Blue Skies and Goodbyes

What a week!!! 4 inches of rain in 2 days. So Saturday and Sunday...Yuck. By Monday, though, the skies were brilliant blue and we had Park day. I love it cuz the trees are all washed clean of the months and months and layers and layers of sand. It was gorgeous.

Park day was bittersweet, though, even with the sunshine. Our dear friends...the Millers, are heading back to Colorado on Saturday. If you look thru my blog you will see many pictures of Robert, Ben and Billy..the three musqueteers of Abu Dhabi. :) They will be one short now. Ben is the guy in the sunglasses( second picture from the bottom). The Millers..Richard, Debbie, David, Josh, Ben and Hannah will leave a huge hole in our community. Living overseas you form friendships fast...time is short and we are thrown together in "challenging" ,stressful, and unique ways. We will miss them very much.

ps...the top photo? well traveled main road (obviously not well traveled that day...)

All Dressed Up

One of my friends asked me what it's like to celebrate Christmas here. On the outside, I think most people would be surprised. Because of all the lights and decorations used for December 2. National Day, it looks like Christmas. The colors are all white, green and red, even. If you're from Dallas..it could be compared to an entire city dressed up like Highland Park or Swiss Avenue. :)
The Malls have lights and decorations as well. This year we even hear carols in the stores sometimes. In fact, we see and hear Merry Christmas a lot. (It's actually ok to say that here..go figure. )

Our church is having all kinds of events as well. We'll be attending a Walk thru the Christmas story at church and we hope our neighbors from Australia will join us. Tonight we are going to the desert to sing carols and have a picnic. We have invited our friends from Serbia and Japan. I hope they can come.

So, all in all, the season is dressed up like Christmas. But it isn't.. it just doesn't feel the same. Eventhough there are lights on all the buildings we know they aren't there for Christmas..It's an empty substitute.

As I write about the things going on here , I realize that the real meaning of Christmas is in our choices, our actions, our reflection of our Saviour... What is my focus? Am I settling for that empty substitute?

If we could get a true glimpse of Christmas, we would swallow hard at the reality of what Christ began on that starry night. It is summed up in Hebrews 12:2: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God." Ron DiCianni

So, tonight, when many of our good friends are gathered around the fire, under the desert stars, singing "Silent Night", I'll think about that. The real meaning of Christmas. Maybe you will, too. Love,

Mattie

Holidays Galore

Along with having a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Kenneys, we are gearing up for another holiday..National Day. "38 Years of Unity, 38 Days of Celebration" They love their National Day! Take a look at some of the decorations springing up all over. Right now is also Eid for the Muslim world. This is the big celebration honoring Abraham and Ishmael.With Christmas around the corner, things are really hopping!

Signing Off

Mike and I love finding fun signs posted around the city. So here are a few of our favorites. Like No honking for instance. Hah!! Waste of paint. That's for sure. Or the one right under our living room window with parking regulations in 3 languages. You can see that one is effective, too. The one with the 39 on it was up in the window of the gas station. It is advertising a license plate being auctioned off. Remember the one a couple of years ago that sold for several million dollars??? The headstone are actually markers for the electricity cables. Very eerie around Halloween. And then there is my personal favorite...Take good care of your children. Posted all over the city in the various parks. Just in case you forget...take good care of them!! :)

Mike will be in the States for a few days in December to celebrate with Russell and attend his college graduation!! I'll stay here and take good care of Sallie and Robert. We are so proud of Russell. I can't believe he is graduating already!

It's the Little Things

After months of summer heat..Park Day returned!!! On top of that, the public water park is working now, too! The kids are having a ball running thru all the sprinkler activities in a park that hasn't worked since we got here. Moms have been catching up with each other. All of us look forward to Monday park days. So finally, now that November is here, we are outside and loving it.

Something else I got excited about today? Real honest- to- goodness napkin dispensers at a restaurant. I got so excited when I saw that the kleenex boxes had been replaced that I choked on my lebanese grilled chicken. It's the little things that make life good. :)

Here's to more good weather. Yippee!
Mattie

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!!

