Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

If you remember my top ten list from this post, one of the things I was looking forward to doing on our trip was visiting Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. We have tried to visit in the past, but the visiting hours weren't posted, we didn't know which areas we were allowed in, and we got kicked out twice. However, recently they started letting non-Muslims inside the mosque on weekday mornings and have hours posted and everything. I think it is because the large mosque in Abu Dhabi (capital of the U.A.E.) starting allowing tours, so they decided to show off their mosque as well.

It was beautiful! Everything was so grand and extravagant. I am glad we finally got to see the inside.

The carpet and the chandelier are definitely the most extravagant features. The carpet is the largest single piece hand woven carpet in the world! It took over 300 women 4 years to complete and it covers the entire main worship hall which is over 14,000 square feet! And not only is it massive, but has more than 1,700,000 knots and is beautifully intricate.

The main chandelier is also enormous- over 45 feet tall! Its really hard to grasp the size from pictures- so you should just go to Oman and see it! :)

Here are some more of the Mosque, (and yes- Britt and I were sporting the head coverings as it was a rule inside the mosque)

the april camera challenge

Drew said if I can somehow save 600 extra dollars in the month of April I can get a DSLR camera. 600 dollars is kind of a lot to just find somewhere in our budget, but if it's only for a month, I think I can do it. If we only spend 30 dollars at the grocery store this month and use up all the lovely Providers Pantry things that have been accumulating, if we don't do any fun entertainment things, if we totally give up eating out (including my beloved sonic!), if I relinquish my craft money, if we don't have any medical bills and if nothing breaks and needs to be replaced in the house...I think we can pull it off!

I realize that some of those things I have no control over (medical and house repairs)...but some of those things I can totally give up, especially if its only for a month and I get a lovely prize at the end.

Now to the difficult part- choosing a camera!

I have it narrowed down to three options , thanks to this article, this article, some research and, of course, my budget for the camera:

1. The Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera

2. The Nikon D60 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera. This one is not on the list, but I'm not sure why....and its a solid option for me:

3. Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera. This one is on the list. It has less mega pixels than the other two, but is also less expensive:

But which should I choose?!? I could use some help, so if you have ANY advice I would love to hear it. Also, if you have any great insight into where to buy one from, that would be good too. Oh and if you own a Nikon or a Canon, what do you like/dislike (or lurve, if your name is sara) about it?

sweet kids

I am taking a break from the Oman posts for a day to share some fun pics of the girls in the last month. Kead looks like a kid these days, almost all the baby in her is gone. Some nights she is sweet and lets me rock her before she goes to sleep. In those quiet moments she still looks like my baby, but other than that it is running and talking and doing all things toddler. She is a hillarious little girl and makes us laugh a lot.




Sayla is still sweet, chunky, cuddly Sayla. She is sitting now, which I love, but also starting to scoot and looks like she is close to crawling. I am not sure I am ready for her to be mobile, but what can I do? She is such a little doll and I can't get enough kisses on those cheeks!






...and one of Burke...just cause I love and miss him!

trip to the date farm

A friend of Drew's named Hashel (the man pictured a few posts ago) let us tour his date farm while we were in Oman. When he explained the date palms to us he spoke with such care and tenderness, you would have thought he was talking about one of his children. He called the date palm tree "the mother of all humanity" because without it, the nomadic people would not have survived! It can grow where no other trees can, it produces such a wonderful and keepable fruit (you don't have to eat dates fresh, thus they were great for traveling across the desert) and every piece of the date tree, from the leaves, to the trunk, to the roots are useful. The fronds are woven into baskets, the fibers from the trunk and the roots are made into rope and, of course, the dates are eaten. He was very proud of his farm (and his honey bees!) and so excited to share some of Omani culture with us. It was a wonderul time to see some non-touristy Oman and how Hashel and his family live off the farm.

enjoy the pics!

I put the one of the camel crossing sign in so you can see how desolate the land is driving up to the farm, which is in a little bit of a valley and by a well, so they irrigate the farm from the well water and a tiny bit of rain water.

trouble

Our friend Mark let me borrow his camera for an afternoon. I know just a couple posts ago I went on and on about how I am going to be content with my camera, but that was before I used Mark's camera. Its all his fault. It was so much fun and so easy to use. I'm telling you- it was trouble.

home again

...for almost a week now!

The reason I haven't posted is that I am completely overwhelmed with what to write. Our trip was amazing. It was so good to go back, see our friends there, speak some arabic, show our friends that came with us the towns and people we love so much, and finally get some answers on how to open up a tourism company in Muscat! It makes me want to move back immediately.

So yes, it was great. Sayla did amazing on the trip and just went with the flow...LOTS of naps in the car seat and being kissed and passed around by my friends, but she loved the attention. Keadryn also had a wonderful time with family. They played a lot, went to the zoo (more than once), the museum, the park, playgroup...and tons more. She is having some serious separation anxiety now, but hopefully as we get back into our daily routine she will get better.

I have been going through the 1700 pictures and have narrowed it down to 800 I would like to share. haha. Well, I will be doing a few posts with some more pictures and details of the trip, but here are a few of my favorites for now.

awww...stacy and mark got engaged.

just a few pics

we've been here a week and are still having a great time. Sayla had finally switched her days and nights to the new time schedule and that has made all the difference for us being able to adjust as well. Our friends from Lubbock were suppose to join us today, but weather in Dallas made them miss their flight in Atlanta...so they will be here 27 hours later than anticipated. Yuck. I guess it is a good intro to this area of the world for them though, as much as you plan, things always go different than the schedule and you just have to go with it. :)

anyway- here are just a few pics of our time here so far:

...and the last one is for kead...she has some pants with apples on them and so we always sing "her apple bottom jeans and her boots with the furrrr" to her...so the sign made me think of her. :)

collateral

good thing we left keadryn in the states...or we might not have come back!

we are LOVING being here. I cried when we got off the airplane and I saw a group of men in their white robes and red head coverings. a good cry. an "I feel like I am home" cry.

