Two years in Saudi Anniversary

Another year has come and gone and we have survived lived in Saudi for two years now! It is really hard to believe that a whole year has gone by. It is amazing to me to look at our lives and see how different it is since our one year anniversary. 

I remember shortly after moving here reading a blog with the seven stages of moving, the last stage was adjustment...and then a friend made a comment that she felt their should be another stage, that God would give us a time of having abundant joy in our life here.  At that time (being two months into our time in Saudi) I probably thought she was insane and that I would never get to that stage but now, two years later that is where we are....between adjusting and finding abundant joy here.

Life in Saudi is normal to us. We are used to prayer schedules, shopping, the restrictions and our trips shopping go much more smoothly now! I have become a home body. I no longer crave the need to go out and run errands and be busy, I like being home and doing the simple things in life with the most important people in my life...my husband and my kids. We have a good routine and have certainly adjusted to life here in Saudi. I am busy with my photography and the kids are busy in their routines. We are adjusted. Don't get my wrong, I still have frustrating days where I am very grumpy about being here but I get past it a whole lot quicker and I am able to see the huge blessings that being here allows us and that is where I have seen us move from adjustment to finding joy in where we are.

I no longer look at my time in Saudi as a sentence :) but am really enjoying it and finding the joy and thankfulness in this time of our lives. 

I am thankful that this year we have developed some wonderful friendships with many people here and especially with three other core families. They have become my kids family here and they are there when I need someone to watch Graham or offer to make us food when we are sick and so much more. Developing that core community of true friends that I can turn to for guidance, encouragement, girl time, support and so much more has made a world of difference in our lives here. I have known for a long time that we are meant for community with one another and it has become so apparent these past two years how much God has designed us to do life with the support of each other. 

I am so thankful and find great joy that my husband is home everyday at 3:45 PM. That he no longer has to fight to balance work and family and that he has an abundant amount of time with his family. Our family is doing great. We are growing, spending tons of quality time together and our kids are thriving because they have a dad who is home so much! John and I have so much more time to talk about our marriage, our kids, our goals and our family and continue to grow stronger and closer. We miss going on "real" dates but we have found ways to grow intimacy in our marriage in the simple day to day activities and conversations of life. I do look forward to the time when we will be able to go on dates though more regularly :)

It has been a struggle this year between wanting to be back in the States and living a more "normal" life versus what our life is here. Maybe it is because I was an expat kid growing up and I want to have a home somewhere that doesn't change and grow roots somewhere. And it is even harder now that we have fallen in love with Bellingham and feel like that is where we are meant to raise our kids. But being here allows us the opportunity to own our home in Bellingham, renovate it and have the freedom to choose at a later time to live there. I have seen God's hand in that decision to buy the house time and time again and continue to trust in His plan for the house and what I hope is our future there. Part of the struggle is also my love of travel and the adventures of seeing the world and knowing that being here allows us to do that so much more easily. Living overseas, my heart does feel torn between two places, two lives....and it is still hard to adjust from going back and forth. I have realized I don't do as well as I thought with change. But at the same time living here has shown me more than I think I would have learned staying in one place, that God is constant and that  my heart ultimely should be with Him at all times and when I am in that place, no matter what "life" or place I am in on earth, I am at peace and can find joy in that place. 

So, two years later, I am still so thankful for this part of our lives and how much we have grown individually and as a family. I am excited about seeing what this next year brings to our family and I am excited about fully entering the next phase of moving to a new overseas place....being joyful and growing abundantly where we are planted right now! 

Weekend in Doha

Last fall we attended a bazaar at a friends compound and we won the raffle prize of a trip! It was for a certain dollar amount to be spent visiting a Gulf Coast Country! So, since we thought John was supposed to start a shutdown (12 hour days, 7 days a week) the middle of May we decided to take a family trip before that to spend time together especially since I would be heading back to the States before he was done and it would be a long time before we had family time. Well, turns out the shut down was moved to June but we still went ahead on our trip! 

