The Hams

Photo Shoot

2012-01-20T05:53:00.000-08:00

Jovee had a photo shoot with Grandma Courliss. They are great pictures! I just wanted to share some of my favorites with you!

Christmas Pictures

2012-01-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

I know I am a bit behind for the last 2 months. Time really gets away when you travel! We had a great time with family over the Christmas Holiday. Jovee especially had a great time....

We found her love for dogs. I swear she was saying "doggie" by the end of the trip. Every time she saw Kelsy and Cody she would say it!

We also got to spend a lot of time with family!!

Christmas

2012-01-12T02:14:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas really got away with us this year. What a fun time...we flew to the States to see family and to celebrate the awesome holiday we are still free to celebrate. It was a special holiday because we surprised the Bob and Marilynn at their church in Christmas Eve. I honestly did not think the surprise would work. We had the tickets for about 2 months and I just knew I was going to mess up one day on Skype. There were moments I would let something slip about "When we are visiting" and then I would quickly add..."This summer!!!" I am glad it seemed to work because they were soooooooo surprised on Christmas. But other than that we also got to see Great Grandma Courliss and we got an awesome 4 generation picture! It is a joy and humbling to have 4 generations in one room together. Our family has been quite blessed.

Well Jovee had her first Christmas's and there were all a success. We found her deep love for wrapping paper, dogs and anyone with a camera!!!!!! What a fun personality the Lord has blessed her with. Now I am in the process of trying to convince her dad that as much as we may want one, it is not the best time to get a dog!!!! It is not that easy!!!!!!!

Well I hope you enjoy the video and Merry Christmas!!!!

Uncle Timmy

2011-12-08T04:03:00.000-08:00

Jovee LOVES her Uncle Tim. We feel so blessed to have family over here in Egypt. It is great that Jovee can get close to her Aunt and Uncle. I wish they were all over here but I guess two out of six is not that bad!!!

These are some of my favorite pictures of Jovee with her Uncle!!!

Bath Time Changes!

2011-12-08T02:26:00.000-08:00

Bath time has changed at the Ham household. It makes me very sad. Bath time was and is my favorite part of the day. Jovee loves the water and splashing around. When she was younger we laid her on a sponge and she would kick her little feet as fast as they could go. My heart still gets a little smile when I think about it. But she is getting older and things are changing. Now she has a big girl chair to sit in. I never understood why people would spend the money on one of these chairs until Jovee started crawling and standing up to everything. When we were in the bath she would try to stand up to the faucet or to the side of the tub. This stared making our normal bath time of 30 minutes about 5!!!!! Also it was making Momma go crazy. I was constantly sitting her back down and she did not want to sit down and she was very slippery so you can just imagine how much fun it was becoming! So about two weeks ago I realized why people spent their money on these GLORIOUS bath seats! And Jovee loves it!!!

She enjoys playing with all the little toys on her seat. The blue turttle is her favorite. It splashes you when you push it down!

This is a new face that we have just started to see in the last couple days. She scrunches up her nose and then blows out! It is so funny! We think that she may have picked this up from her friend Molly, but it is so cute!

I know this one is blurry but I just love her face!!!!

If You're Happy and You Know It

2011-12-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

Jovee's newest adventure is clapping! It is so cute because she really does not know what she is doing but she gets VERY excited and waves her hands out of control and then suddenly they started making noise, and she has been hooked ever since! The other day I was singing with her and she started clapping in all the right places so Norris decided to take some video. I think the cutest part in the video is when Norris whispers very excitedly "Do it again".

Enjoy Jovee's rendition of "If you're happy and you know it"

All About DADA

2011-12-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

This video is all about Jovee and her daddy!!!!!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T10:59:00.000-08:00

Norris and I feel so blessed that we have wonderful family here and also Egyptian family here to celebrate Thanksgiving together. As Norris says I always say I want to do something "small and easy" and when it comes to the event it never is small or easy!

Jovee was helping me out looking at all the recipes....
She got a little too excited and got stuck under the chair!

My first pumpikn pies. I do not like the normal crust so I did a graham cracker crust. But we can't find graham cracker so I used Digestive Cookies!! Yum!

And of course we had to have Spinach Artichoke Dip

Karen and I made a turkey from my Cheese Ball!!!!!

Some of the food that we had....oh it was soooooo good!!!!

Norris gave an awesome speech from George Washington about what Thanksgiving was all about! It was a very neat speech and it was a great to start off the night!

Happy Thanksgiving

Crawling

2011-11-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

Our new favorite game to play around the house is chase the bottle. Jovee does not like her toys of course....she would much rather have the water bottles!!! Now that she is becoming more mobile the game is more fun... We can make her chase the bottle and we get enjoyment out of it and so does she!

Halloween

2011-11-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

Norris make the claim that if Jovee cannot say "Halloween" then we do not need to get her a costume! I agreed with him this year because she really has no idea what is going on. Plus there is no place to go Trick or Treating here so it is all a moot point anyway! So since Norris did not want to buy anything I looked around the house and decided that Jovee should be a Bethel student! We had the hat lying around and it seemed like a fun idea! So here is Jovee as a Bethel Student!

This is Jovee's "Security Blanket"

She just finished her finals!

For the Courliss and Corradi Girls!

2011-11-11T04:37:00.000-08:00

The other day when Norris and I were on our date I came across an amazing deal! 20 Hair bows for about $5!!!!!! AMAZING! I just looked at Norris and he knew it was over! We bought them all.....now Jovee has hairbows for every color dress, shirt, pants, any outfit you can imagine.

This dress is from Grandma Courliss... Jovee loves it!

And these are all her new hairbows!!!!

As you can see she loves them! And so does her mommy!!! It was tough to get Norris to buy them but when we heard that they were like $5 he was much more lenient....and I also heard him say that he does think she looks very cute in them!!!!

All About Grandpa!

2011-11-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

This video is for Grandpa Ham from Jovee!!!!!!!

Toys

2011-11-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

Jovee loves all of her toys....whether they are small, big, soft, hard, or not intended to be toys she loves them all the same.

I love the look that she gets on her face of complete concentration! She is such a cutie.

I also find it quite amusing when she decides that she is going to eat a toy. She does not hold back, she will try to stick as much of the toy in her mouth as she can!!!!!

She also likes to talk to her toys. I always wonder what she is saying and what goes on in her mind but I guess I will never know!

working out with mama

2011-11-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

The other day Norris got a video of Jovee working out her leg muscles with mama!!!!! Yes the video has been slice and diced so that you do not need to endure the sight of me working out :-)

It is here....

2011-11-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well she is crawling. It is finally official! It happened the other day when Jovee got so excited to see cousin Eden on skype she crawled to her!!!! Sorry about the excitement that comes from me in the video! I did not know Norris was recording and I go a little nuts-o!!! Oh well I guess that is what mothers do! And yes I do understand she does not crawl that far but even today she was making more progress!

Raspberries from daddy.....

2011-11-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Jovee is becoming such a little girl. She screams anytime she gets a little excited and I feel like I am watching a mini me!
She loves her daddy so much. She is making up for the 2 months she missed with her daddy!
I don't know what you call it a blueberry, strawberry or raspberry but Jovee loves it! She is at the fun age where she can interact with us. She knows when we are playing peek-a-boo and the "I'm gonna get you" game! It is making life around the house very fun!

Norris's Rice Cereal Jingle

2011-10-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

This video was taken a while ago. Norris and I were going through our stuff and we found this video and I realized I have not posted it. Norris came up with an awesome jingle for Rice Cereal. Jovee seemed to like it and the rice cereal! I thought the song was pretty good for him coming up with it on the fly!!!

Enjoy!

Jovee Walking

2011-10-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

Jovee walking (with her daddy holding her of course!!!! Norris wants you all to know that he was not making her move...he was just holding her up! As you can see she is quite clumsy!!! She will get there some day....and as soon as she does I am sure we will wish she would just sit and play with her toys!!!!!!!

Enjoy!!

Carrots

2011-10-27T02:10:00.000-07:00

Well it is that time, food time! I am glad that we are in Egypt and veggies are really cheap! I am excited for Jovee to start eating solid foods. I am not sure she is as excited!

I decided to start with Carrots because they are in abundance here and when I was pregnant Jovee really liked them!!!!!!!

When I started to blend the carrots Jovee went crazy....Note to self do not blend with her in the room!!! We now have to make sure that Norris is in the other room playing with her so that she will not be scared!

The finished product! The carrots and bananas! I am not sure how she likes the bananas yet but she did NOT like the carrots!

MAKE IT STOP!!!!

Hopefully as time goes on she will learn to love carrots like her mom!!!

Fun kisses

2011-10-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

Jovee has been making funny kissing noises.... I try to copy the noise back to her but can't do the noise because I have teeth, but it is so cute.

One Woman Band

2011-10-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Jovee was making enough noise the other day to be her own band!

Enjoy!

6 months

2011-10-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Jovee at 6 months old....

Smile: She still has a very cute smile...no teeth in that smile yet!

Ability to Laugh and Cry at the same time: Yes she still does this...now she holds her breath and screams and then giggles...(if you can figure that out, let me know)

Determination: I am afraid that personality is going to have her crawling very soon!

Naps: She is sleeping pretty good....all through the night! I will take it!

Eating: She hates carrots...now we are going to start Avocados.

Bath time: She now likes to sit up and play with the bubbles

Pictures: She is getting better with pictures. She has learned that she needs to smile for the camera!

Excessive Slobber: I am afraid we are never going to know if she is teething or just being Jovee!

Singing: she still loves to sing

Cairo Walks: She now gets very excited and giggles when we get out the carrier!!! She is like a little puppy!!! :-)

Cairo Traffic

2011-10-22T01:35:00.000-07:00

Well the other day Norris and I officially went insane. I know you may say "that is not a long trip"but with the combination of things it finally happened.
First: We were coming home from school on a Wednesday eagerly waiting to see our daughter and we hit some bad traffic. Now the thing about Cairo traffic is there really is no reason for the traffic. You find yourself wondering why you are stuck but then 15-20 minutes later you are through the traffic and there did not seem to be a reason you were stopped. That is why we always say..."never ask why". Just go with the flow, which brings us to the second issue....

Second: The country of Egypt decided to change all the cell phone numbers in the country. We are not really sure why, maybe they have run out of numbers. It is very likely as there are 25 million people just in the city of Cairo and they all have a cell phone. Not sure what is was but how they changed them did not make any sense. Good thing our school sent out a little check list so we could find our number and see what they did to them.

