The Simple Life at Home

I believe I've mentioned a time or four hundred how frustrating grocery shopping can be here in Doha.  Yes, it's the richest country on the planet, but they can't seem to get things on the shelves with any regularity.  A friend of mine told me of an experience she had at one of the local markets frequented by Westerners.  A certain item was stocked rather irregularly - as soon as it got on the shelves it was cleared out by eager buyers.  And then she couldn't find it for a long time so she asked the manager why.  His reply?  "Oh, madame, we couldn't keep it in stock.  As soon as we got it, it would sell.  We had to stop ordering it!"

Over the past week, I've been sharing with you some difficulties that believers have been facing here.  Six families whom I know personally, but as many as 30 total, were given orders to leave the country last week.  

So, I realized I haven't mentioned my epic battle with death lately.  If you recall, I recently went through a bout of the plague.  At least, that's my opinion.  Actually, I'm convinced that it was whooping cough, after being tipped off by an alert reader.  I laughed then, but upon reading the symptoms, I'm pretty sure that is what I have (had).  I do feel infinitely better, but still have coughing fits a couple of times a day, which generally end in me gagging.  Very attractive.  

(Ok, some of you may have gotten just a blank post if you are using a feed reader. Sorry! I was doing this early in the morning, still half asleep and I hit enter too early!!)

I have so much to be thankful for today. Though this has been a tough week, I still know Who is in control. It's been emotionally draining, but I have a Comforter. It's been scary, but I have a Protector. It's been sad, but I have a Healer.

I'm not at liberty to say all that's going on. We are fine as a family. There's no illness or anything like that. But many of our friends have had a traumatic shock this week and it's hurt us as well. I had posted about it late last night, but in the harsh light of day it seemed to be a bad idea. The post has since been deleted as I'm afraid it may have already compromised us, so I apologize for the vagueness of all this. There were a few glitches with my Blogger account that kind of freaked me out and I'm still not sure what happened.

But the thing is, through all the unsettling stuff that's been going on, I'm growing. I'm learning. I'm going deeper. And I know, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that one way or another, I'll be taken care of. For that I am truly grateful.

On the way to school this morning Daniel lost a tooth.  A nice, big chunky molar.  

I've been doing a little thinking lately and I've realized that I've been handling becoming a "working mother" all wrong.  Since I started working about a month and a half ago, our home life has basically been allowed to go to seed.  Here's just a little snippet of what it's been like lately:

Oh my gosh!!!!  I'm so excited!!  I've been given a really cool award. 

There are certain things that bring to mind certain times of year. Bearing in mind that I've lived in warm climates (Arizona, Southern California, Florida) since I was 8 here are some of the seasonal landmarks that I've lived my life by.

Fall: Leaves falling to the ground; getting back into a routine after the break of summer; carving a pumpkin and roasting seeds.

Winter: Cool temperatures; doors and windows flung wide open; sweaters, maybe even coats; Christmas decor in the stores (though this seems to have suspiciously moved into fall); baking; darkness setting in early.

Spring: Slowly warming temperatures; brilliant blue skies; flowers; birds singing.

Summer: Heat; a slower pace with regular events off taking a break for the summer; barbeques; fireworks, mosquitos.

Here in Qatar, there are a few other signs that mark the beginning of summer.

The main topic of conversation is where you are going for the summer. Very few people stay here for the whole summer due to the oppressive heat and humidity. Most of the wives and children pack up the day or so after school is out and return just before it resumes.

I've begun consistenly using the remote start feature in my car. When it's been sitting in the hot desert sun and temps have been about 110 degrees all day, having the air running full-blast when I get in makes a huge difference.

And finally, in what I see as the biggest sign it's summer, I turned off our water heaters today. The sun is doing a dandy job of pre-heating all our water for us and no longer needs any help. This means we will be switching over to using the hot water tap (those tanks are in the house and therefore they will be kept cooler with the heater turned off) for cold water and the cold water tap for hot water. Even so, we will still need to wait several minutes for the water flowing through the pipes to be tolerable.

It may not rival fireworks and barbeques, but it's a sure sign it's summer!

This morning a teacher sent out an email to the staff and faculty of the school promoting a "Staff Art Show."  I read it and snorted, thinking to myself, "Art is definitely something not in my genes.  I don't have any creative talents."