Doing the Tourist Thing...

We are having a great time here... and definitely soaking in time with family. Yesterday we did the "Big City Bus Tour" and covered the town. We enjoyed seeing the city in an open air tour bus. We got to see it all except the island shaped like a palm tree. The Dubai Marathon blocked the streets and we couldn't get to it. We have hit several malls and seen the tallest building in the world. Both Avee and Sadie Mac slept through part of the tour... so they weren't that impressed, but the rest of us were.


Can you say "Taco Bell" in Arabic?

Sadie Mac checking out the Scuba Guy feeding the fish at the Dubai Acquarium

Sweet Reunion...

We are now in Dubai and are enjoying a wonderful time of vacation with my (Amanda) mom and Auntie Avee. This is the first time they have been able to see Sadie Mac. We met at the airport with flowers, smiles, and sweet tears! (Pic: Sadie Mac is looking at the big black trunks wondering what goodies are inside!!) It’s been over a year since we’ve seen them, so this is a wonderful treat for them to join us here for vacation. The first two days we were trying to let them get over jet lag and today we went to the mall for a little shopping and bowling!! (Yes Heather and Judd... mom went bowling and wasn't half bad :-) !!) Stephen won, but Avee was the surprise champion bowler… she did really good. We all had a good time and mom almost busted her tail several times… she kept blaming the shoes!!!

Christmas Pics!

Daddy and Sadie Mac first thing Christmas morning!

Sadie loves her Ducky Bathtub... (thank you Aunt Nikki and Uncle Daniel)

It's all big smiles for the Bedouin tent from Egypt!


Sorry we have been slow in taking a while to get these up. A few days after Christmas we went to Jordan for two weeks and now we are in Dubai on vacation. We laugh that Sadie Mac is only 5 months old and has already been to 4 different countries!! What a life!

Merry Christmas!!

We have lots to update you on, but wanted to send you a quick "Merry Christmas Greeting" from our family to yours. Sadie Mac had a great first Christmas. After we read the Christmas Story in bed, we all got up and she was excited to see (but really had no idea) about her first Christmas presents! She got a Bedouin tent from Egypt and a fun ducky bathtub (from her aunt Nikki... that we've just kept until now!!) After that we went to have lunch with several good friends (like family) here in the Sandbox. We truly had a blessed Christmas and hope all of you did as well! It was even a little chilly this morning... around 65 or so!!! Well, we will take what we get! We will post pictures when we can!

The Eid

Well, the "holidays" for us now have a very different meaning as we live on this side of the world. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas we are celebrating a holiday with our friends and neighbors where they slaughter goats due to their religious teachings. We feasted for 3 days in a row on lamb (or goat, not sure which) =) along with other traditional foods from this land. In the tradition, they kill a goat in the front of their house. When our neighbors did this, they called to see if we wanted to come watch. So, of course we did and they let us take pics to share!

Egg + Nog= Good Stuff!

Today we continued to carry on our family tradition of making homemade eggnog... mmm, the good stuff! Since I was a little girl, I can always remember doing this every Christmas season! Sure, some say it is disgusting to eat raw eggs, milk, ice cream and sugar (with a few other secret ingredients!)... but when it tastes this good, you can't pass it up! Stephen loves making it and was so excited he was even talking about it in his sleep last night! We've also been doing some Christmas decorating and we made Sadie Mac check the bulbs. :-) We know she was thinking... what is this guys?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope each of you had a wonderful Turkey Day... as did we. Unfortunately here in Sandland, they don't so much celebrate the Indians and the Pilgrims, so Stephen had to go to school... sad for him! We were able to enjoy turkey this year, unlike last year when we just had chicken! Someone has recently returned from the States and shared with the rest of us. We were with a large gathering of khawaajas (foreigners)and enjoyed all the fixings: mashed potatoes and gravy, something like sweet potatoes and something like green bean casserole too! Sadly no yeast rolls though! Sadie Mac enjoyed her first turkey day and dressed up for the occasion.(see pic below) Yes, this may look like an Easter dress, but considering it is still in the 90's, we thought she could rock the summer look for Thanksgiving. She pulled it off pretty well. We ignore the whole "no white after labor day" thing!! She also had her 4 month check up this week and we are thankful she is now 14 lbs and 25 inches. All is well with her!

We sure do miss our families...and the snow and cold weather this time of year back home, but look back at 2008 and feel truly blessed for our lives here and the blessing of our precious Sadie McLean. We are thankful for the support of family and friends, good health and the grace we find each day from our precious Savior and King.

Ready... Set... Roll!

Well, it's been a few weeks, but I'm just now getting around to putting it on the blog! Yep, we now have a "mover and shaker" on our hands. She is so amazing to watch grow and change every day... I just want her to stay little!! But, we are learning how each day is a new adventure and not to take it for granted.



In other news... I (Amanda) spent the weekend sewing curtains for the house and making homemade salsa!! It was delicious. To be honest, I have been missing Chili's and we've only been out of Egypt a month! I love my chips and salsa!


It's no Chili's... but it will do.


Please, call me "Holly Homemaker" :-)

Our Pumpkin Wore a Watermelon Costume!

The only thing I can think of is... "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" Here we say, "when you have no pumpkins, use a watermelon!" We just don't know what to do with all the seeds! Being Sadie's first Halloween and our family tradition is to carve a pumpkin... we had to make due. We all enjoyed carving Sadie's first watermelon and know that when she goes back to America and people are carving pumpkins, she is going to be really confused. But regardless, we had a great time... no dressing up or going to the neighbors for trick or treating... just watermelon carving. Hope everybody had a great one and Matthew had a good birthday!

Weight Watchers... at 3 Months?!?

Well, Sadie Mac is now 3 months old and we are proud of how she is growing. Since we live in the sandbox and doctors and "official means to measure" are scarce, we have to do the best we can to measure her!! (We are doing the best to "watch her weight"!) We have decided to keep track of her weight by using a luggage weigher and her "kangaroo sling". She loves it! Check out her little feet kicking. We measure her length by the quilt squares on our bed. :-) We're not big on exact measurements :-), but we are keeping a chart! She is healthy and happy and that is all we could ask for. She is now holding her head up and giggling often! A precious little treasure that discovers new things every day and we love discovering them with her!