We went to Dubai for the weekend to look for a car. While we were there we also got to go to Global Village! It was so fun & I got some cool stuff! I didn’t get as many pictures as I hoped-(it was night so the lighting wasn’t great)… but here are a few of the ones I did get:
Some of our best friends just had their third baby girl! We are beyond excited for them! Everyone is doing great and looking beautiful.
My heart is happy and yet sad that we were not there to help with their other two girls, there to hold sweet Evie when she got here, and there to bring Jord Chilis’! Yesterday was the first day where I felt like I was no where- I wasn’t here and I wasn’t there… I wanted to be there, but couldn’t…. I think I was attached to my computer all day (hate to admit that!). I am doing better today- just joyful that Evie is healthy and praising the Lord for His goodness. We love you Drew & Jord and are so happy for you! You are going to be a perfect family of three precious girls! Can’t wait to do life with you guys again! Enjoy your time as a family of 5!
Evelyn Kate Remke was born on January 31st! She is 6 lbs 5 oz 18 inches- such a tiny bundle of cuteness!
Congrats friends! Oh also, love that it is starting to snow on her birthday! What a perfect way to end the day…
*pictures were taken by Brittany Strebeck– she is such a talented photographer! Thanks for sharing Britt!
we are off to Dubai to find a car and go to Global Village- we will let you know how it goes!
This afternoon a friend of our let us borrow his car so we could go exploring- it was just what we needed! I was very proud of Chase because it was his first time to tackle the round-a-bouts and drive a standard out here (Knate’s School of Driving paid off- thanks Knate!).
While we had the car we drove around town, took pictures, went to a store that had more than groceries in it– and my favorite part of the evening– we went to a textile souk. It was interesting to say the least. I wanted to buy one meter (or one yard) of fabric to do some more crafting and it took 5 men and two stores (since they each only spoke a little bit of english and we only speak even less Arabic) to try and explain what we were wanting… it was a great memory. I will show you what I do with the fabric once I do it.
For dinner I fixed taco soup- it turned out great! It was just missing green chiles… the New Mexican in me will always miss those. I am learning how to use what we can buy here & do it as cheaply as I can. So for the soup I used my first batch of dried beans, fresh tomatoes for diced canned tomatoes, left over chicken & homemade pitta chips!
off to bed…. it was a good day here in the desert.
p.s. we also met a few of our neighbors today- excited for these relationships to develop
in life are super sweet these days. I wouldn’t say that I am homesick yet, but I am having to adjust to the slower pace of life. It has been strange going from 100 miles a minute to practically nothing. We have been resting the past couple of days… trying to gear up for school, wind down from all that has happened over the past year, and adjust to a new way of life. I am in general not the greatest “rester” there ever was… so it will be a learning process for me. I have already discovered that I am going to need to have at least one outing everyday to get some fresh air, see the sun, and explore. Here the woman generally stay inside (at least that is what I have seen so far… and they are smart for it cuz it is only going to get hotter- so they are where the A/C is!) and so when we have gone for walks I am one of the few woman out. Once we start making local friends I hope to join the women inside, but for now my only way out is to go for walks with Chase- which has been great so far.
Since I have a hard time just laying around & not being some what productive, last night I decided to craft! We needed to add a little Valentine cheer to our apartment, so I made a heart garland with crocheted yarn & cut out kindergarden hearts from construction paper… I had fun!
For dinner we made pancakes and eggs – we love breakfast for dinner! In the states this was a common dinner for us and I generally never cooked bacon, sausage or ham with it, however, last night I was wishing that we had it! I am not really sure why except for the fact that I can’t have it or buy it here. Guess I should have had it more often while we could…
Nothing else is really new here except we are currently looking for a car so we can explore further than our neighborhood and get around easier! All is good in the McGough household- we have much to be thankful for!
This morning Chase and I went to the school to find out when/how to pay tuition, how much rent is (we are renting our apartment from the school), how to apply for a student visa, etc… After this we decided to go exploring around our neighborhood, get lunch and pick up a few groceries. Since we don’t have a car yet (in the process of looking) we have to do this all on foot- which is fine because it is only in the 70s outside now, but soon (I am sure sooner than we expect/hope) walking will not be as enjoyable due to the rising temperatures outside.
During our outing we found a grocery store call Al Frige Marketing (or something like that). I decided to go in to check out what could be bought there- it looked like a typical grocery store, relatively clean with friendly staff. As I was walking down an isle I saw a little bitty mouse run by! I started to freak out, but then quickly reminded myself that I am not in the states anymore and this is probably a normal thing- ha! I still felt safe/comfortable buying products from them I just have some new little friends to shop with!
Chase carrying home our lunch from "Chicken House" & the groceries!
Hard to believe that we have already been here for a week! So much has happened it the last week- so much to be thankful for…
First I just wanted to say- so sorry that we have not posted anything on here in forever! The last month as been a whirlwind and continued to be so once we landed on Monday, January 17th. When we got here we were told that the first few days you are in a “fog” because of traveling and the time change… I didn’t really believe it at first, but now that it has been a week since we landed- I totally believe it. Not even real sure what all went on those first few days- ha! I am going to try and give a recap of the last few weeks for you along with some pictures 🙂
The “Good-laters” (this is what I called all the good-byes we did to our wonderful friends & family)
Our Travels
Everything went great… all our luggage made it, the flight went smoothly- we slept, watched movies & ate- it actually seemed pretty quick (I know that 15 1/2 hours is not a quick flight, but nonetheless it wasn’t too bad!), and we were greeted some great new friends at the airport who have been so helpful since before we even got here. They have been such a blessing to us- driving us around, helping us get our house set up (even if it meant spending 8 + in the mall!), taking us to get food, and showing us around town. It was so fun to finally meet them after months of talking through email & we really like them so that is a huge bonus!
this pic is from my itouch- so the quality isn't great...
