Army Day, Hatz and more!

So a few updates...

Today we decided to go to Etchmiadzin for church. We really did not realize that today was Army Day (the anniversary of the establishment of Armenia's Army), so we got to church and there were a bunch of military cars and folks around. As we approached the cathedral, we saw a line of solders. We went in and the Defense Minister and a bunch of Generals were at church. HH Karekin II did the short sermon and all in all it was pretty cool. It was snowing and we took some pictures on the grounds of Etchmiadzin. You can see the snow in the girls and Houry's hair. I have to admit it was pretty excellent seeing the protectors of our country come together with the protectors of our faith. On a side note, the girls were clearly a hit among our 18 and 19 year old solders who pretty much followed us around and smiled at the girls the entire time we were at church.

We are pretty much getting ready to move into our new apartment. We spent yesterday there cleaning and getting ready. Hopefully by Wednesday we will be ready to make the move. The developer called me today to see "when we were planning on moving in?" I asked him in return "when are you going to hook up the water, hot water and electricity?" Go figure.

This week before school starts for the girls, we went ice skating at the outdoor ice skating rink with the girls friends from the village of Mkjian. It was fun. Afterwards, we took the kids back to their home. When we got to the first girls house, the parents pretty much had a feast prepared. They had made Khorovadz in the tonur in the ground. It was really, really nice. They told us that they make about 200 loafs of Lavash at one time and cook it all, dry it, then they can store it for about 4 months. It is really, really good. They gave us about four or five loaves essentially making friends with Houry for life.

Yesterday morning (before we cleaned all day...) Houry went to a studio and was connected live via internet to the Etchmiadzin Children Fund's Gala fundraiser in LA. She did a report from Yerevan. She stressed pretty much all night about it, but she really did a terrific job. It was way fun seeing our friends live via the internet. We recognized most folks in the audience and felt almost like we were there.

I ran across a few photos of Paris that I also need to post. We walked down the cool street with all the designer boutiques. Can you figure out which store they liked the best?