Year 2 begins....

We've made it through the first week of school successfully!  It was a bit crazy at times, but overall went well.  I personally love our new 7th graders.  They are excited to be "big kids" now and still enjoy learning.  For example, in my classroom the table tops are whiteboards.  If I want them to get excited about a lesson all I have to do it throw out markers and let them do math problems on their tables.  It's wonderful!  We also have a new principal.  So far, my impression is that he is a good guy who has our students' best interests at heart.  I can't ask for much more than that. 

I am going to complain a bit about the heat.  The highs since we've been back have been about 110 F and humid!  I can handle the heat, but the humidity is way worse than last year.  The windows of our house are almost always sweating.  If we have to go anywhere, we pretty much just run to the car and then from the car into whatever building we are going to.  Jamie and I tried swimming this morning which ended much earlier than anticipated.  We only got 10 laps in before we both decided that it was just too hot both in and out of the water. 

Lastly, we did get to celebrate my 26th birthday this week.  Jamie was an amazing husband and made sure it was a special day.  It started with a gift of diamond earrings :) and ended with a homemade meal (and I didn't even have to do the dishes!)  Since it was a school day, there wasn't much to do but Jamie let me pick everything that day and even let me go to bed super early which is what I wanted to do.  On Wednesday (Saudi Friday) we did have some people over for an Indian dinner and socializing.  It was fun having people over and chatting since we've all been pretty consumed with school for the past couple of weeks.  There are three of us on our compound who are pregnant right now which has been a lot of fun.  Below is a picture of us and two of the guys who decided that they felt left out not having a belly. 

Until next time,

Tara

It's A . . .

BOY!  We are happy to report that our doctor's appointment went well and we know what we are going to have in January.  Tara and I thank God everything is going well so far.  Congratulations to all those who voted boy on our poll.  For those of you who voted girl, maybe next time.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.  Good job if you can tell what you are looking at.

4D of his face.  He was in an odd position for taking pictures and wouldn't move.
The doctor may have used the word stubborn, although we're not sure where the baby could have gotten that trait from.  

2D head/body shot

Another body shot where he is showing off his family jewels

We Made it!

Hi everybody,

Tara and I made it back to Saudi around 6 am on Thursday morning.   It was a 38 hour trip from door to door, but it wasn't stressful.  Our only hiccup was a seven hour delay in Amsterdam on top of our seven hour layover.

We just finished our first teacher workday today too.  It was good to see all our old and new coworkers and friends.  The day started to drag a bit because we are still fighting jet lag and our internal clocks keep waking us up at three or four in the morning. Yuck!  We should be getting back on schedule any day now, so we look forward to that.

Also, we have posted a poll of the sidebar of our blog.  Please check it out and vote for what you think our baby is.  We will find out on Monday and post it shortly after, so your voting time is limited!


Bye

Thank you!

It's 7 am right now and Jamie just finished his last bike ride and Tara finished her last outdoor run for awhile.  In about an hour we will be heading down to Madison to catch the Van Galder bus to O'Hare and we'll be on our way back to Saudi. 

We wanted to take a minute and say "thank you" to all of our friends and family for taking time to see/feed/lodge/transport us this past summer.  We had a wonderful time back in the States but that couldn't have happened without you.  It is a blessing to have so many people who care deeply for us.  Our plan is be back in the States this upcoming April...... with a baby!  Tara is due on January 16th.  Updates to follow!

We will see you all again soon enough,

Tara and Jamie

This is not our wedding.  It is a picture from my cousin Sean's wedding that Jamie was Best Man in.