Pool Time!

Living in a place that is SO HOT for so many months of the year, you realize that you have to figure out ways to entertain your kids other than just TV....unless you are okay with that.....
So we do the following:
Bedtime is now 930 or 10pm
Going to the park is from about 730 to 930pm
We build elaborate forts and let the house get SUPER messy
We cook all sorts of things
and Pool Time is ANY time because it is shaded!

 

I can't get the comments to work again. SO IRRITATING.
The pool is in the back corner of our house so Tom decided to cover an L-shaped portion which gives us enough space to sit next to the pool.
It was SO COLD the first few days because we didn't have a cover for the pool. We just had to make ourselves sit down in the freezing water. It was wild to have 120 degree wind blowing your hair and have your legs FREEZING in the water!
     

Ryan and Layla have gotten so much better in the water just in the last 2 weeks. It is amazing. We are so grateful for the pool.

 

Jael is our Dutch friend's son. He is the same age as Ryan and is SO CUTE. he makes this face all the time Wish you could see him dance. He and ryan are best buds. 

The Insurance Man

If you've read the recent post about our car issues, you'll remember that the bright spot was our car insurance man. When Tom explained to him what had gone on with our cars, he was so amazed at how well he was taking it.

This cracked me up because I knew how well Tom was NOT doing with it all! Amazingly, the Lord was gracious and they had a really really good conversation about life and how to survive the ups and downs.

This was really meaningful for Tom because he does not have many men his age to connect with at the moment. Most of the local friends are much younger and aren't really in the same place in life. This guy just a few years older and is a well-established business man here in town.

He and Tom have had some really good chats and times to hang out. The other day he took Tom to the original family house here in town. There are other people living in...sort of squatters...Tom wasn't sure. But it was in a section of town Tom had never been to before. It is part of the original oasis here and you don't see it from the road because there is a layer of stores and then a few layers of residences and then the oasis. It is not watered which is why the trees look SO WEIRD.

The #1 Energy Drain of life overseas....or when the mundane demands all your attention and makes you go crazy

House projects. The bain of every Westerner's existence over here.

One of the areas of hidden culture shock when moving overseas is how to take care of your stuff. And I don't mean in a greedy or self-focused way....just in a you-spent-money-on-it-and-it-needs-to-function sort of way.

In the US this process is almost glorified as a hobby and an identity - are you handy around the house? Do you have all the cool shiny tools and the gear? Do you spend your weekends at Lowes?

Here it is a battle for basic survival oftentimes....and I'm not being dramatic. Electricity is so random here that anytime Tom goes near a plug to fix yet another melted socket we all just sort of hold our breath. Even if you've turned off the electricity in the whole house....you just never know. Or the water suddenly dries up and you have to climb to the very tippy top of your house on a horrible rickety ladder to peek in the water tank (much less get IN tank and clean it out like Tom did earlier this year.....he took advantage of a bad situation and got so much gunk out of the empty tank that I don't even want to think about).

Car problems are another story entirely. I'm not sure you remember, but last July the kids and I were in a pretty bad car wreck - we were fine but the car was NOT. It took a full month to get that repaired. The DAY AFTER we got it back, Tom's car - get this - was attacked by dogs and had the front bumper pulled off and the wiring yanked all over the place! No one had ever heard of such a crazy thing. The one bright spot was the insurance man that Tom is now friends with. More on him here....

THEN....when the car was almost ready for pick up after the repair, Tom called the guys and they hemmed and hawed and finally told him why the car was not ready for pick up. While they were working on the electrical system the car "somehow" popped into reverse, shot out of the repair shop, crossed a small street and crashed into two other cars. Oh yes.

So now the back bumper had to be repaired. And folks, it JUST got finished this week. That is EIGHT MONTHS and I've already subtracted the 3 months we were in the US. Eight months of having to bug this person or that person to just fix the crazy problem...calling and not being able to communicate with the staff..arranging drop off and pick up with me and my schedule...calling again and not being able to communicate about whether anything was done or whether it is time to pick it up again.

I say all this not to complain. Frankly we expect it from life here now, but I just felt like trying to explain it to someone back in the US. Quality work, quality materials and any shred of service-mindedness just is not common. Now don't get me wrong, there are many other WONDERFUL things about living here that I also love. One of the main ones being the "drive up and honk" culture where I can buy just about any food or household item from the comfort of the front seat of my car. Love.That.

End of the School Year

I have had a few things in mind to post, but it has been BUSY around here. Layla was very sick for an entire week and now Ryan has the same thing )= Just a high fever and no real secondary symptoms. So we've been close to home for about two weeks now.

