"She Is Our Jewel and We Know That God Has Put Her in the Right Place."~Uncle Ibraheem

Last weekend we had the joy of attending our dear sister's engagement ceremony and party. This woman has been a "friend closer than a sister" since she lived with our family for two years some ten years ago. We first met her when I was looking for a creative way to improve my Arabic while being a stay-at-home, home-educating mom of four, and she was looking for room and board while attending seminary. It was a match made in heaven. Our friend spoke only Arabic with us (as she does to this day) even though she speaks and understands English as well. She adopted our family and we adopted her.

We've prayed along with our friend for some years that God would bring her a good man who loved the Lord with all his heart and shared her desire to serve Him with his whole life. Last year that man came into her life, and this winter we had the pleasure of meeting him. After having dinner with them for the first time, we all pronounced them a wonderful match!

After visiting our friend's family,  the suitor was given a green light. Planning for the formal engagement ceremony/party commenced. In the Arab world, an engagement is as important as the actually wedding--in some ways it is more important. It is the joining of two families in agreement that a good match has been made. Unlike our western custom, the engagement is a community event including both sides of the family and other close friends.

The engagement was such a joyful time, such a true vision of the good, that I thought it would be nice to share it here, introducing some to a beautiful tradition of the Arab world.

On the evening of the engagement, Dear Husband and I, our friend's suitor and his father, newly arrived from the US on his first visit to the Middle East, and five other friends, drove from Tiberius to a village outside of Nazareth. We arrived at our friend's family home at precisely 8 p.m. As expected, the stairs up to the house were lined with family waiting to greet us. The men from our contingent first approached and greeted the group of  Arab men waiting to greet and receive them. We then proceeded up the stairs and into the house.

Tayta and I each carried a large vase of flowers, purchased by the suitor, and two other women carried the jewelry: one on a wooden tray, and the other in small inlaid wooden chest. Tayta heard one of the aunts remark as we proceeded up the stairs, "Look, they even have the (expected) flowers and jewelry box!" We placed the flowers and jewelry in front of the our friend and our suitor, the prince and princess of the evening, who had taken their honored place at the head of the room.

The ceremony began with Uncle Ibraheem, a Baptist pastor, giving some words of welcome to the suitor and his father, after which Scripture passages were read in Arabic and English.

  "She is our jewel..."

Next, the suitor's father stood to give his greetings to my friend's family and to formally request her hand in marriage to his son. Dear Husband translated for the father. Despite the meaningful words spoken by all, our hearts were light with joy and so smiles and laughter were never far from us the entire evening.

After this official "tulbeh" or "requesting", an American-pastor-friend-from-Jordan shared some words about marriage and presented the engagement bands. These are also the wedding bands; the engaged couple wears them on their right hands and moves them to their left hand when they are married.

Following the expected presentation of the bands, the suitor rose to say some occasional word and to make an unexpected presentation: he explained that while they were following the Middle Eastern traditions of engagement, he wanted to include an American engagement tradition.

He got down on one knee and asked our friend if she would marry him. Oh, my goodness, the smiles on everyone's faces!

When she said yes, he put a beautiful solitaire diamond engagement ring on her finger. 

 Uncle Ibraheem prayed for the newly-engaged couple...

And our friend's aunt sang some traditional Arabic blessings over them.

Next came the traditional presentation of gold and jewelry. Our friend received a set of white gold: necklace, bracelet, and matching earrings, as well as a double strand or pearls with a matching bracelet--that was from the tray.

The jewelry box was opened, and the suitor's father made a presentation of some family jewelry to our friend and read a personal note from the suitor's mother.

Our friend's mother added one of her own gold necklaces to her daughter's new collection of jewelry. 

The rest of the evening was filled with greeting the engaged couple, visiting with each other...

...taking pictures, and more pictures...

...and of course, lots of food. All these delectable sweets were made by family members.

The baklava, tabbouleh, and stuffed grape leaves kept coming.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding anyone? 

All the good feelings, and more importantly, the new relationships forged and formalized that evening, were sealed with cups of Arab coffee.

Photo credits for all these pictures goes to Tayta, who creatively arranged these and a few more into a wonderful slideshow for the happy couple. I guarantee it will bring a smile to your face.

)

Alf Mabruuk (A thousand congratulations/blessings) to the happy couple! May God bless you and make you a blessing to all touched by your relationship with each other.

Tiberius

We made a quick trip to Israel this week to attend a dear friend's--really, she is like family to us--engagement. Quick, as in 20 hours in country, but what a wonderful 20 hours it was!

The engagement took place at our friend's family home in a village near Nazareth, and we stayed in a guesthouse about a half-hour's drive away in Tiberias, right on the Sea of Galilee. Our friend's fiance, an American man, who is fast becoming a good friend of our family's, made all the arrangements for us and what a good job he did; our guesthouse was located next the Church of Saint Peter, and overlooked the Sea.

Arriving in Tiberias at about 2:30pm, we had about five hours to relax before the van arrived to transport us to the engagement. First we slept. Car travel in the Jordan Valley during warm dusty weather is tiring, as are border crossings. Then we spent a little time on the roof of our guesthouse sipping tea and taking in the view.

Since dinner would not be served until about 10pm, we wandered down to the boardwalk to look for something to eat. Dear husband and I settled on Saint Peter's fish.

After dinner number one, it was back to our rooms to get cleaned up and gussied up for the engagement party. (Stay tuned for a post on the engagement ceremony and party later this week...)

