August 3 - 14
Well, we've survived a whole month here in Dubai, which is more than we can say for the three sprigs of grass that currently constitute our backyard. It is pretty hot here, but as long as you don't even think about going outside you're fine.
As we are putting our house together, we've started to notice that many of the stores here sound like chains in the States. For example, instead of Pier I Imports, you have Pier Imports; instead of KFC (which is also here), there is DFC (Dubai Fried Chicken); instead of Pizza Hut (which is also here), there is also Pizza Inn; instead of Toys 'R Us, they have Homes 'R Us; instead of a Safeway grocery store, we have a Safestway grocery store. You know the store is safer than just Safeway because the chicken they sell has things like "hand-slaughtered" written on the sides of the package. Thank goodness! We'll all be able to sleep tonight!
Henry has made great strides in physical prowess this week. He is able to pull himself up onto his knees and even all the way up on his feet. He has learned how to turn pages in books so when he's not stuffing them in his mouth, he's rifling through them. As of last week, Henry has also gone on a hunger strike. He refuses to eat that nasty, tasteless, thrice-processed baby food; we can't really understand why. So feeding him has become reminiscent of that scene in King Kong, you know, the one where the gorilla is sitting on top of the Empire State building swatting at the little airplanes flying around his head. Unfortunately Henry is a pretty good shot even this early on, so most of the food either ends up on the floor or in our laps. Nevertheless, he still seems to possess unbounded energy which keeps us all on our feet. We suspect that Christian may be slipping him Oreos through the slats in his crib at night. Those two are becoming as thick as thieves.
Christian is suffering from some pink eye right now. That kid has has suffered every variant of cold know to man during the course of these last three weeks. Thank goodness he has the capacity to watch Shrek II for hours upon end. Christian's latest move toward adulthood is his insistence on answering the phone. As soon as it rings he is off like a shot. He picks it up and says, "Heddo?" then proceeds to tell whoever is on the other end everything that is going on at the house at that moment which can be bad considering we beat our kids at least six hours a day. He's told more than one person that Mommy is changing Henny's diaper, or that we are watching a hoobie (a movie), or that he is playing with his motorcycle. Speaking of playing, thank goodness our air shipment with some of the kids' toys arrived last week. We were down to fashioning toys out of camel chips. Our pioneer ancestors would have been proud.
Last week in church Rich was asked to give both the Sunday School and Elders' Quorum lessons. I'm sure the Relief Society president would have asked him to give the lesson in Relief Society as well if I hadn't said yes first. There are lots of opportunities to serve here, to say the least. Our ward here meets in a villa which has two covered parking spaces. There's no need to rush to church on Sunday morning, however, inasmuch as Rich and I are convinced that two ward members come and park their cars there on Saturday night. The ward is about 80% Philippino, and 20% British and American with an occasional Australian thrown in for good measure. We really enjoy the meetings and can definitely feel the Spirit every week. It's a good thing the Spirit can talk over Henry.
More to come in the next exciting episode. Will Amy ever tire of shopping? Will Christian's health recover? Will Henry finally eat banana-eggplant yogurt? And will Rich finally grant someone a visa? Join us next week for the answers to these and other pressing questions.
"Fear me, if you dare."
Puss 'n Boots from Shrek II