Our son Munib visited us between Christmas and first week of January; we loved having him and showing him around our neighbourhood,
including the Crusader fort at Belvoir overlooking the Jordan Valley and the ancient prison city of Akká. Here we are at the Inn of Pillars - in one of its upper rooms, Muna's maternal grandfather was born in 1897. Although the time passed too quickly, he was able to meet a lot of our friends and made himself very popular by working on a few sore backs and necks—I am constantly asked when he is coming next!!!
Our first anniversary in Haifa was celebrated with some of the friends who came at the same time last year; we were together for our first week of orientation before moving into different areas of service. We have remained very close as
a group and still meet for lunch once a week.
We couldn’t let 26th January pass unacknowledged, and so we had a celebration of Australia Day on Friday evening at our flat with a few friends, lots of laughs and sharing of Aussie lore. Here are three who got into the spirit of the occasion with their home-made “traditional Aussie hat with corks”, and in the absence of these - acorns. And some (non-Australian) birthday parties as well—with such a large group of friends, birthdays pop up very frequently—it’s great!
What happened to winter? It is already March and we have had only a few cold days and about 3 days of heavy rain. Compared to this time last year, it has been a joke of a winter. I am not sure what we will be drinking this summer – hopefully not the Mediterranean – Allan is brave enough to swim in it before the jelly fish appear in July and make it unswimmable for about six weeks, but draws the line at sipping from it! Spring is definitely here and the spring-blossom trees are in full bloom. There is a roundabout on our way home from work, and it had been an absolute picture of yellow and red tulips. 
It is also a joy to meet friends who come on pilgrimage or short visits; with an average of around 300 pilgrims coming every two weeks, there are a lot of opportunities. Recently, Doug and Diane came for three days and we spent a magic Saturday visiting the old city of Akká and the Bahá'í Holy Places. Earlier, Debbie Singh and Selam Ahderome from Uganda were visiting and we managed to catch up for lunch.
Meet the “jannies”! They are the cleaning staff at the World Centre and have a special status—we reckon they are the best and we work in the cleanest offices we have ever been in. Here are some of them preparing for a carpet to be rolled up for a function in the 1000 person ground floor of the building where we both work. 
At Bahjí, spring has definitely arrived, and we close with some photos around the resting place of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith. Have a great autumn/spring wherever you may be and do take time to smell the roses!
