Bags Are Packed!

The kids and I are headed out, 
It's been a lot of fun, no doubt.
Adventures, tears, and lots of fun,
And definitely a lot of sun!
The dust storms we will never forget,
We are more than ready to get on that jet.
Camels, maids, burqas, and sand,
These are just a few of the memories at hand.
KLL sure kept us grounded,
Baseball 10 months of the year in Kuwait? We were astounded!
Worked at the Embassy with my husband, Matt,
I'm sure he is glad he is finished with that!
We say farewell to friends with tears in our eyes,
We should be good by now at all these goodbyes.
America,  we are finally on our way,
We hope that you are ready for us to stay!  

Last Day of Work

I waited to the last minute to have my picture made with Ambassador and Mrs. Tueller.  I ended my last day of work at the Children's Medal Recognition Ceremony for those children at the Embassy who had a parent that was on an unaccompanied tour (State Dept. version of a deployment).  The Tueller's are a lovely couple and it was fun getting to work with them so closely on events throughout the year!  

Here are a few other pics around the office...  The first one is of Betty and I with the maid that cleaned our office every day.  She has worked at the Embassy for over 15 years!  Her family, including grandchildren, are all in India.  She cried when I told her goodbye and I don't even know her all that well.  Her English is very limited, but she understood she wouldn't see me anymore and she pointed to heaven with tears in her eyes.  Heart breaking!  

This is the library portion of the office. My desk is off in a room attached near the door.  We have so many books in there they are falling off the shelves.  People constantly donate them and others come to see what they can find - kind of like a library, but not a monitored one because we have 10,000 other things to occupy our time.  Hopefully, the summer intern can get them back to being organized!  

That's all I got!

Same Ole' Story

Not going to miss this,  AT ALL.

 

I'll never get a picture that does the sand storms any justice, but trust me - they are not fun!  This year has been SO much worse than last year and it's making it all the more easy to say goodbye.  It blows in your house, gets in your ears, hurts your eyes, and is generally miserable.  Lucky for us, it's in the forecast for the next 3 days.  Yippee!  I won't be surprised if school is cancelled in the morning...  6 more sleeps and we are outta here!

Emotions in Full Swing!

As much as I am ready to move, I always hate saying goodbye.  I think that's the absolute hardest part of being a military spouse.  I have made a lot of good friends in Kuwait - from ALL over the world.  It sometimes blows my mind to think of a little girl growing up her whole life in AR and then living the life I have in the last 16 years. My eyes have forever been opened to the needs of the other parts of the world.  I honestly believe I will come back one day, on a mission trip.  I was always bored to death when they talked about missions at church when I was growing up, but now I have seen it first hand and it is a reality to me.

Today, we said goodbye to Kumari.  I tried to keep it light, but it wasn't light at all.  As much as I'm looking forward to having our own house back again with just the 5 of us, I am heart broken for her.  I've been prepping the kids for the long anticipated event.  Last night, as Jordyn took her bath, I told her (again) that today was the last day we would see Kumari.   I think it finally hit her.  She looked up and said, "forever?"  I replied "probably so."  She said, "well, we can just talk to her on the computer and call her on the phone on her birthday and at Christmas!"  If only it were that easy.  Kumari doesn't have a computer and when she goes back to Sri Lanka (hopefully in November), we won't have her phone number.  We may very well lose all contact with her.  As far as the actual saying goodbye, Jordyn took it great and she was the one I was worried about.  She gave her a hug and then asked us both why we had "drips" in our eyes.  Landen bit his lip, but he didn't cry - I think he wanted to, but he's growing up.  Hayden, poor little guy, he cried hard.   I didn't see that one coming... he's the one who never says a word, usually because he can't between Landen and Jordyn talking!

So, keep Kumari and her two girls in your prayers.  She will forever be in our hearts....  This explains my feelings for today.  I found it on facebook from a friend and couldn't resist!

I know you won't find this as funny as I do, but I had to share!!  I find it hilarious!

It's Happening!

I can't think of a better Mother's Day Present.  You know what I got?  A day full of packing out my house!  Most women would think that sounds terrible, but I've waited 5 long years to pack out and move back to America.  AMERICA!  It honestly doesn't even feel real to me.

They weigh it as it is put on the truck, instead of weighing the truck before and after!  

I'm so excited to go back and shop at the grocery store where I KNOW the products, I'm excited to go into a restroom and not have maids staring at me, I'm excited to have a house without someone else living with me, I'm excited for there to only be a 2 hour time difference with my parents when I talk to them on the phone, I'm excited to be able to text my sister without it costing a fortune, I'm excited to drive where the people follow the rules (for the most part), I'm excited to get involved in a church again and for me children to know what it is like to get up every Sunday morning and worship God.  I'm excited about lots of little things that I always took for granted growing up.  I'm excited to spend a few days at Christmas with my family.  Can't believe it's been 5 years since we have done that.  I'm excited to be able to buy a Mother's Day card and celebrate the 4th of July with fireworks!!  It's going to be a good year.

