Happy Birthday Alison!

Today, June 25th (which also happens to be the half birthday of Jesus) is Alison's birthday!  She turns 28 today, and in honor of that, here are 28 reasons I love Alison:

1. She keeps me honest and doesn't let me get away with mischief (most recently during a settlers match). 
2. She is smart. 
3. She reads books and has great opinions about them. 
4. She has introduced me to Harriet Beecher Stowe (as much as I bemoan having to read the books, I secretly do like them). 
5. She is patient with our son Gabe who seems to be crying more and more these days. 
6. She tirelessly takes care of two children. 
7. She has a kind and tender heart towards those in need. 
8. She loves Jesus and wants to follow Him with all her heart. 
9. Her knowledge of scripture is impressive.  
10. She makes AMAZING cakes for my birthdays!
11. She watches science fiction shows with me (LOST, Battle Star Galactica, Fringe) 
12. She strives to be the best mother she can be with Gabe and Eva - even though Eva is being more and more trying these days.
13. She loves to learn - and is taking great care to make the most of her masters classes (despite having an energetic little girl and being pregnant during the last semester). 
14. She picks out all of my clothes and makes me look good. 
15. She makes me look good simply by standing next to me. 
16. She loves to eat healthy and makes sure our children do.  She makes sure I do, too, but sometimes I sneak a little KFC. 
17. She is patient with me, especially on my not-so-good days. 
18. She's willing to talk about economics and politics with me, even though I don't think she always wants to. 
19. She loves the Law of the Lord.  Literally - she loves Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  In fact, she seeks out sermons on those books of the Bible and listens to them. 
20. She loves me unconditionally. 
21. She agreed to marry me. 
22. She challenges me, even when I don't want to be challenged. 
23. She is beautiful!
24. She laughs at all of my jokes, even when she says they're not funny. 
25. She is willing to learn my favorite recipes that my mom made growing up - specifically the candy cane cookies. 
26. She likes adventures (of which we would have more if we hadn't created our own little adventures!). 
27. She manages our household wisely. 
28. She gives wise counsel and is my confidant.

Happy Birthday Alison!  Gabe, Eva and I love you!

Rock Star Teacher

Alison is working on her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction through Michigan State, and some of her assignments require her to complete projects in class.  Since she's not actually teaching at the moment, she used my class as her "lab" for her research project.  And because our classes our short, I told the students before hand that she was coming, that I expected their best behavior, etc. to cut down on the confusion and chaos and have more time for instruction.

I was surprised at how excited they were! Part of it is probably because I always use Alison and Eva as examples in class, so they hear about them a lot.  Alison was actually supposed to come a couple weeks ago, but because of the unrest, we had to reschedule a couple of times.  They were always disappointed.  

I had this conversation a couple of times with students:

Student:  Is Eva coming?
Me:  No.  Everyone would be too distracted.
Student:  Are you staying at home with her?
Me:  No, I'll be here at school.
Student: So where will Eva be?
Me.  Well... at home.
Student:  Alone!?!?!
Me.  Yeah.  If Mrs. Alison and I are both here, who else would be with her?
Student:  

Sometimes I came clean and sometimes I didn't. 

So today was the big day.  Alison didn't come to school right away, so when one girl came to my class before school even started, she panicked and asked, "Where is Ms. Alison!?!" I had to reassure her that she was coming a little later, but would be here for her math period.  She signed a sigh of relief.

Alison came, taught, and left.  The kids enjoyed it, or at least they pretended to for our sakes.  Alison also got to connect with the people she knows from working at Al Raja previously. Even some former students came to say hi.  Tomorrow the kids will have a test, and then it's back to the grind with their normal, boring teacher.  Well, as I tell my students, "whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger". 

Relfections in Psalm 91

(A guest post from Alison - who I wish would write more guests posts and become a regular poster).

Psalm 91

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
   will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
   my God, in whom I trust.”

