kept having to wipe tears from her face. I’ve never done the face floss myself, but this lady’s face was bright red afterwards. It pretty much deterred me from ever wanting to experience it though.
So, then it was my turn. They don’t wash your hair here when you get it cut; they just spray it with a bottle. After I explained what I wanted, or tried to anyway, she got right to work. When she wasn’t using the comb to brush my hair she stuck it in her own hair and when she needed to pin up my hair she took the clip out of her own hair to use it in mine. I just had to smile and think about what it would be like if a hairdresser in the states did that. She insisted on drying my hair afterwards and giving me her own style. She is a really good hairdresser and I’ve liked my hair both times she has cut it. I’m not a big fan of her styling, but I never liked how they fixed my hair in the states either. See below for a picture of the finished product. After she was finished the other ladies in the salon exclaimed ‘She looks Kurdish! Now she must speak better Kurdish.’ I couldn’t agree more.
So, when I showed up yesterday there was quite a crowd… I wish I could have taken a picture of the women there, but it would have been pretty rude! The first woman was dressed from head to toe in sparkly red. She had the traditional Kurdish clothing on and was going to a wedding that evening. She was getting her makeup and hair done for the occasion. Women here REALLY like their makeup, especially for special occasions. The women also think it is beautiful to have really light skin, not their naturally really dark skin (I know, the grass is always greener huh?). So, she only has one shade of powder and it is really light. It requires much caking of the powder to conceal the women’s actual skin coloring. There is also nothing sanitary about make up application. There are no separate wands, or brushes, or cloths. After the make up she did this lady’s hair. They really like big hair here, I mean like 1984. The finishing touches were a can of hairspray and some glitter in her hair. I guess it’s a little bit like getting ready for prom, only with way more sparkles and gold jewelry.
The next lady came in to get her face flossed. I don’t know what you call it actually. You know those people in the mall who do people’s eyebrows with the string. They do that here too, but they don’t stop at the brows, they do the ENTIRE face. I mean cheeks, forehead, chin, lip, and sideburns. I felt pretty bad for this lady as she was grimacing in pain and kept having to wipe tears from her face. I’ve never done the face floss myself, but this lady’s face was bright red afterwards. It pretty much deterred me from ever wanting to experience it though.
So, then it was my turn. They don’t wash your hair here when you get it cut; they just spray it with a bottle. After I explained what I wanted, or tried to anyway, she got right to work. When she wasn’t using the comb to brush my hair she stuck it in her own hair and when she needed to pin up my hair she took the clip out of her own hair to use it in mine. I just had to smile and think about what it would be like if a hairdresser in the states did that. She insisted on drying my hair afterwards and giving me her own style. She is a really good hairdresser and I’ve liked my hair both times she has cut it. I’m not a big fan of her styling, but I never liked how they fixed my hair in the states either. See below for a picture of the finished product. After she was finished the other ladies in the salon exclaimed ‘She looks Kurdish! Now she must speak better Kurdish.’ I couldn’t agree more.
5.06.2009
Improvement
I just wanted to take a few moments to report that Jeff & I are doing so much better. We've been in country for over 3 months now and praise the Lord, we are continuously improving.
I'm so proud of my husband... he has really pushed himself and is doing such a tremendous job of making the most of life here. Learning a new language with 44 letters in the alphabet, many of which make a sound that has no English equivalent is pretty daunting. Especially when you have to learn to read and write all over again! It is really neat to see how well loved Jeff is here. He says 'hello how are you' (in Kurdish) to just about every guy we pass on the streets and they all LOVE him. The shop owners and restaurant workers he has befriended are constantly giving him free stuff and refusing to let him pay for things because he has been such a good friend to them. Every time I am with our neighbors or the families we have helped through PLC they are always asking about Jeff and when they will see him again. He spends time most days in the big outdoor market just meeting people and practicing his Kurdish with them. I know it is exhausting trying to think and speak in another language all day but Jeff is doing such a great job and improving in his ability to understand and communicate every day.
It is hard. I know lots of you probably have hard jobs that you have to do every day. I just wanted everyone to know what a great job Jeff is doing and how even at the end of these long days of language learning he still comes home singing some oldies song and smiling. There aren't a lot of people here to pat you on the back for using a new word correctly or celebrate with you that you said what you meant to say to that guy and he understood you. I just wanted to invite you to celebrate Jeff with me and the strides he is making in loving people well and learning a really difficult language. Ultimately, this isn't about Jeff and his ability to learn Kurdish and succeed here. I think we both have come to understand in new ways the depths of grace available when we most need it. So, praise be to God who gives us every good thing and prepares good works in advance for us to walk in them!
