A Series of Unfortunate Events...

The following all happened in a little over 24 hours...

1. Jeremy was doing a simple adjustment on the water pump that we have for our house, when a slight bump burst a water line. Three hours later, he finally finished repairing it.

2. While running to the grocery store at 8:00PM (both kids bedtime), Jeremy locked the keys to our house and car inside the vehicle. Almost three hours and two very tired and grumpy kids later, we got back to our house.

3. Jeremy was out in the front yard with Joy, when our telephone line landed on the ground in front of him. Upon investigation, he found that the phone company didn't realize that our line was in use, and cut it in an effort to clean up the telephone pole. As a result we lost our internet connection and landline for three days (including Christmas day!).

4. We were running late to an evening appointment when Ezra stuck a piece of really hard candy up his nose. After an hour of both of us holding him down and doing everything we could to get it out of his nose, he snorted it up into his nasal cavity never to be seen again. We were told there was nothing else we could do, and went very late to our appointment.

We hope it is a while before we have another 24 hours like that!

Christmas in the Desert #5- Christmas Day!

Well, that was our Christmas! Not too bad for the first Christmas that we have celebrated without someone from our extended families. And we didn't even include pictures of our Christmas dinner with our Canadian teammates, and the two parties with North African friends that we attended. So, it was a busy and fun Christmas, and we rejoice in the fact that the celebration of the coming of Christ can be remembered anywhere in the world. We hope you enjoyed seeing our "Christmas in the Desert". As you can see we were even able to take a family Christmas photo (on timer!) by the tree- notice the cute Christmas pajamas that Steph got for Ezra and Joy. Merry Christmas!

Presents were then followed by a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, waffles, hash browns and even bacon!

Ezra opening one of his favorite gifts- a box full of toy cars, trucks, helicopters, etc. Thank you Nana and Pops Simpson!

Christmas in the Desert #4- Christmas Eve

We then made a gingerbread house from a kit that Nana and Baba Clark sent to us. Ezra was very happy eating all of the icing and candy while it was being built!

Jeremy then made some yummy peppermint ice cream- closely supervised by Joy!

We got to hear Christmas songs and skits in French and English at the International Church service on Christmas Eve morning.

Christmas in the Desert #3

We even had Christmas carolers stop by and sing us a great selection of songs!

Christmas in the Desert #2

On the Saturday before Christmas, many from the American community decided to have coffee and French pastries at the beach. We enjoyed a cool breezy few hours at the beach, and Ezra even had a few close encounters with a huge pelican!

Christmas in the Desert

Many of you might be wondering what Christmas is like in an Islamic Republic! Well, we decided to chronicle our Christmas activities to show you that it was probably very similar to yours!

A few days before Christmas we had some American friends over, and we all frosted Christmas cookies that Steph had made. Ezra especially loved the sprinkles!

Pre-Christmas Happenings...

It has been an eventful last 10 days since I posted something. Here is what has been going on....

1. We had visitors from the Wheaton College football program- my former defensive line coach Jeff Peltz, Gary LaVanchy- a guy I played with and who is now a coach at Wheaton, at Rodney Duttweiler- a former player who works in Dakar, Senegal. We had a great time together, and enjoyed fun times at the beach, in the gym and at the dunes, and had really good times of fellowship. We even got most of the playset finished that we brought over for Ezra!

2. We finalized our plans for our trip to Tunisia in late-December and early-January for an IDEAS conference. We were able to schedule it in such a way that we get to visit Algeria along the way! We are excited about seeing a new North African country. Our stay will be about three days total, and the best part is that our hotel and food will be provided by Air Algeria! Since we are in transit to Tunis, they are supposedly going to put us up in a five star hotel with food for free! I guess we will believe that when we see it! :)

3. The 19th was our 8th anniversary! We didn't really celebrate it on the day, since we still had visitors, but we are planning to celebrate it in Algeria when we travel there next week.

4. Ezra is finally feeling better! After almost two weeks of stomach issues, he is back to his happy self. What a difference that makes! Unfortunately, Steph has now come down with something (fever, stomach issues, etc.), and is resting even as I write.

Winterfest in the Sahara

The American School here in town put on a carnival this weekend called "Winterfest". Even though Ezra wasn't feeling so good, he was distracted by all of the games and candy! Joy even got her first taste of cotton candy, although it is obvious from the picture that she wasn't so sure she liked it.

Ezra finally gets sick...

Well, it was bound to happen. Ezra finally got sick from something he ate. We have been amazed that he hadn't gotten sick so far considering all of the crazy stuff he has put in his mouth. But, it finally happened. He has been going through lots of diapers the last few days, has been very grumpy and mainly just wants to watch his favorite movie "Cars".

We went to pet the camels and take some pictures in the dunes. Of course, this is the best picture of all of us-Ezra would not look at the camera

OK, OK, I will FINALLY blog something! For those of you who have informed me what a blog should actually be, enjoy this update. We are feeling quite settled now here. Life is becoming normal-if indeed, there is normalcy with 2 young kids! We had a great Thanksgiving with Nikki, Steph's brother's fiance, and her friend Amber. A few significant milestones in Joy's life this month-she has 2 teeth, rolled over and ate her first solid food.

Yesterday I decorated our house for Christmas, and Ezra is in the process of "undecorating" it for me. We are looking forward to this month. We have a few visitors next week along with our anniversary and then Christmas. At the end of the month, we will be traveling to Tunis for a conference via Algeria. Those of you who know us well, know that we LOVE to visit new countries, so we are looking forward to this trip to Algeria.

Our gym is running well. We are working on improving it along with providing more hours for women. It is attracting more people and we hope that it will continue to be a place for people to come.

Ezra is having his first taste of overseas stomach issues. We think he has amoeba or something like that-we will find out this afternoon. I don't know who is more miserable-him or his parents who are attempting to keep him happy!