Man and Wife

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and Christine Emery

These two got married when I was home. That was just a part of the reason I went home last month.

That and this guy:

J.J. Gonzalez

Christine, over the past 6 years has become a friend to treasure. I have now known Christine longer with Taylor in her life than without him in her life. That's a good thing, I like Taylor in Christine's life and I hope he likes me in her life too. I have no plans of going much further away than I currently am and we haven't seem to miss a beat yet. I had a blast taking in the fall colors and being a part of such a fun bridal party:

I had the best time being an Aunt! J.J. was just perfect when he fell asleep in my arms... and that was almost every time I held him.

J.J. Gonzalez, stop growing now and just stay small enough for me to hold forever.

Eid Mubarak!

Today was the second day of Eid Al Adha which is the second Eid of the year.

Here's a little Wikipedia for you on this Eid:

Eid al-Adha or "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his sonIshmael (Isma'il) as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a sheep— to sacrifice instead.

In the Christian Bible we believe that it was Isaac not Ishmael that was going to be sacrificed by Abraham. But the story is similar to the one in the Quran. The point of the story being that God intervenes with a lamb or animal to sacrifice instead of Abraham sacrificing his son. At Eid they are celebrating the substitute for Ishmael and giving thanks to Allah for this.

As Christians, we see this Old Testament account of God providing a sacrifice in the place of Abraham sacrificing his son as preparation for the ultimate sacrifice that was to come. While animals in the Old Testament were sacrificed as offering to cover over sins, this time Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son. God in the end, intervened and provided a lamb to sacrifice instead. In the New Testament, Jesus is brought to the cross and killed as an eternal sacrifice for the sins of man. In the book of John we are told that Jesus is the "Lamb of God" who will take away the sins of the world and anyone who will believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

During this Eid we visited over 15 homes and shared in this special holiday with our friends. While we see the story slightly differently and we certainly see the story having a different meaning it is nice to see our friends and celebrate with them. They know that we will soon celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas and holidays are a great time to learn about one another's cultures, traditions and religions.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mom's birthday! And unfortunately I will not be there to celebrate it with her. But, I hear my dad made some pretty awesome plans for the two of them. They are going to the Princess Diana exhibit at Foxwoods!

She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Proverbs 31

She has been a wonderful mother and she will make an even better grandmother to JJ!

Happy Birthday Mom! I wish I could be at home with you in Massachusetts, without power and with lots of snow!

"Return of the Mac You Know that I'll Be Back"

And it took me a while but here I am! I am back in commission after a rowdy trip home and 2 weeks of the worst jet lag of my entire life. I am HERE.

Today I will post about my first weekend home and I will give you more of home as the week goes on.

Weekend One: Christine's AMAZING Bachelorette Party with some of the most fun girls I know at a beautiful cabin in New Hampshire!

The view from the cabin known as the Martinelli Memory Maker! A Gordon connection helped us get the weekend here!

Meg got her boyfriend to drive her up from Philly for just 2 nights! What a man, what a man... feel free to break into the rest of the song if you know it.

At Stonegate Vineyard Winery run by Jane and her husband Peter. If you are ever in the area you should visit it's such a fun afternoon!

Just hanging out at the house!

It's been a long time

Hey! I am coming home in just a few short days and my eyes have been set on this for a while now! Christine is getting married and I couldn't think of a more exciting reason to get to Boston in the Fall.
I wanted to share some exciting news. Recently a gentlemen in Al Ain offered to help fundraise for Oasis Hospital by running the Gobi March, a 250km race over 7 days in the hottest part of China. It's really exciting and I am so happy to be part of the team that will help him raise money for Oasis Hospital and CURE International. Check it out! Most of you know I worked in Development when I was in Boston and I think I will get to use some of my fundraising skills to help him make the most of his race. It feels good to be doing something familiar again!

Football You Say?

Last night the Oasis Hospital Football Club (that's right we are playing by European language rules over here... football, like the EU kind not the American kind) played NYU Abu Dhabi in a friendly match. A group of us ladies went to cheer them on. Abu Dhabi is on the water and while it's technically cooler than Al Ain it was so humid we were all sticky the minute we got out of the air conditioned cars and onto the pitch (another very European word, just makes me feel like I was going to a real match).

It was strange because on my way there, driving a mini-van full of girls I felt for a minute like I was driving my mom's mini-van to a highschool football game. The scene was right, we were all a bit chilly (from the AC being on too high in the car), the sun was going down and it was getting dark, we had some snacks for the game and we were decked out in our teams colors. Then, we got out of the car and BAM reality hit, I was shiny and sticky in about 3.4 seconds.

We had a great time watching the boys play (we won't tell you the score) and cheering them on.

This is Mohammed and his son. He was a cranky baby last night, probably because it was hot but, the second he was on his dad's shoulders he was content.

"I wanna be a millionaire"

I am linking my blog to a "Show us Your Life" from Kelly's Korner. It is "Show Us Your Favorite Blogs" and I thought it was a great opportunity to give Jessie a shout out!

And no, I don't actually want to be a millionaire but, one day I do want to own an Inn with this girl:

www.treyandjessie.blogspot.com.

My sister-in-law would be a wonderful partner in a business. We would love to one day own an Inn on the North Shore somewhere, sort of Gilmore Girlsish. Minus the daughter out of wedlock and minus the overbearing mother.