We got to bed around 1am--not too late, really, considering how these kinds of celebrations can go--and we had to be up for breakfast the next morning before the dining room closed at 8:30am. The dining room was in a separate building, adjacent to Saint Peter's; on the way to breakfast, I noticed the interesting architecture and art, so returned with my camera after eating to take a few photos.

Dining Hall of the Casa Nova Guesthouse

One of the outside gates of the church complex

Saint Peter

Across the walkway from our guesthouse we found Saint Andrew's Church...

...and the tidy church garden.

Another guesthouse and cafe down by the boardwalk

I like how this cafe preserved these old trees and made them part of the cafe's architecture. And to our left, the Sea of Galilee/Lake Tiberias.

Tayta and I had fun taking pictures of seagulls standing at attention--or so it seemed.

And though we didn't get into the countryside to see the wildflowers, I found this common wild mustard plant growing by the park lot of the guest house. I have to include at least one flower shot!

And these cool trees were growing around the area. Imagine how much fund it would be for kids to play in these trees--Tayta was inspired to enter "the forsest" as a wood nymph.

All the ladies of our traveling party and my friend, the bride-to-be, standing next to me. Still lots of smiles the day after the party as we packed ourselves into the waiting van to head back to Jordan.

Touring Day: Madaba and Mount Nebo

One of our favorite things to do over the Christmas/New Years vacation is take day trips together around our beloved Jordan. Due to a flurry of pre-Christmas social activity and work, we celebrated Tayta's Christmas Eve birthday on December 26th this year. We were up early to enjoy the traditional cinnamon rolls, grapefruit, and egg breakfast, and then, encouraged by beautiful weather, we hit the road.

Though we usually head north on such day trips, today we headed south to Madaba and Mount Nebo. Dear Husband and I so enjoyed our visit this summer, we decided to take the kids, who had not visited there for many years. Tayta informed us that she had never been to Mount Nebo. Well, at least that she could remember. Gulp. None of the kids had visited The Church of the Virgin Mary and the adjacent historical park (mosaics), so we started there. It was a quiet day, tourist-wise, so the gatekeeper/ticket taker accompanied us around the site, discussing the finer points of the archaeology. Me, I like to appreciate the beautiful mosaics.

The Tree of Life 

(pomegranates and grapes)

This Roman road is located just outside of the church. The stones are laid  diagonally to prevent wheels from getting caught in the cracks between the stone.

Below is the oldest mosaic found in Jordan. It is from the baths of the fortress of Machaerus which was built by Herod the Great, and dates back to the first century B.C.

The peeling turquoise paint and the rusty frame of this closed shop-front door caught my eye and I asked the kids to pose for a picture. Better than a studio back-drop, I think.

And then I found another door...

Next we visited the church (shrine) of Saint John the Baptist. Somehow, we had missed visiting this interesting site during previous trips to Madaba.

Another door. This one led to the ancient tunnels...

Down into the tunnels...

A memorial to John the Baptist, who was imprisoned and then killed at Herod' winter palace at Machaerus (mentioned above),  his head offered on a plate to Herod's step-daughter, Salome.

I didn't get a picture of the beautiful sanctuary, with perfect acoustics, but I did get a picture of the extensive nativity scene which was set up at the front of the church, in front of the altar.

Meanwhile, the guys discovered the passageway which led to the bell tower.

Surprisingly it was open to the public, so up the steep stairs we went...

Tayta enjoying this view from nearly-the-top

Active Son and Artist Son went all the way to the top, but the climb was a too rigorous and risky for the rest of us. If only my pictures were enhanced with audio, you could hear Dear Husband and me sternly commanding the guys not to climb out the window onto the ledge.

Though they have never had the opportunity to pose with Mickey or Donald, my kids have now posed with John the Baptist.

More doors

Heading back toward the city center, we passed the Madaba Christmas tree. Tayta was charmed by the city of Madaba, proclaiming it the Paris of Jordan. That seemed like a stretch to me, but I think that because Madaba was once a Christian town, there remain enough cultural vestiges which make it yet seem familiar.

The weathered wall of this "modern" but abandoned home reminded me of the subtle colors found on an old fresco:

As the shadows lengthened, we made our way up to Mount Nebo, the traditional resting place of Moses. The location of Moses's remains is unknown, but Mount Nebo is mentioned in the last chapter of Deuteronomy as the place where Moses ascended to view the Promised Land.

On a clear day, one can see Jericho and Jerusalem, but many days are hazy as this one was.

The Brazen Serpent, Mount Nebo

This map at the lookout point shows the distances to notable cities.

The church at Mount Nebo is being restored so we were unable to enter, but a number of shelters had been set up to house some of the mosaics and items of historical interest--a sort of make-shift museum. I liked the picture above: the first archaeological crew to work at Mount Nebo. Note that the priest and the sheikh are holding hands.

Another picture of the crew in the field. 

More mosaics, more color, more designs to enjoy

The color and lines of this aloe plant caught my eye.

From Mount Nebo we headed back to Madaba where we visited the famous Church of St. George and the Madaba Map. Our final and much anticipated destination was a favorite Arab restaurant, Haret Jdoudna, where we planned to eat dinner together, thanks to a thoughtful and generous Christmas gift from far-away-and-much-missed Oldest Daughter.

We were as happy as we look in this group selfie. It was a perfect day. Really perfect.