Trip to Jordan River

Today we took a trip to the Jordan River with a group from our church. We left together in a large tourist bus and made the trip to the Jordan Valley (a 45 minutes drive). The Jordan Valley is always about 10-15 degrees warmer and is more agricultural than Amman.

Colin sat by his friend, Steve, from Sri Lanka.

Gaby and Andrew hanging out with the teenagers in the back of the bus.

The Jordan River had more water during Jesus' time; however, there are accommodations for baptism by immersion (submersion), affusion (pouring water over the head), or aspersion (sprinkling water on one's head). These are my new vocabulary words for today.

In the background you can see the Israeli flag. The Jordan River is the boundary between Israel and Jordan. If you got a running start, you might be able to jump over the river.

Of course, no Biblical site in the Middle East can be complete without a mosque or cathedral. This cathedral, named after John the Baptist, was built by the Greek Orthodox church. In addition to very detailed woodwork and murals, it had the bones of a monk in a box at the entrance. It was hard to explain to the kids why the bones were being exhibited. They started a rumor that it was the bones of John the Baptist!

Trouble

Colin is our "terrible" three year old. He is always getting into some kind of trouble. He started preschool at a local school and only lasted a week! It was mostly in Arabic, very chaotic, and he was very unhappy. He is now happily back home with his mom every day. We'll try another preschool in a few months (in English this time)!

Since water is scarce in Jordan (we only have water delivered once a week), Shelley filled our master bathtub with balls. It keeps Colin occupied while we're trying to get ready.

Colin destroyed our "Love and Logic" tape on good parenting. Pretty ironic, huh?

We are trying to do away with Colin's naps. He gets so tired from his daily "adventures" that he has been falling asleep in all sorts of funny places. His favorite is the coffee table. If it is quiet in the late afternoon, and Colin is MIA, you can bet he has fallen asleep somewhere.

Ready for action!

Ajlun Castle

The kids have had the week off school for Eid Al-Fitr holiday, so we've been trying to find activities to keep them busy. We took a road trip up north to Ajlun. It is the site of a Medieval Islamic castle built in the 12th century A.D.

A group of local men asked to take pictures with our kids.

Here is Colin's new friend from Petra.

The castle has a great view of the Jordan River Valley and several scarcely populated hills.

Andrew collects plastic bb's he finds everywhere we go.

Here is a souvenir that he couldn't take with him.

Eid Al-Fitr Holiday at Um Qais

Eid Al-Fitr (end of Ramadan) started today. The kids have a week off school and I have three days off work. Today we went with our friends, the Sanfords, to Um Qais - some Roman ruins in the north of Jordan. The city was previously called Gadara. It is located on a hill that overlooks the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, and Syria.

Behind us you can see the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. After reading so much about the history of the Golan Heights, it was fun to see the much contested area.

Colin thought the Roman ampitheater was a good place to show us his new dance moves.

Our tour guide took us to a mausoleum (burial chamber) on the outskirts of the city gate.

On the way home, we came upon a heard of sheep and camels that were blocking the road. They were very comfortable and would not move, so I had to get out of the car and clear a path for our car to get through. We drove home through small towns along side the Jordan River and the beautiful, green Jordan Valley. In each of the small towns the kids were in the streets celebrating "Eid". They all had new clothes on and new little toys.

What's Cooking?

We've started a new tradition of making bread each Friday afternoon. I usually have at least two helpers who get more flour on the floor and on themselves than in the oven. We started baking bread since loaves of bread in Jordan do not last and are poor quality. The pita bread here is excellent and very inexpensive, but we were missing good sliced bread.

Shelley was put in charge of the young girls at our church. There are six of them. Two Americans, two Jordanians, and two girls from Sri Lanka. They get together at our place each week for an activity. This past week another friend from church taught the girls how to make apple pastries - very yummy.

A Close Substitute for the Beach

Almost on a daily basis, Colin asks to go to the beach. When we ask what he wants to do, he invariably says, "go to the beach." We haven't made it to Aqaba - the closest beach (four hours away), so I made made a sand box as a substitute. We had a group of six Egyptians haul and sift the sand to remove the rocks. The sand box has provided hours of entertainment for Colin and hours of peace and quiet for his mother.

Gaby's 9th Birthday

Gaby turned 9 on August 30th. She is a very fun-loving, energetic, and talented young lady. She does very well at music and loves reading. For her birthday party, Gaby invited the girls in her class and several other of her friends to the house. We had 12 lively girls over for games, dancing, and cupcakes.