Not Better…Just Different

As a child I would sit with a globe and give it a spin.  I would let my finger glide across the surface with my eyes closed, and when it would stop spinning I would look to see where my finger had landed.   I dreamed I would one day see places around the world.  My dream of travel continued through my teen years, and slowly it became just a wish and a thought.  I never imagined the direction that my life would go one day.  I married young, had our boys young, went to and completed college during this time too.  Then as you all know, life just has a way of taking over.  Diapers, chasing babies, working, cleaning house, community activities, etc…It all becomes a blur.  Then one day we faced the decision of totally changing our lives forever.  We took a leap of faith and followed the opportunity for Clint's career to advance….this meant a move internationally!

We went from rural country living in Texas with 21 acres, 2 dogs, 2 show heifers, a tractor, a travel trailer, Friday Night Lights in our small town, Sunday morning church singing in the choir, and crickets chirping under a starry sky to living in the city of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (aka the Land of Sand).  We now live in a beautiful villa (also known as a townhouse) in a gated community, with a pool and a small yard, access to a small private beach, multicultural community-work-school-friends, with the ability to travel this side of the world, tall buildings, hustle and bustle of city life, church on Fridays, camels passing in trucks, language barriers, and character building adjustments.

I get asked every time we go home to Texas during the summer if we no longer call Texas home?  Of course not!!!  Texas will always be HOME!  I also get asked if our life is better over here?  I always answer with, "It's not better…it's just different." I am a country girl at heart, and we miss our slower paced country way of living BUT while we are here we need to take advantage of the things that are here or nearby.  We know that once we return to our beautiful Texas home, travel will return to being very difficult to accomplish.  It is extremely expensive, as many of you know, to go anywhere from the U.S.  I have now set a new goal…. Upon our return, we will travel to places in the U.S.  Our nation has such a plethora of landmarks, historical sites, unique destinations, and out of the way places.  It would be a shame not to see them.

We have counted our blessings that we have had such a great opportunity to experience the things we have so far, and met the people we have met.  We will continue to enjoy God's blessings and creations within this great big world while we can.  When the time comes to return HOME, we will return with memories that were made, new friendships, and knowledge gained from our time abroad.  God is in control of this journey…and He is the best travel agent!

It's Hard to Believe

It's hard to believe that my oldest baby is 17.

It's hard to believe that he is a junior in high school.

It's hard to believe that we are discussing colleges for real and not just as a thought of the future.

It's hard to believe that we only have a year and a half left as a family of 5 when booking flights or being seated at a restaurants.

It's hard to believe that my baby boy is almost a man.

It's hard to believe that before long his choices will not require our say so or input.

It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly….I blinked…I only blinked.

It's hard to believe that my rosey cheeked, tan baby boy is now a handsome young man.

It's hard to believe that he has gone from only seeing Texas as a boy to seeing the world as a teen.

It's hard to believe that my husband and I, with the help of our almighty God, has raised such a respectful, responsible, reliable, intelligent, and genuine young man.

It's hard to believe any of these things…..Although we have just 18 more months before he ventures out on his own, I will try not to blink to fast. I will try to cherish every moment between now and June 2017.  I will hug him and squeeze him as much and as often as I can because all of these things are….

HARD TO BELIEVE!

Christmas …No Hype, just Happiness!

It happens every year…. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas Sale, Santa Special…. Then we also see commercial after commercial on TV about the latest and greatest gadgets and toys.  The kids go nuts for one thing or another, and what do we as parents want to do?  Make them happy and save money..right?  So we play into the hands of the commercialism.  As parents we strive to do better, provide more, and give more than our parents did for us.  That is what we should do, BUT….where do we draw the line?  What do we promote more, materialism or quality of life?  

Don't misunderstand me….wanting things is ok, getting things we want is ok, and being excited about being able to provide things that are wanted is understandable and ok.  It is just very easy to succumb to the materialistic side of the holidays.  My hubby and I were guilty of this ourselves.  We both come from meager beginnings.  Neither of us grew up with a silver spoon in our mouths.  We both understand sacrifice, doing without, needs trump wants, and times are tight, as well as wallets, very well.  I believe my hubby actually understands these things even more than I do.  As children he thought my family had plenty of money, at least compared to what he knew.  His mom, my wonderful mother in law, always worked hard and provided for their needs but it was extremely difficult to provide the wants.  She would when she could but it was a hard road back then.  She instilled in him a strong work ethic and that has definitely seen him through life and contributed to who he is today.  My family was not well off by any means but we had many of our wants above and beyond just our needs being met.  Yet my sisters and I were still very grounded and understood just how difficult things could be for our parents.  We saw the days of beans and rice because they were cheap and went further than other food items in the stores, but also saw days of eating out at local restaurants and getting a treat at the store.  I tell you all of this just to lead up to this…. Every generation that is able to improve their lifestyle or station in life above what they grew up in, takes with them the memories of their childhood…their missing necessities…their longing for wants.  These memories play a part in what influences our choices for our own children.  We want our own children to not know the feeling of longing, hunger, sadness, embarrassment, etc.. that can sometimes come from the experiences we remember from childhood.  We only want our children to remember the good times, the fun times, the satisfaction, and the feeling of fulfillment.  

