Sterling dancing and dirty feet!

Aaahhh, Sterling's dancing is so entertaining!!! I just have to wonder where he comes up with his moves : ) I love it!!!
And the bit about the dirty feet - well, it's nearly impossible to keep the floors dust free here and our feet show it! Shortly before I took this video I had been commenting on how dirty Sterling's feet were. Just in case you can't make out what he's saying about my feet, it's 'eeewwww gross'!! Gotta love the honesty of kids!!

Thorin's crawling progress...

These are just a couple more of the stages that Thorin has been through. I love it!!! It's so fascinating to watch!! I'm so amazed by how fast they progress once they start doing something new like this!!!

I love how Sterling gets down with Thorin in this video - as though to cheer him on...before he starts whacking him in the face with the ball : ) Aaaahhhh some days I despair of any hope of teaching my 1 1/2 year anything about gentleness!!!

This one is pretty much up to date. Thorin no longer has any trouble getting where he wants to go!

Our new home.

I know this is long overdue so here it is...
This is our home. The bay window to the right on the lower level is in the living room and the upper level is our master bedroom. To the left from the bay window is our front door. And to the far left is the kitchen door and above that is Sterling's room.

Part of our street (this photo is was taken from the house across the street from ours)

This is what you see when you walk in the kitchen door. In the foreground you can see our lovely 5 burner GAS stove - one of the things that most excited me about the house : )!!

just to the right of that..

and to the far right is our table.

This is the living room...we don't really spend much time in here. I use it mostly for drying our clothes.

This is the view from our home on a very UNclear day...

...and the same view on a clear day


A close-up of the mountain to the left...it's just beautiful! They say that in the winter it will be capped with snow!
Well, I had been waiting to post this until I had more pictures of the inside of our house...but after several days have decided that those pictures will have to wait...

Thorin starting to crawl!!

It is amazing how fast he has progressed!!!
These videos represent the phase that I call 'much effort, little result'. It cracks me up how he lays down for a rest and to suck his thumb!!!

Dukan

We spent a wonderful day at lake Dukan, about 45 minutes north of us. It was wild to see so much water in this very dry land!

We are falling in love with these mountains...they grow more and more beautiful to us the longer we are here!

We drove along this range to get to the lake!!

We spent the day with our new friends/neighbors - they live just across the street from us.

Our wonderful driver, Dlshad, with Sterling

We were surprised to met so many Arabs here on holiday. This region provides a haven away from the tumult of the south!
Sterling LOVED playing in the water and had a bit of a meltdown when we had to go!!!
I love this face!

The drive home...

The boys...

I love this series!!!





This video is great! It gets a bit long but Thorins expression at the end makes it worth it : ).

Arrival

Sulaimani International - you can faintly see the mountains in the background.

This 10 minute bus ride from the airport home was the very last leg of our journey and Sterling was increasingly restless!! Chris, one of Tim's new colleagues was kind enough to offer his hat as a diversion!!
Clearly Sterling was happily diverted : )

Meeting our new neighbors (directly across the street from us) - a Canadian/Columbian family with 4 lovely children!!
Our new street
Milaina (sp?)has been so sweet with Sterling!

Sterling, watching the world from our front gate...

The whole family is big into soccer and Sterling loves the balls!!!

The journey...

Hanging out in the airport with my family...


Checking in
Our mountain of luggage

There were two Thai flight attendants on our long flight - they fell in love with Sterling - and he fell in love with this one in particular! He cried a couple times when she had to put him down.
View from our hotel in Amman
Such a happy face before a very sleepless night...

Leaving Jordan

Thorin napping on the plane

How stinkin' cute is he?!!!

First impressions...

Brown...brown...brown...dust and dirt as far as the eye can see...It's a real trip the first time you fly over this land!!


The eggs are better - I don't know if you'll be able to tell from this photo but the yolks are a rich orange...

The sponges on the other hand are quite a different story...this is how it looked after doing dishes ONCE!
Pizza? We've decided to call it naan with a little cheese (if you can even call it that) and some herbs sprinkled over the top...and yes, those are packets of katsup that they provide with each one!

Evening call to prayer...