September Christmas

The shipment from Abu Dhabi arrived last Wednesday.  Felt like Christmas.  We spent the next few days unpacking boxes and setting things up.  All of us enjoyed coming across stuff that brought back fun memories. Gifts from friends, our coffee table books, different pictures and wall hangings, the knick knacks from around the world, and more, made us smile. Slowly, our new place is shaping up.

And just in time. Late Thursday night Robert, Mike and I will be on a plane to Dallas. We are making a very quick trip to the US to celebrate Pat and Darren's 25th anniversary with them and to see our Kansas family..especially our new little grand niece. Included in that trip will be a High School Reunion for Mike.  We are confident he will win  the "traveled the farthest to get here" award.  We also will try and make a trip to Lubbock to see Ryan and experience the world of Texas Tech and Raiderland. The hard part will be..other than crazy jet lag, not getting to see everyone else that we love and miss. These two weeks will be crazy full but hopefully refreshing and fun, too. :)

What about Sallie?  She is staying here in Doha. Our friend Pattie is coming to stay the first week with her and she will stay with some new friends for the second week. It was just too much school to miss. Especially being her senior year. Not easy leaving her here, though. Ugh. Although it has been crazy organizing everything while unpacking and doing all the red tape required to live here, it will be worth it to have a break for a bit in the US.

Well, must keep working thru my list.
The clock is ticking.
   
  

Today I Will Try and Secure a Garden Hose.

Sallie's First Day 

Early Friday Morning...

Left the house to find coffee at Starbucks. Sallie and Robert were still asleep.  We had our coffee and then picked up Krispy Kreme donuts for the kids.  Later we will head to church.  Last week we introduced ourselves as the new people from the US via Abu Dhabi. Glad that is over. Last Friday Mike also spent the afternoon on a hunt for a garden hose. What he discovered is you go to a shop and buy the pieces to a hose and then you assemble it, but the store did not have all the pieces. So then, he decided. Ok, too much for today. I will try again next weekend.  No Loews, No Home Depot or Walmart. Nope, got to hunt down all the parts and splice it together.  Perhaps today we will be victorious.

Sallie's first week of school went well. We got the call Sunday afternoon that they had a spot for her. Oh Happy Day. That was such good news. We celebrated with dinner at Chilis and Sallie had a steak and a non alcohol strawberry Mojito. :)  She likes her classes and is making friends.  Robert and I still camping out at home waiting for the container to be released from the port. No news there. Hoping and praying it will be cleared soon.  We also are all waiting for Mike to get his Res.Permit. Apparently it is somewhere waiting to be mailed to his office. Hard to know exactly. Kind of like finding the parts to a hose....  

And so begins Day 13.

Sallie and Robert using internet by the pool.