Why we didn't stay up for the 4th of July fireworks

The night before last, as I was hanging up laundry (yeah, water day, and boy did we have a lot of laundry after our 19 hours in the JFK airport) I was enjoying the fireworks display. At first I thought it was just the normal wedding revelry, but soon realized it was tawjihi results. For those not familiar, these are the high school examinations that in many ways determine a teenager's options for college and career. Read this article to learn why we don't go out and drive during this time.
So why did we not attend the 4th of July fireworks in America a few weeks back?

1) Arabs love fireworks and we get to enjoy them nearly all year for free.
2) In Michigan it doesn't even get dark until after 10 and the kids were too tired to stay up for them after parading all day.

My favorite thing about the display? I called for Oliver to come out and take a look. He glanced up, said "wow" and ran back in the house calling for his younger brother to come see. Over the summer I have been astounded by my 6 year old's love and compassion for his 3 year old brother (and his baby brother as well). He just couldn't imagine not enjoying the beautiful display from our balcony without Teddy Bear with him. I am so thankful he is such an encourager, and despite the normal sibling fights, my boys are great friends. I pray it continues.

Fun in America

Is this our new home? One of the boys asked us as we pulled up the drive to visit some friends for dinner. We've been traveling a lot, seeing family and friends, and having a wonderful, but busy, time. This morning we're taking it easy, and Oliver is already asking where we're going today. Luckily, today we have plans to visit some friends who also have three kids about the same ages as ours, so it will be fun. It's amazing to see how what used to be a visit between college friends and maybe a baby has turned into mass chaos with between four and ten kids including play sets, sprinklers, train tracks, and the like. I love it!

Here are a few pics we've taken. Abu Tulip's mom made superhero capes, we've seen lots of tractors, enjoyed a 4th or July parade, been swimming in a lake, eaten corn dogs and funnel cake, watched a few good movies (Juno, Slumdog Millionaire) and in general taken in a lot of American culture.









We really miss our friends in the Middle East, but so far it has been a great summer.

~ Um Tulip

How does it feel to be home?

This is the question we are asked most frequently. Honestly, it is an impossible question to answer. Where is home? I guess you could say we have lots of homes right now. Doing the math, we've actually lived in the Middle East as a married couple longer than we lived in America. Two of our boys were born there, and our careers are there as well. Still, coming back to the towns where we grew up along with the city we lived in before moving overseas is in many ways coming home. So amidst my home confusion, here are a few thoughts.

We spent our first week with Um Tulip’s family in Ohio, and treasured the time with her family. We went to the Columbus Zoo and saw a baby elephant, a local swimming pool, and an air force museum in Dayton. The boys are loving the attention, but are also tired and a little overwhelmed with so much transition. I love watching them being 'loved on' by their grandparents. One morning in Ohio the power was out. I mentioned to dad I needed coffee (can we say jetlag?) and he jumped in the car to get the family coffee and donuts. He brought back a box of assorted donuts. Oliver and Teddy Bear proceeded to argue over the glazed maple donut. I cut it in half. Teddy Bear started whining, and I let him have his fit. However, I looked at my father's disappointed face and listened to him say, "if only I had gotten more donuts" with complete sincerity. My amazing dad had gone to the donut shop early in the morning out of love, and if I hadn't stopped him, probably would have gone back for more donuts. Wow, how these grandkids are loved!

Here are a few of the funny things that I've noticed since we've been in the States.

- I've rediscovered humidity. It rains in the summer. We went to a park and it started sprinkling. I relished walking in the warm, summer rain.

- The boys love drinking fountains. We don't have these in the Middle East, and they are fascinated.
- Oliver calls bagels donuts.
- As we drove on the highway from Ohio towards Michigan, Oliver asked me how long it would be before we got to the desert. He's used to long road trips including several hours in the desert.
- The house we're staying in now has a dishwasher. My mom-in-law was visiting and was loading the dishwasher. I was caught off-guard when she asked me, "which way do you like your silverware to go, down or up?" I had no idea how to answer the question. We haven't had a dishwasher for over seven years.
- Air conditioning is way too cold for me. I should have packed my sweaters. Also, I'm so used to the way Arabs dress that I mostly packed nicer clothes. I only packed one t-shirt (a jobedu one from Jara Market, BTW). I've forgotten how casual Americans are.
- There are more types of cola/pop/soda in the supermarket than I can fathom. This week's purchase? Diet Coke with Lime.

It's time to take a walk outside with the boys. The weather is warm and there are trees everywhere. Better enjoy the green while I can!
~ Um Tulip

Oliver turns six

I know, I know, I'm leaving for the airport in 9 hours and the suitcases are not packed, and I'm writing a blog post. Laundry is in the washer, and I'm making progress, but it's just so hard to pack. I'm anxious about the flight, super-excited about seeing family, and totally avoiding the work that needs to get done.

Oliver turned 6 this past weekend and I made a spiderman cake for him. We kept the party smaller this time, and stayed mostly on the patio which was perfect. Water balloons and an obstacle course designed by Oliver and Abu Tulip. For Teddy Bear's party my mom-in-law was here to help and we did a Monkey Cake. I still had some black decorating icing left from her trip and the monkey cake, so spiderman even had webbing.

