To Everything There Is a Season

I love fall, at least I loved it in the States.  This is my 4th fall here and I become melancholic each year.  One year I  begged for my sisters to send me pictures of leaves and mountains.  I received pictures and more.  Bless my sister Katie, she even sent me a box of leaves gathered from her yard and mailed across the ocean.  I cried when I opened the box and inhaled the scent of leaves and dirt.  I kept them and used them again the following year.  I still have them, but they are not displayable, except perhaps for potpourri.  It seems that here I have become more aware of the seasons and what I like and dislike about them because they are generally very different in this desert.

I so miss the changing of the seasons from hot summer into cool fall.  Each autumn as the breezes picked up a slight chill  a wave of nostalgia would  hit  me signaling a change in my life.  It meant the starting of a new school year and new adventures to come either as I went to school or later as I sent the kids to school.  It meant the last trip to Bear Lake for the season, and the oncoming canning season at Mom’s and Dad’s and the harvest of the garden.  (I never succeeded in canning on my own.)

However, our last trip to Bear Lake now usually means it is almost time for us to leave the States and head back to Saudi, where it is still hot and humid.  While  you in the States are donning your jackets for cooler weather, we are finally grateful for cooler weather here so we can leave our houses and enjoy the outside, un-air conditioned air. 

Fall still means heading back to school, Joseph in 5th grade at the elementary, Josh in 11th  at the high school off camp, and this year my baby Jordan entered kindergarten.  Last year, I remember visiting Jordan’s preschool where the teacher was reading them a story about visiting “the farm” in the fall.  The story could have been about my parents’ home.  The lump in my throat grew as they talked of picking apples from the trees, choosing pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns and harvesting other crops in the garden.  I had to squelch it down rather than try to explain why I was crying about a picture book of Mr. Jones’ farm.   I longed to see the leaves, choose a pumpkin for carving, and taste the fresh apple juice from home grown apples. 

As I left her class, I was feeling rather sorry for myself.  Or at least I tried for a few moments to justify my oncoming depression.  But the Lord is kind and opened my eyes and heart.  I felt the sun shining on me, a gentle breeze blowing and beautiful scenes before me I hadn’t appreciated before.  Yes, the seasons are very different here.  And yes, I miss the sights and smells of autumn.  But as I try to appreciate where I am and what I have here, I am blessed with a sense of gratitude.  Both places are  good and I feel appreciative to have experienced them both.  That said, if anyone sees any silk  autumn leaves, gather some up for me, will you?  Here are a few pictures of how we are experiencing the fall season this year.

Though not the traditional fall colors, I found other beautiful colors on our camp.  These bougainvillaea plants come in pinks, white, red, an orange here.  They are planted on several streets and in most yards.  

My brothers would probably say this would never come close to qualifying as a "mountain", and it isn't ablaze with fall color.  But it is the best we've got.   It is called a "jebel" which is an Arabic word meaning "mountain, hill, or slope." It probably qualifies as a slope.  

 Here is my fall "harvest".  This is a large open fruit and vegetable market where I go to buy produce from around the world.  Some days I get some good deals, some days I just wish I could go to a US supermarket as it depends on the time of year, the time of day as to what will be there.

Here I am at the market looking for pumpkins for carving.  They are not very orange, but after much searching, I found some that are suitable for carving.  One of the grocery stores does have some large orange ones shipped in from the US.  But when I compare 3 SR ($.80)/kilo to 30 ($8/kilo) I can handle the color.  And out in the open air it is a little more like going to the farm! The men helping me couldn't quite figure out why I kept trying to stand them all up to see if they balanced by themselves.  I thought better of trying to explain to them what I wanted them for. 

This is taken from inside the grade school. 
Someone drew this jack-o-lantern in the humidity on the glass door.

Joseph In the Spotlight

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Joseph was drafted to be a part of a tournament team that played in Kuwait.  He and Jon drove over with another family, about a 4 hour drive from Saudi.  They left on Wednesday and came back on Friday.  Joseph's team played 3 games.  They didn't win, but had a great time.

Joseph pitched the entire first game, a total of 80 pitches.  The next game, the same day, he was catcher.  That night at dinner he was so tired he fell asleep at the table at Chili's.

Playing Shortstop.  Lookin' pretty cool too!

The Kuwait Tournament Team

MATTRESS SLIDING: HANG TEN DUDE!

Shortly after we moved to Saudi, Jordan grew out of her crib and we purchased an adjustable bed for her from IKEA.  Now, on a normal shopping day, in a normal shopping way, in a normal shopping country, we could have purchased the mattress to go with the bed.  However, shopping here is anything but normal  First, you have to shop between prayer times, then you have to hope that what you want is actually in stock and not on back order for months, and, that despite some language barriers, they know what you are actually asking for.  This particular day of shopping had its drawbacks. We found the bed we wanted, and it was in stock, (yippee); we were rushing because it was almost prayer time and the store would close for 30-40 minutes, during which time, we could, (A)Stay in the store, but not check out (B)Leave the store without our purchase, (some stores make you leave, others lock you in and you can't leave), (C)Rush to the checkout counter at the 10 minute warning to make our purchase and get out of there.  (Yes, most of  the fun is taken out of shopping with these constraints.) 

