Nellie's blog

Last week I was enjoying some moments on the computer reading about Abraham Lincoln's life. It was Thursday afternoon and I was looking forward to the beginning of our weekend. I could hear Langston and some friends making lots of noise in the backyard. I kept thinking, 'I ought to go see what they're up to.' In a few minutes Langston came screaming through the back door and stood at the bottom of the stairs. My first thought was that he was hurt. Seeing that he was okay I thought then someone else must be hurt. He kept screaming for me to come outside. In our back patio area water was gushing out of the reserve water tank by the side of the house. He had tried to get on top of it by standing on a pipe. The pipe had broken and out gushed gallons and gallons of water! I frantically called Jon who alerted the front office. I tried to think what the "Little House" characters would do in this situation since we're reading that series. I didn't know any way to cut it off so I decided to at least try to save some of it. I gathered all the large containers I could find and filled them with water. I filled the two bathtubs with water. Finally the plumber came. After he cut off the water at the main we had a confusing conversation about whether to fix it or not. He said it was a reserve tank so we didn't need it. When I asked if he could fix it next week he said I'd be without water if I didn't fix it now. Very confusing. I decided in the desert I wanted all the water I could get. I gave him 20 riyals for him to buy the part. In a few minutes he brought me 12 riyals back and they proceeded to fix the pipe. I stayed in the house not wanting to get in the way. When I went to check on them they were gone! I found the broken pipe across the street. I haven't received a bill. I guess it's covered through the compound fees. It took me awhile to calm down from that situation with Langston's screaming, precious water running into the street and me runniing up and down stairs to fill bathtubs.


After the flood experience had died down I was reading out front while Langston rode his bike. I barely heard him exclaim nonchalantly, "I enjoyed the water party." I was quick to ask him what he said, to which he clarified that he enjoyed the water out front, NOT all the water that came out of the pipe in the back. ;-)

Clint agreed to take us to the desert to look for camel bones for Jon to make musical ribs. Langston surprised us by being the first out of bed, with his clothes on and bed made! We should go to the dunes more often! Clint and his two boys, Nate and Luke were our guides. First we went to the animal souk in town. There were cars everywhere with sheep and goats herded together in tight quarters. This is the time to buy animals for their Eid sacrifice. The animals are to be killed facing Mecca and have their blood drained and then butchered. We found the back of the slaughter house and could see a man working on some animal. There was a stack of skins (probably sheep) on the back stoop. The stench was very strong. Clint found out that the next morning is when they would butcher the camels, so if nothing turned up in the desert Jon could come here first thing in the morning.


After an hour's drive to the desert Clint turned off to find some camel herders. We went over a few small dunes which the kids loved. They're okay for me as long as they're small. We saw a camel herder in a camel pen but he spoke something other than Arabic so we went on. Next we stopped on top of a dune to look around and let the kids play awhile. We could see a tent and some camel pens not far away and a four wheel drive vehicle. That was a sign that a Qatari was there. With Eid beginning Clint was doubtful we'd meet anyone. While we were stopped the SUV came our way. The man was on his way for a needle and thread for something. Since we were there he invited us for tea. Clint was great at befriending him and speaking his language. I wondered what I was suppose to do being a woman but it didn't turn out to be a problem. Abdullah is from a Bedouin tribe. He is Qatari and has a job in the city but prefers the desert life. You could tell he loves his camels. There were 2 pens with camels in them. One was for the mamas and one several feet away was for their babies. This made for some loud bawling from both pens. I was able to pet one of the babies. I'm not sure why they were separated. One mama was particularly upset because her calf had died. Abdullah had cut its head off and its tail. He would have his herder stitch the mouth together and place it near the mama. The smell of the baby was to keep her producing milk. Two bulls were separated so they wouldn't fight. One was hobbled with rope tied around his front legs. The other was beside a small leanto not far from the tent. This one would stick his tongue out to the side in a very strange way. This was a sign of mating.


The tent was maybe 15 feet wide with carpet and other floor covering. There were pillows along the edge to recline on and a couple of camel saddles to lean on as well. There was a treasure chest of sorts where he kept supplies, a fur-lined bedroll was folded to one side and at the entrance of the tent was a place for a small fire. While the kids explored he and Clint and Jon got to know one another and he began preparing tea. He offered us small muffins, small packaged crackers and two or three kinds of tea. I chose tea with canned milk as opposed to camel milk.


A few feet away from the tent was the "sink" area with a large basin for cleaning utensils, etc. There was a bowl with some cream-colored mush in it. I went back and forth from watching the three boys and listening in the tent.


Abdullah, dressed in typical Arabic style, enjoyed telling us about himself. He is a single man in his thirties and loves being out in the desert. He had sold 10 camels for Eid so he was pleased. His father died when he was four. He said next time he'd have his mother and sister there to visit with me. Tea was served in small cups. The custom with tea is when you've had enough you shake the cup back and forth. If you don't do that they'll keep giving you more tea! I had 2 cups of the tea with milk (my favorite) and another of red tea.


By this time Clint had told him we were looking for camel bones to make music with them. He said he'd take us to a place. We got in our cars to trek over the dunes not far from his campsite. We were so excited! Lots of camel bones, a skull in tact, the backbone and lots of ribs. All clean and bleached from the sun. A stone's throw away were more bones. We made our haul and Abdullah had still another place to visit. This was across the highway past another sheepherder's place. He must have spent 30 minutes looking for this last place. We never found it. All the while Clint was telling him we had enough, we understood if he needed to go. He had said he was going to town to clean up and go to work.


In all we spent two or three hours with him. We were able to leave him a gift which we pray God will grow in his heart. He certainly gave us a special gift of hospitality. We hope we can see him again. I must say I'm definitely with him on preferring the desert over the city. The whole event wiped me out. It hit me when we got back to town but we were excited at the blessing God had given us. It was more than we could have imagined!

I found it interesting today to learn more about this Eid that will be celebrated the first week for February.


I believe there are three eids throughout the year. Eid means recurring happiness or festivity. This one is called Celebration of Sacrifice. It takes place during the last month of the Islamic calendar. It's a feast of commitment, obedience and self-sacrifice to Allah. The Muslims offer sacrifices for their sins. It might be a lamb, goat, even a camel, I'm told. They kill the animal facing Mecca, drain its blood and gut it. The first meal of the Eid serves meat from this sacrificed animal. Meat is also given to the poor as a sign of their piety. They also sacrifice for the dead. The Eid is called Celebration of Sacrifice to remember Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Ishmael ( not Isaac as our Bible says).


