Orange Beach

The day after Bran and Kate's wedding, myself and the kids loaded up in our car, along with my mom who was gracious enough to ride with me, and we headed to Orange Beach, Alabama.  Brooks had to return to Saudi for 4 work days in order to receive our overseas benefits, only to turn around and fly back to the states to start his new job in Borger, TX.  If you ask me.. it was a STUPID, unnecessary trip, but the benefits FAR exceeded the inconvenience it was going to put on Brooks, who had just gotten over jet lag and basically "moved back already" as well as kept us away from him.  But, you do what you have to do even if it's something you don't want to.  

My sister in law, Anna and her two kids decided to come meet us and spent the week in Orange Beach with us.  After driving 8 LONG hours in the car, we finally arrived, after I got pulled over for "speeding".  I was literally going 3-5 miles over, but again, whatever!  My mom talked the officer out of it by telling him a long story of us just moving home from oversees, being in Arkansas, going to Alabama, but from Louisiana, and moving to Texas.  The officer respectfully let us go!  WOo hoo!    My kids were so excited to see their cousins and kept hugging each other the first hour they were together.

We decided to spend the week how ever the kids wanted.  When they wanted to swim, we went swimming.  When they wanted to go to the beach, we went to the beach.  The weather was iffy the whole time we were there, so we did spend some time shopping at the local outlet mall, took the kids to the movies, and ate at a few favorite restaurants!  The kids LOVE playing outside Lulu's restaurant and had a blast playing in the massive sand box!  

One morning we went to a Princess and Pirate Breakfast at another local restaurant.  Brooklyn was so excited to see the Princess walking around and the boys enjoyed dressing up as pirates during their meal.  After they ate, they got to go on a treasure hunt and found "gold".

This restaurant had a massive sand box outside so we let the kids play and hang out until they told us they had had enough.  To our surprise, the kids wanted to jump on the trampolines and even were adventurous in their playtime.

BEACH TIME!!!

Thankfully when the weather got really gloomy and the wind was blowing too hard to stay outside, my parents condo has an indoor pool!  Perfect for keeping the kids entertained and having fun!

I always love going to Orange Beach and getting to relax and watch my kids have fun out in the sun (or inside, too).  Another successful trip to OB with the family!  Next up on our summer trip- Lake Charles.  Finally, no more traveling (at least for a little while)

Arkansas and the WEDDING!!!

Anytime we fly to the USA we always struggle with jet lag.  We knew this was going to be an issue, but also knew we really, really needed to get over it fast since Brooks' brothers wedding was in a few days.  Gavin was the ring bearer, Brooks and I were in the wedding, and there were a lot of wedding festivities going on that we all needed to be alert, awake, functioning, and apart of!  Generally, our kids usually get sick the first week back, too so I prayed for weeks leading up to this time that they wouldn't catch any cold or anything at least for a few weeks!  Praise the Lord no one got sick and we had a great time hanging out at Brooks' moms place!  Mim and Pop came and visited, we played outside and enjoyed the tree house Brooks built, and slept a lot, too.  

Our time at Missie's was fast since we headed up to Solgoahachi where Bran and Kate were getting married and helped in the preparations!

The rehearsal dinner was at a local pizza restaurant that is similar to the TOM's shoes concept only with pizza.  For every pizza that is purchased, the restaurant donates food to a village in another country.  It was really cool and the reason Brandon and Kate wanted to have their rehearsal dinner there!  After dinner, every one went up to the mountain for the rehearsal.  The wedding was outside so Brandon built a stage as the alter and for the wedding attendants to stand on.  It was really, really neat.

Gavin was in the wedding as the ring bearer and during the rehearsal he decided to do a forward roll as he went down the aisle.  He said he was a ninja!  Brooks and I were shocked.  Everyone else just laughed.  We then spent a majority of our conversations there after telling Gavin to keep both of his feet on the ground the whole time when he walked.   After practice, everyone a part of the wedding party, family, and friends gathered together for dessert and enjoyed a sweet time of sharing stories and encouragement to Brandon and Kate.

