Vacation week

So, my husband came home the other night with the kids and told me that this student of his has kindly purchased four "thobes" for our family. One for my husband and each of the boys. How kind of him! I asked to see them, but unfortunately they aren't finished yet. Apparently his host took him to a special fabric shop to purchase the appropriate fabric for a Qatari thobe. Then they took it to the tailor where they were all measured. I can just imagine my little boys struggling to stand still for the tailor. And now they just have to wait five days or so for them to be finished. After that, the boys can don their thobes and go out to the malls and strut their stuff! I guess all I need to fit in is an "abaya".

Of course, this one is quite elegant. Mostly the women wear a more basic one without the frills and the golden belt. I've actually never seen a belt worn. Anyway, when we went to the beach a few days ago I saw some girls splashing around in the water in their abayas having loads of fun. And there I was, large and pregnant, in my scanty bathing suit. I'm just grateful I don't have to wear a heavy abaya in the water. God gives us what we can handle, right?

School is starting in a few days. We've had a week of vacation. It's been so great to have Jonathan home for the week. Most of the people here are long gone, out of the country, but we've stayed here. We'll be here until after the baby is born around Christmastime. Then maybe we'll plan some exotic vacation. But, can you really vacation with a newborn? We'll see how that goes.

We found a perfect bike for Atticus. We finally pumped up Shermy's bike tires. Both of them are speeding around the compound. They want to go to "the bridge" every day now. It's a very nice walking bridge that connects the two living compounds that Qatar Foundation owns. So it has a hill going up and a hill going down with lots of curves. It brings on the smiles when I see them going as fast as they can to beat eachother. Atticus gets so competitive that he looks back a lot and then runs straight into something and goes flying. I can't help but laugh. Shermy took a bad fall yesterday so he's become a bit cautious today, but I know that it won't last long. Can the word cautious really describe a four year old boy? I don't think so.

So change is coming. School for the two older boys, a quilting class for me, Arabic classes for Jonathan, and a playgroup for Cinci. I think we're ready now for all this. I just hope I can get my license very soon so I can get the kids to school.