Almost Famous

While I have decided to go into a career of teaching, my brothers have decided to move in more exciting directions.  Both of my brothers are involved in media studies.  David is taking courses at Full Sail university in Orlando, FL and Stephen is studying worship arts (after getting a degree in sound engineering) at Visible College in Memphis, TN.

So every once in a while, when they have posted work that they have done, I'm going to post it here - because what they're doing is kind of cool.  There are probably a few projects of theirs that I could post, but here are their most recent ones.

David:  Assignment for Lighting 2




Stephen: An arrangement of Cold Play's "Clocks" 

How Much Would You Pay for a Cuddle?

After reading the title of my last post, a few people mentioned to me that they thought I was going to talk about how I could sell cuddle time with our daughter.  That wasn't the point of that post, but it IS the point of THIS post.

So - if we were to sell culddle time with our daughter, what would be the going rate? 

Leave a comment below (on fb or on this blog).  If the demand is high enough, we might start charging.  Profits would be put towards a college fund.  After expenses have been taken out, of course.  Babies aren't free!  

Giving Away The Baby

People think Eva is cute.  I mean, she IS cute, so I'm not all that surprised when we get lots of smiles from strangers. We get the most smiles at the mall.  When we go to the mall, Alison sets me down at a coffee shop with Eva.  I read, Eva coos in her stroller and Alison walks around and does window shopping.  After a while, Eva gets bored and I need to take her out of the seat.  Or I want to hold her and I need to take her out of the stroller (no one is ever sure which it is) and we play a little bit.  That gets the most smiles. 

On Friday after church, we headed over to a used book sale - a charity event for one of the churches (used book sales are our Achilles heel).  As we browsed through the books, one of the women came over and asked if she could help - by holding Eva for me.  I was just find holding her myself, but I know that she's just so darn irresistible.  So some random woman took her, and pretty soon all the other women (all of them Indian) were standing around cooing. 

This type of thing is not uncommon here.  Some friends of ours who have small children have had similar experiences.  Once, while sitting at a restaurant with their infant, a random Bahraini woman came up and complimented them on their child and proceeded to pick up the child and walk away.  Not far - across the restaurant to her family.  After a little bit, their kid was brought back.  

That hasn't happened to us yet - but I fully expect it to.  Eva only gets cuter as time goes on. 

He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Easter in Bahrain

Its Easter weekend in Bahrain, and as a friend informed me, one of the first times in a long time that the western celebration of Easter and the eastern orthodox celebration of Easter fall on the same weekend.  So what does Easter look like here?

Good Friday - the day of Jesus' death - is our normal church day.  Our church, Saar Fellowship, had its regular service on Friday morning.  It was a normal, solemn Good Friday service, with the exception of communion. 

Usually, communion (bread and wine - the symbol of Jesus' broken body and blood shed for us) is handed out on communion plates by ushers.  Instead, they passed out nails.  In the center of the auditorium was a cross about 4 feet high.  As individuals chose (we weren't dismissed by rows or anything), people went to the cross and hammered their nail into the cross - a symbol that WE, through our sin and shameful behavior, made it necessary for Christ to die for our sin and shame. After hammering the nail, people could go to either side to take communion. The congregation sang one more song

Today, Sunday, is a work day for everyone.  Most people do not take the day off, but churches here are prepared to accommodate!  A conglomeration of churches holds a sunrise service for people to attend before work.  This year, Alison and I met some people in our small group met an apartment at 6am - read the story of how Jesus rose from the dead, claiming victory over our sin and punishment, and then shared a meal together.  Some people went off to work in the morning, while others (including myself) have the day off. 

Later in the day, we went to some friends' house for an Easter celebration!  There were almost 30 kids there, so they gathered them around and told the Easter using different pieces.  We all shared a meal together and then the kids went out back for an Easter egg hunt.  Eva even participated by doing a little hunt herself!  (Of course, eggs are not part of the Resurrection story and Jesus.  I'm not really sure how they got in there, but its what we do, and its a good time, anyway!)

"Look! I found an egg!"

From Evangeline

"I gotta carry it home, and find out what's inside."

From Evangeline

"Hmm... kind of empty.  Need to find some more."

From Evangeline

"Look how many I found!  I need to get some more!"

From Evangeline

"Gotta eat the candy before my daddy does!"

From Evangeline