Yeah ! It's finally here ! The long awaited box of baby clothes for our very first grandchild .My daughter's in America have tried to send this box of precious presents for their brother's new baby that was born in May since February . They were so excited to learn they were going to be aunts for the first time they rushed out and bought all the baby clothes and toy inventories in a 10 mile radius !
Then came the whole nightmare of getting them here . One special man stepped into the breach and did what no one else would do , he hauled that box of baby things across 3 different continents for a stranger , to give to another stranger . Now that is a real hero ! His name is Tommy . He deserves a medal ! Thank you so much Tommy !
For the full details of the complete story click onto the link below to read what Rosebud wrote on her blog . http://www.tajoura.blogspot.com
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
What I Beleive
I know this has circulated the e-mails but I find it has a certain truth that resonates in our lives . Just wanted to share it with you .
I Believe
I Believe....
That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become!
I Believe....
That just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
I Believe....
That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
I Believe....
That it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I Believe....
That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I Believe....
That you can keep going, long after you think you can't.
I Believe....
That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I Believe....
That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
I Believe....
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I Believe....
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
I Believe....
That money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I Believe....
That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I Believe....
That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.
I Believe....
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the one to help you get back up.
I Believe....
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.
I Believe....
That it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
I Believe....
That no matter how bad you heart is broken, the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I Believe....
That just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.
I Believe....
That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
I Believe....
That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.
I Believe....
That two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I Believe....
That even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will the strength to help
I Believe....
That the people you care about most in life are take from you much too soon.
I Believe....
That life is more precious than money will ever be able to be.
What do you believe ?
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Phone Flu And Lists
Today my friend called me and we were talking about this and that . It was so nice to hear from her , as she is always busy with her business or some project , so she doesn't have much spare time . She was telling me how her kids were painting her apartment. That they were driving her crazy . She couldn't decide whether to kill them before they finished the painting , or after , since then for the funeral the apartment would look nice . LOL ! I told her I thought that after would be better , that way she could enjoy the peace and quite afterwards in a freshly painted apartment .
Then I was talking about a bought of stomach flu I had last week . I called it the phone flu . Most of my friends already have had this stomach flu. I had talked to them when they were ill with the flu on the phone , so I said I must have caught it from the phone calls , lol ! The thing with this flu was that it not only caused diarrhea , but it also gave you EXTREME , and I mean EXTREME , gas , or farts to be very blunt . I am talking evacuate the room for your life farts !!! If you were misfortunate enough to accidentally be in the vicinity of an incoming , well lets just say you might need medical attention ! Quickly , at that !
The other night I had forgotten I cooked my husband beans for dinner . Later in the evening I began to smell that odor and I knew it wasn't from me .Much later on in the evening it came again wafting around the room silently . So , I began to sniff out the source , no pun intended. The cat , oh poor thing , she had the phone virus now . Then a while later I smelled it again and the cat was in the other room , so I knew it wasn't her . Oh my Gawd ! Now my husband had it too ! That was it , we would have to sleep with the windows open , mosquito's or not , unless we all wanted to die of toxic fumes . Thankfully we all are well once again and survived that !
A while back my husband Moe and I were in the super market The Mahari doing our shopping . I am a list maker , from a long line of list makers , my daughters make list too . Anyway, I had my list out and Moe was helping me get things from here and there in the store . We turned the corner into a new isle and a little further down from us was a young couple also doing their shopping . He was obviously Libyan and she was another foreigner wife like me . How did I know ? She had a list too . She was sending him here and there to get different things for their basket. We acted like we didn't see them and let them get on with it . They disappeared around the end of the corner into the next isle over . We ended up in the same isle a little later too , but at the other end , where he was searching for something she had asked him to get for her . He found it and yelled down the isle " Honey is this what you want " ? He was sort of embarrassed that we had showed up at that exact moment and heard him call her honey …. in public . It was so sweet . We managed to hide our smiles from him and passed by like nothing untold had happened . It isn't everyday that you hear a Libyan man call his wife honey , or anything remotely like a pet name in public.
Now a days I am seeing more and more Libyans , mainly the men since they do the majority of the shopping for the wives , in stores with LISTS of their own . They always have a confused look on their faces as they try to find whatever is on that list they clutch so tightly in their hands .Many times I come across a frustrated husband on his mobile phone with his wife asking for clarification as to what exactly she wanted him to get for her . I think this is funny and try hard to not show my amusement. If he looks up and sees me looking at him , I just nod my head and keep on going . Do you make lists too ?
Then I was talking about a bought of stomach flu I had last week . I called it the phone flu . Most of my friends already have had this stomach flu. I had talked to them when they were ill with the flu on the phone , so I said I must have caught it from the phone calls , lol ! The thing with this flu was that it not only caused diarrhea , but it also gave you EXTREME , and I mean EXTREME , gas , or farts to be very blunt . I am talking evacuate the room for your life farts !!! If you were misfortunate enough to accidentally be in the vicinity of an incoming , well lets just say you might need medical attention ! Quickly , at that !
