Gratitude

Hey Family and Friends!

Sorry we've been missing in action for so long. It's been a busy semester for us both, but we're doing well and we're just sooooo happy despite our workloads at school. We're looking forward to seeing many of you over the coming holidays.

We wanted to share with you all this video that the church made about gratitude. Christy and I have so many things to be grateful for, and this incredibly well-done video helped us think about all of our blessings. It's definitely worth five of your minutes.

Post-Graduate Education

I started my Master of Public Health degree yesterday and it's off to a great start. My favorite thing I learned in Epidemiology was... this. :-) This is an example of bad inference.
The semester's off to a great start! Stay tuned for pictures of our Israel trip--when our lives slow down and we get a little time.

Great Clip!

I love being a girl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkUwh1YUMtE

Overdue Update 2

The third day we visited a crusader castle in Karak. It was on top of a pretty impressive hill/mountain. We had fun exploring it despite the fact that we were absolutely exhausted from the previous two days.

This weekend we got to do several more cool things. On Thursday evening, we went to the house of some people I met on campus at the university. We had a wonderful dinner with them and enjoyed true Arab hospitality (we were there for seven hours and ate a main meal, a dessert meal, and a fruit meal late at night). They had a gorgeous house/villa in the country just outside of Amman. We left stuffed and happy.

On Friday we went up to Irbid as usual for church on (there are two branches in Jordan, an English-speaking one in Amman, and an Arabic-speaking one in the northern city of Irbid. Christy and I travel up to Irbid every week where we teach Primary). This week was special, however, because we stayed overnight in Irbid in order to participate in a service project on Saturday. We stayed with a non-member lady who is a sister of one of the members of the branch. For the second day in a row we were treated to amazing Arab hospitality. She didn’t speak a lick of English, so I got to use a lot of Arabic. Along with two great meals, we got to sit around and chat with all of their neighbors in front of their apartment building. People here are incredibly nice and enjoyable to talk to (for the most part), even for Christy who doesn’t speak the language.

On Saturday morning we went to a cave by the Sea of Galilee which was apparently a common retreat for Christ and His apostles. It is at a gorgeous spot right on the border of Jordan, Israel, and Syria (and the Golan Heights for those of you into the politics of this area). We picked up all of the litter around the cave (8 large trash bags worth), than had a quick institute lesson and lunch.

After lunch we went to Umm Qays, the site of an ancient Roman city. Those Romans sure knew how to build a city.

So that’s a quick update for us. I have three weeks of classes left before we head to Israel then come home! We’ve had a great time and plenty of adventures out here. My Arabic is much better than when I got here, and although I have a long way to go, I’m pleased with my progress. Christy has learned a ton (including the Arabic alphabet) and has been a terrific sport through the bed bugs, the hot trips without showers, and the all-Arabic experiences. I married a gem.

We miss you all and can’t wait to get home and here the adventures you’ve had throughout the summer!

Overdue Update 1

Hey Friends!

We've had an exciting past few weeks. Unfortunately, our internet is rather finicky and it takes hours to upload a few pictures to the blog. Sooo...we procrastinate. Anyway, here's a brief summary of our most recent adventures (I think I’ll have to split it up between two posts due to the number of pictures).


Last weekend we took a three day trip to some places in southern Jordan.

The first was Petra, probably Jordan's most famous tourist site. It is an ancient city carved out of rock (think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy finds the holy grail). It was a pretty spectacular place, although we were exhausted after eight hours of hiking through it.



This is the Treasury, the first thing you see when you emerge from the slot canyon that leads into the city. Much to my dismay, there was no booby-trapped obstacle course inside leading to a room full of chalices. Instead there was just a big room. The outside was amazing nonetheless.




This is the Monastery. It’s a bit of a hike to get to, but it’s even more spectacular than the Treasury. It’s hard to tell in the picture, but it’s GIGANTIC. (By the way, in case you couldn’t tell because of how native I look, the one with the Bedouin scarf and the blondish mustache is me).

The next day we went to Wadi Rum, which is an enormous desert with an abundance of cool rock formations. We took a ride through the desert in the back of pickup trucks and spend the night in a Bedouin camp (for tourists). Both Christy and I found it ironic that we got bit by fewer insects sleeping in the Bedouin camp than we do sleeping in our apartment in Amman (we have bed bugs that we haven’t been able to get rid of).