You must really be glad...

to be back in Roanoke...we keep hearing! Our family moved to Dubai over a year ago now and when you live in a place that long...that new place becomes a home to you. We are now an expatriate family...a family that is "from" one place but now has a new home, well, as least temporarily (?). It presents quite an emotional quandry at times...where is "home?" The old saying goes that "Home is where you hang your hat."

Now that we (Lisa, Kaleigh and Ashlyn) are "home" for the summer...home means Roanoke, VA. We are obviously happy to be "back" around our family and friends, since we love them very much. We are able to spend a lot of quality face-time with those who want to spend time with us...and that means so much. It's very easy to immerse yourself in the familiar surroundings of where you grew up and sink back into a familiar flow. It's fantastic to feast our eyes on the beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains by glancing out the window or by taking a leisurely drive along the Blue Ridge parkway. Driving in Roanoke is a delight compared to Dubai's hectic-schmectic construction-crazy 12-14 lane highways. No one is trying to cut us off in traffic.

Today, our 4-year old (Ashlyn) said she wanted to go home. To her, home is Dubai. That is the place most active in her memory...the place she knows best. It is where her friends are (well, other than Sam) and it's really all she remembers. Roanoke feels less like home now than it did 14 months ago and it's a perplexing emotion to consider. It is becoming a place to visit...a place in which we no longer live but still have many connections. It's where we are "from," but not where we currently "belong."

Dots

Tonight...after tucking our sweet girls into bed, Lisa heard little footsteps pounding down the hall. She looked up to find Ashlyn staring at her with terrified eyes and Kaleigh as her moral support. Ashlyn said there were "dots" on the ceiling and that she was very scared. Lisa's first inclination was to say "everything is okay, Sweetie...now go back to bed." But, Ashlyn genuinely looked terrified so Lisa took her by the hand (with Kaleigh close behind) and got into Ashlyn's bed for an up-close look at these dots. Now, Lisa does believe in supernatural beings and that children's innocence may allow them to see things that adults can't see (angels, etc.) Ashlyn was shaking and said that she just knew something was in the room and was asking Kaleigh to back her up. A gentle thunderstorm started rumbling outside and the pitter patter of raindrops on the rooftop provided a much-needed distraction.
Lisa soon realized after her eyes adjusted to the dark that the dots Ashlyn was seeing actually were dots...three small circles of light caused by a reflection of moonlight on the ceiling fan's brass exterior. She was indeed seeing dots. Even as Lisa explained what the dots were to Ashlyn, her little hand gripped her mommy's arm tighter. Then her fear subsided into peaceful sleep. There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping child...so precious!

Weekly updates

Well, we're fully into the swing of life back in the States. We've joined the Botetourt Athletic Club for the summer, so we will have access to a fantastic outdoor pool as well as all of the fitness equipment and indoor pools. Living in Dubai has changed our lifestyle in that we are much more active in the water, so having pool access was essential! Kaleigh and Ashlyn will begin swimming lessons tomorrow. We're having a cookout (or barbeque for the rest of ya) today for some friends that we haven't been able to see since Christmas and we're really looking forward to it. It seems that we've brought the Dubai heat home with us, as Roanoke has been setting record temperatures almost daily. Temperatures in the upper 30s (celsius) or mid 90s (fahrenheit) don't bother us now and our family can't believe it when we're sitting outside or (gasp!) playing in the heat. Dwayne heads back to the Middle East next weekend, so we're trying to make the most of our time with him here. We've never been apart for 6 weeks before...the longest has been one month.

Dwayne and Lisa caught the Prince Caspian movie and it is fantastic. The girls are begging to see Wall-E. Lisa really loves the Pixar films and even has a collection of all of their shorts, but this particular film isn't looking too promising. We'll just have to go and check it out!

To those of you in Dubai who are reading this, the school year is almost over! We are thinking of you all daily and miss you very much. Soon you'll also be off on your holidays and will get a reprieve from that crazy heat! Please keep in touch over the summer and check in with us here! We love getting your comments and emails!

