Dan and Leigh's Visit

Dan and Leigh left last Saturday, and we miss them so much! We had a blast together! Once again, Dena was an excellent hostess/tour guide, and even I got to spend more time with them during the days than I thought I would (thanks in part to a holiday on Friday). Other than the usual tourist sites, some highlights of their stay:

-    several trips to a nearby café for drinks and backgammon
-    another (yes, it’s really getting crazy) night out at Music Hall, this time with my Aunt Cedar and Uncle George, and our friends Ghassan and Madonna

-    a free, after-hours tour of Beiteddine, which Dena earned by being persistent with (read: nagging) the guard—mostly in Arabic, I am told—until he himself took them around the palace (below)
 

-    epic picture taking at some of Lebanon’s oldest fortresses; something about those places just brought out the best in us
 

-    being all together on my birthday! What a blessing to have Dan and Leigh here for that!

 

 

Speaking of my birthday, I was also very blessed that some of my classmates had a cake brought to school after our last class of the day, and they all sang for me. Was totally surprised and very touched. So, we've included a pic of that too; now you can tell why I’m so glad my friend Metwally switched to my program – it’s a lot of girls otherwise!

 

The past week has been fairly low key and we’re gearing up for the next visitor: our great friend Andrew Herther is coming on Tuesday night. He’ll only be here for 5 days, so we’ll have to condense our program a bit, but we’re so excited for him to come!