Enjoy the pics. Really need to get back to packing. ~ Um Tulip

Challenge to Bedu Shepherds

Abu and Um Tulip are crazy busy right now getting ready to leave for a summer holiday in America. We are thrilled to see family and friends, especially for the grandmas and grandpas to get to know their newest grandson and have some quality time with Oliver and Teddy Bear. We're a bit nervous about the flight, but as it's been two years since we've been back, it's going to be great to see everyone.

Oliver turned six today and also graduated from Kindergarten yesterday. The best part of the ceremony was the hula hoop dancing and routines that looked like they were taken from 'Little Miss Sunshine'.

My sister recommended I look up LED sheep on You Tube. I guess some shepherds in Wales had a blast with their sheep, LED lights, and some filming techniques. I wonder if our local Bedu shepherds can top that. Enjoy!

The Legend

It's not often in one's life that he has the chance to meet a legend. I've never met a really famous person. Someone asked me this just a few days ago. I can think of three close encounters with marginally famous people in my life.

I met Alan Trammell at a baseball clinic when I was in high school. I think the words he said to me were something like "You gotta hold the baseball [such-and-such a way] for me to sign it." Wow. Awesome.

When I was entering eighth grade Chris Webber was entering Michigan as a freshman. He and Jalen Rose came to a summer basketball camp I was attending. Each of the kids got to go one-on-one against one of them. I went against Webber and tried a fade-away jumper. He blocked it. Of course, he was too nice to block everyone's shot, so I like to think he looked at me and thought I had a chance to hit a 18-footer, so he'd better block it. Or so I like to think.

My other brush with "fame" was when Fernando Ortega visited Hope College and was about to play at an event. I was closest to the piano, and he said, "Can you help me move this over a little bit?" I did a great job too.

So none of those people are really all that famous. If you're not a sports fan or follower of great Christian music you may not know who any of these people are. But in the last few weeks I got to spend time with a legend.

"Abu Billy" is the founder of the institution which I now lead (although he never imagined it becoming what it is today). His picture is displayed in my office. Several times recently I've been asked if he's still alive. "You bet!" I say, "He's probably in better shape than I am." Recently I've been able to tell them that he's coming to visit.

Almost three weeks ago Abu Billy did come to visit our country, the place he called home for over forty years. We met him once before, but meeting him here was even more special. We got to see him with people who look to him as a spiritual father, people who worked closely with him for decades, people who grew up under his caring eye.

He is going on eighty years old and I was sad to observe a sign of decline in that his hearing is getting bad... until I learned that he's been deaf in one ear since contracting scarlet fever in childhood. So much for decline!

It's hard to express how it feels to now be leading the institution he founded. Humbling... certainly. But it's a blessing too, knowing the concern and prayer he put into his work. And it's an encouragement to see all that can be accomplished for the Lord by a life fully surrendered to Him.

-Abu Tulip

If you build it they will come

Well, the past month has flown by. It's May already and we're preparing for a trip to America this summer. The weather has gotten warmer which means we get to do one of my favorite things - take the boys to the park so they can run off some steam! This is often difficult in our city, as nice public parks are few and far between. Fortunately a brand new park just opened up not far from our home. We went on Friday morning, just a day after their grand opening (the park is sponsored by HSBC). I counted somewhere between 50 and 60 children at the park. This is a small park, with a merry-go-round, 2 monkey bars, 3 swings, 2 slides, and a see-saw. It was CROWDED.
However, much to my surprise and elation, the kids were wonderful. We sometimes go to the big park on Medical City Road and often have problems with the children hitting or throwing sand, and parents are sometimes unfriendly. Abu Tulip and I came up with a theory. That big park is, well, huge, and people come from all over. They do not know each other and therefore do not care if their children are kind, if they throw trash everywhere, and do not mingle with others. This park is local, on duwar hawuuz. That means, traffic circle with the water tower. I mention this because there is no longer a water tower, and it's not really a traffic circle, but for those that know the city it is also an area of some great QIZ shops, similar to the one Kinzi mentioned out by duwar Waha.

But this park, at duwar hawuuz, is local. The kids know each other, as they all live in the neighborhood. A young girl took to my boys and made sure they each got a turn on the merry-go-round and swing, telling the older boys that the ajnabi (foreigner) kids deserved a turn, too. A lovely lady invited me over for tea, and was happy to chat with me. At this local park, people understand that how you treat others will affect your day. Arabs care about community, and certainly don't want their cousin, uncle, neighbor, etc, to hear anything bad about their family. These kids seemed to know that any bad behaviour would have consequences.

The funniest question I was asked that day was from some middle-school aged boys. They asked, 'fi 3indik dog?' or, 'do you have a dog?'. They didn't know much about America, but they did know that Americans often have pet dogs, and were curious if we had one as well. I told them no, but that my sister in America does. What is interesting about their question is while they asked me in Arabic, they used dog, not kelb, for dog. My theory about this one is that 'kelb' refers to the mangy, street dogs that no one wants as a pet, and 'dog' refers to the cute ones Americans keep in their homes.


These are some of the boys. Tuckered out from playing, I guess. Sort of captures how I feel at the end of the day as well! Life with my 3 little boys is rewarding, but busy and exhausting, too.

~ Um Tulip