In order for us to remember our numbers Norris wrote a song. As we were stopped in traffic for 20 minutes we decided to sing our song on the bus..... Enjoy!

Are you ready for some Football????

2011-10-20T01:56:00.000-07:00

Jovee is.....

First we had to have a little time with Uncle Tim and Aunt Karen....

And of course we needed to have Cousin Courliss involved with us too...

Norris setting up the contraption. We were watching the Detroit game and the Green Bay game.

Jovee just lounging in front of the T.V.

We watched the Lions game like I said and we must have jinxed them....They lost! Next Sunday we will have to watch a different team and just cheer Detroit on in spirit!!!!

Day at the Park

2011-10-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

We spent a day at Alazhar park with some of our friends. It was a beautiful day. The sun was so bright and it was very green. Green is not a color we get to see to often in Cairo so days like this are very special.

Mom it is very bright out here

The girls were hungry after all the time in the sun

Family shot

Molly!!!!!!! Your dress is so pretty

Playing with our toys. The girls were learning how to share. It is never to early to start learning :-)

Oh...This toy is much bigger....

I was surprised that Molly just took it! She never flinched or anything!

Jovee's Photo Shoot

2011-10-15T02:09:00.000-07:00

The other day I dressed Jovee in some jeans we were given. I fell in love with them. She looked so cute and grown up! So I decided that we needed to take a photo shoot.

We started on the floor because we have to be
close to Mr. Monkey!

I just love her tongue in these...just like her daddy! Sorry I got her feet a little blurry in this shot!

We then moved to the couch, because she loves to sit up!

Whats up guys???

UM....does she not look JUST like her daddy?!?!?!
I love her little smile and dimples!

We then decided that we should take pictures of our Friday Church outfits! The little flower was given to us by Grandma Ham and I think she is sooooo cute!

Umm look at these things connected to me! Jovee mommy is up here!!!

Just fun smiles!!!!

Look at this pretty flower on my head mom...

I added these photos because yes as you are wondering....it did end in her falling over. She was so strong she pulled herself over!!!!

Thanksgiving

2011-10-13T01:56:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday with our Egyptian Family. It is a wonderful tradition that we have had the privalege of attending for the last 3 years!! If we ever leave Cairo I think we will have to fly back on Canadian Thanksgiving so that we can have the yummy food by Heidi and great company!!

Jovee getting some loving when she comes in the door. She has the most kissable cheeks!

She loves her friend Molly!!!

The yummy food! Heidi is the best cook and Thanksgiving meal is just awesome! As you can see by Norris' plate he is enjoying it!!! Oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it!!!!

Hanging out with Uncle Tim and Aunt Karen after the meal....

Doing some tummy stretches to make room for dessert!

Norris just snapped this photo without looking! I love the expression on Molly's face! She is soooo cute and ALWAYS seems to have a smile on her face!

A little Thanksgiving tradition of Twister Dance while waiting for dessert! Greg and Molly decided to give it a try!

Fun family photos! Poor Jovee had been awake since 2:30! I think she did great for being so tired!!!!

We then found a light-saber. These photos are for my dad and brother Jeremy. Yes we are starting her young to "have the force". She had a unique way of holding the light-saber. She stuck her thumb in the bottom of it so that she could hold it!!!

Norris' surprise birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with snickers on the top! Kinzi made it and it was delicious. She takes after her mom in the cooking department. Then of course there was all the other dessert! YUM!!!!! It was so good!

Norris' Surprise Birthday Cake

2011-10-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

At Canadian Thanksgiving our friends made Norris a birthday cake. It was so funny because he kept looking around trying to figure out whose birthday it was. After we sang him "Happy Birthday" the group decided to tell Norris all the wonderful things they love about him! It was such a special unexpected time! Here is a little bit of the time that we had.... (it is always fun to see Norris get embarrassed, since he does it to me all the time!!!) :-)

Park Day

2011-10-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

SHE DID IT! After 5 1/2 months she finally laughed! It was so exciting! We went to the park yesterday with some of our friends and while daddy was playing with her she started laughing!!! It was the most precious sound I have ever heard!

Window Friend

2011-10-08T02:44:00.000-07:00

Jovee has a "window friend". She can't quite figure out why the pretty girl that she sees will not talk back to her.

Reading With the Grandparents

2011-10-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

This video is for the grandparents. They got Jovee these books so that they can read to her. She loves them! They are our favorite part of reading time at night. It is neat to have their voices so close to us even though we are far away! Just wanted to show how much she loves hearing their voices!!!!!!

29 wonderful years!

2011-10-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

Norris had his 29th birthday a few days ago. We had a great time with friends and family to celebrate his special day. I love birthday's. Especially when it is someone that I love so much. I feel so blessed to have spent the last 10 birthday's with Norris! He is such a blessing in my life and I love him so much!

Jovee and Molly both really love hanging out with Norris.

We of course Love hanging out with Aunt Karen,

and Uncle Tim. It is so nice to have family so close! And to have that family in Cairo! What a blessing!

We had a surprise for Norris on Friday. I did not have 29 candles so I tried to make a 2 and a 9. It did not quite turn out but he got the point!

I took this idea from Allison. She did this a couple of years ago and I thought it was awesome. I created a story for Norris and used the candy as words for the story. The only problem is I am eating all the chocolate Kisses!!!!!

"In a "galaxy" far, far away there lived a man named Norris that had a birthday. His wife was a "flake" and his daughter a "nut". He was "extra" special to them. He was a big "hit" and brought them lots of "joy". They gave him lots of "Kisses" on his special day. He was the "star" of their eyes. There is only one more thing to say and that is the "classic" happy birthday!"

Jovee was helping daddy read his card from her. Just in case he could not read it!

Happy Birthday daddy!!!

5 months

2011-09-29T01:38:00.000-07:00

Jovee is 5 months old. Norris and I think this is the best stage. I would like to bottle her up and keep her at this age. Although I am looking forward to the next phase this has been a joy. Just thought we would give you a little insight into

"What Makes Jovee"

Smile: I think it looks like her daddy's. Especially when she sticks her tongue out!
Ability to Laugh and Cry at the same time: All MOM
Determination: She has a very determined personality that is just like her daddy
Naps: She loves her nap time..that is from both mom and dad
Eating: As you may notice our child is not lacking in the food department. I think that is both mom and dad
Bath time: SHE LOVES BATH TIME. That is mom.
Pictures: That is dad. She does not like to get her picture taken. I think she is trying to figure out what the weird growth is on my face!
Excessive Slobber: Totally Dad
Singing: She loves to sing to praise and worship music while dad plays the guitar..like Mom
Cairo Walks: That is like mom and dad

Is she smart like Cody or Kelsey?

2011-09-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

So the other day when Norris was playing with Jovee we decided to throw her burp clothe over her head and see how she responded. Because you know what they say, if a dog is smart they will try to get out from under the blanket and if they are not so smart they will just lay with the blanket over them.
So we thought we would try this out on Jovee to see what kind of a response we would get....
The results are varied

Test Number 1:

Test number 2 had quite different results:

When did that happen??????

2011-09-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

So on Thursday, my day off, I was getting some things done around the house. I put Jovee under her little toy arch and did the dishes and was cleaning the kitchen. When I came out to check on her she was on the other side of the room!!! WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN??? She can not crawl yet but she managed to scoot herself across the room! I guess I am going to need to keep my eye on this girl!!!

Don't mind the massive amount of drool on her chin and the bit that drops on the floor!!! Just makes her so much more kissable ;-)

Good Morning

2011-09-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

I think that the best time with Jovee is in the morning!!! When she smiles I just melt!!! I love her little smiles!!! She is soooooo cute!!!!! She looks just like her daddy!! LOVE IT!

Rice Cereal...YUM

2011-09-22T04:03:00.000-07:00

Jovee has loved the world of rice cereal. It is always very exciting when we put her in her chair to eat. She is just like her mommy...she always says yum before it even gets to her mouth.

Now we just have to work on her not helping me with the spoon! It tends to make more of a mess when she tries to help!

YUM,YUM!!!

Oh one more little obstacle....her HANDS!!! She can't tell which one she likes more her hands or the food!!!! LOVE HER!

These are a few of my Favorite drinks...

2011-09-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

Jovee has found a whole new world of drinks. She loves it when we have a glass of something to drink. It really does not matter what it is as long as she can suck on the outside she is good!

We first became aware of this new quirk during one of our many afternoon visits to Starbucks!

We were hoping not to get her addicted to early but I feel it is already to late......

We knew that it was here to stay when Daddy got out his soda and the yells began...

You know she is her daddy's daughter!

It has now grown so that she is grabbing the glass even when we are drinking from it!

But don't worry she is not just drinking things with caffeine!!!! We are teaching her healthy habits too!

Busy Time

2011-09-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well I have not posted a blog in a while. It has been quite busy around the Ham household. We are back to school and trying to adjust to a brand new schedule. Jovee seems to be doing better than mommy. I believe that is how it always works.
Just because we have not blogged in a while does not mean we have not been having some fun!

This was the boys very technical way of measuring the girls!

Visiting Daddy's Classroom at school

Helping daddy hang some pictures on the wall

Meeting new freinds

Reading stories with Mom

Finding our toes and our knees

Playing with anything and everything that is NOT a toy

Happy Baby Shower Jovee

Just mom trying to be artsy

Showing daddy how to spend his money!

New Camera

2011-09-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

MY AWESOME Aunt and Uncle bought us a new flip camera!!! So I put together a little video of Jovee in her bouncy seat! Enjoy!!!!!!!

Love Language

2011-09-01T03:17:00.000-07:00

So Jovee has a new language that she speaks to me. I am not quite sure what she is saying but I am sure it means... "Mom you are the best"

Pool Time

2011-08-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our friends gave us a little blow-up pool that we got out today. Now we had to do it in our living room because it is way to hot to be outside with her in the sun.

Jovee sporting her new swimsuit....I can't quite figure out why/how it is a 12 month size....it will only fit her for about another month...but whatever!!!

She loved splashing in the water..

She wanted to try to drink the water.....

ummm.....tasty....

Splashing in the water....

4 Months

2011-08-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

We have made it through the first few months. They have been interesting to say the least, but definitely interesting!!
Jovee got all her measurements at the doctor's office yesterday:
Height: 26 Inches
Weight: 18 lbs
She is a big girl and seems quite healthy! Nothing more we could ask for.....ok maybe one night of sleep but that will come someday :-)
Here are some pictures of Jovee at 4 months old:

Jovee our little cheerleader!

