New Sounds.

Finally we have the Internet back up and working. We are excited to be here in our new apartment. It has been a lot of work unpacking everything, but slowly we are getting settled in.

-I wanted to thank everyone at home for the supportive and encouraging time we had with all of you. I love you all and I hope and pray that some of you will be visiting this summer!!

A little info about our new home; it is bigger and has many more windows than our last apartment. As a result of that we can almost see the entire city. The view is incredible. The one down side to all this is that because we are up so high, there is nothing in between us and the minaret towers announcing the call to prayer. So, it is sooooo loud. Today the kids and I had an interesting morning listening to the Imam (a Muslim preacher) give his message. The street directly below our kitchen windows was blocked off and huge mats were laid out and the men filled the street to do their Friday prayers.
Our kids were playing with their toys on the floor when the call to prayer started. They are pretty used to hearing it.("that Mohamed guy yelling") But today they noticed it was going on and on. My Son said, "Mommy is somebody calling for help?" I went over to them and picked them up so they could see the street below. I told them what the men were doing. How they were saying the same words over and over again. I explained that they do these things because they want to do good works so they can go to Heaven. Of course after that I explained what we believe. I reminded them about how we pray to God. After answering questions and talking for about twenty minutes our son said, "Hey, I think those people need to call to Jesus for help. Right Mommy???" I know he doesn't understand all the way, but I think that is a pretty good start.
I know I will have a new thought in mind every time I hear the blaring call to prayer from the mosques. I have to admit to me it is kind of a spooky sound, reminding me every few hours that we live in dark place, now when I hear it I will be thinking about how the people responding need someone to call for help for them, because they don't any better.