The boys are excited to play football.  American football.  They are thrilled at the thought of going to school where everyone speaks English (and I'm guessing quite a bit of Spanish!).  Landen is already begging to finish High School in Las Vegas and we haven't even gotten moved yet.  I pray they enjoy it as much as they think they are going to.  Jordyn was playing with her toys yesterday.  There were four areas and she told me where each of them were:  Las Vegas, Kuwait, Arkansas, and China.  I would never have known to say that when I was 5 years old!  She is excited to move to a place where there are blonde headed people.  Hayden doesn't say a whole lot, but he does ask how many more days until we leave.  The question he asked me the other day was about how long it would take to get something if we ordered off of Amazon.  He was amazed that we would probably be able to just go to the store and buy it!  And if we do order it, it will only be a few days, as opposed to 2 or 3 weeks (minimum.)

I'm anxious for my sweet maid, Kumari.  She has found another family to move in with and I hope they are good to her.  Please keep her in your prayers as she is wanting to move back to Sri Lanka to be back with her girls in November.  I hope she does because those girls are growing up and she hasn't been able to be there with them on a daily basis.  I hope we can stay in contact with her, though I am doubtful.  We had a box returned to us today of some stuff I had mailed to her girls in November 2010.  YEP!!  2010 and today is May 2012.  I'm not surprised the girls didn't get it, but I am surprised it was returned to us after all that time in the postal system!  Kumari has cried several days and I know it is hard for her to see me bouncing around the house with a smile on my face.  It almost makes me feel guilty for leaving.  She will forever be in our hearts.

Only 2 1/2 weeks of work left and 3 1/2 weeks of school for the kids.  This is getting real.  My house may be empty, but my heart is full!

Ketchup - again.

I haven't blogged in SO long that the whole format has changed and I've got to figure out how to make a post!  I know I don't have any readers left at this point, but thought since I only have a few weeks left of overseas living, I would try to make a few posts between now and then.

Dinner at the Kuwait Towers!  It's closed for renovation now, so we got lucky!

Love this!

Ketchup:  mom and dad came and I was so happy they got to see what it has been like for us the last 2 years.  They were fascinated with just the things I thought they would be - people watching, grocery store products, and how big the city is.   They got to watch the kids play baseball, tour the Grand Mosque, and meet Kumari.  The flight was long, but I was super proud of them for coming all the way over here to see us.  Mom said that they must REALLY love me!  I've never doubted that.  I think she was super relieved when I took her back to the airport to go home.  She survived!  

On another note, Las Vegas became official and we decided to take ourselves a little house hunting trip over Spring Break!  We found a house (3200+ SF, 5 BR,  with a pool!) and all has gone well with the appraisal and inspection.  Get this, the seller requested we close on May 25th.  May 25th!!!  Happy Anniversary to Matt and I!  We'll take it.  We did have one little hiccup in our trip.  We were packed and ready for the airport with one last night of sleep and Landen wakes up at midnight sick.  I mean so SICK he left a trail from the bed to the bathroom.  I can just gag sitting her thinking about it.  After that it was all a blur of Matt and I trying to clean it up (while getting sick ourselves) and requesting a new hotel room.  After a switch of rooms in the middle of the night, we switched hotels so that we would have an extra bathroom in case it hit the rest of us the next morning.  Needless to say, we couldn't get on the flight and had to reschedule.  Long story short, the bug hit Hayden two days later and we didn't fly out until 4 days afterward.  It wasn't the best ending to the trip.

Landen batting with the Burge Khalifa in the background

Kuwait Seniors Team being goofy

We got back JUST IN TIME to go to Dubai for the boys baseball tournaments.  Hayden was selected to play with the 9 & 10 year olds and Landen played with the Seniors.  I have to brag, just turning 13 and he got to play with the big boys, while some of the 14 and 15 year olds played with the Juniors.  Proud Mom and Dad!  Hayden played awesome at catcher - I think that might be his calling.  Landen played outfield and caught some awesome fly balls with diving catches.  The Minors didn't have much luck (lost every game by only one or two runs) and the Seniors went 2 and 2 (losing one game by one run.)  We stayed after and enjoyed Ski Dubai, Wild Wadi water park, and seeing the sites of Dubai.   Great times for all 5 of us!

My favorite picture of the tournament.  Landen was on 3rd and Saud hit a Grand Slam.  He ran home and this is when he realized Saud hit it over.  He jumped a mile!!

Hayden at Catcher

Kuwait Minors Team

Family Picture with Dubai Skyline.  Landen is as tall as me this year!  

Work is going well and my last day is in 3 more weeks.  Woo HOO!!  I can't help but walk around with a huge SMILE on my face right now.  I've waited for this for 5 long, incredible, adventurous, emotional years.  I hope America is everything I remembered it to be.  CANNOT wait to get on that plane!