We had some very good news at church last week. The government has granted permission to a local bookstore to sell Bibles and a select number of Christian books. These books are subject to approval by the censorship dept. The bookstore will have to pick up their order at the airport.

This is such an answer to prayer. Pray that believers will find favor with the government so that more doors will open.

January 8th we got our boxes from home - seven weeks after sending them. It was like Christmas since most of Langston's presents were shipped over. He was most excited to have his bicycle here. It was the first thing he wanted. As soon as he got on it I thought, "My, he's grown!" He swallows it up. We'll be looking for a bigger one but at least he has his ole' faithful. It was fun going through boxes and a bit frustrating. Where to put all this stuff?! Our villa, as they call houses here, is very large but not big on storage areas. Bathrooms have no shelves or cabinets. The bedrooms have one wall that is storage all the way to the ceiling. The problem is you can't reach the top cabinets to put anything in, or not very easily. Already I have a box to take back to the States, some linens that are the wrong size, bed coverings we won't need, etc.


I believe it was Jan. 16 I went to the big tennis tournament here. I'm not up on tennis but I'm told they had many of the top players for an exhibition that lasted a couple of weeks. The amazing thing is the tickets are free! I watched an Englishman named Hinman play a Croatian guy. I rooted for the Croatian since he was the underdog and Hinman proved to be a very bad sport. He mouthed bad words to the judge. I decided tennis is way too long for me. They played 3 sets because they were so close. They stopped twice because it started sprinkling. I thought, "Y'all need to come to Texas! We don't stop for a few sprinkles there!" The weather reminded me of fall football weather back home. Very pleasant. I enjoyed my experience until near the end when my stomach started to feel rumbly. We had eaten out with church friends at an Arabic restaurant. Something wasn't agreeing with me several hours later and I was ready to go home! Jon came and picked me up and I actually drank a charcoal "slurry" when I got home. It really seemed to take away my nausea. Thanks to my friend, Laura, for telling me about it.


I've driven twice to church since I wrote last. Fridays are great days to drive since it's holy day and not many people are on the street. The most challenging thing about driving is the roundabouts. There's not many traffic lights, there are lots of roundabouts. Cars in the roundabouts have the right of way and veer off to 3 or 4 other streets off of the roundabout. The Qatari people are friendly, they say, but NOT when they drive. They'll get right on your bumper, honk and flash their lights at you if they want you to pull over in the other lane. Lots of locals drive Landcruisers and other very large vehicles. So I"m starting out slowly with Friday driving.


I should tell you one of the highlights of our week is going to AWANA, a Bible club at church. The kids are divided by age group and work on memory verses and play outdoor games. Langston is really enjoying it. We thought he had to learn John 3:16, the pledge to the Bible and the chorus, Shine, Jesus, Shine to get his Sparks shirt and vest. He really only had to come three times to get it but he memorized those things anyway. He was so proud and of course so was I! Every week he works on more Bible verses so he can get patches and "jewels" to put on his vest. It's a great blessing in our lives.


I had my worst "bout" with homesickness on Jan. 13. We'd received an email from our home church that just made me feel very lonely. I had trouble shaking it all day. It was a blessing to see how the Lord encouraged me that day. Langston and I had gone to Toby's, a large play area in The Mall, with the Georges. Outside of Toby's there are about 15 little rides that take tokens, the kind in front of our grocery stores at home. Angela and Langston wanted to pretend to ride them so I was in the area with them. An Arabic couple came up with their young son. He was not enjoying the rides. They'd put him on one and he'd start screaming. After 2 failed attempts the dad gave me their unused tokens! Angela and Langston got to ride almost every ride there! That was a gentle reminder to me that the Lord was caring even for our smallest desires. Then one of the rides Langston got on played the tune Greensleeves. What came to my mind, of course, was "What Child is This?" I had to sing along, "This, this is Christ the King, Whom angels guard and shepherds sing. Haste, haste, to bring HIm laud. The Babe, the Son of Mary." What a comfort to know God is here. Noone is keeping Him out. He is the King of good and bad times. And He's enough!

I'm letting these days slip by without writing. Oops! I know what we did New Year's Day. We went to the zoo in Doha. It's really a nice zoo with more monkeys than I've seen in a long time. What impressed me was how close you could get to the animals - ALL the animals. I wanted a little more than the thick wire fence between me and the big cats who were pacing back and forth. There were giraffes, zebras, elephants, ostriches and oryx. Those are the deer-looking animals with long curvy horns. The oryx is the nation's symbol for Qatar. Desert tortoises and other wildlife were plentiful.


January 2 after church we took another trip to the dunes with church folk. This time we didn't go all the way to Sealine but stopped closer to the highway a few miles away from the Sealine resort. This way we weren't drivng over the dunes which suited me just fine. Since they had so much rain in Nov. there's more soft sand so we had to find a hard track to drive on and then we parked at the bottom of a large dune. We don't have a 4-wheel drive but are still driving a Camry rental car.


There were about 20 four-wheelers whizzing over the dunes when we arrived. It was like a bunch of bees buzzing around. Fortunately they took off for other areas not long afterwards.


It was quite a steep trek up the big dune. It was almost like taking one step up, two steps back because you just sink in the sand. Once on top though I could see miles and miles of dunes to the south and the sunset was just gorgeous. There wasn't as much sandboarding down since it was so hard getting up but the kids had fun just the same.


We built a campfire and sang Christmas and other songs. It was amazing to think the three wise men could have "traversed afar" near this desert land. Gives "We Three Kings" new meaning.