The other night I had forgotten I cooked my husband beans for dinner . Later in the evening I began to smell that odor and I knew it wasn't from me .Much later on in the evening it came again wafting around the room silently . So , I began to sniff out the source , no pun intended. The cat , oh poor thing , she had the phone virus now . Then a while later I smelled it again and the cat was in the other room , so I knew it wasn't her . Oh my Gawd ! Now my husband had it too ! That was it , we would have to sleep with the windows open , mosquito's or not , unless we all wanted to die of toxic fumes . Thankfully we all are well once again and survived that !
A while back my husband Moe and I were in the super market The Mahari doing our shopping . I am a list maker , from a long line of list makers , my daughters make list too . Anyway, I had my list out and Moe was helping me get things from here and there in the store . We turned the corner into a new isle and a little further down from us was a young couple also doing their shopping . He was obviously Libyan and she was another foreigner wife like me . How did I know ? She had a list too . She was sending him here and there to get different things for their basket. We acted like we didn't see them and let them get on with it . They disappeared around the end of the corner into the next isle over . We ended up in the same isle a little later too , but at the other end , where he was searching for something she had asked him to get for her . He found it and yelled down the isle " Honey is this what you want " ? He was sort of embarrassed that we had showed up at that exact moment and heard him call her honey …. in public . It was so sweet . We managed to hide our smiles from him and passed by like nothing untold had happened . It isn't everyday that you hear a Libyan man call his wife honey , or anything remotely like a pet name in public.
Now a days I am seeing more and more Libyans , mainly the men since they do the majority of the shopping for the wives , in stores with LISTS of their own . They always have a confused look on their faces as they try to find whatever is on that list they clutch so tightly in their hands .Many times I come across a frustrated husband on his mobile phone with his wife asking for clarification as to what exactly she wanted him to get for her . I think this is funny and try hard to not show my amusement. If he looks up and sees me looking at him , I just nod my head and keep on going . Do you make lists too ?
Friday, July 13, 2007
The Joy's Of Having Adult Children
The Joy's Of Having Adult Children !
I am constantly asked how are my adult children , their spouses , and their children as if I am notified on their every move , breath , and thought . The Joy is that now they are all grown , moved away from home with lives of their own , I am no longer the designated keeper of their lives !
What freedom that is after so many years of worrying about their every move , breath, and thought . I no longer have to sit up nights wondering when or if there will be that knock on my door telling me some dreaded news . I no longer have to referee arguments over who has control of the remote for the TV . No more showers of cold water because the last one in the shower used all the hot water . No longer am I in charge of worrying if that new friend really is, in fact, a bad influence or not .No more grounding the one who missed curfew , as a matter of fact , no more curfews at all , oh yeah ! Another thing I don't have to think about any longer is asking , where are you going ? Who will you be with ? Last , but not least , when will you be back ?
Here in Libya most adult children live at home until they are married and even then , there are still some that live with the family until housing is found .This is a large problem here , the lack of available housing . The market is booming with construction of apartments , just not fast enough to keep up with the growing population. They are also not geared for the typical Libyan family that have large families of 3 or more children . Many apartments only have two rooms which are clearly not intended for a family of five or more .
This leads to many parents here being more intimately involved in their adult children's lives, than say in the U.S. Many mothers , mother in laws , fathers , father in laws rule the lives of the adult child here much more closely than would be allowed in the western world by adult children there . Parents here are constantly ordering their adult children how to live their lives and how to raise their children .I see this all the time here and am always amazed at how well this is tolerated by the adult children. Whenever my husband or I have tried in the past to pass on unasked for advise ,our children politely ignore us .
I wish I could be more like my mother was when she was raising my sisters and I . She was so patient with us . When we married she tried her best to keep out of any arguments we might have with our spouses . She mostly kept her thoughts on child rearing to herself . And if our life styles didn't coincide with her philosophies of wholesome living , she managed for the most part to bite her tongue . When my husband asked her for my hand in marriage , the only question she asked was , did he love me ? Now , if only I could be so saintly !
I have to keep reminding myself of all the Joy's I have now that they are all gone away from home , living their lives of adventures . I try to remember that it is no longer my job to worry over them and their lives as when they were little . So , joy oh joy , my shower of hot water , running around in underwear instead of clothes in the condo , only worrying about what to cook for dinner , and never having to worry about the kids now that they are all grown up . So , now when anyone ask me," how are your kids doing ?", I just smile and say they are all fantastic ! Now that is something to be joyful about !
I am constantly asked how are my adult children , their spouses , and their children as if I am notified on their every move , breath , and thought . The Joy is that now they are all grown , moved away from home with lives of their own , I am no longer the designated keeper of their lives !