We looked at all the options and quickly realized that flying anywhere take up all out prize money and so we needed to drive. We have been wanting to do a trip back to Qatar so we decided to drive there. We left Wednesday morning for the boring drive through the dessert.

Graham wanted to drive....we were waiting in the car while John went inside the adminstration building for our visas into Qatar.

We decided to splurge a little since it was a prize and stayed at the Grand Hyatt Doha on their Club Level. The hotel was very nice and the service was great. We very much enjoyed our extra benefits of free snacks and drinks all day on our floor and the breakfast. We had a beautiful room with a separate living room area which was great for us and the kids. 

The first night we hired a baby sitter so we could enjoy the complimentary drinks and appetizers in the Club Level lounge and then went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant at the hotel. We were so thankful for the time together and chance to go on a date! At about 9:30 PM, We were going to go out for dessert but decided to check on the kids before we headed out and thankfully we did as Graham was still up! He didn't want to go to bed! Good thing we came back! 

Graham loved pressing the elevator buttons and had to bring his bag with him everywhere. This is him heading to breakfast....

The main reason we wanted to come to Doha again was to visit the Museum of Islamic Art. So that is all we had planned for Thursday! We tried to go early in the morning to find out it didn't open until 1:00 PM so we went to the mall and went shopping instead and then came back in the afternoon. It did not disappoint! We both were absolutely enchanted with the architecture of the building, the exhibits and it was a great experience. I only wish we had hours to spend inside reading about everything!

Graham and Peyton even really enjoyed the museum and I loved hearing the questions coming from Peyton. It brought back so many wonderful memories of growing up and exploring so many art museums with my parents. It was great to hear her curiousity about objects, questions and also to see her piece things together and associate memories of our travels. For example, when we were in a room with Turkish pottery she said it looked like her ceramic cat that she got at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. I love that she remembered it and that all our experiences are sinking in!

 Graham's favorite part was watching the airplanes landing at the nearby airport! And running around outside once we let him be free from the confines of being quiet and respectable in the museum! 

That night John and I ordered to kids room service and got them to bed and then ordered room service for ourselves and set it up on our balcony and had a nice candlelight dinner there. And then we headed home the next day. A fun weekend away from Saudi!

Abu Dhabi Here We Come

At the beginning of this year, my mom told us that she was going to come to the Middle East! John and I were so excited and really excited for the kids. We started working on the visa process and as we feared.....it didn't work out :( April 1 came around and her visa was still not processed and we ran out of time. Thankfully we hadn't told the kids (in case this happened) but we were still really sad about all of it. Instead the kids and I flew to Abu Dhabi for a couple of days to see her there and we had the unexpected addition of my dad! He was in SE Asia on business and was able to stop by on his way home which wouldn't have happened if we got the Saudi visa. So, it all worked out!

The kids were super excited to see their Auntie Ashley and could barely go to sleep. We kept it a surprise that the grandparents would be there! 

When we landed in Abu Dhabi, my mom was waiting at the Starbucks just outside arrivals. I knew she would be there but the kids had no idea. When we walked out I tried to get Peyton to look over in her direction to find a taxi but as soon as I said the word "taxi" she was so focused that she didn't bother to observe anything else around her. Graham on the other hand was walking slowly behind me, looking around and all of the sudden stopped and looked at my mom, paused and then kept walking. Then he stopped again, paused, and kept walking. The third time my mom smiled back and dropped his bag and yelled "G" and ran into her arms. Peyton turned around to probably yell at us for being too slow and just stood there in shock for minutes. Finally it all registered and she was so excited! I wanted so badly to capture it all on video but as always when I travel with the two by myself I get so caught up into everything else that I never take pictures.