I guess it was the next Saturday we went to the camel races. An Aggie had gotten the trip together with Arabian Adventures, a local tourist agency. The fifteen of us loaded onto the van and made the 45 minute trip out to the track. We had been told someone in the royal family would be there so security would be tight. We didn't know how tight! We pulled up to a gated area and could see the stadium ahead of us. We could see camels being ridden past the gate and out of sight. While our tour guides went to make arrangements for us the jockeys clamoured around the van. These are boys, Bedouin, or gypsy, who have been taken from their villages in neighboring countries to ride these camels. Some may have been sold by their families. No one seems to really know. They all wore little riding caps, like English ones, had old, raggedy clothes on and none wore shoes. They would clap on the windows of our van and smile. We could see some of them roughhousing along the road. To be honest they looked happy but you had to wonder what kind of life they have and what happens to them after they're too big to race. They were all young, some looked as young as Langston (5) or younger. The lighter the better for being a jockey. They looked older than their years. One of the guides said they'd pick your pocket in nothing flat.


After some long minutes of waiting we were told these races were not open to Westerners today, only Arabs could come in. Even being with the Qatar Foundation and A & M got us nowhere. The guides then drove us around to try to at least see some of the race. We drove over some distance from the race area to some camels that were tied up so we could at least pet a camel and take some pictures. Some of the security guys came and told us to leave. So much for the camel races! The guides were very nice and weren't going to charge us anything. Jon and another Ag gave them some money for their time and gas.


The only other new experience I can think of is getting my hair cut. A hair salon recently opened in our compound. I decided to check it out, it would be so convenient for me. I could just walk two minutes to get my haircut. After a short wait a young woman washed my hair. The stylist was with another lady drying her hair. They were speaking Arabic. While I was waiting the girl gave me some Arabic magazines to look at. What intrigued me in the fashion magazines was all the long dresses. Abayas, or the long robes the women wear, are usually black. These were all bright colors with gold or ornate trim and no veils. There were some models who had lots of eye makeup on but it was a pleasant change to see the models fully clothed (compared to American mags.) The hairdresser looked Arabic to me but wore jeans and a black leotard, definitely not Muslim attire. I asked her if lots of the ladies wore their hair long here in Doha and she said yes, that sometimes she has to ask them to stand up so she could cut their hair.


The funniest thing to me was that the lady ahead of me who had just paid money to have her hair styled in a mid-length style then covered it completely with her shaila or head covering before leaving. I was pretty pleased with my haircut. I'm sure I"ll go again. I like how they call me madame. ;-)

A new year! I'm glad to say we spent New Year's with other believers praying over the new year and all it may hold. It doesn't seem the people here have a big celebration for New Year's. Our friend told us they have school here on the 1st! The expatriats have their celebrations I suppose but maybe not the Qataris.


Yesterday I had our first experience at the souqs, or markets. They are little shops in the center of town.


You can find everything from bolts of cloth to spices to gold jewelry, depending which area you are in. We roamed around and seemed stuck in the textile area. We arrived first at the music souq since Jon wanted a guitar. After an hour he had a new guitar, some strings, and Langston had a "fish" noisemaker. It's a cylinder, wooden instrument with ridges that are played with a wooden mallet. It's painted like a fish. This shop had a row of nice keyboards for sale and other musical items for sale. Everything is packed in a very small space. Langston and I finally sat down on a keyboard bench to wait. The store front windows were covered with advertising posters from the 1970's showing people playing organs, pianos, flutes. The backs of the shelves had ads from Avon and other perfumes. I presume that's what was sold there before it was a music shop.


We parked in a different area to explore other souqs. Right across from where we parked were about 15 orange and green buildings, just big enough for one or two people to sit in. We later learned that these are for typists. These men will type up exit visas and other important documents for a small fee. We don't have to do that since we're with Qatar Foundation.


We heard the call to prayer and walked right by a large mosqsue. In the courtyard were hundreds of pairs of shoes! The men all remove their shoes before they go in to pray. I wondered if they ever get the wrong pair when they leave! Since it was prayer time many of the shops were closed. Good Muslims close for each prayer time! That's why they have lots of mosques, so they can pray and get back to work quickly. That's what Jon says anyway. ;-)


As we wandered along we came across little stores with cheap toys, toiletries, sandals and all sorts of different items. Langston was drawn to all the toys naturally. I'll definitely have to go sometime without him. I'm sure we've just scratched the surface of the shopping areas! But two hours was enough of one day for my liking. Jon seemed very enthused about the "profitable" experience. I think that's because he landed a new guitar. I, on the other hand, hoping to find gold, Persian rugs and great tourist souvenirs at the end of the rainbow came home with a small tub of Vaseline and Nivea cream. Not quite the pot of gold I was hoping for. ;-)

I awoke at 6 a.m. to hear a man's voice coming over the mosque intercom system. The call to prayer can be heard around 5 a.m. but this was something different.


The man was speaking, not chanting, and he sounded agitated to me. I couldn't imagine why he was talking at 6 in the morning to the whole neighborhood. When I told Jon later he said sometimes they preach over the intercom but not usually so early in the morning. Maybe his tone was fervent instead of agitated. (Later I learned that sometimes they leave the microphone on and their speeches are anti-Western.)


The next thing I knew Jon was waking me up at 8:15 to say Hala had called for me to get my fingerprints done this morning at 9 a.m. I hoped the experience wouldn't be quite as shocking as the x-ray. Jon took me to Qatar Foundation, a very impressive office building near the Cornell building. They have a very large, open area with a fountain(not running) in the middle. Several groups of low couches along with some straightback benches make it a pleasant lounging area.


I recognized the driver from before and the young newlywed. It was nice to see some familiar faces. I sat with Abeer in the back and learned more about her. The fingerprinting place was not so far off the beaten path. A large dark-skinned man from QF met us out front. It was behind 2 large, black rod iron gates. There were several small concrete buildings with a couple of makeshift smaller buildings also. There was black ink smeared all over the walls of the buildings, as if people had smeared their hands on the walls after being fingerprinted. That's exactly what must happen!


As Abeer and I went in the ladies area more ink-smeared walls greeted us. One woman in a black abaya was seated near the wall with 2 small tables and the fingerprinting aparatus. She took a break shortly thereafter leaving a stack of fingerprinted sheets on a folding chair and others on a nearby bench. After showing our passports to a policewoman sitting behind a window I was instructed to go to "typing, outside". It was so nice to have Abeer there since she speaks Arabic. After typing we were back in the ladies area waiting for fingerprints. The lady came back from her break and proceeded to ink Abeer's fingers, print them all individually on the sheet and then the four fingers together and thumb separately. After this was done on both hands, she rolled ink all over the palms of her hands and printed them on the back of the sheet. They're very serious about fingerprints over here! It was good to learn from Abeer's experience, I still forgot to put all four down together. The lady had to instruct me "Four!" While she was printing mine a man walked in and she began a loud conversation with him. Afterward I asked Abeer what she was saying. She said Ramadan had just finished(a few weeks ago) and afterward people give gifts. This man in the past had given her children money after Ramadan. He hadn't done it this year so she was asking him where the money was. ;-)


I was glad to be prepared with my handwipes. It's no wonder the walls are smeared with ink. They give nothing to clean off your hands. Abeer was appreciative and so was the Indian woman after me. I got Abeer's phone number. Maybe we can strike up a friendship. I got to meet her husband when we got back to QF.


