zahrasalem

Thank you!

We tried (not very hard mind you) for three years to conceive our 21 month old daughter. This little one was a bit of a surprise. We were not trying, not preventing with this one and surprise! I really thought I wasn't going to have any more children but apparently life had other plans. I hope you guys are successful soon.

Thanks...best wishes for a smooth pregnancy

Mimo, sorry to hear your husband got hurt on the job but glad to hear everything is going good with you guys. Sounds like you're starting to enjoy your summer.

Nothing fun for summer for me but the boys left a week ago to visit family in Yemen with their dad. My husband is on his way home from a three week visit with his family. The girl and I have been hanging out while they've all been gone. My big news is that my husband and I are expecting our second baby girl together in December.

Congratulations!!! We're trying, so hopefully it will happen SOON !! My 9 year old daughter really wants a sibling so bad

Hi everyone

Just dropping by to see how everyone's summer is going. I have been busy busy. I started a new job in May, my oldest son graduated from high school in June, he starts at The University of New Hampshire next month. My husband injured his back in work and the lame azz company he works for denied the claim, but he fought them and won, after being out of work for 8 weeks, going in front of the Dept of Labor and it costing us a small fortune to pay a lawyer to help. He went back to work last week on light duty, now he will need surgery, poor guy . I cannot WAIT until he finds a job in his field, he sends dozens of resumes every week and still nothing, just a few interviews. But life for us has been pretty good so far(other than him being injured). He is adjusting pretty well to life here, although he really misses his friends and family, and Amman, especially now that it's Ramadan. I am doing my best to try to make all of his mom's recipes, and keep their traditions going for him here. My kids are really embracing his culture and have enjoyed learning about it. His family is very close knit and they are always together, which is very different than my family. My family all live out of state and I rarely see or talk to them, he has a difficult time understanding why my family isn't very close, I really don't understand it either. He has made some friends who are from Jordan. We were at the mall one night way back in October when he first arrived, I overheard a few guys talking in Arabic, so went over to them and introduced myself, come to find out they are from his home town. He gets together with them once a week to play cards, I'm so relieved he has some friends to hang out with. They are actually a huge group, from Jordan and Egypt and KSA, all here getting graduate degrees at UNH.

Tomorrow night I am taking him and the kids with a few of their friends to the drive in. It should be fun, he had never heard of a drive in before I told him we were going. Wednesday we will head to the beach, and then maybe up to the lake in Maine for a few days.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer. Fill me in with the details, I miss hearing from you all.

Sorry your husband hurt his back! My husband also recently hurt his back and was out from work over a week, but he's still in pain. He's a chef, so standing on his feet all day doesn't help, especially fasting now during Ramadan. Hope your husband's surgery helps him!

http://gma.yahoo.com/george-zimmerman-gun-back-204024289--abc-news-topstories.html

Of course. He did nothing wrong. He needs an apology also.

So if he's so proud of himself and he did nothing "wrong" according to the "jury", then he should be able to walk freely out of the courthouse front doors, chin up, and live his life without having to look over his shoulder, in hiding, like a coward.

Look, NOBODY actually saw exactly what happened, so people need to quit saying it was "self defense". And if Trayvon had "pounded" his head into the cement like gz claimed, he probably would have either gone unconscious or died from it. Plus, they weren't on concrete like gz said, they were on the grass, where he murdered Trayvon.

Trayvon wasn't DOING anything wrong when gz approached him, just walking. Why, then, did gz feel the need to get out of his suv and pick a fight with a loaded gun on him .... to do "nothing wrong"?

Hope everything will resolve quickly and with the least amount of bloodshed, and hope Egypt will get some decent, moderate, inclusive people in office who will focus on reviving the economy.

I understand your good intentions when you say this, but "resolve quickly" is not going to happen. Not that things were peachy when Mubarak was still in office, but ever since he was kicked out, Egypt has been on fire and will never, ever be the same. It may never know normal again in our lifetimes.

My husband has been here three years and has watched his country unravel on tv everyday and says himself that the old Egypt is over and has to be rebuilt from the ground up...how? there's no good answer.... only time will tell...

I've been trying to think about what I would ask my husband to bring back for me, and even asked him about his ideas, but the only thing we could think of is maybe gold jewelry if you like that. Maybe it's a little cheaper there. Gold prices are so high now, I can't afford my favorite hobby anymore....gold jewelry

I don't really like the jewelry style sold here in the states, I'm more into MENA style 18K & 22K jewelry. We have some great Palestinian owned jewelry stores here (three brothers own them) that I've always bought my gold from.

this is Ahmed, Zahra's husband replying..........are you Egyptian? Exactly who was collecting this 60,000 LE at the gates at the airport? And who were they collecting it from , other Egyptians? or westerners? Did you actually pay 60,000 LE to get into the airport?

sorry, 12,000 LE......still, not pocket change for anyone

One last thing, during the Revolution the going rate to get through the gates at Cairo International Airport was $2,000.00 (USD).

this is Ahmed, Zahra's husband replying..........are you Egyptian? Exactly who was collecting this 60,000 LE at the gates at the airport? And who were they collecting it from , other Egyptians? or westerners? Did you actually pay 60,000 LE to get into the airport?

