Adventures - To Be Continued

Hi Fam & Friends!

It's been a few days and we haven't had time to complete another post... and it looks like we'll have to wait until a little later. We just wanted to say hey and let you know that everything is going very well.

Hope you all are doing great, too! We love and miss you all.... :)

Other Beirutian Adventures....

Editor's correction: Previous post exaggerated a bit - we were corrected by Mr. Toastmaster that the bullet holes are NOT, I repeat, NOT in our building. They are in the building next to us. So, take heart! All is well. :)

Two glorious days have passed; we have met numerous neighbors, friends, and businessmen and successfully butchered the Arabic language. Yesterday (Wednesday), we had numerous assignments that Chicken Wing and I completed with the greatest of ease (ha!). While our friends are studying Arabic in the mornings and early afternoons, we have been tasked with the responsibility of learning the culture, gaining a better understanding of the people (very diverse in Beirut), and finding our way around the city without completely drowning in sweat.

• Find a coffee shop, order drinks, drink the drinks, and people watch. Saw a guy transporting a very large padded chair on top of his head via a moped without crashing.
  
• Go to the American University of Beirut (very beautiful - right on the Mediterranean), turn in our passports for a tour (!), go on the tour given by a Lebanese students from Southern Lebanon and the Ivory Coast, and go to the archaeological museum (AMAZING).
• Eat at the Golden Sheep - scrumptious shwarmas and hummus.
• Meet up with Good Earth Tea and Toastmaster
  
• Guy/guy and girl/girl time - Chicken Wing and Toastmaster going to poor neighborhood to pick up a bookshelf with a borrowed car, Good Earth Tea and myself chatting and making dinner.
• Late dinner together
• Watched a DVD together
• Kicked our friends out of their room since the air conditioning unit broke in the spare bedroom, and they can miraculously sleep without the A/C (80% humidity!)

Today (Thursday), Chicken Wing and I went on more adventures, which included another coffee shop with people watching (everyone stares at each other - you can look as much as you like and it's not taboo... rather unnerving at times!), a extremely long walk around Beirut with blisters to prove it, ate menieesh (thick gordita-type bread with tasty fillings), and had other yummy food. We saw the sea again and came back to a power outage drenched in sweat at 2:30 pm. We've forgot to mention, for those of you who don't already know, that Beirut has 3-hour scheduled blackouts in order to conserve energy (today was from 12-3:00 pm, others have been from 9-12:00 pm, etc). Chicken Wing had the pleasure of pretending he was driving in a video game on the busy, honking-filled streets. We all then had a great time discussing joy, reading the Word together, and laughing. Awesome.

Tomorrow (Friday), we're on our way to Tripoli to stay with another friend and venture to a different part of Lebanon. Sunday we will spend the day with different friends, and are anticipating a conversation about the kingdom. We'll write more later! Thanks again for the prayers and comments.


Update: one more A/C unit it down! Two down, one to go. :)

Intriguing Beirutian Items

• Milk = bottle with cow picture
• Toilet paper is put in trash can, and cannot be flushed
• GIANT cockroach sighting
• Old bullet holes in our building and in metal barricades
  
• Happy Birthday sung to Cody in Arabic
• Kleenex is used for EVERYTHING from dabbing the sweat off your brow, napkin use during a meal, and anything else
• Families and people smoking water tobacco water bongs
• There are no street names, only landmarks, like stores. So, hang a left by the mosque, take a right at the British Embassy, and go straight passed the White House street (White House is a hotel, and then they call that stretch of street by the name of the hotel).
  

Yesterday (Tuesday), we also walked down to the Mediterainian Sea, but didn't make it to the water since the traffic was so intense! We also ventured out to another family from the U.S.'s place here last night, since it was their normal small group night. Absolutely amazing to see how God is working! Chicken Wing (who's new name should be Culture King because of his Arabic skillz) and Mr. Toastmaster took a "servisse" (step below a taxi, but above a bus, although a bus would have been cleaner) back from the cell phone shop after charging their phones.