Jovee decided that she wanted to get up at 5am on her 4 month birthday, she just wanted to relax on the couch!

Later that day we were practicing our squats...

The many faces of Jovee.....

She loves to eat her burp cloth....it is sooooo tasty.....

Singing Baby

2011-08-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

Norris likes to play the guitar for Jovee in the afternoons. Lately Jovee has become quite vocal, which we love. It is very cute to hear her voice and I think she is going to be a soprano!!!!!!!

Star Wars Lovin'

2011-08-21T01:52:00.000-07:00

The other day Jovee was having a rough day. Norris and I decided to have a "Star Wars" marathon to help us get through Jovee's rough day. Little did we know that all it took was a little "Star Wars" in her life to make her better!!!!

She is truly a Courliss!!!! :-)
She also has the wookie call down.....

Reading Time

2011-08-21T01:47:00.000-07:00

Every night before we give Jovee a bath we read for about 30 minutes. She seems to really like that time. Last night she decided that she wanted to read to us!

Last Christmas Norris was given "Panda's Little Secret" from his parents. It was the same book that he was given at his first birthday. When he was little his mom and dad used to read it to him. The other day Norris decided that it was time to share with Jovee..."The Secret"

Snuggle Time

2011-08-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

We have been told that we need to treasure the time that we have with Jovee at each stage. Now honestly I am glad that the newborn stage is over, but I will be quite sad when she leaves this stage! She is very snugly and I love it!

Right before we give her a bath!

Chillin' with Daddy

Showing Jovee our favorite place on earth....Thailand

Our Crazy Family! I love Jovee's face in these pictures!!!!!

Weekly Update

2011-08-18T04:45:00.000-07:00

Jovee has done a lot of things in the past week. Her biggest achievement has been rolling from her back to her front! She loves to do it! We set her down and over she goes. The problem is....she then gets mad that she is on her tummy and can't reach her toys. Now I know everyone says there baby is the best and does things super early but I think she might crawl soon. (Norris thinks I am crazy. He says she crawls about 1mm every two hours!!!!!!!!!) I think she has daddy's determined personality, you never know, right?

Also we got her a fun new toy. It is a walker and she loves to walk around with it! It is really cute because she just goes in a circle. I feel like she is like Kelsey my parents dog. She can only turn one direction :-)

Jovee uses a new bottle top!!!! If you know anything about her ability to eat, or lack there of, you will also be impressed. We had to buy some new bottles and we tried the tops and she could eat with them and not choke!!!! We were so excited. She can now eat in about 10-15 minutes instead of 30-45 minutes!!!! It is awesome!!!!!!
Other than that we are just hanging out trying getting ready to go back to school!!! Two more weeks of vacation!

Change is in the (H)air....

2011-08-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well there has been a lot of change around here this week.....
#1..... The biggest change I think is in Norris. Yup you guessed it off went the hair!

Looking Good....It looks like there is a dead animal in our sink!!!

We were afraid that Jovee would not recognize Norris without his hair but she knew it was him immediately. No fooling that child!

The next big change is in our furniture. We got Barney our big purple couch this week!!! WE LOVE IT! Is is sooooooooo comfy to sit on and take naps on!!!!

Jovee had her first feeding on it and loved it!

Now it looks REALLY purple in the picture but there is a bit of tan and pink that run through the material....Ok it is purple..........

It's all in the family...or not!

2011-08-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

Norris and I do not have the privilege of watching many of Justin's games because of the time difference from here to Cleveland. When we were in the States he seemed to pitch every afternoon game but now that we are back in Egypt and we want him to pitch the afternoon games it is not happening. The internet is a great thing though...we can get up every morning and read articles about how amazing he did the night before...and then we don't have to be nervous while we are watching!!!! SO win, win! The other day when we were reading how Justin did there was a picture of him throwing the ball...

We were not sure how in the world he was doing that with him arm.....

So we decided to try ourselves.....

Now if you look at me I am doing it perfectly. I think that my form could get me to the pros in a minute..... :-)

And then there is Norris....he thinks he has it down but don't tell him that I am WAY better.....

As you can see neither one of us could even come close.....Justin, not sure how you do it but Awesome!!!!!

The Apple of His Eye

2011-08-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

Special Moments with Daddy

Our bi-polar baby

2011-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Not sure whether to laugh or cry!!!

Weekly Update

2011-08-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

Jovee has not done too many new things this week. She is starting to grab at her toes, which I think is one of the cutest things ever! She is getting soooooooo close to rolling over...Back to Tummy. She gets so close that it is hard to just sit and watch her. I really want to help her over, but I know that would be cheating! :-)

We also have started a tradition of reading to her before we give her a bath and head to bed. Her favorite book is of Grandma Courliss reading to her. She likes to talk to Grandma while she is reading the book! It is very cute!

6 years and counting

2011-08-08T04:04:00.000-07:00

As I was reminiscing over the last 6 years I realized that Norris and I have know each other for the past 11 years!!! And if you know us you know the first 5 years were interesting!!!! We celebrated our 6 year anniversary on Saturday and it was fun to think about what we thought marriage was 6 years ago and what we think marriage is now!!! Don't worry I know that in 6 years I will be saying the same thing!! We have this tradition of watching our wedding video and reception video for our anniversary. Every time we get to our engagement section I just cry like a baby! It was such a fun day and I think about how everything in my life changed from that moment on! And even more recently we have a beautiful baby girl to add to our family...with more to come we hope :-)

This was our first anniversary in Cairo and we did not know that it would be in the middle of Ramadan. Still it was one of my favorite anniversaries. Norris bought me a puzzle. This puzzle has a lot of significance as it is of India. Two years ago when we went to India to visit we left all our camera's and video camera on the train. Needless to say we have NO pictures of our trip. So Norris bought this puzzle for us to put together and spend quality time together after Jovee goes to sleep!

The problem is we are not working right now soooooo we finished after only 2 days!

We have decided that we need to get another one even bigger to finish during the school year!

Three Months

2011-08-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well if you would have told me a year ago all the things that would have happened to Norris and I during my 9 months of pregnancy I would have laughed at you. Well these three months of Jovee's life have also been quite exciting. It was been fun to see her grow. She is rolling over...not that often, just when she feels like it. She loves to suck on her hands and play with her firefly toy...thanks to Amber Rohde for that!!!!!!!! These are some of the things that Jovee has loved to do during her first three months!

I already have favorite outfits that I will keep for her when she has her babies... This is my favorite outfit!

She loves to play with her cousin!!! They both have the Ham nose I think!! They are going to be great friends/cousins growing up!

And of course she loves to hang out with her grandpa!!!

And we can't forget hanging out with her Great- Grandma!!!

Jovee also LOVES the water!

Whether it is the pool or Lake Michigan she loves it!

Hanging out with daddy is definitely something that Jovee LOVES!

And taking summer walks along the beach!

Hanging out with family is very enjoyable! This is four generations of Ham's...How special!

She loves to sit up and listen to any music you play for her. I love that!! Norris and I daily try to figure out whose personality she might have. The problem is she is changing daily!!! One minute I think I have her figured out and then she decides she does not like that any more!!! Too funny!!! On her three month birthday we flew to Egypt and she really has been adjusting well. She is meeting new friends and even sharing her favorite Firefly!!!!

She's Here

2011-08-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

The first blog I posted about Jovee's birth was deleted for some reason. So I will try to write another one. It is going to be different than the first because thanks to the Lord I have already forgotten the pain that I endured while birthing her. I do know that it was totally worth it but it was not easy.
I tried to tell myself that it would be the hardest thing I would ever do and also be the most painful thing I would ever experience. I think with that in my head it did not turn out to be that bad :-)
I must say that I am soooooo glad Norris was able to make it. I tired to tell myself the weeks leading up to labor that if Norris was not able to make it I would be fine. I would get through it and he would be here as soon as he could. Well good thing the Lord knew best. Norris got back 2 days before I went into labor and there was NO WAY I could have done it without him! I took some advice from my friend Allison and wrote down a bunch of scripture that I could read and pray through as I was having contractions. I am glad that my dad was there because he was able to read them to me as Norris was telling me to breath and my mom was pushing on my back..... for some reason I had some back pain.

I really can't thank Allison enough for her blog about he son's birth. It helped me realize that this process could be a very spiritual process. The Lord really helped me because I did not even know that 10 hours had gone by. I was only in labor for 12 and I think it was pretty average. When they told me I was at 9cm I almost started crying. I had no idea I was that close. My mom told me later she was glad she did not tell me I would have a baby in the next 20 minutes....because it took 2 1/2 hours for Jovee to arrive!!! It felt like half an hour to me...thanks to the Lord!!!! When Norris told me it had been 2 1/2 hours I was shocked!!!!! Every time I started to get discouraged I would pray for our new child, I ask the Lord to help someone else who was going through labor. There were times that I was selfish and I asked him to just get me through ONE MORE CONTRACTION!!!!! He always did :-) And now we have our sweet little Jovee or "The Joverton" as Norris calls her!!!!

Norris and I as we are heading to the hospital....

Waiting for baby Jovee to come!!!!

She is here.....sweet little 9lbs bundle of joy!

A family picture. Nothing will ever be the same again....

Well Jovee was perfect....of course as every mother and father would say, all 9lbs of her!!!

Weekly Update....updated!

2011-07-31T23:05:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add her first stamp in her passport!!!!!

Weekly Update....

2011-07-31T04:13:00.000-07:00

Well we have finally gotten settled into the new place. It feels so much like home I just love it! I can't express how wonderful it is to be back!!!
As we were heading through security Jovee decided that it would be a great time for a nap!

She did so well on the plane. So good that we have talked about were we should go for Christmas! When we got to the apartment we decided to put some stuff away and get organized and Jovee decided it was time for another nap. Now I must say she has NEVER fallen asleep on her own so she must have been exhausted......

We had some friends come over on Wednesday and Jovee and Molly got to meet for the first time!

They seemed to hit it off quite well!

We then went to church for the first time and I think Jovee loved it! I know the people loved her!

We then went to City Stars to do some shopping at the mall! We did not brave Spinney's this time it is only 2 days before Ramadan starts and that would have just been pure insanity!

Jovee also took her first taxi ride! I think she loves having so much to look at all the time!

Well we had a busy week but it was GREAT! Jovee really does seem to be adjusting well to the time change and the new surroundings!

