Family Update

Well, where to begin....as most of you know, Chris took a job a year ago to work with a company in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. We thought it would be a good opportunity to immerse ourselves in a new culture, and the financial benefits could be great. Also, Chris had been working for two years on out of town projects and we really wanted to be together. Ironically, this could make that happen. We knew there would be some sacrifice involved in the beginning as I was pregnant with number 4 and wanted to have the baby in the States. We also let the kids start the school year here. Chris would headt to Abu Dhabi at the end of September and the kids and I were to move after Christmas/baby born (due Christmas Eve).

About a month in, Chris became aware of some issues with the software but we had just made this big commitment (and them too) so we tried to keep positive. As the months progressed, our concerns increased, especially as Chris tried to secure housing and schooling for us in Abu Dhabi, but the company kept pushing back and telling us to wait a bit longer.

Meanwhile I was back at home packing up the house (which is so hard when you are pregnant and "nesting") and getting passports and records ready for the big move. Chris was able to be home for the birth of Charlotte but had to leave 10 days later and we weren't able to travel back with him.We still had hope that this would all turn around as we were so ready for the experience and to be together. Chris has also been succesful before at helping companies turn things around. But when relations between the partners on the 2 sides of the world soured, the chances for a turn around narrowed. Chris was able to come home about every 6 weeks for a few days but the company was stuggling in the UAE market.

After many ups and downs, in May the company lost its footing in the U.A.E. and Chris was let go. The Arab CEO was a good man and I believe that he recognized both Chris's integrity and his attempts to address the problems that had affected the company. He told Chris not to worry. He would find a place for him in another company he ran there. We still held out hope that our little dream was going to happen. In the meantime, we had put our landlord off a few times as we kept postponing our "moving" date (we sold our home a couple of years ago but were renting back). We finally told her that we would be moving out the first week of June because we had a family vacation the next week and then figured we be heading for the U.A.E. immediately afterwards.

Alas, Chris WAS offered a job at the other company but unfortunately, some of the details of the proposed arrangment just made it impossible to move forward with the proposed contract.

So.....because we had told our landlord we were leaving, she had already found someone to move in. That meant we had to move out! We figured since we had the vacation planned we would just take an extended one on the road and wait and see where Chris finds a new job/project.


We moved out of our home of 6 years on June the 8th after a very long moving weekend (can't believe how long it takes to pack up a house!) and hit the road. We spent a nice few days in Sedona with Chris's family and we are now in Albuquerque house sitting for Chris's parents while they are in Houston for his mom's cancer surgery. (We love you momma!)


Chris is heading back to Abu Dhabi next week for an interview and to retrieve many of his belongings that he left there. We are not sure what the future holds for us, but we are loving the adventure. So on Chris's 38th birthday on June 7th, instead of being together in Abu Dhabi, we found ourselves preparing to be temporarily "homeless". Too crazy!

We are just so grateful for all of the prayers given in our behalf. We know that they sustained us during our time apart. We are also grateful for family & friends who were so willing to give their time to help us. We could not have gotten through any of this without you!

For now, we are enjoying the time we get to spend together and looking forward to our next ride.