Next in order we ate at Nandos, our favorite restaraunt in Dubai! It's actually a bristish chain, but we have only ever eaten at them in the arabian peninsula, so they will always remind us of here. We thought of our friends that use to live here, Kevin and Misty, the entire time since we always use to eat Nandos with them and the restaurnt is just a couple blocks from their old house. This place just doesn't seem the same without them here.

This morning we went to the mall of the emirates and people watched. I LOVE people watching in Dubai. It seems like no two people are from the same country and the hodge podge mixture of so many cultures (sometimes very very different cultures) is SO interesting to watch.

like I said...good thing we left kead in denver. I love being here so much, but I miss her like crazy and will be sure to get back on that airplane to see her little mischeivious face in a couple weeks!

...and we're off!

10 things we are looking forward to doing in the middle east:

1) seeing our local friends
2) eating at Abu Halibs...our favorite middle eastern place
3) going to the beach
4) hanging out with Jon and Vic
5) speaking arabic
6) getting to finally show chase and britt what we have been talking about for almost a year!
7) getting to spend some one-on-one time with sayla
8) finally getting to tour Sultan Qaboos Mosque (we have been kicked out twice)
9) buying a new rug
10) starting to meet with people about visas for our return

5 things we are not looking forward to

1) being away from kead
2) the heat
3) 24+ hours of travel with little sayla
4) smoking being allowed indoors
5)...its a LONG time to be away from kead

can't wait to come back with lots of stories and pictures. be praying for safe travels and be praying that kead does well for two weeks in denver!

twentyfive random things

in no particular order:

1. I love and I mean really really love cheesy dance movies. Watch all the special features kind of love.
   
2. I hate sponges. The way they smell after a day makes me gag.
   
3. I happen to have a really sensitive nose, which has been trouble in more than one market place while traveling overseas.
4. Drew and I met on a blind date. One of my best friends nagged me for a year to meet some guy who was "perfect for me" I gave in and told her I would meet him...more to get her off my back than anything. Turns out, she knows me pretty well.
5. We got engaged 6 months later...and married, on the beach, 5 months after that.
6. I loved being in language school. Most people called it a necessary evil, but I would be a full time language student if someone would pay for it.
7. My love of language learning dubs me a "language nerd" but (as you can clearly see) I don't give a flip about grammar, and don't really care for literature or poetry. I just love the language aquistion part.
   
8. keadryn was born in the U.A.E.
9. sayla was a "surprise"...a good one though. :)
10. I love ramen noodles and could eat them at least twice a week.
11. I LOVE cold weather. mmmm... waking up to a cloudy sky makes my heart flutter.
12. I started college as a theater major...haha. I really didn't know much about myself.
13. my cell phone is always either: a) lost b)dead c) not in earshot. It drives my sisters and mom crazy.
14. I can't wait to move back to the Middle East...eventhough its really hot there and there is not winter.
15. I cry everytime a dad dies in a movie. Thus, I sob uncontrolably at the movie Armageddon. Once I convinced Drew to watch it with me. Then I cried for hours. Never again, he says.
    
16. Care packages in the mail make me giddy.
17. I love all things crafty.
18. There are few movies that I can watch more than once. very very few... but for some reason I could watch Lord of the Rings (extended version, please), Knotting Hill, and Sweet Home Alabama over and over again.
19. I hate bugs that bite. Lots of mosquitos outside is a perfectably good reason to call of a camping trip.
20. But I also love to fish, so good fishing can offset bad mosquitos and keep a camping trip alive. It's a delicate balance, really.
21. I use to consider myself laid back...until I met drew... and now I think I am super tightly wound.
22. I am a very particular sleeper. All doors must be shut, a fan (or some noise maker) must be on and no bright lights anywhere. Once I asked Drew why it didn't bug him for there to be a light shining while he slept and he said "cause I sleep with my eyes closed."...he has a point.
23. I wish I could clean like my mom. She is amazing. One time she came and helped me clean my house. She cleaned my bathroom (which I thought was clean...) for an HOUR! Somehow I missed out on those skills.
24. I love preschoolers.
25. I'm a gypsy at heart and every 2 years get really antsy to move. It's getting to be that time, but this time I am re-doing a room in our house to try to appease my gypsy spirit.
    

giving up target

...for lent, that is. We always give up something for lent with drew's family. Some in the past have been chocolate, the snooze button on the alarm, carbonated drinks, fast food...

This year, for me, it's Target. Man, am I a consumer. I can go into a store (Target being the main culprit) with two things on my list and somehow leave the store 30 minutes later with bags of stuff that I convince myself that I really need.

We have always valued living simply, and living below our means so that we can give to those who don't have, but I have to confess that we have done a pretty awful job of it since being back in the States. I have somehow bought into the lies of always needing more to be happy, whether that be more gadgets to make daily tasks less time consuming, more clothes, more baby products, more food, more entertainment...more more more.

I hope that in this little break from my number one favorite store to peruse and spend money in, we will come back to the values of living simply, and giving much.