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!
Posted by nellie at January 27, 2004 03:05 PM