Saying Goodbye to the Ford Family!

Within two weeks of getting back to Saudi, we were saying goodbye to some very good friends.  Matt, Cherie, and Tucker Ford moved to Saudi several years ago, and we have had a blast doing lots of life with them!  It's hard to believe that when they came here, Tucker was only 18 months old.  Now he is this amazing, reading machine five year old!  Tucker and Savannah have a special bond, and I know she will really miss him!

Cherie has been a close friend for so long, it is hard to imagine what life will be like with her gone.  She has lived three doors down from me for the last three and a half years, so it has been sad to walk by her house and know that she isn't there anymore; however, I thank God that He allowed our paths to cross.  We love you Ford family and wish you all the best in Colorado. You will be missed!

All the girls together one last time.  Amber, Me, Cherie, Jeanette, and Heather

Saying goodbye.  :(  Miss you sweet friend!

Savannah is Two and Half!

During our trip home, Savannah turned two and a half years old!  It is hard to believe how much she has grown and matured over the past six months!  It's been a while since I've done a post all about here, so I thought I would give some stats on our Savy!

Where to begin?  There is so much I could say!  Our big girl is speaking in complete sentences most of the time.  She amazes us on a daily basis with the expansion of her vocabulary and the new words she picks up all the time.  Many of those "Savannah words" that she first used have disappeared and she can now unnuciate the word with complete clarity.  She can currently count to twenty and enjoys counting things around the house and the compound.  She also knows all of her letters (all of the capitol and most of the lower case) as well as the sounds each one makes.  She LOVES music and LOVES to sing.  While we were in Shreveport for Olivia's birth we watched a music video of an orchestra each night before bed.  Amazingly, she can identify all of the instruments in the orchestra by sight.  She also loves to sing and matches pitch incredibly.  Savannah also knows all of the basic shapes (square, circle, rectangle, star, diamond, triangle, etc), and a few of the not so normal shapes (crescent, etc).  It is really fun to watch her walk around the house or around the compound pointing out different shapes.  She has also mastered all of her colors, and we are currently working on light and dark of each shade.  Cognitive milestones aren't her only achievements, she is also making some big physical strides!  She can now run at a great pace, and within the last month has discovered how to jump!  We have LOTS of fun running and jumping.  :)

Savannah still loves books, and has developed a real interest in jigsaw puzzles.  We got her a few for Christmas and she has really enjoyed putting them together.  She also likes coloring and trying to "write." Stickers are a must have to for this fun loving kiddo.  Minnie Mouse is still an absolute favorite, and she LOVES to dress up!  :) When music comes on, she stops dead in her tracks to listen to the new tune.  She is definitely a musical child, which makes her musical parents very proud!

It is amazing to see how she has changed over the last six months, and we absolutely cannot wait to watch the next six months.  Savannah, you make us laugh every day, and you fill our hearts with so much love and joy.  We are so thankful that God allowed us the privilege to be your parents!  We love you!

Holy cow, I'm thirty!

Today I turned 30!  Holy cow, I'm thirty.

At first I was dreading this milestone, but then I began to have a change of perspective.  My twenties were great, I got married, moved domestically, moved internationally, and had two babies.  My prayer is that my thirties will be even better!  Bring it on!

I know we will be starting it off with a bang by moving back to the US, and I'm sure there will be plenty more in store.  More than anything, I pray that the Lord directs our paths and teaches me daily.  I pray that he will give me the strength and wisdom to be a good mother and wife.  That He will protect and guard our family, and make His ways known.

I may be in a new decade, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

 

Big News for the Railey Family!

Brent and I are so excited to share some fantastic news with everyone!  After four and a half wonderful years in Saudi Arabia, Brent has accepted a position back in The Woodlands, Texas.  The Raileys will be back in the USA by April 1!!!

Everything with this move has happened so quickly, and God's provident hand was so apparent throughout the process.  Brent interviewed for the position right after his birthday in December, and he was offered the job at the end of December while we were in the US.  Since we were already in the States, we decided to go house hunting and were so blessed to find something and get a contract signed.  Praise the Lord!  God is good!

We had lots of fun breaking the news to family and sharing in their excitement, but also knew it meant many goodbyes were in our future on the other side of the world.  Once we returned to Saudi, we told our friends about the move, and they were all so supportive.

This is a very bittersweet thing for us believe it or not.  We are sooooo very excited to be coming back to the USA, close to family, friends, and many conveniences.  At the same time, Saudi has become our home in many respects.  This is where we brought our first child home from the hospital, we've been able to travel to some of God's amazing creations, and most importantly we've formed some incredible relationships with friends we will keep for a lifetime.

So what's in the near future for us?  We will have all of our stuff packed up and shipped in a few weeks.  We are planning to leave Saudi on March 31 arriving in Houston on the same day, and Brent will start work the very next day.

Please be praying for us and the kids as we make this transition.  There are lots of changes on the horizon and we will be living in limbo for a while, so please pray that the Lord gives us lots of grace, mercy, guidance, wisdom, and strength.

