Reflecting on life in Doha

Life has definitely gotten more busy in the last couple of months.  I think I have finally completely adjusted to our new lives here.  It certainly took me longer than I expected!  Ken and the boys adjusted much faster than I did - but Ken had his work and the boys had their schools and after school activities.  What did I have?  A new start for sure! 

I've been reflecting a lot about my first year here and wondering what am I going to tell people this summer when they ask "what is Doha like?"  I'm really giving it some thought and hoping that someday I'll be able to share them here on this blog.  For now, it's just a scrambled up mish mash of notes on a post-it (really a pad of paper, because post-its are hard to find here, but you get the idea).  Things I've jotted down are - crazy driving, amazing diversity, compassion I didn't know I possessed, drawing closer to the Lord, lessons upon lessons from the book of Acts, ... like I said, I'm working on it with the hope to share in the future.  God has definitely stretched me and shaped me as a result of my time here and it's only been 1 year.  We still have another ~ year and a half to go.  I can't even image what's in store!

So back to life getting busy around here... enjoy the stories and pictures!

Nicholas had his pre-school assessment at the American School a few weeks ago.  I was shocked by the sheer volume of children.  He was one of maybe 25 kids assessed in a group and there were multiple groups of children.  They accept ~120 children in pre-school and it’s VERY difficult to secure a spot.  ExxonMobil is one of the main sponsors of the school and so we get moved to the top of the list.  Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t get into the school.  It’s a crazy good school which is why there are wait lists for every grade every year.  So they took Nicholas into a large room with the other children for the assessment.  Parents aren’t allowed inside.  He came out all smiles and when I asked him what did you do he said, “just some puzzles.”  Me:  “were they hard?”  Nicholas:  “no, they were easy peasy!  I think they were hard for the other kids, but not for me, because I’m so smart!”  I laughed and laughed!!!  I think maybe we’ve told our children a few too many times how smart they are … maybe we need to work on teaching humility!  So funny!  After the assessment, I treated Nicholas to a date with mommy – he chose McDonald’s and the little roller coasters at the Jungle Zone.  (Side note - we already got our acceptance to ASD for next year, so the boys will be in the same school!  Yeah!!!)

Nicholas' favorite ride at the Jungle Zone ... after his pre-school assessment



More rides at the Jungle Zone ... Nicholas ALWAYS picks the blue vehicle.



The following week, Jaden had a day off school for teacher conferences.  That same day, Nicholas had a foreign language concert at school (Nicholas is learning Mandarin).  Jaden was invited to a friend's house to play and I asked him which he wanted to do?  Play at your friend's house or go to Nicholas' concert?  His response was SO SWEET!!!  I adore my children!!  He thought for just a second and said, "I want to go to Nicholas' concert because I can always have a play date with my friend, but Nicholas' concert only happens this one time." 

So Jaden and I spent the morning doing a bit of shopping, riding the rides at the Jungle Zone and then headed off to Nicholas' concert.  It was a perfect morning ... until traffic!!!  I was SO MAD!!!  We left early to make sure we would get a seat for the concert and had PLENTLY of time under normal circumstances ... even gave myself extra time because you never know what the traffic might throw you in this city (they often shut things down without any advance notice).  It's generally a 15 minute drive to his school.  I gave us 35 minutes to get there ... it took us 40 minutes to get through 1 stinking round about!!!  I was SO FRUSTRATED!!!!  We missed Nicholas' part of the concert - he had gone first.  Jaden and I were both in tears!!!!  The teachers are still working on getting me a copy of the video so we can see it.  Everyone said he did AMAZING!  I have no doubt.  I'll share the video when I get it.  Here are a few pictures from the day...



I think Jaden is getting a bit too big for these little rides, but he was a good sport and still seemed to enjoy it

Jaden's favorite ride - drops you from the ceiling.  You can see these places are never very crowded.  We could ride the rides over and over again.  No other children in sight.

Nicholas after his concert with his teacher Ms. Sonia

Nicholas and Jaden after the concert

Nicholas with his Mandarin teacher Ms. Ray



Other than these big events, we've been busy with playdates and entertaining at our house.  I'm embarrassed to say we just had our first dinner party last weekend.  I still can't believe it took me so long to want to have guests.  We ALWAYS had people over to our house back in Houston.  We loved using our house for church functions, stamping parties, ladies nights, children's play dates, dinner with friends,  .... any reason to have people over was good enough for me.  It was nice to start that here.  Better late than never right?

 Alright ... time to head to school.  I volunteer in Jaden's class on Thursdays and have to run.  Have a very blessed weekend - I'll be attending a women's retreat this weekend and can't wait to hear the message.  The guest speaker came to our weekly bible study yesterday and she is AMAZING!!!!!