I'm so proud of my husband... he has really pushed himself and is doing such a tremendous job of making the most of life here. Learning a new language with 44 letters in the alphabet, many of which make a sound that has no English equivalent is pretty daunting. Especially when you have to learn to read and write all over again! It is really neat to see how well loved Jeff is here. He says 'hello how are you' (in Kurdish) to just about every guy we pass on the streets and they all LOVE him. The shop owners and restaurant workers he has befriended are constantly giving him free stuff and refusing to let him pay for things because he has been such a good friend to them. Every time I am with our neighbors or the families we have helped through PLC they are always asking about Jeff and when they will see him again. He spends time most days in the big outdoor market just meeting people and practicing his Kurdish with them. I know it is exhausting trying to think and speak in another language all day but Jeff is doing such a great job and improving in his ability to understand and communicate every day.
It is hard. I know lots of you probably have hard jobs that you have to do every day. I just wanted everyone to know what a great job Jeff is doing and how even at the end of these long days of language learning he still comes home singing some oldies song and smiling. There aren't a lot of people here to pat you on the back for using a new word correctly or celebrate with you that you said what you meant to say to that guy and he understood you. I just wanted to invite you to celebrate Jeff with me and the strides he is making in loving people well and learning a really difficult language. Ultimately, this isn't about Jeff and his ability to learn Kurdish and succeed here. I think we both have come to understand in new ways the depths of grace available when we most need it. So, praise be to God who gives us every good thing and prepares good works in advance for us to walk in them!
4.22.2009
A day in the life of...
I was tagged by Kasey and now I'm gonna tell you what my typical day looks like. Take note that my typical day did not look much like this before I became so closely acquainted with constant nausea.
My day doesn't start with an alarm clock, but I couldn't think of a better picture. My day starts around 2 AM when I wake up hungry and have to eat something
So, I roll over and grab whatever I can find to eat...yes, I sleep with food in my bed now.
Then I wake up again around 4:30 because I'm hungry again.
munch.munch.munch. back to sleep
Then I finally wake up around 6:30 and usually try to wait until 7:00 to wake up my sweet husband so that he can bring me breakfast. I eat grapefruit every morning and see what I can manage to eat after that.
Roll over, back to sleep.
Then I finally wake up around 11 AM and make myself get out of bed.
And head to the kitchen to make myself some lunch.
This is about the only thing I can almost always eat no matter how bad I am feeling. Fortunately, my wonderful family sent me many boxes of this soup!
Then I usually spend some time studying Kurdish or meeting with my language helper
This is Sorani, the language we are learning. Nope, I don't know what this says. I can read some of the letters, but that's about it.
Then I usually head to the office to get some work done. Here's a pic of our office
Then its time to go home and start dinner. I've just regained the ability to spend time in the kitchen without being sick. So, that's an improvement. Fortunately, my sweet husband is a great help in the kitchen.
After dinner we usually watch a movie or some DVD on TV or hang out with some of our teammates. I will probably eat a few more snacks before actually going to bed.
Then we start winding down for the night and read in bed.
Then it's lights out sometime around 11ish and then it starts all over again.
My day doesn't start with an alarm clock, but I couldn't think of a better picture. My day starts around 2 AM when I wake up hungry and have to eat something
So, I roll over and grab whatever I can find to eat...yes, I sleep with food in my bed now.
Then I wake up again around 4:30 because I'm hungry again.
munch.munch.munch. back to sleep
Then I finally wake up around 6:30 and usually try to wait until 7:00 to wake up my sweet husband so that he can bring me breakfast. I eat grapefruit every morning and see what I can manage to eat after that.
Roll over, back to sleep.
Then I finally wake up around 11 AM and make myself get out of bed.
And head to the kitchen to make myself some lunch.
This is about the only thing I can almost always eat no matter how bad I am feeling. Fortunately, my wonderful family sent me many boxes of this soup!
Then I usually spend some time studying Kurdish or meeting with my language helper
This is Sorani, the language we are learning. Nope, I don't know what this says. I can read some of the letters, but that's about it.
Then I usually head to the office to get some work done. Here's a pic of our office
Then its time to go home and start dinner. I've just regained the ability to spend time in the kitchen without being sick. So, that's an improvement. Fortunately, my sweet husband is a great help in the kitchen.
