We had our friends over again from Saudi Arabia for an afternoon lunch/supper. We learned so much from each other that it makes my heart happy.
Hamad asked why I love international students because he recognized that I bear the responsibility of preparing food and getting the house ready. The answer comes in many layers. First, Jesus loved the orphan, widow and foreigner and made my heart bigger for these groups of peoples. Second, we can’t afford to  travel the world with 8 children, but we can bring the world to our table.  My children have met so many different people from different cultures and they call them friends. What an amazingly rich childhood. Third, international students want to engage with us. They desire to be in an American home. They are ridiculously funny and my crazy kids love it. 

We spent Friday and Saturday at the lake. Many friends came and went. Even though the weather was chilly, we all had a great time.  

Max and Jack were very proud of the large weed that they found. 

The new heat registers skunked us. 3 dudes couldn’t figure it out. Time to hire an electrician. 63 degrees and tubing….burrrAdie and Beth before/after

Hamed and his family

Great way to end the day. 

Grace made her amazing chocolate ganache cake. Max gave him some of his old toys. Silas bought coffee. Titus gave a ton of coupons for back and feet rubs. 

In the evening, we celebrated with our great friends. 

I am so wonderfully blessed to be married to Carl. Words fail me as to the depth and breadth of my love for him. He is a great man. 

Lydia and Adie have been creating a city  in the old garden this week. It’s been fun to watch them come in all grubby from playing. 

They found a big bull frog in the backyard. 

It was a balmy 70 degrees yesterday and they were convinced they needed to go swimming. I wore pants and a jacket. 

We took a little adventure to visit one of our adopted international students. Syntyche made us food from west Africa. Oh my goodness, it was amazing. 

My kids were so loud, I thought we were in Africa. 

We are trying out new compression socks to see if it will help with my fatigue with my feet. I think we look pretty cool. I remember my mom’s compression socks as a kid and they were an ugly white. 

We were blessed to share the weekend with great friends at the lake to celebrate 10 years of life.  It was a perfect weekend, not too hot and glass water both days. 

Our friends invited us to break Ramadan with them on Monday night. It was a sweet time sharing life together. Our lives are so rich. 15 years ago when we were married, I could have never imagined we would be saving money to go visit our friends in Saudi Arabia.