Reflections on Being Home

We’ve been here a few days now, and we are just about over the jet lag.  It feels GREAT to be home.  I feel like I have walked into a dense rain forest after being in the bleak and sandy desert for so long.  I missed the blue sky!  I am not too chilly, as I had expected, because the humidity is like a warm, comforting blanket every time I go outside.  I love the humidity.  And we had a rain storm the other day!  Everything is so green.  I love the sound of the bugs chirping at night.  (I knew it was time for a trip home when I told Everett we would get to see lightening bugs at home, and he said “What are lightening bugs?” (!!) ) We have also been eating bacon for just about every meal.  I wore a tank top and shorts to the Ace Hardware this afternoon, where I drove myself there, ran inside for ten minutes to get what I needed, which was a set of four 2 ½ “ bolts, paid with my trusty old mastercard, and was back home after less than twenty-five minutes.  That would have taken weeks and weeks to accomplish in Arabia.  I am a little afraid to let myself go to Wally World, because I am afraid I will be so excited to be there that I will be greeting the greeters instead of them greeting me.  After all, I don’t want to embarrass myself. 

Some things, though, are just as hard here as in Saudi.  I am still trapped at the house a lot due to naps and the difficulty of taking three small children anywhere that’s not the grocery store.  Communication is still an issue, although not nearly as bad.  (I had a hard time getting the Ace Hardware guy to figure out what I needed.)  And I definitely did not miss the sensationalist news stories that flood the media about “so and so was murdered last night” and “drunk driver caused this big wreck” and “our schools are going to pot” and “drug dealers released from prision”, “live chicken found wandering outside a local Bojangles” etc, etc.  (I didn’t make that last one up!)  I’m sure that stuff happens in Saudi too, but we never know about it because we don’t have TV, and even if we did, all the reports are in Arabic. 

We are headed to Charlotte on Monday.  HOORAY!  HOME!  Brace yourselves, folks – most of the Benchichs are back! 

AGGH - Technology!

I've just realized that something has gone wrong with the blog, and a whole bunch of my last posts didn't post.  So I think I have fixed that, but the pictures are not showing up.  I'm working on it...for now, have the text and I will get the pictures back up soon (I hope).

Activity Overload

We went to a Fourth of July party at the Club - WOW I had forgotten about what normal kids do for fun. There was so much to do there, we were all in activity overload, because we have been so bored for so long. They had THREE bounce houses, face painting, pony rides, baseball and basketball games, a huge buffet, hot dogs, popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy, and a dunking booth. The kids were in hog heaven. And it stayed light so late! YAY summer!


How exciting!



We're binging on sugar and fun!

HEAR ME ROAR!

I DID IT!

I got our three small children halfway around the world all by myself. YEAH! WE ARE BACK!

I will spare everyone the gory details here but the short story is:
     - Everett was a real trooper and he did great. He threw up five times. But he kept on being cheerful and willing to walk for nearly the entire trip.
     - Lawrence had a hard time being on the planes for so long. He was great when he was asleep, which was not much of the time. Poor kid doesn't do well when he has not had enough sleep.
     - Catherine was perfect. She slept and ate and cooed her way across the continents. Thank you for sleeping through customs, sweet baby!

We had four huge checked bags, the stroller and infant carrier, and I carried a 30 pound frame pack with all our carry on stuff.  It worked pretty well.

In the car - going home!

Playing at the windows at our gate in Dammam. Too bad it was too dark to see the planes.  This is 10:30 pm.

I was not permitted to use the infant seat on the first flight (even though we had bought her the seat!), so Catherine sat in my lap the whole time.





Pretending to sleep on the transatlantic flight.

We got our request for the bulkhead seat on the transatlantic flight.  It really helped our situation that I had enough space to sit in front of the children on the floor to help them.

So two messy diaper blowouts and five vomiting incidents later, not to mention the drool and tears we worked through, we are back in Knoxville and recovering from jet lag. Our KLM flight from Dammam to Amsterdam had TERRIBLE service with awful flight attendants. Our Delta flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta had much better service and we got bulkhead seats, which helped a lot. Our Knoxville flight was fine, and we were all glad to be on the ground for good. And a big WELCOME HOME to Catherine, who was arriving in her home country for the first time. Welcome home, baby girl!  And while we're at it, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!


I CAN'T WAIT to see all our friends!!  And watch out, Target, here I come! I can't wait to be out in public in normal clothes!

Last minute change...

Our flight from Dubai to Atlanta has been delayed by 5 hours, so we are rebooked through Amsterdam. We were supposed to get into Knoxville at 9:30 am, but now we are arriving at 4:30 pm. Agh! Hopefully this will be our only big hitch on this trip!