Goodbye 2010

Wow!  What an incredible year 2010 has been for this Sperling family.  We started out the year with Micah working in Houston and me working at Landolt Elementary in Friendswood.  We ended the year with Micah working in Saudi Arabia and me....well...not working ;)  


In February Micah made his first business trip to Saudi and I spent 4 weeks alone in Houston with Gizmo.  


March brought many visitors including Micah's parents and his brother's family.  We had a great visit together going to the Houston Rodeo, Galveston, and just enjoying each others company.  The end of March brought my 2 best friends in to visit, Anna and Holly.   We spent a great weekend together shopping and having quality girl time.  


April brought some showers but even more friends and relatives.  We had a great going away party at my parents house.  Many of our Houston friends showed up along with tons of family.  For the party we had some boiled crawfish, jambalya, and a margarita machine.  It was a great memory to share with everyone before the move. On April 30 I officially quite my job and was no longer a working girl. 


May brought some fun adventures for Micah and I.  Micah was being sent to training in New Jersey so we decided to make it a trip to do together and go to New York City at the end.  We had a great time touring the city just the two of us.  During our trip we celebrated our 3rd year of marriage. After our trip Micah left me again to go back to Saudi and I started to get our house ready to be packed.  May 20 the packers came and packed up our life in Houston.  I stayed the rest of May with my parents.  The end of May was very excited because 2 of our best friends in Houston had beautiful baby girls.  


June was an interesting month with most of my time being spent at my parents house. It was great to get such consolidated quality time with my parents before we moved.  Anna was able to come visit again and we both stayed with my parents.  It's such a blessing to have such a wonderful friend. At the end of June Micah came back to the US to "pick me up".  Before we headed to Saudi we took one more trip to Oklahoma to visit his parents and spend some more time together. On June 30 Micah and I boarded the plane to Saudi Arabia. 


July was a month of adjustments.  Getting used to the heat, getting our apartment put together, getting Gizmo to Saudi, figuring out the grocery shopping, etc.  It was also a month for making new friends and forming new relationships.  


August was a month of more adjustments.  More heat but now it was Ramadan.  Lets just say that in 2010 I learned I would rather not be in Saudi during Ramadan.  However, August was an exciting month because our best friends, the Perry's, arrived in Saudi.  It was so nice for me to have Lindsey here. Along with the Perry's, our friendships with others continued to grow and we realized how blessed we were to have so many wonderful people to have as friends.  


September once again brought Micah and I some great experiences.  Mid September we headed out of Saudi for Kenya.  We went on a 9 day African Safari.  This is one of those trips that just makes you wonder how anyone can doubt that there is a God and that only He could have created this Earth.  What a trip!


October was a month of "normal" life in Saudi.  Continuing to grow relationships with friends and establish our life here in Saudi.  At the end of October is probably when I had the worst homesickness.  Not homesickness so much in missing people but more so in missing the United States. I would say the culture shock started to hit in a way I had not expected but I have learned to deal.


November 1 I decided to put our Christmas decorations.  It was exciting to get to take all of my Christmas stuff and put it up in our apartment.  I kinda felt like a rebel ;)  We had some great Thanksgiving celebrations with friends and had to learn to deal with missing our families. 


December again was amazing.  If you go back a couple of posts you know why!  Our trip to Australia was fantastic and it was so great to spend time with my parents.  It helps hold off the homesickness.  Christmas Eve and day were a little more difficult but we made it through.  


When I look back I can't believe all the experiences Micah and I have shared together in just 1 year. 2010 was a great year and I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store.