Here We Go....Year #2!

On your mark.....get set....GO!!!!

Well.....we didn't quite start back so energetically!  Jet lag KICKED OUR TAILS!!!!  We've been back for 3 weeks now, and it was only this last week that we are feeling back to normal and sleeping at the proper times. 

We are back in the UAE ready to begin year #2!  It's hard to believe we've already been here a year! 

So much has taken place:
       Greg and I survived our first year teaching internationally................  
              6 new countries stamped into our passports.......
                   Arabic doesn't sound QUITE so foreign, shocking or ANGRY to us anymore.....
                           Roundabouts and constant honking DO NOT cause panic attacks any longer....
                                  We don't think 90 degrees F is quite so hot anymore.......
                                         Amy has earned a Master's degree in CHARADES!!!.....
                                               Hayden claims to be part Indonesian........
                                                     Riley is on her way to China (or so she says)..........
         Amy has also learned the art of LOOKING like she understands what is going on while actually having NO CLUE what is actually happening :)
                   Hayden can also speak a bit of Indonesian.........
                          Riley is working on her Afrikaans.............
                               We have enjoyed regularly worshipping with people from all over the world and hearing the Lord's Prayer spoken in many different languages every Friday..............
                                         We now know that all major supermarkets "flip the store around" every night and are no longer thrown into a tizzy when we can't find what was on isle 24 yesterday is now on isle 13............
                             The radars on the side of the road catch you quicker than cops pulling you over (whoops).......
                                                                               
                                                 and much MUCH MORE.

We are excited to be much more prepared this time around!  After bringing 16 bags back with us.....Amy has quite a few more resources to use while teaching! 

Do you see it?!! Who can name my FAVORITE things in this picture? :)

 If you know me WELL, you know that a new box of crayons and fresh markers make me HAPPY HAPPY HAAAAPPPY!!!  Thank you Walmart RollBack prices for helping me bring color magic to the UAE!  I've been saying for a year "My boys would enjoy coloring and drawing if only they knew what REAL markers and crayons were like!!"
 Hip Hip Hooray! I just hope my 20 packs of fun last a year! :)

This year, I have the joy of teaching the same 2 sections of ALL BOYS!  I looped with my 3rd graders and will now teach them in grade 4!  I've never taught grade 4 before....but hey, when you're on an adventure....why not make it ALL a new adventure, right?!?!  My two sections, 4C and 4D are as different as night and day.  One section is very verbal and full of life and personality.  Most of them know all of their letters and numbers and can even write sentences in English.  At the end of last year, I was able to introduce the beginning concepts of Writing Workshop with 5 of them!  This year, I hope to challenge them at greater lengths, expanding their vocabulary and their writing, thinking and creating abilities.  Fun times are ahead!!! :) 

I am thankful that this year it will not take me 1.5 months to figure out their names.  I already know my 7 Zayed's and 5 Mohammeds.  :) I also know how to pronounce Helal correctly enough now that it's not going to take me until Term 3 to realize the reason he never LOOKED at me, much less responded to me was because I wasn't saying his name correctly!

My goal this year is to implement more Arabic into my classroom. My job is to teach English, Math and Science.  However, I learned rather quickly last year that if I want to know what is going on at this school each day---I better learn some Arabic. :) 
 My boys loved trying to teach me Arabic last year so I am going to try to teach them what a good student looks like by being one myself.  I have MUCH MORE sympathy for them when they whine "Miss Miss, English hard" ( poking out their lip and giving me sad puppy dog eyes with their big beautiful brown eyes and LONG eyelashes).  I did not get my feelings hurt when they laughed at my Arabic writing rather than praise my efforts!  :)  I am growing THICKER skin in this country (another valuable lesson I am learning while overseas)!  We DID however pause for a mini-character lesson at that point.  :)  "I don't make fun of you when you mess up your English. You don't make fun of me when I mess up my Arabic. Got it?! Hamdilya (Good). Shukran. (Thank You)"


Since being back, SOMEONE special turned the big 12!!!!  This picture makes him look much older to me, something my heart is not prepared for!  He "graduated" to the Youth Group at our church and is excited about being older and more mature ( as he regularly informs us). ha!  After his 1st youth meeting event, he jumped in the car and announced that he learned that he is no longer a KID.  WHHHHAAAAT?!?!?! Maybe we should yank him out and put him back in the children's ministry for another year?!?!  lol 

Already, the Lord has answered some prayers of others as well as our own.  The day we took them back to Manor Hall to register them for this year we were told that the Lord brought us through that door at the perfect moment.  Manor Hall got a new Elementary Principal this year and his kids are struggling to adjust.  As the Lord would have it, Hayden and their son hit it off immediately and have been inseparable since!  It turns out, the family is from SC, loves baseball and football AND lives right down the street from us!  The cool thing is, Hayden was in need of a good guy friend to live close by since we moved away from his buddy at the old house.  The Lord is good to us and takes care of ALL of our needs! 