Month of Baby

2011-04-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it is finally the month of Baby Ham! Norris and I can't wait to meet our little gift from God! When we found out we were pregnant we decided that we did not want to know the sex of the baby. That actually has been quite easy for the last 8 months. But finally it has caught up to me. Now that I could meet my baby at any moment I REALLY want to know if it is a boy or girl!!!!!! I can't wait to know if we will welcome a Jaxson, Ezekiel, or a Jovie!!!! I am so glad that God can help with patience. I definitely do not have any on my own. I want to be with my husband, I want to go back to Egypt, and I want to have our baby soon!!! The good thing is, it is not about ME it is about God's Will and how I will bend to Him and what he wants! He knows that I want to see my husband, he knows my desire to go back to Egypt and he knows that I would love to meet our little baby!!!!!! I just have to learn to trust in his timing. His timing is perfect!

Really though when I think about it, we only have 18 days until my due date!!!! How exciting!!!! Now all the questions begin...
What will our baby be like?
What are they going to look like? Will they have curly hair like Norris?????
What are they going to want do when they grow up?
Will they go to college?
How am I going to be as a parent?

We must just give our baby to Him NOW! He is giving us the gift to get to know one of his creations, and the opportunity to take care of him/her and teach them about God! I pray that Norris and I will be able to trust in God during this new transition of life!

Let the month of Baby Ham begin!

Waiting, Waiting, and Waiting.......

2011-03-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

Now those of you who have had children you can just laugh at this post!

Well it has been quite the last few months but it seems that we have finally reached the end. Norris and I laugh that it feels like I have been pregnant for years! We never thought month nine would ever get here and now it is finally here! In my head I told myself that I would be late and have the baby in May, but now I am getting all confused. At my appointment the doctor told me I would not make it to my due date.
So now the waiting begins. When will the day finally come? When will I get to meet our baby?!?!?! In the last few days if I go anywhere people seem shocked that the baby is still in my belly! That does not help people!!!!!!!!!!!! It is funny how quickly people forget about the waiting part of pregnancy. They forget the desire you have to meet your little one that will be different than anyone else. There will be no one else in the world that will be like OUR baby!!! How exciting!

So the waiting has begun and who knows how long it will last....one week, two weeks or a month!!!!! Only God knows........

Preparing for Baby

2011-03-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

So since I can't go to work right now I have had a lot of times on my hands. I thought I would have a lot of time to catch up on things but the days have become quite full. When I am not to busy I have begun to sew. Now you can't judge me...I have never done anything like this before.

These are some overalls I made. One of them is for a girl the other for a boy...since we do not know what we are having I had to make one of each. The boys set turned out better because it was the second pair I made!

This is a little thing that goes on the crib that you put diapers in. I like the polka-dots!!! This was really hard for me to make. There was a lot of stuff to do to make the sides fold in and there was a lot of ripping out seams and starting over! But that is the great thing about it....you can always start over!

I also made a little bag that can fit some wipes or other small random things that I can put in the diaper bag!

I also made some bibs for the baby....Now this was a really easy thing to make, but I love the material!!!!!!!

The last two things I made were burp cloths... Again it was a very easy pattern but I love the material!

I think the little giraffe is my favorite!

I am now working on a quilt but that is going to take me a little bit longer! I will add it when I finish but it might be the day before baby comes!

35/36 weeks

2011-03-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I did a belly update so I thought I would do a little update on baby Ham!

How Far along are you? 35/36 weeks depending on which doctor you talk to!

How big is Baby? I don't really want to think about it! I think that if they are right in their predictions our baby is going to be 10lbs at birth!

Weight Gain? Oh dear yes, but it seems to be fitting into the allotted amount!

Sex? We hope to not know until the big day!

Maternity Clothes? Yeah...gotta love maternity pants

Stretch Marks? None yet! Hope Lotion helps!

Sleep? I feel very blessed that I have had no problems sleeping! I hope this can continue to the birth!

Symptoms? Just lovely Braxton Hicks contractions. Not painful just a reminder that things are getting closer!

Movement? YES!!! It is slowing down because he/she is running out of room!!!!!

Food Cravings? I really wanted some cottage cheese the other night!

Labor Signs? Praise the Lord not yet!

Belly Button in or out? Still flat but I think soon it may pop.....

What I miss? Zipping up my jacket, bending over, and standing up without having to push myself up!

What I am looking forward to? Being back with Norris!

Best moment of the week? Only 30ish days left!

Changing Dreams

2011-03-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

That was the church title this week. What do you do when your dreams change? How are you going to react? Are you going to grow toward God and your covenant with him or are you going to stray from him and get angry.
Well Norris and I have been changing our dreams for the last month. We always thought that we would be having our child together in Egypt. Well there was a little "Revolution" that caused us to have to change our plans.
It is not over yet but God is in charge as he always has been. I have to be quite honest with you this has been very difficult for me. I am sorry I did not share sooner but it was hard for me to deal with what God was giving us! I love my hubby and I need to rely on God and not Norris! Anyway enough rambling....

Well here it goes. I am going to try to explain what has happened in February. I am not sure all of this will make sense but I just want to let you know what has been going on in our life. What a change it has been….

So about three weeks ago the protests in Egypt began. We were not affected by protests as they were in a very localized area of the city. Norris and I would never go to that part of the city unless we were going to go to the museum. After all the stuff started to happen our school did a great job of communicating with us and making sure we were safe. The grocery stores shut down and the banks closed and the school decided it was a good idea to get us out of the city. They did this on Monday the 24th of January. We took a fun 8-hour bus ride to Sharm el Sheik on the point of the Sinai. It was actually really fun. I know that sounds funny but it was 80-90 degrees on the Red Sea hanging out at a 5 star resort with three buffet meals a day. What more could a 7 month pregnant woman want!
As we were in Sharm the peaceful protests sadly turn violent. On Saturday the 29th it was clear this was not going to be an easy transition. The people wanted “freedom” and they felt they could only get that with Mubarak gone. As Norris and I watched the news and heard from our school we knew we had a difficult decision to make. Was it safe enough for me to go back to Cairo and have the baby or should I come back to the States and have the baby? We weighed a lot of different options and talked with our school a lot. We decided that the best thing would be to have me come back to the U.S. until I had the baby and then meet Norris back in Cairo after the birth. Don’t worry yes Norris will be back for the birth of our baby and he will get to spend some time with the baby and me! It is really hard not to be able to tell the future. If we knew that things would be fine in Egypt until June then I would be in Egypt in a heartbeat. That is our home and where our life has been for the last three years. Don’t get me wrong, I love America, but Norris and I have made a home in Egypt. But since we can’t see what the future is going to hold only God can see that we have decided this is what is best for the baby to stay here.

This is going to be a tough decision since Norris and I rarely spend time apart! I love my husband dearly and I know that the only way I will get through the next two months without him is with God! Hopefully if it all works out Norris will be here the end of April and I will have the baby and then he will go back the beginning/middle of May and then I would join him about two weeks later with the baby!

Thank you for your prayers as we go through these next two months and try to figure out when I should join Norris in Cairo. I can’t wait to get back, but we need to make sure that we are following God’s will for our life!

Intense Gamsters!!

2011-03-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

So last year Norris and I were introduced to a game called Monopoly Deal. It is an wonderful game if you have never played it! It is just a quick way and a good travel way to play Monopoly. Well when we were home for the summer we bought the game.
The thing with the card game is there are some directions that leave some discretion to the player. The problem that we found is each player has their own idea of what the rules mean.

So to make a long story short...We were playing the game with some of our friends and couple of the questions came up.....

1. Can you lay down a wild card without having a property in that color?
2. Can you use all wilds and call it a set?
3. Can you pay with property if you have money in your bank?

So after these questions came up and there was no answer to them in the directions we decided to call the hot line number!

Norris spoke with a very sweet lady who answered all of our questions. I think from now on we will always just call the number if we have a question, because no one can get mad at the hotline!

But the the news you really need to know is that I won all three games!!!!!!!!!!!!

24 Weeks

2011-01-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

How Far along are you? 24 weeks Only about 100 days left!!

How big is Baby? Baby is weighing over a pound

Weight Gain? Oh yes....Thank you to the Christmas Holiday! Working out is helping I hope!

Sex? We hope to not know until the big day!

Maternity Clothes? Yup you've gotta love being in big comfy clothes. I am not looking forward to going back to work clothes!

Stretch Marks? None yet! Hope Lotion helps!

Sleep? I am enjoying the relaxing afternoons of vacation and feeling great!

Symptoms? None yet. We just pray that God has it all in his control and everything will keep running smoothly!

Movement? YES!!! It is the most fun when he/she rolls and I feel his/her whole body turning inside!

Food Cravings? Umm...I think I need to get off the sugar high I am on!!! That will quickly change when we are back at school!

Labor Signs? Praise the Lord not yet!

Belly Button in or out? It is beginning to flatten. I have a feeling it will be out soon!

What I miss? Zipping up my jacket. I don't have one that fits....It is not really cold enough to get a new one but at times I do wish I could zip my jackets!

What I am looking forward to? I want to know if it is a boy or girl!

Best moment of the week? Realizing that I am in my 6th month not my 5th month! I know that seems weird but I was a whole month off!!! It just makes the due date feel that much closer!!!!!

Messing around with the Camera

2011-01-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

I have a Nikon 5000 that Norris bought for me last year for Christmas. He got it for me after he lost all of our stuff in India....(that is for a different blog!)
So today was a BEAUTIFUL day in Cairo so I thought I would take some pictures from our apartment. I am trying to learn about the Aperture stuff and the Shutter Speed stuff. I can do enough to get by but I want to REALLY learn about this camera! My mom made a good point about her camera...If she spent the money for the camera she wants to learn all the it has to offer! I feel the same way....

So here are some of my shots....

This first shot is an aperture shot out on our balcony.

Lens: 18-55 mm Shot at 55mm

f 3.5-5.6- f/5.6

ISO: 250

So I got it blurred behind the chair, but I need a better lens so that I can get more of the picture blurred!

Now this shot gave me just the opposite. I got the stuff behind the chair in focus but nothing else! It looks cool but not what I wanted to do!!!

Lens: 55mm

ISO: 250

f /5.6

1/320

Lens: 18mm

ISO: 250

f/22

1/125

This shot I am trying to get everything in view into focus. I think that it worked out ok but I feel as though some of the stuff behind the large building is not quite in focus.

My next shots are playing with the Shutter Speed on my camera. This is much more difficult for me. I have a harder time getting what I want into focus.

Lens: 55mm
ISO:250

f/36

1/13
Now this shot the car that is moving is in focus but the other things around the car are blurry! WHAT?? Not sure how that worked but I will keep trying!