 ³ Surely he will save you
   from the fowler’s snare
   and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
   nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
   nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
   ten thousand at your right hand,
   but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
   and see the punishment of the wicked.
 ⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
   and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
   no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
 ¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
   I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
   I will be with him in trouble,
   I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
   and show him my salvation.”

This week has been filled with a lot of uncertainty in Bahrain.  Earlier, Josh and I sat down together to pray for the village behind our flat and afterwards we read this Psalm together.  This psalm has been meaningful me in many different situations and stages of life, and no less today. 

On days when terrors by night and arrows by day seem a little closer to home than usual, what a comfort to know that God is still absolute monarch over all the happenings of people.  I don’t interpret this psalm to mean that God will always spare me from every discomfort, disease, or even death.  But I do find refuge in the fact that God sees all the perils that come near me, and that no stone is allowed to dash against my foot but that an impenetrable God has allowed it to according to His good will. 

I am also reminded in this psalm of the Jesus, the great King who rules with all authority and power over kings of this world.  How his deliverance from the destruction of sin is complete and unending for those who make him their refuge.  I’m grateful in knowing that by calling on his name, he satisfies me with eternal life and shows me his salvation. 

Update on Tiny-Tiny

We've decided to give the nickname of our second child Tiny Tiny (Eva's womb nick-name was Round 2).  We have lots of nicknames for Eva that we toss around.  Chunkus is probably the most common one, but Tiny (or little tiny or baby tiny or ____ tiny) is another common one.  However, Eva is not the tiniest any more.  This has become even more apparent as more babies are being born at church and she now looks enormous, particularly compared to our friends Ross and Emily's newborn, Laila.  So we have now nicknamed the second one Tiny Tiny.  

Other than that, there really isn't a whole lot to say.  As you can see on the counter just to the right, Alison is about 23 weeks along (you'll need to go to the blog to see the pregnancy widget).  To be honest, I haven't kept that close attention.  Or at least not like I did with Eva.  With Eva, I followed the week-by-week part vigorously.  I was up-to-date with the development and how things were moving along.  I usually knew how many weeks and often how many days Alison was along in the pregnancy.  Not any more.  I (and Alison as well!) have to check my blog to see how far along Alison is.

In a couple weeks, we have big scan of some sort.  I think its the one that COULD be 3D if you're willing to pay for it.  We, however, are quite happy with a few extra dinars and a 2D picture of our child.  I'll post that picture when we get it.

And now the update from the Baby Center:

• At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, 
• your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums.  His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. 
• If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. 
• Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

Mafia III - Today Is Not Now

A long time ago (when I was in college), in a  land far, far away (the great state of Wisconsin), my brothers and I filmed a movie on the fly and called it Mafia.  The idea came to us while David and I were taping a friend's wedding, and one of the groomsmen fainted.  The premise was that the mafia had tried to assassinate him, and the agents were going after the mafia.  In Houston, we filmed the second installment.  But if you have a second, you must have a third.  And so, while in Aledo, IL this summer, my brothers and I filmed the third and final in the Mafia Trilogy.

To give some clarity, Stephen, David and I each play one good character, and one bad character.  In retrospect, we should have dressed in particular colors throughout to indicate which character you were looking at, but the biggest key is the dirty, slicked back hair and bad accents.

After you've watched the movies, you'll be able to score yourself on the Mafia experience.  The higher the score, the more fully you experienced the movie.  Enjoy!

Part I

Part II

Score Sheet: (format blatantly stolen from the fantastic blog "Stuff Christians Like").

