Something New

I have added a ticker to my blog counting the days, weeks, months until we get a referral. I believe we will wait 4-9 months for a referral. Of course we are hoping for 4 months, but it is just something we have absolutely no control over. It really is all in God's perfect timing...and we trust him.

We are still waiting to hear from immigration in Athens, Greece (our closest CIS office) regarding our 171H which is a document that allows us to bring an adopted child into the US. This office is not known to be speedy or very communicative.

In the meantime, we are getting settled into our Doha lives. Our big kids had a great first week back in school. We went to church yesterday (church is on Friday in Doha) and had lunch with some old friends and a couple new to Doha. Our church was packed with people sitting in the foyer and all up and down the stairs. Our church is starting an AWANA program for the younger kids and our oldest son is now old enough for youth group. Our women's bible study kicks off on Wednesday.

I am going to be taking an Arabic class this year from a woman that lives in our compound. I am not very good at speaking other languages. My Texas accent seems to come shining through. But, I want so badly to be able to communicate with the local Qatari people.

Ramadan gets started on Sept. 1. During Ramadan, things slow down dramatically during the day in Doha (all Muslim countries). Most businesses and restaurants are not open during the day. Even many major companies close at 1pm. This can be inconvient to say the least.