CHRISTmas Spirit in a Christ-less Country?

NOW WHO WUDDA THUNK IT!!!  A CHRISTmas party with Santa in Saudi Arabia!!!
It has been to my complete surprise to find not only Saint Nick in Saudi but also a lot more Christmas Spirit than I had expected.  Because you can't just go into any store and purchase Christmas decorations and so on I was totally floored when a friend of ours called to ask if we wanted a Christmas TREE!
As you can imagine there wasn't a wide selection of trees to chose from but just to have someone think of our family and them wanting us to have a tree brought that sweet Christmas spirit into our home.

When Michael brought in the battered box not much longer than a yard stick and no wider than a kids shoe box, I had to smile with the visual I had in my head.  I was excited to throw it together and start making things look a bit more what we'd have back home.  I put our little tree together and I am actually quite surprised as to what can be shoved in a box that small!!!  Our little "Charley Brown" Christmas tree is actually pretty cute for being rounded up in a Christ-less/Christmas-less country.

This came just in time to keep what little bit of Christmas excitement we had still from our most recent Christmas party.  It had a WONDERFUL drama to it about the Christmas story narrated by Santa himself.  I was so pleased to see the two main Christmas icons used together to convey the TRUE meaning of Christmas.

Afterwards, the kids were able to have their pictures taken with Santa.  I feared that being away from the US we wouldn't have a Santa for the kids to visit.  Aivah even made the visit with him official by giving him the "death glare" and screamed at him.  A Santa visit just isn't a Santa visit without a child getting upset to be in his presence haha.

I have been watching Christmas countdown posts on Facebook of our friends and family back home.  It is a completely new and WONDERFUL experience to have already had Christmas for ourselves,  I say this because now I am not caught up in the rush to get our own family Christmas to-do's completed and for the first time ever I am sitting back watching the joy and excitement of so many people all at once as they prepare to celebrate the beautiful holiday.  This has been a huge blessing and my heart is full for all those I love and care for back home.

 No, the elf isn't one of mine :o)

 What you don't see is Aivah in Threat-con level 4- Santa meltdown

 Good ol' Collin enjoying his grub!  No, I don't know the couple posing in the background hahahaha!

 Our friends sweet friends :o)

 Jace looking rather creepy and Jarryd with a knife... whoopsie!

 Singing ladies

 Singing lady with elf

 Aivah loudly protesting... 

 Ummm still protesting...

 Aivah done protesting... Kind of creepy haha

 I think he likes the food

 Jace pleased to have his picture taken

 Alexis not so pleased to have her picture taken

 Guess how many pictures it takes to get ONE decent picture hahahaha

 Yup, more than two time!

 More than three times!

  I got tired of counting so here is the end result... Finding out how many pictures are taken before you get one "good" one is much like counting the licks it takes to get to the center of the Tootsie Pop... The world may never know.   :o)  

 ~I really do enjoy all of the photos in between as it shows the personality of my family~

Insha'Allah "God willing"

The title of this blog is a common phrase with the Saudi people and they live strictly with this in mind.  Our family has experienced first hand having to live strictly by the will of God.  After our back to back job losses in 2009, and two years of unemployment, we lost nearly everything we owned including the ability to be a family.

By the time 2011 rolled around we had lost both of our vehicles and our home was being foreclosed on.  Finally, a job opened but it was unlike any other we had considered in the past.  This job would require my husband, Michael, to travel internationally... to Saudi Arabia!  As much as I hated the idea, I knew this was what needed to be pursued. Over the course of our two-year unemployment we turned in countless applications and resume's and nothing panned out for us until this opportunity arose.

"God willing" was our attitudes and we prayed so hard for employment to support our family with.  God was willing and this is what he provided so it was our job to go with it.
Michael left in April of 2011 to Khamis Mushayt (Mushait), Saudi Arabia and I stayed home with the kids.  This had been the longest seven months ever because of the kids acting out from their dad's absence.  This became quite severe and further guided me to the thought that we needed to be together no matter where we are at.  Our children are: Alexis who is 10 years-old, Jace 7, Collin 5, Jarryd 3 and Aivah 2.

On November 29, 2011, our family, together, boarded the plane taking us to our new home away from home.  I expected our compound to look like a prison but it was anything but.  I felt at home right away and have had no problems settling in.  My only bicker is that the food taste different than it does in the states.  For instance, I bought a cheese burger that about made me gag.  Our Coke does taste different but I actually like it better here.  As for the kids have had a hard time regulating their sleep schedule but other than that we seem to be trucking along.

All of our neighbors seem very nice and almost as though they form a family with all those around them.  We have ventured off of the compound and I had the chance to wear my abaya and hair cover and even that wasn't as bad as I anticipated it to be.  It will definitely take some getting use to but it is interesting nonetheless.

 HOLY CRUD!!!!  We are really doing this!!!  The "butterflies" in my stomach were fluttering so bad.  The kids just wanted to get on the plane.

 This is after SEVERAL hours of flying... They aren't near as excited anymore haha.  The best part about our flight across the Atlantic was that we flew on an air bus and it was comfy!

 Me and my biggest fan.  My little gal pal Alexis.

 This is a picture of the security wall that surrounds our compound.  There are many layers of barbwire and razor wire along the top of the fence.

Another shot of the fences surrounding the compound.