-You know which Alison is more embarrassed of after having watched the film this morning:  seeing herself in Mafia III, or seeing me in Mafia III.  +2 points
-You can successfully determine which punch actually landed on David's face. +3 points
-You are able to tell which building was edited in with CGI. +5 points
-You think you know which country Bruno's (David's evil character) accent is from. +4 points
-You said to yourself "David has an accent?" after reading the previous item.  -2 points (-4 for David)
-You are able to successfully follow the storyline.  +2 points
-Without asking anyone who was involved in the production.  +3 points
-On the first viewing. +10 points
-You asked for all the outtakes of Eva.  +1 point (and you get the honorary Grandmother Award).
-You asked for all the outtakes of the rest of us.  +2 points
-After reading the previous, you said, "They're all such professionals that there's no way there could be outtakes!" +3 points (+10 for the encouragement, -7 for lying).
-You think I'm a bad parent after watching this movie.  -1 point.
-You think that Eva is super cute.  +3 points
-You think I'm a good actor.  +8 points
-You can accurately determine where each scene is filmed.  +2 points for each correct scene.
-You can understand Jaque's (Stephen) mispronunciation of various words.  +3 points
-You finished watching both videos.  +7 points
-You watched the movie again.  +10 points (+12 for each subsequent viewing)
-You reposted these videos on your own blog/facebook.  +5 points
-You invite all your friends over for a viewing party.  +15 points

What's your score?  Are there any other scorecard items I should have used?

What We've Been Doing

A lot has been written on this blog in the last couple of weeks, but not a lot has been written about Eva.  Which is the reason people even come to this blog in the first place.  So here are some pictures of three random things we've done over the last couple of weeks.

1.  Animal Exhibition:  The king (or someone in the government) sponsored an animal exhibition.  It was kind of like a petting zoo that had a child with Goliath.  It was huge, fun, but you always wondered if it wasn't a little dangerous.  They had lots of animals - cows, horses, different kinds of dogs, birds, goats, sheep, and falcons.  Yes, falcons.  For petting.  Thus the danger part.

That, my friends, is a live falcon that Eva is petting.

Lots of birds.  This one even perched on Eva's arm, though Eva didn't know what to think about that. 

Petting a horse.  Just precious. 

2.  Christmas Tree:  After Thanksgiving, we had some friends over and we decorated the Christmas tree.  The girl was 3 or 4, and I didn't speak any of the languages she spoke:  Russian, Pashtun (language of the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan) and Arabic.  But as a four year old, I know enough Arabic to have a conversation with her.

You'll notice that the bottom portion of the tree doesn't have many decorations.  Which of the options below best explains this phenomenon?

• A) Alison kept the decorations high so Eva couldn't get to them. 
• B) Eva already got to the decorations and has de-christmased our tree already.  
• C) I decorated the tree starting at the top, ran out of decorations, but just decided to leave it. 

3.  Off-Roading:  I went to the desert with some friends and putzed around the desert.  Its always a good time, and I usually break something on the jeep.  I didn't break anything this time, but realized that the 4 wheel drive was broken from the last time we went out.  Will have to get that fixed.

I'm not actually in the car.  But it looks cool anyway. 

One in our party was stuck.  About 10 Bahrainis descended upon him to help out. 

What I LOVE about Arab Culture

(Alison has written a guest post! In fact, she may become a regular author. Keep your eyes peeled!)

On Sunday, two days before the official Eid holidays, we decided to do some errands during the day (Since Josh is a teacher, he gets this whole week off. Normally he would work Sun – Thurs). However, since it's still a business day, governmental government offices are open and we decided to try to get some tasks done that normally get put, such as getting our car registered and insurance paid, and getting mine and Eva’s visa worked out.

Both the visa place and the insurance place are next to each other, so Josh dropped Eva and I off to get our residence permits worked out, while he took care of the car. I enter the LMRA (Labor Market Regulatory Authority) which is always filled with tons of people – mostly laborers. The place where I have to take a number just to wait is already a line 10 deep. Often when I go to these government establishments, there is usually a line for women only. But I’m never quite sure where it is (I think women actually just walk right to the front) so I tend to hold back and hope that I get called forward. And I do – almost every time. (At the Dubai Airport I have NEVER waited in an immigration line more than 5 minutes with Eva – no matter how busy - before an Emirati official comes and ushers me to the front).