We aren't wrong for wanting these things for our children, BUT if we stop and think about the times we did without or had less, we will see how much we learned from these experiences.  I know that I did.  I learned to see the world from a different perspective.  I learned to see what can truly bring happiness in life.  Lasting happiness doesn't come from material things or money….it buys moments of happiness, that in the end will leave you longing for the next thing to replace that happy feeling with as it fades.  My hubby and I noticed how off course things were going when our boys were very young.  Every Christmas, we would be planning and saving to get them all the things we thought they would want.  We would buy gifts and then I would notice that I might have spent more on one than the other OR that one had more gifts to unwrap than the others.  It became a situation of "keep everything even and fair".  Then before we knew it the dollar amount spent started growing and becoming obnoxiously overwhelming.  I stopped and thought, "why are we spending so much money on THINGS?  Things that they will be excited about for a day…."  While this was on my mind, I stopped to visit one of my closest friends, and I told her what was on my heart and mind.  She shared with me the best idea that day (she had been doing this for awhile), and we have stuck with it ever since.  I changed the idea slightly but the premise is the same.  This is what she and I discussed that day…. Christmas is a holiday that celebrates the birth of our Savior, the King, JESUS!  We grow up our entire lives learning that HE is the REASON for the SEASON, and that when anything becomes more important than HIM, we are worshipping or following the wrong things.  We discussed the story of His birth and how even He received gifts for entering this world.  How many gifts did He receive? 3…He received just 3 gifts.  Not 10, not 20, not how many did you get….3.  So, if 3 gifts were enough for our King, the Savior, how could 3 gifts not be enough for our boys?  That's just it, 3 is plenty.  From that Christmas forward there were 3 gifts under the tree for each of them.  At the time of this decision, all three of our boys knew that Santa was not real. (GASP!!  I know…don't stop believing!)  They all came to the decision on their own.  So they understood.  I sat them down one day and explained the story of the birth of Jesus to them for probably the 100th time in their young lives, and then explained that from then on they too would only receive 3 gifts plus their stocking items.  At first they did not like the idea, but then I said, "wait a second, if it was good enough for our Lord, isn't good enough for you too?"  I got replies of "yes", "true", "ok momma we understand", and "makes sense".  It wasn't a difficult adjustment for them. Expectations and precendence were settled in advance, and they had a great Christmas!  They have ever since…they aren't lacking in any area of their lives.  

They are now 17, 13, and 12….they definitely have received most of their wants but we are hoping that we have also taught them that it is ok to do without those wants (This doesn't mean that they like it, but who does?).  We hope that it has also taught them to weigh the importance of those wants by being patient and taking time to think about them, making sure that they choose their wish list items well.  For example, the newest gadget out right now, is the hoverboard.  My two youngest jumped on the band wagon, and really wanted them.  They told me that they wanted them for Christmas.  I said "we will see."  A few weeks later, they each came to me at separate times and told me that they had changed their minds, it was a waste of money.  (Yea!!! I was glad they made that decision…I really didn't want to get them one.)  I hope that we have planted the seeds in them that will continue to grow, that wants and things are sometimes just HYPE and do not lead to lasting HAPPINESS.  So going forward I hope that you will choose HAPPINESS over HYPE!  


Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us in the Land of Sand!

Life is busy….Prioritize!

It has been a VERY long time since I last updated my blog, so I figured it was time.  Life has been super busy!  I know that life is just a busy situation for everyone really.  The day to day, in and out, come and go…zoom, zoom, zoom…at least that is how I feel.  I have been going non-stop since we returned from our summer vacation in Texas.  We returned to the Land of Sand with school quickly beginning after we landed.  This meant school events, homework, and friends for the boys, and work for me.  Up next, the beginning of baseball season (Ball is life in this family…LOL!). As I mentioned before, baseball season is November to April for us because this is the coolest time of the year. All the while I am taking cake orders for every weekend, which actually means I prepare and plan all week. So as you can see we have been busy, busy…… Let me expound on even more of what we have been doing over the past few months.

