Just thinking...

Just thinking about life here in the Middle East. Specifically, here in Abu Dhabi. I am thinking about it because a new family from the USA just arrived and we had them over for dinner. As I was talking to the wife about the transition for her and the kids etc, it was strange to be looking at her and hearing her voice. I could have been looking in the mirror and listening to my own thoughts spoken aloud from just a few months ago.

I look back on some of these posts and realize I am posting the positive and the "fun" and all the good stuff. It is all worth talking about. We are really having a great time. But what is missing is the hard parts, the lonely thoughts and the difficult stages of the transition. There were really stressful points of moving here - gathering documents, buying a car, the kids crying for their friends and family, me missing friends and family and trying to re-create a functioning "homey" home away from home. Figuring out where to shop, groceries, phones, internet, utilities, church, piano lessons, roads and directions, and more all in a foreign city. As I am writing it - it doesn't seem like that big of a deal- but factor in four little kids and the heat, the language and meals and FHE and Quin and it was, well really stressful. I know because there was a lot of hair going down the drain after my showers...

Now after 5 and 1/2 months, we have curtains, our own car, legal documents for everyone, schools sorted out, church callings, directions, favorite stores, friends, somewhat furnished home, bank accounts, books stores, functioning kitchen, long distance phones, pictures on the wall, family habits etc, life is very different. Even peaceful. Even home? Maybe. I am able to see all the blessings and remember all the reasons why we are here. That all is good - that this is the "plan". God's hand is in our lives and directing us. We are very blessed here.

Of course I miss Utah - there are things I wish for weekly - like our bikes, Target and Costco and laying in the grass (however, that is not even possible until another few months there), and visiting family and friends. But I am slowly finding all that here.

I wanted to hug this new family and even cry with them. It is a tremendous change they will go through. But it is an adventure too - the good and the bad. And in the end you are with your family. You accomplished it together. Nothing will ever replace the USA. Maybe that is what we are truly here for, to realize all the freedoms, the beauty, the blessings and never to forget it. When we first arrived a woman told me "If you can make it through the first four months, you can do it." Six months. We did it. And so far so good.