December 23 - Sand Sledding

Out here in the desert, since there's no snow, and it's not really very cold, the Westerners find another way to get in the spirit of Christmas.  The weekend before Christmas, we were invited to caravan out to the desert for almost an hour drive to go sand sledding!  The road was terrible, covered with pot holes, and the sand had blown completely across it in some places.  We left at noon and stayed until sunset, fortunately getting home and back through the worst of the roads before it was too dark.  But we had a BLAST!  This was the most fun we have had here since we arrived.

Here are some pictures of the desert as we drove there.

Here's our caravan, travelling together from the compound.

We like to think these are Bedouin camps.

Here's a picture of one that I found on the web.

Camels.

Sand is completely covering our lane on the road.

More camels.

Sand is covering both lanes of the road.

We're finally here.

Brooke found a camel hoof print.

When we climbed up on the bluff, we couldn't believe what we saw...

We didn't know it yet, but this is what we came for!
Watch the SUV...

... and it's is gone!

We drove around, parked on the road, and walked up to join the crowd of ex-pats.  There was a dead camel on the side of the road!  Here, Reese is carrying our cardboard sled.

Despite the casts on both of Brooke's arms, she's scrambling up the dune before I could give her a word of warning.  At least we found two long socks and slipped them over her casts before she ran off.

People grabbed whatever they could to ride down, and others just ran down.  Brooke is the one riding down.

Here I'm cooking a hot dog for lunch.

Someone brought a rope which we used to help us climb up.

We found that some sleds moved more slowly than others.  Here Jordan discovered that the plastic sled just inched along in the sand.

Reese and her friends are running down.

Here is Reese at the bottom.

Brooke is dragging her casts behind her, while her passenger has abandoned ship.

Here a vehicle is going down.

Brooke, again, dragging her casts.

Bruce decided to try it, but needed a little push from Jordan.

Reese is giving him a push now.

Nope... didn't work.  So Jordan decided to roll down.

One of the faster sledding devices was a dish.  I decided to try this one.

The only problem with the dish is that it spins and goes down backwards!  

I had to slow myself down to avoid that.

Nine of us piled into Jason's SUV to go for a wild ride through the desert.  I couldn't capture the feelings we had as we bounced and spun around on the sand.  The six kids were screaming as we drove up and down the dunes, not knowing what was ahead, hoping we wouldn't get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

This is my favorite picture of the sand.

We've just come down a steep dune and you can see the sand pouring off the back end of the car in front of us.

Brooke, Morgan, and Rylynn are at it again.

Getting their goggles on straight.

"Ouch, my stomach hurts... I shouldn't have just drank that soda!"

Someone brought a Christmas tree and put it up on the dune for picture-taking.

Here goes Kaylee...

Here goes Rylynn...

Here goes Brooke...

Here goes Morgan...

Jordan with sisters, Danielle and Claire.

Reese and Kathryn.

Here goes Reese!

Wipe out!

And.... Brooke is going again.

Near the end of the day, a strange Saudi man with a REALLY LOUD truck drove all around the dunes making an annoying noise.  At one point, he tried to get two of the teenage girls into his truck until a father interrupted him!

One of the SUVs got stuck, but they got it free again.

The kids were enjoying hot dogs and marshmallows.

In spite of all the sand that Brooke got in her casts, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves today!  This was an experience that we will always remember!

- Pattie -

December 22 - Christmas Parties

Brooke slept well, and reluctantly finished her math lesson today.  She is looking forward to Rylynn's Christmas party tonight.  Rilynn's sister is home from boarding school.  Most high school kids here go to boarding schools, but they all come home for winter break and everyone has parties and get-togethers for all of the kids.  Rylynn's house is my favorite... decorated so beautifully with all of the lights.

Rylynn can't believe Brooke really broke her writsts... and both of them!  She feels terrible.

Kimberly looks like she's been in the kitchen preparing for this party all day!

Brooke's friends are signing her casts.

The rest of us went to a Christmas party where 400 people were invited!  I didn't know there were any houses here that are big enough for that many people at one time.

They had Santa hand gifts out to the children by the pool.

Here is a cookie tree!

At the side of the patio we could get a shawarma.

There was even a choir singing Christmas carols.

On the grass, there was a lighted tent for the children.  Reese and Grace look like they are enjoying a nice little tea party on the pillows...

...but behind them were boys yelling, throwing pillows, and fighting, and the girls just sat and ignored them as if they weren't there... too funny.

Jordan and I sat by the fire and enjoyed the warmth while we ate.

Here is the chocolate fountain.  I didn't see a child who didn't have chocolate dripped down their clothing.

We had a wonderful time getting to know people and enjoying all the good food.  We're looking forward to Christmas in a couple of days.  We've been told that tomorrow a group of people are going sand sledding... we don't know what that is, but we'll try to join them.  

It's just as easy here to get caught up in all the fun activities and forget the real reason for Christmas.  I hope you all have time to slow down and give God the glory for the precious gift he has given us!

- Love, Pattie -