Sarita's Movie

Jenni has released the trailer to Sarita's documentary. You can watch it here.

I miss Sarita so. Daily/weekly phone calls are not enough. I need more Sarita in my life.

And so it begins....

54 Celsius = 126 Fahrenheit

The pressure for solid summer plans is increasing. Siberia sounds delightful right now.

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Location:Doha

Scorekeeping

How to ensure that your son's team will win.

Also, how to reaffirm that you have very little understanding of how the game is actually played.

Xavier's team won by 96 goals, and given 2 extra minutes (until corrected). While sitting next to the scorekeeper, I was as pleasant and soft spoken as Don Cherry (without the bad collar, of course).

Goodbye to the $130,000 Passport

I just replaced my passport of 8 years. And like an old friend, I am missing it already. It has been with me since 2003 and I have had three additional multiple pages added (usually around another 25 per adding - it had a total of 94 pages in it). They no longer add more pages after the second set at the embassy so I had to apply for a new one. The third one just arrived a few weeks ago and already has lots of stamps in it. The first was done so I could go to Taiwan and it took me all through Israel and Europe.

Passport number 2 had 487 stamps in it. That is without all the times I used E-gate to come back to Qatar. Probably about at least another 35. Passport number 1 had 43 total.

I shouldn't post this one. The three pictures side by side. The face seems to get bigger as the hairline seems to get smaller. Honestly getting a new photo was the biggest downside. Passport number 2 had a great picture. But I knew it was time to change. I have been through some immigration desks and the officials have had to look up and down at the picture and me more than once to verify it was the same person... Not a good sign!

If you figure the average cost of a plane ticket is around 450-500 USD, then passport number 2 is worth around $130,000 USD in just plane tickets, which the Lebanese Immigration officer was awfully close when he said to me, 'This passport is worth over $100K USD. That is probably a conservative estimate, especially if you consider hotels, food, transport, etc.

My first passport stamp from passport number 1. Taiwan. I arrived at the airport with no phone numbers of who I was supposed to meet, not much cash and I waited as soon as I got off the plane because I thought the people who were going to pick me up would come right to the gate. Like they did in SLC or Lansing, right? After half an hour I figured something was up and went through my first immigration and luckily found them waiting outside with my name on a sign.
This is what most of the rest of it looks like. Lots of trips to other GCC countries. Luckily they are good about stamping on top of stamps which allowed me to keep the passport from getting too full of pages. You can see the Omani one in the top. I have probably about 15 stamps from Oman just for spearfishing up on Musundam. Great memories and always the best spearfishing! Also a bit scare as spearo is illegal there!
Backpacking through Central America with Bizz and Indy. Interesting story; while I was in Costa Rica with them I stupidly put my money pouch with my passport in it on a table in a fleabag hotel near a window. At night someone reached in and stole it. It was the scariest thing to wake up with it gone. My money, credit card and passport. Just gone. I got on my knees and said one of the hardest prayers of my life. Then I ran outside to look for it. I knew it was in vain. I went around three or four buildings and after half an hour I was desperately ready to give up. I decided to kneel down in the dirt in some alley way and say another prayer. I begged God to help me find at least my passport. At the end of the prayer I opened my eyes. And there it was down a window well. No joke. Everything was there except for the 60 bucks in cash. Both the Passport and credit cards. Think what you want, but I know God answers prayers after all we can do for ourselves...

Managua was also one of the most dangerous cities I have been in. Others include Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Caracas and the road to Sarajevo from Mostar.

Croatia. Some of the best times of my life with Terah. It was where we found out what kind of lives we wanted to live. And because it didn't turn out well in the end (the job I wanted didn't materialize) I was forced to go back to school as it was my only option. Two masters later (three if you include Terah's) I was working for Alico and have never looked back.

Current Qatar RP.Kenya. I don't need to say much about how great Kenya was. Go look at the blogs.India. Taj Mahal, hanging with Danny and Linda and a 6 month old Sedona. Loved this trip! And this baby cost $100. The US charges that to the Indians, so they charge that to us Americans. Chile also does that. Jordan was about 50 bucks too.
I like this one because it is the only one with Canada on it. Can you find it? I loved the country so much I married into it! Honestly I could retire there. We are hoping one day to buy a house on Victoria Island in BC.
Brazil is one of the coolest places on the earth. You need to go there some day. The Brazilians have the perfect blend of working hard and living life to the fullest. Rio is my second most favorite cities on the planet. Lugano on the Italian border in Switzerland is number 1. Detroit takes the last spot....
Dhaka... Honestly you have to see it to believe it. Masses of people, oppressive heat and a good 'fear factor'. I did fly to Chittagong on a little twin prop plane which was really beautiful.