The Formula 1 Race arrived this weekend. Months of preparation finally paid off. An entire racetrack was built on a neighboring island. A billboard on the corniche counted the days. Where will you be on November 1st? The malls contained special exhibits. Race cars with virtual simulators were set up for all to experience. It's been quite a "ride". :) Here you see an Emirati father giving his son driving lessons at one of the displays. Yes, well, as they say, A picture is worth a thousand words.

By the way, good friends of ours attended the opening night of the 3 day event Beyonce performed. 30,000 people were said to have attended. Not a single bathroom was open. Don't know if that lasted the whole night..but apparently at least for awhile there were no bathrooms available. Just a few glitches. :) He did say the show was incredible.

Today we may walk to the beach and see what it is happening there. The screens are set up so you can watch the races while sitting under the palm trees. Might be fun.

The View

Everyday, except for some Fridays, approximately 3,000 workers travel two and from the construction sites outside our apt. building. The buses line up on the street down below our living room window and at the end of the day the men run from the side of the building to catch their transportation back to the labor camps where they live. Most men carry a tin bucket that is packed with their lunch for the day, provided by their employer, who also provides their living quarters in the camp. You can just see the bucket in the 3rd picture I posted. Usually this mass movement of people happens 4 times a day. Morning and evening shifts arriving and leaving. We try to avoid trips to the car around those times. When we first moved here, being novices at the whole thing, we nearly got run over a couple of times. It's also difficult to park when the 20 buses that park outside, line up on the street. :) In this picture you only see a few as they also park around the side of the building. The two construction sights have been in process the whole time we have lived here. One is right oustide our bedroom window. The other, the skyscraper, which will one day be a huge a mall, hotel and apartments and whatever..is on the other side of our building.

When my brother in law, Don, was here, I would catch him standing at the window watching the laborers come and go. We have gotten used to the sight, but at first it was pretty fascinating.

Mike and Robert are on their first Boy Scout campout right now. It will be peaceful and beautiful An undeveloped beach only an hour from here. Can't wait to hear about it. :)

When You Live in Abu Dhabi

It occurred to me that my posts gradually are slowing down. My friend, Susan, mentioned to me that she checked the blog and realized things must be "normal" because I am not posting as much. She's right. There are still funny things that catch my attention, but not as many. Like the fact that the city is going to implement the use of parking meters next month. ..yep. Parking meters. Where are they going to start? Right outside our building. So not only will we be charged now to park but we will get more fines for parking in illegal spots. Which, as you saw in previous posts, is basically all that is available. Don't ask what we will do. We have no idea.

Next week we will be a part of the Formula 1 Racing..It's coming to town. In honor of the special event, traffic on the Corniche(main road along the water) has been shut down. The beach..which only opened a year ago..has been totally redone, and some new major light posts have been installed on one of our main thoroughfares. It's all supposed to be finished by next weekend. Who knows. Maybe it will be done. I think the Hildebrands will hibernate all weekend. :)

Sallie and Robert are taking speech with our friend Katie. Next week is the impromptu speech. Katie gave the kids about 20 topics that they will choose from(pull out of a hat sort of thing). One of them is you know you have lived in Abu Dhabi when... The kids were laughing in the car as they threw out ideas. When: you see a Lamborghini and don't notice it..ho hum. but you do get excited when you find a parking place! when: you get surprised that someone understands your directions the first time, or: you find yourself repeating yourself several times to someone who speaks perfect English. When; you pull out the sweatshirts because the temp. dipped into the 80s(this does not apply to Sallie cuz she wears hers ALL the time now. :)...even at 115 degrees.) Anyway, I hope Sallie or Robert draws that one..but we'll see. The kids are having fun with the class. There are about 11 other homeschoolers in it. Last week we had our Fall kick off for the homeschool group here. About 60 people met at the bowling alley. And that wasn't everyone. It's really growing.

That's all for now.

Hope you are all enjoying your fall weather.

