Rachel and the kids came back safely a week ago in the evening, so yesterday was our first time back to church together as a family. One of the members of the Stake Presidency called and asked me and Rachel to meet him in the morning before church started. And as a result, now I'm the Elders Quorum President. For those of you who don't know what that is, I'm the head of the men's organization (well, men between 18 and, say, 45) in the ward, responsible for arranging monthly visits to every member's home to check on their welfare, and supporting the spiritual and economic well-being of all their families. You've got to watch out for those pre-meeting meetings!
Big E starts school tomorrow. He seems a little nervous, but he doesn't really express emotion about upcoming events in general, so it's hard to tell. It's weird to think of him going off to school already. I hope he likes it and makes some more friends who are boys. Seriously, until the new family moved in next door with 4-year-old twin boys, girls were practically all he ever played with.
Miss A has had some trouble adjusting to the jet lag. She fell asleep in nursery yesterday, for example, around 11:30, not her regular nap time. Right now, Big E and Miss A are having a playful shouting match at the table, seeing who can shout "Noooooo!" the loudest while they eat their lunches.
We had a student expelled from school at the very end of school last year because he brought a knife and stabbed another kid "accidentally" in the arm with it. I believe his story, and he's a nice kid, so I called him up to see how he's doing, and we ended up going to dinner with one of his cousins and one of the new teachers. He took us to a restaurant called Afghan Brothers, where we all sat barefooted on cushions on the floor and ate mutton and chicken and rice with our hands from a common platter. That was a fun cultural experience! I plan on taking Rachel and the kids there some time soon. Then we had our high school staff retreat to build camaraderie and plan for the year at our assistant principal's house. He's Qatari and quite well off, so his house was beautiful. We asked a student to bring his pet falcons for our new staff to pose with. The student is the son of the prime minister. But the student didn't come, so the assistant principal called his dad. His dad said, "That's not okay, he should have come. I'll just send his older brother." So we got the falcons after all, with the help of the prime minister!
From the time Rachel got home last week until Thursday evening, she hadn't gone any further from our house than Big E's school, which is right by where I work, and not really very far away at all. So I took her out Thursday to an Indian food place at the Pearl, which is a man-made series of bays along a manmade peninsula, lined with yachts in the water, shops that people with yachts shop at all along the piers, and big towers of empty apartments where the rich people were supposed to live, but apparently decided not to. Two other couples and a single teacher from school came along, and we had a really good, rather expensive time. Next date will probably be for fast food or something.
I've been recording myself reading the Book of Mormon aloud as Elder Scott or maybe Elder Nelson said he did in the last General Conference, as a gift to my kids and grandkids. I'm up to Alma Chapter 8 now. It takes a lot longer to read aloud than in my head!
One of the Nigerian investigators who has been attending our church since about April has gotten permission to be baptized, which is a wonderful thing to be a part of, especially here in the Middle East.
We saw these guys trucking along at about 30 mph in this vehicle as we approached a busy intersection at 7:45 PM last night. I don't even feel safe driving in our car, let alone a suped up Power Wheels Jeep!
Big E starts school tomorrow. He seems a little nervous, but he doesn't really express emotion about upcoming events in general, so it's hard to tell. It's weird to think of him going off to school already. I hope he likes it and makes some more friends who are boys. Seriously, until the new family moved in next door with 4-year-old twin boys, girls were practically all he ever played with.
Miss A has had some trouble adjusting to the jet lag. She fell asleep in nursery yesterday, for example, around 11:30, not her regular nap time. Right now, Big E and Miss A are having a playful shouting match at the table, seeing who can shout "Noooooo!" the loudest while they eat their lunches.
We had a student expelled from school at the very end of school last year because he brought a knife and stabbed another kid "accidentally" in the arm with it. I believe his story, and he's a nice kid, so I called him up to see how he's doing, and we ended up going to dinner with one of his cousins and one of the new teachers. He took us to a restaurant called Afghan Brothers, where we all sat barefooted on cushions on the floor and ate mutton and chicken and rice with our hands from a common platter. That was a fun cultural experience! I plan on taking Rachel and the kids there some time soon. Then we had our high school staff retreat to build camaraderie and plan for the year at our assistant principal's house. He's Qatari and quite well off, so his house was beautiful. We asked a student to bring his pet falcons for our new staff to pose with. The student is the son of the prime minister. But the student didn't come, so the assistant principal called his dad. His dad said, "That's not okay, he should have come. I'll just send his older brother." So we got the falcons after all, with the help of the prime minister!
From the time Rachel got home last week until Thursday evening, she hadn't gone any further from our house than Big E's school, which is right by where I work, and not really very far away at all. So I took her out Thursday to an Indian food place at the Pearl, which is a man-made series of bays along a manmade peninsula, lined with yachts in the water, shops that people with yachts shop at all along the piers, and big towers of empty apartments where the rich people were supposed to live, but apparently decided not to. Two other couples and a single teacher from school came along, and we had a really good, rather expensive time. Next date will probably be for fast food or something.
I've been recording myself reading the Book of Mormon aloud as Elder Scott or maybe Elder Nelson said he did in the last General Conference, as a gift to my kids and grandkids. I'm up to Alma Chapter 8 now. It takes a lot longer to read aloud than in my head!
One of the Nigerian investigators who has been attending our church since about April has gotten permission to be baptized, which is a wonderful thing to be a part of, especially here in the Middle East.
We saw these guys trucking along at about 30 mph in this vehicle as we approached a busy intersection at 7:45 PM last night. I don't even feel safe driving in our car, let alone a suped up Power Wheels Jeep!