We headed to my sisters apartment and the whole taxi ride Peyton was full of questions and Graham just keep saying "G" out of pure excitement! The excitement didn't end when we got home though.... after we got Graham down for a nap and were catching up and all of the sudden we felt the whole apartment building shake. My mom and I asked each other if we felt that and then it happened again. We finally realized it was an earthquake and tried to figure out what to do, we finally decided to get Graham and walk down the stairs and go outside. So we walked down the nine flights of stairs with my sisters dog and the two kids and waited until it was all clear. We later learned by reading online that we shouldn't have gone outside and were probably safer in the building. Never experienced an earthquake and had no idea what to do. We were feeling the tremors from the earthquake that hit the border of Pakistan and Iran. 

While in Abu Dhabi we played at the game center in the mall, went to the movie "The Croods," had ice cream, shopped and hung out with G...

 

 Graham got his hair cut one afternoon and was a champ. He did keep saying that it hurt and for mommy to "help me." 

After his hair cut it was time for the surprise of Papa! He was walking in the mall and so we had the kids walk by him and see if they noticed. Peyton ran right into him, said excuse me and kept walking! That kid doesn't notice anything! Graham looked up and say him immediately and yelled,"Papa." LOVE that Graham noticed both of them and it shows how much he has grown up and is understanding who they are in his life!

 We went to Dubai for the day and shopped around Dubai Mall....

And then we went to the souq area that sells knock off purses and shopped there. Peyton started getting really into trying on the purses! She cracks me up!

The best was when I decided finally on what kind of purse I wanted....a simple cross body small Michael Kors purse. Well, apparently that was not only hard to find but pricey. So we started going into each store and asking if they even had a Michael Kors bag so we could expedite the process. Nothing is more hilarious than when your four year old walks into a purse store and yells,"do you have Michael Kors?" She was a hit! And then when we finally found one the store owner was equally impressed with Arabic! What a life she lives!

We had a great time with our Auntie, G and Papa and only wish the time together was longer! Hopefully next time everyone can come visit us in our sand box!

Back to Saudi and Ramblings and Updates....

To try and catch up on what has been happening in Saudi since we got back from Bali, I am going to condense everything here.....

• Our trip home was smooth and much easier than the way there. I did realize when we were landing in Kuala Lampur that I packed my abaya in my suitcase as opposed to our carry on and had a slight moment of panic as I was wearing a v-neck and short sleeve shirt. I decided to shop around the Kuala Lampur airport before we departed and found a lightweight jacket to put on when we arrived in Saudi. Spent more than I would have liked but now I have a nice lightweight, water proof jacket for the summer in Washington!
• After getting home, I unfortunately got sick pretty much the day we got back and was pretty under the weather for a week or so :(
• We had Easter the day after we got back and I was thankful that I had planned everything and put it all together before we left. We didn't do much as we were traveling over the weekend and then John was at work on the actual Easter day and I was incredibly sick but we did celebrate with an egg hunt in the morning, baskets, and the Easter story and a craft that I brought back from Christmas time. Peyton had a party at school and a friend graciously took Graham to a planned egg hunt that some friends put together at the beach.   And then we had a very fancy Easter dinner of pizza (I was just too sick to make anything)!  Not exactly the day I had in mind but we were able to celebrate and share the Easter story with the kids and at the end of the day, hearing Peyton explain the real reason for Easter was the best way to celebrate the resurrection!

• Shortly after Easter, some friends and I went to Bahrain for some girl time! It was incredibly nice to be able to hang out with three of my closest friends here and have some girl time. We had pedicures and manicures, shopping without kids and eating without kids and swimming in the grown up pool! Just a fun time of laughing and bonding! Lots of fun! Being in Saudi it is hard to go out and do stuff and it was great to be able to have some good girl time and feel more normal!

• Another big change was Graham giving up his bottles! I was so nervous about doing it and worried how he would handle it but he was a champ! John totally took the lead on it and it was not an issue at all. It has been so much smoother than I ever expected!

