Mu

Mumu is studying the ways of Paula Dean, planning how she'll one-up her next year by adding just one more tablespoon of butter and then...perfection. Rolls that really do melt in your mouth. 

ohmygoodness

Buddy found a lady! Jen is so absolutely amazing! We love her, and love that he found her, and that she found him, and that they are happy and cute and, well are they in.....love?  

my brother the pineapple

or is he a a turkey? 

seeing double

i really am quite fond of her. 

Celebrants

Figurines celebrating on the serving table at Thanksgiving in my aunt and uncle's house. They might even be caroling AND giving thanks. What exemplary Puritans and Native Americans they are! 

Family

My long-lost brother. Ah, how I miss him. He's all grown up now. And, yes, in the fashion of twin-dom, Elizabeth and I are wearing the same outfit, in complimentary colors. 

a recent discovery

After four "divine appointments" today (a.k.a. support raising meetings) I looked down to notice that my shirt is inside-out. I know that it has been inside-out all day because, well, I have no recollection of taking it off at all since I put it on. This discovery only proves two of my theories: 1) I'm more scattered than usual these days and 2) God is bigger than mis-matched clothing. He usues even the most oblivious of us, his children. And his blessings will knock your socks off. Come as you are.

...

This is my first post in a long while... Don't have much to say, but I was pressured into writing this....

All I know is that even after the flood, the rain still seems to come.

prayer letter

To the faithful readership of barefacedjenn:

Click here to read my first prayer letter! You can look for a new prayer letter each month. I'll try to always have a link to the letter on this blogspot. I covet your prayers!

culturally appropriate

Head scarves were actually more comfortable to wear than just baring my hair. I felt more Jordanian and received less wandering eyes from the locals. I tried to wear a head scarf when meeting with my Jordanian girl friends. We all had fun trying to learn to wrap them around our hair and faces. This picture was taken after a night of head scarf lessons with our friends Manar and Miram. 

always with a smile

Neighborhood kids greeting us as we returned to camp, probably after a long day in the dirt. Their favorite words were, "Ah-lo, whas your name?" 

weekly water truck visit

The contents of this truck brought us the closest thing to clean by providing us with water ever week. Here the truck is filling the cisterns on the roof of our bathroom building. When the cisterns ran dry we had to, somehow, get another truck to bring us water, for a pretty penny. The worst day of the week to run out of water was Friday, the holy day. The water hole is closed on Friday and the trucks don't run. Friday's were usually the days I stayed dirty.

family time

With our friends, The Bedouins. 

exfoliation is never a pretty process

They say the salty mud from the Dead Sea does wonders for one's skin. I couldn't miss such an opportunity as this! Oh, and that's the Dead Sea behind me. And, across the sea is the shore of Israel. 

a hot hike

Crusin' up a mountain with The Word. Here we are headed up to the top of the mountain where John the Baptist was beheaded. I thought it appropriate to bring my Bible and read the story, but this time I'd be able to have just a smidge more perspective. 

tents are the next big thing

Linda, Peter, and I taking a break in a "souvenier tent" after a desert castle tour. 

hot weather + uncomfortable seat = worst place for a nap, ever

Definitely didn't see this picture coming. 

"this one looks so life-like"

Jordan is a land of ample photo oportunities. Case in point: Nathan Cozart pretending to be a bunny statue in a nook of a castle wall. 

recorded live

I'm not incredibly musically-inclined, but I think I could pick up this instrument in no time at all. It had one string and was played like a viola, sort of. Just before this picture was taken I snapped another picture of him on his cell phone. The abundance of cell phones in Jordan amazed me. The musicality of this instrument did not amaze me, however. 

just my size

A fun little doorway in a fun little hunting lodge in the desert. 

a sopapilla, Jordanian style

This bread is called "puri." Two words: saturated fat. Oh, but was it delicious. 

fun with pita

Hey, if you're not going to eat it, you might as well play with it. 

"every rose has its thorn..."

Spiritual Lesson from flowers in Jordan: everything pretty has hidden thorns. Look out for these so that their beauty can be fully enjoyed, even if that means from afar.

calcium-rich

...the "zir"...the Jordanian version of the water cooler. Water was hauled from the town spring to a cistern at the building where we stayed. Then, the water we drank was boiled and put in these ceramic pots. "The latent heat of evaporization," (a catch phrase that never got old, or true) cooled the water. We dipped the coffee cup into the zir and filled our water bottles. In other words-- grimy, sunscreened hands went in and out of this water, bugs floated in it, and calcium collected in it. Yummy. 

a lovely layover

Did I mention we had a nine-hour layover in Paris on the way to Jordan? Oh. Well, we did. We caught the metro from the airport, breezed past the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, across the Seine River, then back on the metro to the airport, with plenty of time to spare. 

not for the weak-stomached

We're enjoying a lovely meal of "mansif," served on a large plate, on the floor. Eating with one's hands was how all the cool kids ate, so we fell right in line. We have towels over our laps to catch the falling pieces of goat and rice and weird yellow sauce. 

a mother, foremost

This is my bedouin friend with her youngest baby girl. I'll never forget their faces. 

diving in

This hole is a probe Esther my digging mate dug in her square. It was alsmost as deep as I am tall. She uncovered lots of pottery that helped us date the church area and understand better the uses of the area over the centuries.