Lens:80mm ISO: 250
f/20
1/15
Now this shot is better. One of the cars moving is in focus and the other black car behind it is very blurry. Well at least I got one in focus. I am not sure if I like the longer lens for these shots better or not.

These next two shots are just fun. We can see the pyramids from our apartment if it is clear enough and today it was!!! That is the great pyramid in the center. To the left you can kind of see the small one and then to the right you can see the corner of one pyramid!

The fun part is we had no idea we could see the bent pyramid from our place but today we could see it! You can kind of see it to the left of the photo.

If you want to give me any advice on my shots I would love it!

Enjoy your photo taking!!!!!

Shopping in Cairo

2011-01-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well Norris and I have been living in this culture for the last 3 years and we are starting to get the hang of shopping here. It is hard to describe the chaos, yet order, of being at the grocery store. I can honestly say there have been moments that Norris and I pick up one thing on our grocery list and we realize we are not going to make it...so we put it back and leave the shopping to the next day!!! It is funny when we try to rationalize whether or not we REALLY need to do our shopping when we look in the store and see the crowds of people!! Now when thinking about shopping I have to paint you a picture about what the norms are for Cairo.

First:There is NO such thing as lines....REALLY...NO such thing! If your cart is two inches away from the cashier someone else will find their way to the front.
Second: They never have change. They will either insist that you give exact change or it takes a LONG time for them to walk around and try to find you change!
Third: There are about 25 million people that live in Cairo and I am pretty sure that they all go shopping at the same time. We have not figured out what time that is yet. It seems to be every time that we go shopping!
Fourth: If you get any fresh fruits or veggies you have to get them all weighed and priced in a separate line that everyone is also waiting for!
Fifth: All the carts are made with four moving wheels. They all can rotate each way and it can make it very difficult to move the cart!
Sixth: I love IT! It is so fun to pretend that you are playing bumper cars with all the other carts! It is always a fun adventure to see if you are going to get cut off by someone who thinks that half an inch is enough space for them to fit!

The strange thing is it works for them! I would not change what they do, if you did I think the system would fall apart! Someone very wise told me that they do not see a line...They see space!!! If there is space there is a place for them! After our 3 years we can't quite get to that point but we now know how to protect the "space" that is around us!

Enjoy your shopping!!

Christmas Holiday's

2010-12-29T01:53:00.000-08:00

Well this is the first Christmas that we have spent in Cairo. We have been living here for three years but usually we are traveling during the holiday. This year we decided that we would stay home and enjoy our first Christmas in Egypt. It was sooooo much fun! On Christmas day we got up early and read the Christmas story and then opened our presents! What a great time that was....Norris got me the best gifts ever!

Notice all the great food that he got me in my stocking! Ranch Doritos, Nilla Wafers and Hershey Kisses!!! YUMMY! Plus he got me an awesome Thai Street Food cookbook. I can't wait to try out some of the recipes! I wish my aunt Doy would come out and help me with the recipes! Also he got me this book called "Simple Solutions". It has all kinds of different ideas to do with house hold items. Things I would never think about and how to save money! I can't wait to try some of them out! My favorite gift is as always the teddy bears! Norris has gotten me a teddy bear every year we have been married and this year he got one for our sweet little baby! I can't wait to cuddle our baby next to it!

I got Norris this large Beanbag. He has been wanting one for a while and he loves it! So far he has slept in it 2 nights. He says he is getting prepared to take naps with the baby!!!! Also I got him the Apple TV but now we have to figure out how we are going to use it in Egypt! I guess I did not do quite enough research before I got it but Norris says we can make it work!!!

After we opened our gifts we needed to start our baking for the next day! We had a Day after Christmas, Christmas Movie Marathon with our friends. So I tired my hand at making homemade bread.....

Not to bad...I just had to wait for it to rise...........

UMMMM that is right Complete failure!!!!!!!

Attempt Number 2:

MUCH BETTER!!!!

When I talked to my grandma she said she will show me how to make homemade bread this summer!!!!! I definitely can use the tips! After I finished the bread I got to try my hand at making a 23 pound turkey....First attempt was much better than the bread!!!

Our Turkey leftover sandwiches were great! Thanks Norris for lifting it for me every hour for 5 hours so I could baste it!!!!!!

Food and presents are always a nice part of Christmas but it is not the reason we celebrate....Our God is why we celebrate and we thank him daily for the friends and family that he has put into our lives here in Cairo!

We thank you for our friends and family and we thank you for the greatest gift of all!!!!!! You are an amazing God and we love you for all the joys and blessings you give us.....
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

23 weeks and Kicking!

2010-12-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

Well Norris and I are about 23 weeks along and we are enjoying this fun moment in life! It is weird to think that soon this little thing will be out and we have to take care of it!!! YIKES! It will be fun but I am sure there will be many moments that we will have lots of questions!

How Far along are you? 23 weeks and feeling fine!

How big is Baby? He/She is getting huge....or at least I think so! At a pound going strong

Weight Gain? Well it is really confusing to have everything in kilos! I am at the smallest weight I have ever been!!!!!!!! Just Kidding... I think it is about 16 pounds!

Sex? We hope to not know until the big day!

Maternity Clothes? Oh yes we are definitely in maternity clothes!

Stretch Marks? None yet!

Sleep? Not to bad... Now that we are on Christmas Vacation sleep will be great!

Symptoms? I am so blessed...I have not felt much different.

Movement? YES!!! These last two weeks I can feel the baby getting bigger and stronger!

Food Cravings? Not really...I could eat a salad a day but that is normal!

Labor Signs? Praise the Lord not yet!

Belly Button in or out? It is beginning to flatten. I have a feeling it will be out soon!

What I miss? Running. This time last year I was training for a marathon and I miss doing that!

What I am looking forward to? I want to know if it is a boy or girl!

Best moment of the week? Norris got to feel the baby last week! IT WAS AWESOME!!!! He was so cute with his reaction!!!! WHAT A MIRACLE!

Half Way There

2010-12-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

Well it has been about 4 months since I have written on my blog. Life is finally getting back to "Normal", whatever that means. Since last June Norris and I found out that we are expecting...

We are very excited! We are over half-way to the joy of adding our little bundle to our family! I am not sure that April 24th can get here soon enough. I am not sure if that is because I get to take the rest of the school year off or because we are having a baby! I think it is the latter one but at times I am not sure!

How Far along are you? I am at 21 weeks...still a long way to go but it has gone by so fast already!

How big is Baby? Our baby has finally hit the 1 pound mark! Now I can say that some of my weight is baby!!!

Weight Gain? 13-15 pounds. Not really sure. My doctor only weighed me once and then he will not weight me again!!!

Sex? We hope to not know until the big day!

Maternity Clothes? Yup...Just started needing bigger pants!

Stretch Marks? None yet!

Sleep? Well is it 2:30 in the morning..you tell me!

Symptoms? I am so blessed...I have not felt much different.

Movement? YES!!! It is wonderful! I can't wait until Norris can feel him too!!!

Food Cravings? Not really...I could eat a salad a day but that is normal!

Labor Signs? Praise the Lord not yet!

Belly Button in or out? It is beginning to flatten. I have a feeling it will be out soon!

What I miss? Running. This time last year I was training for a marathon and I miss doing that!

What I am looking forward to? Wearing my old clothes again and having my baby!!!!!!!

Best moment of the week? The sweet people who have told me I look cute....I was having an "I feel fat nothing fits week!"

10 years

2010-06-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

So today is my 10 year reunion from high school. It is funny how fast and slow the time seems to have gone. I can definitely say that I never thought I would be here. The only thing I knew after graduation was that I was going to go to Bethel College. After that I knew nothing. I can say that these last 10 years have brought some amazing memories and joy along with many tears and frustrations... and I would not change a thing! I am grateful for all of the situations the Lord has brought me through. It is fun to see how he has changed my paths and tried to bring me back to him daily!

Graduation day 10 years ago! Oh Charlie was the best dog ever!!!!!

What fun 4 years at Bethel to meet new girl friends! They are such a gift from God! He is so good to send us people that we can love with, cry with and laugh with!

There was this silly, awesome, fun, wonderful boy that came into my life that I am grateful has never left it! This was our first date! Yes we did draw each other!!!!!

He was always there to support me! My Senior Recital 2004!

Then my parents moved to a new place in Michigan. It was strange to know that I would not be going

"home" to Petoskey anymore...But it was great to know that my family was just the same!

Then finally graduation day from Bethel came!

We were gifted with New Bethel Glasses. After all the hard work......Uhhmmmm or something like that!

It seemed like time just flew by after graduation. From Graduation to Wedding DAY!The best day to Marry the man I love!

Hw then swept me off my feet and took me "far away from Home" to Atlanta Georgia! We had a blast getting to know each other and learning how to love each other every day!

We loved going to Hockey games together and making quesadillas with our awesome Quesadilla maker!

After that adventure God brought us to Egypt where we have spent the last 2 years meeting awesome people from other parts of the world!

WOW I wonder what is going to happen during the next 10 years!!!!!!! :-) I can't wait to find out!!!!

Camel Market

2010-06-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

So Norris and I went to the Camel Market today. There was a group of teachers that wanted to go so the school provided a bus. Now we had heard this place was not for the faint of heart.... they do not treat the camels well. These camels are all being sold for food. They are not racing camels or camels that you would see at the pyramids. Apparently people come from all over, Sudan, Saudi, and other places to buy these camels. These camels are going to be the bottom, left over camels that were not bought at other market places. Well needless to say it was an experience. One that I am glad to say I will never do again. I was actually trying to figure out how it is a tourist attraction. We were not sure what about it said.."yes please come and watch us sell these camels..."

I think though through the whole process it was not the hitting of the camels that bothered me the most...It was the extreme CHAOS of the entire event. The camels were running around and boys were hitting them with sticks to make them go the right direction. My biggest fear suddenly became the fact that in a matter of time I WAS going to get trampled by camels. THEY WERE HUGE. I forget how tall camels are. They really are large, strong, ornery animals. Although I have to say if I was getting hit by a stick all the time I would probably make growling noises too!!!!!!!!

Norris thought these camels looked like they were auditioning for the Rockets!

I love that the camel is smiling at him! I think that we should have bought that camel but they wanted a little more than we were willing to spend!

I just like this picture. I could not do enough to show the chaos and crowds that were whirling behind us!

This is the area that the camels were getting auctioned off. They would all stand around and yell and then they would mark the camel so they knew which family it was going to!

