just life

so, life is back in full-swing. it is weird and nice to be back here. it's weird that it feels so much like home, but it's also nice. it's weird that it feels so normal to me, our daily life, but it's also really nice. i've been trying to think of something to post about, but not much exciting happens in our life, so i haven't. last year, we had tons of stories at this time. stories about the kids, stories about the culture, stories about things that happen every day that seemed so out of the ordinary to us. but now, it's just our life. and which i find it cool and interesting, i don't feel like a lot of other people will.

a typical day for me goes like this. i get up around 7, eat breakfast, ride our scooter to work, and work till 1. at work, i talk to people who come to the bible college, i answer emails, i have tea. after work, i eat lunch and usually lounge around for an hour or so before arabic classes. then i drag myself down to arabic lessons and am confused for an hour, learning to write what still seems to me like a secret code that i don't have the decoder to. then sometimes i'll go to the store or the bakery or the butcher to get stuff for dinner, sometimes i'll go get some ice-cream, then i make dinner, hang out with jason, maybe go visit some people, maybe go to a coffee shop, then i go to bed, and start over the next morning. i guess it does make it that much more interesting that all of this goes on in palestine, a third-world country where i don't speak the language. but even that isn't that crazy to me anymore.

we do still see things that we think are funny or odd. especially when we first got back. but even four weeks later, it just kind of has settled into life. things that were huge adventures last year, like grocery shopping or trying to find places, have become routine. it's still not nearly as easy and comfortable as it is for me the US, but it's a lot closer than i expected it to be.

so what has happened...well, we have our apartment mostly set up. i keep meaning to take pictures. we still need a bed, but i think we're getting that tomorrow. we didn't have to buy hardly anything, which was a huge blessing. people just keep giving us stuff. of course, beggars can't be choosers, so we have a bit of a wicker theme going on in the living room, which is not my first choice, but it's like we live on an island, so that's fun. we are buying a car, which i'm super excited about because it means i don't have to drive the scooter around everywhere now. which has been fun and all, but i'm about done with it. it's still nice when we go to jerusalem and don't have to wait in line at stoplights, but driving in bethlehem scares me and i'm excited to have a car protecting me from the crazy drivers. we're making friends and renewing friendships. the people at our church in jerusalem have been super welcoming since we've been back, which has been a huge blessing to us. we're meeting a lot of arabs as well and finding more ways to become involved in life here. so that's about it. our life in a nutshell. so until something exciting happens...i'll be here, just living life.

oh, and also, we're having a baby.