Beth and Alex: The Fear Factor Edition

For those of you who doubt our ability (or at least MY ability) to eat or drink things that we think are gross, pay attention. Alex and I are mentoring an Iraqi refugee family through the International Rescue Committee. Our family is a mom, dad, 5 year old girl, and 11 month girl. The father had a contract with the Americans in Baghdad, and thus was targeted by al-Qaeda. The family had been refugees in Jordan for 4 years! We had our first actual meeting with them two weeks ago. At the mother's request, we went on a picnic with the family. Alex and I were concerned about the language issue and while it's certainly not easy, we are able to carry on good conversations and have lots of fun. We have all agreed that we can help them with English and they'll help us with Arabic. The dad is really outgoing and the mom is my age, so I feel we have some things in common. The girls are as cute as can be. We ended our picnic by swinging and playing on the playground.

This week, they wanted to cook us traditional Iraqi food. So, I showed up early with chocolate cake and all the necessary ingredients. The eldest daughter and I made it together without the use of a measuring cup. It looked really really soupy when we poured it into the pan, so I prayed that it would turn out okay and it did. Then Alex showed up from jury duty (more on that later) and we sat down to eat. This is what we were greeted with:

They also included a vegetable plate and some fried (and boiled) bulghar wheat meat pastries. I am proud to say that I, Beth Wise, ate some version of a chile relleno with meat, rice, and vegetables inside. I also ate something that looked like maroon broccoli. The meal actually tasted much better than I thought and I was pleased with that. Alex did a great job. So we successfully finished dinner (although the father wasn't pleased that they had leftovers). Then they break out the tea. For those of you who don't know, I may be a pickier eater than Alex, but I can at least gag things down. One of Alex's least favorite drinks is tea. In the Middle East, hot tea is the customary drink that you offer people when they come to your home (i.e. they drink it ALOT). So, after dinner, they make us both tea, without asking. I am able to drink mine. Alex keeps glancing at me as he takes miniscule sips. So, finally, I grabbed the chance to set my cup next to his and stealthily switch cups. What a good wife I am to rescue my husband from a sure and sudden death by tea. We then talked about the election (the dad likes McCain!) and the mom asked me about our coins, so I showed her which coin is a quarter, dime, etc....

Next week, Alex and I are having them over here for dinner. Future meetings will involve the grocery store, the zoo, and hopefully some parades. It should make for an interesting time. The reason I am not posting their pictures or names on the blog is because I do not know about their security situation, so it is better to be safe than sorry. If you would like to see some pictures we took with them, feel free to email us (alex.and.beth@gmail.com) and we'll send them to you if we know you.

I mentioned that Alex had jury duty this week. He reported on Monday and was glad to be picked. So he didn't have to work Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday! How nice! He really enjoyed learning about the judicial process and he ended up being the head juror.

This was my last week at these first 3 schools. We threw the girls a party and reviewed what we had talked about over the past 6 weeks. It was a fairly easy week and we had lots of cooperation (because we had food). On Wednesday, my partner, Jill, and I walked into 1st period and heard, "Yay! Girl Scouts!" instead of our usual "Ugh, Girl Scouts. (insert eye rolls and hissy fits)", and we thought we had walked into an alternate universe. Gosh. We start our new schools this next week and I'm excited about a fresh start. There was also some drama this past week involving the upper management at Girl Scouts (it's not all cookies and kumbayah). The direction of the program may be changing in the future because of some decisions made this week. I would have thought that a non-profit would be more stable than this, but I'm learning alot!

We've been hanging out with our neighbors alot. Our buddies, Rick and Sarah, who have the cutest baby in the world, helped me carve a stinkin' amazing pumpkin and I got to show Sarah the wonders of IKEA today. We've started having a weekly game night with a junior high girl and her mom. This Saturday, we're having a Ladies' Movie Night. It's so cool to have so many fun people within 10 seconds of us. You don't even have to drive anywhere!

The weekends have still been busy. Two weekends ago, Amy and Keith came up from College Station. We showed them around Alex and Beth's Dallas and had some good food. It was so encouraging to see them and fun to play hostess. Last weekend, my family came up to Frisco and we all spent the weekend at my aunt's house. Everyone did the Gary Burns 5K race on Saturday morning. Alex ran it (3.2 miles) in less than 30 minutes. Leah and I chilled at the back of the group with the clowns (I do think we beat the mascot dressed as the #7). If my sister posts pictures of the event, I'll put some up. Our friend, Kelli, from Arkansas was in town so we got dinner with her on Saturday.

Spiritually, God is being faithful in giving us the fellowship we need and continuing to give us opportunities to trust Him. We thank you for your continued prayers. Please let us know how we can be praying for you. Feel free to drop us a line anytime! We love you guys!