• We have started swimming lessons up again and as expected Peyton was overjoyed. Graham had so much fun and is so much more comfortable in the water than last year and it is fun to watch him progress. Peyton is swimming the width of the pool (when she is paying attention and concentrating) and I love watching how much fun she has in the pool!
• We had an meeting/evaluation at the school for K4 (pre-k) next year for Peyton. Essentially it was for parents to turn in paperwork and check what immunizations they still need and then for the kids to see the classes, meet a teacher and do some activities while the teachers watch them and talk to them some more. Peyton was so excited about the whole day and is very excited about big kid school next year. I know she will do wonderfully next year and am excited about next year for her!
• And also next year...Graham will be attending one of the in home preschools on camp (the same one Peyton went to when we first moved here). He has been asking daily about going to school. Everyday we drop off Peyton he asks to go as well. It makes me so sad to see him growing up. I don't have a little baby anymore :( and I have no idea what I will do with all this free time if they both end up going in the mornings!

Ubud - Elephant Park

The last big thing we did while in Bali and my last post on our trip was the day we spent at Taro Elephant Park. I had booked transportation and our day prior to us leaving and it worked out really well. We had a car pick us up at the hotel and take us to the park. When we got there we walked to the elephant riding area and we split up to go on our elephants. Peyton and John went together and Graham and I rode an elephant named Lady Gaga. 

I was nervous about keeping Graham still for the ride but he was so still and so quiet. I think he was overwhelmed and just in shock about the whole experience. He was loving it. Peyton was asking the handler all kinds of questions and then telling us behind what she was learning. They both had so much fun. The ride was actually really long which surprised me. 

When we got off Graham was so upset and wanted to go again. He loved it so much and still talks about it after being home about riding the elephant and "please" to go again. After the ride we went and fed the younger elephants and gave them hugs. It was so much fun to have them grab the bamboo sticks out of your hands. Both kids loved it.

We then went for a walk to see the new baby elephant born that morning at 5 AM. I loved watching Peyton and Graham walk ahead and hold hands and talk about what they were experiencing so far that day. 

This baby was born about 4-5 hours earlier. So cute!

We then had lunch and watched some elephants play in the water together. It was fun to watch them interact, jump on each other and swim around. The kids found it hilarious.

The final part of our day was the elephant show. The elephants did all sorts of tricks and performances and the kids loved it. The best part was when the elephants sprayed the crowd with water from their trunks. Peyton was laughing so hard!

It was a really fun day at the elephant park and one that both of the kids talked about over and over and was the highlight of their trip. Such a fun thing to do and even more so when experiencing through the eyes of the kids!

Ubud - Cooking Class

While in Ubud I was able to have the day to do something by myself. With the kids it is hard to do a lot of things and so we made the decision that on vacations we should each have some time to do something ourselves. My choice was a Balinese cooking class hosted by a local family. I am not a chef or passionate home cook, I just thought it sounded different and would be a nice cultural experience and it was a great experience! 

We started the day with a tour of the local market. This is where most Balinese shop. We were told that all the food used in the cooking class was purchased from a more Western style market/store with different health standards because our bellies would not be able to handle the local market. The class was actually the day before a huge festival and so it was incredibly busy with people picking up supplies and food for the first day of the festival which is when they cook and prepare huge meals because the second day you are not allowed to cook. It was really busy, lively and a great experience walking around.

You could select your chicken alive or if you would like or you had the option of already killed and de-feathered. You would never see non refrigerated whole chickens just laying on a table cloth back home....

 

After the market tour we were brought to the families home/compound and given a tour and taught about how the homes are set up and how certain houses are in certain directions, and the kitchen is always in one direction. We were taught more about daily life and served a cup of Bali coffee before meeting our instructor and taught about all the ingredients we were to be using that day. Such beautiful and fresh ingredients! 

And then it was time to prepare our nine dish meal. We cut, grinded the peanuts for peanut sauce, chopped, sliced and made everything as a group. It was very hands on and educational. We all worked together on every step so you really were involved. We made a salad, a soup, peanut sauce, a curry chicken, a fish satay stick, rice, crepes filled with coconut, a vegetable dish and I am sure more that I can't remember! Here I am making the peanut sauce....

