Along the Abu Dhabi Road

The view from Alice's new flat.   

Early this morning I walked thru the park by our house and along the Corniche-or beach sidewalk(in Cuba we call it the Malecon, in New Jersey the Boardwalk.)  The weather is finally cool enough to go a bit later in the mornings which is nice.  I saw some men fishing. They looked Sri Lankan.  I passed by other early walkers-Indian, Arab, Asian and more.  I found myself smiling. Nice weather. The Arabian Gulf. Cool breezes. The whole world walking by.  Sometimes I am amazed at what it means to live here.

Pictures of the last couple of months ran thru my mind.  Images of new friends just being introduced to life over here...All the times they ask why this or why that and we just laugh. Teaching English to an Ethipian, a Filipina, an Indian and an Emirati.  Learning more from them than they learn from me.  Observing Sallie while she leans forward to tell the Bible story to the 3 year olds in Friday School at church.  Their little faces...Indian, Vietnamese, American, South African all turned toward her expectantly.   Mike and I laughing with friends while we ate dinner at a beach front restaurant.  Friends standing by us as we face the future. Taking Mike to lunch. Paying for our dinners.  Beating the bushes for us in search of some way to stay.  Mike and I attending 3 films from the Abu Dhabi Film Festival is another image I reflect on.  So fun to see these movies from places like Lebanon, Pakistan and Cuba.

 We met some wonderful believers from the persecuted church in another country as well recently.  Overwhelming really.    It took my breath away to hear the stories of how God is working.  What a privilege to be a part of that.  We also said good bye to our friends in the building..Armenian/British. They got fed up with the parking and moved to this new building down by Emirates Palace. Let me just say..I'd live there too, if I could. But Alice and Wahe had us up to their place for a delicious meal..along with our Japanese and Serbian friends, before they moved.   We will miss running into them in the lobby but we plan on bugging them often for coffee on the balcony with the Palace view. :)

Mike had a good interview last week.  Hopefully we will know something soon about a job here. He also had an interview in Saudi but we have decided that is not best for our family.  Better to return to Texas without a job then move to a questionable position in a much harder place.

Parking update: Just for fun......
I think I mentioned that AD has installed paid meters for parking.  Our sector has them.  But we have had so many complaints that there aren't enough spaces for our area that we are not getting tickets anymore. So let me see...illegal parking that was legal, became illegal, but now illegal parking is legal again but only in our neighborhood.Everywhere else it is still illegal.  Meanwhile, we have an empty mall parking garage with over 1300 parking spaces which would solve all the problems but well...not an option. Please don't ask WHY.  


Hope to have some good news soon.
Thank you again for all your prayers.

Mattie