He patiently sits now, without forcibly turning the pages, or throwing the book across the room....
The 3 of us often sit and read books together, and I sometimes catch Catherine reading books to him....melts my heart every time!
Monday, December 6, 2010
It's in our blood
Ryan's new favorite thing to do is read...just like me and Catherine! :)
He patiently sits now, without forcibly turning the pages, or throwing the book across the room....
The 3 of us often sit and read books together, and I sometimes catch Catherine reading books to him....melts my heart every time!
He patiently sits now, without forcibly turning the pages, or throwing the book across the room....
The 3 of us often sit and read books together, and I sometimes catch Catherine reading books to him....melts my heart every time!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Prayer of the Expat Wife
For some reason, a bunch of these articles/letters/emails have been appearing in my email inbox or Facebook. Maybe the Expat Wives community bonds together moreso during the Christmas season, when a lot of us are not home for the holidays....In any case, I found this one particularly funny.
Heavenly Father,
Look down on us your humble obedient expat wives, who are doomed to travel this earth following our loved ones through their working lives to lands unknown.
We beseech you, oh Lord, to see that our plane is not hijacked or doesn’t crash, our luggage is not lost or pillaged, and our overweight baggage goes unnoticed.
Give us this day, divine guidance in our selection of houses, maids and drivers. We pray that the telephone works, the roof does not leak, the power cuts are few and the rats and cockroaches even fewer.
Lord, please lead us to good, inexpensive restaurants where wine is included in the meal and the food does not cause dysentery.
Have mercy upon us Lord, if it be the latter, and make us fleet of foot to make it to the loo in time, and strong of knee in case we have to squat. Also give us the wisdom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand.
Make the natives love us Lord, for who we are and not what we can contribute to their worldly goods.
Grant us the strength to smile at our maids, even though our most treasured dress resembles a rag, or they take bleach to clean our well admired silk rug. Give us divine patience when we explain for the hundredth time the way we want things done. And Lord, if we ever lose our patience and thump them, have mercy on us for our flesh is weak.
Dear God, protect us from so-called “bargains” we don’t need and can’t afford. Lead us not into temptation for we know not what we do.
Almighty Father, keep our husbands from looking at foreign women and comparing them to us and save them from making fools of themselves in nightclubs. Above all, please do NOT forgive their trespasses for they know exactly what they do.
And when our expat years are over Lord, grant us the favor of finding someone who will look at our photographs and listen to our stories, so our lives as expat wives will not have been in vain.
Amen.
Heavenly Father,
Look down on us your humble obedient expat wives, who are doomed to travel this earth following our loved ones through their working lives to lands unknown.
We beseech you, oh Lord, to see that our plane is not hijacked or doesn’t crash, our luggage is not lost or pillaged, and our overweight baggage goes unnoticed.
Give us this day, divine guidance in our selection of houses, maids and drivers. We pray that the telephone works, the roof does not leak, the power cuts are few and the rats and cockroaches even fewer.
Lord, please lead us to good, inexpensive restaurants where wine is included in the meal and the food does not cause dysentery.
Have mercy upon us Lord, if it be the latter, and make us fleet of foot to make it to the loo in time, and strong of knee in case we have to squat. Also give us the wisdom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand.
Make the natives love us Lord, for who we are and not what we can contribute to their worldly goods.
Grant us the strength to smile at our maids, even though our most treasured dress resembles a rag, or they take bleach to clean our well admired silk rug. Give us divine patience when we explain for the hundredth time the way we want things done. And Lord, if we ever lose our patience and thump them, have mercy on us for our flesh is weak.
Dear God, protect us from so-called “bargains” we don’t need and can’t afford. Lead us not into temptation for we know not what we do.
Almighty Father, keep our husbands from looking at foreign women and comparing them to us and save them from making fools of themselves in nightclubs. Above all, please do NOT forgive their trespasses for they know exactly what they do.
And when our expat years are over Lord, grant us the favor of finding someone who will look at our photographs and listen to our stories, so our lives as expat wives will not have been in vain.
