The best gifts to send home

We know these people who own an Olive Wood factory in town. They make all sorts of figurines, cooking utensils, Nativity scenes, jewelry and Christmas Tree ornaments from beautiful, local olive wood. Now, most of the souvenirs you will find around town are actually made in China, so they aren't the best option when you're shopping for things to bring home from a trip here. The olive wood gifts are a little more expensive but well worth the price.

Not only do they make an excellent product, the factory is one of the only places in town who employs the disabled and the deaf. Most of these people would never have had the chance to have a decent job, a paycheck, respect from their families. Now many of them are supporting their families with the money they make at the factory. They have honor, which is very important in this culture.

Whenever we have guests come to visit, we always try to take them to the factory to see how the pieces are made and to meet the employees. They are all amazingly gracious and friendly.

And they love Noah.
This picture was taken months ago, but I love it. This is one of the ladies showing Noah how she sands the wood pieces after they're carved. He just wanted to eat it.

We are starting our own nativity set collection. Each year I think we will try to get a new piece. We also have beautiful serving spoons. And one of my favorite gifts I've given to friends here is a figure of a mother holding a child. If you want to check out what they have to offer, just go to holylanddesigns.net.

My little drummer boy

We took Noah to his first musical performance the other night. It was a tour group from the UK called H2O or the Junk Funk Ensemble. Supposedly they are former Stomp members. They performed outside at the Children's Museum to a bunch of rowdy Arab kids and us.

We thought Noah would enjoy the show because he is such a musical kid who loves to dance and drum on anything he can find.

He enjoyed the show for the first 5 minutes and danced along to the beats. But soon, his attention was drawn to the stairs, the empty chairs, the grounds behind the stage, etc. But I noticed the next day that he did take something away from the show. He took one of our empty water jugs (like the ones in the picture above) and started banging it on the floor (much like the Stomp guys did) and then he would clap for himself and his stunning performance.
Squirmy McSquirmerson who wouldn't sit still to take a picture with his mama.
Dancing dude.
Mr. Independent.
Maybe we should just stick to the free kind of entertainment like earlier in the day when he sat for a long time in his homemade hammock.

May, June and July.....just waiting

In May we celebrated Daniel's birthday, Mother's Day, and early anniversary with a 3-day family trip to the Dead Sea. It was Noah's first time to swim since he was 3 months old. He really got in to the excitement of the trip. He loved getting his sunscreen applied, his hat and swimsuit and floaties on. But he didn't necessarily love the swimming thing. At least on the first day. But he warmed up to it and even got a little daring and jumped off the side of the pool to us by day three.

Just chillin' in the baby pool.
June - Daniel was gone most of the month taking tour groups around the country. Noah and I hung out with friends and took lots of trips to the grocery store. He might turn in to a piece of fruit - he eats so much of it.

Our friend Rami got married so Daniel and I got a night out together with another arab couple we know. It was a great wedding, outdoor by a pool with lots of loud arabic music and dancing. And smoke. Even at the table with this friend and I, both expecting and really showing. People don't think about the effects of second hand smoke around here much. The other day I was getting a haircut and the lady sitting next to me lit up a cigarette. At first I violently waved a magazine in front of my face. Finally I spoke to her in Arabic, "Excuse me, check out my huge belly, do you mind?" She was nice enough to put out her smoke and smile at me.
July - Daniel had another tour group - here for two weeks. Here he is taking a picture of himself on his phone in the Dead Sea. It really is such a cool experience to float the way you do in all that salty water. If you haven't made it here for a visit yet - you should come! His groups have had a great time getting to see the sights and engaging with lots of local people from all backgrounds. We even had the last group take an arab cooking lesson and I got to join them! It was a great experience. And yummy.

So that's it, really. Half way through July now and waiting.....for baby.....for my mom to arrive...for another tour group to arrive.....for the heat to let up. Guess I'll be doing a lot more blogging in the next two weeks!
Noah likes to read to himself when mom gets too tired.

We're Back - to blogging, that is

Here's what Noah thinks about his parents forgetting to blog for so long....

It's been a while, we know. The last post about the cold makes me miss it now, thinking about how hot it is here today. I guess we've been focusing on work, life, and the baby girl on the way. I keep thinking that this little girl will be arriving any minute because I seem extra big this pregnancy and people keep telling me there's no way I can last until the end of July. But, alas, we just left the doctor's office. He told me there's no progress. He also said unless I need him for anything, he'll just plan on seeing me in two weeks. Ugh.

So, what else have I to do now but blog? I've slowed down on most everything else these days, except for entertaining an 18 month old. I cancelled some appointments, some plans, so now I am looking for things to do. Sort of a big change for me. I decided I should update this blog and show you what we've been up to the last few months.

Noah found his belly button in April.
He was very proud.
In May, Noah had to have a little outpatient surgery for a hydrocele. We had a great pediatric surgeon taking care of him. But still, having to get him put under anesthesia was tough on his momma. Watching him come out of the anesthesia was even crazier. He was NOT a happy camper. After an hour or so, he was pretty much back to his sweet, normal self. And he still managed to win over all the nurses.
Next post will cover the rest of the summer 'til now.