If you are interested the small young camels go for about 2000 LE...... Camel Anyone?

Challenge

2010-05-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

CHALLENGE: for the month of June and July......read more than you ever have before. Read the word more than you ever have. If you read it everyday read it more.....if you do not read it often try to read it more! I am trying to do cover to cover by August. What are you going to challenge yourself with?!?!?!?!!

AWESOME

2010-05-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

So I know that I just put up a post but a lot of things have happened in the last couple of weeks! Two Fridays ago Norris and I got to lead worship at church on Friday night. It was a night of just singing and celebrating. We love that we have been given this path at HCC. We feel so blessed that we have the ability to meet all the different people at the church. They are from all parts of the world and they all bring something different to the table.
We have two guys that are really good friends of ours that have just learned that their Mom or Dad have a brain tumor. It is just great to see how they are able to take this and pray for it. It is great to see how HCC has come around them to help them. We got some news about one of our friends Mom and her cancer is very slow moving and benin. It is such an answer. He will be home this summer and he will be get to be there for the surgery. The other one was not as good of news. His dad has a very advance form of cancer and has been given about 12 weeks to live. But it is great to listen to him talk about his dad. He knows that he will either be healed here on earth or when he gets to heaven.....It is neat to see how he has such faith in the one we know! It is interesting how when these things happen it only brings you closer to HIM!
I have been learning that I have to believe in Who HE Is not What He does. What a hard lesson to understand. I am not sure I will ever be able to completely understand, or comprehend that! I am trying. I want to believe in Who He is. He is compassionate and loving and just and powerful. How wonderful to have that in our lives. How can I sit here and try to understand what He does. I can't see the whole picture, only He can..... How presumptuous that I would say He should do something different or change what He has done...... But how easy it is to do that! Focus on having a heart like Him.....read 1and 2 sam. to get a great example of that!!!!!!

Coffee?

2010-05-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

So today Norris and I thought that we would take a simple little walk to the mall and grab some dinner. Well we think that Costa Coffee has the best caesar salads in Cairo. So we love to go and get some salads from there. Usually Norris can get some grading done and it is a nice time that we can hang out. Well today as we were walking up to the mall we noticed there were a lot more young teenagers then normal. Now this is a place full of children so we just kind of thought there must be a holiday we missed! When we finally waded through the groups of boys and finally made it to Costa we could barely even hear. We decided to leave after dinner.......if we could just get the check! Well we asked for the check and realized that they charged us for a different size drink than they gave us. When we showed it to the waiter he could not understand what we were saying. We even showed him the drinks we had to let him know. Finally Norris took the guys pen and wrote it all down for him!!!! He still did not get it so our waiter went to get a manager. Now all they needed to do was take away 20 LE......
When the manager finally came he gave us an estimate us to how much we owed. He just wanted us to pay 100LE and call it even....but we did not owe 100 LE..... Norris was not about to pay 10-15 LE more than we needed to. The manager said it was going to take a long time to get the bill back. So Norris just looked at the manager and said.."Tell you what you have 5 minutes and then I am gone" Miraculously we got the bill in about 10 seconds!!!!! Norris does not freak out to often but this was just one of those moments........ to funny!!!!!!!!!!

As my friend says..Peace and Love from the Sandbox

Scary moments

2010-05-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was an interesting day at the Ham household. Saturday afternoons we tend to wind down and get ready for school. We try to get lunches ready for the week and make sure we have gotten all the stuff done we wanted for the weekend. It is nice not to have too much stress going into the week.

To say the least yesterday was not to be one of those Saturday's! I had gone out with some girls to have a jewelry brunch which was so much fun! One of my friends was selling jewelry with all the money going to Ugandan women who have lost their husbands and jobs because of fighting and other reasons. Where was I ...Oh yes Saturday........ Well on Saturday afternoon I was messing around with my camera, I am trying to figure out new shots I can take with the camera, and I was sitting out on our porch. Norris was getting a little sick of me taking pictures of his face! I love reading "The pioneer woman"....She teaches so much about cameras and all sorts of things. Well I decided to go outside and try some of the stuff she had mentioned on her blog. While I was on the porch, there was a funny smell coming from downstairs. I did not really think anything of it. I came back inside and then I heard some yelling. I noticed that it was not a man yelling for recycling but it was different. So I went back outside. I started listening to what they were saying and it sounded like they were saying"Fire!"
Now I am not sure what the Arabic word is for fire but I was convinced. It did not take long. Well Norris said he would check it out and I knew it was not good when he came back in and told me to grab my camera and the computer. I kind of started to freak. I did a good job of keeping it together......at least for me. We ran around the house and got all that we thought we needed.
Norris said that when he leaned over the side to look off the porch he saw flames coming from the side of the building. Luckily when we got down stairs there were people there with a bunch of hoses to put the fire out. We think someone was smoking and they threw the bud into some dry leaves and they caught on fire.
After it was all over we were so grateful. We now it was not a bad fire. We are so blessed they got the fire out before it got worse. The people on the first floor were also very blessed that it was not worse. I am so thankful for the men that were walking by that saw the flames and alerted the building!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ants are Taking Over

2010-04-25T06:11:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend was going to be one of rest and relaxation. Quickly that turned into stress and frustration!!!!! Ants were taking over the world, it felt like. I guess it was just our kitchen but that is bad enough! There is nothing more disgusting than having ants all over. I definitely made Norris go out for dinner on Friday because I could not take the ants! We had a nice little bug bombing party but sadly that did not seem to work. Instead it brought all the ants from the kitchen into the living room! So all day Saturday was dedicated to cleaning off all parts of the kitchen that had been sprayed and the dishes that were sprayed and the living room!!! I am pretty sure I lost some brain cells but I guess it might have been worth it because for NOW they are gone. Moved out probably just long enough for us to put everything back. I guess I will take one day of a ant free kitchen!!!!!

Does anyone know how ants multiply??? It seems that there are just millions of them all of a sudden! Out of no where they just turn up to destroy sanity!!!!!!!!!!
But I can say that I am so blessed to have a place that ants can come. At least I have a home for them to enter. At least I have food they can get into. At least I can go to the store to buy new apples! Priase Him who takes care of our every need! HE is great and awesome and a wonderful creator even of the little things in life!!!!

Easter 2

2010-04-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday= Starbucks. Well it quickly turned into Zamalek Saturday. I woke up super early because I am on a schedule. Well we did not really have much to eat in the apartment so I convinced Norris that we should go out to breakfast. Well Norris remembered this great place on Zamelek called "Arabica". It has the best stuffed Fatir ever. Fatir is the incredible bread that is flaky and warm and fabulous! Well we invited some of our friends to come and join us for the hour. After we arrived at the restaurant we put in our orders. After about on hour we received our drinks! After about 2 hours we still had not received our food. Luckily there was paper on the table and crayons that we could draw with, on the table! So we started drawing what our feet looked like.

Norris definitely won the weirdest feet award!

Then after about 3 hours Norris talked to the owner and finally we got our food. It was excellent! It was a long wait but it was well worth it!!!!!! After we finished our food the owner came and told us we could order any drink we wanted for free, so it worked out!!!!!!

Later that afternoon we did walk to a coffee shop and grab a little pick-me-up from Starbucks and it was delicious as always!

Sunday= Singing. Well Easter Sunday was awesome. We met at this cemetery in Cairo in front of a beautiful cross and had our service. We have communion and a time of fellowship after. It was soooo awesome. Norris and I were lucky enough to be able to help with the singing and it was a really neat time. We started at 6 and ended at about 8 then had a time of hanging out with friends.

Norris and I were then pretty tired and came back home and took a nap so we changed the title of the day to SLEEPING Sunday. Then later on that evening we had another service that Norris and I got to lead and it was soooooo much fun. It was pretty funny because it was our new pastor's second week in Cairo. Talk about diving in. They had no time to adjust. They got here at the busy season and started rockin' out! It was neat to see their excitement and what they will bring to HCC!

Monday= Cleaning. This one is the only day we could not make match with the day of the week. It was a great day though. Don't you just love those days when you get up and clean the house and you can feel so organized and refreshed? That was our Monday. We cleaned our whole house and just hung out around the house. We watched a couple movies and just had fun Norris and Angie time. I LOVE THOSE DAYS! They are my favorite. When we can just talk about our future and dream about what might be brought along our path. It can sometimes be so fun to not know where we are going to be directed. It is ok though because HE knows. He will take us where we need to go and protect us along the way! YAY! Gotta love HIM!

Easter :-)

2010-04-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

Norris and I decided not to travel anywhere for the holiday weekend this year! Last year we headed to Greece but this year we thought we would spend it in Egypt. There is plenty going on with our church family so we knew we would be busy. We decided to have an alliteration weekend for the days of the week.
Thursday= Tivoli Dome
Friday= Felucca
Saturday= Starbucks
Sunday= Singing
Monday= Movie
Now being in Egypt this long this dod not work out as planned. Egypt always knows what is "better", or what will actually happen.

Thursday= Tivoli Dome. Well there is this new place by our apartment called the Tivoli Dome. It is filled with all sorts of restaurants. There is a "Outback Steakhouse", "Popeye's Chicken", and about 800 different coffee shops in a tiny little space. It is a really nice place! There is a fountain with water and just a great place to hang outside! Well Norris and I decided that we did not want to spend the money for "outback" so we decided to walk to the mall and eat at the "Rain Forest Cafe". Well after the 30 minute walk we got to the restaurant only to find that it was closed.....FOR GOOD! We were sooooooooo sad. So we had to go to "On the Border", (our new favorite restaurant). We had a great time in our normal booth and a great chat for the 30 minutes there and back!

Friday= Felucca. Well Friday was an awesome day! It started with a great time at HCC for the Good Friday Service. Then we took a 30 minute nap and then headed over to Maadi. For those of you who do not know, Maadi is close to the Nile River. Well to go on a Nile Felucca it is not that expensive. The problem is it is hard to make change. All we had was 100LE and we did not need to give that away. Magically if we handed them that bill they really would not have any change! Well there is a "Friday's" right next to the dock where you get boats so we thought if we could run over and grab a drink than we could break our 100 and plus we could have a nice cold soda for our boat ride! Well we forgot to factor in that fact that "Friday's" would not have to go drinks! Well needless to say after the hour we wasted we finally were on our way in the Felucca! Except there was one MAJOR issue! There was NO wind. If you have ever been on a sail boat you know you can not get far if you have no wind! Well after about 50 minutes we had moved about 5 feet from shore! Norris and I were laughing soooo hard. The poor man in charge of our felucca was sooooo bored he fell alseep over the rudder!

