God is Faithful

Many of you know that Madeline has been sick since we moved here over two months ago.  We spent four days in the hospital running tests and trying to find a diagnosis.  We spent days and days making the three hour round trip to the hospital in Khobar to run even more tests.  After what seemed like hundreds of blood tests, a 48hr fast, an ultrasound, and various other tests we were at a loss.  Every doctor that we saw ran their tests and then passed us to a new doctor.  Because we were so tired and defeated at the lack of a medical diagnosis, we stopped going to the doctors.  Madeline began to sleep even more than she already was...she would sleep all night, go to school, come home and go right back to sleep after a snack.  She had no energy and didn't go with us much when we left the compound to shop or eat out.  Her appetite dwindled to nothing and she subsisted on Goldfish crackers (which are $18 a box here).

After two months of my best friend and nurse practitioner, Amy P, and me trying to research and diagnose Madeline, I heard of an expat wife here on the compound that just got her PhD in Natural Medicine that might be able to help us.  I sent the lady an email briefly outlining our situation and she agreed to try and help us.  Let me tell you...My God is GREAT!  I will spare you all the details...mostly because I am not interested in hearing from the nay-sayers and unbelievers, but what  I KNOW is that this woman has helped us immensely!    Because Quantum Medicine, much like Newtonian Medicine, is an art she could only give me probabilities and help me troubleshoot.  Her equipment suspected the Epstein-Barr virus.   Amy P. had suspected that Madeline might have mono or something like mono....and it didn't dawn on me until after she was diagnosed and I was talking to my friend that Madeline had been exposed to that in Sweeny the last few weeks we were there.  I remember her telling me that one of her friends at school had mono.  Madeline has had to change her diet to help boost her immune system, had to take some nasty tasting lipospheric vitamin C, and she has had three treatments using energy/frequencies and she is doing so much better!  She went from being sick and sleeping all day to sleeping 12 hours at night.  She is not too happy about having to eat healthier, but she is coming to terms with it.  This woman wrote her thesis on using Quantum Medicine to treat and even heal autism as she has successfully used it to treat and heal her own autistic son.  The paper is an amazingly interesting read and I feel like God brought her to me because I have a very good friend and a sister that could both use this information.

While I was there talking to her about Madeline, I mentioned that I had had knee surgery and that my knee had never been the same and was killing me as was my plantars fasciitis.  She treated me for both using a laser and a cell stimulator and I can honestly say that for the first time since my surgery in 2005, I have had no pain in my knee or my heel.  I can walk for hours without pain.  It is basically a miracle.  In the middle of all this, John somehow injured his lower back so badly that he couldn't move.  He actually stayed home for TWO days from work because he could not move.  He was so desperate that he went and got a two hour massage from a little philippino man.  The massage helped for a few hours, but the next morning it was having spasms again so badly that I had to help him put his socks and shoes on.  I went down to my friends villa and got her laser and put it on John's back for 45 minutes and he could move again.

 As a bonus, this friend that is helping us is also a very strong Christian.  She "witnessed" to me at a time when I needed it.  Living here has been a very draining and depressing for me.  I have been trying to do bible studies on my own and I have been praying, but I still just felt spent and depleted.  She reminded me of some very important things that I had forgotten about and helped me put some of my anger about my situation to rest.  She is such an amazing woman and I KNOW that God brought me here for a reason!



The other day as I was riding in to Khobar to go to the craft store I was listening to praise music and looking out the window watching this barren desert go by....it was then that I had an epiphany...something that I already knew, but that God had to remind me about.  God made us...all of us...Americans, Arabs, Indians, etc. and he loves us ALL.  He LOVES US ALL...even the muslims.  I was sent here to this place for a reason...I may never know what that is, but I need to bloom where I am planted.  Even though I can't evangelize in this country because it is against the law, I CAN show Christ's love through my actions.  I can show the JOY in my heart...and the muslims that I DO get to come in to contact with...I won't waste it!  God created this desert and the muslims and He loves them just like he loves me.

