There is no mistaking that we are spending the summer in Saudi Arabia. The heat, the sand, the HUMIDITY. You didn’t know that Saudi was humid? Were you expecting a “dry heat”? Me too! Nope – not here. On the bad days you walk outside and you can forget your sunglasses – they are instantly a wall of fog. That condensation also forms all over your body – so you are instantly dewy from your fingertips and toes to your scalp. On the good days, you just feel the 110+ heat and sigh out of relief that the humidity is down. Of course, the wind on either day feels like it’s blowing across a bonfire before hitting you. What a different feeling when you think 100-107 degrees F is cool! Now, I know that the weather part is hard to understand for a lot of our friends and family back home. Just remember – even though it feels this way, I have to wear a neck-to-toe black abaya over my clothes when I leave the compound. Suffice it to say, we just don’t go out much during the day right now!
Meeting Miss Savannah
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| Right to Left: Stephanie, Savannah, Laura, Me, Lindsey |
Despite the crazy temperatures, we’ve had some amazing things happen recently. Most importantly, our friends Brent and Laura welcomed their first baby girl into the world on July 1! Miss Savannah was born in Khobar, Saudi Arabia at 1:30 AM and weighed in at a little more than 6 lbs. Although scheduled to induce on Saturday, Laura went into labor naturally on Thursday afternoon! It was an exciting time – and our group of friends all piled in the cars and rode down to Khobar on Friday to meet her for the first time.
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| Meeting Miss Savannah! |
Now, I’ve been around babies, and I always think they’re special, but it’s just different when it’s someone that you see nearly every day during her pregnancy. Laura and I rode to school together each morning, so I watched the process develop from the beginning. Seeing Savannah actually here with us the first time was something I will never forget. She already has a lot of people loving her here in Saudi and around the world!
What's Next?
While we spent two weeks all together, our friends Micah, Stephanie, Lindsey and her boys all flew back to the States a few days ago. That leaves Laura and I with a very small handful of women in the compound for the summer. I miss my friends dearly but am excited that they get to spend some time at home with family. However – what am I going to do in this quiet place for the next two months?
I don’t have a long list of things to do, but one of them is to relearn how to quilt. I’ll post pictures of how that turns out as I go – I’ve already snagged a bunch of IKEA fabric scraps to practice on! I’ve also started some online projects making photo books of our trips this past year. The biggest thing on my horizon is my week-long trip to Florence & Tuscany with best friend Amanda at the end of the month. Stay tuned for a posting from that trip sometime in August!
Speaking of trips, Dan and I have spent a lot of time talking through what our agenda will be like for the next year or so, so I thought I might give you a taste of what we will hopefully be posting about. Here are some places we hope to go (although the schedule could change at any time!):
- Aug. 2011: Florence & Tuscany, Italy
- Sept. 2011: Los Angeles (for a wedding)
- Oct. 2011: Dubai
- Dec. 2011: USA for the holidays
- Jan. 2012: London for New Years
- Feb. 2012: Dive trip (possibly Raj Ampat, Indonesia)
- July 2012: Mediterranean Cruise with our parents
- Oct/Nov 2012: Trek through Nepal
- Dec. 2012: Bahamas Disney Cruise (for my brother’s wedding)
We don’t know if we’ll make it to all these places, but we really hope we do! Now, this post took up a good hour to two. What to do with the rest of the day…
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