And sure enough, the guy working the counter asks several men to move out of the way so that I could come forward and then he smiles and coos at Eva and pleasantly hands me my number. I make my way up to the waiting area, where I expect around a 30-40 minute wait (there were probably 40 people or so waiting in the same room. As I find a chair, I notice my number has already been called. I go to the desk and Eva & I get our visa’s sorted quickly and then we leave. All the while having kind Arab men volunteer to help me get my stroller up and down the stairs of the building.

I love the fact that Arabs rarely let women wait in line. And if you are a women with a baby – it’s almost as if they are apologetic that they didn’t get the thing you came to do done before you got there. It’s fantastic. And this is not just true about older grandfatherly Arab men who are preferential to women and babies. Single guys in their twenties will coo over Eva and ask to hold her. It was a little bit of a shock to me at first – as that kind of behavior isn’t exactly the norm in the US.

Random Updates

There's not been a whole lot of interesting things happening around here, but its been a while since I've blogged, so I thought I'd put some updates on here of random things:

1.  Elections happened in Bahrain a couple weekends ago.  Unfortunately, we spent the weekend in Dubai and so I wasn't here to see everything.  But not a problem, there will be more elections.  So what were the results?  Well, the main opposition party - Wafaq - won all of the seats they contested (18 seats) which leaves them the largest bloc in the 40 seat parliament.   To be honest, I haven't worked out what the other parties are.

Interested in reading more about Bahrain's elections?  Here is a link to a search on Google News for stories on the election in Bahrain.

Another interesting fact:  non-Bahraini's can vote if they own land.  More specifically, they can vote in the municipal elections (equivalent of a mayor or city council).  It makes sense, since those are the positions that will make policies that affect them.

2.  How could there be an update without talking about Eva?  Answer:  there couldn't.  If you saw Eva this summer, you saw her scoot-scooting around.  She's gotten even better at crawling and is now pretty quick.  Quick enough to get into the things she knows she's not supposed to before we see her.  We've removed anything that she can hurt herself with, but she can still get to bookshelves and dvds and the TV.  Its apparent that she knows what "no, eva" means.  Its even more apparent that she is quite capable of disobeying mom and dad.  So we are all learning - Alison and I are learning about disciplining a child in love, and Eva is learning to obey mommy and daddy.  Albeit slower than we would prefer.

And yes, that's right.  I talked about Eva without actually showing a picture of her.

3.  Education.  I don't know if I've ever said this on here, but Alison is going to finish her Masters in Education starting in January!  She has already figured out her schedule for the next year and a half, and she will soon be steeped in articles and books and writing papers.  The good news about all this is that I get to participate in the festivities.  Whatever articles she gets, I will also get to read.  Its hard to say who's more excited about all this - her or me.  This means we are officially nerds.

That's all for now.  In the future, look forward to some posts on Eid, Thanksgiving and possibly a slew of book reviews.

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday, Alison and I celebrated our two year anniversary!  Its been a wonderful two years of being together and growing our family.  Sometimes 2 years seems like a long time, but then someone told me yesterday that they had been married 49 years.  Now that's some perspective. 

We're in Aledo, IL - a small town of about 3700.  We went to go to the nicest restaurant in town, and it was closed.  At 6:30 on a Monday night.  And so were most of the other restaurants!  However, we did find something, walked around Aledo for a little bit and got some ice cream.  Very fun evening. 

Here's the most recent picture of us.  David took this picture yesterday while taking family pictures.

A (Persian) Bahraini Wedding: Part 1 (Men and Women Separate)

Last Thursday, Alison and I had the opportunity to go to the wedding of one of the brother of a former student.   We have been to weddings before, but never a PERSIAN Bahraini wedding. Essentially, the wedding is broken into two parts:  men and women separate, then everyone comes together.

Cultural Side Note:  Bahrain is not homogeneously Arab.  Rather, there are people of Gulf Arab descent, people of Persian descent, and then people who are ORIGINAL Bahrainis (locally known as bah-RAH-ni).  Of course, as time goes on the three cultures continue to mix, but it’s not uncommon for Bahrainis to identify with one of those three groups.