We'll let you know when we have some. :)

Greece in Pictures

Our first dinner in Greece..waiting for the ferry to Zakynthos.
The ferry ride took about an hour and a half.
The view from our room at the resort in Zakynthos.
Touring the Blue Caves.
Another great meal.
Snorkelling fun.

Sallie and Kyra on our boat trip to the Blue Caves.

Touring the ruins of Delphi with the Kenneys and the Weldons.
Sallie in front of the Taverna on our last evening.

Beach Day!
The mountainside in Delphi.

Now you have some pictures of our trip. We have stored away wonderful memories and all of us said we would love to go back. I hope we have more fun trips with the Kenneys and the Weldons in the future! :)

Blessings!

Mattie

Our Big Fat Greek Vacation!

Last week I didn't have a lot to say. But this week is a different story. :) Greece was amazing. As our wonderful hostess, Martha Weldon, repeatedly said..It was GOORORGEOUS. Martha and Glen have loved Greece for years and I think it took us about 10 minutes to understand why!! We were welcomed at the airport with big hugs and cool, sunny temperatures. Woo Hoo!!

From the Athens airport we travelled about 2 and a half hours to a ferry which took us to Zakynthos. And so began our wonderful visit to Greece. The week was full of laughter, relaxation, games, amazing vistas, and incredible food. On the agenda was a boat ride with snorkelling in the Ionian Sea, magnificent mountain views, brilliant blue waters, and more great food. :) We visited the ancient ruins of Delphi and spent a day at beautiful beach near Patras, where the Weldons live. We loved everything about Greece, but the food topped the charts!!! Greece is certainly one place that we could go back to over and over again.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures. I tried to upload them to the blog but for some reason it isn't working. I will add them later.

And the winner is....

My friend Katie, who wins contests all the time, won an electric piano for Robert. It's great cuz now Robert doesn't have to go up to my Japanese friend's house to practice. What was the contest? Well, kids 8 an under called into the radio and sang a song. Katie's 4 year old daughter sang I Love Rock and Roll and won!!! We have a piano now. Too fun. Katie will also be teaching Sallie voice lessons..and both Sallie and Robert are taking speech from her as well. It's going to be a busy year.

I'm not blogging a lot. Truth is, this week has been pretty routine. Strange that this feels so much like home. When we got here two years ago I never thought it would be hard to think of things to blog about. I did chuckle on the way home from trying to buy a piano stand, though. I was casually waiting for the light to change. As I stared at the car in front me I realized that I was staring at a sunvisor spread across the back windshield. Yep. The funny thing was..it took me awhile to even register that it was there!! :) I sure enjoyed driving in Texas this summer. Ahhh, the good ol' days.

Ramadan ends next week. And we will be taking a week in Greece visiting friends. I will have lots to write about then. :)

Reunited!!

Sallie and Diana
Ryan with our friends Mark and Marganne.
The neighborhood gang...Cindy, me, Pat, Marla and Jeannie..Marganne had left already.
Austin, Josh Helmreich and Robert
My Tres Dias girlfriends...Pat, Kathy, Candy, Carol and me

After 60 days back in the US, we returned to Abu Dhabi. I'm still thinking about everything we did this summer and for me, I can sum it up in one word: Reunions.

In June we had our reunion with Hildebrands at our nephew Kent's wedding and Mom Hildebrand's birthday party. Thru out the summer I was blessed to see so many friends. From Austin,, with my dear college friend Kim, and my terrific son Russell, to El Paso where I saw my sister and Adrian as well as my oldest friend Sandy and her sister who joined me there. Back in Dallas my girlfriends from my old neighborhood gathered for the first time in 3 years and we spent two nights together talking nonstop. There was Ryan's graduation party where many of our friends gathered to celebrate with us. And everyday I was reunited with old friends. It was a wonderful two months! Naturally, staying with the Fords was a great reunion! It takes some special people to open their home to guests for two months, especially as they had only been in the US for three weeks themselves. We all had so much fun together.

