To take a home visit or not to take a home visit that IS the question?

So here is my problem I think I need to go home to check on things and I don't want to go. Oh don't get me wrong I really miss my family and friends but I just love life here in Egypt. So whats the debate you ask well I have a neice who is going through some stuff and she is very important to us and I don't want her to feel like she is alone. Then there is my beloved border collie that I have missed terribly since we left him at home. I have a niece looking after my place and my dog but I just have this feeling I need to be home and I have been trying to push it aside for about a month now.

First I was going to wait until summer so that we could go to another niece's wedding (which we plan to attend regardless if we go home early or not. See if I go now I don't want to stay six months til the wedding so I would go back not such a big deal at all except I don't want to miss anything here!

I asked James what we do and of course his answer is lets wait until we hear about the 2nd year. Which makes perfect sense but I still have this feeling I need to go home.

My son who is here returns home in January so I think I will wait and let him arrive home and see if that settles me. I would really love to fly with him home just so we could visit for 12 uninterrupted hours!

If the conflict to the east gets worse we may get a home leave regardless. While I feel very safe here and just had warnings of places to avoid I do realize that we are very close to it and though not scared by any means want to be cautious.

Okay well that's it I feel better I have had my struggle for today!

I still need to finish adding all the Italy pictures! We have spent a small fortune on getting pictures developed. I am trying to put them right away into albums so that I don't have the huge box like I have at home!

We are having the time of our lives.

Riding 4 wheelers in the desert!

Thanks Aunt Margie for the homemade candy! It is delicious!

On the way home we seen so many farmers with their sheep heading home for the day as well. It still cracks me up to see Camels being rode down a crowded street and flocks of sheep going down the rode.

It was a beautiful day you could see the pyramids very clearly. Out in the desert it was so quite and clear I swear you could see forever!



















We went to this place called Arabian Nights to ride 4 wheelers in the desert and had a blast! Can't wait to go back and stay all day!

a break from Italy pictures!

We didn't buy as many presents as we normally do at home but the few that we had we put alot of thought into them and really tried to buy something that was really special. That was a huge success. The real difference was that at 12:01 we opened presents, the boys had wanted to do that for a couple of years and it was so fun! I think we might keep that new tradition! So you ask what did you do Christmas morning? Well we went to the Citadel and went to the Khan! What a perfect day for us it was alot of fun! You know how I love the Khan. Everytime I go I learn something new! Then we came home and cooked Christmas dinner! James and I make a great cooking team, I love that he is right there helping all the way through cooking-even when we are at home he does this! Here is a picture of our Christmas day trips.

















Citadel








Our first Christmas in Egypt was one of the best Christmas' we have had! Long before Christmas I was stressing over if if would be a good Christmas and I got a great peice of advice from a fellow blogger. That advice was do something different and we did. We have always had a live tree and so we bought a Cedar tree that is in the pot from our local plant place. Of course it's not 6 feet tall and it did not have strong branches to hold the heavy ornaments, but we did find a net of Christmas lights that fit perfectly and found small ornaments that did not bend the little branches. It is a beautiful tree and the very very best part was it's a great plant we get to keep enjoying! Once when I was growing up in Texas we had a tree in a pot and I loved that tree! We used to cut down our tree every year and that was alot of fun. So here is a picture of our tree this year.

Pictures of Italy 5

Us at the Pyramids

We had the best time at the pyramids! We seen stuff we had not seen before! We rode camels from the high point to the Spinx. I got a bunch of really fun pictures. It was a very long day but it was worth it and we loved it!