We've Moved...Again

Well...we've made it to Saudi Arabia...with all but two pieces of luggage.  My laptop and a big duffle bag full of goodies didn't make it.  I know...I know...don't ever check your laptop!  Don't judge me!  We had 10 bags, 3 carry-ons, two purses, a tennis racket and my pillow and they offered to check an extra for free (how considerate of them since I had just paid SEVEN HUNDRED dollars for extra bags) so I checked my laptop...it was heavy!  It weighs a bazillion pounds.  Live and learn.  Don't check your laptop because someone will steal it...and the $400 Rosetta Stone software that was with it!  I checked the tracer online today and it says that they delivered my duffle bag to me three days ago...ummmm, they haven't.

I am sitting here surrounded by complete disorganization and chaos drinking my coffee and it is 7:00a.m.  I have been awake for three hours.  I am afraid this move has caused the girls and me severe jetlag.  I actually went to bed at 10pm and slept all night, but I awoke every hour on the hour.  It was not the most peaceful nights sleep.  I think I managed to get a few more hours of sleep than the night before.  The girls have been up off and on all night.  They are not adjusting well....but then they slept all day and stayed up all night at home in Texas. 

I attempted to clean and organize yesterday...I was unsuccessful.  I unpacked our pictures, did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen and had to take a nap...five hours later john was home from work and it was time for me to cook dinner.  There are literally no drawers or closets in this whole villa.  There is no place to put our clothing or anything else.  We didn't bring any of our furniture to Bahrain with us because we were planning on getting a furnished villa...since we were able to choose our own furniture, we got what we needed.  Here it is furnished with the basics sooooo we will have to buy stuff.  We really don't want to do that as we have a house FULL of furniture at home.  Ugh.  I wanted to buy stuff while we lived here, but unique antique pieces...not cheap necessary bookshelves and dressers...we literally have enough dressers back in Texas for 2 or 3 families.

We are going on our fourth day here and we haven't done much.  I am getting ready to call the school to see if I can get Madeline in this week.  I sent an email but haven't heard back.  Janie is enrolled at the University of Texas HS so she will start her stuff soon....hopefully....lol.  Most of the compound is still in the States or vacationing so it is very quiet here.  John is working days, but he switches to graveyards on Monday night...BOOOO...it is just for 6 days and then he won't have to do it again, but I am not looking forward to it.

We are starting the search for our Christmas Break vacation.  None of us wants to go to the beach so we are looking at other options.  So far it is between taking the train and visiting Eastern Europe or taking the train and visiting and skiing in Switzerland, Austria, and possibly Germany.  We plan on visiting potential boarding schools for Madeline...one is outside of Geneva and one is in Germany.  She is leaning toward a school in New York on the Hudson River, but who knows.  The one in New York has a great arts program with an emphasis on film, drama, Broadway trips, etc.  I think that is what she is excited about.  We go to New York all the time so I am trying to talk her in to something more exotic like Switzerland.  Anyone can go to New York, but not everyone gets the opportunity to live in Switzerland.  Who knows.....

We dropped Alison off at college the weekend before we left.  *sigh*  I miss her a lot.  She and Myriah have an apartment together this year rather than the dorm.  It isn't the best place in the world, but it is big and very close to campus.  We are looking to sell our house in Sweeny and buy a house in College Station.  Janie plans on going to Texas A&M next year so it will be better to move our home base to there for now.  It will be cheaper for us in the long run too.  So if you know of anyone that wants to buy a house in Sweeny let me know.  It is a 4-2-2 detached.  It's about 1900SF...it has new tile floors everywhere but the bedrooms, a brand new outside AC unit, and new bathtubs and surrounds.  We will take $120,000 as is, by owner.

We are going shopping tonight...I hate shopping...so we are going back to Khobar.  I will try and a few pictures to post of our new country. 

