Hunting the Hummingbird - by David C Hoffman

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Thursday, December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

 2010 
( 9 months old)



2011



2012




2013
(somehow forgot a picture by the tree in Christmas jammies this year! #momfail)



2014



2015



Luke 2:13-14
"13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”



May the Thrill of Hope bless you richly today, and in the days to come.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Out & About in Kuwait

Last Friday we spent the morning at Tball and then the rest of the day exploring Kuwait City...we had the best time!

Seriously, it was likely my very favorite day since we've moved here.

David was feeling well enough to be out for hours upon hours, my little sister was here, and the weather was perfect. 
We hired our favorite taxi driver to be "on call" for us for the entire afternoon, and started our journey checking out the outside of Green Island. We didn't want to spend a lot of time there, so we didn't pay the 1KD per person entrance fee to actually go out on the island, instead, we just played a bit right outside...


Beautiful - albeit hazy- view of the skyline back in Salmiya....

Our son immediately found a stick which became a lightsaber, naturally...
...the kids also found tons of great seashells!


My little family...

My baby sister and I...


After playing on the beach for a bit (and I mean a "bit", the outer area of Green Island was not very well maintained...lots of trash along the beach! Likely left there to make you more interested in paying the 1KD to enter the actual island) we headed to the Kuwait Towers. 
We wanted to see them because:
1)because it's a tourist attraction, and we've lived here nearly four months and not yet seen them. 
2) because my sister is visiting and, see above, tourist attraction.
3) we're big Portland Trailblazers fans, and they have a segment called "wear in the world" where fans take pictures all over the world while wearing Blazer gear. We're hoping our picture is cool enough to be spotlighted on TV during one of their games ;)

Our submitted "wear in the world" pic...


One of 18,942 outtakes...
Getting four people to look directly at the camera is no small feat. You families with like eight members??? I bow to you.



Our boy in front of the Kuwait Towers...
That is a moment that will be forever cemented in my mind. After the above photos, he said "Daddy, take my picture in front of the towers!" and then posed just like that. 
Hands in his pocket, honest smile on his face.
Like a little man.
He's only five and a half, and most his poses for pictures include a jedi or ninja stance...but this just was a glimpse of his journey to being autonomous, and the act was not lost on me...
*sheds small my-babies-are-growing-up-so-fast-tear*

After Blazer gear photo success, we walked around the area bit...


(he also wanted his picture taken with this paintball sign in the background =)  )





(he also wanted David to take a photo of these bricks. So at this point it began to cross over from absolutely adorable to mildly annoying...)


A little playground by the sea...

Working on mastering the selfie with our new camera...



Exploring the playground...






After we finished up there, we asked to be taken to "the Souk", which we thought we were requesting the Souk Al-Mubarakiya, but turns out we'd been unspecific (newbies!) and ended up at Souk Sharq, which is just another mall. 

They're EVERYWHERE here.

But, it was a nice mall and we had a good time. 

The Souk Sharq had a beautiful outdoor area with amazing scenery...








While walking around outside, we stumbled across a show getting ready to start. We grabbed some seats and awaited whatever was about to begin...

Turns out it was a kids concert type thing, completely in Arabic, with the most random of characters. Like Hello Kitty and Jerry the Mouse...

The kids each got balloon swords so they didn't care how weird the show was...

And, pray-tell, what random circus show outside a mall would be complete without a clown on stilts????

After about twenty minutes of that, we headed back inside to shop a bit and look around.
The Water Clock inside the mall...


After that we went out for an All American (yet still bacon-less) dinner at TGIFridays...


A view of the Kuwait Towers lit up at night...

Aunt Mem sparing with the boy while waiting for our ride home...

David giving our exhausted daughter a lift...=)

Like I said, probably my favorite day since we landed here. It was so fun to get out and explore around the entire State of Kuwait a little bit more! It's great weather here right now, even a little chilly, which is a drastic difference from Decembers back home. So fun to be able to show Emily around where we are living, and see some new things for ourselves.
And also, possibly land ourselves on TV in our sweet Blazer gear ;).


Sunday, December 20, 2015

Aunt Mem visits

My baby sister is here!! In Kuwait!! Staying in our apartment!!! If you're unable to tell by all the exclamation points, I could not be more excited about this!!!!!!!!!!

It's so nice to have this little piece of Home here.
I love having her around! Not only because I just love my sister, but also for the extra set of hands. David has been battling some health issues since right before Halloween (yes, nearly two months ago, poor guy!) and so he's been unable to go and do a lot of things with the twins and I, which has caught both of us off guard. I knew when we moved to a new country - one where I would not be working AND would be homeschooling, and he'd be working a brand new job in a totally new environment - that I'd be on my own a lot with the kids, but neither of us anticipated him being down and out for so long and unable to do so much. It's added a real challenge to the whole relocation process, and we've both struggled with it.

So having Emily here is like a giant ray of sunshine =). 

The kids are SO STINKING HAPPY she is visiting!!

Our daughter showing Aunt Mem the view from the living room couch...

Of course we got dinner from our favorite Shawrma place...

If she's at all stationary, one twin or the other, or both, are cuddled up on her!


On Saturday the twins and I took her to Marina Cresent...

On the weekends there are tons of little tent shops along the bay...

The twins chasing some bubbles that were being blown...

There was a little fair type thing set up (several along the Gulf during the weekends) and for 1KD you could have unlimited time on the inflatables...

L -

A-

L-

A- (in the white shirt & black pants)

This goofy duo had the best time bouncing around!


After they bounced their little hearts out, we walked over to Marina Beach...


After some ocean and beach play, we had two wet, sandy kids who were less keen on walking home than they had been walking there, and it was evening time to boot which meant traffic was much more intense. I was SO grateful to have Emily there while navigating all the road crossing with the twins. They are pretty good little adventurers...but they are still only five years old and easily distracted. 
I can't even tell you how many times I've been out with them and needed to cross busy streets and my pulse is just racing...the drivers here are NUTS and five year olds do things like accidentally kick their CROC off right as your entering the road to cross the street, or fight with each other because one doesn't want to stand so close to another, or decide to ask very important questions right after you say "after this car, we're going to go, ok?" or see something shiny and forget they are in a country where pedestrians do not have the right-of-way and nearly every driver is on their cell phone. Gah. I'm getting all tense just writing about it.
Anyways, great to have more hands here =).

And even if the walk over and back can be a little stressful, I feel very blessed to live within walking distance to Marina Mall and beach!
And very blessed to have a sister that wants to spend her hard-earned money coming to the other side of the World to visit us.