Christmas 2011- Houston

Well, I guess it's about time I blogged about Christmas since January is already half way over (woah)!  Last year Micah and I celebrated Christmas in Saudi.  It wasn't terrible but it wasn't my favorite experience I've had since living here so this year I decided I was going to the US for Christmas no matter what.  Micah reluctantly agreed and we spent an amazing Christmas in the USA!


As usual I arrived in the US earlier than Micah (see previous post) and I spent most of my time just shopping and spending time with my parents but I was also able to attend Bailey's dance recital.  I was so excited to get to be there for Bailey and to get to watch her dance. 

When Micah arrived in the US we spent the first half of our time in Houston.  Micah's parents were nice enough to drive to Houston and greet Micah at the airport and spend a few days with us. Soon after his parents left Houston, my brother and his family arrived in Houston to spend Christmas week.  It was wonderful to have so much time to be able to spend with family.  Spending Christmas in Saudi the year before makes you more appreciative of Christmas in the US.  I've always been strange and love malls at Christmas.  I love the people, decorations, music, santa, and buying gifts for people I love.    

Christmas Eve we went to a Christmas Eve service and then did our traditional family Christmas eve gift exchange.   The parents always give us a Christmas ornament and the girls get matching pj's.  Then of course we have matching pj pictures. *We missed having my sister and her family on Christmas but they came the day afer

Christmas morning was wonderful.  Nough said. 

So as to not bore too much I will finish mostly with pictures.  This aunt loved spending time with all her nieces and nephews and being home for Christmas. 

Ready or Not...

Here I Come!

That's right, in June of 2012 Micah and I will be adding another member to our family.  I am currently 15 weeks and have been feeling great. What a wonderful little blessing we have for the coming year!


Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!


~Stephanie and Micah


Side notes:
- Yes, the baby will be born in Saudi 
- Yes, the baby will still be an American Citizen
- The actual due date is June 22

It's Bedlam Baby!

In case you didn't know, Micah and I are both big Oklahoma State fans (I'm not sure how you can know us and not know this fact though).   And, in case you didn't know, our major rival is the University of Oklahoma aka OU (why they abbreviate it backwards is beyond me).  It just so happened that this year OSU played OU on December 3 at OSU and I happened to make it to the USA in time to get to go.  Micah was not so thrilled that I was able to go to this game and he was not but he survived.  In order to go to the game I arrived in Houston on Thursday at 2:00pm after 23+ hours of travel, went home, repacked, took a shower, and by 5:00pm Thursday I was in the car with my parents driving from Houston to Stillwater.  What a day of travel! 

On Friday I spent half the day with my parents and grandparents and that afternoon all my best friends from college came to Stillwater to hang out. We went to my favorite Stillwater place-Eskimo Joes- and then went back to my parents farm house for some fun girl time.  It was great to get to see everyone and have time to just hang out.   It felt like the old college days hanging out in one of our rooms basically having a slumber party. Thanks so much to Anna, Christina, Holly, and Kendra for driving up to spend the night and hangout with me.  It was a blast.

On Saturday we woke up and it was pouring down rain- not such a great forecast for the game- but we all prayed hard.  We decided that since it was raining what else were girls to do but go shopping.  After hitting up some of my favorite Stillwater shops, including the OSU student store for some new OSU gear, we said our goodbyes and parted ways.  It was time to get ready for the Bedlam game!!!! 

The forecast for the game was very cold and rain.  Not a great forecast for this Saudi girl but I knew there was NO WAY IN THE WORLD I was not going to the game so we all bundled up and prepared for the worst.  Game time weather turned out to be wonderful! A little cold for me still but it wasn't raining so again it was wonderful.  Ohh yeah, and the Cowboys STOMPED the sooners which was even more wonderful than the weather.  The game was so much fun!  I've missed the college football atmosphere and being in Stillwater on game days.  I LOVE all the orange. And no, we didn't storm the field at the end of the game.  I'm of the opinion that storming the field is a college student job.  

Cowboys 44- Sooners 10

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Thanksgiving in Saudi year 2

Well, we just spent our second Thanksgiving in Saudi Arabia.  I will say this year was easier than last.  Of course we are now closer with our friends and they officially feel like family. This makes the holidays seem more at ease and just plain fun.  We spent Thursday at our friends Matt & Cherie's where we all chipped in on the cooking responsibilities.  The food was fantastic as was the company.  We were also grateful for a well working Slingbox that allowed us to watch the Macy's parade and a little football. Good times.

On Friday we had another celebration with our Friday "group" which again just feels like extended family.  It was great to get to "study" together and then eat more amazing food. After group it was turkey nap time. Once we all recovered we headed back to Matt & Cherie's where we ended up playing catch for a while outside (the weather is PERFECT), played a fun game together, and then ordered pizza.  Needless to say our Thanksgiving weekend was lots of fun.

Thankful:

1. The most important is Jesus whose love is never failing.

2. My wonderful husband that works hard to provide for us and takes good care of me

3. Family- All of my family is fantastic including the in-laws.  I could not be any luckier!

4.  Friends near and far.  Those that are near, thanks for being a great Saudi support system. Those who are far, thanks for still being my friend even when I'm on the other side of the world.

5. My cute dog.  I'm so glad he is in Saudi with us.

6. Christmas decorations that I brought to Saudi and made it through customs

7. Getting to be in the USA for Christmas

8. Getting to be in Stillwater for the Bedlam game!

9. The opportunity to travel and all the traveling we have done

10. Slingbox- I get to watch all my shows and even commercials- it really helps with not feeling so isolated from the US culture. Also thankful for my brother who puts up with having to reset it for us occasionally!

11. Skype- so thankful for the easy ability to talk to and see family and friends .

12. Living in Saudi- I'm sure this sounds contradictory to some of my other statements but I am grateful for this.  I'm grateful for Micah's job opportunity and the fact that Saudi has given us great new friends and a greater ability to travel and see the world.  I'm also grateful to experience living in a entirely different culture. My world view is drastically different.

13. Aramco softball- I have been playing softball once a week at Aramco and LOVE it. It's so much fun to be back on the softball field.

Craftiness

Lately I have been adventuring into the world of being a little more crafty.  Sewing was a major step in that direction and I have worked on a few more sewing items including a drawstring bag, little pouches, and another quilt.

Drawstring bag that I can use as a shoe bag or lingerie bag for traveling

Current quilt project not yet finished. 

I also got some inspiration from pinterest to make my own wreath.  The original picture was for Halloween but I decided I would prefer a Cowboy wreath for football season. Go Cowboys!

Another big project I have had recently was selling personalized cups with Lindsey.  This was totally Lindsey's idea and I just went with it. We had some plastic tumblers sent over in someones shipment and then used our Cricuts to personalize the cups.  We sold them to ladies on Murjan and at the annual Murjan Bazaar.  We had a whole business set up with order forms, creating process, etc.  The day of the bazaar was busy and hectic (especially when you are doing a major part in putting on the entire bazaar) but it was a fun day.  We had several great friends volunteer to help us out with taking orders while we worked on creating the products.  Thanks Laura, Heather, Leti, and Amber! In the end we have sold almost all of our cups and had a blast working together.

Completed Cup orders

Product waiting to be personalized

Personalizing station

Our booth at the Bazaar

Cup Ladies :)

Order Up! 

Our wonderful friends: Laura (with Savannah) and Heather

I decided to have fun making an OSU cup for myself.