Thank You Everybody!

We just wanted to thank everyone who helped pull Sarah & John's wedding together! You all helped make this wedding a success! Many heads & hands helped to cover us. Sarah & John really enjoyed their time with everybody, even if it was brief. We so appreciate all that you did!
The only thing is, we miss terribly all those who could not make it!

Most of all, I wanted to thank the Lord for His generous blessings on these 2 weddings! He is the most amazing God! How does the Ruler of the whole universe, who deals in the affairs of governments & nature, care & is concerned in the details of mere man - especially this one! How great is our God!

Saturday Evening in Pittsburgh

Last Saturday, Scott & I took Sarah & John into Pittsburgh to see the Winter Garden in PPG plaza. It looked like a fairy tale! They had it beautifully decorated as usual. The ice skating rink was in full swing with Christmas music serenading them.

The wonderful aroma of coffee wafted around our nostrils as we stepped into the display room. We took our time at each display. Scott was drawn to the miniture train village in the center.

As we made our way around the room, an elderly gentleman sat down at the grand piano & began to play the most beautiful Christmas music I have ever heard.

Market Square was decorated in Christmas attire as well, complete with a horse drawn carriage to boot!

The trolley bus was going as well. After dinner, we headed up to see the creche at the USX building. On the way we passed the old Horne's Christmas trees on the corner of their building. Sorry about those signs in the way, we were stopped at a light hen I took that picture.

Afterwards, we toured Oakland. We went passed Heinz Chapel on the way into the Cathedral of Learning. The chapel was all lit up, of course, showing off it wonderful architecture. John was amazed at all he saw!

We ended the evening at a cozy little cafe in Squirrel Hill called The Coffee Tree Roasters. It was warm & inviting, & the coffee, hot cocoa, & chai warmed us up.

From Our House to Yours ...

MERRY

CHRISTMAS!

...and may God's richest blessings be upon you all!

The Kregenows

Our Egypt Trip

Our Egypt was a real education, one I soon won't forget! Here are just a few pictures I took while we were there. We flew Egypt Air, a wonderful airline. We so enjoyed our flight! On the evening that we arrived, John took us to Sarah's school to join them in a Christmas party & program, but my pictures didn't come out for those. Sarah took us on a tour of her school.

Afterward, we went over to John's parents for dinner. We got to try real Egyptian dish, which was real good! They tried their hand at teaching us a few Arabic phrases to no avail. We had a great time of fun & fellowship while John & Sarah translated for us. The next evening, John's parents gave a party which turn out to be kinda like our equivalent to a wedding reception, but less formal. They had a cake cutting ceremony.

And lots of good food! I wanted to try everything, but my belly could not hold it all. We got to meet a lot of family & friends.Here are some shots I took of our travels through Cairo & the surrounding areas. This is one of many canals that run through Egypt. You can see the trash along the water's edge.This is a common sight in Cairo. Donkeys pulling carts were found making their way through traffic all the time. I just sat amazed! These are generally farmers trying to make a meager living. It is not uncommon to see whole families riding on a small scooter making their way through town. This guy is taking bags of cement to market. Notice it's a littler heftier cart. Also notice the laundry hanging from the window. This too was a common sight!

The day after the wedding, Sarah & John arranged a quick sight-seeing tour of the pyramids & such. We found that many of the sight-seeing places housed vendors like these. It wouldn't surprise me if that was his little hut next to his goods. They often did.

This one was at the outdoor museum on our way to Memphis. This was a small sphinx.

We are on our way to the pyramids. You can see them from the city.

Here, one of the natives thought that Scott should dress for the part! That is how they earned a living.

I am standing at the foot of the largest of the pyramids.

Those things are huge! Lots of camels around for people to ride, but we did not. I valued my bones! There were those giving cart rides as well.

Then we headed down to see the Sphinx. Its dwarfed compared to the pyramids.

Afterward, our guide took us to a fancy outdoor restaurant for lunch. We had to ask him for instructions as to how to eat!

This is a citadel that we past several times. We found it intriguing, but John was quick to point out that many people were tortured to death behind those walls.

This is a view of the city of Cairo along the Nile River. Sarah's apartment isn't too far from the Nile. In fact there is a Starbucks going in close to there!

And that was a quick synopsis of our 4 1/2 day trip to Egypt. I hope you enjoy it!

Sarah & John's Apartment

Sarah has been living in the apartment that she & John will be living in when they are married. They did a lot of work to fix it up. This is their living room/dining room. It is an L shape.

If you turned around while in their future dining room, you can see past the entry, down the hall, to their bedroom area. There are 3 bedrooms with theirs at the end. Their laundry room is there as well.

This is their bedroom. The furniture had arrived the day we got there & was being put together as we placed our suitcases in there. Sarah let us sleep on their new bed! It's beautiful furniture!