I miss all my friends and family.  *sniff*  Hope everyone is well....

Summer Stuff!

It has been a long time since I have updated the blog!  We have had a very busy June.  John got to come home for a month on June 1st.  We were all so excited for him to be home.  He is the funniest man on earth and we laughed from the minute he walked off the plane until he left.  We miss him so much already! 

We started the month in Louisiana to visit my family.  My mom had a heart attack at the end of May so we wanted to go and spend some time with her and help my sister take care of my parents.  Alison went right away to help out with my nieces and nephew so my sister could take care of my parents (my dad has been sick since October) and as soon as John got home we left for La.  We spent a week there and then we flew to New York for a quick family vacation that we had already planned before my mom's heart attack.  We spent 4 days in NYC shopping, eating, walking, going to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at The Met, and checking out Wicked on Broadway.  It was a fabulous week filled with tons of shopping and we walked about 30 miles.  The weather was fabulous!  It was 60 degrees and cool at night and 75 and breezy in the daytime.  Loved it!

We came  back to New Orleans in time for me to take my mother in for her second procedure.  She had to get another stent put in...she had 100% blockage in one side and 80% in the other...they fixed the 100% blockage the night she was brought in to the hospital by ambulance.  Well....I brought my mom in but she refused the procedure...she didn't like doing it in the out patient facility and then they were going to make her spend the night.  It was creepy.   Good thing she decided to postphone it and do it at the hospital because she ended up having complications and another heart attack.  She is much better now.  She is very tired.  They have her on a ton of medicines and the beta blockers make her exhausted.  Hopefully she will start PT soon and it will help her feel even better.  We are planning to go back for my nephew's birthday in a few weeks and I will get to spend some time with my parents then. 

We have been spending the last couple of weeks getting ready for a garage sale...I told Alison that she could have the money from the garage sale to help furnish her apartment if she did it for me...I HATE them!  She agree but I am not sure she is aware of the amount of work she has agreed to!  Somehow I seem to still be purchasing furniture for the apartment even before the garage sale though...hmmmmm???  We are selling a LOT of stuff.  We are trying to pare it down and stage the house so that when we leave we can sell it.  We are planning on selling the house in Sweeny and buying one in College Station for the girls to live in next year.  Janie is planning on going to A&M and living with Alison next year...WHOOP!  So if anyone wants to buy a house in Sweeny...let me know!

We have about six weeks left in the States before we head out for Saudi Arabia.  We are getting excited because we miss John so much.  I will miss Alison, but she has made a great life for herself in College Station.  She is moving in to an apartment in August and is planning on going through rush so she will be busy.  That three months before she sees us again will fly by!  I will miss my family too, but I know that it is the right thing for us to do.  I can't imagine living my life seeing John only once every three months....I just can't do it...for whatever reason God wants us in the Middle East and we will go until he brings us home...again....he he

Although we LOVE being home, we are kind of excited to get back to Saudi.  Madeline will be going to the International School in Jubail for a year and Janie will finish her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college concurrently at the University of Texas HS.  People keep asking me if I like being home or if I like living in the Middle East and what I have come to realize through all of these adventures is that I LOVE MY LIFE.  I love it here in the States and I love it in the Middle East...as long as I am with my family I am happy.  I have absolutely been blessed with the three best children and God couldn't have picked a better husband for me than what he gave me.  I would be happy anywhere they are...even though they are slowly leaving the nest!

I hope to be able to see everyone before we leave!  Let's do lunch!

America

It has been a while since I posted.  Not much new with the family.  Alison is finishing her first year at Texas A&M (Whoop!) next week.  The girls have 19 days left of school (they are counting the days!) and John is still in Saudi working like a dog! 

