Oman

We have not been out of Abu Dhabi much since we arrived, but finally made it to Oman the other weekend. Muscat is known as a beach resort town, but instead of staying at one of the big resorts with a pool and ocean view we checked out 4 dodgy hotel rooms before settling into one we could be proud of... it had running water AND the a.c. worked.
These old men sat outside the hotel ALL DAY playing a game with stones in the sand and drinking tea.

The 'old town' was very beautiful with white washed buildings tucked into the mountain coast line. In the background you can see ancient stone forts overlooking the bay.
It was SOOOO HOT the only thing we could do during the day was drive around and peek at the coast line and the way people live. Most of the time I feel like these goats; hopping from one bit of shade to another. This is a soccer field (you have to look real close to see the goal post/nets) can you even imagine sending your kids off to play here? I miss Portland.

The other major attraction was an ancient covered market, which was surprisingly beautiful. It was also refreshing to see locals doing their shopping here instead of just tourists.

They might have to wear an abaya, but these girls are still flashing the bling however they can; sunglasses, Prada bags, and stiletto heels!

Aquafina.
This photo is for Amy.
They use boxes of 'kleenex' everywhere instead of napkins. This high class restaurant even had a box cover... in the shape of a sofa.

Baby Shower!!

Some of the girls from our church group threw us a co-ed baby shower... SURPRISE!!! It feels pretty amazing that there is such a large group of people that are supportive and anticipating Eva's arrival along with us.

They knocked themselves out with great decorations, games, and a cupcake tower to boot!

The boys took some of the games very seriously and really got into it, it made the afternoon a lot of fun.





And there were gifts, lots of wonderful thoughtful gifts, including bedding for the crib! (note the artistic wrapping job)
Eva's first little friend- Izzy.

We feel so so (SO) blessed to have been included with this small group/Bible study for young couples. We are making friends with people we really respect and admire; so far it has been the best part of our experience here in Abut Dhabi. Truth be told, if we had not discovered this group I would probably be pestering Ned to go home already (really pestering).

Updated belly shot: 31.5 weeks

Camping in the Sand!

This was probably about 6 weeks ago, but we made a quick camping trip to the desert with our small group from church. It was fun to see our first real camel out there in a natural setting.

Ned with a view of the dunes...
A trip over the nearest dune (i.e. toilet) and were surprised to see camel tracks .

On the drive home there were several herds of camel being driven along the highway to a camel race track about 5 miles away. So much different than spotting a deer alongside the road, this is when we realized: How strange- we live in the Middle East!

People have been asking for photos of the 'baby bump'. I didn't realize just how big it is until Ned showed me this photo!

There is A LOT of construction in Abu Dhabi, this is the view from our beach front.

Our beach/pool club is truly an oasis in the middle of the hot and dirty city. We love love love it!

This is the garden/restaurant area at the beach club... we plan to spend a lot of time sitting at the English Pub under that palm tree:)

Thankfully there is a nice children's park just across from our building. It is teaming with little kiddies until midnight each day.

I love all of the American franchises with Arabic signage (Pizza Hut)

A personal favorite: Arabic KFC

This is the neighborhood. All of the roads are big, 4 or 5 lanes each direction. There are way too may cars. walking around is really unpleasant. Fourtunately we are only a couple of blocks from the beach club!

This is our building, we live on the 18th floor!

Typical: construction in the desert.

View from our living room window.

Back in the US of A!!

Well, we never really posted a final blog about our good byes and return home in mid October. It was really hard to leave the kids. We want to know what they are doing every day but are just trying to let go a little. We are keeping in touch with letters, Christmas gifts, and even phone calls.

Ned says good bye to his crew of security guards.

Good bye mwalimu Mery.

Ned bought everyone soda on the afternoon we left. Good bye mama sara and mama joyce!

Look! I can chug my wholel soda!

Good bye Eric!

Ned says good bye to his best bud and cab driver- Joseph.

good bye neighbor lady that brought fresh eggs and milk each morning!

Bye baby Enochi.

Bye friends from the village.

But rather than finishing our story about Africa, we think it is time to start the next one:

Ned & Emily's Blog Part II: Abu Dhabi and Brand New Baby!!

Yep, we are moving again. This time for 2 years instead of 1. Ned accepted a job with a Portland engineering company that is sending him (us) to the United Arab Emirates to help start up an international office. Ned is really excited about the opportunity and can not wait to get over there and get started. Emily is a little bit more hesitant this time around. Picking up and going to Africa without any set plans was exciting/adventurous/risky; going to the middle east to have a baby is... I am not sure what it is yet. But the good news is that we are going to have a baby! Next July! Stay tuned!

U.A.E is between Oman and the Persian Gulf. We will be living in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which is just down the coast line 90min. from the Emirate of Dubai.

All visitors welcome! (Except maybe not in July)

Day With The Neighbors

Meet our friend Mery. She is a 15 year old girl that we met when she came to look for work. Since then she started coming to 'greet' us regularly...a little too regulary. She is not able to finish high school b/c her parents don't have any money, but she told me she wasn't really interested anyway and wants to take a vocational cooking course instead. We thought that was a great idea so Ned and I are helping her enroll in a Hotel Training program this fall. Ned gave her some money to get a uniform made, some new shoes, and a few school supplies. It was really cute b/c she made her big shopping trip to town and couldn't wait to come back and show us all of her new goods. She had managed to buy herself THREE new pairs of shoes instead of paying the tailor for her unifrom like Ned told her to. I was kind of annoyed with her... until I remember how excited I would have been at just 15 years old.
Her family was so thankful that they wanted us to attend church with them and then spend the afternoon at their house. This Ned in the living room with her brother- note the chicken nesting in the corner behind him.
Group shot outside the house.

Mery's parents. The dad is pretty slow and is not really able to move around. Her mama works in their garden everyday and produces everything they eat.

House #2 Opens

We have been pretty busy around here opening the second house for another 10 children. Most of them are 3 years old, a couple are 4 and 5, so they require a lot of attention and training. We started a separate blog for the orphanage specifically; for photos of all the new kiddies check out http://www.havilahvillage.blogspot.com/

This is Dao, the new baby of the bunch. Dao's interests include sucking his thumb, wetting the bed, pooping outside in the lawn, eating with his hands, and crying at night and screaming "MZUNGU!" (ie: hey white people, come and get me!) This is me rocking him to sleep on one of his first tough nights here in his new home.