Giant TV's and the Slaughtering of Massive Amounts of Animals

{Hi to all new visitors! My husband and I moved to the Middle East in the summer of 2010. It's been a huge adjustment and there are days when all you want to do is return to America. We know we are here for the right reasons though, and since being where God wants us to be is the most important thing for us, we'll remain here until He says otherwise.

We've been married for 3 years and gave birth to our first child, a daughter named Grace Madeline, in April of 2011. Having a baby in a foreign country is just that- foreign! My bald headed beauty gets asked daily "what is wrong with her," for not having any hair, but we love explaining to the locals that American babies often don't have hair for awhile!

I am studying Arabic full time right now, with the hopes that I can better communicate to the locals. Our plan is to move to a big city in June of 2012, but for now, are in a sleepy little desert town, with rugged mountains to the west and rolling sand dunes to the east.

For security reasons, I don't usually say much about where we are, but I thought this post from last fall would be an interesting cultural tidbit about life out here.

Thanks for stopping by!}

We live in a really complex and paradoxical world.

And by "we," I don't mean the human race.

I mean my husband and I, here in the desert.

Just thought I would clarify that.

Just yesterday, during that great big holiday I told ya'll about, I went out on holiday visits to several women's homes, and while we were driving about, I got to witness, first hand, the slaughtering of massive amounts of animals.

It was not a pretty picture.

Cows, goats, sheep, and camels all met their demise yesterday, often in the front yard of these houses.

I won't go into the gory details, but, let's just say I'm glad that I am out of the pregnancy phase of nausea, or the poor locals would have had to see what I had for breakfast.

Several times.

What really won't be a pretty picture, is what our town will smell like in about 24 more hours, as all of those animals' intestines were just dumped in dumpsters all over town. Bleh.

The paradox comes in when I explain that Ian and I spent the day in Dubai today. Fancy, schmancy. With a side order of "too rich for my blood."

We had a lunch date at a Macaroni Grill beside a four story tall aquarium. It was awesome.

Then we wandered the mall, exploring different areas, drooling over the biggest book store I have ever been into, and finally tracking down the best deal on a TV.

And now, 2 1/2 years into marriage and we are finally the proud owner of a seriously large flat screen/panel TV.

And we also bought our Christmas stockings. And we each chose an ornament. And we bought baby's first book, and I think we decided on baby's bedding, if baby turns out to be a boy.

And I might have started humming, at an inappropriately loud volume, the tune of Silver Bells while standing in the middle of the mall.

My bad.

Ian and I had a lovely dinner with our friends Tim and Joan at (again) PF Changs before heading to the grocery store and stocking up on meat, since we can't get that on this side of the border. Not that the people in our country are vegetarians. Just that you can't really trust beef that's made in a country where there is no grass or hay to speak of.

Ian and I had an awesome drive home, with no problems with the car, or with the border (praise the Lord!) and had a great time listening to Frank Sinatra and discussing our dating days. We dated long distance our entire relationship and engagement. Yup. So we have alot of funny memories from those times.

It's currently 1 AM on Thursday morning and my husband just got the tv hooked up in our quite tiny family room. We are enthralled.

And, instead of going to bed like I should, I just read a million blogs and didn't comment on a one of them! Sometimes I just don't feel like it, you know?

And then? Well, and then I removed the layer of nail polish off of my toes from my last trip to Dubai. You know. Over 6 weeks ago. I was a little concerned for the health of my nails and finally broke down and made them paint less.

And that is the extent of my plans for the evening. Stare catatonically at the TV that could swallow me whole until Ian says "honey, you should go to bed." At which point I will willingly oblige and the long day will be over.

The End.

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Giant TV's and the Slaughtering of Massive Amounts of Animals