We finally got to see my family over the Easter break (only ONE day off of school for the biggest holiday of all time...go figure). We were so excited that Alison got to go with us...It has been nice being able to see her more often.  We got to see my nieces, nephews, one of my brothers and one of my sisters, and my parents....and a special treat was getting to see my Aunt Dickie and Uncle Stanton.  It was so fun!  We had a crawfish boil...my favorite food of all time...and we got to go to church with my sister and her family.  My sister's father-in-law was baptized on Easter Sunday.  What a treat!  My sweet niece Abigail was sitting next to me in the pew and right before the first person got baptized she whispered to me, "someone is getting crucified today..."  How funny is that!  She is so cute!  It was a quick trip, but a fun one....We are going back for a longer visit once John gets here in June.  Can't wait!

We are still kind of up in the air as far as school for the girls next year.  We would like for them to go to the Bahrain Boarding school, but we aren't sure that the company is going to agree to that.  _________________  insert derogatory and angry diatribe here.  According to our many many friends still in Bahrain, things are back to normal.  I am sure that it is a NEW normal for the Bahraini people, but for the expats living there it is back to normal.  Businesses are open, school is in session, people are going to work every day.  Oddly, our PARENT company that our company supposedly consulted with to make this decision, is still in Bahrain with all of THEIR employees.  *sigh*  I think that the half-truths that the company tells us are what makes us the angriest.  The other thing is the false sense of security they give us about living in Saudi Arabia....as though it is safer than Bahrain!  HA!  We know it's not safer, but we sure know it's CHEAPER, right?  (cheap shot at the company's expense)  Oh well, it is what it is...have to live with it, work around it, survive the best way we can...right? 

We have decided as a family to go back to live with John in Saudi at the very end of August.  If we aren't allowed to put the girls in school in Bahrain then Madeline will be going to the ISG in Jubail with some of her friends for one year and Janie will be going to the University of Texas High School online.  She will be completing her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college at the same time.  After a year we will reassess the situation.  It looks as though Madeline will be going to boarding school in Switzerland to finish out her high school.  It is an amazing school not too far from Geneva...she is excited! 

Alison will be moving in to an apartment in August in College Station.  We will miss her, but we have a huge family vacation in Europe planned for Christmas break so it will only be about 3 months before we will get to see her.  She loves A&M and loves College Station so she probably won't even miss us! 

We have finished most of the minor renovations on the house.  It is somewhat livable again.  The tile in the kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer, hallway, and bathrooms is complete!  We have new landscaping, two new bathtubs and new paint and baseboards on the majority of the walls.  I still have to caulk and touch up the baseboards and put baseboards in my bathroom....then the renovations will be complete...for now.  We are having a huge garage sale next week so I need to finish cleaning and going through all the JUNK this week!  Ugh.  I hate garage sales, but it is a necessary evil.

John comes home in 27 days!  YAY!  We all miss him so much!  He will be staying for a month and then we will join him in August.  It will be a crazy month since we have to make the rounds and visit all of our friends and family....they really only want to see him anyway... ;)

There are a lot of things going on right now in our small town as well as in the global theater with the battle over the pledge of allegiance and the death of Osama

As far as the death of Osama bin Laden is concerned.  I am glad he is dead.  I am glad that no other person will die at the hands of this man.  I am glad that justice was served and maybe some of the 9/11 families can have closure.  It just doesn't feel right to celebrate someones death...even someone evil.  I guess if someone I loved died in 9/11, I might feel differently.  I also know that chanting in the streets and playing all the video and airing all the pictures of the killing is a dangerous thing.  I know that it puts my family and friends in danger...especially living in Saudi...but not just in Saudi...here in America as well.  I know that it is completely unnecessary and wrong to act the same way as those crazies who chant in the streets and burn the American flag in effigy...I also believe that as Americans we have the right to celebrate and chant in the streets because it is afforded to us under the 1st Amendment.  I don't agree with anything that Obama has done so far, but I happen to vehemently agree with his decision to not show the pictures of bin Laden.  It serves no purpose other than to incite violence against Americans and American interests...oh, and to put to rest those that think Obama is heading up some "conspiracy" to fake bin Laden's death.  I only hope that people realize that there will still be terrorism...and MOST importantly, there are still TWO wars currently being fought where our men and women in the military are still losing their lives.  I pray that Americans at home don't forget about them. 

