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To go to the first California web page, click here
Palm Sunday 08 - Greek Orthodox - in CA - 4 Shweiry families happen to
be there by chance...
See how many you know.
Mona, Victoria & daughter, William, Maya, Hana, John, Lilian & Souleima
OK, we have Victoria Moujaes Mapar family, Souleima Houcheime family, Carole Baaklini & Nicolas Haddad family, the Lilian Roustom family, & Hana Roustom & John Arhchbald family
Wonderful BBQ at Laila Sawaya's home in Fremont, CA
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Thank you Laila and family for a great evening...
August 2007
Jamil bou Saab and Family in California...
Congrats on Baptism of Elissa Mapar
The Matars, Nacols and Moujaes flew all the way from Texas to California for
this special occasion...
Look at all these precious smiles - at the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the
Redeemer in Los Altos, CA
How many people from Shweir you can spot??? will make it easy... there
is a group picture of them below. :)
V V Here w/ father Samer Yousef and Deacon Habeeb Nacol and Godparents David
Mapar and Soulaima Houcheime
Elisa paved the way to celebrate four Birthdays for Salim, Sami and Zack
Moujaes and Maya Houcheime
and to celebrate surprise 50th wedding anniversary for proud grandparents
Salim and Nora
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 Laughing our hearts >> |
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See more pixs at these Photo albums:
More pictures w/slide shows at:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/gkaymoon/album/576460762391554421
And another album from George's camera:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/gkaymoon/album/576460762391544920
What a nice surprise to get a call from Al Mukhtar tipping me
that Alfred and Maria Moujaes were heading to SF...
So, we made a quick tour of SF by night... and an encore by
day.
We feel so blessed to be in such wonderful company and anxiously look forward to
the arrival of the
Mukhtar and the Matar family next weekend.
Abouna Elie visiting Shweirieh in California
visiting our cousins Joseph, Fouad and Fred Tabsharani in Berkeley
 In San Jose |
Sawaya Welcome Committee... Joe, James, Chantale Did you know |
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Dinner at Elias
with the family... |
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around San Francisco Bay Area |
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Congrats to Ghada Victoria &
Kamal Mapar on birth of
daughter Elissa Sepideh Mapar On June 19th, 2006
From:
Victoria Mapar [mailto in code: gigi50793 at yahoo {dot} com]
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 8:12 AM
Subject: Elissa Sepideh Mapar
On
June 19th, 2006 Demoiselle Elissa Sepideh Mapar was born at 6:48 pm.
Elissa Weighs 9.2 lbs and is 21 inches tall.
Demoiselle Elissa Sepideh Mapar is the Sixth Grand Daughter of Nora & Salim Moujaes.
The Proud Parents Ghada & Kamal Mapar.
**************
Double Celebration:
Mother-Daughter Graduations - 2006
Congrats to Soulaima and Maya Houcheime on their Graduations
Soulaima graduated with an Associate's Degree in Math from San Jose City College
on May 25
Maya graduated with a BFA in graphic design with Cum Laude honors at San Jose
State University on May 26
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Congratulations to Soulaima and Maya...
For related information and pixs, see the two articles below...
Pictures from a recent Picnic in Los Gatos California on May 20, 2006
This was a joint effort between
the Lebanese American Association and
the World Lebanese Cultural Union...
Click here > to View LAA WLCU Picnic May 20-06 Los Gatos
From:
Anwar
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 10:06 PM
Subject: LAA WLCU picnic Great Success - picnic pics
Yes, the LAA/ WLCU picnic was a great success. This was the first joint effort and in spite of the questionable weather forecast, it went better than anyone expected. It was great to see the positive feedback acknowledgements.
I took a bit more time to edit the pictures so that you would enjoy them along with this email. See below. The picnic is a family affair. And yes there was fun things to do for all ages from grandparents to grandchildren. Most kids were having so much fun that they preferred to stay and play when it came time to leave.
Personally, I wish to acknowledge a few persons who helped make this a great success…
Tom Makdissy, LAA
president and Los Gatos resident, reserved the park for us and brought tables
and other supplies including a very handy hand truck.