Joshua and Denver both took class trips during the school's Week Without Walls (WWW) unit.  This is a unique opportunity that we have been blessed to have been a part of since we moved here in 2013. It is tied to the grade level curriculum, and in the weeks leading up to the trip, each student is researching-studying-preparing a project/speech that is tied to the history/culture of the place they will travel to.  Joshua's 8th grade class traveled to Thailand for a trip over the history and culture but also with an added element of community service.  Denver's 6th grade class traveled to Greece, which made Joshua a little jealous since his 6th grade and 7th grade WWW trips were to Turkey.  Joshua was a little miffed that they changed the trip options after his class had moved on….LOL, who hasn't been through that in some way in their life?

Clay has also made his third service trip since being in high school here.  His 9th grade year he went to Nepal, 10th grade to Tanzania, and then this year he went to India.  The India trip was with Habitat for Humanity.  They were to build homes while in India but huge storms impeded that process.  It flooded the area and they were unable to do any construction work, so the service portion turned into relief aid service.  They bagged 400+ bags of rice, and then delivered them to the people their in the town.  The airport was also flooded, so in order to get back home, they had to take a 9 hour bus ride to another city with an airport.  Then they flew to Mumbai to catch another flight to Abu Dhabi.  They saw lots of the countryside of India, but was glad to be home and glad not to have to eat rice for another meal.

I made the decision to take a break from taking on more cake orders.  Clint was so glad when I made this announcement.  He would never have asked me to do this because he knows this is something I enjoy doing.  He and I had just had a conversation about why he had recently decided to put some of his personal goals on the back burner.  His motivation for making this decision was realizing that our boys are growing so fast.  These are years that we will never get back.  He decided he would rather be here now in the present, enjoying as much of our boys' lives as possible before they venture off on their own.  This is coming all too soon actually….Clay will be a senior next school year!! So I thought about what he said, and realized I could totally respect that decision.  I took inventory of how things were progressing for my own life and realized that I was occupying a lot of my free time with cakes for other people.  I do enjoy making others happy, and getting to be creative with their birthday or celebration cakes, but I was missing a lot of Clay's baseball games.  I don't like missing my boys' games.  The boys play on the weekends and that seems to be when most people need their cakes.  I told my closest friends here that I would do occasional orders for them but that I would not be looking for new customers for a while.  Life is too short to fill it with things that over shadow your most important assets…your children and your spouse!  (It does feel a little strange to not have cake orders on the calendar….)

We hosted our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving dinner for Clint's office co-workers.  I cook traditional southern Thanksgiving food for everyone, and what is so neat is that it is a multicultural mix of people. We had the privilege of sharing our home with families from Hungary, Venezuala, India, America, and Columbia.  I believe it is a true form of Thanksgiving, sharing what you have been blessed with, with others.  We deep fried two turkeys and that is always a hit with everyone.  The deep fryer always impresses those from other countries that have never heard of deep frying a whole turkey.  Our home was filled with the laughter of friends and children.  It was truly a day of being thankful for friends, food, life, jobs, family, and opportunities.  God has blessed us!

It is now December, and Christmas will be here in just a few days. The tree is up, and sparkling in all its glory!  We are about to begin the Christmas break from school….three weeks of relaxation!  As we begin the break, Clint, Joshua, and Denver will take off to Bangkok, Thailand for a baseball tournament.  (I told you ball is life in this house!)  I still marvel at all the amazing experiences we have had since moving here.  Baseball tournaments in Kuwait, Phillipines, Thailand, Qatar, and Dubai….Amazing!  They will return a couple of days before Christmas day, and then we will spend time together enjoying a small Christmas dinner in our home celebrating the birth of our Lord!

Life is busy so we must prioritize!  We must choose those things that are most in important in life over things that can be postponed or that are not crucial to your survival.  Family is more important than creativity or career goals, and memories can only be created if you are present to make them.  So prioritize your life, and leave room for memories!  I hope to have more to share after the 3 week break….hoping to experience some things here in the Land of Sand that we haven't had the chance to do yet!  Stay tuned!!!!

