The Nursery

We've been back a few weeks and finally have all the trunks that my mom brought us unpacked. In them, my very talented mother made all of Sadie Mac's nursery attire! :-) My mom, sisters and a few of their friends all pitched in so Sadie could have a "pottery barn kids" kinda place to rest her head! They did valances to match a diaper stacker and quilt wall hanging. As you can see from the pic, Sadie loves it all! Before we knew if she was a boy or girl we decided to go with an animal theme... and why not African animals?!? It's crazy that she is almost 7 months old, and is now doing the "inch worm/army man" crawl on her belly all around the floor and has 2 teeth! Time sure does fly by with little ones!
It's starting to heat up here again in the sandbox. Last week (mid-Feb, may I remind you!!) it was already hitting the 100 mark! UGH! It's dusty and dirty, but it's all about the adventure. Thanks for joining us on it!

Playing Hard to Get

We are back home, but not until Sadie Mac finally got to meet her Prince Eli. Before we headed home we got to see our friends and their little boy who was born the same day she was born. As you can see, even with Sadie having chicken pox from head to toe... there were sparks! Eli for sure is a kisser and we were afraid after his kissing on her, he would get them... but thankfully it didn't happen. Sadie Mac was a little embarrassed that her dad was there so she played hard to get! (Smart girl!) We loved spending time with all three of them!




Pic from Jordan: Sadie Mac's first experience with cold weather... bundled up next to daddy! This was also the first time she had to wear socks or any kind of long sleeves. I could tell when we put on her jacket getting off of the plane in Jordan she was thinking, "What is this mom?"

To My Favorite Auntie Avee

Dear Auntie Avee,
I wanted to write and tell you how much I love you and what a wonderful time I had with you. You are so special and you helped me so much. You helped feed me and change my diaper. I loved it when you would take me on walks in my stroller. I just don't know which of those times it was that I gave you my chicken pox. When NanNan emailed today and told me you now have them, I was very sad. I hope you can forgive me for passing them on to you. I will tell you what they told me... DON'T SCRATCH! Well, I love you wanted you to know and you are the bestest Auntie I know and have met!! Don't worry, as you can see from my picture... the spots get better and slowly go away! Mommy, Daddy and I are all praying for you and that you heal soon. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Love,
Sadie Mac

What a Wonderful World!!

We had a wonderful time with NanNan and Auntie Avee who came to visit! We are so blessed with all their goodies from friends and family back home! Sadly they had to go back and we are still here because the chicken pox are preventing us from being on a plane! We do miss home, but hope to see other friends who live near us soon. Avee is now the favorite aunt (and the only one Sadie Mac has met!) She did a great job and was a big help with changing diapers and feeding. THANK YOU mom and Avee for coming to see us!! We had a wonderful time together. LOVE YOU both and miss you already!

Dots and Spots

A few dots here, some spots there and now sadly, Sadie Mac has the chicken pox everywhere!! We started noticing a few little bumps on her this weekend, and now they are in full swing. It's so sad and she is miserable. Let us tell you... chicken pox on vacation... well, not a fun combination. So much for sleeping in and long restful nights. We're still having a wonderful time with my mom and sister. We've been kinda cooped up for the past few days so we went to a park yesterday to get a change of scenery. We stayed away from all the other kids (it wasn't busy anyway) but had fun riding the "flying camels" and seeing green grass. Sadie Mac was a trooper! Please pray for our little angel that she will feel better soon!


Stephen and Avee on the flying camels

NanNan and Sadie Mac on a stroll in the park

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!