USA here we come!

Back to Saudi

Just like that our trip back to the US had come to a close and it was time to head back to Saudi.  Here are a few shots of waiting in the Atlanta airport to head to Amsterdam, both girls happy and ready to go.  :)

Thankfully our flights back to Saudi were totally uneventful and easy.  It was actually the shortest travel time we've ever had, only 15 hours from the first flight taking off to landing in KSA (21 hours door to door).  We got back to the compound at about 1:00 in the morning, and Savannah was so excited to see her toys.  Here's what she looked like about 2 am.

Thankfully we got both of the girls down around 3 am and were able to catch some sleep.

Savannah was over jetlag within two days, but poor Olivia took a lot longer.  Sweet pea isn't as seasoned a traveler as her sister, so she's still learning how to get the swing of things.  That combined with getting sick twice back to back didn't make things any easier.  After two weeks life was back to normal and we were glad to be back in the Kingdom.

Christmas in Birmingham

After our visit in Atlanta, we drove down to Birmingham to see Brent's mom, sister, grandparents, and aunt and uncle.  This was the first time the extended family had been able to meet Olivia so it was very exciting!

We spent the first several days relaxing and catching up with the family!  It was wonderful!  The girls later enjoyed a spa day, and Savannah and Olivia made many trips to the neighborhood park.  We also had a very memorable trip to Chick-fil-A where Savannah got to meet the great big cow, and Olivia conked out with Memaw.

Opening Christmas presents for the fourth time was still an extremely exciting event.  By this point, Savannah had plenty of experience and knew exactly what to do.  :)

While we were there, we were also able to catch up with my brother and his wife Nicki.  This was an extremely special visit for us because it was our first time to meet their precious little girl, Brooklyn!  I was in aunt heaven and was absolutely smitten!  :)  Brooklyn and Olivia spent some time playing on the floor mat together, and at the end of the night we snapped a picture of all three girls together (even though Olivia was out).  We had such a fantastic time visiting with them and were so glad we have finally met precious Brooklyn!

Towards the end of our visit with Brent's family, we did a small photo shoot of Savannah and Olivia in their gorgeous Christmas dresses!  Brent's mom spoiled us by getting the girls beautiful dresses!  We had so much fun dressing them up, and believe it or not we actually got a picture of both of the girls smiling with Brent's mom!  I didn't think it was possible to catch both of them smiling at the same time! :)

We had such a fantastic time with Brent's family!  Our visit was entirely too short, but we were already starting the countdown to our next trip home.  :)  We love you!

Olivia is Five Months Old!

On January 9th, Olivia turned five months old!  She had quite a busy month celebrating Christmas and making her first return trip back to the US.  :)

Here are some stats on our little pumpkin:

Weight: 15 lbs
Favorite Activities:  tummy time, riding in the stroller, watching everything her sister does, being held, and of course rolling all over the place.

We love you Olivia!

Happy Anniversary- 8 Years!

On January 7, we celebrated EIGHT years of marriage!  It's hard to believe that eight years have gone by since we said, "I do."  What an eight years it has been!  I could have never imagined that our lives would have followed the amazing and crazy journey that we've been on.

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, Brent.  I love him more deeply today than I did when we said our vows!  From his ability to make me laugh, to the way he knows what I'm thinking, to doing that puzzle for the tenth time today with Savannah, Brent constantly embodies the qualities of an amazing father and husband.  I am one blessed wife and mother!  I love you, Brent!  Happy anniversary!

Christmas in Atlanta

After our week in Shreveport, we headed back to Houston for a day, but more on that later.  After our short stay there we flew to Atlanta to meet Brent's dad and stepmom. Brent and I joked with one another saying how nice it would be to take a flight that was only two hours after usually flying 7-10 hours in a row.  Well, wouldn't you know our flight would be an ordeal.  We ended up being on the plane about six hours after delays in both Houston and Atlanta with the crazy weather.  The pilot on the plane was quite comical and kept us well entertained.  He even allowed Savannah to visit the cockpit during our delay.

Once we finally landed in ATL, we were greeted by 9 degree temperatures.  IT WAS SOOOOO COLD!!!  When you've been living in what feels like the center of the sun for four years, this type of weather is shocking!  Savannah and Olivia didn't know what to think of it either!

The next day we were able to visit with Brent's dad and stepmom!  It was wonderful!  They were amazed to see how much Savannah has grown up and this was Linda's first time to meet Olivia.  Savannah enjoyed being able to crawl all over Grumpa and playing with their sheltie.  That evening we were able to catch up with Brent's aunt and uncle that live in Atlanta as well.  We enjoyed a fabulous cajun dinner and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company!

The next day we spent a few more hours hanging out together and then it was unfortunately time to go. Our visits are always too short and too far apart, but we surely did enjoy seeing Grumpa and Glamaa!

I did a terrible job of taking pictures, but I have this golden one of the girls with Grumpa!  We love you guys!