Day 1: Spencer is gone.

Ok, I won't label all the posts like that while Spencer is gone, but this is the beginning of it. Jacqueline has already managed to make 2 messes and he's only been gone half an hour. She really hates her diapers which means it's time to potty train. Won't wear them or have anything to do with them. (of course, b/c i just bought a truckload of diapers this week) So she strips off her diaper first thing in the morning as usual. She got to the potty this morning, no problem. 10 minutes after Spencer leaves, she perches herself atop the folded jogging stroller and unleashes a gallon of pee on the fabric seat. Great. While I clean that up, she decorates herself with another Sharpie marker that she seems to have found. We have confiscated all markers in the house, but they still show up. I swear she has a secret hidey-hole full of sharpie markers and bananas.

We got him off this morning without a hitch. The driver was a half hour late, but hey, ma'alish. See, there is this awful regulation that if you are taking an international flight (leaving Egypt) you have to be at the airport 3 hours in advance. The travel company makes sure this is clear and won't let a driver arrive any later than 4 hours in advance of when you have to be at the airport. They scheduled the driver to arrive at 9:30am. (one hour for traffic, although I just talked to Spencer and he got there in 30 minutes. But in Egypt, you never know) His flight doesn't leave until stinkin' 1:30pm! So of course the car doesn't arrive until 10am. And then he's worried that Spencer won't make his flight, oh sir, you have to hurry, we told you that check-in for international flights is 3 hours in advance, never you mind that I arrived 30 minutes late. I had envisioned a last breakfast together at Maadi House, the kids playing, etc our usual Saturday morning routine and then him catching the car to the airport, ma'asalama! .

Let's rewind to the last time we were at the airport for an international departure. The travel agency gets us there right on time, 3 hours in advance. We go up to the desk to check in for our flight to Frankfurt.

"Yes, we need to check-in for the 5:30am (it is 2:30am) flight to Frankfurt."

"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, you cannot check-in for that flight for another hour."

"But it's listed above the desk here as being open for check-in."

"Sorry ma'am, not for one hour or so."

"But our travel agency said that for international flights, we have to check in 3 hours in advance."

"Sorry, ma'am, check-in is in one hour."

This happens every time. The airport and the travel agencies need to have a pow-wow and decide on a policy. But wait, that would be applying logic and for all you who have forgotten, don't try and do that in Egypt. Although, when we were leaving the States a year or so ago, we got to the airport exactly 2 hours before the flight took off. The lady at the desk said that we would have to gate check our baggage because we are going on an international flight and baggage needs to be checked 2 hours before take-off. Never mind that this was a little banana plane with 30 passengers going from Idaho Falls to Denver THEN we would go Denver to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Cairo. (long day, but that's another story) So, there is some policy out there that requires something of international fliers. Whenever you find out what it is, let us know!

My Mairyn

I think it's time for Mairyn to get some attention in the spotlight. She is one great girl. She brings such life and spirit to our family. Mairyn is quite a special name. I knew I was having a girl before we found out on the ultrasound. I was having a hard time picking names. Spencer was studiously searching for boys names. I was looking for both boy and girl and I stumbled upon Maren. I remembered having heard the name before in high school. So I looked up the meaning of the name. I found so many different spellings, but only one meaning that wasn't a derivative of something else. Mairin is Irish Gaelic and means 'wished for child'. I told Spencer that this was this baby's name. Spencer wanted to change the last "i" to a "y" and there you have it. Mairyn, our wished for child!

Grant's Halloween

Grant's school was the only one that did a class Halloween Party. They let them dress up for the day. This video is Grant showing me how fast Dash can run. (if you can't tell, he's Dash from The Incredibles) I regret that I didn't catch the beginning of the demonstration. When he says he's going to run like Dash, he does this little wind up thing with his feet like running in place, then he can take off!

Awesomeness

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Early Morning Post

No, we don't get a sunrise edition of the news. It's just early. I don't know what to do with my youngest. Actually, I do know, I just can't act on it! HA! Jacqueline is a pint sized hurricane. She has this fascination with getting dressed. I have another clothes horse, Mairyn, who will change shirts as often as she can. Jacqueline just likes the putting on process, she'll just keep piling them on. I have some bags of clothes sitting around so access is pretty easy. I don't have many closets or a garage, so the corner of the room is where they have to sit. I am going to have to find another solution.