The policewoman's attire is interesting to me. She wore a long, fitted dark skirt with a light blue collared shirt. It reminded me of a police officer's uniform from the states with stripes and all. Her head was covered but the abaya was tucked under her collar with a thin band on her head that makes it look like a beret. I wonder if they have a summer outfit. Makes me hot to think about it for the long, hot summer.


Yesterday we had the fun experience of going to Palm Tree Island. It's a very small island 5 minutes off the coast with amusement rides for young children, a nice restaurant and a very nice beach. We met several of the Aggies and took the ferry over. The island might be half a mile around. There's a paddleboat area, a small car track area, a joy jump place and a nice playground area. (There were some pricey four-wheelers to ride too.) Each ride costs 5 riyals, ($1.50) so that's where they getcha! But it was worth the money. It was 70 riyals for Jon and me, including 2 lunches. Langston and Sen had a big time on the rides and then on the beach. We had fun looking for shells. There's also a swimming pool but it was too cool for that. We were glad we went on a weekday instead of the weekend. I can't imagine how crowded that little island would be then! Langston's all ready to go there again!

I should start by saying "Happy New Year!" to everyone. I hope you had a merry Christmas. I understand that is not PC to say anymore so I want to say it all I can.


I never finished writing about our return trip from Rome. It was very long. We had to stop in Milan for 2 hours so it was late at night when we got to Dubai. The next day we decided to see if we could get an earlier flight home. We could so we left at 2 pm and arrived in Doha at 2 pm. ;-) Langston and I actually made it to AWANA. I was pretty wiped out.


The next day we had our SIDRA meeting. Unfortunately I ate something that didn't agree with me. It wiped me out the rest of the day. After that I seemed to keep that draggy feeling for 2 weeks. It didn't really seem like a cold but there seemed to be some infection somewhere. I finally drove myself to Doha Clinic - a first for me - and got an antibiotic.


I decided I wanted to be well for Christmas so I better hop to it.


I think I wrote earlier about being in an Experiencing God ladies' study at church. I went about half of the time. But one day we somehow got on the topic of blood money. A lady was sharing about a man she had met that was ruined financially because of it. Apparently in Middle East countries this is a common practice. At the police station they tell me there is a chart of what lives are worth from different countries. People from the "servant" countries wouldn't cost very much. Qataris are the most expensive. If a person is in a traffic accident and someone dies the responsible party must pay blood money. This particular man had been injured severely in an auto accident but a Qatari had been killed so he had to pay the highest amount to the deceased man's family. He wasn't able to work because of his injury and was sent to prison. He eventually was able to go back to his country.


I could not believe this practice existed today. Another lady said she'd read in one of the papers that a Muslim man's two wives were killed in an accident but he wasn't requiring blood money because it actually saved him money. He didn't want the expense of keeping them anymore! A friend who has lived in other Middle East countries said that it could be a danger to your life if you didn't go immediately to a sheik's house for refuge, that the family would come to kill you.


I learned another disturbing practice recently. In Dubai we visited with some of our friends who have moved there. I remarked that there was a group of Arabic men with their falcons who were going through security. The airlines seem to allow them on the flights with their birds in tow. My friend said that they were probably going to northern Africa for a hunting trip. Unfortunately when they go on these hunting trips they have a tendency to go to the villages and have their way with the women. She had read that after such a trip, nine months later a plane had brought a load of babies saying that they belonged to the men. My friend said if the babies favor the father the family may adopt them. They allow them to live with the family in a menial role. If they have very dark skin they are made servants in the palace.


I share those things so you'll understand better the darkness these people live in. Many have all the riches money can buy but they lack the peace that can save their souls. Pray they would have a hunger for the Truth.

Thank God it's Friday! We go home tomorrow. We've had a good day, just not as relaxing as yesterday in Ostia Antica. It was cloudy and cool all day. Thankfully it didn't rain. We went to a museum on Rome very near our hotel. It was good. We got separated from Lynn so we thought she was still inside. We waited around for awhile. We finally left Jon to wait for her and went back to the hotel. Come to find out she had come back to the hotel.


After Bob and Lynn worked on hotel reservations for the next leg of their trip we went to find the catacombs. They are very interesting. We were with a small tour group. It's very damp since it's underground. The graves are just dug in the sides of the walls. There are 150,000 tombs. There's no way to know how many were buried there since some families would be buried in one tomb together. There's about eleven miles of catacombs in this area. There are 60 plus catacombs in Rome! They were buried here because it was cheaper than other land. We couldn't take any pictures though. And no place to wander around. I would hate to get lost in there. The first guy to discover the area was lost for 4 days.


Now we're back at the hotel. We may go one more time to the Spanish steps. That's where I got a cheap print and I may want one to go with it. Langston's still looking for a souvenir. Then we'll be packing for tomorrow! Bob and Lynn leave by 8:30. We leave for the airport at 10:00.


We've found a John Wayne movie in Italian. We just watched Sponge Bob in Italian.


We went to the Spanish Steps that evening. We walked to the top of the steps, 137 or so in all. I found my cheap print, and Langston found a little "camera" that shows pictures of Rome.


We ate at a nice restaurant nearby where we had a very funny waiter. We enjoyed our last meal in Italy. The metro was empty going back, thankfully. We said our goodbyes to Bob and Lynn. They traveled on to Florence, Venice and Zurich in the next few days before returning to Dallas.


Our trip home was pretty tiring. We didn't realize we'd have a stopover in Milan, just an hour after we'd gotten on the plane in Rome. We had to unload all our things, go through security and look for a place to get a bite to eat. We were there 2 hours. I think it really drained us. One thing I found unusual in the airport - the trash bins are divided for recycling! Of course, I couldn't tell anyone in the airport was recycling in them! We were just throwing trash in them!


