First Month in Duhok

our view from our roof

We survived (and enjoyed) our first month back in Iraq! 

 Traveling here was different than the first time over last year.  1. Extra kid= car seat, stroller, diaper bag, nursing, etc.  Much more "stuff" to bring. 2.  Airplane was full so no extra seats. All of us shared three seats. Different from last year where we got bulk head and a full row of seats. 3.  Didn't have to travel (land in Iraq) in heat of summer- Whew! 4. Traveled straight through all the way to our house. 5. By God's grace no delays, problems, or huge freakouts by the kids (or any of us for that matter)  Lots of patience was needed by all. 

Thank you for individual, never-ending TV recordings in our plane seats, and some decent food to make the trip go reasonably quick! (I was remembering the warm fuzzy thoughts of that Raspberry White Mocha I just enjoyed in the Chicago airport)

 Then.... our first few moments back in Iraq waiting for our 2.5 hour taxi ride to Duhok.

Our craziness first few days, as we were trying to organize, clean, and arrange our house.  Our living room was Zander's room until his room was ready.

Although our house was in much better condition than our house last year, we still had lots of cleaning and fixing up to do.  But over and over again, we thanked God for his provision in housing for us!

We started to orient ourselves to the city again.  Adjusting much faster than last time, as we understood a little more language, and where things were in the city. This makes such a BIG difference. There was some really beautiful sunny days. Probably in the 50's and we get an amazing view of the mountains everyday!

We were TOTALLY pumped when we found this new park though! Thank you Lord! Slides, monkey-bars, walking path?!?!? NO WAY..... Sha-Boo-YAH!

Although not exactly sure why they feel the need to just chop off the tops of all their trees? Hmmmmm?  Some things we will never understand.

Rug cleaning (Kurdish Style)

 Zander was a little more help this year!

Reacquainted with our friends!

Potty-Training.... Arghhhhh. Let's try to keep it positive and say that we had some bright spots.  Where special candy from America came in handy when he went poopoo on the potty.

He likes to draw people these days. Here's his portrait of our teammate/neighbor/friend Miss Julie. 

Speaking of TEAM. Our first month our team consisted of these lovely people- from left to right: (Me, Stacy, Zander, Helen, Andy, Julie, Dan)  Team Duhok is growing and thriving!

Don't worry our kids get LOTS of love from everyone here!

Our teammates from last year John and Mary will be joining us with their new little guy Henry who is one month younger than Zephie.  Pictures of them hopefully soon! :)

That's typically how I know what to write- just use my pictures to have a photo-journal to document what we have been up to.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show of all the people we have reacquainted with, new friends we have already met, or any of the students at the school where Andy is at most of the day. We are super thankful for this last month.  The little things and the big things that God has and is doing-- In our hearts and people we come into contact with.  

Thanks for journeying to Iraq with us!