Merry Christmas From the Hamptons 2010!

Its been a busy 

year for the Hamptons 

and God continues to show his faithfulness to our family! We began the new year by exlploring the Red Sea at the now reknown Sharm el-Sheik. Sam is a certified diver and has about 20 dives in his log, including Thistlegorm, a suken WWII vessel! 

In Februrary, we welcomed our third granddaughter,  Whitney Jill,  into our hearts and the arms of Jesus. During her short life inutero she touched many people through the faith of her parents. 

In March,  Sam took a fishing trip to Lake Nasser and caught a 65 # Nile Perch! I had an entire weekend of quilting at our flat. This past year I have completed 4 quilts from my UFO pile and made 2 for the granddaughters!

We took a local leave to Amsterdam and Bruges toward the end of April-Kuykenhoff Gardens were in full bloom! We enjoyed the chocolate and beers in Belgium, as well as the countryside!

 Sheyenne and Sean were able to come visit us in May.  We made our way down the Nile to Luxor and Valley of the Kings! The ancients captured our imagination and we became thoroughly pharonicated!

We also hosted the Landers from Joplin, Mo on their way to and from Africa in June. That was a pleasure as would be a visit from you!!!!

The Desert Ball is a FUNction put on by the local Rugby association. Sam and I had the pleasure of attending the dinner/dance held in front of the  pyramids at Giza. What a memorable night!

As you might imagine, the weather in Cairo gets plenty hot during the summer months! It parallels the weather in Phoenix so when we took our home leave the end of the summer, we were going from here to the same kind of weather! We had a great home leave; I criss-crossed the US to see kids in three places and when Sam joined me, we did it again! 

 God has been faithful! Megan and Eric minister in a church where he had been the sole minister for over a year. Carrying those responsiblities as well as his own youth ministry was a lot of long hours! God gave him the energy and the organization to keep a lot of balls in the air at once! Now they have an interim pastor and hopefully he can be at home more! Emmalia (3) is in pre-school and Kaira is a busy toddler of 1.

God also allowed David’s hearts desire to change schools from DePaul University to The University of Chicago where he is studying Economics. He is incredibly happy in this academic environment! He is a part of Crew and enjoys early morning workouts on Lake Michigan!

 Sheyenne and Sean are blessed to be expecting a baby May 5th or so! God has seen them through a tough year and they give him the Glory! We are excited to welcome this precious gift into the family! At the moment Sean is pursuing work in ministry, being laid off due to the staus of the CA economy. Hopefully we can be sharing His Faithfulness in this area as well, and soon! 

This October,  Kim met folks from Highland Park CC in Israel for 10 days. It was an amazing trip through the Holy Lands!  While I was there, Sam was starting a new job in the other joint venture- Qarun! He is now the Drilling Manager there. He  is enjoying the challenge and new work-nearer to home!

Sam and I just returned from a trip to London, took in some plays and museums and captured the Christmas spirit as we watched it snow the first day there!

We attend Maadi Community Church where Sam serves on the Board and Kim works in the Women’s Ministry in the area of NewComers Hospitality. 

We attend a Life Group where we study and come to know the Lord and each other better.  Right now we are searching for a way to serve Egypt as a group. 

Kim works in the Baby Wash ministry near Giza and enjoys her Quilters in DeNile quilting group! On weekends, we may take a trip, go for a walk in the Wadi, or just stay home and read. We are enjoying our life in Egypt, but we miss you all as well! We wish you all  

                  A  Merry Christmas!

  We’d love to hear from you!  

Sam and Kim Hampton  PO BOX 27582,    Houston,    TX      77227

Kim’s Blog: samandkimintulsa.blogspot.com

Pigeons

Pigeons have become a theme, or at least a presence, in my life lately so I feel the need to share my experiences with you! We have just returned from London, where these prolific little birds leave their marks on statues and buildings, desecrating the very things tourists have gone there to see and photograph! In  2001, we were in London on a tour and  I was saddened to see signs in Trafalgar Square that read: Do Not Feed the Birds and Feeding Birds is Illegal. After all, Mary Poppins encouraged feeding the birds as a gesture of goodwill and I was in the Land of Chimney Sweeps and Magical Governesses!  This time there were no birds in Trafalgar Square; I guess the tourists got the message! There were no pigeons.  The Sea Gulls have moved in!

Pigeons coming home to roost

Pigeons are also very important in Egypt. As we drive along the highway, pigeon houses are visible (among all the satellite dishes) on the top of tall buildings. They are made of wood slats--sometimes painted and can house many pigeons. The pigeons are released in the morning to fly about the city. As the end of the day draws near, the pigeons return to their respective homes, attracted by their owners personal flag. Sometimes you can see a young boy atop the roof, waving a flag, calling the family pigeons home.  Back in the day, pigeons were used to carry messages, but that was WAY BACK in time. Sometimes pigeons are raced; owners release their fowl from a specific place and the first ones home are the smartest, most efficient fliers. But most of the time, pigeons are a food source. One of our Egyptian friends told me that it is customary to eat pigeon on ones wedding day....and for seven days after that! It is believed that pigeon makes a man very 'strong!' I was able to capture a couple of good shots of pigeons returning home to a pigeon house!

