RAIN

YES glorious rain!!!
After living in an arid environment for the past 8 years I have a bottomless tank for the love of these little wet drops.   It rains here a lot...and continues to not disappoint.  It has been raining for hours today, from the time I woke up there was a small pitter patter to the downpours that I am hearing right now as I write.  I love the smell that rain bring with it... it is so earthy.  It feels like it gives one permission to take the day a little slower than normal.  That one opportunity to sneak in that afternoon nap.  Or hide under a blanket with a cup of hot tea and read.

Whenever it rains here I always am a bit nostalgic too.. it reminds me of how we longed for rainfalls there... I don't really miss cleaning up after each rain... the leaking and flooding in my house.  Or the time it came through the door on the roof and ran all the way down the steps like a waterfall.  Right now I am all cooped up in this very tight house with my slipper socks and sweatshirt on watching it fall, as opposed to running after towels, buckets and moving furniture.
But, it would rain so infrequently there that any rain no matter how messy, it was always a welcomed friend.  Rain there would bring people outside... kids would play in it, grownups would stand in it, and immediately people got in their cars and drove in it, we soaked it up like a sponge...   It would usually only last a moment, but it was always enjoyed to the fullest.

SPONTAINAITY and loving it!!!

                                     When we heard that the Kelloggs were coming to America and arriving just miles from our front door we were so excited, so we decided we would meet them at the airport!!!  It was so fun to see them again... then I got a huge gift... while they slept at the hotel, they let me keep the girls over night!!!!!... with the understanding that we would bring them back to the hotel in the morning.  :)  Even in a month they have grown so much in every way!!!!!!!  

and we are all together again! What a precious gift.  I love how God provides those moments when you least expect them.  They are gone, now and it all feels like a dream...but that truly was the best all nighter, with a 4 year old, I have ever had... and to see the girls again and hear them laugh and say my name was worth every ounce of sleep deprivation.  Then to have breakfast at McDonalds with them all the next morning felt like old times.                                                              

My Friends... part 1

A while ago I thought a lot about how I wanted to remember my neighbors.  I knew that while some of them would allow me to take a final picture of them, there were some that would not.  Yet I wanted to take with me a photo that would remind me of them often.  One evening Marlen and I went to Fort Antiquities to look at Mandoos, dowry trunks.  We had not been in there a while and found that 1/2 the shop was redone. It was fantastic to be able to look at all these old items that were polished and displayed so well. Peter, the shop keeper has a tremendous amount of knowledge of the Oman History, plus he has resided in Oman for the last 28 years.  He told the most fascinating history of the things he had on display.  While Marlen was getting the history on some old guns, I looked through the cases that had pieces of old Omani silver.  He explained to me that the silver was dowry pieces of bedouin women.  There was a ring that caught my eye.  It was pretty plain, but instantly it reminded me of Marhuna.  The owner of the store was there as well and I told him how it reminded me of Marhuna, one of my dear neighbors and he just gave me the ring!!!  It was in that moment of finding the ring that I figured out I could photograph their hands.  Each one of my friends have served me over and over again in the last 8 years and they have loved me with their hand; pouring me coffee, peeling fruit, serving me dates and most importantly wrapping those hands around mine or embracing me to welcome me or show me how they felt about me.

MARHUNA: The oldest neighbor in my hood.  She is quite a remarkable woman, with her deep set eyes that are so kind and gentle. She has a very distinct way she carries herself.  She is respected among the other women and is always included in every affair.  She is widowed and lives with her brother and his wives.  Instantly, when I met her years ago I was taken with her.  I tend to gravitate to older people anyway, (it was instilled in me long ago when my own Gramma would taken me to work with her at the nursing home).  I would *coffee* with a group of neighbor ladies and it was at these coffee times that Marhuna felt like I needed to be introduced to the beauty techniques of the bedu.  There is a saffron paste that the older women apply in the mornings at the coffee time that will keep them smelling beautiful throughout the day.  She was like the official maker of the saffron paste and then she would pass it around to the ladies to apply.  I am not sure if I look just plain awkward in applying the paste or they felt like I needed an Omani hand in applying it, but without fail either Marhuna or Subha did it for me.  After they would apply it they would giggle and talk about me in Arabic, it seemed to truly make their day.  Later, I found out from some of the younger women that this was considered old fashion and they would not put this if their life depended on it!!!  It would be like wearing your mother's clothes!!!! I personally found it fun to experience the old bedu customs.  Marhuna with out fail would hug me every time I saw her on the street. She would walk out of her way to greet me in Bedu Arabic, always knowing that she would never get the response she was hoping for... me answering back to all her salutations... she would just look into my eyes and grin. Some of my favorite memories were those we made in my house.  I got such a kick out of watching her try to adapt to something so foreign as a couch and eating my food.  One day not so long ago, she came after Marlen's dad has passed away and I served them plums.  She ate the inside of the plumb, but took the skin and flung it towards the window.  I have the screens shut on our windows so flies don't come in, and that skin hit the screen and bounced off of it and onto the floor.  I laughed so hard on the inside.  Words cannot describe how different we are culturally and the grid she thinks through.  This picture of our hands is priceless to me.  I love her sense of style with jewelery.  She has great taste!

Moving Day... BitterSweet 5/3/10

Well. It came. Moving day. 

The day that brought our two worlds colliding in emotions, leaving the one we know and moving to the one we will once again learn to know.  One chapter ending and we flip the page to the one to come.  I think we all felt *REALITY* was finally here. Twelve hours of the sound of tape ripping, watching our earthly possession being bubble wrapped, boxed up and labeled was a day full of excitement coupled with the reality that our life here in Buraimi is over.  So, there was a sense of sadness that wafted through the air as well.  Bitter, yet sweet.  Inside the house where there was a lot of hard work going on, outside the house there was a lot of curious faces peering in and getting the first taste of their own reality.  Many neighbors stood at the gate and asked questions and watched the men as they worked.  Some came in tears and confusion wondering if we were leaving that very day.  Children took one last opportunity to play on the quarter pipe and run through our yard.  I loved hearing their giggles and laughter as they played there one last time.

one by one...

One by one we let go of things... today it was the car!!  I am not usually the one that gets super excited about cars, but my Dodge Durango... well I have to admit it was a sweet ride. After driving a white, 9 passenger van that receives absolutely no respect on the road... but is rather considered a nuisance and something to move out of the way for the Land Cruisers, Patrols and Beamers, I had a car that commanded respect as well.  I enjoyed that car to the fullest.  And, today it drove off into the sunset and it was just one more thing we checked off our list.  

 

**PAULADAYS**

Yep, you heard me Pauladays... I am taking my own holiday for the next couple days.  I am done, like burnt toast! In the last 2 weeks we bought a house in America, played tourist in Dubai, had moving company come and tear down our house and pack it up, said goodbye to Marlen and moved the rest of us into Al Ain. There has been too much sleep deprivation.  The next three weeks will be closing out our lives here and trying to finish well... So, glad we have time to do it in such a way that we can ease into the goodbyes.  :)

"BUT, IS IT A GOOD LIFE??"

How would you feel if this was your kitchen?  

This is what you cook on. 
This is what you cook with.
What are the first words you think of when you see this???   "what is that??"  "nice campground".

Years ago when Mike and Jen went back to the US for a visit someone came to Jen after they were sharing about our lives here and asked her this question, "But, is it a good life?"  This question has stuck with me for all these years.  Shortly after I heard this question I was able to go on a trip... it is one of my TOP 10 adventures of my life, so far.  I had a friend that took me to visit some of her friends living in remote lands around here, ie.. desert.   They live where there is a water supply and are nomadic people.  I will never forget how we got up early in the morning and drove for a couple hours, then just suddenly took our SUV off road and started driving in which seemed like to me an aimless direction.  Then, out of NOWHERE we found people... they were scurrying away to hide.  A couple children recognized the car and they ALL came out running towards us.  It was an amazing sight!  We got out of the car and we were surrounded by women and children giving us hugs and kisses.  I love the memory of being completely taken with these little ones.    The older women were so precious and you could tell they had been in the sun their whole lives.  THey were all weathered and their skin was all prune-like.  They wore gold on their ears, necks and wrists, but their clothes were thread barren.   They were all smiles.  It had been a long time since my friend had seen them and they needed to catch up.   They took us to their mats and sat us down.  They served us Arabic bread, dates and coffee, their staples, what they lived on.  An older woman took some dates and smooshed them between their fingers and placed it on bread to serve it to us.  Then they told stories of who had gotten married, who had died, how they started their children in school for the first time EVER that fall. Then they mentioned how in the fall they caught chicken pox.  The camp never had experienced this common childhood illness before and it terrified them.  They had no idea what it was.  It was at that moment that I realized what a *bubble* they live in.  Even though it is out in the middle of nowhere and they live in conditions that I wouldn't even camp in, they were not exposed to things you  or I normally are, because they have never left their environment, until now and that was only via their children.  People didn't really come visit them and share the common cold from the outside.  This was fascinating to me.  
It was then I started to ask the question about this life that was playing out in front of me.  "But, is this a good life?" 
I was overwhelmed as I sat there wondering why I was born with a roof over my head and this little child, I was holding, was born out here in the wilderness.  I tried to picture myself having a baby out here and wondering how I would protect it or keep it clean.  I tried imaging how I would sleep out here day in and day out, trying to picture every little bug that could possibly exist out there as I lay on the ground.  All the way home I pondered all that I saw.... tasted... smelled...asking the question, "Is this a good life??"   
These people seemed happy, content, they seemed to experience all of what relationships bring us in life, they experienced death and new life being born into this tribe.  So, it begs the question," what makes a good life"???  "Who determines what a good life is"? 
HMMM... We all have one life and we are all given it to live to the fullest.  I believe the women, young men and children I saw there that day were all enjoying life,  some more than others, but they were living the life the best they knew how.  The thing I loved about observing their life, compared to mine, it did not seem to be entangled with the cares of everyday life.  But, I am almost sure it had it's own own entanglements.  It was then that I realized I will never fully understand how God scattered his creation and placed them in this place or that, for this particular time and for this particular purpose.  I did understand a little more what that person was asking Jen years ago...here I was asking the same question,"But, God is it a good life"?  I do believe he answered me that day.  I know that this time with these people, that He created, was a significant turning point in my perspective and changed my thinking forever as to how I view the world.  He continues to change that perspective, and I am grateful for that.  There were many more things that happened that day... this by far was the most significant lesson I learned. 

One last bit... when Hannah and I got home that night we got horribly sick... we were sick for three days!  I found it kind of ironic that we entered their world and caught a bug.  That was probably the only time when I was sick that I was happy all at the same time. I It was a small price to pay for such a rich experience. 

HANNAH WITH A 100 YEAR OLD DOWRY ON HER NECK










HANNAH WITH SAFFRON ON HER FACE A TRADITIONAL BEDU BEAUTY TRICK