Well after that we made it back to shore and met some friends and went to this fabulous Korean Restaurant "Gaya"!!! IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD! I can't wait to go again. We ended the evening playing cards at our friends. We learned a new game called Monopoly deal! If you have never played you MUST!

Tired?????

2010-04-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

So poor Norris has been doing sooooooo much work these past few months. He is taking classes and teaching classes and trying to help the school become a better place, leading music at HCC and being a husband. That is A LOT! Well one of our favorite snacks to make is homemade popcorn on the stove, we do not have a microwave. It is really tasty! Well when I make it for Norris I do not salt it because he likes it with way more salt that I do. I prefer to taste my popcorn he prefers to taste the salt! Well our salt dispenser is the giant container we bought at the beginning of the year. The other day we made a comment that it has lasted us forever. We bought a new salt a little while ago thinking that we would be running out soon but it is still going like a champ! Well at dinner a couple of nights ago we could not find the opened salt container. We looked and looked and I just assumed Norris had used all of it and thrown it away. He could not remember either, so we got out the new salt and life was good! That night I went to wash my face before bed and when I opened up the cabinet, there staring me in the face was the salt!

Poor Norris had put the salt in the bathroom not the kitchen! It was too funny! We were laughing sooooo hard! Well Norris is working hard and this weekend to sleep will do him a lot of good! What a funny guy! Gotta love him!

You know you are new in Cairo when.....

2010-03-20T03:19:00.000-07:00

So Norris and I were reading this magazine and we came across this list......

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN CAIRO WHEN.....

1. You stop for pedestrians.
2. The secret code of flicking lights and tooting horns has yet to be decoded.
3. Rules of the road have also yet to be decoded-actually and ancient mystery!
4. shopping is still exciting and an adventure.
5. Every time you go to cook a meal you discover yet another basic ingredient you don't have on hand!
6. The cats are cute and the donkey carts are "picturesque".
7. Starbucks/Caffe Greco is a sanctuary-actually that never changes!
8. You carry a map and hope it will soon make sense.
9. You have a purse load of kleenex packets.
10. You have no idea where you live relative to anything.
11. You get nervous walking across a road-and so you should.
12. You pray before every highway journey- well, this doesn't change either!

Some of these things never change. I still think that shopping is an adventure and I like to try substituting different ingredient in my meals.....It will never be the same way twice that is for sure! And I always have kleenex, you never know where you will need it and where there will be toilet paper! I must say the cats are anything but cute and the donkey carts......

Starbucks.... :-)

2010-03-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Interesting little fact about the Hams:

So Norris and I like to walk to Starbucks on Saturday mornings to plan our life. We laugh that it is usually changed after the 30 minute walk home but while we are there our plans sound perfect! Well neither one of us is a coffee drinker, so when we are there we usually get these "Ice Blended Frappuccinos". For about a month they did not have the Syrup to make the drink so the only way they could make it was if they put coffee in it. Well we just got used to it and now we always just order it with the coffee. Because there is so much sugar in it you really can barely taste the coffee.

On Tuesdays and Wednesday's there is an option to go to school early. The only problem with that is the bus meets in front of McDonald's. Oh Dear......I have been rewarding myself for getting up early by ordering a Cappuccino. Well when Norris was gone last week I decided that it was important for me to go outside everyday, even though he was not here. So I would walk to the Starbucks and order a "Carmel Ice Blend Frappuccino." I kept getting the kind with coffee and by the end of the week I would walk in and they knew exactly what I wanted! YIKES! Well I think it has finally happened. Norris and I are becoming addicted to drinking coffee. I think it is happening more to me than to him, because he drinks so much soda, but nonetheless it is happening! I have to say we both still do not like regular coffee but when it has all the sugars and ice stuff in it I am hooked!

YUMMMM.....I am heading to Starbucks......wanna come??????

New and Old Memories

2010-03-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Well Norris and I have been redecorating. We know that we only have a couple of months until we move into our new apartment but I decided to decorate anyway. I have created a wall in our apartment that is my memory wall. I have printed out some pictures from my favorite spots. There are of course many from Egypt and Thailand! Those are probably my most favorite spots..... I am excited to add more pictures to it! This is just the start of the wall. It is fun to look at it though and see all the places I can add new or old memories! It is neat how you realize that there are many things yet to come. Some times it is easy to get into a rut and feel like you are not really going anywhere....now I can look at the wall and see where we have come and what we have to look forward to in the future!

Summer Plans

2010-03-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

Sooooo, Norris and I have the month of August to do some traveling. We have been to Thailand, India and Egypt and we don't really want to do Europe. We want to save that for when we are a little older. We love to do backpacking and outdoor stuff. So anyway I want to ask your opinion on where you would want to go. If you could spend a month somewhere where would it be????????

Pigeons Attack

2010-03-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

So Norris and I have had an attack of pigeons lately! The other day we were walking up our stairs and there was one sitting by our doorway. It did not move when we walked up the stairs so we knew it had been hurt. when we went out in the morning there was evidence by the amount of feathers that a cat had gotten in our building and the pigeon was gone. It had flown through a window in the hallway and it was not going to make it.
Well the other day when I was washing dishes I had a FRIENDS moment. There is an episode in FRIENDS where a pigeon fly's through an open window in the apartment and Rachel has to catch it and put it back outside. Well the other day that just about happened to me. I am glad that the pigeon could not quite figure out how to get in. It scared me to death. I shut the window faster than he could figure out how to get in. Good thing he did not get in. With Norris not here I am not sure what I would have done! I would have just opened all the windows and hope he found his way out!!!!!!

Well I did not have to worry because he did not quite make it in but it made me laugh, after I realized he would not get in. I hope that the other pigeons learn not to come through the windows because I do not want to have to through a pigeon out!

New Days, New Challanges

2010-02-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

Well today I got new students! I know it is hard to believe that it has been 6 months and we have just started our 2nd semester! Well I really like my new students! I know it has only been one day, but they were cute. They asked some good questions and many of them already have fun nicknames! Except for one boy who was very concerned by the end of class that we had not come up with a nickname for him! I told him that I am sure by the end of the year we will have one for him too! Another boy proceeded to tell me that last year he spent many days in "Time Out" because he did not like music class! I told him that I hoped he would make better decisions this year! I then asked him why he signed up for music class if he did not like music! He did not really have a response, but whatever! Just some of the joys of funny middle school students!

Then you get the other students who refuse to sign the syllabus and have to be taken to the principles office before the day even starts! Now that is what I call good teaching! Oh MY! I am not sure if they will be back for more of me but they did not leave a good impression! Oh well that is also the joy of being young, sometimes you don't make the smartest decisions! Well teaching always comes with its good and bad days! I hope that I have more good than bad when all is said and done with. Somedays I think that there could never be a good day and then other days I think that I want to do this for the rest of my life!!!!! Oh the joys of life!

Relaxing Days

2010-02-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

So today I had many plans to clean and workout and get a lot of stuff done for school. Oops!!! Instead I watched "You've Got Mail" and made homemade popcorn and Chai I bought in India! It has been one of those times in life that I need some veg. time to be with my thoughts! Who said growing up was fun! Well I guess it is! I love being married and traveling the world and meeting new people and loving my friends more and growing with Him who made me! But sometimes it is hard! Where are we going to live next? What job should my hubby take? When should we have kids? Am I EVER going to learn this language!!!!!!! Do I want to teach or sing? How are my decisions affecting other people? Are we in His will or just floating close by? How can I make my relationship better with Him? You know just the simple questions people ask all the time! :-) Then I just have to stop and remember, He is perfect and He knows all these questions and answers already! What a comfort to know he is not shocked by one of my questions! I only wish he would share with me some of the answers! I know he will in time but sometimes it seems to take him a long time! BUT then it always, funny enough, is the perfect time! Don't you just love how that works! He is perfect! Everything about him is just perfect!

Well I guess now I can clean and workout. He is in control and I don't have to worry about a thing! Like the song "don't you worry 'bout a thaaaaaaang".....

Food Challenges!

2010-02-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

Ok so today Norris and I went out with some of our friends to grab some dinner! We do not do this often because some times it can get pretty pricey! They just put in an Outback Steakhouse around the corner! So tonight we went to have a little American Food! It was great company with friends, thats about it! We all ordered and a couple of them wanted to get the Bloomin' Onion! Well the waiter said they had none! NOW how in the world do you not have an onion! We offered to go down the street to the alley to get them an onion but they did not take that to well!!! So since they did not have the onion they also did not have some of the burger stuff and it was so funny!! It worked out we eat what they did have and left! We then decided to go to the Starbucks to have a coffee. Norris and I have no become addicted to the Iced Frappaccino Carmel with coffee! It is soooo good! Well two weeks ago we went to get our Saturday dose of coffee and they did not have any cream for the frappaccino! Well today they did not have any Frappaccino! I am not sure how you can run out of Frappaccino at a Starbucks but it happened! We were laughing so hard! We told the man that we would try a carmel Mochiatto. He then said is that all. Norris in the way he does said: "well that is unless you got some Frappaccino in the last few minutes!" The man did not get it and again went into the explanation how they did not have any frappiccino! It was so fun! Just some of the fun moments of being in a different place! It is always an adventure everytime we step out of our doorstep! What a blessing that we have the opportunity to be here! Sometimes we can get frustrated and then we just have to remember that we must be here for a purpose even if we don't know what it is right now!

India Pictures

2010-02-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

This was our boat ride down the Ganges River. It was fun to go at sunset and see all the people around the city! Many were swimming in the river and it was cold! But notice Norris in his shirtsleeves and shorts! We got to boat by different parts where people were swimming, drinking and burning bead bodies! I think that was the most intense part of the whole time in Varanasi. I don't think I will ever get used to seeing bodies being burned!

These were the beautiful ladies washing themselves in the Ganges River. They were from southern India. It is amazing to see how far people would travel to wash in the Ganges River.

This was Norris and I waiting for the sun to rise over the Himalayas! It was sooooooo pretty! But it was VERY cold! I thought I was going to freeze to death! Once the sun came up it did get a little warmer! Not much though! I am wearing my new wrist warmers! That is what Norris calls them. I love them. I can still use my hands but keep them warm too!! He was very jealous that he did not have them this morning that is for sure!

