A Week Ago Tonight!

A week ago about this time, we landed in the UAE to truly begin this adventure.  Our feet finally touched desert ground.  We gasped for breath when the heat truly took ours away.  Others tried to warn us of the power of the heat, but there truly are no words to describe it.  It takes your breath away.  

We cannot believe it has been a week.  In some ways, it seems like we have been here forever.  We can't remember sleeping in our own bed, at our own sweet house, in our beloved Rome.  Yet, it's only been 7 days. 

So much has happened in such a short time.  Our entire world has changed....literally.  Right now, I'm sitting by an exotic beach and pool at a fancy hotel staring at beautiful scenery, even in the dark.  :)  It has seemed more like a vacation or a honeymoon resort for most of the week.  But slowly, the reality of our world is slapping us in the face. 

Many of you have told us you envy us or that you are living vicariously through us.  haha  That's great and all but right now, we truly need your prayers.  I'm writing this as a more serious blog posting because most of you reading this have asked us how to specifically for our family. My heart is racing as I'm typing and my hands are shaking because part of me wants to just keep it light and fun and funny.  But we like to be real too.  Especially considering the only way the ones we love and have leaned on, learned from, done life with, and been encouraged by so often are over 8,000 miles away.  The only way you can know how to truly pray is if we choose to be transparent in print. 

"Inshallah" is the word we were warned of.  It means "God willing".  They say it alllll the time and about everything!  Jokingly, it can translate to mean:  "it may or may not happen", or "whenever I get around to helping you", "maybe or maybe not", or "I think I want to go home now, so after you've stood in line for 3 hours waiting on me, I shall CLOSE the gate, please come back tomorrow".  These are just a few examples.  This way of thinking has been somewhat refreshing after a very full and fast paced American way of living with two very active children.  However, this structure loving chic likes a plan.  So far, it has felt good and very "vacation-y".  But towards the end of every vacation,  everyone, or at least the Mama and Daddy are ready for the normal routine.

Our brains are about to explode with constant converting dirhams to dollars, kilometers to miles, centimeters to inches.  NOTHING MAKES SENSE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Calling plans don't exist.  Internet purchasing for your house.....not even close to what we purchase in America.  And when Greg has no idea what they are talking about..... I know....we have a problem! 

These are some of our specific prayer needs right now:

*Our housing placement.  We want to be moved, but if that's not the Lord's will, that we would be content and make the best of it all.

*That we would be able to furnish our entire house with the necessities for 4 on the housing allowance provided.  THIS IS BEYOND OVERWHELMING  and feels IMPOSSIBLE!!! That we would be frugal and able to find the deals in a place we have no clue about!  The language barrier creates even more obstacles!

*Moving to our housing placement.  Once we get our housing allowance, we have only 5 days to be moved.  Our house is 2 hours away and school is starting..........

*Praising the Lord that Greg has a job!!!!!! He is the new 6th grade teacher at the private school our kids will be attending.  Please pray------#1- for Greg!!!  He hasn't taught in a loooooong time!  #2-Hayden and Riley's transition and adjustment to an International school.

*Amy is teaching at an ALL BOYS school.  I AM TERRIFIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (with very good reason) TERRIFIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Enough said....JUST PRAY!!!! :)

*Please pray that  we can come off the "culture shock" and make this our home.  That we will adjust quickly and begin to enjoy, not the glitz and glamour of all that was done to get us here, but reality of our new life. 

We know the Lord has a plan and a work for us to do.  The discomfort and the chaos of our brains and our emotions are clouding our view.  There are moments when we just want something to TASTE the same.  Or, to sit in a familiar restaurant where we can just order the "usual" and look up and see someone we know.  

It's TOUGH STUFF.  We asked for this, right?  We asked the Lord to use us. 

As youth, we prayed with such innocence and passion to be used in mighty ways.  We promised we would follow Him to the ends of the Earth, wherever He leads, we would follow. 

"Remain Faithful--I didn't promise it would be EASY, I promised it would be worth it".  signed-God. 

I've always told the Lord I wanted to be a front-runner in the battle. 

One of my favorite Mandisa songs is "Waiting for Tomorrow".  It talks about not wasting life and my favorite line of all ---"Cause you've made me for so much more than for sitting on the sidelines".  I'm not a sitter!  I'm a game player!  I don't like to sit and watch----- I WANNA PLAY, BE WHERE THE ACTION IS!!!!! Same is true, spiritually.  I wanna be used.  WE want to run this race to the end.  As spectators of the Olympics, we got to see the "Victory Moment".  We didn't see the hours and hours of blood, sweat and tears.  We weren't there for the falls, broken bones, sprains, the confusion, the heated moments between coach and student.  But in the end, from the looks on the medalist's faces....it was worth every second of it! 

I want that!  I pray you want that too!  Wherever God has you, whatever your task is right now.....don't waste it sitting on the sidelines.  Ask the Lord to take CENTERSTAGE! 

Maybe I'm just giving myself the "Youth Camp Pep talk".  I needed the reminder.  :)






 

Enjoying Some Scenery

Here are the views from our hotel:

This is called the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

 Standing at the fountain/pool/beach area at our hotel.  We swam in the Persian Gulf (they call it the Arabian Gulf).

 

More pictures to come when we are out and about during daylight hours! :)

 

Welcome to our NEW HOME!

I'm a few days behind with this blogging thing.  You see,  I would backtrack for you being very specific about days and times, however that would require me to KNOW the days and times of the present as well as those that came before this moment.  We "lost" a day in there somehow and with the time difference and a really bad case of jet lag, I'm doing GREAT to even remember how to open this computer and find the letters!  We are impressed with ourselves that last night, our 4th night in Abu Dhabi, we all actually went to bed at a normal time and woke up at a decent hour (well, actually when the alarm went off telling Amy to get ready for her first day of work! :)). 

The night we arrived, last Thursday, we walked around our new hotel with our mouths on the floor gawking at such grand fanciness.  As Greg put it in a fb post "country done come to town".  Being the good and proper parents we are, we have been prepping the children on not pointing and staring in a foreign place.  ehhh-hhhmmm.... "Mommy quit staring!" said Riley-bug.  Whoops!

At this point, I think it was about 9pm.  On the plane, after 40+ hours of no sleep, I looked at dear, precious, night-owl, love to research and explore hubby and said, "Let's make a pact right now.  When we get there, we are going to BED.  We aren't going exploring until we sleep."  He laughed and nodded, but somehow I knew that wasn't a sufficient pact hand-shake.

We waited for our 9 big-ole bags to be delivered to the room and then, oh yes we did, we called for a taxi and took off.  To where?  I mean, we act like we know where we are and where we were headed!  Riding in a taxi was also a new experience for the kids.  They were very excited....until they discovered the smells inside.  YIKES!!! We also quickly discovered that the drivers apparently don't NEED the blasting cold A/C for driving comfort as we Americans do!!!  HOLY HOTTNESS!!!

We ended up at the Mushif Mall.  Come to find out, restaurants are not located on "Hamburger Alley".  Nor are they freestanding buildings.  They are all located in several story malls.  In which you will also find the local supermarket, LuLu's.  The equivalent of our Walmart (Carrefour) is also in a mall or by itself.  They are very "happening" places to be, especially around 9pm (which is their dinner time) until about 1 in the morning. 

 Hayden and Riley were most excited about the "transport" system of getting the carts around the mall and stores.  Keep in mind, the buggies don't turn, they only slide!   baaahhaaa  I'm going to make a sign for our buggy:  BEWARE: If you get in the way--you WILL get hurt! (in Arabic it may look more like this  __);....___(\;;;___ ) lolol  The lines would be pretty squigglies and dots.  I can't get my computer to do that, but you get the point!

We had an eventful and exciting night.   On the taxi ride home, a couple of us, who shall remain nameless, fell asleep in the cab.:) Finally, all 4 Davidsons got tucked into our new "home" for the next possible 14 days. 

Like I said, that night, we did not sleep long.  Friday, we got up and explored a bit.  By our 4th or 6th taxi ride, Greg was giving the directions to the taxi drivers!  Woohoo!  That's MY MAN!!!  However, it did take us getting snookered by a cabbie taking advantage of those "silly Americans".  But he SHALL NOT BE FOILED AGAIN!  lol  He has already began making his own customized Google map of highlighted places we will need to get to.  How he will be able to conveniently pull this up in the moment of need, is yet to be determined seeing how our awesome iPhone and Droid do not work! hmmmmm..... pulling out the laptop that will melt in this heat is not a foreseeable option. 

Saturday.  Well, not so much to report for this day----seeing how we slept the ENTIRE DAY!!!! ugggghhh..... oh well.... it was needed.  After only being awake for 6 hours, I tried to be a responsible teacher and go to sleep at a decent hour in preparation for my first day on the job.  HA!!!! There was NO sleep to be had!  I was thankful for the energizing adrenaline rush that comes from trying to interpret 23 different languages surrounding me.  I KNEW that somewhere amidst all the babble there was something important for me to know or at least know where to go!  oh geee..... Needless to say, I made us all stay awake until a decent going to bed hour and thankfully we all slept a normal night's sleep!  YAY  to overcoming the jet lag!!!!!  Hopefully, from here on out we will function as normal once again! 
 

Are we on the Amazing Race?

The Amazing Race is our absolute favorite show!  We haven't missed a season or an episode.  Greg and I like to think we are THAT adventersome and could enjoy and survive such a race.  Survive?  Maybe.  Enjoy?  Would that mean each other or the scenery, the different cultures, or the competition?  We've always said we would love to get on the show.  We've both filled out applications for it.  Oh, did I fail to mention that we applied for the show ---but NOT to be partners?!?!  Oh yes.  We decided long ago we would KILL each other on the show!  That's sad, I know....which is why we are thankful that we are not actually racing, nor are we being videotaped along the way! ;)  However, the video footage might make for a more interesting recording of our own version of the Amazing Race for our readers. 

Our first outing in the city, riding in a cab, Greg turned to me and said "I'm glad we watched the Amazing Race.  I can see where it has helped me."  WHAAT??  What did I miss?  I sat next to that man on the same couch for every single episode..... all I recall, is the same chaos surrounds the competitors as it is in our REAL life!!!  All I can say is,  "I'm glad it's working for you buddy.  For me?  NOT SO MUCH!"  I'm the girl that sits down and cries.  (I haven't done that yet, nor do I plan to---but everything within me WANTS to!!)  Okay.  Back to whatever survival mode switch that kicked on in his brain.  By our 3rd cab drive, my man was telling the cab driver where to turn!!!  WHOOT WHOOT!!!  My man is G-O-O-D!!!

I've started this blog twice now, and both times I get way ahead of myself.  We want to make sure we are recording special moments of our journey.  Already, we have experienced many "firsts".  Flying for the kiddos.  Flying Internationally for 3 of us.  Oh, and the airport was quite the adventure for ALL of us!  Try packing 4 people's life for 2 years into 8 suitcases!  We made it into 9 suitcases and 4 backpacks. 

It was pretty easy as long as we had Mama, Daddy and Lou there helping us lugg all of it around!  ha 

               And they're OFF!!!  

What you can't see is Amy sobbing the whole way......................

 

Finally we made it to security.  We tried prepping the kids for the chaos.  Thankfully, we have two very easy children!  Though Riley was smiling in this picture, she had just taken her hands off of her head and said "this is STRESSFUL!"  lol  Bless her.

 

We made it!!! Now time to enjoy our first flight to Chicago. The kids both got window seats so they were happy campers!

 

After a short flight and a whirlwind at the Chicago Airport, we settled in for a 15 hour flight overseas!  The plane was HUGE and full of exciting new things for all of us.  Right off we were handed a menu describing to us our meals.   

  Sure sounds yummy, don't you think?!  WOW!!!  Welcome to your new life Davidsons! Somehow I don't think any of these lines and dots spell out Diet Sunkist, Twizzlers or BACON!!!  However, at 1am we received a nice ice cream treat.  At 4 am we enjoyed a bag of caramel popcorn.  How do I know about these items in the middle of the night, you ask?  BECUASE I DID NOT SLEEP!!!!!!! 

 

Anyhow, there's so many more funny moments and pictures I could share but my blogging goal is to not write an entire novel every time I write.  However, if you are a facebook friend of mine, you may have already seen my most recent post about me not being anywhere close to reaching my word quota.  So, reader BEWARE.....I NEED TO TALK!!! lol

 

After a VERY LONG flight, puffy eyes, swollen ankles and sore bodies we landed in the UAE (8pm Thursday).  Somehow, we missed an entire day.  Though we all were completly exhausted we were excited to see our new "home".  ADEC (Amy's new employer) shuttled us to a very fancy hotel and we were on our own for 2 days!  Eeeeekkk! 

 

Needless to say, we are safe and sound, excited and terrified, exhausted and our bodies are very confused.  We are hoping to catch up on sleep and become "normal" once again.  Stay tuned for more pictures and memorable moments on our journey!   

We Have Arrived!

Good Morning Friends and Family!

WE'RE HERE!!!!!!!

Wow......so much has happened in the last 48 hours that its hard to determine what is newsworthy.......but I'll do my best!  BTW, this is Greg, and my first attempt on the blog, so please forgive me if I don't write quite as creatively as my better half.

I guess I'll start by thanking all of you for loving us so much!  We have been absolutely blown away at how much you love us and take care of us.  We've received literally hundreds of emails, notes, and quick calls......checking on us and sharing your support.  We held a going away party this past Sunday night and we're overwhelmed at the number of you that took time out of your busy schedule to come say goodbye.  I told someone that my encouragement tank was overflowing.......

We can't thank our families enough either.  They have been so supportive from day one and even when they didn't totally understand what God was up to, they supported us and encouraged us to do whatever God was calling us to.

ON WITH THE STORY......

Our flight out of Atlanta departed at 3:40 pm on Wednesday and we arrived in Abu Dhabi on Thursday around 11 am (GA time).  I briefly mentioned this on Facebook, but we definitely felt your prayers Wednesday during check in.  Our flight had two legs, Atlanta to Chicago and Chicago to Abu Dhabi.  The baggage allowance on the international leg was two checked bags, one carry on bag, and one personal item.  The night before departure I called American Airlines to check on baggage allowance for the domestic flight and they informed me that since we were continuing on internationally that we would have the same baggage allowance, but normally we would only get one checked bag, one carry on and one personal item.  Long story short......we got to the airport with eight checked bags and were informed that we would have to pay $200 to get the extra four bags to Chicago...........after a few minutes of discussing........and an attempt to contact customer service...........the agent came over and informed us that she was going to allow the extra bags!  So emotional crisis avoided!  Not to mention..........we saved $200.00!

We had our last goodbyes with Amy's family and headed through security......we no sooner walked to the gate and they were paging us as the last people not on the plane....so we hurriedly walked onto the plane and took off for Chicago.  The kiddos loved it and were so excited that we joked about getting them some Valium.........it was so cute.  Every time, and I mean every time a plane taxied by us......"Look!"

T- 5 Days!

Phewwww...we are worn slap out!  Feet hurt, aching legs, tense shoulders, back aches, broken fingernails, puffy eyes....but hey!  IT'S ALLLLL GOOD! I'm really not complaining....just stating the obvious so that when you look at us, you won't be shocked by our frazzled appearances!:)

It is finally official!  We have received the news we've been anxiously awaiting!  At midnight, on the floor of our completely empty, favorite house the email was opened!  Time stood still.  I think my heart stopped.  The first thing I saw was my passport picture at the top (that's good, it was ME!)  And just a side-note here, apparently the passport pictures are VERY important in this culture seeing how we EACH had to have at least 8 of them printed, cut at that very easy to lose size, and readily available at ANY point! Back to the email.  The next thing I saw was a little bit of English and then a WHOLE LOT of Arabic!  PANIC!!!!!! I scrolled down a bit to the most important tidbit of information.  Accompanied by:  NONE!!!! (in English).  My heart did actually stop this time. 

Frantically, I read. At the bottom, we saw the fine print that stated it could not be displayed properly.  Phewww... holding one's breath for long periods of time while already sleep deprived is NOT recommended.  Hands shaking, I handed my phone to Greg and said "fix this!"  Thankfully, my hubby is a computer goo-roo and figured it all out! 