This particular wedding started at 8pm, which means that to be on time, one must arrive no earlier than 9pm.  Alison, and our friend Melissa, went together in elegant dresses, but covered in black abayas (without a hijab - the head covering), and arrived at a very fashionable and comfortable 9:30 pm.  I'll let Alison talk about what she experienced here:

The hall was decorated beautifully, similar to any other night reception in the US with decorated round tables and a center dance floor.  The place was filled with blaring Arabic/Persian/Indian(?) music.  And I mean blaring.  It really made it difficult to converse with the person sitting next to you at the table, forget about the person across the table. 

This left only one occupation for the night, people watching.  And this was THE BEST place to watch people.  We all had arrived in abayas, but as soon as we were in the privacy of the hall (away from men), the abayas came off.  And the women were extravagant.  More women than not had attended a salon that day to get their hair and makeup done.  I admit I like going to Arab events, because the makeup is so ornately done.

The dresses were also fantastic.  When I first went to the malls in Bahrain, I would wonder at the abundance of  scandalous and expensive couture dress stores, when it seemed like all I ever saw women wear were abayas.  It’s at the weddings they get DECKED OUT.  This still kind of confused me as to why women would spend (I’m estimating) and average of $200-400 for make-up, hair and dress on an event that no man will see her in. 

I learned however, that weddings are often the places that mothers and sisters will pick out a girl for their respective sons and brothers.  So oftentimes single girls go, knowing that someone might be looking to pick out their future daughter-in-law!

After about 2 hours of time with the ladies, the bride finally comes in.  I have never been to a wedding in the states where a bride is as adorned as at an Arabic wedding.  Her eyelashes were AT LEAST a half an inch long, and I have never knew hair could get that big.  In talking with friends, a bride will typically stay 8-9 hours at a salon getting done up, and the salon packages start at $250.  Just for an evening!  One time I showed some Arab friends my wedding pictures, and they wondered why I didn’t have any make-up on (which I did).  I think it was the equivalent for them of showing up for a wedding with jeans and a t-shirt.

This bridal display only lasts about 15 minutes, before all of that lovely hair, and the top of her dress is covered gently in a white wedding-style abaya and hijab by the girl's family.  This cues everyone else in the room to cover as well.  Then the men are allowed to come in.  It was then that I realized that a wedding is really about the women.  There were probably a total of 300 people there, and maybe 50 of them were men.

As for me - I was at home with Eva.  There was a small gathering for the men, but it was mostly close family.   At about 10:30pm, Alison came home - covered in her black abaya - to feed Eva.  With that finished, we drank a little bit of coffee and headed back to the wedding (leaving Eva with a sitter of course).

In a few days, I'll post the next bit of our wedding experience!

The Games We Play

Eva is growing up so fast.  Already she's moved from being a fragile newborn to a chunky-ing infant that feels solid in my hands.  One of the things that Alison and I think regularly is that we like her in this stage.  But, then again, we liked her in the new-born stage (minus the bed-time struggles).  A few different people have told me this week that each stage brings its own challenges.  The other day, we were walking at one of the cornices and so we stopped and Eva had her first park play time (unfortunately, all those pictures are on my phone). 

However, she is getting old enough to play with!  We play so many games with her, and I've decided that some other people might even find it interesting.

