Thursday, June 28, 2012

Call me lame, but...

Today, I miss thrifting.

What does that say about me?!
I said it out loud to Andrew and then almost cringed. Am I really that person?

It turns out that yes. Yes I am! 

I miss the fun of it! Not knowing what you will find, sometimes finding nothing, sometimes just the opposite! I miss trying on vintage clothes that are ridiculous and silly, then falling in love with amazing deals! 
I miss picking up random stuff for friends because it made me think of them! I miss my favourite shop (holla MCC!), the smells (seriously?! Am I saying this?!) and the old mennonite women who know me by name! 
*sigh*

Those of you who live close to an MCC, can you do me a favour? Can you go, browse, pick up random things, take pictures of hilarious things, be amazed by some of the great deals?

But maybe don't tell me, because I might melt with jealousy! 
Ok wait, tell me...
Yeah, tell me. 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

To love life...

Lately there has been a lot of sadness around. My friends grandma died, another's sister, another's mother after a long battle with cancer. Heartbreak and heartache. 
This life, this world, brings pain. 
I saw this quote and thought of those who are hurting but still choose to love and live. 

Its a beautiful thing. 


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Sunset on the beach.

A few of us snuck away the other day. We spent the afternoon at the beach, drinking ice cafe, swimming and just enjoying each others company. Our days are usually quite hectic, so it was a very nice break for us! 


I love feet in the sand. 


Wearing what Andrew calls, my "english grandma hat". 

Attempting to even out his farmers tan! 

Beautiful! 

Boys will be boys!

Watching the sun set at the beach.  

Our group, along with a random guy (front right, with the tattoo) who decided he should be in the picture. 

We are blessed to be so close to the sea! Although we don't spend too much time there, its worth it when we do! These days are memories I wont forget. 

"No Poo" update #3

For those of you who are interested, I shall update you about our "No Poo" experiment. I blogged about it  here and here
For those of you who don't care, come back in a couple of days, I promise I will update you about something else! 

I am so happy that we are 14 days into this thing! 
It hasn't been the easiest of experiments, but I would encourage you, if you want to do it, you can! 
This picture is from yesterday, day 13. 


Please excuse the messy room and crazy hair, I had just woken up. I was very surprise to see that my hair is actually getting LESS greasy! LESS greasy people! This made me so so happy! This might actually work! There are many people here that are checking in with me daily, I think everyone is curious to see what happens. 
Andrews hair looks pretty normal, just a touch greasy. Every time I ask him how its going for him he says "fine". So I guess that means its fine! He's not one to overstate things...

So there you have it, 2 weeks in. We have survived so far, even in this heat!

Monday, June 18, 2012

"No Poo" update.

I wrote about how Andrew and I decided to try going "No (sham)poo" here.

Well we are in the thick of it now! 
Im not usually someone who's self-consious in pictures, but I actually hesitated posting these ones, which says alot. 

Day 5:

My hair is now greasy! My hair grows in light brown, then quickly changes to really blonde when I am in the sunshine. Now, because my roots are so greasy, my hair looks so much darker, and I am not digging that. 
On day 5 I washed my hair with 1tsp baking soda, mixed with a cup of warm water. It seemed to help with the greasy look but was short-lived. While the roots are greasy, the ends are super dry (probably from the lack of conditioner). Im looking for a boar bristle brush to help me comb the oils to the ends of my hair, but have had no success here! 

Day 7:

This, unfortunately, is my hair right now. Its dark in colour and heavy with oil! Just gross! Yesterday when I showered, I dipped the ends in diluted Apple Cider Vinegar (1tbsp to 1 cup water) and let it soak in. It seemed to really help with the frizzy dryness of the ends, so Im thankful for that! While my hair is not my favourite undertaking right now (read: the bane of my existence!) I am quite determined to see it through, because really, it cant get much worse! 

Sidenote: Andrew washed his hair once with Baking Soda and now his hair looks almost completely normal! On day 7, its just a touch greasy, but really just looks like he put gel in it! Oh to have such short hair!


So there you go, my first 7 days in the "No Poo" experience have not been pain-free, but also, it is completely do-able! 

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Happy papa's day!

Today we celebrate fathers.
I was thinking of what I would say about my dad. 
How do I sum up the man who has been the most influential leader in my life?
I love my dad. 
And quite honestly, the title for "Worlds greatest dad" was swiftly handed to him the day he became one, on my older brothers birthday, nearly 28 years ago. 

