The Stecherbush Abroad

She is such a deep human. She invests so much of her soul into everything she does and it's hard. It's hard to see her hurt when people don't understand that she's all in. I wish I could take this away from her sometimes. I know because I am this way and often wish I weren't. Matt isn't, He often tells me I feel things so deeply as and excuse for why I hurt when he doesn't. It reminds me of Marilla telling Anne "You take things too much to heart Anne." I wish I didn't care so much. I wish I could let go. I wish more than anything that she could. I think it's a hard life but how I love her for it. She asks such deep questions. Things her siblings wouldn't think of. These gifts from her friends/to her friends mean so much to her. She absolutely treasures gifts and there were some thoughtful ones for her 7th birthday. Our dear friends in Virginia sent a package that stole her heart and while we were away a few of her other friends did kind...

  We finished our Sabbath by stopping by the water show that goes off every half-hour or so downtown Dubai. "Stopped-by" is rather trite considering driving in, parking, and traipsing through the mall and all the people took more time than watching the the 3-5 minutes of water and music. Definitely not worth an extra trip if you're not enjoying something downtown already. This is inside the mall. These were really cool sculptures over the waterfall. The Burj was SO TALL. One sees it and it doesn't look that big until you start comparing the buildings around which are your typical giant skyscrapers. We had a few things to fit in the last day of our trip. A visit to an Invisalign Facility for Sam, dropping Sam off at a bouldering gym and a quick visit to the Expo one last time. Again we found it difficult to leave. There's so much more to see. Dubai was costly but also a good reminder of what big cities are like. 

We always struggle with what to do on our Sabbath when we travel. Well, not always, but often. This Sabbath was one of a kind. Alena had the privilege of receiving her patriarchal blessing from the sweetest man in Dubai. Nothing else that happened in Dubai can equal this. We did need to do something however, so we went to see some "lakes" in Dubai. Since those turned out to be duds, we took a Detour to see the Expo Lake that was built on a nature preserve. I was pretty excited about this because one of the preserved animals was the Arabian Oryx I've been wanting to see. Sure enough, we got to see some relatively close up. Without a good Camera, I can't really prove that to you but even after the excitement of seeing Oryx butting heads it was a great trip. This was the lake. It's a lot like the drainage ponds developments in Texas put in when they build houses. There were many people camping and enjoying the day and we saw someone pull a car out of the sand. Turns ...

Oh, I don't know if there could be too many pictures of that smile. All happy 6yr olds are excited for their birthdays but it sure seems like this one was the most excited 6 yr old in the history of 6 yr olds. What she REALLy wanted was to have a party with ALL her classmates. She agreed to settle for a day at Atlantis, the largest waterpark in the world. Maybe the most expensive waterpark in the world as well, I don't know. I do know that as Miss Virginia says "You may smile but your pocketbook will cry." That ice cream cone was $12, it's the only thing they ate and they were having enough fun to not even complain. She loved every single ride, every single play area. There were a few times Matt and I thought, "Oh we've blown it. She must've hated that!" but she traded the terror in her eyes for a great big smile and was ready to go again. It was, believe it or not, a little cold. They do a lovely job of shading everything but there was a breeze ...