Everyday is Halloween!

Dear All,
The guilt is getting to me over my failure to produce a letter, so I thought that maybe I could put something together here and invite folks to catch up with my life via this blog. I feel like on the one hand I communicate a great deal via this blog, and Facebook, and e-mail, but then I realized that there is a whole segment of my friendship world of which I am not virtually connected,so if that includes you welcome!

I know it is trite to say, but I really can't believe yet another year has swept by me! For the most part not much has changed since my last Christmas letter. It is Christmas break and again I am packing to move apartments, (my 7th move in 14 years!!) but I have assurances that this is my last move for a long time...enshallah! I am still in Egypt, still tutoring, still working with youth, still loving life, still single and the list goes on. But I will attempt to make the same old thing a bit more interesting and informative.

I continue to earn a living tutoring kids primarily with special needs. I enjoy the interaction a great deal and find it pretty stress free which is nice. This year I have changed my scheduling around so that I am home most of the day with Caleb, and then I start work when school lets out at 3:15. He is going to school 3 mornings a week and is absolutely thriving on the social interaction. He is a a definite extrovert whose philosophy seems to be "The more the merrier!" He is finally starting to speak coherently and sure enough it is a mix of English and Arabic. For the most part words concerning household matters are in Arabic and everything else that involves people and school and the outside world is in English. He also chooses which ever language offers the easier version of a certain word.Now that he has words to work with we can earnestly embark upon potty training which is one of my goals for the holiday break.

This past year included visits from my aunt and my mom in April and good friends the Capps' came in August. On my mother's visit we enjoyed a week at a time share in Sharm El Sheik which is a luxury resort on the Red Sea. The weather was great and the snorkeling awe inspiring. I had longed to get my mom there and get her head under water to experience it's beauty.She enjoyed it and it was a great experience. August brought Kelly and Erin back to visit along with Erin's mom Tallie. It was like Christmas in August as they came laden with good coffee, games, clothing and various yummies to remind me of home.We spent most of our time hanging out with old friends and enjoying coffee on the balcony, and then we made a short visit to Dahab; a less luxurious but equally as beautiful resort on the Red Sea. We celebrated my 43rd birthday out under the stars in the shadow of Mt. Sinai...how is that for cool?

I made a return trip to the Sinai for a 4 day backpacking trip in October. The scenery was amazing and so much more than I ever imagined existed out in the wilderness of the Sinai desert! I now have a better understanding of how Moses and the Israelites could have survived out there and also great admiration for their stamina. (photos in my Oct. blog posting)

I have continued to lead a small youth group in another expat church in the downtown area of Cairo, but feel this will likely be the last year for that. I continue to love teaching and sharing the amazing story of Christ and will look for other ways to use my gift in that area. Another big focus for me this year was my role on the Senior Pastor Search Committee. It was a task I reluctantly accepted having a deep fear of committee work, but found myself pleasantly surprised. We were a very diverse group and yet gelled as a committee and really worked in harmony the whole time. Hashing through 50 resumes was much more difficult than I had expected, and learning to ask hard questions and examine my own motives proved to be an eye opening experience. Joyously we announced a candidate right before we broke for Christmas break, and so we as a church anxiously await a visit later in January to see if he is God's man to lead our church forward. It has been a very hard year as a church and I think we are all eager to start a new chapter.

As I look forward to the year to come I expect a visit from my Dad in late March and doing some new exploration with him. More visitors are always welcome! Many ask when I plan on returning to the US for a visit but at this point don't hold your breath. I am simply not comfortable leaving the country and leaving Caleb behind, as I do not have the necessary paperwork to get him out. Hopefully in the coming months I will be asking many of you to join me in a letter writing campaign to seek stateside assistance. Obviously I can not go into great detail here but will let you know when the time comes. In the meantime, please continue to pray that God will unfold His plan and give guidance and wisdom on when and how to proceed.

Fortunately I love this land and the people of it and believe that God has great things in store for Egypt in His plan. This country is pivotal in the region and the stability here helps determine stability elsewhere so keep us in your prayers! God is so good in so many ways and it is such a privilege and joy to be called a daughter of the Most High God. I do hope that in this holiday season you are celebrating it in its fullness and depth!
Blessings and Love,
Amy

Christmas Eve

Buzz Lightyear! It doesn't get any better than this.

Buzz Ecstasy!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas 2007

The Christmas Photo Ordeal Part 1

Please Just Smile and Then You Can Have a Cookie

Great He Smiles and I Blink!

OK So this is as good as it gets. It isn't exactly fridge worthy but hopefully the thought counts for something.

Not much to report from the home front, but I am trying to be better at being a regular contributor to my own blog. Enjoyed a good weekend filled with work and projects but I enjoyed what I was doing for the most part and so the hours passed effortlessly. I finally finished Caleb's first year of life photo album and made a sizable dent into year two. Then we started phone interviews at our Saturday search committee meeting and one went really well. It is exciting to see this process take shape and to feel God's hand guiding and moving us. The meetings have always been full of good conversation and really healthy debate, and I have enjoyed it way more than I had ever thought possible.

Later on Saturday I had the chance to hear one of my favorite authors speak. The Anglican Church has an arts program where they bring in big name authors to speak and opine on various topics of their choice and expertise. Terry Waite, Elias Chacour and Os Guiness have been past speakers,and then Saturday it was Anne Lamott! It was an interesting event, not at all what I was expecting, which was probably best ( she has been known to drop the occasional "F bomb" in the midst of a discussion on her spiritual journey... not your typical Christian writer.) I expected a brash, foul mouthed liberal and instead was greeted by a somewhat cute but awkward, uncertain, liberal. It was a pleasant discussion... a bit predictable, nothing very edgy as far as I was concerned. Of course Paul,, the pastor of the Anglican church had specifically warned her that she needed to be conscious of our host country and how they might perceive things such as Christians using profanity and talking harsh politics. Actually the Egyptians would have totally enjoyed an evening of Bush bashing! Anyhow, she was a very good girl and colored in the lines...but I would have enjoyed a scribble or two of humorously placed profanity just for the adrenaline jolt. She talked mostly about the things she writes about, but a more updated version of the same old topics. Her poor son Sam has been great writing fodder since he was born and she wrote a hysterical book called "Operating Instructions". Now he is 18 and living on his own so those stories were all new and insightful. I wondered as I listened to her talk if my relationship with Caleb will be nearly as funny or painful as her relationship with Sam. Man! I hope my kid goes easier on me!
Well the midnight hour has arrived and although I am perky and on a roll I think I will end here and try and call it a night so that my 6:30 wake up call isn't so painful.

Well Finally!
Sorry it took so long to upload pixs but the internet and my old slow computer just can't get in sync. I know you are saying "Old Computer?" but at this point I can't get online at home with the new laptop and am still a novice at how to work the photo program sooooo.
Anyhow here are some pixs, they realy don't do justice to the beauty but at least it gives an idea. I am always so intrigued by how varied beauty is. It was so beautiful, yet would require a completely different vocabulary to describe it than I would use to explain the Rockies, the coastline of Greece. Beauty is interesting that way.

The photos below are from day 2 hiking down into a canyon. Well the one is me taking a short nap up on top of a peak