After dinner we usually watch a movie or some DVD on TV or hang out with some of our teammates. I will probably eat a few more snacks before actually going to bed.
Then we start winding down for the night and read in bed.
Then it's lights out sometime around 11ish and then it starts all over again.
4.14.2009
Homesick
I'm not one to get homesick easily. But man, these last few weeks I've been so homesick. Just about every night I dream about someone in my family, my friends, or some kind of food from America.... usually it is a combination of the 3. I had a dream about my mom and sister last night and was so sad when I woke up.
I'm sure the pregnancy hormones and being sick all the time only compound the problem, but I guess I just keep expecting the swell of homesickness to pass, and it doesn't.
I feel like we haven't even been here long enough for me to miss everything so much, but I do. I guess the difference between here and the other places I have been overseas is that it doesn't feel like home at all. There is little to nothing that resembles America here. In some ways I'm really grateful for that and can really appreciate it. In other ways, I just wish there was a McDonald's here or something. It's weird the things that make me feel at home. Even when I lived in Istanbul I didn't go to the American restaurants like McD's or Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway etc that often, but it majorly made a difference that they were there. I don't like to think and certainly don't want to admit that my heart can be so tied to worldly things like food....but seriously, right now I feel like some bacon, guacamole, and a good cheeseburger could totally affect my happiness. I'm laughing at myself as I write this and at the same time holding back tears because it is really true. I just needed to confess that the world still has me in its grips, and even though Jesus is worth far more than the sacrifice of these small things - some days it is really hard.
I don't know that I will ever feel at 'home' here the way that I did in Turkey, but what I'm learning is that our home isn't anywhere in the world. I can get on a plane and go back to America and probably gain 20 pounds, but my heart would not be full. Ultimately, our home isn't here or anywhere in this Earth but in God's kingdom, and I'm sure it won't be defiled by the presence of a Mc Donald's... and I'm also sure that I won't mind at all if I spend eternity without those things. I don't know if I will miss you guys any less as time passes, but I am confident that God's grace is sufficient for me today.
I'm sure the pregnancy hormones and being sick all the time only compound the problem, but I guess I just keep expecting the swell of homesickness to pass, and it doesn't.
I feel like we haven't even been here long enough for me to miss everything so much, but I do. I guess the difference between here and the other places I have been overseas is that it doesn't feel like home at all. There is little to nothing that resembles America here. In some ways I'm really grateful for that and can really appreciate it. In other ways, I just wish there was a McDonald's here or something. It's weird the things that make me feel at home. Even when I lived in Istanbul I didn't go to the American restaurants like McD's or Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway etc that often, but it majorly made a difference that they were there. I don't like to think and certainly don't want to admit that my heart can be so tied to worldly things like food....but seriously, right now I feel like some bacon, guacamole, and a good cheeseburger could totally affect my happiness. I'm laughing at myself as I write this and at the same time holding back tears because it is really true. I just needed to confess that the world still has me in its grips, and even though Jesus is worth far more than the sacrifice of these small things - some days it is really hard.
I don't know that I will ever feel at 'home' here the way that I did in Turkey, but what I'm learning is that our home isn't anywhere in the world. I can get on a plane and go back to America and probably gain 20 pounds, but my heart would not be full. Ultimately, our home isn't here or anywhere in this Earth but in God's kingdom, and I'm sure it won't be defiled by the presence of a Mc Donald's... and I'm also sure that I won't mind at all if I spend eternity without those things. I don't know if I will miss you guys any less as time passes, but I am confident that God's grace is sufficient for me today.
4.05.2009
Randomness in the mind of Jeff Part who knows!
I am going to be a father. This is on my mind a lot. I tried to read about called What to Expect when your Wife is Expanding. It was terrible, I don’t know enough about babies or pregnancy to distinguish what was for real and what they were joking about. Knowing me I would think something was a joke and it would have been really important. So to remedy this I found two books on Amazon to read. I also found a manly green diaper bag. HA!
When I googled babies there were 112,000,000 hits that came up hence the reason I went to Amazon. =)
Amazon still wasn’t as much help but at least they have a baby section.
I am really excited about being a dad if you hadn’t picked up that!
I don’t know how to baby proof a house. Well I know not to leave sharp objects or cleaning supplies laying around. I always told Erin I would get a gun safe when we had kids. The one I want is at Cabalas, it’s green and I can’t afford it. =(
I just looked at babies r us at safety stuff. You can get stuff to put on corners of tables, baby gates, and outlet covers (in Iraq all the outlets are up high at my house so I don’t have to worry about that one for a couple years.