This was Norris and I at the Taj Mahal! It was awesome! We just sat in front of it for about an hour! It was soooooooo beautiful! The people were so respectful of the area and it was so clean and white! I never realized how big it was but it was huge. There were a lot of people around that day so it was hard to get a picture that a bunch of other people would not be in!

There,There,There and Back Again the Hams Tale!

2010-02-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

Strangely enough the subject line could mean more than one thing. First, it could be for the crazy Luxor Full Marathon we ran last Friday, OR, it could stand for how many times we keep coming back to Cairo.

Well...............last weekend Norris and I and two of our friends flew down to Luxor, Egypt to run a marathon. It was a lot of fun. We were excited to get started with it because after months and months of running and training we were ready to be done with it! It turned out to be fantastic. I know this is hard to believe coming from me, but I really did love it! I did not like training for it that is for sure but on the day of the run it was so much fun!
It was difficult to train here in Egypt. There are not a lot of places that have a good flat ground to run on, plus being a female makes it all the more challenging. Well we did end up finding this great place to train. There is this club that has a gate around the outside. You could get through the gate but not have to go into the club. The only problem with it was the mile and a half giant hill at the end of the run. The whole loop around the club was 5k or 3.1 miles. Well after about 18 miles and having to run up the giant hill 5 times I never thought I would make it through. I think that it why my goal for the marathon was 6 hours.
As it turns out the hill was just what we all needed to help us get great times for our runs. Norris finished in 4 hours and I finished in 5!!!!!! For my first time I was pretty satisfied! Norris took a little break to wait for me, so had he not done that he would have finished under 4! That is ok though 4 hours is pretty amazing. That is until we realized he would have to cut off an hour just to qualify for the Boston Marathon!!!!!!!! CRAZY! We met this guy who is in the Marathon Maniacs club. He has run 137 marathons in the last 4 years! His goal now is to run a marathon in 20 different countries! I am not sure I want to do that but I do think I would like to run another one just to see how it compares to this one!

There were a couple of obstacles we had to get through on the day of the marathon. There happened to be big groups of children that were hanging out. They just wanted to touch you and talk to you as you ran by. I tried to be nice to them and speak to them in Arabic and give them a little fist dap when they wanted to high-five me! I think they just wanted attention from the foreigners. Well that was all great and dandy until kilometer 38. Up to this point they did nothing but want to give me a high-five. But all of a sudden these 3 little boys got around me and thought I had money in my pocket. So the next thing I know the littlest boy was reaching his hand in my pocket. I started yelling at him and saying the strictest things I knew in Arabic. Little did the boy know the only thing in my pocket was a used tissue. He was not to excited when he realized what it was! He tried to reach in again and I realized he was not going to leave me alone. I had to stop and yell at him and after a few moments he ran away.

Then when I was about to turn to the last little bit to the finish line this man walked up to me. He was in a button up shirt and I thought he was part of the marathon crew. He started talking to me and asking me where I was from. I told him and then he decided that I must look like someone who wanted to buy his post cards! At this point I got a little upset! I looked at him and said: "what about my appearance right now makes you think I want a post card?" "Do I really look like I care about anything you have to offer?" Well he did not like that very much and he stormed off! This was just what I needed because it made me laugh almost all the way to the finish line!
It was quite a moment when I crossed the line! I realized I had finished in 5 hours and I knew it was all over! It was an incredible accomplishment! I never thought I could have done it but it was fun to have a husband who would support me and friends who would always help me when I wanted to give up! I now can't wait to run another one!

Favorite Quotes from India

2010-01-14T08:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our favorite quotes or conversations that we had on our trip to India:

1. Oh My Gosh...Check This!

2. You look like a mummy only scarier.

3. Comparing the treatment of cows in India compared to Egypt.... "We Praise them, they eat them....That's Different"

4. "Are there windows in the Pyramids?"

5. Are there still mummies in the pyramids?

6. Teach me all the states and capitols of Australia.

7. Emily: "I think I could do crunches in here."
Waiter: "Wait, what kind of crunches?"

8. When Norris refused to buy something.... Salesman: You look like the devil

9. Norris was talking to a man about running and his weight and how we have not run since we had been in India. Norris said that he needed to run..Response by salesman:
"I think your body is good"

10. Norris while we were lost walking around Rishikesh...we had just been ripped off by a Auto rickshaw driver, and we were starving and we had just barley survived a 16 hour drive earlier......
"This is the worst day ever!"

There are many more but I thought those were the best ones!!!!! Enjoy!

From Pushkar to Jodphur to Rishikesh

2010-01-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Well last place I left it we were heading from Pushkar to Jodphur. We decided to rent a driver and a car to take us to Jodphur. It was not that far away only about 3 hours so we did not think it would be bad. It was a pretty nice drive. It was a little scarry at times but our driver knew what he was doing so we were not to worried! We had a nice time in Jodphur but it was not our favorite place. The fort we saw was amazing but the rest of the city left much to be desired. It was the first time that we felt like we were being followed and asked for money. It was the most intense place we went for sales. The people also we quite rude but that was ok. We could just hide out in a coffee house and drink fun drinks and look at the city and fort. It was nice!

When we got back to Pushkar we decided that we would have our same driver take us up to the mountains to Rishikesh. It seemed to work from Jodphur so we thought we would do it again! We were sick of being on trains and the last one we were on we did not have much fun!!!!!! Well the drive to Rishikesh was 16 hours and we were three to the back of a tiny car. It was not the smartest decision we have made. It was actually the most terrifying thing I have done. Emily slept most of the way so she did not really know how bad it was but Norris and I got quite nervous. It was like a giant game of Chicken just with a small car and giant trucks. Luckily we won! Norris definitely yelled at the drivers a couple times and threatened not to pay but we got there just fine! 16 hours later! It was a long day! One we got to Rishikesh we were sooooooo excited!

Rishikesh was my favorite place. It was sooooooo beautiful! It was awesome to see the mountains! We got to take a trip up into the Himalayas to watch the sun rise! It was beautiful!!!!!! It was awesome to see snow and the fresh air. It was so polluted in India and it was nice to smell fresh air. It was also the first time that we stayed in a nice hotel. The other places we went to we either did not sleep there or we did not get the best place. Here we decided that it was time to get a nice place....PLUS it was Christmas! It was such a great place to have Christmas! We went to this awesome Bedouin place for dinner and had GREAT food! It was sooooo much fun! There were a lot of monkeys in Rishikesh and it was crazy at times! I did get scared some times when I had to walk by them! They hissed at Emily when she tried to take a picture of them and that made me a little nervous! I did not want them to bite us!!!!!!!!! I did not want to get Rabies!
After that we just headed back to Delhi and got on our flight back to Cairo! What a fun whirlwind of a vacation!

Taj Mahal and Pushkar

2010-01-05T23:51:00.000-08:00

Well after our quick train ride of 13 hours we arrived in Agra! It was really neat! There is not much to see other than the Taj but that is definitely enough. It was the most amazing thing......What a beautiful gift to his dead wife! It was very sweet! It was soooooo white and big and beautiful! We were able to finally show that day though and that was great! We went to a little hostel and took the coldest shower I think I have ever taken! But at least we were clean!!!! The people were not to bad, at least not as bad as we had been told. We had heard some stories that made us a little anxious about what we were going to experience but it was not like that at all! We were able to see Agra Fort which looked a lot like the red fort in Delhi....I mean it was big and red. I liked it and we had a really fun time! I think we sat and looked at the Taj for about an hour and it was nice to relax and get out of the chaos of the city for a while.
That night we went to Pushkar. I think that was my favorite place. Disaster struck the night before we got to Pushkar. We were on another train and we had yet to stay in a room for the night and when we got to Pushkar station we walked out with our bags and stuff but we left ALL our cameras!!!! IT WAS THE WORST! That is why there will be no pictures to prove that we were there! It really was the worst news in the morning! Norris felt so bad but that stuff happens and it is all just stuff. We did all we could to try to find the cameras but there was not much we could do....so we walked around the city of Pushkar for a while and did some shopping...Norris felt sooooo bad that he left the cameras that he tried to buy me everything I looked at! It was very cute! It was a rough morning but the rest of the day was AMAZING!!!!!! It was much less chaotic in Pushkar than any other place we had been. There was supposed to be a lake but it was the dry season so it was more like a little pool. We also got to see one of the only Brahma temples in the world. It was pretty neat. My friend and I went in and we were just looking around when we got yelled at because we were walking the wrong direction. We felt really bad but we just turned around and started the other way....then I do not think they were toooo happy when we did not go up front and buy flowers to lay in front of a statue. We decided that it was time to leave after that! But it was pretty cool to say that I have been in one of the Brahmas temple!

Delhi and Varanasi

2010-01-05T23:32:00.000-08:00

Well Norris and I decided to take a "relaxing" trip to India this Christmas. It was quite an experience. After living in Egypt for the last year and a half has helped us deal with all the wheeling and dealing that comes with bargaining in a third world country but the people! There were soooooooo many people!!!!! We thought we lived in a place with a lot of people but that was nothing compared to India. Delhi was a bit overwhelming but after we went to Varanasi we realized that it probably was just because it was our first day there! Even while we were still in the airport in Delhi people were trying to rip us off....even at the pre-paid taxi booth with the prices written on the sign....it was pretty funny, Norris held his own very well!!!
We decided to take night trains so that we could have the opportunity to see more places. We were glad we did it the first night! We were able to get a great place on the train and we were able to sleep very well. And when we got up we were in Varanasi! It was great! We got to see the Ghats where people go to wash themselves and it was CHAOS!!!!!!!! We thought there were a lot of people in Delhi, this was x10! Apparently they believe that if you die and your ashes are put on the river than it is the most holy place you can be put. So as we were taking a great trip on a boat down the Ganges people were being cremated right in front of us! It was a little more that I wanted to see but whatever! We then went to a fun place for dinner that night and saw a giant herd of Monkey's. They were soooooo cute as long as they were far away! I did not know that there were so many monkeys in North India but we saw them EVERYWHERE!!! It was crazy but they were cute! We were just hanging out and we decided that we should start heading back to the train station just to make sure things were going ok. We had seen everything we wanted so we headed back early. Norris kept telling us the train left at 8 but we headed for the station and got there at about 6:07. When we walked in we looked at the sign and realized that our train left at 6:15. We looked at each other and started running. What was great was that we needed to get our bags from the train station and then head to the train....BUT WE MADE IT! We got on the train and about 1 minute later we were moving! We were sooooooo glad that we made it! It would not have been fun trying to find a place to stay in that place! It was great! We had another fun night train ride and when we woke up we were in Agra! I love those trains!