• Push: basically, while most of Eva's weight is supported by Alison or I, she likes to push up with her legs.  Often, she is leaning on my shoulder looking behind me while I hold her legs
• Perch:  she will basically lay on my shoulder - her stomach on my shoulder - looking out behind me.  Sometimes I'll walk around the apartment while doing things and she'll just sit on my shoulder, on top of the world.
• Diaper Change:  there are few places where she smiles as much as on the changing table.  This means she spends a little extra time before and after the changing process getting and giving smiles. 
• Punch Millie the Moose:  we have a play mat on the floor with a stuffed moose that hangs within punching distance.  Now that she is gaining more control over her appendages, she has started hitting at Millie.  As she does, she makes cooing and laughing noises. 
• Sit on daddy's chest while he's laying down and smile at him while he blows on her face: that one's pretty self explanatory (Alison would like me to clarify that she does this with mommy, too)
• Dancing to TobyMac and Gritz:  She sits on mommy's lap while mommy moves her arms about.  And sometimes when the music is still playing but Alison has stopped moving her, she'll still wiggle and squirm! (I prefer the chicken dance myself)
• Fight the Man:  We have a fantastic swing that Alison's mom bought us - battery powered swing that goes as long as its switched on.  She doesn't play as much as give an intense look letting us know that she's onto our tricks and that she refuses to fall asleep.  She usually looses that game. 
• Grabbing:  We've started putting small toys into her hands for her to grab onto and hold.  She seems to wiggle more when she's got something in her hands (game courtesy of Brenda L).
• Mirror:  when Eva's on her floor mat, Alison will lay with her head next to Eva's and then put a mirror above them to look at.  Eva loves this game.  She starts 'talking' and cooing at the pretty girl in the mirror, and then will stick her tongue out in response to Alison doing the same.  

Mirror is one of the best games, so I've decided to include a video of it here.  I don't think she sticks her tongue out, but she does the smiling bit pretty good!

Oh - I also realized that I had already uploaded a video of Eva playing "Fight the Man".  This is just after the swing was bought.






And just because I can, my new favorite picture of my daughter and I:  "I love daddy!" 

Debt Free!!

When I graduated from Northwestern over 3 1/2 years ago, I had about $36,000 of debt from school loans.  That's a lot of money.  However, I have just made the final call to Wells Fargo to have paid off my entire school debt!! It feels really good to be able to say that I do not owe any money anywhere.  We are fortunate in that act.

And as of February 25, 2010 - we are debt free!!

I had initially tried to pay off my loans online, but for some reason Wells Fargo won't allow you to pay off the loan completely.  So I paid off everything except for $1.20.  Then I had to call Wells Fargo (on Skype, of course), and the nice lady said that Wells Fargo would write off the last $1.20 - I wouldn't even have to pay that off myself.  Very magnanimous of them. 

Some people feel a heavy weight lifted off of them when loans are paid off.  I'm not sure I feel a heavy weight lifted off.  But I do feel a lot richer.  I'm not - but I feel as if I now have all this money that can be spent on things like e-readers and exotic vacations.  I'm sure it'll wear off eventually.

But instead of spending lots of money on frivolous things, we will probably start putting some of that money into a college savings fund for Eva.  I mean, might as well start saving now.  Its either pay now or pay later!

Grandma & Grandpa Perkins and the Problem of Baby-Crack

My parents flew out from Houston last week to be with us.  Ok, who am I kidding.  They came out to be with Eva.  In fact, the only reason we are any good to them now is our precious commodity of grandchildren.  But really, who can resist Eva's cute little face!?

It has been great having my parents here.  They've gotten to see some of the sites of Bahrain and meet some of our friends.  And it has been wonderful to have them here to help out.  They came at the opportune time, in fact, to help with the upbringing of their granddaughter.

You see, Alison and I had made the mistake of giving Eva baby-crack, or more commonly known: a pacifier.  Last week she was having trouble getting to sleep, and so we discovered this new toy that would calm her and send her to sleep - until it fell out of her mouth.  I was surprised at how quickly she 'needed' it in order to get to sleep or calm herself!  I don't know if other baby's are/were like this, but it turned into an ordeal. By the time my parents got here, it was obvious to Alison and I that Eva's addiction needed to be dealt with.  Unfortunately for Eva, we decided she would go cold turkey.

Oh. My. Goodness.

