I know what you mean about a period of time just seeming to have never happened. Is it especially true when there's a huge contrast? Everything about your life now is so different from what it was like in Egypt.

In your photos from the Coptic monastery, I recognize the guy who hasn't yet removed the beam from his own eye but is getting a mote out of the other guy's eye. I don't know what the reference is in the last picture, but I love the bird with the bible and the ? deer? bovine creature? I love that the pattern of the bird's feathers and the ungulate's fur looks like eyes. And I like the multiwinged cherubim and seraphim flitting around.

I'm in awe of all you're learning in the homesteading department, and I'm smiling at S managing to have an active online life in the heart of rurality. Why not! I'm glad she's engaged that way too. All three kids seem so whole and happy--a delight to see.