I think this post is long enough… so I will share more of our adventures here later! Know what we are doing great- we are joyful & ready to jump into language study. We love you all & appreciate you.
– Britt (and chase)
Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Can’t believe 2011 is already here!
Hope you all had a blessed Christmas with family and friends. We had a great one!
We are busy trying to get all the last minute details in line before we set sail– not sure if we are doing everything we need to… but I am sure it will all come together.
I promise to post pictures from our holidays soon…
Love to all!
Chase and I have officially moved out of our first house together (Chase also lived here for 3 years before we got married with his college buddies) this week… tear…
I have decided to dedicate this post to ten wonderful memories that we have had at the ol’ 3710 house… (sorry some of the pics aren’t that great, but they have wonderful memories in them)
1. Chase proposed to me in our backyard!! He had all our family and friends come over and line up in the backyard with tea light candles making a path for me to walk down to where he was standing under an arch. I sat on our stump and read me a prayer he had written a few years prior for his future wife! It was perfect! We had a party with our friends and family afterward. Oh and he made me a scrapbook!
2. Bonfires in the fire pit after many TECH football Victories!
3. We hosted our small group from our church for over a year and a half in our living room. Such a blessing to be able to use our house to build great community.
4. Home improvements around the house… to name a few: a double T painted on the back porch and painted the kitchen & bedrooms done by Chase & Trent Mays, a major facelift of the entire house (new carpet, popcorn ceilings removed, entertainment center town down…Chase & “the dads” did this) before a girl -me- moved in, the laundry room completely re-done (Chase surprised me with this one when I was out of town one weekend), etc…
5. Planting flowers in our front yard with my mom two years in a row.
6. A visit from Chase’s brother, sister-in-law and four kids over the summer… we had people sleeping in every room.
7. Great parties– baby showers, game nights, wedding showers, pumpkin carving with neighbors, super bowl party, garage sale– and BBQs with great friends and family.
8. Front porch sitting… watching the rain & lightening, looking at gorgeous sunsets & rainbows, great talks, coffee & reading time…
9. Making pallets of blankets in front of our ghetto tv (this thing turns off randomly sometimes, weighs about 100 lbs, and eats VHS tapes) to watch FRIENDS episodes and movies. This has been one our favorite way to end our date nights. (even though I usually end up falling asleep!)
10. College Life. Enough said.
We are going to miss this house, but we are thankful for the time we had there and will cherish the memories we have there… thanks for all the wonderful memories and times friends & family! We love you.
It feels like we have had a ton going on lately that it is hard to keep this up to date- so I am going to steal an idea my friend had by giving a ten item (give or take) highlight of what we have been up to. We’ll see how it goes!
1. We have spent the last three weeks in Lubbock! I think this is the longest we have been somewhere since September. I was nice to not live out of a suit case.
2. My mom, and two sisters came to visit for a girls weekend at the beginning of December. We decided to brave the mall and go Christmas shopping & went to Carol of Lights (one of my fav Lubbock traditions). It was a great weekend.
mom was being "artistic" with this one!
3. Chase’s computer died a few weeks ago – after 7 years of good use… so now we are sharing one- some days it works, some days it doesn’t 🙂 Hopefully we will get a new one before we leave.
4. I baked a super yummy pecan pie and apple pie at Thanksgiving- both Pioneer Woman recipes. I think I will be repeating them for Christmas…
5. We went to Ruidoso, New Mexico with 10 people from our small group this past weekend. It was a much needed weekend of rest, hang out time with great friends and NO computers!
6. I got to see snow when we were in the mountains & Chase snowboarded- two things we won’t be seeing any of when we move to the desert.
7. It has been extremely warm in Lubbock for December– like 80 degrees warm. I have NOT been loving this at all. However, tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40s. We’ll see…
8. Jord and I threw our 2nd Christmas Craft party at our house on Tuesday night. It was super fun. We had about 30 girls crafting ornaments, tea wreaths, peppermint mark & cup cozies!
isn't Jord cute prego? 🙂
9. We have started packing!! (well we have actually been packing since the end of September, but really packing like folding clothes and putting them in suit cases packing…)
10. We board the plane ONE month from today.. C.R.A.Z.Y. Hope we can get everything done in time. Really looking forward to our three Christmas’s- starting in Lamea (tomorrow), then Dallas, and then Albuquerque.
It seems like we have lots of lists sitting around our house lately, but not very many checks by completed items. Do you ever feel this way?
However yesterday we got to make a BIG check mark next to book plane tickets!! We finally did it- we are officially headed to the desert on Sunday, January 16, 2011 and will arrive in country on Monday, January 17! I can’t believe it is actually happening. It feels serial. We are thankful for all that has happened to bring us to this point.
Now we just need to get a few more things checked off so we can actually board the plane that day!
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