Elie Dagher, LAA picnic committee chairperson, who worked tirelessly to address
as many of the details and taking a very positive outlook about weather
forecast.
Ziad Habayeb, prepared food and was chef extra ordinaire. Ziad and Elie were
the first on the scene on Saturday setting up.
Maroun Fram:
obtained about eight worthwhile prizes and helped in many aspects.
Maya Houcheimy wore many hats including greeter, registration and did face
painting to raise funds for an orphanage in Lebanon. Even adults had their
faces painted.
Maureen Morley, my friend who prepared many fun games just in case the
opportunity presented itself. She also helped to set up and direct guests from
entrance to our designated picnic area.
The Medicine Man who performed a Sunshine ritual to send rain further north and bring in more sunshine. J
Many thanks to all the volunteers and participants who made this a very special and memorable event.
Several of you expressed desire to plan an encore in the fall. Most suitable would be mid to late September. If that is the case, some things need to be secured as far in advance. Such as reserving choice picnic areas. So far, the two picnic areas of Meadowbrook and Creekside are available (each hold 100 persons). Also the Circle picnic area which is along the lake front is also available and holds 150 persons. It would be prudent to reserve Meadow Brook and Creekside together or Circle ASAP.
We can apply many of the things we learned from last weekend effort. Such as we can advertise about the great many amenities including train rides, merry go round/carousel. That there are biking and hiking trails and boat and bike rentals, etc. Also, we can do a talent presentations as a warm up and scouting to the talent show for next spring.
Now relax, click on the link below to view the picnic pictures.
Once you see the thumbnails of the album, Click on “view slide show” to see consecutive enlargements every few seconds.
Anwar
LAA WLCU Picnic May 20-06 Los Gatos
Click here > to View LAA WLCU Picnic May 20-06 Los Gatos
*****************************
"Terweeaa" hosted by WLCU in San
Francisco
People from Shweir were very well represented...
Above, Souleima, Ghada Victoria, & Maya
of the Shweir Moujaes - Matar Connection and
Rima Mattar, Miss Lebanese Emigrants & her friend Fadi
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<< Mona, Ghada Victoria, Maya and Souleima Houcheimy >> Rima Mattar & Maya Choueiri - |
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| At another Terweeaa, at the monthly meeting of WLCU by the Waterfront >>> |
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WLCU at a presentation by Walid Maalouf - of Public Diplomacy of Middle Eastern Affairs >> |
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Lebanese Independence Day 2005 - San Francisco Style
Members of the World Lebanese Council Union, WLCU, invited the Lebanese community to celebrate Lebanon independence day... here are a few pictures:
Maya Houcheimy whose mom is 200% Shweiry and is Al Mukhtar's
neice,
and Maya Choueiry were two instrumental organizers.
Two other key organizers from our region are:
Nader Shehayed , son of Georgette Abi Nader Khnaisser, who passed away in Shweir
last August
and Khalil Khoury from Baskinta...
Yes, here in al Ghourbeh, we from Baskinta and Shweir
co-operate together as teams to dispel the notion of:
"Laula Baskinta wil Shweir, kanet an dinee be alf khayr"
Trasnlation: If it were not for Baskinta and Shweir, the world would be in
a thousand peace".
| The party was at Sinbad in San Mateo, CA > > |
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| Here Maya doing the honors of cutting the cake. V |
Angie, Maureen & Anwar V |
R > Maya whooping it up... > > |
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R. > Maya in black was champion in bringing 20 guests to the event w/ Angie and Nader > > Lady on left I do not know her name. |
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Sawaya Weekend
By chance three Sawayas meet at a church picnic near San Francisco. L-R:
Rindala Sawaya, daughter of Alfred Sawaya of Hotel Sawaya,
wife of Jalal Wihbe
Alex Sawaya, Son of Dr. Jaber Iskandar Sawaya and
Josiane, wife of Adel Sawaya from Douma
The above picnic was on Sunday, June 13, 2004 at a park halfway between San Francisco and Silicone Valley. Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church held its annual picnic. After mass, there was BBQ, music, volleyball, football, face painting, etc. . Rindala told me that there is a large Sawaya contingency in Florida and another in Salt Lake City where they do annual reunions. Imagine, if it were not for our friend, Mazen Skaff from Shreen, who spent many summers in Dhour, they would not have met.
