Hello all!

Well...it has been 8 months. On March 15th I stepped off the plane into Saudi Arabia..... I wore my Amazon purchased black abaya and scarf and nervously followed the rest  down the isle of the plane behind other westerners like myself here for work and pilgrims ...the men dressed in nothing but what appears to be a large terry cloth robe and the women who where covered entirely in black abayas,scarves and other black accessories which they put on during the last half hour of our 14 hour flight.. Pilgrims are what they call all the thousands of Muslims that travel to Jeddah to make a holy visit to Mecca, their holy place.... They are required to visit once in their life time if possible.  Oh there I go off on a tangent...tee hee.
Tim and I got to travel home to Minnesota on the 4th of October and did not fly back into Jeddah till the 2nd of November.  I visited my mom in Wisconsin and we enjoyed a few days together roaming the roads of Wisconsin with stops in boutiques, cheese stores and even a winery/apple orchard. The fall colors were wonderful. I got to attend church with my mom for the first time since I had left the states the past March and found myself with tears streaming down my face as we stood to worship as a community of believers together..... wow..we sort of take our freedom for granted..... I had more opportunities to gather with other believers while I was back.... I went to a communion service with my mom in Wisconsin.... I got to attend a service in Rochester the next weekend.....We attended a service at our home church in Leroy,MN and got to play on the worship team...and we were blessed to be asked to play at a funeral service where we listened to and where blessed by the testimonies of how God used this women to further his ministry during her lifetime....we were invited to a small group meeting where they wanted to ere of our life in Saudi...and we even got to attend service in a Parish Church in St. Madoes, Scotland, where the pastor preached from Genesis and reminded us that God doesn't forget  us and he is with us everywhere as he was with Joseph in Egypt...so he is with us in Saudi....so timely....oh and did I say that we got to receive the sacrament of communion in three different communities...wow!
Tim and I drove down to Missouri to visit Jon and Pat Rank, life long friends...sort of chosen family really,...we drove our old 1993 Lebaron convertible down hwy 65 into Missouri...had the top down... the colors were wonderful.

Mom on our drive about in Wisconsin... this is the center point of Wisconsin...

Tim on our convertible drive to Missouri

taking a self portrait  as we cruise along in the convertible

We enjoyed our time with the Ranks.... as we always do.... lots of laughs...relaxing... and just being together with loved ones.... we said our "see ya next time" and "XOXOXO" and then headed back to Minnesota,missing them as soon as we walked out the door.
Oh I forgot to say we ran a 10k run with Josh and Patty the weekend before we drove to Missouri..... It was The Big Woods Run  outside of Fairbault, MN and it was beautiful and fun... well it rained  on us but it was a pleasant rain and since Tim and I had not seen rain in the entire time we had been in Saudi it was welcomed by us and immensely appreciated.
After our Missouri trip we got to spend time at home with Josh and Patty. I even got to take a daughter  and mom jaunt up to the cities with Patty for a n over night trip to enjoy a Women of Faith Conference in St. Paul at the Excel Center....It was again wonderful to be among so many fellow believers .... and women in a public place not wearing black abayas and worshiping freely together.....FREEDOM!!!!!

an overnight in the cities...just me and my daughter....Yeah!

Women of Faith Conference Patty and I attended.....everyone is lighting up their cell phones during a worship session...

A young family friend from Wyoming, who is presently attending college just three hours away from our Minnesota home, came to visit us over our last weekend at home and brought a dorm mate....we enjoyed pumpkin carving and a girls weekend with them...Tim and Josh endured all the girl activities and were great host.
we flew out of Rochester on the 25th to head back to Saudi....with a slight detour on the agenda...Scotland.....
what a beautiful and old place..... gorgeous winding country roads...villages....sheep ind stone fenced green meadows...history, history, oh and did I say history...we would like to go back someday and explore more.
we flew into Jeddah early Friday morning and friends picked us up at the airport. It was good to be back in Saudi and we were ready to continue on our adventure here... I will try to blogg more ....talk to you next time....God Bless!!!

The pumpkin I carved....

The gang back home on our last weekend...

We lodged at Pitfour Castle while we stayed in Scotland...

This is where we attended church in Scotland.....:)