A couple of days ago I saw a little kid carrying a chicken and thought, oh he is taking it home for dinner. I decided it was his pet when he opened his water bottle and tried to let it drink some of his water.
I saw a taxi trying to get out a mud filled parking lot today on my way home for lunch. I stood and watched and thought to myself. We drive a patrol (it is a beast of car that can handle just about anything) and I am not sure I would park in this lot. Primarily because once I stop the vehicle I have to get out and walk through the mud into my office. But as I stood there and laughed to myself with a huge smile on my face I thought about going and getting our patrol to pull him out then realized I didn’t have any chains and then realized even if I were to offer to help I might not be able to clearly communicate I was willing to help. So, as I continue to watch him spray mud everywhere and his tires spin and his taxi go nowhere. I couldn’t stop thinking about why you would drive into this parking lot in a 2-wheel drive vehicle. I still don’t have an answer but this thought has not left my head all day.
OK, I made it home from watching the taxi get unstuck and Erin and I are talking and I tell her I hear someone on the roof splashing around in water. (It has been raining) She says its probably the neighbors. I decide to go look and sure enough there is a neighbor on my roof standing in water up to his calves. I feel bad cause he is trying to get the water off my roof. Then it dawns on me. Crap is my roof somehow flooding his house? Of course I don’t know how to say this so I just say I’m sorry repeatedly. I call my friend who comes over and offers to help, he reassures me this is not my fault but that is the fault of the owner of the house. I say, “I know its not my fault but my neighbors are very nice to us and I want to make sure there house is ok, lets go talk to them.” We go over there and while I think the inside of their house is flooding they were worried about us because they just say the water running down the side of the house and not the drain. They were trying to help us out. It was very thoughtful. They made us tea and told us they were there to help us no matter what time it was all we had to do was knock. I always thought our neighbors liked us a lot but today with the help of my friend who speaks the language I found out how much they like us. A lot!
Today, as I am seeing my neighbor standing in ice cold water up to his calves and I am standing right outside the door in no water I learned how sloped our house is. (Don’t worry I didn’t make him stand in the cold water by himself. I ran over there and stood with him and said I’m sorry. My feet just warmed up. I hope I don’t get sick tomorrow.
We got a blender and make milkshakes now! =)
I think I found a bbq pit that will work for me =) =) =)
I’m sure there has been more funny stuff like me blowing our electricity twice trying to change light bulbs and the huge flies here that are so big they are slow and fairly easy to kill but I can’t think of anything else right now except for the huge pile of work I need to get done in the next hour. Enjoy!!
When I googled babies there were 112,000,000 hits that came up hence the reason I went to Amazon. =)
Amazon still wasn’t as much help but at least they have a baby section.
I am really excited about being a dad if you hadn’t picked up that!
I don’t know how to baby proof a house. Well I know not to leave sharp objects or cleaning supplies laying around. I always told Erin I would get a gun safe when we had kids. The one I want is at Cabalas, it’s green and I can’t afford it. =(
I just looked at babies r us at safety stuff. You can get stuff to put on corners of tables, baby gates, and outlet covers (in Iraq all the outlets are up high at my house so I don’t have to worry about that one for a couple years.
A couple of days ago I saw a little kid carrying a chicken and thought, oh he is taking it home for dinner. I decided it was his pet when he opened his water bottle and tried to let it drink some of his water.
I saw a taxi trying to get out a mud filled parking lot today on my way home for lunch. I stood and watched and thought to myself. We drive a patrol (it is a beast of car that can handle just about anything) and I am not sure I would park in this lot. Primarily because once I stop the vehicle I have to get out and walk through the mud into my office. But as I stood there and laughed to myself with a huge smile on my face I thought about going and getting our patrol to pull him out then realized I didn’t have any chains and then realized even if I were to offer to help I might not be able to clearly communicate I was willing to help. So, as I continue to watch him spray mud everywhere and his tires spin and his taxi go nowhere. I couldn’t stop thinking about why you would drive into this parking lot in a 2-wheel drive vehicle. I still don’t have an answer but this thought has not left my head all day.
