Rathvinden House and stables

Out on a walk around the Rathvinden grounds

Playing in the grass, grass, grass!

Isaacs Hostel in Dublin

Playing at the park with Irish kids

Park in Dublin

Gaelic football fans. Go Kerry!

First tire swing ride

Gap of Dunloe

Printing

Hi family and friends! If any of you want better pictures to print out, just let us know and we can email you a bigger version of the picture.

Leighlinbridge

Relaxing in Ireland at the Rathvinden House

Ancient Edessa

In the background is the citadel of the ancient city of Edessa. Edessa was the center of the first Christian kingdom of Osrhoene.

The story is that "according to Eusebius, writing about the year 324, it was Thomas who sent the first recorded Christian mission across the Roman border into Asian Osrhoene. He tells how the apostle asked one of the disciples, a man named Thaddaeus (or Addai, in Syriac), "one of the Seventy" mentioned in Luke 10:1, to answer a request for healing by the kind of Edessa, Abgar V, called, 'the Black.' . . .

The Doctrine of Addai, written between 390 and 430, tells how Addai came to Edessa and in the apostolic missionary manner first sought out the Jewish community, lodging with "Tobias, the son of Tobias." The king heard of his arrival, sent for him, and was miraculously healed. The next day he ordered all his people to assemble to hear Addai explain the source of his great powers and tell 'the history of the coming of Christ,' and 'all the city rejoiced in his doctrine.' So goes the legend." "They believed in great numbers and of their own free will, as the narrative explicity states, for the king did not 'compel any man by force to believe in Christ.' "

These are excerpts from the book, The History of Christianity in Asia by Samuel Hugh Moffett

Bazaar at Mardin

Man washing hands and face before he prays

It is required for a Muslim to wash his or her hands, face, and feet before he enters the mosque. They see this as coming clean before God. In Islam, God does not look at the heart, but at the outside and one's works.

Just a little cat nap while work is slow

Mardin

More pics from Harran

Harran - Abraham's town

Also near our town

Near our town

Lots of car time

Silly time!

Play time

group time

Outside the wall

The Second Greatest Wall after China's

Visiting friends

Just one of the guys

Scarves in the bazaar

I don't want to get out yet!

Quick to make friends

Burger King

Oh yes, so this was the change that we found! We got to go three times!

Good Turkish food!

Great Turkish meals! By the end though we were ready for a change.

Hot temps!

This is how hot is was on our last trip down south. Here's Ethan swimming in the Tigris. We were all jealous. It was about 40 to 42 degrees in the daytime most of the trip. That's about 104 to 108.