Mitchell gets fitted for a new suit!! Shopping, Decisions about leaving made.

We kind-a, sort-a, did homeschooling this morning. We mostly got ready to leave for shopping. The dome coming down yesterday has changed everything. The kids do not want to do school anymore and with Elinor here, it's much harder, because, we'd rather be shopping!! =) Amine came over for our French lesson, however, it wasn't incredibly successful because the kids were SOOOOOO excited to give Amine his gift from us! I can't remember if I mentioned this before or not. When Barry and Elinor decided to come over, Jason decided that he wanted to get Amine a laptop computer. There are very few computers available to buy here and because the taxes are so high on electronics, they are 6 - 8 times more expensive here than they are in America. Barry said that he would bring the computer over if Jason wanted to buy it, and this is what we decided to do. This computer will literally change Amine's life. He will be able to get jobs that were out of the question for him without having his own computer. His love is computers and his access to them has been limited, so this will open so many doors for him. He is very talented and has helped us immensely with all of our computer issues while we've been here.

A few lessons ago, the kids were asking him about his birthday and he thought for a minute and then said that it had been on March 3rd--he had forgotten about it, because birthdays are not celebrated here. The kids were shocked by this! Birthdays are such a big deal in our family! So, Reggie and Robby decided they wanted to bring out the computer and we could all sing happy birthday to him. When they came out, Amine almost stopped breathing! He was so surprised. He kept saying that it was too much. He kept saying that he had NEVER received a birthday present and he had never even dreamed of a gift so wonderful as this. He must have said thank you more than 20 times. He was on the verge of tears, so my eyes made up for the lack of tears running down his face. He looked like he was in total shock. He kept rubbing his hand over and over the computer. It was one of the most wonderful moments and part of our trip. I'm so grateful that Jason thought of doing something so great.

After this, I asked Amine about the tailor who could make a suit for Mitchell. He told me that he could take us there if we wanted. Jason was home writing about the dome collapse and said that he could take us. So, we left Vanessa with the 3 little boys watching Tom & Jerry cartoons on a new dvd that we had bought last night and headed for the tailor's shop. This was quite an event. The tailor was quite a huge man and very international looking and speaking. He is the tailor for the King of Morocco! He had many beautiful fabrics. Mitchell was beyond excited! This will be his first suit. I'm a little worried that they will not make it big enough. I want it big enough that Mitchell can wear it for a couple of years. This man wants to make it custom to fit him perfectly, right now. I don't know if I'm going to win in this area. It makes me a little angry, but I'm happy Mitchell will have one great suit in his life.

Jason has said that we will be leaving next Wednesday. We are going to go to Paris for 3 days and then to Italy for 9 days. This is longer than the kids and I want to go for, but we are here, in this area of the world, and we'd better take advantage of it. The kids just want to go home. We will arrive home on April 9th at about 10:30p.m.