Nepal. Too many great memories.
Jordan. The last 'cool' place we went.
The possibilities are endless. What will these pages have on them? Hopefully something new in Africa, the Stans or Asia. I still have 43 more countries to go to get to my 100 countries visited. I have my work cut out for me!
Last bit of advice for fellow travelers is to get a plastic sticker like this one. It is for library cards and attaches to the back of your passport. It perfectly fits your boarding pass in the sleave. Put the your luggage sticker to the back of your boarding pass and then put it in the sleave. You will lose neither and can easily show it when asked.

I love living overseas. It is who I am. I can't wait to see what my passports look like after I die. I hope my kids take them all and get some of the pages framed to sum up who I was.

But honestly if you think this is a lot, it isn't. I know people who blow these numbers away. People who have hit the 100 and more from some of the wildest countries off the radar. I hope my kids will be like that. Asa and Sedona have tons on theirs already and they are still only 3 and 4. Heavah and Xay just got passport number 2 just after needing extra pages for passport #1. I hope their lives take them where it should. Whether it is traveling more, or settling down in a small town. I just hope they find what makes them 'them' and have as great a spouse to share it with as I do.

Baptismal Site

Our poor, exhausted and tired legs made the last push to the River Jordan, where Jesus and John the Baptist were baptized. (Or so they say).

Behind me you can see the Israeli side. I am not sure why there weren't men outside with machine guns. Borders in this area are always tightly secured. Maybe they figure if you have enough gumption to swim in that gross, murky water you deserve to be in Israel.

This boy is ready to get dunked this fall. I am tempted to bring him back here. He can not only tell his friends that he was baptized in the Jordan River, but also a chocolate milk stream.

The Easter Dress 2011

Since we traveled over the Easter weekend, I gave myself a little more time to finally complete Sedona's Easter dress. I feel like I am back in my groove.

Sedona is always pretty in pink

I am currently making a quilt for Heavah that represents a sample of the dresses I have made for her since she was 2. I then realized that I have not made nearly as many dresses for Sedona, and Sedona is a dress girl. I kicked it into high gear and started this Easter dress. It just might be one of my favorites.

I believe the sleeves are my favorite. It took more work, but so worth it.

For those of you who understand smock talk, I used the 'Double Delight' plate from Creative Needle's Nov/Dec 2003 issue. The pattern is Vogue 7435 , which is a Teresa Layman design.

The dress in progress is in honor of the Royal Wedding. Sedona's enchanted look during the ceremony put me back in the sewing room. I'll keep you posted.

Aqaba and the best kind of traveling....

We made a quick stop at Aqaba before heading north to the Dead Sea. We were all tempted to forego our Dead Sea plans so we could stay there a bit longer. Once Jason and Axel saw the sea, they just had to see what was below its surface. I think Megan and I would have indulged our husbands but the rooms were booked and we had to keep moving. We stayed long enough to take a glass boat ride over the Red Sea to view Eilat, Israel and Taba, Egypt, and Aqaba all in one sitting.

Truth be told we didn't really see many fish. I am not sure if it was because it was so picked over or if the 'glass bottom boat' needed a real Windex clean. Fish or no fish the kids were so happy to be on a boat and with each other.

It took 10 minutes before the shoes were off and the jeans were soaked.

Only a couple hours later we piled in the cars and headed north. The drive was so spectacular. So many colors and different landscapes. There was a mixture of huge black rock and bright red sand. I found myself ohhhing and ahhhing over and over again. By hour 3 the kids were sick of hearing it. But tough. God made a beautiful world and I've gotta tell my kids often. "Now put down the iPad and stare out the window, its beautiful damn it."

I have thought about this trip and wondered why it was such an amazing success--especially with so many little kids. I realized that the company was the best part. I am entirely convinced that the best way to travel is with another family that you love. The kids stated over and over again that the best part of Jordan was Jack and Maddie. Sedona and Asa have not stopped talking about them. The odd time Asa will cry and say, 'I wanna go home. To Jack and Maddie's home.' My heart melts.

You know you have awesome friends when they can see your family tired, annoyed, and hungry and they still like you. That is the true test of a good friendship. However, if you could have the real friendship without testing it, that would also be nice. We have already planned our trips for when the kids are grown and less maintenance. No more proving needed.

Looks like a cheesy bereavement card, doesn't it? It is the 'dead' sea after all. How's that for cheese?