I guess my point is that I don't hate anyone because they might have a different opinion from me.  My friends are free to live and believe whatever they want....isn't that what makes this country great???  We can all have a different opinion and still be friends???  Or at least I hope that is how my friends will feel after reading this blog.  lol.

We still miss our lives in Bahrain.  We miss John.  We love being able to see our family, but if gas prices get much higher all bets are off....HAHAHA!  Just kidding....but pumping my own gas AND paying nearly $4.00 a gallon is insane!  I miss the .80 a gallon that we were paying. 

John is supposed to be going over to Bahrain to our villa to take an inventory and get the ball rolling out our move.  He has been sooooo busy at work that he doesn't have time to breathe much less move us.  I wish I could help, but I am here in America so he will have to do it by himself....it should be interesting.  LOL!

I hope we get to see all of our friends before we go back to Saudi.  I guess we should have some big party to get everyone together in one place?!?  Hmmmmm.....let me work on that idea.....

Life without plans...

I haven't updated the blog in a while so while I am waiting for the tilers to finish for the day and leave so we can go to College Station I though I would post an update on our lives. 

We have only been in Texas for 19 days and it feels like we have been here for 19 weeks.  Seriously.  It was a whirlwind of activity when we got here because we had to get everything in the house hooked back up, buy a car for Janie, get phones, and get the girls in school all before John had to go back to Saudi.

The girls have been in school for two weeks now.  It has been an interesting transition.  I will leave it at that.  I really thought that the girls would come back to Texas and love it and want to stay, but hat has not been the case.  The girls have been ready to go back to the Middle East since we got here.  We desperately miss John.  I had been sick about the whole situation because of our limited educational choices for Janie next year.  I have been worrying and praying and praying and worrying...after a stressful couple of days regarding Janie's school we finally have a Plan A and a Plan B for next year.  I have been at peace ever since :)

Prom was a success...or so that is what she tells me.    Janie went with her friend Derek.  He is such a nice kid...we really like him!  There was something like 24 people in the limo all together.  Some ate at P.F. Changs and some ate at The Cheesecake Factory.  They felt like the group was too big to eat at one place.  Their limo broke down on the way home from prom at midnight that night.  Everyone made it home safe and sound.

As for the house....the house is starting to feel like the money pit.  We had originally planned to get tile put down in June before we came home for summer vacation so that we could come home to renovated floors.  Unfortunately we had to come home 3 months earlier than planned so we are now having to live through the renovations.  We have replaced both bathtubs in the bathrooms, we are getting our tile put down as I type this, and most of the inside of the house has been painted.  There is a bit left to do, but I will be taking my time.  The girls will be in school every day for the next six weeks so I will be dragging my projects out that long.  Since we will only be living here for a few months out of the year we aren't going to gut the house but just do enough renovations to make it livable.  We plan to sell it once Madeline graduates in four years, but then we planned to live in Bahrain for the next four years too...and that didn't happen. 

I have stopped trying to plan my life.  I figure as soon as I plan it then it will get turned upside down.  I am learning to go with the flow.  We miss our lives in Bahrain, we miss our friends, we miss our stuff that is still sitting in our villa there.  John will have to move our belongings as we are not scheduled to go back to Saudi until the end of August and the company wants us moved out of Bahrain by the end of July.  Poor John...pray for him because that is going to be a difficult task to do without me.  He only lived there on the weekends and doesn't know what stuff is ours and what is the Sheikhs.  He has no idea where things are stashed or what to send to Saudi and what to send to the States.  I know that God has different plans for our lives.  I am still looking for meaning in the recent disruption in our lives.  I still haven't found it....he he. 

