Canyon Life

The first summer I went to the Middle East, a year and a half ago, I only learned a few words of Arabic. Mostly words you could yell. We worked with kids most of the time, and speaking softly to Jordanian children is not very productive. They don't respond to quiet talk. So I learned to say (yell) "Stop!" and "Let's go!". I'm not sure how to spell them Arabic, but one is pronounced like "hallas", and the other is "yella". When I went back to Jordan this last June, I picked up on quite a few more words. Even a few sentences. My favorite phrase was "mish lazzim". I'm sure I'm not spelling that right, but it doesn't seem to matter to people as long as they can see what you mean. It means, "not necessary".  I love that. Melani, the sweet woman who housed us in Jordan, used to say that to me all the time. I guess I needed to relax and let things go in certain situations. She would say, "Beth, it's fine, it's mish lazzim!" And I would always tell her, "Nooooooo, it IS lazzim!" Because I'm stubborn. Of course, Mel was always right, and I would usually back off of whatever it was I wasn't getting my way in.

So I was thinking, this blog, it's becoming mish lazzim to me. It seems like I don't have enough time to do a post that stretches beyond the updating of a few pictures. And I only do it because my dad and mom come look at it sometimes, and my husband reads it when he's bored at work. I see that I get other visitors, and that's nice, but there's really not much here that's of interest. I'd like to change that. I'm going to make the effort to do something productive here. I have a little idea of what I'd like to do, but we'll see how it goes. 

I'll leave you with this awesome picture right here, I took it a few weeks ago. My eleven year old son is obsessed with all things Harry Potter, The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings. He's loves all things fantasy, stories that talk of the struggles between good and evil. He's my reader. We live in a canyon, full of trees and hills and rocks, and while I was out watering the other day, inspiration struck. I dropped the hose and ran off in search of my kid. It didn't take more than a few minutes to convince Matt that he should dress up like Frodo and act like the Nazgul were chasing him. He LOVES this picture. It was so fun, he's such a good sport. These are the things we do in the canyon. These are the kind of things I'd love to share on my blog.

September, 2013