Morocco

Richard spent a week in Morocco on Army business - or so he said. I look at the hundreds of pictures and tend to think it was more of a vacation than work. But, judge for yourself.

Just like in Iraq, the children LOVE the cameras - especially the digital because they can see instant results.

Boys are boys no matter the country. This is at the orphanage the guys visited. Very sad - but Richard said all the kids were actually very happy and clean and well cared for. Makes me feel a little better.

One of the orphan girls.

I had told him a number of times on the phone to bring me one home! The children are divided by gender and age groups, and then they stay in these "padded" rooms for most of the day.

I told him he had better hold as many children as he could because they don't get that often - but I don't think he held them because I told him to. He loves kids.

Another one. There were babies as young as two days there - all lined up in a row in cribs, with four of five babies per crib.

I'm pretty darn MAD he didn't bring this one home. Look how beautiful!!! Ivy's mad too. Out of the blue on Sunday - as we walked into church - she reprimanded Richard. "Daddy, next time we send you to the airport you'd better bring home a baby!" I wish it were that easy. -- Who on earth could have given this one up?????
Playing basketball with the teenagers at the orphanage. How sad that so many are without parents. Maia has been praying for them since she saw the pictures.

This is a young man that Richard met - can't remember his name. However, he was around the guys quite a bit, has even been to church a couple of times with a Utah Guard guy who lives over there, and he's attending school. Richard wants to help sponsor him to bring him to a university over here. Anyway, the incredible story Richard told me - and I saw on a video clip, I'll see if I can find it and download it - is that this boy visits the orphanage often. There is one (or more?) rooms full of disabled children. One in particular is a blind boy and this kid visits him often - and the blind boy can identify him by feeling his face. It was very sweet.
A room with some of the disabled children. The sad thing is that many of them would be fine if they had been born here. But do you notice how this boy with the pink stuffed animal still has a smile on his face!!!! What a lesson we can learn.

In the ancient Roman ruins - relaxing in the spa. Larry and Richard don't look like they're working too hard, do you think?

The mosaic tile floor of a wealthy home in the Roman ruins.

More of the ruins. So cool that something thousands of years still stands - sort of.

Walking through town. I can only imagine the smell. The market had a real camel head and other disgusting things on display. I heard him on tape tell Larry that "Rhonda wouldn't last too long here." He knows me so well.

A 600 year old saddle.

Weapons I guess.

One of the feasts they were given. Richard said they spent nearly 3 hours at one meal, being served course after course. -- Funny thing is that when he arrived there some of the Utah guys (whom he hasn't seen for a year) noticed he had put on a little weight. He's dieting now for the few weeks before we come home.

The room he stayed in.

I'm thinking our guys look a little under-dressed!!!!!

With the shopkeeper's daughter. I wonder if the shopkeeper was trying to set him up with another wife. A sheik in Iraq tried that, but Richard turned him down. Said one wife was hard enough! -- He brought me lots of pretty things, but none of that gorgeous silver behind him. He shouldn't have let me see the picture because now I know what he didn't buy!

Larry with the shopkeeper's daughter now. Some of those wood pieces and pottery plates are what Richard brought home. Only one broke - but he did a pretty good job glueing it together!

Before one of the big dinners. Their entertainment that night was a belly dancer. He responded a little too quickly and enthusiastically when I asked if she was cute! He said he doesn't like their music, but I'm sure the dancing took his mind off it.

General Tarbet, Richard, and somebody important I presume.

The Moroccan Army

So what's your verdict? A business trip or VACATION???