Here are a few pictures of our Christmas together this year! It was a busy last few days as Christmas fell on a Friday, which is also church for us. We had a good time spending Christmas with friends - it was very nice! Enjoy!
Dec 25, 2009
Dec 23, 2009
Look what the cat dragged in. No. Really - Look.
Outside our apartment door, in the hallway between our flat and our neighbors flat, there has been a cat that has been living between the cardboard boxes that store some of our and our neighbor's items (we don't have closets, attics or basements). This cat has established herself there and we see her often when we are coming or going. Once we saw her fighting off another cat from taking over her territory. She even had two kittens (who have since moved out) a few months ago, right on top of one of Alison's plants. We call her, affectionately, mama cat.
Well, apparently she has been very appreciative of our hospitality, and today I came home from work to find this RIGHT in front of the door.
If you look closely at the bottom left of the photo, you can see the bulk of the carcass. Yes, mama cat, thank you for the gift. Actually, I'm quite impressed at how evenly the feathers are spread out. When I tried to sweep the feathers away with an old newspaper, they went everywhere.
So what's the moral of the story? Alison and I aren't sure... what do you think?
Well, apparently she has been very appreciative of our hospitality, and today I came home from work to find this RIGHT in front of the door.
If you look closely at the bottom left of the photo, you can see the bulk of the carcass. Yes, mama cat, thank you for the gift. Actually, I'm quite impressed at how evenly the feathers are spread out. When I tried to sweep the feathers away with an old newspaper, they went everywhere.
So what's the moral of the story? Alison and I aren't sure... what do you think?
Dec 21, 2009
The Window Has Arrived: Good Thing We Have Good Friends
It is important to note that yesterday (Monday, Dec 20th) began "the window". The Window is the space in time that the baby COULD come, which is up to 3 weeks before the due date and 2 weeks after. Most women have their first baby AFTER the due date, so we aren't on our way to the hospital just yet, but we ARE ready to bolt when the time comes.
Alison and I have been very appreciative of the community we have here in Bahrain through our church, Saar Fellowship. We have been particularly thankful for that the last few days as some friends have offered their support in very specific ways.
On Saturday, we went to some friends' house for lunch. They have three children of their own, and the wife has observed and/or been a part of quite a few births here in Bahrain. It was great to hear their stories, hear what was useful and what wasn't, things we can expect from the hospital here in Bahrain and just be encouraged. She even offered for us to call her whenever we wanted to, particularly when the baby starts to make its way out! She was very gracious - and we forewarned her that we will probably take her up on that offer, and it will probably be at 3am. While I felt very calm about the whole thing, the fact that we were talking about all these things over some salmon and squash helped. I dare say we will be a little less calm once the baby actually comes!
In general, we have been very blessed with the examples we have around us of good, Godly parents. We have friends who have children in all sorts of stages of life from newborns up to early teens that provide us examples of what we might want our family to look like in 2 years, 5 years or even 13 years. Even though we are far away from family, we are surrounded by people who will be able to help guide us through the maze of parenting.
However, we also were also given a night away by some OTHER friends! We stayed the night at a five star hotel and had a wonderful evening together. Here are some of the highlights.
Alison and I have been very appreciative of the community we have here in Bahrain through our church, Saar Fellowship. We have been particularly thankful for that the last few days as some friends have offered their support in very specific ways.
On Saturday, we went to some friends' house for lunch. They have three children of their own, and the wife has observed and/or been a part of quite a few births here in Bahrain. It was great to hear their stories, hear what was useful and what wasn't, things we can expect from the hospital here in Bahrain and just be encouraged. She even offered for us to call her whenever we wanted to, particularly when the baby starts to make its way out! She was very gracious - and we forewarned her that we will probably take her up on that offer, and it will probably be at 3am. While I felt very calm about the whole thing, the fact that we were talking about all these things over some salmon and squash helped. I dare say we will be a little less calm once the baby actually comes!
In general, we have been very blessed with the examples we have around us of good, Godly parents. We have friends who have children in all sorts of stages of life from newborns up to early teens that provide us examples of what we might want our family to look like in 2 years, 5 years or even 13 years. Even though we are far away from family, we are surrounded by people who will be able to help guide us through the maze of parenting.
However, we also were also given a night away by some OTHER friends! We stayed the night at a five star hotel and had a wonderful evening together. Here are some of the highlights.