The heat is really coming in now....it has been around 95-105F which really isn't summer weather but that is starting to change. I don't consider it really HOT (at least this is what I tell myself!) until it hits 110. This afternoon it was 114 which is hot but the worst thing is even at night in the total dark it is still 100 degrees (= We are hoping to get our pool set up! We need to get a shade put up though so the water doesn't just heat up....that is pretty icky.  Poor Tom has about 50 errands to do to get this accomplished.

Anyway, the other thing that happened this week is the Certificate Ceremony at Layla's school! She is finishing KG2 and is going into first grade this coming fall! We are very grateful for the school and how positive it is. The principal has a great perspective on trying to educate a whole community and not just the student.

The big push this year was to have SOME sort of order at the certificate ceremony. Typically at big functions like this (which, honestly, rarely happen because women and men don't often sit in the same room) is that the kids run around everywhere and everyone talks on their cell phones. Last year the girls were in AMAZINGLY elaborate dresses. Basically on par with what a NYC fancy wedding flower girl would wear....hair all done up, henna etc etc etc. It is super fun and way over the top. There are also families who bring tons of big balloons, gift bags large enough to hide a small child and many other distractions. 

This year, they INSISTED the children wear their uniforms, arrive early an wait separately in an air-conditioned tent outside (I cannot imagine being the teachers and having to entertain 200 kids in a tent a 8pm at night waiting for their three minutes on stage!) The end result was a much more efficient and streamlined event. 

The afterschool program I do is at this school and the highlight of the evening both last year and this year was the Tae Kwon Do demonstration! It is about the only time when the entire audience is quiet and not looking at cell phones or something (=

Just to give you a sense of the room. Not sure you can actually see anything but this is a cool function of Tom's phone!

Layla is walking on stage with her class. She is the last one in this picture.

Here they are getting lined up for their picture

Her teacher is on the left and I'm not sure of two of the men but I'm sure they are in charge somehow. The guy in the middle is the vice principal who is a very wonderful man. He was with our current principal at their their other school in Sohar. He commutes every week in order to work at this school! The gal on Layla's left is her best buddy.

There is always a small portion given to reading the Q'uran. When this poor kid stood up he dropped the Q'uran! Not sure what his parents must have said later but it is a big honor to be chosen to read.

Crazy weather and a new weekend

We love living in the Middle East. Life is just unpredictable and though that does get tiresome at times, it certainly keeps things interesting.

Lately the weather has been the crazy thing. We live in a desert which means that weather is pretty extreme and consequently it really really affects things when it changes or whatnot.  Lately, we've had rain almost every day for the last TWO WEEKS. It is affecting everything and has caused all sorts of flooding because there are no building codes (really, at all I don't think!) to address flooding. So all sorts of crazy pictures are getting sent from phone to phone of wild things all over the country as a result of the water.

The weather has been in the 80s instead of around 110 so we are LOVING IT. However, we have our own share of flooding, two burst pipes and really really dirty cars. It has taken Tom so much time to try and fix stuff himself, then find a guy to fix it the, get him to come back to finish the job etc etc etc. Any other house projects just get put on hold!

The other newsworthy item is that the government is changing the weekend! I think this is the craziest thing in the world. Living in Hong Kong and the US before, I never realized the Arab world has a different weekend. You should google all the various weekends around here. Anyway, our country has been talking about it for a very long time, but in typical fashion, they did nothing for years and now it is happening in three weeks (=

So we are having a three-day weekend! Normally our week is Saturday through Wednesday and now it will be Sunday through Thursday. As a person who sort of likes symmetry and order, it DRIVES ME CRAZY to never have a calendar that shows a full week. (yes I still use a paper calender!) Now at least, I can breathe a big sigh of satisfaction and see one week all on one page, finally.

Here are some random photos, by the way (=

The kids room now - the two pictures on the left are from Tom's grandma on his dad's side. Thanks Cary!  Sorry I didn't make the beds (=

This is a page from a book that she had and Cary has given a page to each great grandchild.

This one is for layla. I found a man who frames photos here in town and have had SO MANY things framed. This cost $15 for double matting and non-reflective glass (= 

Here is Ryan's "Jesus picture" from Frances Hook. My sister and I both had one growing up and mom got this for Ryan as a gift. Living in the middle east I am completely irritated by how Jesus does NOT LOOK ARAB, but sentimentality wins out on this one (=

Layla's Jesus Picture is the big one and is actually the one I had as a child.

This is a tea towel from Tom's mom.....I love the colors and the theme; Noah's Ark. Ryan just sits and looks at it sometimes (=  This is also in their bedroom and is where they sit to read. The bookselves are on the right and the bed is on the left.

I have thought about having it framed but didn't know if I was going overboard with framing everything (= I'm finally getting a wall of family pictures up in the next few months!

