Another Day in Bahrain Down...303 More to Go

Please pray that John gets his Igama tomorrow. We have not seen him in two weeks and if he doesn't get it by tomorrow at 3:30pm he will have to stay in Saudi for TWO MORE WEEKS. We are miserable and we miss him desperately. The girls get a week off for Eid and we will be stuck here doing nothing but wallowing in our misery if he doesn't come home.


The third day of school is history. When I was picking up the girls from school today Janie didn't come out. Maddie and I waited and waited. After about 20-30 minutes I internally started to panic. I parked the car, dug my badge out, and we started in to the school. The whole way I was chanting in my head, "Please Dear God let everything be all right" over and over. As we walked in she was walking out. She was in the counselors office because one of her teachers (on the THIRD day) noticed that she was on his roll but not for the class that she was attending. He told her to take her seminar period and go check it out with the counselor. The counselor had a line out the door (for apparently obvious reasons) so she was told to come back after school. Turns out the COMPUTER changed her schedule and no one gave her a new one or said anything so she has been going to the wrong classes for THREE DAYS! It is sort of fixed...when we looked at it we saw that it still isn't exactly right but I'm sure I will be able to go in tomorrow and get it fixed. Soooooo, let's hope the homework she did for the classes she was going to still works for the new classes.

All three of us are miserable. We hate it here...which is apparently a normal feeling...if one more person tells us that we are going to be miserable for the first SIX MONTHS one of us MIGHT lose it! I feel tremendous guilt (daily, hourly, every minute of every day) for ripping my children out of their lives and bringing them here. They miss home so much. The facebook posts about Sweeny's first football game last Friday night was almost too much to bear as was the junior high dance that they had that night! Ugh....they have been really good about it...they say stuff, but it isn't disrespectful or anything. When something doesn't work or isn't good Janie will say, "You know where ____________ works? AT HOME!" and then we all laugh. If nothing else this little "adventure" will make us stronger and closer as we are isolated on this island.


Today apparently Janie's history teacher told them that Bahrain was in a state of civil unrest and on the verge of a civil war as was Saudi Arabia. Awesome to tell children who are new to this country and still a bit scared by all the riot police everywhere something like that! I said, "Look at the bright side, if a civil war breaks out the company will send us home!" So now I think that they are secretly hoping for a civil war.


I realize it has only been 2 and a half weeks and that we will adjust. I also realize that we are still in temporary housing so we have crappy cable, horrible internet, and we live in a financial area rather than residential area. The up side to temporary housing is that we have housekeeping every day...makes my life a little easier I guess.


I used to talk to my little sister 10 times a day...I haven't talked to her for more than 10 minutes in the last month. I used to talk to my best friend 100 times a day and see her a couple times a week....I haven't talked to her more than twice in the last month. I tried to call my sister this afternoon, but in my sad state I miscalculated the time difference and called their house at 6:15am! It would have been funny except for the fact that when my brother-in-law answered the phone I started crying. I had not anticipated that reaction so I just squeezed out the statement, "Tell D I will call her in two hours." He just said, "I'm praying for you guys all the time."

That brings me to the subject of prayer. I just want to thank all of you who are praying for us. Please don't stop as we need it. We tried a new church on Friday...it was nice, but not exactly what we were looking for....Janie was home sick so it was just Madeline and me. There aren't a lot of Christian churches to choose from soooooo....I guess the cliche "beggars can't be choosers" comes to mind. I have been trying to do Proverbs 31 devotionals every day to make up for the lack...it seems as though they are writing the devotionals with my situation in mind! HA! For the past week it has been all about obedience and faith and trust. Ouch. I pretty much have no choice but to obey because I don't have a passport to leave and go home! HA! Seriously, thank you for all of your prayers, they are much appreciated. Some of you have asked me for specifics so here they are: That John would get his Saudi Igama by tomorrow to be able to come home; that the girls will make friends at their school; that the transition gets easier for all of us; that Alison makes friends at A&M and that she does well in her studies; that we would continue to rise above all the drama that we were thrown in to when we moved here; that all of our family remains healthy while we are gone; for my friend Amy P. and my sister Deanna because I know that they are missing me as much as I am missing them; and I guess lastly, that we would be safe here and that God would reveal our purpose for being here.


See everyone in 303 days!