In an earlier post I mentioned that Grant saw no good use for an umbrella other than using it for a walking cane. Understandably so because in his two years here he has had little opportunity to see umbrellas. (side note - the Arabic word for umbrella is shamsayya which is derived from the word for sun, not rain.) The other morning, we woke to thunder and a quick shower, our first since March. It was great! Grant wanted to go outside and "touch it" so we headed downstairs to the street.

Last weekend was the Eid (three day feast) and there was no school on Sunday for Monday. So Monday morning we got a taxi and headed to Saquara to ride horses. It was such a beautiful place - a palm grove in the Sahara. We rode horses for a couple of hours passing Saquara, the first pyramid, and some other less famous ones as well. In most every sense, life in Egypt is very normal but riding horses at the pyramids is a good reminder that this indeed is not Mississippi!

If you look closely at the picture of John, you can see the Saquara pyramid in the background. Obviously, these are not the pyramids usually shown in pictures (and in our header). Those three are the Giza pyramids which are about a half hour from our house.

back at the ranch...
for a delicious lunch





and dates for dessert.

Parker has made his list. Send in your translation. We will post the results in a few days. (Hint - the "u" at the beginning is "a" as in uh bike...

It was a wonderful Christmas complete with things from home,
(pecans, Kisses and homemade fudge!)

school programs,