Brooke and Reese have enjoyed getting to know the neighbor kids better--they spend every moment they're not doing school with these kids. Every day, the lunch bus brings all the elementary and jr. high kids home for an hour, so Reese and Brooke pack a lunch and shoot out the door to eat with the neighbors. Then they hurry and finish their schoolwork by the time the bus drops the kids off after school. Our house is a constant group of girls coming in and going out, busy with their plans. Here they are doing their school work, keeping an eye out for the bus to go by.
There are two American families that we seem to spend most of our time with -- they are both from Indiana, and they knew each other before moving to Saudi. One family even homeschooled in the states! Unfortunately, Brooke is at the age where she is starting to feel "between ages" and isn't sure if she wants to spend all of her time with the younger kids. She has been swimming an hour each evening with the swim team, but her love is in drama.
Jordan is tired of school and would probably be glad to return to homeschooling, except she really wants to prepare for college and thinks this is the best way. She can't believe kids do this EVERY day all year long. She's afraid she won't have any free time for the whole year. She'll have a big decision to make about how much swimming on the swim team she'll be doing with such a heavy school load. She's been swimming approximately two hours after school each evening, and she may have to decide not to swim every day. Please keep her in your prayers, as she makes decisions that will affect her future.
The happiest part of her day, is that she has made a friend at school. This girl even goes to our church! I'm hoping they'll find time outside of school to spend together.
Here are a few pictures from around the compound. These are the back views of our typical townhomes.
Kind of a blurry picture, but don't these bushes remind you of Disney World? I love them!
This is heading towards the main exit of the housing area.
This is outside the housing area.
Below are carports in the parking lot. The cars get so hot during the day that you can burn yourself by touching the wrong thing at the wrong time.
When we came home from our desert Sunday night shopping trip, we found Brooke and Reese had made a make-shift treehouse behind our back wall.
Here's the new barbecue! Bruce put it together and we grilled our first steaks the next night.
Not enough furniture? No problem. The company will rent furniture to its employees for a small fee each month. The movers are bringing in the furniture -- free delivery!
See the little holes at the bottom of the wall? Well Brooke stuck the hose through the hole to fill up the creek bed behind our house. She and Reese had fun playing in it... I guess they miss the Georgia creeks.
Muddy feet.
I took Reese to the urgent care to get an antibiotic. I was the only mother there who wasn't wearing an abaya.
An Arabian toilet...
Or you have the choice of an American toilet.
Here's a cute little Arab family leaving the doctor's office.
Here we are waiting for the prescription. If you look in the distance, you'll see the men's waiting room on the other side of that white wall.
Brooke got word that the jr. high was putting on a play called the Pirates of Penzance and had an audition after school on desert Wednesday. She is hoping they'll let her be in the play even though she's homeschooled. We'll find out! Here she is at the audition.
Here is the drama teacher who will be leading the audition.
Jordan needed some pictures to play with in her Photo in Design class, and I liked this one.
She took this picture of her dad...
And turned it into this.
Here's her Arabic homework. Can you see her name at the top of the paper?
The kids found a kitten in one of the nearby parks and begged me to let them keep it. The three blond kids are our friends from Indiana. Jonathon is 12, Kathryn is 9, and Grace, who is holding the kitten, is 8. They live around the corner from us.
I wouldn't let them keep the kitten because I could tell that it was someone's pet and was well cared for. In spite of many tears, it was taken back to the park and we haven't seen it since then.
Thanks for stopping by our blog!
-- Pattie --