Crazy trip home

Have you ever had one of those days where you think, " What ELSE could go wrong?!" Well, we had several days in a row like that! On our last day in Dubai, Dwayne went to the US Embassy to pick up a second passport that he had requested. Well, they mistakenly cancelled his first passport and even put the obligatory punch-holes right through it. This meant he now would have lots of issues getting back to work in Saudi in mid-June (upon return from the US). He was completely disgusted with this situation. We left Dubai at 2:45 am on June 2 and landed in London (Gatwick) about 6-7 hours later. We had about a 3 hour layover there...which is just about perfect when you want to grab a meal, and let the kids run around a bit to get the extra energy out of their legs. When we checked it, they hand-wrote our gate number on our boarding passes and it said Gate 57. Not a problem. We ate, shopped around a bit, and headed down to Gate 57 about 1.5 hours early. We sat there and sat there...just waiting like you do at the airports. Well, the gate still had not opened and it was time for our flight to leave. We didn't question it because when you travel, this kind of thing happens all the time - - flights are late.

Well, Dwayne went up a floor to check the flight boards and it said our flight was at Gate 51! We ran as fast as we could with all of our carry-on luggage to the Gate and upon arrival they would not let us board. We showed them our boarding pass and they said they could understand how we would think it was 57 (because that IS what it said!). We were devastated because that was the only flight to Cincinnati that day. A pretty ambivalent employee escorted us down to retrieve our bags (which had been pulled from the plane) and then took us to ticketing. We had a very unpleasant experience with Delta employees at this airport - - all of whom were either rude or had a "we don't care" attitude with us. We have vowed at this time never to fly Delta again. We ended up having to pay 200.00 USD extra per ticket (x4) to get tickets for the next day. We booked a room at a local hotel and with heavy hearts boarded a train, then a taxi to get there. So, after overcoming the disappointment of being "stuck" in Gatwick, we made the best of it and went out to an area called Crawley Town Centre. The girls made out like Bandits at the Disney Store and we treated ourselves to some yummy comfort food chocolate chip cookies.

The next day, we flew from Gatwick to Cincinnati without delay. The flight was scheduled for about 8 hours and we immediately noticed there were no TVs on the seats...not good news for us! Trust us, having the tvs for Kaleigh and Ashlyn is nice on the looooong flights! But, they survived nicely the old fashioned way with books, coloring, and naps. ;)

We arrived at the Cincinnati airport on June 4 and were happy to be back on American soil. What a cute airport...too! We found a good Mexican restaurant and hunkered down for our meal when the airport made an announcement that we were all going to be EVACUATED for a possible tornado heading our way. Lisa, who has been involved in a tornado situation, was initially panic-stricken but quickly regained composure because the girls got nervous with her. They escorted the elderly and families with children first in a very orderly fashion into the bowels of the Cincinnati airport...even most of the airport employees were saying they had never been down that far. Imagine a dimly lit tunnel with a double-decker conveyor belt on one side of the hall for the luggage. There were hundreds of us down there without any communication. We were released after about 30 minutes. Hats off to the staff at that airport for being patient and kind to all of us.

Even after all of the flights were indefinitely delayed, God apparently had mercy on us because our flight left for Roanoke on time! We just couldn't believe our luck! We were greeted by a hailstorm and a subsequent tornado (another area in Roanoke) upon arrival in our Star City.

Being back in Roanoke has been wonderful so far...the lush green mountains are a literal feast for our desert-weary eyes. Everything is a slower pace for us for now...a much needed break from the sometimes hectic Dubai. We feel as though we have two completely separate lives...which is not necessarily a bad thing! Kaleigh and Ashlyn are enjoying the time with their doggie (Caesar) and being able to play outside (for hours at a time). When we left Dubai, it was at least 110 degrees each day...just too hot for extended playtime! We have noticed that the 90-degree days here are not such a big deal. We are after all...desert people now!!