New Friends!

We've had new friends move to town! They were seven years in another Middle Eastern country so they are hitting the ground running so to speak. The kids are still getting to know each other and developing their playing styles but it has been lots of fun for them.

   

Let's just say these two little girls are ADORABLE!!!! They are in the same class at school as well (=

   

We went camping one of our first weekends back home because the good weather only lasts so long! They were real troupers to go camping for the first time with their four kids (= We joined Jon and Vic who are our usual camping partners so thre three families had a great time!

Their littlest one is almost a year and just learned to walk!

 

Joey is on the right and he belongs with Jon and Vic's family (= The four of them had a great time playing on the beach when we were camping.

City Water!

As most of you know, life tasks just take longer to accomplish here. Our new house (we moved in Aug 2012 but were absent for three months!) was not connected to city water when we moved in. We had to call for a tanker to come and deliver water 2-3 times a week. We would run out and not be able to flush toilets, do laundry or dishes on a fairly regular basis. It was a pain in the neck for Tom to keep calling the water guy and he had to be paid in cash in small bills each time. And he didn't want to have me or our house helper pay him because we are women and he didn't want to look at us. Really. He would hold his hand out and look the other way (= His idea of being religious, apparently.

So during our absence, apparently the modern convenience of being connected to the city water main reached our neighborhood and everyone is now connected! Our water guy was surprised to get a call from us because everyone in our neighborhood is connected.

Because we rent our home, the landlord had to give his approval in writing and send something with a stamp/seal for us to give to the water utility company. Instead of filling out an on-line form or mailing in something to us or to the utility company, our landlord hand wrote a note, put it in an envelope and put it on the bus from his town (15 hours drive or a 4 day bus ride from our town). Hysterical process once Tom registered what he was saying.

Several days later, Tom got a call from the bus driver that he had some papers for us and that we needed to meet the bus to pick them up. Tom did so and after giving them to the water utility, in about 12 business hours the whole process was finished. Life is crazy here, some things are so old fashioned (like sending a paper by bus) and other things so efficient (you show me any american utility that could move that fast!) and you just never know what you are getting!

All the being said, I will never have to monitor our water levels or think about how much laundry I am doing in one day again.....hopefully!

Also typical to life here, during the process of getting our water hooked up, a major pipe burst from the city water main to our water tank on the roof. Tom had to get that repaired as well today. He has put in two long  plumbing days. Thank the LORD he can figure this stuff out!!

Camping!



These photos swopped places and I can't sort out how to move them so read the second caption first (=

We went with two other families - Jon and Vic our old friends and W and E our new friends. We were 7 adults and 9 kids all under 6 years of age

We were so happy to get out and enjoy the good weather this past weekend! We drove a Looooooong way to get to this beach but it was lovely. Very crowded most of the time, but still a great location.

The girls enjoying jumping in the waves...the second day was much cooler and had a great breeze but it meant that the ocean was a too rough for them to enjoy swimming.

 

Jon and Vic brought a kite and the kids had such fun with it. At one point two South Indian men came along and asked to enjoy the fun and just took the kite out of one of their hands. Cultures are so different! They were very kind but their view of community extends to anyone near them whereas we sort of let other people just play with their own toys (= 

Walter kept the kids busy chasing the Monster. They are taking a snack break here (=

 

                      

The comments are not working. This is taking too much time. sorry! wish I could comment on each one without this taking 20 mins.

The last photo is quite dramatic with the town being pushed right up to the mountains before the road takes you up and out into the desolate terrain right before the beach!   

Birthday presents....

I am a gift person. I love shopping for gifts, thinking about giving gifts, wrapping them and giving them. And, of course, receiving them (= This year for my birthday I decided to gift myself a fun little electronic device! I am not at all tech savvy, but several friends of IPhones, ITouches, Kindles etc etc. When we are with our local ladies at the weekly parties all the devices come out (theirs included) and we all look at photos, passages in the Koran/Bible, funky websites blah blah blah. And I just ooo and aaahhh (= Well after combining all my birthday moolah, i am SO happy to say that I finally made a purchase and it will, eventually, make it here from the US. I'm sure I should have done more research on what to get, but frankly, I only have so much research in me and when it runs out, I just hit the "confirm purchase" button and figure that it will all work out in the end. (=

So this is what I've purchased

With this "skin" cover to protect for scratches

and this snappy cover in magenta

I am SUPER excited (=

Tom left for a short trip and will be back and 3-4 days. I plan to have read the start up guide by the time he gets back and choose some apps that I will download. I feel very nerdy and very techy.