Now we are back in Abu Dhabi. It was hard to leave all my friends. It was hard to leave my two babies..ok, college boys, back on another continent. It was hard to leave the mild Texas weather and the mild days in the Ford's backyard pool. But all that being said..It's been wonderful being

reunited with Mike. He was waiting for us at the airport and it is great being together again.

So now I am back to blogging...

Hope you all had a wonderful summer, too!!

There's a Red Raider in the House

One difficult thing about living halfway around the world is leaving our kids over here. Being so far from Russell these last two years has sometimes been really, really hard. Having friends here who let him crash at a moments notice in their extra bedroom, and feed him real meals when he comes through makes it a bit easier when we say our goodbyes. Another thing that helps is Russell loves Austin and the University of Texas.

This summer when we say goodbye, it will be to Russell AND Ryan. Oh boy. Ryan returned from Lubbock and Texas Tech orientation on Tuesday evening. He came carrying Tech paraphernalia and lots of fun details about his future residence. In other words, he sounded excited about his eminent move to the far west. Again, Mike and I are thankful for this and for an old friend of Ryan's who lives in Lubbock and made him feel so welcome when he went up there!! It makes it easier knowing they will be there for him.

As for our summer? Still having fun with friends. Still missing Mike a lot. Still very thankful for this wonderful home to stay in with our dear friends...

So we've been here a month. One month to go.

Hope everyone is having a good summer.

The Other Side of Normal

I parked at the gas pump and waited for the man to come fill my car and clean my windshield. I stared at the pump trying to remember how to put in the credit card. I hesitated on turning left..could I do that there? But I didn't hesitate to blast my horn at a big semi that about to cut me off. Back off, Jack. But the big question is....can I make it through the car wash on my own? without the guy there to tell me go..stop...? I just don't know.

Just some funny things from our second week here, but generally we've moved right back into our routine. The kids have had time with their friends. I've had time with mine. Early mornings are the best. I hear birds and crickets, not water pumps and cement trucks. The breeze is refreshing and does not bring truckloads of sand with it. Cars stay in their lanes. And most of the time I can ask a question or change my mind and the whole place does not go into a tailspin. :)

But you know what? I miss Abu Dhabi. Not the heat. or the noise. But the people. Our friends there and our routines there. I think all of us miss it a bit. I guess that's how it needs to be or we wouldn't go back. Course it would be easier if Ryan and Russell were with us. Or if Mike were here and not way over there right now. But we're having a good summer. Blessed to be here with the Fords. Looking forward to the rest of the time with friends. It's all good.

Family

The harvest.
Sallie and Robert.
Cousins
Grandma's front porch
Birthday celebration
Kent and Bekah
The Macarena :)
Cousins

On June 25th we landed in Dallas. Hugged the Fords. Hugged the Pearces. Hugged Ryan and a bit later hugged Russell. Friday morning we loaded into the car and headed to Kansas. Hugged Grandma at the hotel in Junction City and pretty soon after that crashed into bed. :)

Saturday was Kent's(Mike's oldest brother's oldest son) wedding. Saw many relatives and old friends and danced at the reception. Well, Russell and Robert and Sallie danced. Mike and I smiled and visited with family and new friends, who will be moving to Abu Dhabi to teach.

Sunday we were on the road again, headed to Stafford and Grandma Hildebrand's 80th birthday!!!Stories, laughter, tears and more stories filled the evening. Appreciation for the blessings we have experienced as a family confirmed to us that making that long trip was worth it ten times over.

Monday was filled with some of my favorite things....visiting and coffee on Grandma's front porch, cousins playing and hanging out, and Sallie and Robert riding on the Combine while the wheat was harvested. (i had to MAKE them do this but it is an experience i just think they had to have. :) and they both had fun, too! )

I'm a relative newcomer to the farming world. Just ask Mike's great family...:)...but over the years I have grown to love that part of my life. To stare over the endless wheatfields, to watch those huge, powerful machines cut acre after acre of wheat takes my breath away. It was good to be there.

Mike is back in Abu Dhabi now. It is not as fun with him gone. I'll write about Dallas later.

Mattie