A person here said he speaks English like a rooster. We're looking into what that means.

Our 2nd tutor last night also expects New York to be filled with nothing but gangstas and characters from movies like Scream, because of the movies that "represent" America. BUT, he thinks all Americans are really, really nice, because all of the Americans that he has met here have all been believers. He hasn't yet understood the difference. :)

Many adventures planned for today... we'll write more later and post more pictures! We love your comments.

Marhaba (hello)!

Interesting UK lingo:

Toilets = Restroom
Wave on = Motion sensor
Lift = elevator
Rubbish = trash
Holiday = vacation
Baggage Reclaim = Baggage Claim
Pursors = flight attendants

Out 9 hour flight from Denver to London was loooonnnnnng, but fine. We loved London! Our flight from London to Beirut was like 1st class -- full dinner, alcoholic beverages, hot towels, etc.

Beirut is very interesting.... CRAZY driving, more humid than a humidor, a tank less than a block away, a soldier with a gun (who we could not take a picture of), and a lot like Mexico in our opinion. :)

We had an Arabic lesson for 1 1/2 hours today with a special tutor (!), a crash-course in culture with our friends, and another Arabic lesson later today. It's a pretty intense language. :) Mr. Toastmaster and Mrs. Good Earth Tea are doing really well -- it is great to see them. They LOVED all of their presents.

We did have a small maple syrup incident in Limey (Jovi's bag). No worries, we'll get her cleaned up. They must put the bags through a trash compactor.

WE MADE IT!!!

Hello All,

We wanted to let everyone know that we arrived safely with really no problems. All of our bags arrived as well as us. Yeah!!! Thank you for all your support and prayers. We will have more posts soon with the fun details of the journey.

Chicken Wing Out

We are off to see the Wizard

The day has finally arrived and we are only an hour and half from heading to the airport and then its off to London and Beirut. We want to thank our friends and family for their amazing support and generosity. We love and appreciate everyone of you. Each of you will be receiving a Lebanese pickle covered with Lebanese Cedar in a pita pocket, its a local delicacy. Please pray for our trip and our time there with Mr. Toastmaster (who will be receiving Toastmaster literature and Fritos) and Mrs. Good Earth Tea (who will be receiving, I kid you not, 198 tea bags of Good Earth Tea, thats about 15 boxes). As a side note, we will be transportating about 100 lbs of items for our friends, which include, mayonnaise, maple syrup, regular syrup, candy candy and more candy, chocolate, books, birthday presents, soaps, salsa, stuffing, taco seasoning, and so much more. We love you guys and will see you soon.

Chicken Wing Out

P.S. The pictures of our luggage (six bags total) and of our send off last Friday night.

Check! Kitty Finds a Home

Just a quick update: Little Kitty found a great forever home yesterday at a cousin of a mom of a friend of a friend’s place, who lives in San Francisco. Wow – talk about a team activity finding this little one a home!

We were going over the nicknames we had for this little kitty (who we desperately tried not to name due to the additional attachment factor with naming her). Here are a few names for your reading pleasure:

Mini Meow
Minnie
Kitty Pot Pie
Kitty Pocket
Little One
Little Miss Moustache Kitty
NO KITTY! (as she sharpens her claws on our newish couches)
BAD KITTY! (as she shreds our front porch screens)

Thank you for being a part of our lives, Mini Meow… good luck on Lombard Street, City Kitty!

Adventure Coundown: Post #2

There are only 1 ½ weeks left until we hop on a plane to Denver, to London, then Beirut. On the way back, we’ll fly from Beirut, to Frankfurt, to San Francisco, then to Sacramento. Sheesh. We’re planning on missed flights and lost luggage, so if anything (including us) actually makes it to our final destination as planned, then we’ll be pleasantly surprised. :)

We’ve been collecting presents, packages, and other important items (like Best Foods Light Mayonnaise and eye contact solution) for our friends, Mrs. Good Earth Tea and Mr. Toastmaster. It’s going to be like Christmas in August for them! The love of their families and friends is very encouraging to witness. We visited with Good Earth’s mom (she lives about two hours south of us) on Sunday to talk about her trip there 8 months ago to Lebanon, look at pictures, and pick up more great stuff. It was inspiring to share lunch with her and prepare ourselves via her experiences and wisdom.