She cried and cried and cried.  And it wasn't just normal crying.  It was WAILING.  And even wailing doesn't seem to do justice to the noises coming from her little body.  If it hadn't been for my parents being here encouraging us (and helping to rock her to sleep!) we probably would have given the baby-crack back to her.  Partially because we felt horrible to hear her cry and partially because our nerves had a hard time taking all of it!

But she's doing better and better every night.  The last two nights she did pretty well and went down without too much trouble.  Grandma & Grandpa to save the day! In honor of that, here are some more pictures of Grandma and Grandpa with their granddaughter.

Cuddling with Grandma!

 

Intrigued by Grandpa's bright shirt.

"Who are you..." "I'm your Grandma!"

"Um... I think she needs a diaper change!"

Pictures! World, meet Evangeline Marie.

I want to start at the beginning.  Here - it was supposed to be my first video blog (or vlog).




Well, the walk must have worked because Evangeline was out in just over 24 hours!  It must have been the walking (and then the Caribou Coffee afterwards).  We also had the help of a friend who was able to come with us to the hospital and be with Alison and I through the whole birth process.  She was great as she was able to do all the things that Alison and I couldn't, or things that we hadn't even thought about.  Such as order us a pizza after we were back in the room.  Her husband and daughter came later to see Evangeline and be our very first visitors.

As previously mentioned, Evangeline is 3.75 kgs and 52 cm when she was born.  She is very healthy and there were no problems.  Alison is also really health.  Both were doing so well that we went home the next day (to the disapproving looks of the nursing staff - but it was either stare at the wall in a hospital room or stare at the wall in our own home).  However, friends at the hospital made our stay very very pleasant as a steady (but certainly not overwhelming) stream of people came to visit.  Here are some of the pictures.*




We were able to go home later that evening and Eva had her very first stay in an apartment.  In fact, it was a whole day of firsts!  Such as first time in a car, first time over a speed bump, first time in an apartment, first time meeting all her new friends (many of whom were boys...), first time seeing the sun, first time, first time first time!  It was quite a day for her.  But not enough of a day to sleep through the entire night.    Insha'alla that will happen.  Someday.  

*if you are on facebook, you may not be able to see the actual pictures.  You'll have to go the original blog post.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

Merry Christmas!

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!

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.

• 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.

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.

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!

"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:

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!:)

Alison: There's really no way to objectively find an answer you question... so i'll just assume we're budding into magical parents.

You will notice that there is a new tag on the blog below: Parenting. I'm sure this will be the first of many.

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.

Physics is Phun! And Projectiles are the Icing on the Cake

Really, what boy doesn't like projectiles - particularly throwing his own projectiles. Now, just imagine the excitement that comes from CREATING something that can launch projectiles! That's what I call homework. Incidentally, that's what Alison calls homework, too.

In her 10th grade physics class a few weeks ago, she had them all do a project where they needed to create a catapult that could project a ping-pong ball at least 50cm. I'm not sure what the unit was - probably something to do with motion and projectiles (she has thus informed me that "projectile motion" was the name of the unit. I get an "A").

The students had a good time doing it, and I was duly impressed with the projects and posters hanging in Alison's classroom. The students obviously worked very hard on these. If you look closely at two of the pictures, you can even see the pingpong ball being launched. Much further than the required 50 cm. You can see four of the catapults in the pictures below.*

So to all of her students - congratulations on fantastic projects! Yes - that's right. I know you read this blog. There are more pictures, and if you're interested, tell Ms. Alison and I'll post the rest of them on my picasa site (see link on the right), and you can download them yourself.

Setting up the catapult just so.

Watching carefully as the ball is launched.

I must say - that's quite a large catapult!

Small, but obviously very effective.

This makes you want to teach or take a physics class, doesn't it!
*You will notice an equal amount of pictures of boys and girls. This is to highlight the fact that we are equal opportunity teachers. We believe that both boys and girls have the same potential to do fantastic things in physics and we encourage all of them to go on and be famous scientists that will revolutionize the world with their inventions. I also believe they will all make stellar economists in 12th grade!