What freedom that is after so many years of worrying about their every move , breath, and thought . I no longer have to sit up nights wondering when or if there will be that knock on my door telling me some dreaded news . I no longer have to referee arguments over who has control of the remote for the TV . No more showers of cold water because the last one in the shower used all the hot water . No longer am I in charge of worrying if that new friend really is, in fact, a bad influence or not .No more grounding the one who missed curfew , as a matter of fact , no more curfews at all , oh yeah ! Another thing I don't have to think about any longer is asking , where are you going ? Who will you be with ? Last , but not least , when will you be back ?
Here in Libya most adult children live at home until they are married and even then , there are still some that live with the family until housing is found .This is a large problem here , the lack of available housing . The market is booming with construction of apartments , just not fast enough to keep up with the growing population. They are also not geared for the typical Libyan family that have large families of 3 or more children . Many apartments only have two rooms which are clearly not intended for a family of five or more .
This leads to many parents here being more intimately involved in their adult children's lives, than say in the U.S. Many mothers , mother in laws , fathers , father in laws rule the lives of the adult child here much more closely than would be allowed in the western world by adult children there . Parents here are constantly ordering their adult children how to live their lives and how to raise their children .I see this all the time here and am always amazed at how well this is tolerated by the adult children. Whenever my husband or I have tried in the past to pass on unasked for advise ,our children politely ignore us .
I wish I could be more like my mother was when she was raising my sisters and I . She was so patient with us . When we married she tried her best to keep out of any arguments we might have with our spouses . She mostly kept her thoughts on child rearing to herself . And if our life styles didn't coincide with her philosophies of wholesome living , she managed for the most part to bite her tongue . When my husband asked her for my hand in marriage , the only question she asked was , did he love me ? Now , if only I could be so saintly !
I have to keep reminding myself of all the Joy's I have now that they are all gone away from home , living their lives of adventures . I try to remember that it is no longer my job to worry over them and their lives as when they were little . So , joy oh joy , my shower of hot water , running around in underwear instead of clothes in the condo , only worrying about what to cook for dinner , and never having to worry about the kids now that they are all grown up . So , now when anyone ask me," how are your kids doing ?", I just smile and say they are all fantastic ! Now that is something to be joyful about !
Saturday, July 7, 2007
A Wedding & The 4th Of July
Our 4th of July was spent attending a niece's wedding .She made a lovely bride .There was the normal singing and dancing with a ZimZamatt band . This is a small group of women that play drums , tambourines , and sing songs that excite the guests of the wedding into a fun filled frenzy . A long time ago ( way back in the 70's , lol ) they were paid a small amount of money , then a smuggled bottle of whiskey , or a little hashish on the sly might find their way to them when requested; and of course a cartoon of the best western cigarettes money could buy at the time . Now a days progress has been made and they no longer ask for all these forbidden things . Now they just want money and a lot of it ! They charge 1,000 Libyan dinars or more , plus they expect the guests to tip them as the wedding progresses through out the evening ! And IF they don't get these tips , they just stop the music !I am thinking of forming a Zim Zimatt . I could sing all the choirs .Now if I could only find a few more women that can actually sing the words to the songs , I'd be rich ! It isn't necessary that you sound good either , which is another plus for me ,since I can no longer sing a tune to save my life ! LOL ! Any takers on joining my band ?
The wedding hall was very nice and had the most luxurious bathrooms I have seen in a public place in Libya. Now laugh all you want , but it is no fun to go to the toilet in a public place ! There is usually a foot of water flooding the floor and if you have a long trailing gown , you are doomed to get it wet somewhere . This place had a real bathroom attendant to make sure there was plenty of necessities on hand , and NO WATER on the floors . Now that is fancy , smancy if you ask me !
The wedding hall was very nice and had the most luxurious bathrooms I have seen in a public place in Libya. Now laugh all you want , but it is no fun to go to the toilet in a public place ! There is usually a foot of water flooding the floor and if you have a long trailing gown , you are doomed to get it wet somewhere . This place had a real bathroom attendant to make sure there was plenty of necessities on hand , and NO WATER on the floors . Now that is fancy , smancy if you ask me !
I haven't been to a family function in sometime where all the family was present .I was amazed at how so many of my friends had aged . Of course I still look like that 20 year old that they meet so many years ago ! I had to laugh at myself and a old friend as we waddled toward each other like penguins on legs that now have arthritis , when we used to be the dancing fools of the group ! And how all the little girls have grown to be beautiful young women , graceful and lovely . I sat later wondering how and when did all these changes take place . On the plus side to all this , age does have it's advantages as I found out . You are not expected to get up and help , and everyone comes to you to say hello . Now that's ok . I was so proud of my family and their children , their generosity to their guests , their sharing their happiness with others, and the love that was present for all to see .
So , that's how I spent my 4th of July this year in Tripoli , Libya . Hope yours was spent with those you love and care for , filled with happiness .
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