Packing Up

The big day finally arrived.  It was time to pack up our home and either put it in "AIR, SEA, or STORAGE".   Lucky for me, Grandma came for a visit to help out with the kids while I sat around and did nothing...ha... Sometimes it felt like I had so much to do I couldn't focus, followed by having nothing to do at all except stay out of the way.  However, it is so nice to not have to do any of the packing!  Thank you Grandma for coming to help!

**as I’m writing this, our shipment should be arriving in Qatar soon, and I can’t wait to see all those boxes again!!

Our Mississippi Home

Our house was on the market 3 days before having and accepting an offer.  Then we were deep into the process (inspections, appraisals all done) when our buyers couldn't secure their mortgage.  So we ended up back on the market at the worst possible time, Nov-Dec.  And so we wait to decide what we are going to do. Honestly, being over in Qatar already has me lulled into complacency about the home. But I do want to remember our beautiful house and yard for years to come.

Here I Go Again on my.....

Well, Here I Go Again....not on my own.  This time with 2 kids in tow and of course the hubs.  Or maybe I should say HE has all of us in tow?  Anyway, you have read that right, the Sperling's are once again making the trek across the pond to the land of sand for another new adventure.  Honestly I didn't think this would be part of our story, at least at this point in time, but God has a way of keeping us on our toes.  I have come to realize that blogging is kinda a part of my therapy.  I'm guessing about 4 people read this but if it helps my mental sanity then so be it.

We found out late July that this move was a possibility.  We of course had to discuss, think, and pray about whether it was the right decision for our family.  Wow, that is so much harder when you are taking two littles instead of just Micah and I.  But in the end we decided our answer was yes so then we got started.....waiting.  And waiting, and waiting.  But not really waiting because we were still having our home surveyed for packing and shipping, talking to the school in Doha, getting all the  medical tests done, but there were certain things we had to wait on. And it took forever.   Anyway, since this is now public that means we are no longer waiting. But it also means that Micah is already in Doha.

So, what has to be done when moving overseas?  Um, everything.   We have to sell cars, jet-skis, and our house.  We (I) have to organize our stuff to decide what's being shipped sea, air, or going to storage.  Oh, and we have to inventory our stuff, ALL OF IT.  That means put a dollar value on everything you own.

There are of course many positives:
 1. we know what we are getting ourselves into (which funnily is also a negative) .
2. I still remember how to get a lot of places.  I'm sure some roads have changed but I don't feel like I'll be totally lost
3. We know we have a church
4. Our compound is very familiar to me.  It's not where we lived before but we had friends who lived there.
5. Travel!!!!
6. I'm pretty excited to have my kids exposed to other cultures and people who don't necessarily look like them and to go to a school with over 70 nationalities represented.
7. Exploring Qatar, again.  I could go on but 7 seems like the perfect number to stop on.

And there are many negatives...but who wants to hear about that?!  Outside of the obvious: family, friends, football I'll say some of the more entertaining negatives I've thought of...
1. Not seeing clouds, like seriously almost never
2. People who don't know how to stand in a line, like seriously, why?
3. Traffic
4. My husband getting a text every time I take money out at the ATM
5. Jet lag....ohh how I don't want to have to deal with the kids and jet lag
6. Staring, all the staring
7. Sand storms

Again, the "perfect" number to end on. Well, that's all for tonight.

My Hailey Bear

Hailey Bear, as you turn 2 I am amazed at how much you have changed and blessed our family in that short of time.  You are tiny and barely cracking 20 lbs but when I look at you I think of the Shakespeare quote "though she be but little, she is fierce".   I see a beautiful, sweet, spunky, Fierce girl when I look at you!

Hailey, for a 2 year old your hair is long and bright blonde with precious curls on the end.  You are on the small side in height but even smaller in weight but you would never know by your physical ability level.  You believe you can do anything Jacob can do and show very little fear.  Climbing slides at the playground and going up the stairs are no problem.

Hailey your favorite things to play with right now are your babies, dress up shoes and jewelry, and your new Beauty and the Beast tea pot and cart. The tea cart gets pushed around the house like a race car. I'm constantly finding you in dress up shoes or even Mommy and Daddy's shoes.  You also love to color way more than Jacob ever did.  Already, I believe you have colored more in your 2 years than Jacob has in his 4. You love to have tea parties together with your babies and play Legos with your brother.  The play kitchen is a constant favorite in which you cook meals, bring us drinks, or just climb on.  Hilariously you love to wrestle and have started tackling Jacob and forcing him to wrestle with you.  We love watching you play and learn and grow.

Hailey, your speech is growing leaps and bounds every day.  You speak in sentences and have some very important things to say. At 2 you are speaking so much its difficult for me to even try to make a list. Of course my favorite sentence is "I love you".  I can tell saying your own name is going to be difficult but it sounds so cute with this sweet soft spoken "ailey".   You've named your lovie that is an elephant "bear" which sounds more like"bea" when you say it.  It drives Jacob crazy that the elephant is named bear :)   When I rock you to sleep you like to hum along with the songs I sing and sometimes tell me what song you want to hear.  But you still love to rock which I love!  However, when  you are ready for bed you will lift up and say "Mama, bed".  

Following Jacob and doing whatever he is doing is what you love but I decided this year to not put you in school so that we could have two days a week together alone.  Some days when we leave school you cry for Jacob but it ends quickly.  It is so much fun spending time with you all on our own.   You are such a good shopper and tend to steal the hearts of everyone in the store. It also gives us time to go to mommy and me gymnastics and play together in girly ways. 

Hailey bear, we all just love you so much and hope you never forget how special you are and how much you are truly loved.

Pumpkin Patch!

I decided to wait until after Halloween to go to a pumpkin patch due to how busy we were and in hopes it would be less crowd and cooler.  I was WRONG!  There were at least 15 school buses at the patch when we arrived and it was stinking hot.  Ohh well, Jacob always loves playing around big groups of kids and they all cleared out by 1 pm and then we had the place to ourselves.  Going to a pumpkin patch was another "first of fall" activity for our kids.  Mom went with us making our day even more fun!

We went to Blessington Farms and started the day out in cute picture clothes. Jacob was in a picture taking mood so I have so many good ones of him.  Hailey on the other hand wasn't interested at all.

 After fun pictures we changed into play clothes and hit the fun stuff!  They had lots of fun slides, a barrel train, zip lines, big bouncy thing and a petting zoo.  The kids had a blast wandering and playing.  Hailey fell asleep within seconds of being in the car!