Three Weeks In

It's been quite a while since I've been able to blog, we've been traveling non-stop for the last three months and it's finally starting to feel like we're settling down, even though we're not really... kind of... slowly. These last three weeks in Amman have gone by really fast, we're mostly busy everyday working but at night we meet people and that's always fun. I feel like it was more of a culture shock to move to the Middle East than it was the last two times I was here, but slowly I think we're finding a rhythm. It's always hard when you move away from friends and family and languages and routines... even if the last place you moved from was your third country/home, but slowly things are starting to fall in place.
God is always so gracious, even when things are really hard... I think that's what I need to always remind myself of... He's just good.

Here's a little taste of  the last three weeks in Amman and this first one is a crash course into the culture here:

Welcome to the Jordan. Note the cup holders.

We found 100% pomergrante juice while out grocery shopping. I wasn't too crazy about it, but I wish I could send some to my brothers, they'd love it.

Elijah and I bought these new sofas (except in chocolate brown)! Ignore the bedazzed pillows, they weren't included. The Lord really blessed us with a great deal and a guarentee of no second hand bed bugs :)

Also, I got on really well with the lady selling us the sofa and we're going to meet up soon. It feels so funny sometimes just asking random strangers to be your friend, but it works here and I like it. Right after we bought the sofa and left the store we got invited to a complete strangers wedding celebration. Welcome to the Jordan.

I tried to convince Elijah to buy me a dog... since I had already named them (Barbar and Beamo) I was pretty sure it was a done deal... but he wasn't as convinced.

I miss having a dog :(

We laughed.

These folk know whats what when it come to dates. No sugar added, straight from Saudi Arabia... BEST.THING.EVER.

We got to watch this little cutie one day

God blessed us with finding an apartment in Amman! It has quite a few nice perks too that we take for granted in the West. We're pretty excited... if you can't tell.

Because they can I guess....

Again because they can....

After not eating almost all day, we made a quick stop at one of my favorite fast food places here in Amman, you can eat your fill of goodness and it always stays under 10 dinar

And they have fresh strawberry juice, a new fave of mine!

I find on really poopy days having breakfast for dinner makes life pretty nice again. These were originally suppose to be sugar free waffles but we couldn't get them to stop sticking so I gave up and made pancakes. They still helped though :)

Sorry they're all mobile pictures. I know we're always walking around with our huge bulky cameras and taking pictures of everything... and in my heart of hearts thats what I want to do every day here! But having blonde hair in the Middle East already gets you enough attention as it is, not too many people are walking around with dslr's around their neck on top of that. I'm working on my boldness though, it's actually a great way to meet people and I'm dying to get some amazing shots.

But for now you get timid little Ash's mobiles. 

Tonight Elijah is off visiting his Iraqi students with Johnny. The Lord has really been blessing us with a wonderful apartment, meeting people, and affordable furniture (it's actually really hard to find inexpensive furniture here, the prices are outrageous and everything is 70's brown, brown, brown and gold). It's been a hard first few weeks, but God is faithful and He's been blessing our marriage a lot through it all. The reality is, it's a blessing for us to be! We're the lucky ones! Even though some things are hard... my dad was telling me that we should view the hardships as a privilege from God and not something disheartening. Too often I make it disheartening, when hardships He allows me to endure and thinks me capable of enduring should actually encourage me all the more!