Amen.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Jodhpur, the Blue City
We squeezed one more Rajasthani city into our travel itinerary over Thanksgiving weekend- this time we explored Jodhpur, the Blue City. Jodhpur was founded in 1459 and grew out of the profits of opium, sandalwood, dates and copper.
We stayed at a really cool hotel, the Ajit Bhawan. It's a Heritage hotel, meaning it's historically preserved and has tons of nooks and crannies all over the place. In fact, we spent quite a bit of time exploring the hotel! We had a super-cool room overlooking the pool, with our own private patio.
Once we'd arrived, gotten settled and explored the hotel a bit, we headed over to the Clock Tower and the surrounding Sardar Market. It was an incredibly loud, dirty, busy, crazy place...we were a bit overwhelmed especially since we had the kids. We lasted about 1.5 hours before we headed back to the hotel for dinner.
The buffet dinner was served alfresco (outside) with live entertainment- a group of men playing Rajasthani music, singing and dancing. There was one particular little boy who's footwork was just incredible! Ryan was especially curious.
The next day was dedicated to the Meherangarh Fort and the Umaid Bhawan Palace. The Fort was a pretty good one- great views of the Blue City (the Brahmin caste is predominant in this city, and they paint their homes/shops blue) and interesting architecture. There was a big collection of howdahs (seats for carrying people on an elephant's back) and royal infant bassinets. One thing I'll say is the the FLIES at the Fort were unbearable- there were millions! We lasted till early afternoon then headed over to the Palace, where the current Maharaja still lives. It was an interesting little tour, showing the Royal Family's world-over collections of glassware, furniture and clocks. A nice, quiet (and fly-less) end to the day.
Sunday was spent over a leisurely breakfast, a bit of window shopping and our flight home. Overall, it was a worthwhile trip, and we enjoyed having some family time outside of Mumbai.
Here's a glimpse!
We stayed at a really cool hotel, the Ajit Bhawan. It's a Heritage hotel, meaning it's historically preserved and has tons of nooks and crannies all over the place. In fact, we spent quite a bit of time exploring the hotel! We had a super-cool room overlooking the pool, with our own private patio.
Once we'd arrived, gotten settled and explored the hotel a bit, we headed over to the Clock Tower and the surrounding Sardar Market. It was an incredibly loud, dirty, busy, crazy place...we were a bit overwhelmed especially since we had the kids. We lasted about 1.5 hours before we headed back to the hotel for dinner.
The buffet dinner was served alfresco (outside) with live entertainment- a group of men playing Rajasthani music, singing and dancing. There was one particular little boy who's footwork was just incredible! Ryan was especially curious.
The next day was dedicated to the Meherangarh Fort and the Umaid Bhawan Palace. The Fort was a pretty good one- great views of the Blue City (the Brahmin caste is predominant in this city, and they paint their homes/shops blue) and interesting architecture. There was a big collection of howdahs (seats for carrying people on an elephant's back) and royal infant bassinets. One thing I'll say is the the FLIES at the Fort were unbearable- there were millions! We lasted till early afternoon then headed over to the Palace, where the current Maharaja still lives. It was an interesting little tour, showing the Royal Family's world-over collections of glassware, furniture and clocks. A nice, quiet (and fly-less) end to the day.
Sunday was spent over a leisurely breakfast, a bit of window shopping and our flight home. Overall, it was a worthwhile trip, and we enjoyed having some family time outside of Mumbai.
Here's a glimpse!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Giving Thanks
We celebrated Thanksgiving the good 'ole fashioned way this year- with food, beverages, and friends! And while the turkey is not featured in these pics (the carving knife got to 'ole Tom before the camera did!), these photos show what a feast we had.
Thank you, Kristen for hosting such a lovely, relaxing day of nice conversations, fun Wii time and way too much food and wine. We especially loved the idea of the "Thanksgiving mirror" where we all wrote down things we are thankful for.
We Weatherwaxes are thankful for so many things, but "Each other" and "living in India" topped this years' list.
Thank you, Kristen for hosting such a lovely, relaxing day of nice conversations, fun Wii time and way too much food and wine. We especially loved the idea of the "Thanksgiving mirror" where we all wrote down things we are thankful for.
We Weatherwaxes are thankful for so many things, but "Each other" and "living in India" topped this years' list.
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