WOW! It's been a while..

We don't get to see clouds much where we live..but this was taken on a recent trip to the mountains. I have so much I have wanted to blog about but this crazy Arabian Life has been on a non-stop roller coaster ride since I last blogged. This picture symbolizes a glimmer of light finally poking through after months of total frustration!

I don't know where to even begin..part of my reluctance to blog has been I didn't want this blog to turn into a whole, poor me kind of depressing blog. I love Arabia. I love that this place is so out there sometimes. What is normal here is SO not normal in most senses of the word! So I will have a little whine and get it over with and then I will get to blog on more positive things!
Yesterday the landlord finally fired the repairmen and I am waiting patiently today for the new guys to show up..

Today we might be able to get the boy kiddo back in his room completely and get all his stuff out of our bedroom so we have a bedroom again and not a storeroom! The last repairmen "fixed"the leaks in the house-but we are still having leaks. They painted over the water damage in the boy kiddos bedroom with watered down paint and wondered why it wasn't covering the damage-taking 2 weeks between coats to let it dry!
A toilet that we didn't know was leaking has been pouring water into our sewage drain for months-imagine the shocking water bill!
We lost hot water for a couple weeks as the pump burned out. The old repairmen took 2 weeks to show up and when they did we were gone for the weekend and couldn't get in to fix it!
Today I am hoping that the new repairmen show up and do a better job..

On another subject, we have been running out of bottled gas. There is no piped gas where we live so we have to buy these every few months. But since we moved we have found it hard to find a guy to come deliver to our house, since have no street name or address-just a dirt track! Months of calling and giving directions to all the delivery guys we know has been a case of them telling us they will come but not showing up.
Finally we got a guy to come the other day but by the time I answered the door he was already driving away and wouldn't come back when I called him a minute later as he was "very busy madam"'!

My Sweet very patiently went out driving the other day to hunt down one of the orange trucks that deliver gas. Shouldn't be too hard to find! No joy. But yesterday, success. Not only did he get gas at half the price of the delivery guys, but he found the actual gas depot and for a brilliant 2 Rial(4 GBP/$5.00) we now have gas that will last us for the next 2-3 months. YES! No more worries about running out of gas half way through cooking dinner. Life's little joys.

On another happy note..I have a Turkey!!! The American Thanksgiving holiday is coming up soon. Originally, we thought that my Sweet would have to be teaching in the desert camp during this time, so I was not really getting into the preparation for the holiday, thinking we would have to postpone it. However, good news meant that he will be here-so happy!
But my lack of planning meant that I was hunting around for Turkey but none of the stores had any left. Thankfully my best friend here found one for me. It's too exciting beyond words to finally have it in my freezer, knowing we can enjoy this family tradition. I will not let the cost depress my joy-it is so worth it.
It got me thinking how the little stresses pile up here real easy. Back home, in our western lands, we take so much for granted. Having hot water, having repair men come on time, being able to communicate and have people understand you, being able to cook without chasing down an orange truck!
So when the big stresses come, and there have been a few already this year, it makes it even harder.
I am thankful for my faith that allows me to put things in perspective and for family and friends here and far-off that are there for us. Thankful for sure.