Nellie's blog

Christmas in Doha

Since we had travelled in November we chose to stay here for Christmas. It's pretty normal to take off during the holidays. Doha does a fair job of decorating for Christmas. The malls have Christmas trees up and there are places to buy trees and decorations. They tell me this is quite a change from a few years ago. We bought a tree this year so it added to the festivity in our home. We had our Christmas music over the computer so we were definitely in the holiday spirit.

Some friends tell me they have Muslim friends who celebrate "Christmas" with a tree and gifts. Afterall, "Jesus was a prophet, "they say.

I believe my favorite part of the holiday was going caroling. I had wanted to go last year but had missed the church youth activity. I was determined to do it this time around. Several families from the compound met at our house. We walked around and looked for signs of Christmas at neighbors' houses and asked if they'd like us to carol for them. We didn't have any refusals. Everyone was very appreciative and enthusiastic. Most of them would scurry around looking for some candies to give the kids with us. I had thought we'd do it for an hour but it lasted closer to two hours. It was just such a fun, easy way to celebrate the holiday. I hoped people would listen to what we were singing since most were about Jesus' birth. I hope to make it a tradition wherever we may be.

We also had a wonderful Christmas Eve service with Grace Fellowship. We met at Al Jazi for it. Several shared special music and a sketch. Jon and I led some kids in singing Come on, Ring those Bells and Merry Texas Christmas, You All! Jon accompanied most of the musicians with their selections. He also helped with the sound system set up and break down which caused for some marital discord since he was involved in that for 6 hours. Not my idea of a family Christmas Eve. But I know everyone enjoyed the service. Langston got to hold his own candle for the lighting at the end.

Christmas morning we opened the gifts from my family. Santa Camel brought me an electric keyboard! Now I have no excuse not to practice my piano pieces. The Gardners' gifts arrived in time for Epiphany. The Parkers' will probably come this week.

We had hoped to entertain some of our troops but they weren't available for some reason so we ate at the Franklins with a big group of Aggies.

Next time I'll tell you about New Year's Eve. We had a special miracle in the desert!

Jan. 4, 2005 Disturbing Things in the Middle East

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.