Positive or Negative

I have always been the type of person that sees the good in someone or at least tries to find their good side.  I am not saying this to brag on myself….just simply explaining who I am.  My life is not perfect.  It is not full of rainbows and perfect weather. I am not perfect, but I am perfectly imperfect.  There are days that I am grouchy and not much fun to be around, but I honestly try not to have too many of those types of days.  Here's my point…..

No matter what comes my way in life, I do TRY to face it with positivity.

Throughout my life, my positive outlook on life, people, and the world, has been a puzzle to many.  They do not understand how I can remain positive in such a sad, depressing time that we live in today.  It is not easy!  I sit and scroll through Facebook postings, and one after another they are filled with messages of hate, despair, cruelty, war, inhumanity, defamation, sadness, etc.. I could go on and on….  And on every single one of these posts the comments are filled with bitterness and anger as well the occasional comment that desperately is trying to shed light on how people should be behaving during these times.  I am one of those types of people….  I just can't understand how people can be so hard-hearted and cruel!  It's just not in my nature.  I have tried to be disgruntled and angry but all that does is make me ashamed of my behavior.  I want everyone to put aside their differences, no matter what those differences may be, and just see each other for a moment as a brother or a sister, a parent, or a trusted friend.  I want everyone to practice the old adage of "Do unto others, what you would have done unto you".  I promise you that is not a difficult way to live!  Just do it even when it isn't easy to do!  Open the door for someone, return the found wallet, be courteous everywhere you go and to everyone you meet, use kind words, smile at strangers, etc… These little things add up!

These are the things I would like to see, but they are sadly not what we see!  Instead we see back bighting, racism, destruction, murder, tears, cries for help falling on deaf ears, vanity, and fears.  I have the solution, but so many refuse to accept…..  Refuse to believe… Refuse to trust….they just refuse.  I am not the first to claim it or say it.  It is not my original idea.  It is not even new.  The solution to an open, loving heart is God.  I will never understand why people would rather choose a life of darkness (negativity) over a life of light (positivity).  I will never understand why someone would prefer to feel the heaviness of despair rather than the lightness of hope.  There is no charge, it is FREE!  The debt was paid thousands of years ago….all you have to do is take it!  Stop refusing, and start accepting, believing and trusting….even if it is the hardest thing you have ever done.  You will be glad that you did…your heart will feel happier and your shoulders will feel lighter.  

I challenge you to try this activity for a week….I am not saying that at the end of this week your life's problems will be magically solved or that you will never experience anger, sadness, or disappointment ever again, but just try it and see if you don't at least feel better inside.  So here is what I want you to do: Smile at a stranger.  Help someone that needs assistance without them asking for help. Say hello to everyone. Do not post anything that will incite hate or anger on Facebook.  Do not comment on anything in a negative way.  Be kind, helpful, pleasant, and loving.  Do all this without expecting anything in return.  Continue this behavior even when it is not received well, do it anyway!  I promise you that you will see a difference within yourself!  (Before I end this posting let me just say, we are all human and we are prone to anger and venting…it is ok to vent!  Sometimes we have to "vent, to release the internal pressure" before we self-destruct.  Just be sure you vent in a way that is healthy and not harmful to yourself or anyone around you.)  

May God bless you and keep you for all your days!

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33)

“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”(2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Spring Fed Water Fun and Land of Sand Return

Summer of 2015 is coming to an end.  We ended our school year just about a month and half ago, then immediately set off for Texas.  We were all ready for a little taste of home Texas home!  The weather back home is usually very comparable to the weather in the Land of Sand, but due to the abnormal amount of rain received this year in the East Texas the temperatures were nice, warm but nice!  It was in the high 90's (farenheit) every day and the evenings were cooler with a nice breeze.  Lovely!  All the while back here in the Land of Sand they were dealing with 120F+….Yikes!!

This summer must have been a very busy time for everyone because although my oldest had plenty of time with his friends, my two younger boys were not so lucky.  Where my youngest saw his two closest friends a few times, my 2nd born did not see his at all.  He did see a couple of church friends during their week at church camp and he had a blast there, but his two closest friends were unavailable. One of them moved to another city the same weekend we arrived back in Texas, and his other friend's family was just SUPER busy!  I am very proud of the behavior and attitude of my two youngest.  When they could have been super whiney and disgruntled, they were helpful and understanding instead.  That made it much more bearable for this momma!