FINALLY----we got the fully downloaded version and....YES!!!! ALL 4 TICKETS WERE THERE!!!  The breathing began again.  Tears of relief and thankfulness began to flow.  The Lord has so graciously taken care of each detail and so sweetly whispered that every one of our fears of the unknown were in HIS hands.  DO NOT FEAR was a song written and sung over me by a sweet friend many years ago.  It's melody and Truth still flow through my mind at the needed moments.  Through the tears I smiled at my Jesus, because once again I could feel His hands holding me tight, stroking my hair and whispering in my ear "Baby girl, I told you I've got this.  I love you and I AM taking care of everything."  

PEACE.

Now, let the CRAZINESS begin again....or shall I say, continue.  

As of now, both cars are sold and gone.  Departing with the dream car (the Sequoia) was an emotional moment.  We said goodbye to our dog.  We won't talk about how difficult that was!!!!   We have moved out of our favorite house.  A sweet family has already moved in.  We are currently living out of about 10 suitcases at Amy's parents' house in Cartersville.    The funny thing is, Greg mentioned that he was glad he only had to do this "living out of a suitcase thing" for a week.  HA!!!  I quickly reminded him that we will most likely be living out of suitcases for the next 2 months!  He did not appreciate that comment. :)

Needless to say, we are very excited to be given an actual date.  However, the reality of leaving has just slapped us in the face.  For the past month, I have thought of the passage in Luke where Mary had given birth to the baby Jesus.  It said "and she pondered these things in her heart".  As a mama as well, I picture her holding her precious baby and soaking up everything about that little bundle in her arms:  the 10 perfect toes, the long wrinkly fingers, the pudgy little nose, ooh those perfect little lips, breathing patterns and everything about the moment.  I look around, or I look at the people I'm talking to and try to soak in everything about them.  Their smiles, her laugh, the things I love most about them, the taste of the Chic-fil A sweet tea....... everything.  Knowing you've only been given a small window of time changes your perspective.  It causes you to be much more intentional with your time and your conversations.  Sounds kinda like what I've been taught in Sunday School all these years! :)

With that being said.....we don't like goodbyes but we just ask that when you see us this week, please hug us tight and maybe a little longer than usual because we will need that memory to help us get through the tough days of missing you ahead! 

Testing 1-2-3!

Yes, we are STILL here!  We are anxiously waiting the email containing our tickets revealing our departure date. 

I am really writing this entry as a test to see if we are doing this blogging thing correctly!  We want to make sure that this is actually posting in a place people can actually FIND!   I am NOT the most techno-savvy chic out there and I had a moment of panic as I searched for my first entry and couldn't even find us!  Oh gee...... yes, yes I know....we are CRAZY are many levels. 

Anyhow, we have been blessed with another week at home (seeing how the tickets didn't arrive for this week).  We were able to enjoy many lengthy lunch and dinner "meetings" with teachers and families that are living in the UAE right now!  HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!  We already have friends over there and some connections.  We have learned a lot and are working on preparing our hearts and minds for this life change.  We are really trying to get our minds in gear for "Island time" and being flexible flexible flexible.  For a "teacher-mom" who likes structure, hmmmmmm... this will be interesting to say the least.  LOL

Since this is just a test :) I will keep it short.  Please continue to pray for us.  We still have quite a few major decisions to make and aren't guaranteed the time.  Our goal this week is to be living out of suitcases.  Once the tickets arrive, we will have about 4 days until departure!  EEEK! 

Please be praying specifically for Amy :).  Though this week seems to be starting off much better, last week was full of tears and literally walking around the house in circles not knowing where to begin or what to do!  But thankfully Mama Glaze is back in town and she's gonna get this girl in gear!  You might want to add Greg to the prayer list as well, seeing how he has to deal with my sudden sobbing outbursts!  :)

Alright, TEST TEST TEST....sure hope this thing is working!  Hope you can find us, follow along, and enjoy our craziness.  You can ENJOY it b/c you can rest peacfully knowing that it's not YOUR crazy chaos sending you in a whirlwind for today, right?!  Love you!