OK, I made it home from watching the taxi get unstuck and Erin and I are talking and I tell her I hear someone on the roof splashing around in water. (It has been raining) She says its probably the neighbors. I decide to go look and sure enough there is a neighbor on my roof standing in water up to his calves. I feel bad cause he is trying to get the water off my roof. Then it dawns on me. Crap is my roof somehow flooding his house? Of course I don’t know how to say this so I just say I’m sorry repeatedly. I call my friend who comes over and offers to help, he reassures me this is not my fault but that is the fault of the owner of the house. I say, “I know its not my fault but my neighbors are very nice to us and I want to make sure there house is ok, lets go talk to them.” We go over there and while I think the inside of their house is flooding they were worried about us because they just say the water running down the side of the house and not the drain. They were trying to help us out. It was very thoughtful. They made us tea and told us they were there to help us no matter what time it was all we had to do was knock. I always thought our neighbors liked us a lot but today with the help of my friend who speaks the language I found out how much they like us. A lot!
Today, as I am seeing my neighbor standing in ice cold water up to his calves and I am standing right outside the door in no water I learned how sloped our house is. (Don’t worry I didn’t make him stand in the cold water by himself. I ran over there and stood with him and said I’m sorry. My feet just warmed up. I hope I don’t get sick tomorrow.
We got a blender and make milkshakes now! =)
I think I found a bbq pit that will work for me =) =) =)
I’m sure there has been more funny stuff like me blowing our electricity twice trying to change light bulbs and the huge flies here that are so big they are slow and fairly easy to kill but I can’t think of anything else right now except for the huge pile of work I need to get done in the next hour. Enjoy!!
3.14.2009
We're gonna have a baby!!!
We just found out this week that I am indeed pregnant! We're still pretty shocked, but really excited and totally terrified... that's normal right? I don't know what it is about moving overseas - maybe it's the winter, the lack of electricity, the new bacteria in the drinking water...but whatever it is we are pregnant and couldn't be more excited. It is still really early, only 5 weeks, but I will be going to the doctor probably next week to make sure everything is on track. So, sometime in November we are going to have a baby.....WHAT?! Maybe I can share a birthday with someone else! Or maybe you can Chelsea, or you Sarah, or you AB, or you Jennifer, or Beth... there are so many great days in November to be born! We'll keep you posted!
3.09.2009
normal?
Life here is continuously becoming more 'normal'.... or I guess I should say that things here are the same, we are just getting more used to them. There were things when we arrived that I couldn't imagine getting used to. But alas, I had to think really hard about what those things even were now.
- Jeff never thought he would get used to being called Kak Jeff. That is how they refer to men here, it is like Mr. and is a term of respect. It is pronounced like a bad word in English, it rhymes with sock. But now Jeff is called Kak Jeff several times a day and refers to other men as Kak so and so without being phased.
- Pretty much every English cuss word is a normal word in Kurdish. Just walking down the street or listening to people talk it sounds like they are dropping the F-bomb and every other manner of cuss word. The word for thing or stuff is Sh*t, so people say it ALL the time. I use it now without feeling awkward, so that's a step forward.
- The electricity goes off every 2 hours when it switches from government provided electricity to community provided electricity. Sometimes it takes several minutes for the switch to happen or other times it won't switch at all and you are left in the dark. I used to feel like everything should stop when this happened (haha it just happened as I'm typing this). But now it doesn't matter where we are, you just continue your conversation, finish your dinner, do the dishes all in the dark and it is okay.
Well, I'm not sure it is coming back on, so I better go before we loose our back up power source!
- Jeff never thought he would get used to being called Kak Jeff. That is how they refer to men here, it is like Mr. and is a term of respect. It is pronounced like a bad word in English, it rhymes with sock. But now Jeff is called Kak Jeff several times a day and refers to other men as Kak so and so without being phased.
- Pretty much every English cuss word is a normal word in Kurdish. Just walking down the street or listening to people talk it sounds like they are dropping the F-bomb and every other manner of cuss word. The word for thing or stuff is Sh*t, so people say it ALL the time. I use it now without feeling awkward, so that's a step forward.
- The electricity goes off every 2 hours when it switches from government provided electricity to community provided electricity. Sometimes it takes several minutes for the switch to happen or other times it won't switch at all and you are left in the dark. I used to feel like everything should stop when this happened (haha it just happened as I'm typing this). But now it doesn't matter where we are, you just continue your conversation, finish your dinner, do the dishes all in the dark and it is okay.
Well, I'm not sure it is coming back on, so I better go before we loose our back up power source!
3.05.2009
our house
Here are some interior pictures of what we have finished so far in our house. The upstairs is a work in progress, but the downstairs is almost finished!