More Sawayas: The day before, On Saturday, after I attended a tradeshow in Santa Clara, I called Dr. Joseph ibn Adeeb Touma Sawaya to say hi. He insisted that I stop by on my way home. Well, James and Chantal were there as well as Dr. Nabil & Ginette Sawaya from Btighreen. We took pictures the old fashioned way since I did not have my digi camera... when Joe sends me a copy, I will post it.
Someone brought to my attention that Joe Sawaya has two doctorate degrees... PhD's ... So yes, those Sawayas are very smart people. Perhaps the most Drs per capita of any family I know. Three cheers for the Sawayas...
Dr. Jaber Sawaya in San Francisco...
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It was wonderful to see Dr. Jaber Sawaya on March 12, 2004 in San Francisco where he was visiting his son Alexander who recently moved to SF. Alex was at work, so we took Jaber on a tour of the city by the Bay...
We look forward to meet Alex soon and we will make sure that Alex will feel very much at home.
Anwar
Lebanese American Association
Annual Banquet
Miss Emigrants 2002 & 2003, Rima Mattar & Miriam Habib
made a great team, welcomed hundreds of guests, raised money
and they added excitement and energized the event.
| Text to follow... |
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************************************
On Friday, November 14, 2003,
Miss Emigrants 2002 & 2003, Rima Mattar & Miriam Habib and their families
enjoyed a nice dinner in San Francisco and some fun afterwards...
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Ghiradelli is famous in SF and the world
as one of the Great chocolates and they still make chocolate the way they used
to from the early 1900's ... Well, Mirriam was so taken by the chocolate aroma
that she considered buying a T shirt that says: "Will sell Husband for
Chocolate", even though there was no husband, at least, not yet. :)
Maddool Tabsharani and Georgette Tabsharani Nuhra maiden visit to CA
On the way to Lisa Khnaisser Walsh's home, we had to slow down for some geese crossing the road. And while we were enjoying some drinks and appetizers outdoors, the geese did a parade near the back yard and when we paused for a picture, they decided to take part in it as well. I assure you, they were not paid or trained to do that. They just wanted to welcome Maddool and Georgette our distinguished guests from New Zealand and Myrna Semaan, along with her husband Richard, are Lebanon's best hope to save the environment. Well the ladies decided to chase the geese with their boat, and it was not long before they were a spec on the horizon.
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And then we met at Hana Roustom Archbald's home, Geese apparently drank too much arak at Lisa, so they could not make it to Hana's.
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And then there was a concert for Waael Kfoury near San Francisco the same night Fairuz had a concert in Los Angeles and the Tabsharani's were there dancing up a storm...
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And
then I had to make a delivery of some dried bameh to Clautield and Ghassan
Khnaisser. You will be amazed how well they planted their backyard with
all types of fruit trees and herbs... I sampled some great figs and she had
grapefruits that were as large almost as a volleyball.
And at another event, Fadi Khnaisser and his beautiful wife Mireille and her parents and Manal and Jennifer and Hana and Lilian and Elias and the rest of the family enjoyed a nice evening together. Oh, yes, Antoinette now has a new companion, Randy, the cutest and well behaved dog.
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and when Sami Andre flew in from Paris, it was nice to take a picture of the three brothers with our sister Lisa.
and while Andre was here, I took him to attend a flight
demonstration of a new type of vehicle,
VTOL, (Vertical Take Off & Landing) which is built by a friend of mine, Paul
Moller in Davis, CA
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June 2003
Roustoms and Khnaisser Get together in San Francisco Area
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Rahbani, Tabsharani, Roustoms and Khnaisser Get together in San Francisco Area
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