(That's "Cairo" to the uninitiated). Everybody is safe, sound and (mostly) sane.



There's never a dull moment, so we're 'way behind the times in keeping folks at home updated. But now we're in the Blogosphere, so perhaps a weekly update will be forthcoming, in sha'allah. (For you Westerners, "in sha'allah" is the Arabic version of Mississippi's "Lord willin' and the creek don't rise." Your average Mohammed would never think of talking about the future without throwing in a couple in sha'allah's for good measure).

The trip over was uneventful. We left on December 28th. The 29-hour flight was smooth, and no one had any meltdowns -- not even Grant...

No drugs necessary!

The lady at the airport in Jackson was a bit taken aback by our 22 pieces (1/2 ton) of luggage, as was the taxi driver who took us from the Cairo airport to our new flat.

The apartment is much nicer and more spacious than we expected. There's plenty of room for everybody and everything (the contents of 22 pieces of luggage is really not that much when you spread it all out).

There are three bedrooms. The boys aren't fully convinced that it's fair for them to all bunk together while the Princess of the family gets her own private quarters.

No, the boys don't have to sleep all the in the same bed! And Grant is not asleep in every picture. Here he is, first in line at the "hadonna" (Egyptian preschool) where he and Parker attend.

And here are Barrett and Anna Catherine at their school.

The people here in Cairo are wonderful. We felt welcome from the first day. We have much to tell about our experiences with them, but those observations we'll save for another installment.

We leave for a week-long business meeting in Kenya a couple days from now, so there probably will be no updates until we return. But afterwards we'll try to post something every few days until we catch up, and then we hope to provide regular, weekly updates.

In sha'allah.