This is our bedroom. We painted the walls and LOVE the color!
This is another view of the bedroom.
Here is our kitchen. The stove and fridge are on the other walls... but they seem pretty bare by themselves, so I didn't post those.
The living room.
The faux fire place. the mirror isn't supposed to go there we just haven't hung it yet.
That is the downstairs, minus the bathroom, shower and sink (which are all separate rooms). We are in the process of painting the upstairs and I will take pictures of that as soon as we get around to buying furniture for it... it might be a couple months! =)
This is our bedroom. We painted the walls and LOVE the color!
This is another view of the bedroom.
Here is our kitchen. The stove and fridge are on the other walls... but they seem pretty bare by themselves, so I didn't post those.
The living room.
The faux fire place. the mirror isn't supposed to go there we just haven't hung it yet.
That is the downstairs, minus the bathroom, shower and sink (which are all separate rooms). We are in the process of painting the upstairs and I will take pictures of that as soon as we get around to buying furniture for it... it might be a couple months! =)
2.18.2009
Last Night
So... here's a run down of how last night went in the Priour house. I (Erin) was making dinner for our teammates, I had gone into the living room to pick up some stuff when I hear Jeff coughing really loudly and making hyperventilating noises. This didn't alarm me, because since we arrived here Jeff has had this really bad cough that sounds like he is dying every time he coughs. Then I start to hear some different noises, so I go into the kitchen to see what is going on because Jeff isn't answering my 'Are you okay?' yells. I go into the kitchen just in time to see him running out the front door. I follow him outside and he is throwing up in the yard. When he has settled down I'm trying to figure out what happened and he says 'Sorry, I threw up on the rug'. When we go back inside to clean up the rug I realize that our sink drain is clogged and is flooding our kitchen. So, I'm trying to keep dinner moving, get the rug cleaned up, and get the standing water mopped out the door. Suddenly, Jeff yells - 'It's on fire!'. I turn around to see a towel that is next to our gas stove totally engulfed in flames and Jeff is looking wildly around the kitchen trying to figure out what to do with it and I'm yelling 'Throw it outside, throw it outside!'. So, he throws it outside and fills up a bucket with water, but instead of walking outside and pouring it on the fire he just throws the bucket of water at it from inside the house. It put the fire out. And then I finished making dinner and we ate an hour late.
Oh, by the way, Jeff is fine. He wasn't sick, he just choked on his apple juice. It scared the crap out of me, but he's fine. I started crying right after this just because I was scared. I don't know the Heimlich maneuver and while I know you're supposed to throw yourself over a chair - we don't have any chairs because people here eat on mats on the floor. I don't know what I would have done, I don't even know any emergency numbers. The good news is that after all of this, I laughed really hard instead of bursting into tears. A week ago this might have pushed me over the edge, so I think we are doing better because we were both laughing. Here is what was left of our kitchen towel. Good thing we brought several from America.
Oh, by the way, Jeff is fine. He wasn't sick, he just choked on his apple juice. It scared the crap out of me, but he's fine. I started crying right after this just because I was scared. I don't know the Heimlich maneuver and while I know you're supposed to throw yourself over a chair - we don't have any chairs because people here eat on mats on the floor. I don't know what I would have done, I don't even know any emergency numbers. The good news is that after all of this, I laughed really hard instead of bursting into tears. A week ago this might have pushed me over the edge, so I think we are doing better because we were both laughing. Here is what was left of our kitchen towel. Good thing we brought several from America.
2.12.2009
Honesty
I think I'm about to tell you the truth... I hope you can handle it. =)
Life here has been pretty difficult the last weekish or so. I (Erin) cried for about 2 hours last night and even though I don't wish we were back in America I didn't want to be here. However, location is not the issue, not having water (which we haven't since Saturday with the exception of 1 day), not getting electricity from the government, not being able to make the washing machine work, almost setting the kitchen on fire when I tried to re-heat dinner, being unable to do anything without a lot of assistance.... these are not the issues. They are the things that have been pressing in on us and compounding the frustration, but that is the thing about getting uncomfortable and being out of control... it squeezes out of you all of the things that are buried deep inside, the things you don't want anyone else to see.