The morning of the wedding, Kate's mom hosted all Kate's bridesmaids for a breakfast at their home and then all the girls were able to get dressed together.  Mrs. Missie and I were apart of the festivities and enjoyed watching Kate on her wedding day.  

Thanks to my mom and my sister in laws, my boys had precious, matching outfits for the ceremony, and Brooklyn got to wear her first "real" dress up dress!  They were so excited to see Uncle Bran and spend his day with him!  Bran and Kate did a first look reveal together before the ceremony and it was priceless to watch from a distance.  All I kept thinking was, "Thank you Jesus for letting Brandon get to this day in his life!"  The ceremony was beautiful and you could sense the Holy Spirits presence.  Two of the most powerful moments during the ceremony came when Brandon spoke the words In Sickness and in Health.  Those words were filled with meaning and struck every heart of every person sitting in the crowd.  After a moment of worship during the ceremony and Bran and Kate exchanging their vows they became husband and wife!  What a glorious day!

 

 

Flying Home

May 18, 2013: The night we left Saudi our trip started the same way it normally did when we'd fly cross country, except this time, we weren't flying Qatar and we weren't flying directly to Houston.  This meant we didn't have to leave our house at 2am, but instead 10pm.  After the hour and a half drive to the airport, and myself crying uncontrollably the entire drive, we arrived and got checked in.  The boys were tired and pretty much slept, but Brooklyn was interested in seeing what was going on.  This really helped make things easy for Brooks and I especially since I was so emotional from just telling all of our friends goodbye.  We hung out in the Lounge since we were flying Business Class (one of the incentives when moving is the company provides you with a Business Class ticket your first flight over to Saudi and your last flight home-- this was actually something we were so looking forward to).  

   

We ended up flying KLM and our first flight was EASY.  We all slept great for the 6 hour flight to Amsterdam and woke up just before landing.  Business class seats are AWESOME!! We knew we had a layover so we went looking for coffee, breakfast, and the kids playground to let them burn some energy before boarding our next flight.  Brooks and I were still tired and I was still emotional, but we managed to play with the kids and have some fun.  I felt like I was in a daze the whole time.  All I kept thinking was, "was our time in Saudi really over?"  At some point, I remember asking Brooks about what time it was and when were we suppose to board and I just went along with the info he gave me.  After a while we thought it was time to get our bags and head to our gate.  We figured we'd be early and they wouldn't be boarding yet, but at least we'd be near the gate.  When we arrived at the gate we noticed people were boarding.  We were confused, but got in line anyways.  Eventually, we noticed one of the monitors said the flight was going to San Francisco, NOT Atlanta.  We were confused.  We got to the ticket agent and handed them our tickets only to be informed we had missed our flight 45 minutes ago.  We were shocked and stunned and upset and frustrated and had every type of emotion you could think of.  Apparently, when we arrived in Amsterdam we forgot there was a time change and just went off our own watches and ended up missing our flight.  The playground was so far from the gate that we never had a chance of hearing any of the pages they sent for our family over the intercoms.   So, we were rushed to a transfer desk and were put on the next flight to Atlanta, Georgia, which just so happened to be an hour and 15 minutes later.  Thank you Jesus.  We were so grateful that if we had to miss our flight, there was still an international flight for us to make that day!  

The flight to Atlanta was alright.  I say that because there were only enough business seats for 3 of us and 2 seats in economy comfort (they are in coach, but have extra leg room).  Nothing like finally getting your business class gift tickets from the company and not getting to use them!  BIG BUMMER!  Brooks made the decision that Brooklyn, myself, and Gavin would take the business class seats and he and Miles would hang out in coach.  I think Brooks' only saving grace was that Miles had his car seat during the flight, which kept Miles somewhat contained.  The flight attendants all knew our situation and allowed Brooks and Miles to hang out in Business class with us a few times, get snacks from our cabin, and just relax.  At some point, Brooklyn went to the back with Brooks and I kept Miles. All the kids did great flying and were entertained for the most part.  It wasn't our normal 14 hour flight, instead just 9 hours so it felt like a piece of cake!  We eventually landed in Atlanta, only to find out that the President had just flown into the airport, causing the entire airport to shut down, delaying flights for most of the day along with bad weather delays.  We weren't going to miss our Atlanta to Little Rock flight since we already had a long layover scheduled, YAY!  Who am I kidding?  Our flight kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed until I was starting to look for local hotels thinking we weren't going to get to fly out until the morning... we eventually left Atlanta around 9pm after we all took naps laid out on the airport chairs.  That flight was nothing- only about an hour and half (I think) and the kids were all sleeping- Thank you Jesus!  The ordeal in Atlanta was discouraging, but all I could think was we now live in the USA!  If this is what we have to go through to be here now, so be it!  