We chose "C" which meant that we had to go and find the bed we wanted in the self-help isle and make our purchase.  Before we left for self-help (which most westerners need at some point to deal with their frustrations over shopping here), we asked about the mattress that went with the bed.  To add to our stress of leaving, we were told that no mattresses were in stock, nor would be for 6 months.  And what good is a bed without a mattress?!?  However, we were on our way now, so we purchased the bed and left the store.  Luckily we found that the mattress we were issued for her crib (a rental from the company) fit the width of the bed and the length of the mattress still fit her legs.  That story brings us up to date.  Her legs no longer fit the bed and the the "high quality" crib mattress has a divet for her dainty derriere from which she was complaining from back pain, not a common complaint for a five year old. So we decided to try IKEA again to determine if the mattress was in stock--our fear being that after 2 1/2 years, they had come back in to stock, gone out of stock, and now were possibly obsolete. 

And so Jon took a drive.  Often our shopping is done by the two of us--me home with the kids as I cannot drive off camp, on the phone with Jon describing to him what we need.  After several calls with me on one end taking measurements from her bed and him on the other end comparing those measurements (after converting them from inches to centimeters) to the mattresses IKEA had in stock,  he determined the best fit (often decisions are made not on the "right" choice, but on the "best" choice with what is available).  Jon came home with the mattress and switched out the old mattress which he leaned against a wall until it could be returned to "furniture warehouse"  where we can rent furniture from the company. 

Seeing the mattress out of place in the hallway, reminded Joseph of a favorite past time activity.  One he enjoyed so much that he wrote a story about it in 1st grade,  which is included below.  He decided to relive the memory and proceeded to begin removing the bedding from his and Josh's beds so as to get to the mattresses.  He paused only a moment when I reminded them that all beds would need to be remade, ultimately, deciding the work was worth the fun (Jordan's begging helped also); he tore the beds apart and removed the mattresses.  Included below are pictures of the "correct mattress sliding clothing" and live-action, narrated video from the night's activities. 

I even took a slide myself and quite enjoyed it; I would have liked it to last a bit longer.  As would have the kids liked their fun to continue.  But, of course, it had to end sometime.  I helped Joseph and Jordan return the mattresses to the correct rooms and remake the beds.  However, in doing this, I made an alarming discovery.  Josh now needed a new mattress.  I realized he has had the mattress for several years; included in those years are a move across the ocean and being used in the sport of mattress sliding.  It has proved its usefulness.  And so the process begins again.  This time, though, we need an American standard mattress to fit his twin size bed.  Where to get one is the question!  But for the meantime, we have found a good use for the mattress without a bed.   

                                                            Mattress Sliding

One awesome afternoon me and my brother went to my room and sat on my bed. We were bored... absolutely bored! Then my brother had an idea. We had two mattress on my bed. We put both of them on the stairs. Then we were sliding on them.Then my sister came. The mattresses covered the stairs so we had to grab the railing to get up.  We were flying down the stairs! Then my brother Josh yelled "Toss me some pillows!" I threw him two and he also got some more. He put them at the bottom of the stairs. My dad started videoing us. We did some more rides then we got socks on. I put on white socks then I thought , "nope, not them." Then I saw some socks that were blue and really, really slippery. Then I

I was thirsty so I got a bit of tang. I just saw a jacket. I put it on and went to the top of the slide and went down. It was awesome! Then I acted like I was skate boarding or snow boarding down the the mattresses then I went on my belly. Then I ran and jumped and went flying into the air! When I hit the bottom, "thump!" Then my sister came. My sister did a somersault down the stairs! But right before that my dad turned off the camera. We went down again and again and when my brother goes down I go right after him because when he grabs onto the top of the mattresses I grab onto his feet and climb on him like  he's a rope. And then my mom made us clean it up, but tomorrow I will do it again. But first I have to do my jobs! Maybe or maybe not? It's a secret ha ha ha!

                       

                                                                           The End   

The proper clothing for mattress sliding should be cotton socks, a polyester shirt and flannel pants.


Below are videos Joseph took while he was sliding and of Jordan sliding. 

Keep on Slidin'!

Family Fame

Remember the Run, Baby, Run post? Well, Jordan got famous from it! She was on the front cover of the monthly magazine that comes out to our community!

On the next page of the magazine the was a small paragraph about Jordan getting a gold medal for the second year in a row and has Joseph's name listed in the fastest boy from 9-10 years old.

Run, Baby, Run!

Each year one of the running clubs on camp holds a "youth run."  Jojo and Jordan participated last year. Jordan was so excited over the whole thing that all year long she kept asking when that race was going to be.  They both ran again this year and did really well.

Jordan won 1st place in her 4 and under age group with 5 girls participating in the 100M sprint.  She was quite concerned beforehand and kept asking, "What if I don't win?"  We tried to convince her it was just for fun, but after taking the gold last year, she didn't want any less.

Joseph ran a 4x100M relay.  His team was really behind with him on the last leg; he brought them up to a loss of only about 6 inches for 2nd place.  He won his age group for the individual 200M dash.

  

Joseph and Jordan waiting to race. 

Jordan coming to the finish line, with a smile as usual.

Jordan receiving her gold medal.

Joseph coming to the finish line on the 200M dash.

Joseph, gold medalist for the 200M dash along with silver and bronze winners.

Joseph with his silver medal international relay team  from Utah and Texas, USA, and Jordan.