The only thing that could calm me down last night was playing some worship songs that are really close to my heart that speak the kind of truth I can't always hear through the noise of my own life. Songs like 'Holy you are still holy even when the darkness surrounds my life. Sovereign you are still sovereign even when confusion is blinding my eyes. Lord, I don't deserve your kind affection and my unbelief has kept me from your touch. I want my life to be a pure reflection of your love. So, I come into your chamber and I dance at your feet Lord, you are my savior and I'm at your mercy all that has been in my life until now, it all belongs to you. For you are still holy.' I had this vision the other night of being this hard ball of clay that was being molded... it was the kind that was so cold and almost like rock that it hurt your hands to try and soften it, but slowly it was warming up and becoming softer and able to be molded. I think that is me right now and the state of my heart.
I don't mean for this to sound all dark and painful, although I have felt much of that lately. I feel a lot of hope and joy too. I'm grateful for the hands that push and break and mold until I am soft and able to be yielded to whatever those hands want to make me into. I ask that you would be praying for Jeff & I in these coming weeks and months. Our time here is too precious, and the work at hand too urgent to waste our time and energy being angry, frustrated, rebellious, and a number of other very unproductive emotions. I feel kind of silly being so frustrated about worldly things when we are dealing every day with families whose children are sick and dying and in need of a heart surgery they may or may not receive. But as I was praying last night I just felt from the Lord that suffering is exactly that - suffering. If it wasn't hard and uncomfortable there would be nothing remarkable about joy in the midst of it. Having to choose joy instead of anger or frustration will likely be a daily (sometimes hourly) choice for me for a while. And for now, that is enough. Knowing that His mercy is new, His grace is sufficient and even when my circumstances don't change - He is still holy.
That's all I have the energy for now. But I've got some great pictures to post of some crazy things we've seen here. I'll try to get that posted in a few days. Thanks for your prayers and for caring about our transition. We have a lot of hope right now for what God has in store for us.
2.05.2009
The Potty Post
In honor of one of my friends I am posting this blog. For those who don’t know in other parts of the world they do not always have toilets like we have in the states. A simple definition of the squatty is it a relatively nice porcelain hole in the ground in which you squat to take care of business.
I have come to realize that I am spoiled by the western toilet. Going to the bathroom used to be a place to get away from everything, it is a place where no one will bother you and you could sit in peace. Now, there is no sitting you can still get away from everyone but you probably don’t want to be in there any longer than you have to. It doesn’t smell nice. A friend once shared this advice with me. If work is stressful and you need a break go sit on the toilet, your boss may look for you but will not bother you if he finds you in the louver. The longer you are there the less likely someone will ask you to do more work. You can all thank me for this free tip by commenting on this post! =)
A few days ago I hung out with a couple of Kurdish guys who had lived in the states and they were telling me about having to run around and turn things on and off depending on whether or not we had national or community electricity. (Electricity here is complicated, perhaps when I fry something I will post about it. Also, notice I didn’t say if I fry something but chose the word when.) Anyway once they finished telling me about this, our conversation turned towards toilets. Their belief was that the western toilet was inferior to the squatty because with the western you have to take a magazine or book with you because it takes longer to take care of business when using a western toilet. They feel that when using a squatty all you have to do is go in squat and it all comes out and you are done. However, I believe the western is superior to the squatty because you get to sit and not squat. Sitting is much easier on the body and it usually gives you a chance to catch up on some reading or if you have a poker game on your phone you can play poker (Keith). While both views are valid, I am too old and my body is not made to squat for more than about 25 seconds to pick something up off the ground.
So yesterday I went and bought us a western toilet and in 2 days it should be installed. Now, here is why you should appreciate your toilet. In the states toilets have on the back down by the bottom a piece that looks like a S. You are probably thinking ‘so what?’. Well here is what! That S curve keeps the smell and other things from coming back into the toilet after it is used. So today be grateful for the technology we have in the states.
If you made it to the end of this post I hope you enjoyed it and got a little bit of humor along the way. Feel free to comment because If there are no comments it will likely be awhile before I post again. Dueces!!
1.29.2009
We made it!
Sorry for the update delay. We have had a pretty busy 5 days here in Northern Iraq/Kurdistan (I may use these terms interchangeably here on out). We are doing great! We have finally recovered from jet lag and even though we arrived with head colds, we are feeling much better today. We have made a lot of progress with our house. We got the whole thing cleaned this week, we bought our bedroom furniture, living room furniture, all of our carpet, and designed our kitchen cabinets and counter tops. We are having everything delivered on Monday and will get all of the painting done this weekend. So, by Monday night we should be staying in our house! We got 4 amps from of electricity from the community generator, so we should only be without electricity for around 6 hours a day. Here are some 'before' pictures of the house. I'll post the after ones next week!