We now have a 6th grader and a 5th grader in our family!  Where has the time gone?  They are both excited about their new teachers and their classes.  Riley has a man teacher for the first time and is super excited about it now (after being a  bit nervous at first)!  HG is most excited about getting a locker and carrying the key on a lanyard (oh Berry college memories...flippin that thing around like we were important or something lol).  He is also excited about being in ADVANCED Arabic!  The kid amazes us as he reads the Arabic signs going down the road.  Oh how Greg and I wish we were young and could soak up a new language "just like that"! 

Greg and Hayden are anxiously awaiting baseball season to start again!  Greg's job this year will be coaching baseball and  instructing  private lessons.  Since Atlanta sent the largest number of teachers overseas to teach this year, we have already met a lot of baseball lovers and UGA fans!  Home doesn't seem quite so far away when you can walk through the world's largest mall and hear "Go Dawgs. Sic 'em"  Hopefully, the league will continue to grow and Greg will be able to recruit more and more players.  Dubai Little League offered us a sanity and familiarity that "saved us" last year.  Greg and Hayden are itching to get their feet on the mound and feel at home again. 

We say all that to say, our 2nd year is off to a fabulous start! 

Stay tuned for more adventures............ :)

 

God Bless the U.S.A.!

After a year of living in the Sandbox, we were finally able to go home to America for a rather quick visit.  It was a fast and furious kind of holiday, but it was well worth the many miles traveled across the South. 

We had quite the adventure trying to actually GET to the U.S., but finally, after 10 days of trying to get on a plane we did it! 



 

 We definitely enjoyed our fill of great American SOUTHERN foods!!!!

  

 As soon as we got home, we basically jumped into the car and drove clear across the South to the great state of Texas (which, by the way---over here, as soon as I open my mouth these people think I (Amy) am from Texas :)). Six people crammed into a car and a hotel room (2 of which being two little giggling girls who haven't seen each other in a VERY LONG time) for 5 days made for QUICK family bonding time!!! :)

beans 'n cornbread.......

True Southern Comfort food....

Praise the Lord for bacon and all things PORK!!!

 
 
 FUN TIMES WITH VERY MISSED COUSINS...FAMILY....and  FRIENDS!

.....of Course we had to hit up a BRAVES game!

 

 While in Florida, we were blessed to be able to be with Pappy for his deacon ordination service.  It was a very special night honoring such a godly man, a man who loves Jesus and serves Christ and others so selflessly!

Fun memories made with the Florida family!  HG made his very first trip around the lake on skis this year! 



It felt so good to be reunited with my sisters again!

 The summer was especially full of game nights, Phase 10 (yes, even in the car) and COLD diet Sunkists from gas stations!  You never realize what you took for granted until you don't have access to it anymore! 


 To someone's disappointment..... (that would be Belock's) two little "niece and nephew's" were as tall as her!!!!!  hahahah  We love our Aunt B!!!!! :




 




While the girls were in Texas, the boys reunited with the old team for a tournament. 

America, it was good to see you again! We were so blessed to see as many of you as we did.  We were in need of the hugs, laughs, encouragement and family/friend time!  Thank you for loving us, having us in your homes, and taking the time to hang out with us.  We also want to say thank you for continuing to follow us on our journey! 

Our time at home was necessary and good for the soul.  However, it made coming back harder on Hayden and Riley.  Halfway through our time in the U.S. it became apparent to us that we were going to have a tough few weeks/months ahead in regards to our kids being more homesick now than ever before.  Please continue to pray for us as we RE-adjust to living on the other side.  The new, the adrenaline rush, the excitement of a brand new adventure has worn off after a year.  This time they knew what they were coming back to and more than anything, they wanted to stay home.  :( 

We have been here for 3 weeks now and are getting back to normal.  :)  Please continue to pray for us and for them.  Thank you for loving us! 

We can't wait to see everyone again next year!  (HG already has the countdown going in case anyone needs to know!)