A lot has happened since I posted this.

First, officials of the Tamarod petition have claimed to have collected well over the 15 million signatures to take the confidence away from the elected President. Source

In a move seen as a desperate attempt to solidify his power over the cities of the opposition strongholds President Morsi appointed controversial governors: Source Protests broke out across Egypt because of it, but the appointment of the governor to Luxor was perhaps the most disturbing. To date the appointed governor has not agreed to resign despite being locked out of his office and the general uproar. LINK

Somewhere in there the US Ambassador to Cairo came under fire for comments made about the scheduled June 30th protests. Source

The Egyptian President hastily launched an online PR campaign to defend his Presidency and document his first year in office in order to be more transparent. LINK and LINK Hey, it's a new democracy.

Then yesterday June 21st the pro-Morsi counter-demonstrations were held. Some estimated that tens of thousands showed up while other reports say up to one hundred thousand protesters came out. They bused in people from all over Egypt. LINK When the protests are isolated to one or two cities I wouldn't use the headline "Egypt Explodes with Protesters". Anyways, a bigger indication of unrest was seen earlier in the week in multiple cities across Egypt when protests broke out because of the new governors that were appointed by the President. One very good point that was brought up by Egyptians quoted in the media was, "Why doesn't Egypt also hold elections for governors and mayors so the people can have who they want to represent them from their own area; instead of doing things the old way which is just like the old regime?"

On the same day as the June 21st protests John Stewart appeared on Bassam Youssef's show "The Program" in Cairo. This was the best link I've found and includes the 20 minute video segment which is in mostly English on their website article. LINK The segment was pre-taped and aired that Friday perhaps giving a nod to the escalating local current events. In Stewart's words, "Because we Americans don't know what's going on in the world."

The Egypt Airport is on high alert for the 30th June protest. Link From June 28th until July 1st.

And if you experienced the first revolution this may sound like old news but if you're in Egypt for June 30th, which I know some of you are visiting your family there, below is a quick list of "just in case" measures to take provided by the online Expat Communities for Cairo. Hopefully you check in between the rolling electrical blackouts before the 30th.

This second earth quake in Egypt on June 30th may be larger than the first earthquake in Egypt Jan 25th.

This is Zahra's husband Ahmed replying...........regarding the quoted "list" of things to do to prepare............

• Alcohol if you drink it. Stocking up on Sakkara or some wine in advance of Ramadan is the norm here anyway so just do it earlier than planned.

is this advice for the 90% Muslim population?????? Yes, i'm Muslim and lived in Egypt all my life until I immigrated in 2010

My husband's been here over 3 years, has a great job, great credit score (about 700), and we're approved for a mortgage,

BUT, we live in northern California, and the real estate market here is fiercely competitive right now. There are a TON of CASH ONLY buyers and investors buying up all the normal priced real estate (below $500,000), leaving those of us buying with a mortgage, in the dust.

There are about 100 buyers waiting in line for every home on the market here.

We've been offering over asking price on homes for over a year, and we're always told that the CASH ONLY buyer's offer was accepted, time after time after time. Cash wins every time.

Good luck, hopefully the real estate market is not so competitive where you will live!

Who's "they"? If you're referring to our case, we had our interview yesterday and there is no indication that we are in AP, which is why I'm asking b/c the consular officer wasn't very clear and I wasn't about to ask straight out if they were going to put us in Admin Processing. She said there would be no more processing from their side and only mentioned paperwork to be completed at the POE. But she also wouldn't put a timeline on how long we should expect to wait for the phone call from them, saying "a couple weeks". So I'm not sure what to think, but am hoping/praying for the best!

Did they give a sheet of paper checking off any box (AP = 212(g) for example) ?

We had Ahmed's interview in Qatar (see our timeline), the CO said he believed we have a valid marriage and there were no problems with our case, but that AP was a "standard" process that we had to wait out. They didn't keep his passport, but they called him to bring in his passport as soon as AP was over (12 weeks).

I agree keeping the passport is a good sign they'll give the visa right away...best wishes!!

I feel free to give you advice from sounding like a walking agenda. You are free to ignore it.

The proof would be that the brother said so.. ie: take the most blatant proof of a god in any religion times it by about 10 billion..

There you go again, telling me what to do. I KNOW I am free and I know I'm free to ignore anything you say. I've already ignored it. And will continue to do so.

And I guess you were in the hospital room and heard the brother say "so"?

Still ignoring....

Agenda? look in the mirror.

Maybe the bombers themselves left a clue...

"BOSTON (AP) -- The two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon appear to have been motivated by a radical brand of Islam but do not seem connected to any Muslim terrorist groups, U.S. officials said Monday after interrogating and charging Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with crimes that could bring the death penalty."

AP: MOTIVATED BY RELIGION

Try your post without the last paragraph.. works much better... Maybe drop the "islamophobes" word, wreaks of agenda... also I find the last sentence very ironic coming from the religious side.

You are right of course, you have nothing to apologize for but then I did not need one more bombing in the name of religion to hold a dim view of religion. That ship sailed long ago.