My dad is funny, smart, compassionate and an incredible follower of God. 
I remember I would always ask him math questions, just to see if he would get them right! He always did, not that I would have known if he didn't anyways!

I love early morning with my dad. (Well, not when I was a lazy teenager.)
I love his gravelly voice, deep sleep-lingering chuckle and his old dark blue robe (Do you still have that thing dad?)
I have many fond memories of spending cuddly mornings with dad and mom. 

My dad has an amazing sense of humour, and when he gets laughing, you know there will be tears and leg-slapping! 

I remember a few months ago, we were having family dinner at dad and moms. Dad and my older brother were sitting beside each other on the couch. Someone said something funny and simultaneously, at the EXACT SAME TIME, Elger and dad burst out laughing and leg-slapped themselves. It was awesome! 
I see so much of dad in Elger, and thats a really great thing. 
Dad loves to play practical jokes, from cracking our ears to saying "Theres someone at the door for you!" when its a cute 8 year old selling chocolate. I get suckered in every time and he knows it! What a waste of $5.

I also remember when I was a young teenager. I loved to read those teen magazines. Dad hated it. He told me I wasn't allowed because he didn't want me to see images and feel less for who I was. 
Dad, I really appreciate that. I have always known that you love me and have the best in mind for me!

Now that I am older, wiser (haha or not!) and married, I have thought a lot about what kind of mom I want to be, and what kind of dad I want my children to have. 

I want Andrew to have your soft heart, your quick laughter and your deep love for your children. 
You have sacrificed so much for me, you have loved me at my worst and you walked me down the aisle on the most important day of my life! 

You welcomed Andrew into our family with open arms and you were even were in on the scheme when he proposed! Andrew misses drinking early morning mate with you. 

You have encouraged me to travel, to grow and become the women that God wants me to be. You trust us to make wise choices and you are an incredible support to us. 
I know we can count on you to pray for us, to love us from afar and to handle our banking! :)

For all the things you do, have done and will do, thank you papa. 


You are an incredible dad to us, and, in the future, you will be an amazing grandfather...but not yet! :)

Happy Fathers Dad, we love you!  

(Our special father/daughter dance. You make me laugh dad!) 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

A beautiful song, sung by Lennon (12) and Maisy (8) Stella.
Enjoy, I have played it so many times already!




"'Cause even the stars they burn
                               Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up"

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

I have been reading some articles on going "No poo"....
and no this is not in reference to certain bodily functions! 
It stands for "No shampoo."

My hair has always had issues, despite my attempt to make it healthy! It is dry/frizzy at the ends, completely tangled in other areas and oily at the roots! I have to wash it at least every 2nd day, or I look like a grease-monkey! 
And besides that, do you know how much precious room the bottles take up in our backpacks?! or how expensive shampoo and conditioner are in Israel?! 
So Andrew and I agreed to try and go shampoo free! 
You can check out some peoples stories here and here.

We are starting with 4 weeks and seeing where we are then. If our hair is better than it is now, then we will keep on, but if our hair is the same or worse, back to shampoo we go! 

(You're probably having a hard time hearing me over the sound of my crunching eh Amanda?!)

I want to clarify that we are still showering, probably even more than we did before (ok, if I was honest, more than I did before.)
When we shower, we just make our hair wet and then use a baking soda/water solution on our hair once a week. Got it?  :)

Day 1: 
So here we are, in hot, sweaty Israel. 
I am already thinking "WHAT are we thinking?!" Its a very hot week out (35 degrees today!) and oil + sweat = not my dream hair! But we are determined to push through (remind me of that in about a week). 
I thought I would take weekly pictures, to see the progress of my hair! Ignore the face, I got sick of trying to take pictures under florescent lights. 

(Day 1)

Let the experiment begin!

I would like to hear your thought on this? Does it sound like something you would do? Or do you think Im plain ol' crazy for trying? :)

Monday, June 11, 2012

As of late:

I found some oil pastels and thought it would be fun to make my hair tips turquoise! Temporary and fun!


We watched a wedding from our window! Spot the bride on the left side? (We were in our PJs and didn't want to get dressed to actually join the festivities!)


We received an awesome package today! I got some help opening it! 


Do you think it had enough stamps?! 


He was excited too! 


Wahoo! Full of great stuff! Thanks family! 


And we loved this little handprint! So cute!

Full of much-anticpated stuff! It was like christmas, opening it all up! We are so grateful!

