Last week the show came to town.  A local Arabic-language Christian satellite station, Sat 7, featured Dar El Awlad on it’s show Yella Nghanny Sawa (Let’s Sing Together).  The host of the program happens to be Ruth’s cousin, Marianne Daou, and a number of our boys have been guests of the live show in the past.  This time all the boys were featured!  They did a great job of getting through the production and displayed some rather fair showmanship qualities.  The episode will air this weekend and it will be interesting to see how they edit the show together.  I’m sure the boys will be excited to see themselves on tv.  Sat 7 reaches homes throughout the Arabic-speaking world so there will be many more who will see the boys as well.  May God use them to be a blessing!

Family Engagement

This past weekend we had a family engagement…literally.  My cousin Ahmad surprised us all and announced an engagement.  For the Bedouin, an engagement is a little more than a guy getting on one knee to pop a question.  It’s a family (even village) affair.  So on Saturday evening many gathered together to celebrate the start of this union.  There is a lot of tradition that goes into it, and it all went very well.  Ahmad has been one of my dearest friends and it was a pleasure to celebrate the special occasion with him.  Still, I’m glad my own engagement consisted of just me on one knee popping a question to Ruth.

An added bonus was the fact that my dad arrived right in the middle of the festivities.  He’s in town for the next couple of weeks on Kids Alive and personal business.  His presence added excitement to the event. Things have been quite hard on the family lately and the refugee crisis is affecting so many loved ones.  There’s been a lot of loss all around, but that couldn’t hamper an opportunity to cut loose and enjoy a moment of celebration.  Even in the midst of all that has been taken away, there’s still family, and that’s worth a lot.

Putting a ring on that finger.  Gotta love the rabbit.

When the photographers are photographed...the pictures come out blurry.

A mansaf lunch.  Dad got the sheep head platter.

The First Day of School is a Day of Accomplishment for Me

Some our boys heading out to Beirut for their first day of the school year.

Usually the last day of school is the day of accomplishment, but for me it’s the first day.  When the boys go off on that first day I know that I managed to get them set-up for the year ahead by registering them in new schools and classes, gathering with right books and equipment, and supplying the uniforms to keep up with their growing teenage bodies.  That may seem like a simple task, but I've actually found it to be quite complicated and taxing.  Most schools don’t provide school books for students (even if they do, you have to buy and sell on the street to get used books at a big discount).  They give you a list and you have to run around town to different book shops and track all the right books and updated editions.  I have yet to find a shop that carries all the books (every school follows different curriculum it seems), but I've learned which places are better stocked than others.  It’s not a straightforward process by any means, but over the years I've come to figure it out.  Still, there’s a relieving feeling of accomplishment when the boys head out on that first day looking ready for the year ahead.  There will be steady streams of needs throughout the year and more trips around town to make sure they have the supplies and equipment they need, but hopefully I managed to get them off on a good first step.