With the three hour time difference we arrived in Dubai at 9:30 pm. (Rome time) By the time we got to bed at the Bloughs it was 2:30 am Dubai time. It was a short night. Langston was up by

8:30. We ended up taking an earlier flight than our 10:15 pm one. We left Dubai at 2:15 and were able to make it to AWANA. Although we missed spending more time with the Bloughs we were glad to get home at a good time. We enjoyed sleeping in our own beds that night.


Thank God for a safe trip!!

Today we went to Ostia Antica. It's Italy's best-preserved Roman settlement after Pompei. I had wanted to take Langston there but it's a 3 1/2 hour train trip away. Ostia Antica is just 14 miles from Rome. It was so nice and quiet there, away from the crowds.


We got the guidebook that shows how they imagine the city looked. There's lots of buildings left so you can use your imagination for the rest. There are several statues with broken off pieces, a room that has toilets lining the wall kind of like an outhouse. They've rebuilt the colosium which has great acoustics. Most of what we saw was built from the first to fourth century!


Langston thoroughly enjoyed himself. He could romp and climb on lots of things. It was nice to breath fresh air and hear the birds singing. We were there about 4 hours so it was a full day. Hopefully tomorrow we can go to the catacombs and see where Paul was imprisoned.

Well I think it was hump day in Rome. ;-) Today we went to the Vatican Museum. That's where the Sistine Chapel is with all the beautiful paintings on the ceilings and lots of tapestries. There are other exhibitions there but we just went to the Sistine Chapel one and were there about 2 hours.


First I'll tell you about the metro ride. I guess we left about 9:30, maybe a little earlier than we have before but man, the metro was crowded. It was like that last night at 5:30 but we didn't think it would be crowded mid-morning. At one point a team of pickpockets were around us. One of them tried to talk to me about Langston. Then there was a young woman that was by me. I could tell she tried to get into my bag. I told her I didn't have anything but coats in it. ;-) I had my money in my passport bag around my neck. Of course she said I was wrong, that she wasn't trying to pick my pocket but I'm pretty sure she was. Two of them got off on the next stop. Jon watched the other and thought he was trying to go for another guy's pocket. When the metro is crowded you're in real close proximity with these people. I'm always glad when it's not crowded.


The nice thing about the Sistine Chapel is so much of it is biblical scenes. There are lots of Catholic influence of course with Mary as the queen but there's plenty of other scenes we could discuss with Langston. There was one big painting of Constantine as the conquering king. Made me want to learn more of him. Jon said he had a dream that if he put crosses on their army's shields they would win. They did and that's when he converted to Christianity. Langston did very well. I kept giving him snacks and he lasted pretty well. Not much place to climb around in the chapel. I finallly saw the creation scene where God is reaching out to touch Adam's finger.


Then Bob and Lynn wanted to eat in a special area of Rome. It took us quite awhile to get there. It was nice with sidewalk cafes and lots of paintings to buy in the courtyard area. There were several musicians and people dressed up kind of werid who would freeze in a certain position and you could give money to them. One guy was dressed all in burlap with mud all over his face. I don't know what he was suppose to be. One guy was all spraypainted gray leaning against a pole like he was drunk. We didn't give them any money. We did give 2 of the guitarists who played in front of the restaurant money. They were appreciative.


Fortunately we took a taxi coming back and it only cost 8 euros! The ratio is one US dollar to 1.30 Euro. I think I said that right. Theirs is worth more but it's better than London! I'll send this on. I hope we can go to the catacombs where the Christians stayed tomorrow. Jan sent us some good info on where Paul was imprisoned and buried . She wins the next ride on the metro! ;-)

According to tradition, Peter and Paul were both imprisoned in the Mamertine

Prison/Dungeon beneath the church of S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami, via di

Marforio, Rome. It is generally accepted as being identical with "the

prison...in the middle of the city, overlooking the forum" mentioned by the

historian Livy. Some time, you know, he was "under house arrest."


The Abbey of the Three Fountains Church was built on the site where

tradition says that Paul was beheaded. The story is that "his head made

three leaps or bounced three times, corresponding to which three fountains

sprang up." The legend is nice, but the springs were known in pre-Christian

times as the Aquae Salviae.


The Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls (Italian San Paolo fuori le

Mura) is a major basilica outside Rome at the traditional burial place of

St. Paul about two kilometers from the city walls by the road to Ostia.


When Paul was first in prison in Rome (for two years, 60-62 AD) he wrote

Ephesians, Philemon, Colossians, and Philippians. He was imprisoned again in

Rome around 63-64 AD, and wrote Second Timothy. He died AD 64 (although some

say AD 68).

We are eating lots of pizza and their gelato. It's wonderful ice cream! I hadn't thought how good the food would be here. It is just really delicious! We travel mainly by the metro. I think the bus would be nice, and our tickets let us ride both. We rode a bus briefly today and it was nice to see the surroundings. There's nothing scenic in the metro! We've seen several beggars that hang out esp. in the metro. One lady was nursing her baby for everyone to see and wanting money.


Hopefully before the week's over we'll ride on the bus more. We leave here Sat. morning well at 12 I believe. Tomorrow we plan to go to the Vatican museum. That's where the Sistene Chapel is, I think that's the main thing I want to see.

Bonjourno everybody,

You can write me at my regular address. We're resting after touring the Colosium and Circus Maximus. The Colossium is very impressive. Jon read that it was used for 450 years. That's pretty sad. He said the Romans started building it 2 years after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. I didn't know Rome destroyed the temple. Jon will put pictures on our site when we get home so you can see a lot of it.


Today was a beautiful day! I was so glad that it was sunny and pleasant. I still wore a jacket but it was nice all day. It was kind of funny. We weren't sure where the Circus Maximus was. IT turned out we were looking right at it. It's just a big grassy, long area now. There are still some parts of old buildings at one end. It's easy to imagine the long race track though. I want to show Langston the chariot race in Ben Hur. Being here makes me want to see Gladiator again, Jan.


And yes, congratulations, Jan, for paying off your house! Seems like you should have gone out for Mexican food for that one. I've always heard when you finish paying off something you should keep putting that amount away for savings, or whatever.