We saw friends and family as much as we could and then due to some unforeseen expenses we decided to cut our Texas visit short by two weeks.  It is very expensive trying to live in two countries at the same time, especially when you return to your home state to find you have to spend money on new tires for your very large 3/4 ton truck, a large deposit on electricity when you didn't have to do that the year before, a hotel expense due to no electricity because of a mix up with the electric company (and you need electricity for the AC in the summer in TX), plus trying to entertain everyone….the $$$ add up quickly!  So it was determined that it would be more cost effective to change our flights and join my hubby back in the Land of Sand (he was really missing us anyway, so this brightened his outlook..LOL).

So our last fun activity before packing up and catching a plane back to the sweltering Land of Sand heat, was an outing to a local East Texas family-fun spot called Camp Tonkawa.  Camp Tonkawa was at one time a Boy Scout camp.  For many years the location sat unused after the Boy Scout camp was closed. Part of the campground was a nice spring-fed swimming area with a sandy bottom and beautiful blue-green water.  It is now under new ownership and has become a Good Sam camp ground.  They have RV and tent camping spots available but you can also pay for just day use.  The overgrown brush has been cleared and in its place picnic tables and fire pits have been added.  Families come in from all around to have some good, clean, cool fun!  You can grill, swim, float, and swing on ropes out into the water!  The water is VERY, VERY cold due to the springs that feed the pool.  (At one time Ozarka bottling company bottled the spring water from this location.)  You can actually go up to where the main spring begins and fill a bottle up if you would like.

We gathered family and friends and made a day of it at Camp Tonkawa!  It was a great way to wrap up our trip home!  We had hotdogs with all the trimmings, chips, cookies and drinks, mixed with laughter and smiles!

Then it was time to pack our bags…board the plane…and fly off into the wild blue yonder!  We are now back in the Land of Sand and just like everyone back home, preparing for the upcoming school year and just enjoying the last few days of sleeping late and being lazy!

Choose A Destination…Make Your Own Adventure

When I was a child I would get the globe, spin it, close my eyes and then stop the globe's rotation by placing one finger on the surface.  Then I would take a look at where in the world would that spin take me.  This was such a fun way to look at the countries around the world.  It would keep me entertained for a long time….spin, stop, and wonder! 

I always wanted to travel. I would see things or hear about places and think to myself, one day I am going to go there!  As I got older and began to understand how our world worked, my dreams of traveling seemed further and further away.

Then one day, my marvelous hubby, gives us the news, "We're moving to Abu Dhabi!"  It was a moment of excitement, blended with nerves and apprehension.  I was actually going to travel…I was on my way…I was going places!

With the step into international living and working, we have been able to experience so many places.  Places that I would never have seen if we hadn't trusted in the Lord, and taken this giant leap of faith!  Our first international stop, LONDON!  Then on to ABU DHABI!  Hold on let me take it all in!…. Amazing!

My little family of five had stepped out of rural America and stepped into city-living and multicultural neighborhoods!  AMAZING!  Together our little family has effectively collected VISA stamps in our passports from many different countries….however some of us have stamps that the rest do not have!  So here is a list of places we all or at least one of us has been over the course of the past TWO years….

London, England (all 5)
Abu Dhabi, UAE (all 5--plus we live there)
Kathmandu, Nepal (Clay)
Turkey (Joshua)
Bangkok and Hua Hin, Thailand (4 of us minus Clay)
Qatar (all 5)
Kuwait (all 5)
Phillipines (Joshua & Clint)
Bahrain (airport only but we have been there)
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (Joshua, Clay, and myself)
West Virginia University USA (Joshua, Clay, and myself)
Cooperstown, New York (4 of us minus Denver)
Tanzania (Clay)
Germany (just me--hoping to go again with all 5 of us)
Oman (all 5 of us camping at Wadi Hamad)
Beijing and Xian, China (all 5)

SIMPLY AMAZING!  I can hardly believe it!  All because we stepped out on faith with God as our pilot, guide, chauffeur, and leader, we have had such amazing travel experiences!  I still feel strange telling our story to people every day because it is just still such a mind-blowing situation.  This isn't the end of our travels…oh no, because I already know Denver has a school trip to Greece this fall, Joshua will go back to Thailand on a school trip, and Clay will be traveling with a school group for a service trip that we are not sure on location yet.  On top of that, I am in the process of trying to decide where to go for Spring Break next year….decisions, decisions….so many to choose from…currently the list includes Italy, Maldives, Cambodia, Germany, and Egypt, but we can only choose ONE!  WHICH ONE THOUGH????

So here is my advice my friends….Even if you can't travel to the other side of the world at this time in your life, you can travel.  Find a destination within driving distance of a day, and head out on an adventure!  Go see what you can see!  Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed!