A window into our school

Pictures from Today

A walk in search of an open restaurant for lunch after church. I couldn't resist the photo op of the beautiful arches.

Bedtime story time is a cozy time in our home. Sequoia is becoming and more connected to our family and her stress is lessening as a result. Here she snuggled quietly on my lap for more than 30 minutes. She was thoroughly enjoying the experience!

Dinner with Friends

Tonight we had dinner with my former colleague and her family. It has become an annual tradition to meet during the Jewish high holiday season. Baby Naomi has been the recipient of many of the girls’ infant clothes. It was fun to see her wearing a few familiar clothes this evening!

My Day

This morning I volunteered in our school’s library. It was peaceful and quiet.

And I came home to this! It’s the first time in all the months we have had Sequoia where she damaged something in the house. Here’s hoping it is not the beginning of a new habit!

Arabic Lessons

Spoken and written Arabic are essentially two different languages. Most students start with learning spoken Arabic. We did too. But J and I have recently started learning the Arabic alphabet. We are still writing out the spoken Arabic into letters (not official written Arabic), but seeing the words written down is definitely helping me better hear the different sounds in each word.

It’s also lots of fun to write Arabic! Below is something I wrote this week in our lesson: Ana esmee Kim; min Amerika. (Translation: I am called Kim, from America). Don’t forget…Arabic is read right to left!

First Rain!

She Reads!

Reading has “clicked” with Elizabeth and she if off and running…or should I say “off and reading”?!

Watching her work hard and start to read has been one of my parenting highlights thus far! I’m excited for her that her world will only grow larger as a result.