Made In Mexico

One thing about living overseas...are the constant surprises. Imagine our surprise when Ryan and I went on a hunt for Ryan's costume for a party last nite. He decided to be a Mexican bandito..now this is an easy task when you live in TEXAS, but we had our doubts about finding the accessories here. :) I brought a great poncho from El Paso..so we had that...but we were doubtful about finding a sombrero, etc. We headed to this store called Posters..unfamiliar to us but we were told it had some costumes. What a surprise when we walked in the door...it was full of costumes and party goods!! Almost felt like Party City. Not only did we find the sombrero but also the bullet belt! Actually turned out to be a good costume. Also pretty surprising to see two folks dressed like Santa Claus last nite walking down the street.....hmmm...:) And then there was the surprise of seeing a guy DRIVING down the Corniche(waterfront road) with a small brazier grill thing filled with lit, hot coals...in his lap! Yep. That was a surprise, too. :)

We also had a week full of fun and surprises with the Belsons..who left on Thurs. So wonderful to have them here. They brought some fun things from home...more surprises..and we spent the time talking and seeing the sights. Sheryl got to meet my English Club ladies and both Sheryl and Maynard got to attend our Sunday nite family class as well as meet many friends from our Friday nite small group. They spent time in the park with the moms and met Johnni(my American friend married to an Emirati) one afternoon at the beach. Maynard spent Wednesday afternoon walking the job site with Mike and visited with some of the guys there. All in all, it was great! Hard to say good-bye, tears and hugs...but so blessed to have had time with them.

And by the way, thanks to many of you for sending surprises with them. We really appreciate it. A lot.

Here's to surprises...especially the good ones!

Love, Mattie

Here we are at Ski Dubai.

This and That

I told my niece, Katie, that I needed to update my blog. She agreed rather quickly so I thought I would write something before I headed out to pick up Ryan from school.
Somehow I seem to be writing a lot about my English Club these days...and today is no different. :) We met on Monday, and for this meeting we had Junko teach us origami. Picture it if you can....a very detailed process being taught to people from several different backgrounds..not to mention languages..from someone using their minimum English. Laughter filled the room and somthing resembling little cranes emerged..eventually. Poor Junko kept telling us how the folds are so important..and make them very tight...It takes a lot of patience. Sallie actually ended up with the best Crane. An added ingredient this week is our new friend..Huda, who is Egyptian and wants to improve her English as well. Poor thing. I hope we didn't scare her to death with all of our laughter....although she was definitely a good sport and hung right there with us. All of them are invited to join some other friends for a desert barbecue this Friday. Huda said she may come and perhaps some others will too.
Last weekend Mike and I attended a training session in Dubai for becoming Perspectives coordinators over here. It was a privilege to be with about 20 other folks from all over the UAE who also want to see great things happen. The training was long but well worth it. Our friend Matt organized it (he lead the classes last Fall)as well as two others from the UK and the US. We were encouraged and challenged. And now we are also official. :)
Right now we are looking forward to two great friends coming to visit us this Saturday! Maynard and Sheryl Belson, who traveled with us to Morocco in 2005, are coming and we cannot wait! They will be here for several days. I'm sure I will have interesting tales to tell....
Blessings!
Mattie

Out of the Frying Pan but still in the Fire

So I'm trying to play around with the blog and figure out new things...Not sure if I figured anything out yet...but...:) oh well... The weather is cooling off enough now that we can go to the beach and not fry. Last Saturday I texted my friends and said to join us there...It was such a nice afternoon. Here are a couple of pictures...Billy, Robert and Ben..the Three Musketeers deep in conversation and I have no idea about what. :)

and here are Mike, Sallie and Kyra Kenney contemplating the blue waters of the Arabian Gulf.

For English Club Junko took us to a great Japanese restaurant here in Abu Dhabi and included a lesson on using chopsticks.... I think she should be a model. As beautiful on the inside as on the outside.


Here Sallie and Stephanie Page attempt synchronized diving at the pool.

It is very nice that the weather is cooling off. We don't feel so tied to the airconditioning now.

The kids are doing well in school. Ryan is in full college search mode. He has the SAT's on Saturday. Sallie and Robert are doing well in the K12 Online School..learning lots. as am I. :)

Mike and I continue to be refined in the furnace, so to speak. Learning, leaning, ...stuggling and surrendering again. Not fun, but certainly biblical. :) We appreciate your prayers...and recognize as well that many of you are going thru so much as well. And we are praying.

And we still find things to laugh about...like our friend's story last week about his meeting with the Department of Transportation for Abu Dhabi....There was no parking. :) or the fact that our windows have not been washed since last MAY and when we asked about it we were told "2 months more...insh'allah..." UGH. By then we will need a firetruck hose to clean the stuff off...oh wait...that won't work...My friend told me that she watched a fire in the building next to hers a couple of months ago and they were pointing the hose in the wrong direction! Finally a Brit came out and showed them how to use the rescue bucket and the equipment. Thank the Lord no one died...(and that we live on the first floor) but as for my windows.....hmmmm....:)

Rama-Done!!!

Soon the holiday decorations at the malls will be coming down....You are actually looking at is normally a clear glass wall covered in "wallpaper".

All church lunch at Al Wahda Mall...We can eat in public during the day!!!

Someone decided to take a boat ride to celebrate Eid......Nice, huh? :) We, however, just went on a desert picnic...but had lots of fun!

As our first full week of post Ramadan/Eid starts, I just wanted to post a few pictures from the events of the week. Needless to say...we are happy to be back to "normal". :)