Langston enjoyed his day very much. He could climb around at the Colossium and run like the wind at the Circus. He found a big stick so he was happy. We got back to the hotel earlier today which made me happy. He doesn't seem to have a runny nose anymore.

Buongiorno Familia,

Actually it's night here but I haven't really heard them say good evening in italian. I looked up the spelling in one of Lynn's travel books. Yes, we're here in the ancient city of Rome. It is quite impressive with its historical settings. Besides getting ripped off by the taxi driver coming from the airport things have gone well. It is pretty chilly here. It was real windy yesterday. Today it drizzled some but not too badly. We went to the Colosseum yesterday afternoon, just on the outside. It was closed since it was Sunday. Today we went to St. Peter's Basilica which has St. Peter's Square and the big Catholic church there. That's where the Pieta' is (Mary holding Jesus after the crucifixion) and all the beautiful paintings on the raised ceilings. It's an enormous place. Unfortunately Jon had a knife and wasn't allowed to go in through the securuity area. This made Langston very unhappy for most of our time inside. We finallly came out so Bob and Lynn kept the knife so Jon could go in.


We also went to the Trezi fountain (where Three Coins and a Fountain was filmed) and the Spanish steps. I think the steps go up to a hotel. There's a huge poster of Ghandi there right now that says "If you're going to send a message, it must be a message of peace." We wanted to go to the Vatican Museum where the Sistene Chapel is but it was closed already. You'll have to watch Roman Holiday to get some glimpses of Rome.


I was surprised to see so much graffiti everywhere and the metro subway is covered with it. The city feels alot like London to me, just real big and dirty. We had to wait through several trains before we could get on one this evening at 5:30, after work traffic I suppose. They were crammed in there like sardines! There are signs saying watch out for pick pockets. As we were driving to our hotel in the taxi we saw several signs about Yasser Arafat saying "Thank you." I told Jon maybe it meant thank you for kicking the bucket! ;-)


So far Langston is most impressed by the hot chocolate, it's almost like pudding, the gelato, it's ice cream that's famous, and watching the cartoons this morning in Italian. He enjoyed the pigeons at St. Peter's too. He'd like to meet some friends ( I guess like we did on our Egypt trip) but I told him we may not find any friends his age. I sure don't see a lot of kids around these tour places. We started this trip with a runny nose. I've been giving him Silver Solution. He's definitely better. We stayed in the hotel tonight while the others ate across the street. The food is really so good and pretty inexpensive.


Joan gets the Golden Writing award for sending me email at our hotel!!! For her award she gets a free metro ticket or maybe the losers should get that. Ha!

Since it's Nov. I thought I should finish writing about last summer before it all escapes me. As always, relationships are what stand out the most. We went back to Texas knowing one of our friends, Shayne, had cancer. I didn't know when I went to visit my next door neighbor that she would tell me she had cancer as well. Shayne was healed, Gloria died. Maybe she was healed too, in God's perfect way. I can't say I was close to Gloria. She was a retired school teacher from Conroe but God brought our families closer together when she opened her home to her niece, Jackie and her two young daughters, Chelsea and Haley. They became fast friends with Langston during our year before going to Qatar. I admired Gloria for her willingness to let family come and live with her when she could have sat back and relaxed during retirement.


I can't say I was close to Gloria. She was a retired school teacher from Conroe but God brought our families closer together when she opened her home to her niece, Jackie and her two young daughters, Chelsea and Haley. They became fast friends with Langston during our year before going to Qatar. I admired Gloria for her willingness to let family come and live with her when she could have sat back and relaxed during retirement.


She gave me her difficult news when I went to ask when the girls could play. (Jackie and the girls had moved back home at the end of the school year, before Gloria's ailing health. ) She had been diagnosed just weeks before with liver cancer, I believe. I was shocked of course. I prayed with her. She expressed her faith in God. As Jon said later, he hoped she had the right faith. She was to begin her chemo that next week. We went on our family trip to Branson. As we pulled back into our drive a week later at 10 p.m. an ambulance with lights flashing was in front of Gloria's house. Surely she just needed a little extra assistance. There were several cars around so we didn't go over. It was the next day I learned she had died early that Sunday morning. Doctors had given her another year to live but it wasn't to be. I was able to meet Gloria's brother. I was able to go to the funeral and learn more about her life. The disturbing thing for me, besides her untimely death was that she had tried to call me while we were out of town. It's a strange feeling to realize you can't call a person back. What did she want to talk about? Was she in pain? Did she want me to pray for her? There's nothing to do but leave all those questions in the hands of the Lord. The verse "Teach us to number our days" rang loud and clear in my mind during that time. I hope I can somehow reach Chelsea and Haley to give them a word of hope. Gloria was like a mother to them while they lived with her. Gloria was 54 when she died.


On a happier note, it was such a blessing to be in our home church when our friend Shayne gave the news that the doctors had given her a clean bill of health, those wonderful words "cancer free" that all cancer patients hope to hear. We had learned of her cancer last spring. She had lots of chemo in the interim. She said the turning point was when a lady in Wal-Mart stopped and asked if she could pray with her. I guess she could tell Shayne had cancer by her head scarf, I don't know. But the lady prayed for her healing right there on an aisle in Wal-Mart while the kids pushed the shopping cart up and down the aisle.


Shayne continued her treatments and had a big series of scans. It was at the consultation with her favorite doctor that the doctor said she was cancer frree! I got to be one of the first to hear the great news. Shayne came by the parsonage and told Ruby and me. She called first saying she wanted to come by. Somehow I'd forgotten about her big appointment. I thought she wanted to bring a meal over to the Suels since she does that sort of thing. (Sometimes my brain is somewhere else! ) It was just wonderful to get to hear that and pray with her and look at her in awe! God had really chosen to heal her and she and Gerald would continue to praise HIm even as they had in the midst of the struggle. What a special Sunday service we had that next week as they testified to what God had done in their lives. Amen!