We finally arrived in Little Rock and were greeted by Uncle Bran, who was getting married in 3 days!!  

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

The day we left Saudi we got to celebrate Jacob Asher's first birthday (even though he still hasn't turned 1 yet).  We were so excited to be apart of this special time in his life and were so grateful Steph was willing to throw his party early and on the same day they arrived back from vacation.  It was a fun time to spend with Jacob and I still can't believe he's almost 1.  We loved watching Jacob with all his friends at the party and our kids had a blast partying with the birthday boy.  He was so big crawling around to everyone and knew it was his party!  I couldn't imagine not making Jake's first birthday cake, but his party was the same day we were flying home.  I don't remember whether I begged Steph to let me make his cake or if she asked, but either way, I kept some of my cake decorating supplies and worked on making his cake the day before.  It was a fun cake to make and I'm glad it worked out!!  Happy Birthday sweet boy.  We love you so much and have loved watching you grow up this past year.  We're going to miss seeing you everyday.  

Packing and Moving

While I was blogging about our last days in Saudi I forgot to share about our actual packing and moving experience.  In reality, from the time we were told Brooks got the job in Borger, we had 4 weeks until we left the Kingdom, but 2 weeks until the movers came and packed up our house.  We had to ship our stuff out of the country while we were still living there due to visas and paperwork.  Within a few days of Brooks accepting the job, the moving company sent someone out to access our home and determine the amount of packing supplies that would be needed and also got measurements of anything glass, large frames, pictures, and delicate items.  The company would build crates for these items to be shipped in later.  Perfect!  

The first thing I did was purge.  To be honest, I had started purging things months before since I knew moving was a strong possibility and it really helped my mental sanity as the days got closer.   I set up a room in our house with everything I was planning on leaving behind and let our close friends come through and take what they wanted.  We had a moving sale where people from our compound came by and purchased items- it's amazing the things people want because they don't have easy access to get it in Saudi.  Anything that was left I gave to our workers and drivers.  They were so grateful and appreciative. 

After purging, I had to determine what we would need to live with for the two weeks AFTER the packers took all our stuff and all of those things HAD to fit in 10 suitcases since that's all we could take on the airplane.  In those 10 suitcases was everything we needed for the entire summer (including our 12 night Mediterranean Cruise).  So, I literally packed 10 suitcases about 3 weeks before we moved because anything that was left after the movers and that didn't fit into our suitcases meant it was getting left and that was the important stuff!  Thankfully, our villa came furnished with furniture and kitchen items and our friends were sweet to offer up towels, DVD players, pot holders, high chairs, pack n plays, and various other household needs to make our last two weeks manageable.  This allowed us to pack and ship most all our belongings.

Next up was determining what would go in our air shipment and what was sea shipment.  We pretty much had everything situated and divided up so when the packers came we could say this goes, this stays, this is air, and this is sea.  I used painters tape and marked off things that were to be left (we sold some furniture and house items, but were wanting to use them up until we left Saudi.)  This system worked really well for the most part.  When the movers came, there was a misunderstanding as to whether Brooks got one or two air shipments (one being personal and one for office).  Because of this, they decided to pack our air shipment on day 2.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  I'll explain that further down.  