Their apartment is real nice & will be even nicer when the rest of the furniture comes along. We were quite comfortable there. Sarah walks to school & back. They generally do not have carpeting, because living in the desert, there is always a layer of dust everywhere. You'd be vacuuming several times every day. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Frustrated!

I want to show you all our pictures from Egypt but my computer is fritzing out. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to accomplish this now. Please pray that it's not going to cost us a whole lot to fix it in the midst of wedding & travel expenses!

Sarah's Egypt wedding

Weddings Egyptian style are quite different than the US weddings. But Sarah Americanized her own & it was beautiful! The photographer, hairdresser, & the friend who did her makeup all arrived around noon on Friday the 14th. It was fun watching as Liz put up her hair & Melinda doing her face!





They did a beautiful job transforming her into a gorgeous bride ready to go down the aisle!

She was nervous going down the aisle, but her dad was her steady hand. The church was absolutely beautiful! 400 plus came to the wedding! No wonder she was nervous! But she arrived in John's arms just fine.

They had several dear friends speak, one of Sarah's students sang a solo, & John's worship team lead in worship. It was a very moving ceremony.

In Egypt, the bride & groom sit thru the ceremony facing the congregation. Most weddings in Egypt do not usually have a reception. They just leave for the honeymoon.

In the Middle of the Night

Yes, in the middle of the night our bags arrived! Scott got up at 4:30am & found our luggage on the front porch - all 5 of them! Hurray! I was worried that I would not get them in time for the wedding, because Scott's suit & my dress were in those suitcases. But praise God, Sally prayed & they came.

We're Back!

It's good to be home!!! But I am sitting in my living room waiting patiently for our suitcases to be returned. JFK airport was nuts last night because of a snow storm going through the north. Many flights cancelled & many delays. I watched while sitting on our plane as they took our luggage off the plane & headed back in to the airport! Sarah lost one of hers as well. So here I sit. All in all, God was good to us in many ways. When I get a chance to sort it all out. I will post once again.

Hello from Egypt!

Hey everybody!!! We are presently sitting in Sarah's living room. Our flights were good! And praise God, I had no fears at all! In fact, I was amazed that I was at such peace! It has been 16 yrs since we have flown, so we were all eyes & ears. Cairo is such a different place, much different. It actually reminds me of my years in Indonesia. And, oh my, the traffic!!!! Cairo has its own definition of driving. Traffic lights, stop signs, & lanes are just decorations. Traffic laws are not inforced at all, so its chaos! It's a glorified Kennywood bumper car ride! And I am not exaggrating, ask anyone who has been here. Angels are doing double duty here otherwise there would be many, many more casualities. The people have been wonderful. We met John's parents before we saw Sarah. They are lovely people, and we had wonderful conversations about the Lord, & their faith here. We took a tour of Sarah's school the 1st night and met the teachers there. Last night, John's parents held sort of a reception for them in a courtyard of a church. That's a fellowship area for the Christians here, because it never rains. Today we just chilled. Tomorrow the wedding! We have one very nervous bride, so please pray! I will try & load pictures when we get back. It's going to be a very hectic 2 weeks, & I've got to get Christmas in there somehow! See you on the flipside.

We're Off!

This will probably be my last entry until we get back. So please pray for us! Monday morning we head to JFK airport, that evening we head to Cairo, Egypt. I was there as a wee little girl, but that was 40-some years ago. Now I'm dating myself! It'll be fun to see it again! (and actually remember it!) I will hopefully post the pictures when we get back. My son, Dave, got us a camcorder for Christmas as an early gift! So now we are set! See you on the flip-side!

Our House is Decorated!

It took longer than I wanted, but our house is finally decorated! The only thing missing is the tree. We will get one after we get back from Egypt. Then our house will be complete.

This Christmas will be special, because we will have 2 new members of the family (or members to be) with us. We are celebrating our Christmas on the 28th when everyone will be all together! This is a beginning of a new season for this family. And what a blessed season it will be!

Its Snowing!

Winter is definitely here! The wind blew & the snow fell giving us more than the skiff we got before. We got a dusting of the white stuff with a promise of 1-2" throughout the next 24 hours. Maybe we will have a white Christmas after all. If I remember correctly, last Dec. was much warmer.
I will have to warn Sarah & John to pack warm clothes. This will be the 1st time he's been here during the cold wintery weather. I've been checking Egypt's temperatures, & they are having temps in the 70's during the day & 50's during the night. We will be there next week this time!

Temple Worship

In last week's devotions, we were in the book of Hebrews. Somehow we got on the subject of the temple. One of my boys mentioned the seats in the temple to which I said there weren't any. The Israelites were to either stand or lay prostrate before the Lord. There wasn't to be any sitting. No time for complacency. Faith was to be active. Today people complain when they have to stand or stand too long during worship. If you are able, that's the least we can do for the Lord! Don't take me wrong, I so appreciate seats, but to stand is a small price to pay for all that the Lord has done for us! Now for me, I feel confined in the pews. I want to get out & move!