Easter is coming up and the girls and I will be going to New Orleans to visit my family which we haven't seen in 10 months.  The girls are excited to see their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, etc.  It will be a short trip as the girls only get Good Friday off.  Ali is going to come with us!  So excited!  This weekend we are going to Parent's Weekend at Texas A&M.  I am excited as I thought that because I was living in Bahrain I would be missing it, but now I get to go!  I wish John could come too, but he is back in Saudi until sometime in June.

I will be sure to post pictures of the completed renovations...if they are ever actually completed....

Come Back to Texas!

Most of you know that we were evacuated to Saudi Arabia from Bahrain by our company in March.  Last Friday the company made the unfortunate decision to close the Bahrain option to us forever.  Not only are the girls not able to go back to their school to finish the year, but they are also not going to be able to go back next year either.  The decision was devastating to our family.  The girls had a lot of friends there and they loved their life...as did I.  I cried all the way through the company meeting and when we went back to the villa to break the news to the girls there was more crying.  The company's stance is that Bahrain isn't safe right now...which is probably true, but the decision to not let us go back next year (made five months in advance of the actual date) is a monetary decision.  I understand that companies are in business to make money and it is unfortunate that this time we were caught in the crossfire.  We didn't think the company would do this to us because of our situation with Janie being a junior, but we were wrong. 

They left us some options that we weren't/aren't thrilled with...the girls could have gone to Dhahran Academy in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.  I have not heard great things about the school, but that isn't why we didn't want our children to go there.  The school is about an hour and a half away from where we live in Jubail.  That means that the girls would have to be on the road 3 or more hours a day.  The highway from Jubail to Dammam is very very unsafe.  There are so many fatal accidents on that road...I googled the road to try and find highway statistics (which is a joke...it's Saudi for goodness sakes!) and all I got were youtube videos of accidents.  Many many videos.  We had been praying about this a lot and John and I just didn't feel like that was an option for our girls at this time.  The company doesn't think that it is safe enough for our husbands to drive on the Saudi roads yet they think it is perfectly fine to have my children on those same unsafe roads for 15+ hours a week?  There are a whole host of other problems that come with the Dhahran school issue.  Everyone with a teenager knows that your life is where your friends are.  If their friends are 2 hours away...that is where they are going to want to be.  If the girls have to go to Dammam for extra curricular activities apparently the mother has to ride in the car with them and the driver.  I am unclear as to why, but that seems like a CRAZY notion.  I would be back and forth numerous times a week with them.  The driver doesn't stay in Dammam while the children are in school...he comes back to Jubail...if anything were to happen at the school or to the girls I would be over an hour away!  Women can't drive in Saudi so I would be at the mercy of a driver and the traffic.  Also, according to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh web page if a car gets in an accident, assuming the passengers are not hurt, everyone goes to the police station (essentially jail) until fault is determined.  This is commonplace in Qatar as well.  Can you imagine 5 teenagers and a foreign national driver (not too highly thought of in Saudi) all being hauled off to the police station?  The nearest company security personnel over an hour away????  My children would be forever traumatized!  So, for now, we are in Texas.  We have taken a "temporary re-assignment" until June 30th to try and decide what to do.  It is unfortunate that most of the choices we feel like we have are NOT too family friendly.  The whole reason we chose to take the girls overseas was so that our family could be together.  Now....hmmmm....who knows.  We enrolled the girls back in Sweeny on Tuesday.  They were excited to see all of their friends again.  They really do love their friends, but they long to be back in Bahrain like we all do.