- Fantastic steak dinner at the island's best kept secret: Jim's Restaurant (secret from us, anyway). If you have a coupon for buy one get one free, it is totally worth it.
- cable TV! We don't get any channels on our tv, so it was nice to watch The John Stewart Show, The Colbert Report, and The Office
- I was able to watch little NFL football, live (the game was REALLY good, too)
- A nice gym on site to do a little pre-dinner exercise. A woman even came in to check out Alison. I think she wasn't convinced Alison should be allowed to exercise while pregnant.
Dec 9, 2009
Exploring Bahrain, Ep 2
I am starting a new series of posts that will be called "Exploring Bahrain". Alison and I have recently taken to finding a place in Bahrain that we've never been before, and just driving there. If you're wondering where Episode 1 is, you can find it here, where I posted about two funny signs we saw as we were driving to the edge of the island. There were other interesting things we saw, but I'll leave it at that.
Next, we headed south on the main island, on the road that was furthest west. I had chosen this because I saw huge swaths of green - which is rare enough to go on the hunt for. A brief glance at Google Earth made me thing they were farms (which aren't as uncommon as you'd think). However, as we drove down the road, we found that they were more large residences.
At one of the places we stopped, we found grass like this. Very weird - but always a great to see real, green grass.
Lastly, one of my favorite. I want you to notice three things about this. 1) There are no cars. 2) there is a side walk. 3) The trees are green and hanging over BOTH sides of the road!
You would think that on an island as small as Bahrain there wouldn't be much to explore. However, I'm starting to realize that there are plenty of nooks and crannys with all sorts of interesting things. As you read, there will be links to "google maps" that will show you where we went (or attempted to go).
This time, I used Google Earth to identify some places that might be interesting to drive through - and I found no shortage of VERY interesting places!
The first were two islands just off the western coast of the main island. However, once we got on the highway, we found out that the exits were staffed with armed guards and "do not enter" signs. I imagine that they are residences for the Royal Family. However, we did have a nice lunch at the Causeway, half way between Saudi and Bahrain. Here is as close as we could get. If you look closely, you can see a bit of land rising up off the water.
Next, we headed south on the main island, on the road that was furthest west. I had chosen this because I saw huge swaths of green - which is rare enough to go on the hunt for. A brief glance at Google Earth made me thing they were farms (which aren't as uncommon as you'd think). However, as we drove down the road, we found that they were more large residences.
At one of the places we stopped, we found grass like this. Very weird - but always a great to see real, green grass.
Another place had what almost looked like meadows.
Lastly, one of my favorite. I want you to notice three things about this. 1) There are no cars. 2) there is a side walk. 3) The trees are green and hanging over BOTH sides of the road!
Dec 5, 2009
"Didn't Cry at All" "Easy as Pie"
I am happy to report that our crash-course in parenting was more coursing than crashing. We played with the two children for a while - sophia was particularly enthused by my innovation of pretending to eat the play-food after she had pretended to cook it. And best of all - everyone was down and in bed by nine. No tears. No coming back out. It really was fantastic.
The question is whether this is good or bad. Its good in the sense that it relieves some of the nervousness of parenting. It may be bad as it gives us a distorted view of what parenting can be like at times. Here are a few pieces of the conversation:
The question is whether this is good or bad. Its good in the sense that it relieves some of the nervousness of parenting. It may be bad as it gives us a distorted view of what parenting can be like at times. Here are a few pieces of the conversation:
My dad: Is this a testament to your budding parenthood or for the hard work, day to day, toil of the children's parents. HMMMMMM!:)You will notice that there is a new tag on the blog below: Parenting. I'm sure this will be the first of many.
Alison: There's really no way to objectively find an answer you question... so i'll just assume we're budding into magical parents.
Dec 3, 2009
Crash-Course in Parenting
Alison and I are getting a crash-course in parenting tonight, though there will probably be more crashing than coursing. Some friends of ours are going out on the town and we are watching their toddler and infant. The last time I was with them, I had the toddlers hair piece and put it in my beard. Tears and trauma were the result. Not off to a great start, then. Once the night is over, maybe I'll post how the night went, probably with editorials along the lines of "went to bed at 7" and "didn't cry at all" and "easy as pie". I will take pictures as proof.
