Thought Grams Might like to see these:

And Daniel:

I’m feeling proud of myself.  Ryan has been bugging me to cut his hair.  Which I have never done before (for anyone). Getting your haircut in Qatar is extremely expensive.  It cost me 215QR to get the kids hair cut… about $60 canadian.  So we bought a cheap clipper and I got out my sewing scissors and I started cutting.  Ryan’s turned out pretty good for my first try.  Thomas’ was good considering he doesn’t sit still… but Daniel’s… I did good!!!!

We caved… sausages arrived on my doorstep the other day. they were completely unlabeled, but since this is Qatar, we knew there was NO way there was pork inside. Generally, we shy away from eating things found on our doorstep, but this is Qatar, and things more unusual that that happen here… Anyways…

it’s 44 degrees out today, so I cracked open a non-alcoholic cider and went out back. Jen was drinking a diet coke and non-alcoholic Amaretto and we fired up the barbecue.
Jen made burgers for the boys, and Jen and I put this unusual meat gift onto the grill…
There must of been some mesquites in those bricks I was using, cause a beautiful sweet aroma lept from the grill…

Long story short… those were awesome sausages. The couple that dropped them off went completely above and beyond… Thanks M&S&A .oh, and Sally.

I wish this was mine. Read this today… it stopped me for a few minutes. Hopefully it does the same to you.

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
‘Oh excuse me please’ was my reply.

He said, ‘Please excuse me too;
I wasn’t watching for you.’

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
‘Move out of the way,’ I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn’t realize how harshly I’d spoken..

While I lay awake in bed,
God’s still small voice came to me and said,

‘While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,

You’ll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you neer saw the tears that filled his little eyes.’

By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
‘Wake up, little one, wake up,’ I said.

‘Are these the flowers you picked for me?’
He smiled, ‘I found ‘em, out by the tree.

I picked ‘em because they’re pretty like you.
I knew you’d like ‘em, especially the blue.’

I said, ‘Son, I’m very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way.’
He said, ‘Oh, Mom, that’s okay.
I love you anyway.’

I said, ‘Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.’

Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days.

But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don’t you think? So what is behind the story?

You’re not gonna believe it… it’s 44 outside today… the pavement is HOT… really hot, burn your feet hot. And it’s raining… Its strange though, cause the ground is so hot, the rain barely touched it before it evaporates… so, we have water in the sky, water in front of me, but no water on the ground… Weird stuff I tell ya.

Had my 3 month review recently. I did quite well, and it seems they are not ready to send me back off to Canada.

I have been working hard on building relationships with the other departments at QF. We have had some troubles in the past with that sort of thing, and dealing with people is something that I like to do…

We are having concovation at work this week, they are dressing it up to look all prety. I’ll get out tomorrow with the camera to take soem shots of what is happeing out there.

I think that is all for tonight.

I was wondering why my house was so warm today…  I mean, it’s 42 outside, so it’s bound ot be a little toasty inside… but we were approaching 25… a little too warm. we try to keep er at 22 or 23… So I venture onto the roof…

Living
in the desert has all sorts of fun things associated with it. Lack of fresh clean water is one. On the roof we have a water tank. it si circular, about 4 feet around, and 5 feet high. The desert’s lack of water currently does not extend to my house… This water tank is on the roof… Now, as you can imagine, the sun beats down on it all day, even though it is white… it too gets toasty. QF has overcome this issue by building a little hut up there for the water heaters and the water tank. all this is cooled by a little air conditioner…

but back to the airfilter.

No water, lots a sand… that pretty much sums it up. so I am poking around up there, and I see the fresh air intake… Never seen that before. I’ve seen the dual -coil-air conditioner unit that is 5 feet by 8 feet across, and the massive ducting that feeds the place.. but never this little branch…

so I poke around a bit more. I see the filter for the system… and pop it out…

Look like any normal filter, except that is has an estimated 4 or 5 cups of sand stored in it… it is 3 inches thick…  so I bang it out and stick it back in…

I am not sure if I actually achieved anything up there tonight, but it is amazing to see how these issues are overcome here…

Oh, and don’t tell jen, but I saw a lizard today… bout 18 inches long… shhh….

I love my job… I just passed my 3 month review. Had a meeting, and it went well with my boss… But that isn’t way I like my job.

It’s the tasks… the daily work. One day, I’ll be talking to someone about building a library and the next day, speaking to a Primary school teacher about bringing in some fantastic new gear to play with. it is so varied. another thing is the people. We come from all across the globe to work together to build a community that is so much greater than the sum of it’s individual pieces. I have seen people come in, remembering myself in their shoes and get immediatly overwhelmed with the enormity of what is going on here…

I went to a concert with Jen, Guy Manoukian. A concert pianist form Lebanon(I think)-… Great piano player… sponsored by QF, nice dinner…

There are things like this all the time. If you can fathom it, it’s here…it is amazing to be a part of something like this…

We go to Grace  fellowship here in Doha, and Faith community church in alliston… the services are similar, but the experiences are so very, very diferent.

At home in church, I see all my friends, we chat about life, what’s transpired in the past week, we make plans for lunch, or dinenrs through out the week, joke around, run around and play. We focus on missions, community and faith (but not necessarily in that order). we are all similar in many ways.

Here in Doha, it is similar songs, friendly faces, but everyone is so drastically different. Every sunday we have families stand up if they are new, and tell us where they are from, and what brought them to faith in Doha.

today there were 2 men form kenya, a family of 4 from south africa and a couple from sweeden. last week we had people from the Philippines, Australia and Korea. next week, who knows. Everyone is from far off places, but we are all common in only one thing, Christ. Having that as a bond to create friendships is a unique experience that is humbling to be a part of. I have often told people it is strange having the government governed by the church. During Ramadan, people work 4 or 5 hour days, and party all night. People are not even allowed to drink water in public. Lots of Muslim women cover themselves here, as is the Muslim tradition, but it is completely normal, cause that’s what guys dress in too… We celebrated Easter recently, and it was odd how many people were genuinely happy for me to be celebrating the rising of Jesus. In Canada, it is an excuse to take a day off work. Here, it is politically correct to have church and state run together, and I kinda like it. Maybe we should learn a little form our eastern neighbors..

I was asked recently why I write food was good, service was nice, atmosphere was pleasant in my posts… It got me thinking, What is it I like in restaurants?

One thing that bugs me is when the servers don’t consistently serve from the same side. I believe the plates are supposed to be brought from the left, and taken from the right. that way, the waiters don’t sneak up on you and you are less likely to bump them… I like to see them available, but not in your face. A casual wave should be enough to call someone’s attention, but I don’t want them staring at me. I think the 4 seasons had it right where I caught the server’s eye, and mimicked writing a signature and he ran to get the cheque. Then he took off… he doesn’t need to stand idle while we discuss the bill.. but he was there within a minute of me putting the master card into it.

The food… Has to be a good selection, not crazy, but 4 or 5 things… descriptions are important, but don’t make them sound insane… I was somewhere and they had come up with a paragraph to describe a Cesar salad… call it like it is. Funny postscript to that tale.. I ordered said salad… it was served on iceberg lettuce. the nutritional equivalent of saran wrap… needless to say, not high marks in my books.

I am not a big dessert fan, but I believe it is important to have desserts in restaurants.

First of all, the restaurant makes most of their cash off them. secondly, most of the time, people don’t order the deserts, so that makes it somewhat special… and I don’t care what you just ate, everyone can make room for ice cream…

I guess that’s it. waiters and food. but honestly now, what else is there? The harpist? Yah, it’s nice, but I am just as happy without…. waiters and food… that’s my thing.