During recent communication with our friends, Chicken Wing and I would like to ask for prayer for the following:

· Enlightening personal stories that we can tell to demonstrate our beliefs, that will cut through any cultural barriers and communicate the Truth in love.

· Arranging prep logistics (all the details of leaving can be a little overwhelming – dog care, cat care, house care, clown care, airport rides, *hair cuts, culturally appropriate apparel, etc).

· Good times together – times of laughter, fun, and complete silliness. Things can get pretty serious over there, and although there is a time for serious stuff, there is also a time for laughing and dancing (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

Support keeps rolling in as well – we continue to be blown away by your prayers and dollars. We plan on writing an “official” letter at the end of our trip that will include a big personal THANK YOU to each one of you, stories, and a complex financial spreadsheet. :)

Pray on, dudes!

* We must bid farewell to Chicken Wing's shoulder-length ringlets. We understand that long hair on guys can be taken as a symbol of belonging to a specific political party.... any guesses on what political party it might represent?!

Marriage Is What Brings Us Together, Today

Time is whizzing past us…. it’s our 8th anniversary today. It seems like just last week that I was thinking, “Yah! What a great wedding – we’re married!” and then next thought was, “Man, we should have eloped.”

That’s the thing about weddings: people don’t realize what a big stress and money monster they are, even though the rest of us “married folk” try to recommend again and again that they just elope. SeaStar and I had a conversation yesterday about this: we decided that we’re going to impress upon the new generation that you want a nice, simple elopement…NOT a big fat wedding.

“Now, go get your pretty white dress and play elopement on the sandy beach.”

Besides, this molding-of-minds will REALLY pay off in the future when Doodah wants to get married. Brother and SeaStar will save a ton of money on wedding hassles and costs (this will be in is in 25 years, so inflation is also a factor).

Anyway…. Just wanted to say to the world:

“I am so in love with you, Chicken Wing. Thank you for marrying me and loving me,” to my favorite almost-30-year-old. :) Yeah for marriage!

Adventure Countdown: Post #1

Our trip to Lebanon is quickly approaching: August 24th - September 4th. We plan on keeping a log of our adventures leading up to the trip, during the trip, and after the trip on our blog (as much as possible). So, please feel free to momentarily check in for step-by-step instructions about how to bargain on the street for bananas, resolve major political conflicts in Arabic, or disarm a landmine.

We can’t tell you how excited we are to see our friends, Mr. Toastmaster and Mrs. Good Earth Tea (their website is http://www.ethnojournal.com/). We are reading a few books regarding crossing cultures and belief systems in preparation for the trip. Because of these books, we are now paranoid to talk, act, or even think because of the high chance of unintentionally offending someone, somewhere.

Heck, I just offended myself with that statement. :)

There is so much we don’t know, and so much that is going to result in more questions. We look forward to all things that will come from this trip: deep questions, deep discussions, deep answers. Deep.

Deep and wide… deep and wide… there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide…. Warning: you may have that song stuck in your head now. Sorry about that.

On a serious note: we have been completely overwhelmed by amazing support from family & friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our socks have been blown off by your generosity.
It is an amazing feeling to know that we are not in this alone. Some of you know this, but we were originally struggling how much we should involve others, and we are so thankful that the responses we’ve received are so supportive. We have full confidence that God's hand will be on our trip. This is our prayer, "You are awesome. Thank you so much for providing - you truly are the Great Provider and Comforter! And please don't let us mess things up. Aaaaaaaa-men."

We will be having a few phone conversations with Toastmaster and Good Earth Tea before we leave to also help prepare our hearts and minds. The thought of this adventure completely thrills us. We hope to pass those thrills along to you. Thanks for reading!