I should preface my writing by saying my purpose in writing this in the first place. The whole concept of blogs seems rather egotistical to me. But I want to remember these things for posterity and to share with Langston someday. So if someone enjoys reading it I'll be glad but if it's boring remember it's to help jog my memory of the experience. ;-)


On Sunday, Dec. 21 I went to the immigration screening place (as I'll call it for lack of the proper name.) This was to get my required x-ray and bloodwork done. The plan was to have Danna go with me since she had been through it before but there was already a lady from QF along with another young woman and driver so we had a full car. Both women in head coverings sat in the back and spoke Arabic. We rode for twenty minutes across town as we listened to Arabic music. I never was introduced to them but in the course of the morning I learned the young woman was a newlywed from Jordan. Her husband now worked at QF so she was along to get her processing done as well.


I never had to speak to anyone or present paperwork. The QF lady took care of that. We walked into an old concrete building with many small rooms. There was a men's side and a women's side. The QF lady knew where to go and led the way. The first office area had several women in abayas set up with typewriters. They typed info concerning our passports. I tried to figure out where the other women waiting were from. I could only figure out one since she had blond hair and an English accent. She was dressed in a black jacket and pants with some really high-heeled boots. We all had the same lost look in our eyes. There was an elderly woman dressed in Arabic fashion. I wondered why she was there. Noone seemed particularly nice to her. She looked rather poor. Next we went to have bloodwork done then on to the x-ray. That was quite an experience. We went through double doors where there was a changing area of sorts, white medical gowns and three curtained stalls. Nothing seemed particularly clean. I opted to leave on my dress. Some of the ladies had left their clothes in the stalls while they waited to be x-rayed. Next we lined up for x-rays. Several didn't speak Arabic so everyone was trying to figure out what to do, making noises to one another like "psst" and other sounds to get their friends' attention. One Indian looking woman in front of me thought she should put her head covering back on. She did this only to have a lady in charge come and pull it off her head again. One pretty young Indian woman with a toddler asked me for instructions. She finally had to take her unhappy little girl out to her husband. The x-ray wasn't a big deal, I had to disrobe since I didn't have the thin gown on. They didn't get mad at me or anything. I'm glad I had my dress though.


As we waited for the young woman to finish the QF lady said she thought the place was pretty well marked with signs giving directions. Yea, right!! I was extremely thankful she was there to lead me around. I would have been totally lost and much more frustrated. It's difficult enough to try to understand their English. It gave fresh meaning to Jesus, our High Priest, ushering us into the throne room before God. And He does it because he loves us, not because it's a job. Hebrews 4:15, 16; 7:25


On the 23rd Riviera hosted a Christmas party. We weren't going to go at first since it cost around $10 a person! but figured why not. I'm glad we went. Every kid got to make a gingerbread house. Sen and Langston got the last two. They had facepainting which we didn't do and they had made another snowman craft before we got there. We arrived 45 minutes late. Moms who were helping had Santa hats on, a couple of young girls were dressed as elves. It felt like being home with all the commercialism and loud Christmas music. Then in came a very thin, dark Santa Claus. Turns out he is Filipino. Kids took pictures with him and then received a gift. We finallly stood in line though Langston only wanted the gift, not a picture with Santa. All the boys got a battery-operated toy motorcycle that played Fur Elise. Girls got a clear plastic purse. All in all Langston enjoyed himself and was very proud of his toy motorcycle.


Christmas Eve we attended the Grace Fellowship service. It lasted one and a half hours but ended well with a nice flute solo by Amy and Melissa Mitchell doing a presentation of "Twas the Night Jesus Came". Mannheim Steamroller's Silent Night was playing in the background. Afterwards I learned she is mom to Nate, whom Langston had befriended earlier. They're both 5 and she homeschools. She said "half the church" homeschools. It was a great gift of encouragement since I didn't know if there were many homeschoolers or not. Hopefully we can get together.


Christmas morning Langston opened his "lego" train we bought at Carrefour. He and Jon worked on it all morning. In the afternoon we went to some friends' house and had a traditional Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing and the works. Langston played well with Angela, 3, while Pablo, 16 months, did his own thing. We had a white elephant gift exchange which was funny. We ended up with a glass fox and a Mickey and Minnie plaque with Claudia and Kendall's wedding anniversary on it. It was nice to get to know their houseguests better as well.


Friday was church day again and in the afternoon there was another trip to the dunes. We didn't go in as far so we were able to park our car at the bottom of a dune, a very large dune. There were about 20 four-wheelers zooming around like little bees. Fortunately they took off after awhile. Langston enjoyed the dunes, but didn't go up and down like before because this one was really big and hard to climb. Once on top you could see miles of more dunes and the sunset was beautiful. We cooked out and sang Christmas and other songs. Jon and Zach led the music. The evening got a little long for our little boy but he seemed to enjoy himself in the sand.


Somewhere in the last two weeks we got a little black and white rabbit. Langston named him Spot, Hun Bun, "whatever we wanted to call him". Trying to do a kind deed I gave him some carrot sticks and even an apple core one day. It seemed to give him diarrhea from which he never recovered. I don't think he lasted a week with us. I found him one afternoon after we'd returned from the playground. Langston was at Sen's. I called Jon to rush home so we could break the news to Langston together. I envisioned him crying himself to sleep because of our lost bunny. Jon obliged and came home shortly. When Jon broke the news to him, Langston said, "He died? Can we go to the pet store to buy another one?" So much for my tenderhearted son. Under the circumstances I was glad there wasn't more of an attachment there. He was sad afterward and said it was too bad the bunny had died. We made a special trip to buy a shovel and buried Bunny behind our back wall. We have no plans to buy another one right away. Maybe we'll try a goldfish!

Langston wrote about his summer in all of two pages in his journal, or he dictated to me. I've put off writing about it because there's so much to tell. But new things are happening now in Doha so I'll do my best to remember the high points.


Needless to say, we were quite excited to be going home. Our pastor said I should think of Doha as home but I do better thinking of it as "home away from home". In a way the summer helped make it seem more like home to me. We flew to Houston mid-June for Jon's computer training class. We spent Father's Day with my family in Navasota. It was a great reunion then headed back to Houston. Langston and I had the luxury of sleeping in and enjoying the buffet breakfast in the nice hotel. It rained almost the whole time we were in Houston. Jon's mom and stepdad came down to be with us for a few days. We shopped in the mall and enjoyed touring one of Houston's natural history museums. We especially enjoyed the Butterfly Place.


It was really great being back in our home church, so great to see everyone. We stayed in our house for one week since one of the girls had moved out early. Everyone should be a guest in your own house. It was a new experience.