Jacqueline is also an escape artist. She won't stay in her room. We switched her to a toddler bed back at the beginning of September. She has been great, up until about a week and a half ago. She won't stay in there to take a nap, at night it's a ping pong game of putting her back in her bed. We used some shoelaces and tied our doorknob and hers together and that worked for two nights, then she figured some way out. And at night, geez, it's like having a newborn again. Except the child is coming to me. (hmmmm, this isn't all bad!) She gets up and says, "I'm up, Mommy." I put her back in her bed while she screams her lungs out, jumps out of bed and comes and wails on the door with her tiny fists. (I'm holding the door shut) Then I go back in and put her in bed, close the door, she jumps up, etc. After that 15 minute process, Jacqueline doesn't make any more noise and I go back to bed. Only to find her standing beside my bed AGAIN 30 minutes later. Ooooo-kay. This is getting old.

Yesterday, we went through the regular nap time scuffles and I hadn't heard anything from her for about 25 minutes. I listened surreptitiously at the door for any squeaks or signs of movement. Silence. So stupid me decides to take advantage of this and take a nap (to recover from our nighttime escapades). I was woken up 30 minutes later to some little midget knocking around in the other bathroom. I opened the door to a scene of mass destruction. She had emptied out the kids shampoo bottle in the tub, then unrolled the toilet paper and wet it in the bidet and made nice little paper wads all over. She had emptied Mairyn's drawers of ALL her clothes. Jacqueline was wearing a nice ensemble of about 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants and a dress hanging around her waist by the collar (wish I had taken a picture) and clothes are spread from the front living room all the way back to my bedroom door. And what woke me up in my room was her rooting through my cupboard drawers and disassembling tampons left and right. Jacqui is not on my nice list right now, she's on another list.

Anyway, I've gotten the girls off to school and now it's time to get Grant ready. There is a Halloween party at Grant's school and they can dress up. Grant is Dash from the Incredibles and pictures will follow.

Fireside with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Tonight we had some special visitors to the Cairo Egypt Branch. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife, Patricia Holland & Elder Snow of the 70 and his wife held a fireside tonight at the Branch Villa. It was a unique experience to hear guidance and counsel in such an intimate setting. Elder Holland oversees our "area". We weren't sure what to call ourselves, Elder Holland clarified and said that we are the Middle East North Africa Area which includes: Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and some others that I just can't remember. We haven't really belonged to anyone. In the 3 years we've been here, we've been in three different areas. We were first part of the Greece Mission, then we were part of Eastern Europe (don't ask me how that connection was made) and even being included with those was just a need-to-be-classified-somewhere sort of thing. We are our own entity. Elder Holland said that change is happening. We need to pray for it and believe in it. If there is anything for certain in this world, when there are fallible men and doubts, the church can be counted on. He said, "If I were a betting man, I would bet on this church. The church is the only truth in this country. We're not perfect, but the church is. It's an exciting time to be in the church." He opened it up for questions at the end, uh, what do I ask? Someone asked how the church guides the quorum of the 70 day by day. Elder Holland said that D&C 107 is referred to daily by the church headquarters because of it's instruction to the 70's. Someone else asked what to say when asked about the church (while in Egypt). He said, "When people ask us about the Church, we answer!" It's never been very clear as to what our parameters are for sharing the gospel while in Egypt. We just know not to proselyte or baptize. So in a more one on one basis with people, we will now answer any and all questions they have!! His parting remark I wrote down was, "The principle task of this Church is to give the Church of the Lamb to the Lamb, this is a unique mission for this dispensation." Sister Holland spoke as well, she is so sweet. She shared many things; how we should love others unconditionally as the Lord does us. She also said that there are just two things we need to battle the darkness & despair in this life; the light and love of Christ. Really,quite a wonderful woman. Elder Snow spoke about fellowshipping our family and friends, do not let them fall away or feel forgotten. He shared William W. Phelps' re-fellowshipping. Sister Snow spoke about the many times that they had been to this area. I could tell Mairyn was listening because she tapped my arm and said, "Mommy, that's not right. He's never been here before, we've never seen him!" Keen ears! or big ones!! I've pretty much exhausted the notes I took tonight. It was great and one of a kind. I have a new respect and admiration of an apostle's patience, longsuffering and endurance. He met, spoke to & shook hands with each person in attendance. I kept feeling like we were bothering him, but he never faded. The fireside started at 7 and lasted an hour and a half and we got home at 10pm. The girls finally chilled out and got to bed at a quarter past 11. We'll see if they are too grumpy for school in the morning!

I asked if we could get a picture with the girls and he said, "Here, let me get down on your level."

Happiness

This blog post exists entirely because of Sara. Completely. She showed me this insanely addictive YouTube video and I have been singing it ALL WEEKEND!! It's a blessing, and a curse. We watched it at her house and then she emailed it to me and labeled it "Happiness". And really, once you see it, you just have an irrational urge to join the Royal Dragoon Guards and move to Iraq!

You just copy and paste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPaRQ1BYjzU

*Sorry you have to copy and paste**