Thanks mom(s) and Amanda! you guys are so awesome!!!
Im typing this with my glasses on, I can finally see clearly again! 

Sunday, June 10, 2012

My friend Tanis did a "currently" post and so I thought I would steal the idea! Its a really great way to update some not-so-obvious information to you guys! So here we go!

What Im currently.... 

...obsessing over: flights. I tend to do that. We need to book flights from Jordan to India, so, instead of looking them up and booking, what do I do? Check out every flight, every website, every day/time, and then still not book anything! Maybe I should just look into...



...working on: letter to the Ministry of Interior, along with paperwork, so we can renew our visas! Fun fun!


...thinking about: visas and paperwork, fun fun!

...anticipating: getting back to my herd of children in the mountain. Its crazy how one day away leaves me missing them! 



...listening to: Andrew watching "Everybody Loves Raymond".

...eating: nothing (surprisingly!) but we just finished parmesan noodles with chicken schnitzel! Delicious!

...wishing: that we could have attended our nephews birthday party! We got to skype with them, so that was a nice way to feel included! Isn't he so cute in his frog prince outfit!

...dissing: paperwork (this seems to be a recurring theme...) and interviews with government personnel! 

...laughing at: Ray not helping Deborah when she choked. Mostly because Andrew choked this one time and I didn't help him! (He wasn't too happy about that...)

Have a great week friends! 

Friday, June 8, 2012

A year ago, in the middle of the night, I got the phone call that I had been anxiously waiting for.
"My water just broke, Im in labour, we will meet you at the hospital!" 
She was the happiest woman in labour that I have ever seen!
She being my sister-in-law, Amanda. 

Oh the butterflies that entered my stomach! I sang country songs loudly as I drove (quite quickly if Im honest!) to the hospital. 

And it was on. She was in labour, this was the day we met our newest family member. 

Contractions came, we ate eggs, we laughed and prayed, we paced and encouraged, and then hours later, but perfectly timed, he came. 

My precious nephew Cody. 
Tears still well up when I think about it. 

I remember holding him for the first time, just staring at him. 
He was here! We had been waiting for 9 months to meet this little one, and he was here! He was exactly like I expected. I remember saying to Andrew, breathlessly, "He looks just like himself!" 



In the past year, I have spent countless hours with that little man. We have fallen in love and trust with each other. 


We went camping when he was just under 2 months old! Here I am, doing my famous burp technique. I did this A LOT with him (happily!)

He got this adorable hat! We loved it on him!

He, however, did not love it. 

We had our first sleepover when he was 4 months old. Mummy was at the hospital, waiting for her first nephew to be born!

He tasted snow for the first time at our condo!

And uncle Andrew, of course, taught him how to shoot rubber bands.

Thank you, Sam and Amanda, for the precious gift you have given us in your son. 

He will always and forever be the special little man who made me an auntie. 

 (look at those gorgeous eyes! Melt. My. Heart!)



Happy 1st birthday to our favourite nephew.
 We wish with all our heart that we could be there to celebrate it with you.
Saying goodbye to you, and living daily without you close by, is one of the hardest things for us.

We love you Cody. We pray you would grow up to know God, to be a man of integrity, strength and good character. 

Ons mis jou net so hard, so diep, so lank, so wyd soos ons jou lief het.
We miss you just as strong, deep, tall, and wide as we love you.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

We just got back from our anniversary getaway! It was so amazing! 
Andrew started to feel sick on Sunday night (we were leaving on monday!) and had a high fever. Ever the sympathetic wife, I made him pull it together until we got to our getaway! (Well, he was feeling a touch better by then)
The thing we were looking forward to the most was peace and quiet. And boy, this place delivered! We were the only ones there! 

This is our "zimmer". Beautiful right?!


We piled our blankets and pillows in the jacuzzi tub and ate breakfast (ok, dinner too) in there. It was awesome!  

Our adorable little home!  

We could see the city of Zefat. We also watched shepherds herding their sheep/goats! 

Spot the goats? I love that they still do this, centuries later!

We spent a lot of time in the hammocks!

And I managed to get some reading done! (Great book by the way!) 

We even picked leaves for tea! (Don't worry, I was told which one was safe to consume!) 

We loved the pool! The temperature was hot hot hot, so the pool was a refreshing treat! Andrew needed to cover his head, so he fashioned a turban. Clever man! 

And, of course, we jumped!  


We had a wonderful time, celebrating two years of marriage. We came back refreshed and ready to pour more into the women and kids here!