The biggest change this month was the purchase of this new schnazy van! After much research we found not many options for a van in the city. We knew we wanted to get something that had capacity to hold lots of people and already we are SO glad we did! We can fit our whole team (6 +3 kids) Also, it's great to haul all the neighbor kids!
The freedom that this has given us has been amazing so far. A true refreshment!
Loading up and making a grocery run and be able to get more than my hands can carry is a huge blessing. Also, the money that is saved from not having to ride in a taxi is huge as well.
and we can actually go to a park, and search new areas of the city :)
We took a trip to Sulymania (neighboring city 6 hours away) the week of Thanksgiving. Seeing K-stan in our own vehicle was a great experience!
Our teammate Sarah went with us, and it really is a beautiful area of the world!
The only drawback of driving ourselves is the stress of driving in the rain on roads that are below American Standards. Andy did great though!
But staying with our teammates and their family in Suly was such a huge blessing. It's so great to be able to fellowship with them and we are blessed by their mentorship (just wish they were closer). The mom is an AMAZING cook and hosted their fellowship for thanksgiving. It was an amazing taste of home where we actually had cranberries, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie! MMMMMM! A great refreshing time of fellowship.
So yes, a car has been GREAT! But we haven't been completely consumed by that :) It has been a month of changes in lots of ways...
We tried to get rid of Zander's afternoon nap, by replacing it with Quiet time in his room. But I would walk in his room after 30 mins to find him on the floor, asleep on top of his puzzle.
After a couple weeks we realized, life would just be better if he just continued to take his nap and we quit fighting it.
Also, big changes for Zephie! She started walking....
and rockin' pig-tails, and the side-pony.
Zander learned how to write his name!
Our kitchen walls are like a huge white-board. I was Pin-spired to do a Thanks-Giving tree so we made our version of it in our kitchen- reflecting the month of November what we can "Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good" and also, what ways we can Give to others for "God loves a cheerful giver"
We spent the week leading up to Thanksgiving talking about how the tradition started. My little Squanto is so sweet!
We also finished up our basketball clinic with CSM kids with a tournament. This may be the start of something bigger for basketball in Duhok????
Camping: Well, Andy and some guys went camping under the stars one night.
Meanwhile us ladies ate cream puffs, drank coffee, and watched a chick-flick!
It was hard to believe that little Henry had a tempature of 105 the night before! :( Sweet boy!
Changes in the weather came as well. In October and the first couple weeks of November, I was able to have some quiet time out on our roof watching the sun-rise over the city. It was glorious every morning!
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