To Israel, Jordan and back to Cairo

Spencer and Lydia having a wonderful lunch overlooking the sea of Galilee

Spencer conquering the monastery at Petra, Jordan

Lydia at Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem

Some flowers blooming at the Garden of Gethsemane

Well, what can I say, it was a whirlwind tour. We left our babies in Egypt and went to Israel early February 28th. We flew into Tel Aviv and got to our friend's house, the Meyers. That day we saw the Western Wall, or the Wailing Wall, in Old Jerusalem. Then we wandered around and just took it all in. The next day, we got up nice and early and went to Masada. Drove right along the Dead Sea for 2 hours. Saturday we went to church at the Jerusalem center and then went to the Mount of Olives, the Garden Tomb, the Garden of Gethsemane and other sights. Sunday, we got to see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, one of the other sites that claims to be the site of Christ's crucifixion and burial. Also, we got in to see the Dome of the Rock, that blue mosque with the gold dome. That afternoon, our friends gave us a ride to the border of Jordan and we got a taxi on the other side to Amman. (we will have to tell you about that whole adventure another time) We stayed in Amman with the District President and his wife, Gil and Gerry Cook. Monday, we got up and rented a car in Amman. Then we went to see their Citadel and museum. On Tuesday, we did Petra. Ah, such a small sentence for such a huge effort. It was tiring and took all day, but it was worth it. A three hour car ride down, 4 1/2 hours there and then another 3 hours back to Amman. Wednesday, we arose early again and went an hour north to Jerash, a huge ancient roman metropolis with an arena that used to seat 15,000, a temple to Zeus, and lots of columns. Heading even further north, we got to Umm Qais. It overlooks the sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights, a border point between Jordan, Israel, Syria and Lebanon. We couldn't see Lebanon, though! We turned around before sunset and spent the night at the service missionaries house in Al Husn. The Cotton's are the greatest!! We got up Thursday morning and left for a castle called Ajloun. We made it there ahead of a bunch of tour groups and then found our way to the baptismal site of Jesus on the river Jordan. It was a bit disappointing, the river has receded so much, it's barely more than a muddy stream. We raced back to Amman to get back and do some shopping. Friday, we got up and went to church with the Amman Branch. They actually have Jordanian and American members meeting together, so sacrament is translated from English to Arabic. Then we went out to visit with the family Spencer stayed with when he came to Jordan in 2003. The Al-Mousa's are a wonderful family and it was good to catch up with them. Then we caught our own plane back to Cairo that evening and saw our babies again!! All in all, a tiring whirlwind, but it was time well spent together!!

Eliza got baptized!

January 19th, 2008
Eliza Penrod was baptized in Cairo, Egypt

The water was freezing! We tried warming it up a tad by dumping pots of boiling water, it helped the top few inches but was subarctic mid-way down. Eliza was very brave, no squeals or screams! It was about 65 degrees today. We had wonderful speakers and then cake afterwards. The candies on the table were from our good friends the Catogni's. (they are french) They brought them from France. They are traditional candies for baptisms and weddings there. They are almonds and chocolate. Most of the branch came and it was a very special and pleasant day! We recorded most of the program and will burn a DVD for the family soon.

My Boys

Daddy and Grant love goofing off!! I can't believe that Grant is 3 1/2 now. Spencer and I are amazed daily at what he does and says. Yes, Grant has quite the vocabulary now. He inserts expressions now, too. "No, just a little bit, Mommy. That bagel is too big and round!" He loves preschool and marches off 3 times a week, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Just the other day, we were eating and he crossed his fork and knife and said, "Look Mommy, it's a "T"!" Then two minutes later it turned into a fighter jet and began bombing the butter!

Christmas Morn'

The four of them lined up on Christmas morning. We built a wall in the hall with the blocks and posted a note (that Eliza read to the younger ones) that said "No stockings until Mommy and Daddy are up." They came and got us at about 7:30am; quite late for them. Usually it's about 6:30.

We had one of my Young Women spend the night with us, Catie. She is a foreign exchange student living with a Coptic family in Giza. She is 16.

Here are all four before our humble present opening.

Jackie is opening her puzzle. She looks just as puzzled.

We had a great rest of the day. We played games. Hullabaloo was a big hit!!! Even Jackie joined in aimlessly. We watched the Santa Clause on AFN and then had some people over for Christmas dinner. A very relaxing and joyous holiday for the Penrods.

Jackie Talks

Our Jacqueline

Jacqueline is growing up so fast. The other morning, as the girls were getting ready for school, Jacqueline wanted to get dressed too. Not in her clothes, but the girls' uniform dress. So I got out the smallest one we had and it hit right at the top of her feet. She thought she was pretty hot stuff. She will fish in my purse for my cell phone and hold it up to her ear and wander around saying, "Hewwow?" And does not like to be told, "No." She can throw quite the baby temper tantrum. Her favorite snack right now is cheese sticks. She knows which drawer in the fridge where we keep them and I'll open the fridge for her, she'll pull open the drawer and I'll ask, "Cheese?" to which she'll respond with one of the biggest cheesiest grins ever. Say cheese for the camera!!!

Halloweenies!!

This was the best pic I could get of all 4 together. Eliza is a dead fifties girl, Mairyn is a Mummy, Grant is a knight and Jacqueline is Tinkerbell. Eliza and Mairyn came up with their own ideas for costumes, Eliza wanted to be scary and Mairyn settled on mummy when we were looking at pictures on the internet.

Oh, what a brave and valorous knight of Egypt!!

Yep, she's scary! That's what she wanted!

Mairyn was the sweetest little mummy out there. They had awards for best costumes, etc at the school party. Seriously, her costume was the best out there and some dumb costumes that were just ripped t-shirts and food coloring took the prizes. Oh well, we know the truth!!

Jacqueline LOVED the duck train! She did not want to get off. Every time it stopped, she would scream and cry and hold on for dear life to that duckie train. We had to let other kids have a chance to ride and then we could ride again.