Tom and I have always enjoyed a few days a part here and there. As an introvert I LOVE putting the kids to bed and then not having to speak the rest of the evening (= Now that the kids are in bed by 815pm as opposed to 10pm during Ramadan....it is REALLY a treat.

It is getting cooler out - the day starts in the mid-80s!! It is still 110 by noon, but evenings are reasonable. We have started eating outside again even though it is 100. It still feels cooler! The problem is that we are all still sweaty when we come in so I am bathing the kids every night (they are SO DIRTY because I just let them roam free in the yard come what may!) and then I put Ryan in the crib with a few books, set layla up with her bedtime books and take a quick rinse-off shower myself before finishing their bedtime routine. It is just too icky sticky to relax!

We have no plans for tomorrow which is nice. We crossed the border today without border cards and I think it took 2 hours. Thankfully we have good ac, comfortable seats and entertaining music! We got a handful of chocolate for the kids at one border office which was a nice pick-me-up! Have I said lately how much this culture loves and values kids?? Love it here.

Catch Up Time

We've had visitors the last few weeks which has be super-fun for all of us! It also means that my computer time took a nose dive which is fine from time to time (= To catch you all up, here is an excerpt from an email I just sent out. Sorry for the repeat to those of you who might have gotten this email as well!

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We are closer to getting a visa than before – nothing is in our passport yet so we are not celebrating, but we are hopeful!

Tom has gone from the “Hurry up and Wait” syndrome with the visa paperwork to being crazy-busy ALL the time! This is a welcome change of pace for him. If you remember that he was pursuing four visa options, one of them was basically being a sales representative for some construction products. We determined that it would not easily provide a visa and had backed away from it, but then the Lord has dropped a couple of sales jobs in his lap that could potentially provide some decent income for us! This is much needed as we have laid out quite a bit of cash for the visa during this season, and because we have been under budget for some time and have not had the time or mental capacity to address the issue. As with everything, until we see the money in the bank, we are making no assumptions. It has been a great change of pace for Tom and he has had a steep learning curve. We will see if this will turn out to be an occasional source of income in the future.

We have had two sets of visitors so I was rather busy and not on the computer much. It was LOVELY to see friends and you can see pictures here and here for our camping trip. So great!

Layla is still struggling with being rather clingy and scared which is unusual for her. We continue to pray and think and hope that we are doing all that we can to address the issue. Some days she is fine, other days she does not even want to be in a room in the house by herself. Do pray for her heart and for wisdom for us, please.

Last time we mentioned the need to get away for some extended time. Through one of you all we are able to arrange to house-sit for an American family who teaches at Black Forest Academy! We are excited to be in their place for the summer. We have to be in Germany anyway for a set of meetings for Tom and we are happy to only have to buy one set of tickets. We also able to offer our home to another family evacuated from another country and who need a place to sit and wait out the political situation. They are happy to have a place set up and ready to go and they also have a small little baby so it will be a great set up for them. Thanks for your prayers about this. We will have wireless at the place in Germany so Tom will still be able to do the majority of his responsibilities, but he really needs a change of scenery.

Please pray that our visas will be finalized before we leave town at the end of June. This would help us to be more relaxed this summer.

On a lighter note, Ryan turned one last week! It is amazing to reflect on the year we have had….God has certainly been near and it also feels like we have been near to insanity (= It does seem like He is changing the season we are in and we are so so grateful for that.

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Now off to my nap....

Whole lotta cash!

One of the things of living in a "2nd/3rd world" world is that some transactions are still in cash.
Since we moved here back in April, we have had the generous loan of three different cars and had put off buying a car since we were hoping that our residence visas were going to come "soon". Registering a car in someone else's name is a hassle for all parties involved and if we were just going to turn around and reverse the process to put the car in our name a few weeks later, it didn't seem worth it.

Well here we are 6 months later finally buying a car (= In cash!

Once we decided on the car it took a mere 24 hours to open the bank account here in town, transfer money to my dad, to friends here the country, from their account to our new account and to withdraw it all! We needed to add the step of using our friend's account because of the different weekends between the US and here. We knew we needed one full day for our account to work, and by that time the US banks would have probably closed and we would have had to wait several more days.

Some things can go so much faster than in the US and some things are slower. There is no predicting what category something will fall into. I would not have predicted 'financial gymnastics' to be in the fast category.

Because Tom was opening a new account and trying to transfer a chunk of american dollars, the bank manager now things we have some sort of wasta (= The combination of that and taking Layla into the bank has made sure that we will be remembered (=

All in all, we are so grateful for the resources to do this, the resources of friends' we've used along the way and for His provision of it ALL.

We're not trying to teach Layla to love money here...it's just that there aren't many ways to make pictures of cash interesting (=