 

Several hours later we were finally done! While we were cooking the mother of the house was preparing the offering with pieces of our meal. It is customary to give an offering in the family temple prior to eating. We were all given sarongs and invited to witness the offering in the family temple.

And then it was time to eat! We were seated at a table in the gardens and served our dishes from salads and soups to our main meal (seen below) and dessert. It was delicious! It was a lot of fun getting to know the other nine people in my class as well and where everyone was living and what brought them to Bali. A wonderful afternoon!

At the end of class we were given a bottle of homemade coconut oil and a recipe book of what we made to bring home. The whole day was so much fun, totally different than anything I have done before and a great memory!

Ubud - Monkey Forest and Exploring

Our last stop on our trip was to Ubud. Which is known at the cultural/arts and crafts center of Bali and was made even more famous in the book, Eat, Pray, Love. When we arrived we were shocked at how busy, big and more like a city it felt. I was not expecting that from the yoga area of peace and tranquility to be so busy. The first day or so was a little overwhelming but after several walks around, finding some small and unique restaurants we started to feel the charm and appeal of Ubud but both agreed it would be more appealing without the kiddos. Lots of fun but laid back places to go out at night to and the abundance of yoga and meditation classes all of which are hard to do when managing the little ones. 

Our first stop in Ubud was the famous Monkey Forest. We debated for weeks before we left about going due to the risk of rabies. We read so many conflicting reports of the aggressiveness/ boldness of the monkeys. We decided to go ahead and go and be very cautious and leave if we felt it was too much or scary. We walked in, made sure all our loose items (sunglasses, hats etc) were put away, didn't buy bananas as we didn't want to attract the monkeys and walked in. They were crazy! There were so many monkeys everywhere and it didn't help that there was a stupid man in front of us teasing the monkeys and just being completely inappropriate. I was a nervous wreck and then one jumped on the backpack John was carrying to try and get at one of Graham's bottles in the side pocket and at that point I was done. We had walked about 10 feet into the forest and that was it. I was done and ready to leave. We all were laughing though how scary and overwhelming it was and made a joke of the crazy monkeys the rest of the trip. 

Graham's face completely sums up our trip to Monkey Forest....no fun! We even hated walking near there at times to get to some of the shops. One day we were walking and saw a monkey run up to a lady carrying a shopping bag and start attacking the shopping bag, ripping it open for food. After that we would walk out of our way to avoid the monkeys. Crazy!

Our hotel was backed up to a rice field which was beautiful. The first night it was cloudy and rained and we loved sitting on our patio, looking at the rice fields and listening to the rain. 

We had many wonderful meals at delicious organic restaurants. They were all so kid friendly with small play areas, coloring sheets and even the staff would take the kids for walks around the restaurant to look at the fish. They especially adored Graham. 

We had lots of walks around, looking at shops and exploring. The kids got little drums that are still a hit. There were so many beautiful art carvings, fabrics and handicrafts and furniture. If I could ship stuff from there I would furnish my house with most of the things I saw. The woodwork was beautiful and so unique.

One of our favorite parts of our time in Ubud was the Galungan festival that took place while we were there. Part of the festival was the Penjors lining the road in celebration of the Galungan festival which is a celebration of the triumph of dharma over adharma. It is calculated according to the 210-day Balinese pawukon calendar and takes place on the Wednesday (Buda) of the eleventh week (Dunggulan). According to tradition, the spirits of the dead descend form heaven, to return ten days later on Kuningan. All the temples were decorated, there were smells of incense, parades of people dressed up in the ceremonial dress heading to temple to make offerings. A wonderful thing to be able to experience.

Also, part of the festival was seeing Barong dance down the streets. So many of these lions with their band would be walking around and as soon as the kids heard the music they would get so excited and look for the lion. Some of them were so beautifully decorated. Lots of fun!

 We had a good time exploring Ubud and it was a fun immersion into Bali culture!