Don't tell me what I should write, or think, or anything else for that matter. Why do you want me to think like you? Won't work. Islamophobe is the perfect description of people quick to jump the gun always blaming Muslims or Islam, always believing the first negative they hear.

Again, where is the PROOF they did it in the name of religion? Because you saw it printed somewhere? Yes, they are losers and terrorists, but they are not Muslims, even if that's what they call themselves.

No. I def do not agree with him. Exact opposite of the spectrum

Oh, good, you scared me for a minute Guess I didn't catch the sarcasm in your remark...

Cus that's what they should have to do. What a dumb thing to say

??? So you agree with him? Wow.

I'm missing something here........why did Stowe say an Islamic greeting to a Jew? Why didn't he say Shalom instead? Did Stowe really expect the guy to be polite back, especially in NYC? Sounds like Stowe was being sarcastic or trying to get a rise out of the Jewish guy.

And while you're in the process of abandoning all of your culture and identity, be sure to bleach your skin using some of the hundreds of products marketed to PoC so that you can be normal and white - just like a good American.

Well said American white on white crime is alive and well, so why should the rest of us have to abandon our identity and culture, it's stupid and pointless to do that. Be who you really are.

One way to avoid being mistaken for an Arab is to change your name from Abdul to Anthony when you become an American. You shave off your wild beard, drop the turban, get a cap or head instead, and if somebody still mistakes you for an Arab and asks you if you are one, you can truthfully state that you are an American and that your name is Anthony.

Do you always try to "fit in with the crowd" so people will "like" you? Last time I checked, regular white Americans still get hurt and killed by other regular white Americans. What should those victims have done to avoid it? Your advice is juvenile and idiotic.

I'm so sorry about Lilly...I know how it feels to lose a long-time pet (my 14 year old cat- child).

I know you will always miss her and remember everything about her. It was a few years before I was ready to adopt another cat, feeling guilty that I was replacing mr. kitty, but when you are ready, a new dog for your family can be a new great beginning with a new friend, especially from a shelter that needs rescuing

That's ridiculous that the IO still has your file 60 days later....what the heck is their holdup? Wish you could find out now instead of giving them another 30 days!

There is a lot for me to learn. I am not familiar with the religion. No need for anyone to get nasty and turn it into a hate thread either way. I think that here in the US we mainly hear about the radical groups that practice Islam. I would genuinely like to know what the religions views are on the treatment of women, equality of mankind, and also are the stoning's and harsh punishment actually part of the religion or has that become perverted by the radicals, all of this killing for God, etc. Are these views typical of the religion or just by a small group that seems to garner all the headlines here in the US? I ask this sincerely as I don't know.

That's true....why would the media print anything positive about Muslims or Islam, especially after 9/11? Negative stories get more attention and readers.

I am Muslim, my husband is Muslim from Egypt, and we have lived in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai. Each country has different practices and ways of doing things. There is no 1 way of thinking or doing things for every Arab country. Dubai is more Westernized than Saudi and Qatar, but Qatar is not as hard-lined as Saudi. I enjoyed living in all 3 countries, never had a problem and never missed anything from the USA. I had everything I wanted. The not mixing of men and women is an Arab culture thing. The degrees of harsh punishments for criminals varies by country, Saudi being the hardest of the 3.

In short, Muslims (not radicals) are normal people with families, jobs, kids, homes, just like everyone else.

Nobody in their right mind should care even a little bit if someone is Muslim, Christian, Jewish, pagan, vegan or anything else.

I agree! It shouldn't matter (I'm muslim btw).

I find it weird and annoying how many non-muslims spend so much time and are so hell-bent trying to prove to the world how evil and bad Islam is (in their opinion), throwing around a lot of skewed "facts".

If you don't like something, here's an idea : don't bother yourself with it! If you don't like a particular religion, fine. A lot of people don't like your religion either. Don't make it your life's mission to bash it, criticize it or disprove it every chance you get, like on message boards or forums, whatever religion you disagree with so much. Live and let live! It's fine to have an opinion of course, even if it's not founded in truth, but then forget about it already!

Sorry for going on and on, it's so annoying to me...

I agree AP is very inconvenient and testing of your patience, but I can kind of relate being in AP as when you're applying for a mortgage to buy a house (as we are)....... until you close on the loan and get the keys in your hand, the bank is constantly checking and re-checking your credit and accounts to make sure your STAY qualified until they give you the keys in your hand. The deal can fall through at the very last moment if they find something negative.

So like being in AP for name checks, they do them several times, which take time, even at the final stages of processing your case, just in case they find something questionable.

Both are very frustrating when they take so long for what seems no reason at all....

Sorry for your AP wait, but I agree with wife_of_mahmoud..........it's the name checks that take so long for most applicants, especially those with common names. AP should always be expected in MENA countries, no AP is becoming very rare these days.

My husband had 12 weeks of AP and it was all due to name checks. The CO told us at the interview that he believed we had a valid marriage, but it's normal procedure to do one last name check (AP).

Don't worry, it will be done and he'll get the call from the embassy that his visa is ready