These are a few of my favorite things (so far)...

Today was a hot and dusty day!  It's hard to tell in this picture, but even the sky looked yellow.

We've been here a little over 2 weeks, and I want to share with you a few of my favorite things!

We are starting to learn our way around on a taxi.  Today we went somewhere new, and we told the taxi driver what part of town we live in.  On a road, we saw an exit that we knew would take us home.  John pointed and the man said, "no, no."  John said, "yes, yes."  So he got off.  At the next turn, the same thing...except he had already started his way, and we were so insistent that he backed up and went our way.  Well, when the road ended, we were right by our house.  The taxi driver gave John a big smile and said, "Very good!"  It felt AMAZING to know where we were going!

 

We've had some great time with friends.

 

I (Cristie) have ventured out on my own.  It was my only time alone for the past few weeks, and it felt GLORIOUS!!!  I went to Starbucks and sipped on a frappachino.  Except I got it without coffee because the guy checking out said, "no coffee?  it is MUCH better with no coffee."  I thought, "Am I at Starbucks?" 

 

We've adjusted to our new time zone and are sleeping well.  Speaking of sleeping well, we ordered some furniture and it should arrive on October 9.  Here's our new bed!

 

I love the Jasmine here.   It smells amazing, and you get little whiffs from time to time.

 

I love our house.  It's painted and is so fresh and nice.  Mattresses come tomorrow or Thursday, and then we'll start sleeping in our house.  The bottom kitchen cabinets were rotted out and nasty, so a carpenter came today and replaced them. 

These herbs at the grocery store smell amazing and are one of my favorite things.

 

We have great fruit trees in our yard!  Here's a picture of Catie in front of our apricot tree.  We also have lots of fig trees, a mulberry bush, a lemon tree, maybe a couple almond trees, and 2 mystery fruit trees.  : )  The kids love running out to water them!

We just met with our language tutor tonight and will start learning Arabic on Sunday.  (The work week here is Sunday-Thursday, and the weekend is Friday and Saturday.) 

 

Here's Jacob next to a drain.  These drains are so great!  I have one in my kitchen and in each bathroom.  You scrub everything down and squeegie the extra water down the drain.  Cleaning is way easier!!

 

We had a fun family date to the mall and got ice cream one night.

 Well, I gotta get to bed.  It's late, and the kids will be up early!

Thanks for praying for us!  We love y'all and appreciate every contact from you guys!