Lebanon

I will again be visiting Lebanon this summer, mainly to visit Karim and his family, but, also to visit my other friends there. My visit in the Middle East will be three weeks in August this time. I will also visit the country of Qatar, where my friend Charbel moved 2 years ago. I am excited for this because it is a new country for me to visit and I will meet new friends there. The only thing I am a little worried about is the heat. It will be over 110 degrees fahrenheit there in August. I do not do well in that hot weather, although, Charbel says we will spend most of the time inside in air conditioning. I look forward to visiting many sights in Lebanon that I have not yet seen, or that I was rushed through before when I visited them in 2007 and 2008. I am hoping my friend Issam, from Seattle, will be there at the same time as me, because if so, he promised to show me many lovely places in Lebanon and to explain the history there. We will stay overnight in a monastery in the Holy Valley one of the nights because he knows the monks well. I look forward to being able to spend time in prayer and not being rushed as I was before. It will be good to visit my little Karim again, too. I miss him a lot. I will take him with me to visit friends in Deir El Qamar. I will spend time with my many friends there, too. I can't wait to visit the shrine on the mountain again, and the church of Abouna Yaqqoub, have ice cream on the square, see Abete Marcel, and all the others I have missed. It will be like a homecoming to the country I feel is my second home.