Holy Family, Holy Places...

Hello and Merhaba to all whom we love!

I am writing before going to bed, as it's almost 9:30 pm here, and even though we had a nap, it's still not enough yet. Mark isn't sleeping AT ALL. We try, but it's loud here, and the hours for others (culturally) are very different. The first call to prayer happens at 4:00 am, and we were awake for that. They are very comforting...almost like a lullaby, if that would work right now. We are hoping that, as days pass, we can adjust and get more rest. It's so hard to imagine that we would function for the next four weeks on this little sleep...It's like we have a newborn and we're not sleeping...It's that level of exhaustion.

The food is wonderful, and I've already asked Aria (the mother) to teach me to cook what she cooks. She is so sweet, and though we both have very broken forms of each other's languages, we are getting along very well. Her husband died fourteen years ago, when her youngest son was just a tiny baby, of a heart attack (in his sleep). She indicates that he was a stubborn man who wouldn't go to the dr.!) She and I share a love for peanut butter and chocolate, so who can't communicate over that?!! We're drinking A LOT of water, and today (don't faint), I drank two full glasses of regular COKE! I KNOW...and it was sooooo GOOD...No Dr. P here, as I suspected, but water, Coke, and the most wonderful hot tea you've ever tasted will get me through. It just floors me, though...in the heat of the day, they will serve scalding hot tea. Imagine! I drank it (once it had gotten to the point that I could hold the glass) and it was sooooooo good...mint sprigs in it, too. The coffee this morning would make inanimate objects stand on end with how strong it is, but that is a very, very good thing, as we've been so tired. It's also a good thing that we don't teach early in the morning, though it's hot when we have to go to the university.

Mohamned, Husam's younger brother, escorted us to the university today, showed us how to hail the taxis here (jump out in front of them, really...no, Moms, we're more careful than that!), and then we went to the Church of the Nativity...It was one of the most touching, amazing places I've ever been. I've seen the cathedrals in France (Paris, Amboise, Chambord, Chenenceau, etc.), but this was so profoundly different. To stand where they say Mary gave birth, then moved her son to another spot in the grotto a few feet away in order to keep him warm...the spot where the visitors lay down their gifts for the tiny infant King...and then the private tour from the caretaker through the prohibited areas in the catacombs under the Church of St. Catherine above us...We saw it all...The caretaker (Elias) is one in a line of men in his family who have cared for the church all their lives...grandfather, father, and now him. The stories of St. Catherine and her martyrdom, St. Joseph, and the Holy Family all came back to me from when I was a young girl and learning them from the Sisters at the Shrine of the True Cross school. I wonder what Sr. Bernadine, Sr. Marjorie, and Mother Superior would think of their headstrong little charge and the new life this is bringing to all they taught me (and probably thought I wasn't listening...)

I cried, and I do now. I wish you were all here and could feel it, too.

We have pictures and will work to show them to you soon. Computer use here at the house is limited, but we have the lab at the university, too. The emails from home are wonderful; please keep writing. We love you all so much.

Brittany, darling baby of mine, I miss you and ache for your voice/arms. Please look up the stories of the Nativity so that you can imagine what I've seen today. You are with me, my little angel, and I love you more than I can express, precious. Be good, helpful, and considerate. Write to your mommy and tell me what you are doing; I know you are having a wonderful time with your cousins! Smooches and love for you, Honey.

We miss you all and think of you every moment.

Now, if only I could wave a magic wand and help Mark to sleep...

Love, love, love, love, and love,

V : )