Debt Free @ 33

The closing for our house was last Thursday. The only thing is that no one told us. Last we'd heard, the closing would be delayed a few days so we were in standby mode with our fingers crossed. Then the next thing we knew my mom was calling asking where to deposit the check. It's bittersweet. We loved that house and the precious memories were made there.

We feel extremely blessed and pray things continue to go well here. We are in the process of buying one of these:

And what a process it is! In the states when you pay cash you can drive home the same day. Here it takes an average of 5 visits to complete the endless paperwork and paying cash is the only option. They even need a bunch of my info and women can't even drive here. I don't get it.

We chose the Armada because we need a LOT of metal around us (we've passed some gnarly accidents) and four wheel drive and space for all those car seats.

Once we get wheels we plan to explore more-- at least, as much as we can between the 6 prayers 20 to 40 minutes in length that shut everything down. Things also remain closed after the noon prayer until around 4:00 pm. You must have a specific plan of attack to get things done and be relaxed enough to hang out and wait, because the plan never goes as desired. Add in a baby that wants to nurse every 4 hours and a busy 3 year old and you wonder how anything will get done.

We spent last Saturday shopping in Kobar. We had errands all over town and had to visit the American Consulate. Without a car, and trying to work around all the above mentioned chaos, it was a busy day. We hired a driver for the day and set out. I finally broke down and bought an Abaya to wear in public places. I was tired of getting stared at for not having one on. I was only harassed once by the religious police for not wearing one the night before. It is against the law for them to approach or speak to women so as he passed me he said, "Abaya, please, Abaya."

Chris also decided to do a century ride in Dhahran last Friday morning. It went really well considering he has had very little time in the saddle since arriving. There are some other "roadies" in our ward and they invited us to stay the weekend with them. We had great hospitality, great food, and a great long weekend.