We traveled to Branson, MO with my parents for the fourth of July. My sister Jan met us there. We had hoped more of my family would come but it was just our group. We had a great time though. We went to Silver Dollar City, saw the Haygood Family, went to the magic show. A real highlight was going to the Dixie Stampede. We got discounted tickets by meeting a young couple who work there while we were grabbing fast food.


Langton met a new friend named Austin. He enjoyed playing with him at the time-share.


Our family took a side trip to Mansfield, MO to see Laura Ingalls Wilder home site. We enjoyed touring their small home as well as Rocky Ridge. It was neat to see personal photos of them all. It certainly made it come alive for me.


Jon was very busy with computer stuff because he had to change the location of his server for his personal business. It kept him up late in the night for at least a week.


Our other special trip was to Galveston (Crystal Beach) with the Magee family. We had hoped several families could come with us but in the end it was just our two families. We had a great time. The condo we rented was right by the beach. The kids and dogs all had a great time. We got some pretty pictures of the sunset there which shows you don't have to travel around the world to find God's beauty. It was a refreshing time together.


On July 26th Jon flew back to Doha for work. By this time I had started to feel like a real gypsy, never quite sure where we'd spend the night. We stayed several nights with our pastor and family. Dale and Kathy were gone part of that time. Almost 90 year old Ruby actually cooked for me! She fixed great country food and we enjoyed our visit. This was the week Langston went to Vacation Bible School at Parkway Baptist. We missed the first day. When we went on the second day I noticed a poster on the glass saying certain ages were full. I assumed this was information for the school they have in the fall. It never occurred to me Bible school could be full. I'm glad I was ignorant about it because it was a great highlight for Langston. We love AWANA but don't have access to Bible School in Qatar.


We also stayed a few days at the Magees way out in the country. Langston got to see the goats, chickens, horses, and cows that live on a farm. We enjoyed seeing the cow being milked in the morning.


We spent most of the next month at my parents home, Skyhaven, outside of Navasota. We were blessed with some very nice weather for the first of August. I helped Mother mow down a good bit of the yopoun. It was great therapy to cut down bushes and feel I was helping the place look a little better. Langston enjoyed helping with the goats and playing in the cottonseed which we fed them everyday. His Paw-paw even gave him a goat. He named her Sally. I was so glad Langston could enjoy being in the country. He built a "house" up from the pond. It looked more like a house plan but he had several amenities, a tire swing Maw-maw put up, a basketball goal of sorts, a hammock. He started digging for a swimming pool but needed more manual labor on that project!

Oct. 13, 2004


Looking back I realize I never wrote about our fishing trip. We took this with several other Aggies before we left for the summer. I can say I have a new admiration for the Pilgrims. I didn't care for being out in a little boat with no land in sight. It was quite choppy, they said. I kept looking for land since someone told me that would help prevent seasickness. I needn't have worried about Langston though. He had a great time! One guy tossed his cookies three times over the side of the boat. At least three others felt like it. They caught lots of baby sharks. I was glad I'd taken a life jacket for Langston because they had none his size. The life jackets were stored somewhere in the bowels of the cabin. Not very accessible. I've never been so glad to have a boat ride end.

We're finally in to last week before we go to Texas. I know this will be a busy week packing and getting things ready to go but I wanted to write some things down before I forget. First I'll tell you about the surprise birthday party for Larry Potts. His assistant, Nicole Parker, put on a humdinger of a party. I really didn't think I'd have much fun since I don't really get into Mardi Gras activities but there was lots of good food and a really fun arts/crafts table for the kids. Langston spent most of his time there. Nicole had a flower arrangement on her head that was quite fascinating. Another girl had a blue wig on. Whenever they came around Langston would crawl under the crafts table. I can't say I blame him. At the end of the party I learned two of the guests were soldiers from Iraq here for a few days of R & R . They stayed and helped us clean up. Right before they left I got to tell Langston these were some of our soldiers. With big eyes he looked up at the soldier and I hope the man heard the admiration in my voice. He hurried away but we got to see the other one the very next day on our fishing trip.


Yesterday we took a speedboat deep-sea fishing trip with several other Aggies. I was concerned about the heat but fortunately there was a shade on the back of the boat. We loaded up on the dock for Palm Tree Island. The boss at the dock told us it was rather windy so we shouldn't try to go out too far, not to push the drivers to go out further. That sounded fine to me. It wasn't a fancy speedboat but there was a head down inside and a little sitting area there too. There were 10 of us, including a couple here for a recruiting trip and two soldiers. One we had met the night before. They first drove us to an area where lots of the tour boats come for swimming and jet skiing. That's when they said it might be really choppy out deeper so in my mind I'm thinking, "Well, let's go home and try another day." But we had some real he-man fishermen who wanted to fish! so out we went into the deep. We had to stop at the security police headquarters out in the gulf. After several minutes of haggling about what we were going to do we headed out. I was glad I had a lifejacket for Langston. We went out 10 kilometers according to Jon's GPS device. I was dreading a very long afternoon I must confess.


When we stopped to fish we could only see ocean around us, no other boats or buoys. Our guides used fishing line wrapped around small boards to fish. They would bait the hooks with small pieces of squid and you'd drop it over. It took awhile but people started catching, of all things, sharks! We got about a dozen small sharks before it was over. They averaged about a foot long. Langston watched people fish and sat on the fish ice chest until the sharks lifted the lid with all their flopping around. We finally moved to another location to see what else we could catch. I noticed 2 of our sailors were lying down but I thought they were just relaxing. They were getting seasick. Before it was over Hkalid had to lean over the side of the boat to relieve himself. Fortunately I kept looking at the horizon and did okay and Langston didn't seem to have any problem at all. I kept giving him drinks and little snacks. He helped one of the soldiers catch a fish and enjoyed chumming around on the boat. We saw some jellyfish, but didn't catch much else. The last catch of the day was by Zach. He caught a good-sized channel catfish! We headed back to shore and some got drenched by the water spray. It took me awhile to get my landlegs back. We were all pretty beat. We thought we'd all go out to eat but by the time we went home and got cleaned up we stayed home. I think that fishing experience will hold me for a very long time. I was so thankful that Langston did so well. That was a great blessing along with the soldiers having a good time.