 Pigeon House in the country (Anafora)

There is another style of pigeon house found in the 'baladi' or agricultural areas. This unique style of house is made of mud, brick and plaster with inset clay roosts. They can be whitewashed or painted and can hold dozens of nesting birds as well.  Here the birds are free to come and go naturally.

















In Israel, I had a pigeon encounter that I will not soon forget!  I was on a tour of the Holy Lands with a group from Highland Park Christian Church in Tulsa. (I met them in Tel Aviv, coming from Egypt). On this particular day we were visiting the Mount of Ascension, the location where tradition has it that Jesus left this earth to go to Heaven to be with our heavenly father.  A small chapel stands humbly over the site of the Ascension, and the rock that bears His footprint. Large enough for about the 12 of us, (and one pigeon),  we were standing around the 'footprint' rock listening to our tour guide's explanation when all of a sudden, I was hit on the head! Falling rock? No, a pigeon who needed to relieve itself! Right on my head!

Footprint of Jesus on the Mt. of Ascension

 It brought back a memory of a Christmas long ago when my daughter, Sheyenne, was talking to the Toy Soldier at Utica Square, looking him square in the eye when a pigeon pooped right in her face! This was the beginning of my 'payback' from that time when I was laughing so hard, I could not stand up for fear of wetting my pants. That was not one of my prouder moments as a parent. My daughter was crying, I was laughing, and my husband was saying, "Kimberly! Kimberly! KIMBERLY" Oh My!

Back to my story; I felt like I had been hit with a pea shooter! Trying to act nonchalant, I did not think anyone had noticed. After our guide finished talking,  several people around me came to my aid and  with many Kleenexes, we cleaned it out of my hair (for the most part).  As we filed out of the chapel past the guide, he leaned over to me and said, " In Israel, we call that Holy Shit!"  Appropriate!

                                                              

The final encounter I want to tell you about occurred when John and Phyllis Wilson were here in Cairo for a visit. We had gone to the Citadel to see the beautiful  Mohammed Ali Mosque. I had been there several times so I sat on the red carpet and watched people while John and Phyllis took photos.  If you notice in these photos, there are blue outlines on the red carpet. These are spaces for people to kneel and pray; facing toward Mecca. You can see this mosque would hold a lot of people! This particular day there were a lot of school kids visiting. They came up to me and asked, "How are you? What is your name? Where do you come from?"  They were very cute but as they turned to run away toward the teacher, Smack! something hit me on the back! "Those kids threw something on me!" was my first thought. "The little stinkers hit me with a tomato!" was my next thought! Well, I felt around to the wetness on my back and what my hand revealed was NOT tomato in origin! About that time, John comes by and seeing what happened says to me, "Man, some bird dropped a load on you!" It must have been a stool pigeon!

Home Leave

    

      I may be out of practice blogging, but I have some thougths and some stories rolling around in my head I think you might enjoy.  Since I last blogged, I have been to the US on home leave and had a wonderful time visiting friends and family all across the US, from California to Chicago and Phoenix, Tulsa, Grove, and KC in between!  As the days grew closer to my departure to the US, I felt like Dorothy must have felt as she clicked her sparkling jeweled heels together, repeating, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”  There truly is no place like home!*

     It was great being back home!  We had wonderful beds to sleep in and 
     great food, and a refreshing time of fellowship.  We relaxed, we visited, 
     we shopped and went to Dr. appointments.

     I learned a few things on our first home leave:

     1.  Going to three doctors appointments in one day is so efficient!

     2.  The shopping is not finished until one boards the plane (in Germany)

     3.  Shopping for something in particular is still as frustrating as always.

     4.  The food I chose to eat was sooooo gooood...and fattening! I gained 
          10 # while I was on home leave! 

     5.  The time I planned at each stop along our route was not long
           enough.

     6.  Most people don’t want to look at photos, or hear stories they can’t  
          relate to, and they really,  really, don’t want a plastic snow globe 
          pyramid  with golden glitter and the statue of Ramses in it! 

My first week home was spent with Mom and Dad in Kansas City. Most of the time I had jet lag- I think I was a little like Dorothy, waking up and wondering where she was and what had happened to her! Getting up at 3 in the morning, I entertained myself by making cards in Mom’s well-equipped craft room until she came downstairs in search of coffee!  We went out to the family farm in Council Grove and had a great lunch at the Hays House Restaurant.  We caught the tail end of summer sales and did a redecorating of Mom and Dad's living room!  Fun!

In Oklahoma, I went by Fiddler’s Bend where the Flint Creek and the Illinois River come together and picked up my dear friend, Connie. We road-tripped it over to Eureka Springs for a peaceful, relaxing  and  encouraging time with each other. We stayed at a cute boarding house/B & B, reminiscent of the Wagoner house in that it was all Victorian/antique decor.  From our balcony overlooking the Ozark Mountains, we could see the Christ of the Ozark statue! We meandered through the streets stopping at shops along the way. Eureka Springs was built around several springs so there were places to stop and enjoy the parks around them as well!

One of Eureka's Springs

Me and Connie

Humpty Dumpty Before the fall!

Christ of the Ozarks from our balcony

One of our favorite places: Connie and I wrapped up a great visit toodle-ing around Fiddlers' Bend in her golf cart!

Fiddler's Bend

*As I was  writing this post I was reminded of a song by Albert Brumley. While I love being with family and friends, and I call Kansas/Oklahoma home,  I know my  true home is heavenly!


This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.