Here is Jeff in front of our house. It is a 2 story house with a bright purple gate!
These are our front doors. Traditionally there are separate entrances for men and women, the women's enters into the kitchen and the men's into the main part of the house. It doesn't appear so far that these rules are very strictly followed, but all of the older houses have 2 entrances.
This is the view from the top of our roof. Notice the mountains in the background? It is really very beautiful here, if only there were a beach...
We got to go yesterday and meet one of the children who's heart surgery we helped fund a couple months ago. She was visiting a dentist to get a filling and have a check-up. Lack of dental care is one of the causes for many of the heart conditions that effect children here. It was really great to get to meet her family and tomorrow I am going to see the family of the child we sent for heart surgery last week.
The people here have been so wonderful to us and we are really enjoying ourselves. We are learning more and more Kurdish words everyday, but we still have a LONG road ahead of us!
We will keep you posted! In the meantime check out our website for the latest updates at www.preemptivelove.org
Here is Jeff in front of our house. It is a 2 story house with a bright purple gate!
These are our front doors. Traditionally there are separate entrances for men and women, the women's enters into the kitchen and the men's into the main part of the house. It doesn't appear so far that these rules are very strictly followed, but all of the older houses have 2 entrances.
This is the view from the top of our roof. Notice the mountains in the background? It is really very beautiful here, if only there were a beach...
We got to go yesterday and meet one of the children who's heart surgery we helped fund a couple months ago. She was visiting a dentist to get a filling and have a check-up. Lack of dental care is one of the causes for many of the heart conditions that effect children here. It was really great to get to meet her family and tomorrow I am going to see the family of the child we sent for heart surgery last week.
The people here have been so wonderful to us and we are really enjoying ourselves. We are learning more and more Kurdish words everyday, but we still have a LONG road ahead of us!
We will keep you posted! In the meantime check out our website for the latest updates at www.preemptivelove.org
1.23.2009
almost there
We are in Turkey for the day and will fly out to Iraq late tonight. The first leg of the journey was pretty uneventful - thankfully. We finally got some good sleep last night at our hotel in Istanbul. Jeff & I don't sleep well on planes, so we only got about 3 hours of sleep while in transit. We woke up at 5 am, well before the call to prayer, but we did go to bed about 9 last night. So, hopefully we can work out this jet lag in the next couple days! It is great to be back In Turkey, I always forget how much I love it here. It feels a little like home to me since I lived here for 6 months .... geeze, was that 4 years ago already? I was telling our taxi driver that last night because he was asking me about where I learned Turkish and he laughed at me and told me that I sure forgot a lot of words in 4 years... he was right.
I was reading on the plane yesterday and came across this poem 'If' by Rudyard Kipling that pretty much sums up all of the hope, fear, the new beginnings, the sense of self and determination that Jeff & I are so full of right now.
If you can keep your head when all about you
are loosing theirs and blaming it on you;
if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
or being hated, don't give way to hating,
and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you an meet triumph or disaster
and treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
and stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;
If you can make a heap of all of your winnings
and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,,
and loose, and start again at your beginnings
and never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
to serve your turn long after they are gone.
and so hold on when there is nothing in you
except the Will which says to them : "Hold on",
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
or walk with kings - nor loose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty second's worth of distance run -
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a man, my son!
Clearly, we still have a long ways to go here, and will certainly never fully attain all of this but it feels good to be right where you are supposed to be. I'll try and post some pictures when I have a better connection - it might be a while.
Love and miss you guys already!
I was reading on the plane yesterday and came across this poem 'If' by Rudyard Kipling that pretty much sums up all of the hope, fear, the new beginnings, the sense of self and determination that Jeff & I are so full of right now.
If you can keep your head when all about you
are loosing theirs and blaming it on you;
if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
or being hated, don't give way to hating,
and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you an meet triumph or disaster
and treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
and stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;
If you can make a heap of all of your winnings
and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,,
and loose, and start again at your beginnings
and never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
to serve your turn long after they are gone.
and so hold on when there is nothing in you
except the Will which says to them : "Hold on",
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
or walk with kings - nor loose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty second's worth of distance run -
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a man, my son!
Clearly, we still have a long ways to go here, and will certainly never fully attain all of this but it feels good to be right where you are supposed to be. I'll try and post some pictures when I have a better connection - it might be a while.
Love and miss you guys already!
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