I realize I haven't written in here for over a month! There is a reason for that. The last time I tried it wasn't working for some reason. Before that we had health issues to deal with. After we returned from Egypt we all suffered with traveler's diarrhea. Langston had it the worst. After a week we talked to another friend who had gone on the trip. He had the same problem and got some med. from a nearby pharmacist. We had decided it might be a parasite causing the problem. So we took our medicine and hoped to be done with it. Unfortunately Langston continued to have diarrhea. (I learned afterward that the medicine actuallly causes it too!) By this time I'm wanted to take as many precautions as possible to stop the dilemma. After reading a lot on the internet we started eating lots of pumpkin seeds and yogurt, and drinking papaya seed tea. I ate the seeds but I knew Langston would never go for that. We also had clove tea which isn't bad. I ate them too. This all seemed to go on forever. In the meantime I tried to keep Langston away from most playmates in case he was contagious. I did lots of extra washing and probably too much worrying. I know friends who have had major problems with parasites and Langston's health was of great concern to me. He felt fine most of the time, just still had bowel problems.
We finally took some stool samples in to the lab which was a fiasco for Jon. The lab is across town through heavy traffic and our power-steering on the mini-van went out while he was on his way. The report showed we were clear from any bugs. So although I know it can take several samples to find anything (from past experience) I decided to accept this good news. ;-) We've gradually given up our special diet and everyone seems to be back to normal. Praise God! After comparing notes with others on the Egypt trip we learned someone from every family got sick and many ended up taking some medicine. My advise for anyone going to Egypt would be to think of it as Mexico and it could keep you from getting a bug or two.
The semester at A & M ended well. I went to the banquet with Jon at the Diplomatic Cllub given by the freshman class . They had a beautiful buffet for all. Awards were given to outstanding students and the students gave "Favorite Professor" awards. One man to get this award is Jewish and I understand the students learned this by the end of the semester and they still liked him! I hope their world is broadening! The students concluded the evening by giving out gift bags to all the faculty and staff. Jon's gift bag included a small bottle of perfumed oil, a box of Godiva chocolates, 2 cds, (I'm not sure what they contain) and two books: The Beauty of Islam and another on the reality of Christianity which was printed in Saudi Arabia. The gift bags had a quote from the Quran: ". . . . Who is better in speech Than one who calls (men) To Allah, works righteousness And says, "I am of those Who bow in Islam? Nor can Goodness and Evil Be equal. Repel (Evil) With what is better: Then will he between whom And thee was hatred Become as it were Thy friend and intimate!" Of course my thought was if the tables were turned and we were in College Station would Christian literature be given out at a university function to everyone in attendance? It's a different world here.
I would echo the desire to see hatred abolished and friendship grow in its place. It is not the love of Islam or Allah that will do that though. It's only the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Pray for that with us! I've had some strong sentiments about the scandal of the prison abuse pictures in Iraq but I'll save that for next time.
Jon got to bring the sermon last Friday on God's response to Job in Job 38 - 41. He did a great job and got lots of positive comments from the congregation.
We are on the countdown getting ready for our Texas trip. Several Aggies have already left so that makes me chomp at the bits even more. ;-) We'll leave here June 18th. Jon returrns to Doha July 26th and Langston and I return Sept. 7th. My mom and sister, Jan will travel with us to London for some sightseeing before we go our separate ways. I know it'll be a fast summer and we're ready to enjoy it all! The weather has begun to warm up considerably. They say it's gotten up to 110. A couple of weeks ago we had a sand/wind storm that lasted for most of a week. It was not fun to be outside during that time. The oldtimers say that was unusual for this time of year. It did seem to blow in the hot air. The humidity is beginnng to creep in too. They say August is the worst for heat and humidity.
A couple of notes on Langston. AWANA ended well for him. He was awarded Clubber of the Year for his age group. That means he earned the most points of his group by memorizing scriptures, wearing his uniform, being in attendance, etc. And he was only here for half the year! I was very proud of him! Also, he's decided he likes wearing water wings or floaties in the swimming pool. This has helped his attitude toward swimming considerably. We're enjoying using the pool facilities at Riviera and have had several friends over to swim.
Posted by nellie at May 31, 2004 09:09 AM