June

Here's an update of life here, there and everywhere -

Mom has arrived in Kansas safely after two months in Afghanistan. I don't have too many details from her yet, but she says it was "exhausting" and "exciting." My brother is still in Kabul, but his family has moved back to North Dakota for safety reasons.

Gerald is teaching a double load for the summer session and we rarely see the poor guy any more. One of his favorite quotes from the student evaluations was, "The best accounting teacher I've ever had!" Never mind that Gerald is his first accounting teacher!

Katrina is in school until July 3. Thankfully she doesn't know that all her American peers are running around jumping in pools by now!

Kendra finished the school year last week and is (impatiently) waiting for Katrina to be done.

I have been busy helping a friend who got serious food poisoning while trekking in the High Atlas Mountains about 8 hours from here. She had to ride draped over a mule for over an hour to get off the mountain and ended up in two different hospitals with atrocious care. Thankfully she is back in Ifrane close by so we can keep an eye on her. She is wondering how long a person can feel so bad! Please keep Rebecca in your prayers (this is the same friend I wrote about a year ago who was so sick - we think she's got some very long-term visitors in her intestines....).

And - we are gearing up to come back to the States for a month! We will mostly be with our parents but we will also be in Topeka for a little bit.

And, in other news...

Here are the girls saying goodbye to our dear friends and neighbors. The father is Moroccan and the mother is German. The family will move back to Germany while the father moves to the Emirates for a higher-paying job. We see the separation of families so much here - many of our friends have a spouse on another continent. This family lived across the hall from us and all through the looong winter, our girls played endlessly with each other. Rokia (back left) is the big sister and Aischa (on Katrina's back) and Sarah (hugging Kendra) were our girls' best buds. Many tears were shed as the pain of living in a place with extremely high turnover is once again highlighted.

These girls are risking their lives to cross the stream to steal food from a wicked witch who keeps casting spells on them forcing them back to the opposite bank. And here you thought this was just a picture of girls playing in a stream!

Father's Day picnic with friends Joe Walwick, the Smiths and the MacArthurs - hooray for great dads!

Restaurant Katrina and Kendra - serving Asmaa with the contents of half the kitchen along with several things that do not belong in the kitchen...