Day 1 of packing consisted of the movers (3 men) leisurely arriving around 10am, slowly walking through the house, assessing all the rooms, hearing my instructions of what not to touch, and then unloading their packing supplies.  Around 11:30am, when Brooks arrived to handle some paperwork and other needs, they began packing.  All was well until I realized we forgot to unplug some electronics that we wanted put in the air shipment and then realized we needed the remote controls only to find out they were in 1 of the 5 boxes the packers had already packed, taped up, and labeled.  Oops.  I made them open each box until we found what we needed and moved it to the air shipment pile.  The men took a lunch break from 12:30-2:00pm and continued working until 4:00pm.  They then spent the last 30-45 minutes of the day taking all the boxes they packed and loaded them onto the truck to be brought   back to the port.  Wow- a whopping 24 boxes were packed day 1.  I then realized it was going to be a LOOOONG week of packing.

**Micah and Steph were out of town while we were packing up so Ivie, our nanny, kept Brooklyn and Miles at their house to let them play and take naps without being in the middle of things.  Gavin got to spend every day after school at his friend Devin's house and LOVED the extra time together.  Brooks went into work around 5am-10am and then came home while the movers were working.  This really helped things run smoothly and I was able to keep organizing things when needed.  

Day 2 wasn't that different.  The same men arrived a little after 10am and had our air shipment discrepancies worked out and were ready to pack the two air shipments.  For air, you receive a certain weight allotment so the men packed up what I set aside for our air shipment and weighed the 2 boxes.  We were then told we still had 250lbs worth of air.  That was great news!  Except, as I started going around the house to pull things to put in, I realized almost EVERYTHING I wanted to put and had been packed on day 1 and taken away.  UGH.  There was nothing we could do then, so I just started putting random things in- more towels, blankets, toys, games, sewing machine (incase we'd get our air shipment in early and I'd be bored, I would have something to do).  It all worked out and 6 boxes later our air shipment was completed.  

The men continued packing during the day, took their long lunch break, and then worked a few more hours, SLOWLY, and were up to 60 boxes at the end of day 2.  The kids ended up at the house before the movers left and got to climb on the boxes, helped load the truck, and were amazed at what was happening.  

Day 3 was the same as day 2, but a little faster.  I think the men realized they still had a lot to do and picked up the pace.  At this point, we started realizing not all of our stuff was going to fit into our 20ft container and we had to prioritize things. The workers were leaving all of our big items for the last day and were "estimating" what there was room for.  I was standing my ground on some stuff and refusing to leave certain pieces of furniture behind.  After LOTS and LOTS of worrying and figuring stuff out, I started selling things to neighbors to minimize what was left, but still see if the remaining items could fit.  We just didn't know.  Day 3 was stressful for me and not at all enjoyable.  The idea of that day ending and not knowing if the rest of our house belongings were going to go was nerve racking.  We finished the day with 112  boxes.

Day 4 began bright and early, 9:45am, and the workers went to town.  They started wrapping our mattress, furniture, mirrors, frames, and more.   Poor guys, the more they packed, the more it seemed they had to do.  Their lunch break only lasted 30 minute this day, it's about time, and they continued to work.  I got very emotional at lunch when I realized the movers were almost done and it meant we were actually moving and doing this.  I called two of my friends to come over and just be some support.  It was nice not being alone during this time.  Of all days, Brooks couldn't leave work and be at home was this day.  The packers didn't finish until 6pm and I only had 1 breakdown of the day.  It came when they told me our changing table wasn't going to make it.  That changing table is 35 years old and was me and my brothers.  I REFUSED to not let it go.  They eventually started packing items inside of it and it got on the truck.  Next, they told us our leather recliner, Brooklyn's crib, and a Saudi cabinet couldn't go.  We said, it's all going, do whatever you have to do to get it on the truck!  They ended up taking our recliner apart and made it into a ball for more room, they put parts of the crib inside our Saudi cabinet, and found other ways to maximize space.   The day ended well and most of our house stuff got packed.  What was left, I just had to say, it is was it is and remove any emotional attachments to things.  I watched the truck pull away with tears in my eyes realizing our journey in Saudi was about to end!