The girls and I flew in on Sunday afternoon...after 20 hours of traveling we were a little tired...although Janie DID sleep for about 16 of the 20 hours.  Alison and Susan were at the airport to meet us!  We hadn't seen Alison since she left to go back to A&M in January.  We hadn't seen Susan since August when we left!  It was nice to see them again.  John got here on Monday to help us settle in...he leaves this Thursday to go back to Saudi.  We are going to miss him desperately.  Our family won't be the same without him around on the weekends....HA!  We have been running around like crazy people trying to get the house livable again and get our errands completed before John leaves.  I have a rent car until June 30th, but Janie needed a car as well.  It is very difficult to have a teenager, used to her freedom, tied down.  We decided to buy her an inexpensive car because we know that if we decide to return to the Middle East we will need a car to drive on our visits home.  So we bought her a Nissan Altima.  It isn't the Lexus, but it's a car.  We are still paying on our Lexus as it sits in our garage in Bahrain.  Until something happens with that we won't be buying another nice car...

It feels like I haven't sat down since I have been home.  We had to get new sim cards/phones, get the internet connected, get the cable connected, buy a car, get insurance on it, enroll the girls in school, buy the girls new clothes because theirs didn't meet Sweeny dress code requirements, get new school supplies, schedule the tile to be installed, get Janie's drivers license renewed, get Janie a prom dress, buy a TV (ours are still in Bahrain), get estimates on some other home repairs that MUST be made now that we are home for 5 months, and the list goes on...

John and I woke up this morning and saw on the news that Madeline's favorite band was playing a free concert in downtown Houston for the Final Four festivities so we woke her up, got ready, and left.  While we were at the concert there were helicopters flying overhead....at first I was a bit on edge until I realized that they were just news choppers filming and not riot police getting ready to fire on protesters.....HA! 

We have had other major re-adjusting to do.  It is more difficult to be back in the States than I thought it would be...seriously.  I won't list any of the major issues we have had to face as we have to live here for a while and I don't want to burn any bridges or alienate anyone.  Some things have been very difficult to deal with and has also been very eye opening to the girls...they are now looking in to boarding schools abroad...specifically an American boarding school in a small town called Leysin at the base of the Alpine mountains in Switzerland.  It is a little over an hour from Geneva.  From January until March the students are allowed to ski on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  It is included in their tuition.  It is difficult to get a senior in to a boarding school however.  We are still praying about the situation.  We are hoping that the company will allow the girls to board at the Bahrain School in the fall and then the issue would be taken care of...I am not holding out too much hope though, but it would be excellent.  I would live in Saudi Arabia with John and we would see them on the weekends.  I know that God is working in this situation and I have to believe that He is going to open the doors He wants us to go through...I am just praying that we recognize them and that we are in His will.

There are some good things that have come out of this situation.  We get to see Alison months earlier than planned and John and I are going to try and make a quick trip up to take her out to lunch and see her dorm room...which we haven't gotten to see yet.  We will also get to check out her new apartment that she is moving in to in August.  We haven't gotten to be a part of her college life/experience at all (except for paying for it) so we are excited to see her in her new environment.  Not being able to see Alison regularly has been the single hardest adjustment to life overseas.  I/We have missed her desperately, but we are so proud of how she has handled herself.  She is an amazing young woman!

We will continue to adjust...we will continue to pray that we make the right decisions regarding our families. 

I have to apologize to all my friends and family as I have not called one of them.  It has taken a while to get working phones and I have been crazy busy and a bit depressed about my situation.  I also wanted to spend as much time as possible with John before he has to leave on Thursday.  I will call everyone tomorrow or Monday.  I also need to apologize that I didn't get anyone presents...the company only gave us 3 hours to get our clothes and get out.  Soooooo....no Bahrain trinkets....sorry.

We aren't in Kansas anymore...

Well, we are going on Day 5 or 6 of being in Saudi....I can't really remember the day we came over....it seems like a lot longer than it is.  It's the same in Bahrain though...it feels like we have been there 7 years and not 7 months.

Things are good here in Saudi.  It is really pretty and I really like the compound.  If you don't leave the compound you might really think that you were somewhere in the Caribbean.  Our villa is right on the beach and we are right next to the recreation center.  The rec center has a two lane bowling alley, a jacuzzi, sauna, workout room, restaurant, beauty salon, library, etc.  It is very nice.  The other CPChem wives are what make the compound livable.  They are so kind and welcoming.  They really are like their own family here...that is one of the things we miss about not living on a compound in Bahrain. 



