Friends from Home

Hanging with the team.

Marganne at the park.

Ryan and the Tea man at the restaurant Sat. nite.

Boushra, Gina and Jackie at the Grand Mosque.

All day yesterday I tried to sit down and tell you about the visit from our great friends. So much happened that it has been hard for me to condense it enough so you will read it. :) Let me start off by saying it was a wonderful time of fellowship...and Mike and I came away feeling refreshed and reconnected to everyone. I can't describe how we felt as we saw our friends come out of the baggage claim/customs area and walk toward us. Let's just say there were not just a few tears....:) Gina, Kurt, Joanna, Eric, Jackie, Todd, Monty, Gary and Marganne...it was one big hug that just filled us up.

We spent the day on Saturday eating, laughing, talking, crying, eating and touring the Grand Mosque with my sweet friend and Arabic teacher, Boushra. We also took them to see our new church building and had a time of prayer with Boushra, which was a blessing for all of us. That nite, we ate a leisurely dinner at a Lebanese restaurant by the port. Mike and I like this place because it has Middle Eastern atmosphere and good food, but not toooo expensive. :)

Marganne, thank the Lord, stayed a few extra days..which really helped when we said good bye to everyone at midnite on Sat. nite. Our time with her was great. She just did life with us and I loved having her go with me and see what it's like here. Carpooling Ryan, buying groceries, the Beth Moore Bible Study, hanging out at the park with Sallie and Robert, Perspectives...and life. We played games, laughed, shopped and cried...It was so good.

I guess the best part was seeing our home thru their eyes and being reminded of why we are here..sort of like a short term trip for us right in our front yard. :) And we loved answering questions and seeing the interest everyone had in our life here. Let's just say, it was fantastic and we are so glad everyone came.

But, just in case the team returns to you all and says "It's just like the States there..." My friend Nita came up to us at the Bible study and I asked her how the move into her new apt was going...She answered with a laugh and said...Well, when we turn on the airconditioner the doorbell rings. I kid you not. :)

Thanks for sharing your families with us. Thanks for praying.

Love, Mattie, Mike, Ryan, Robert and Sallie

Valentine's Day 2008

HI Everyone...Wanted to share some Valentine's pictures with you...We had a party out in Khalifa City for the kids. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids and the party table. Robert and Sallie are in the middle of the line of kids. We had about 25 homeschool kids there and lots of fun party foods. The other picture is when we adults went to dinner at Al Arish at the Port in Abu Dhabi. It was a fun evening.

Had my English Club yesterday. This time we dined on Finnish food. It was also very tasty. Marganne will be here on Friday and I hope she gets to meet my new friends. I wish she could stay longer. I know the visit will feel way too short. :) By the way, next week we are not going to have a feast for our Club...maybe snacks and more English work. We'll see how that works out. :)

Had a long talk with Russell this morning. Always good to hear from him. The weather is heating up..it was 90 yesterday. Hmmm..not looking good here. :) Love you all.

Mattie and the Gang

Creative Parking

You've heard us talk about parking in Abu Dhabi...Here are some creative Parking ideas...From just today. :) Enjoy.

On the sidewalk...fair game. On the right you see a whole row of cars parked down the middle of the street. Plus a car parked at the entrance. This is why I like my little Honda Civic...So far no scratches. :) Below on the left...double parking in the middle of the street. On the right side you see the mosque courtyard...now a parking lot. Mike's car is the Expedition on the right side sort of golden tan. He pops her into 4 wheel drive and rolls right over the curb. So do about 10 other SUV owners.

These last two shots...notice again...the sidewalk is fair game and the other car in the left picture is parked between the dumpster and the sidewalk..not sure how they got there. Those dumpsters are very heavy. Not shown...a picture of the BMW that was parked on the sidewalk with its front wheels on the street... Wish I'd gotten that shot. :)

Wonder how we'll drive when we are back in the US...that's something to think about. :)

Russell's 20

Russell turned 20 yesterday...Feb. 11. I can't believe we have a 20 year old. All day long memories would hit me. He's loving UT...course, he is...:) and had a great day with all his buddies...but we sure wish we could have been there with him.
Sallie and Robert had a fun day yesterday as well. They went to the desert on a field trip to see the Sheikh's falcons. A friend of ours knows the Sheikh's Falcon Veternarian and he taught the kids as well as showed them some of them. It was quite an experience for them.
So, where was Mom? Well, it was time for my English club with my apt. friends...But we are now changing the name to Eating Club...
Tanja made several dishes from Serbia for us. We laughed and ate and ate and talked. I guess when it's at my place again I will do TexMex or maybe barbecue. Next week we go up to Tejia's house. She is going to make Finnish food for us. Don't know if we will ever do official teaching but we sure are talking A LOT!!! :)
Our friends leave this week for India..We are praying for them. It will be fun to hear about their adventures in person....
Love, Mattie

New Building

Today we held our first service in our new church building. Although Mike and I haven't been here very long, we felt the excitement in the room. There are now 20 different congregations who meet in the Evangelical Community Church with a combined attendance weekly of about 2500 people. Since we moved here we have been meeting in the old half of the building while the new one was being built...and it has been quite cozy. So today was a big day. An extra blessing was that Stuart Briscoe was here to do the first services. It was fun hearing him and it felt like home. Tonight there was a Chinese outreach. The Chinese believers bused in about 500 Chinese workers from the Labour Camps in honor of Chinese New Year. We are praying for a wonderful time of ministry and changed lives.
This week I have also been busy learning my way around Facebook. Poor Ryan has put up with repeated questions and my total lack of computer knowledge...but I think I am getting the hang of it.
Mike and I are so excited that we will have friends from Dallas coming thru in a couple of weeks. We can hardly wait. My friend Marganne will be staying a few extra days. We are anxious to just sit and visit.
Well, it's time to head to bed. I have some pictures of the church services that I will post later. It was a wonderful day.

Japanese Tea and Tacos

I have been trying to blog for a couple of days now. The internet has been kind of funky. Not to mention that I still have to log in in Arabic. I just guess where to type everything...:)

Thursday was really fun. My Japanese friend Junko invited the ladies from the Holiday Tea to join her for coffee at her apt. So about 10am I headed up to the 9th floor. I thought we would drink tea or coffee, chat and then I'd head back down to finish school with Sallie and Robert.... Hah. When I walked into her apt. the first thing I saw was food spread out on the dining room table. She was disappointed that I hadn't brought the kids cuz she made tacos. Yep. My Japanese friend made tacos for her Serbian, Finish, American and Iranian friends. :) Actually I didn't think much about it until I heard Tanja(from Serbia) ask Junko what they were eating and how to fix it. :) Then I noticed that Tejia and Alice were waiting to hear how to eat them as well. I smiled and gave lessons on tacos. You know, it's this kind of stuff that I love. It was so fun. We had Japanese tea and tacos. If Adrian and Diana come and visit us ever I will have him make his famous fajitas for my new friends. A real feast. By the way, we start our English lessons this week. It looks like they all want to meet each week and practice. I pray it is a good time.

Had a sandstorm yesterday. Our first official one. Couldn't see the buildings. The cars look tan now...all of them! :) It kind of reminded me of that scene in Hidalgo where he is outrunning the sand....Lots of things here remind me of Hidalgo. :) Then it sprinkled, by the way.... yuck.

In the picture...it is left to right...Tejia, me, Alice, Junko and Tanja.

Adios,

Mattie