The front of our villa




The Rec Center




View from our back patio..the beach




view from back yard




The back of our villa

 We got to go to bible study in another villa yesterday.  There were quite a few couples there and the lesson was very interesting and thought provoking.  After the study we all ate and had fellowship...it was soooo needed!  It was nice to have something like that.  Shannon Richter cooked the meat and it was fabulous!  The meat was excellent as was the conversation.  Again, that is something we don't get a lot of in Bahrain...the small home group family fellowship....I do get to fellowship with other awesome women on Sundays in Bahrain when we do our Beth Moore bible study.  I miss them....

Yesterday after "church" we got a driver to take us to Khobar/Dahran to go to the mall and LuLu.  The mall was massive but poorly designed...it goes in a straight line instead of a circle that loops back around....very strange.  It is very tricky to get all your shopping done in between prayer time...the stores close during prayer times.  Yesterday the call to prayer in the afternoon/evening was at 5:50p and 7:20p...the trick is to be in a coffee shop or restaurant when it sounds so that you can still eat and drink and relax while you wait...we are not that experienced yet.  It is a little inconvenient, but not fatal.  The biggest inconvenience that I think it causes is with the poor driver.  Because we weren't experts at planning around the prayer times we were a little late getting out.  Then we raced over to LuLu to try and find a mattress pad for poor John...he cannot even bend over and put on his shoes as the bed here in the villa is horrible.  Of course we got stuck in traffic on our way there.  There were young men riding on the roofs of their cars wearing Saudi flags, little kids hanging out the windows, honking, cars stopped and celebrating in the streets, etc.  We had no idea what was going on...I am starting to think it is us...we bring demonstrations and celebrations wherever we go!  The driver didn't know what was up either.  Turns out the king decided to give the people a gazillion more dollars and raises and declared a holiday today.  I guess that is what they were celebrating!  I would be dancing in the streets too if I got another raise...that's two in a month that the king has given the people.  He is trying to prevent the kind of situation here in Saudi like we are having in Bahrain.  Anyways, LuLu was a nightmare!  There were TONS of people everywhere.  We went in and basically came right out!

The company held a meeting yesterday afternoon to give the Bahrain families and update on the situation and our possible return to Bahrain.  Basically we still don't know when we will get to go home.  The company obviously wants it to be safe to live there before they let us go home.  The girls school is supposed to start virtual schooling this Sunday with the plan that the school will re-open on Sunday, March 27th.  Pray that this is the case.  My girls and I really miss Bahrain.  We like it here, but it is like living in a hotel as none of our things are here besides the clothing we brought.  We left all of our belongings and our friends behind.  Please pray that the civil unrest dies down so that all parties can sit down at the "bargaining table" and begin to dialogue...because no matter how much the government suppresses and oppresses the opposition there is still going to be that undercurrent of resentment and divide.  The issues must still be dealt with and reforms must still be made.  Pray that God's plan (and He DOES have a plan) is carried out and those Christians that are still in country or will be soon would be used for God's glory.

This morning I ran out to town...just here in Jubail...with a driver to try and find John a mattress pad and some other things he had on the list for me to get....It was a mad dash to finish before the 11:50a prayer.  The poor driver had to deal with my scatterbrain!  He was a really nice guy from Sri Lanka...he has been in Saudi for 3 years.  He took me to Saco (kind of a hardware store), to the bookstore (to get a new iPhone USB cord because I left the 50 we already have in Bahrain), and to the grocery store.  While leaving the grocery store I was talking to John on the phone and when he found out how much the mattress pad cost he made me take it back...so the poor driver had to take me BACK to the hardware store...UFF!  It only took about an hour and a half, but it felt like a crazy mad dash!

I'm off to watch a movie and eat pizza with some of the wives....now this is the life.....:)