Home again, home again!

And so we return once again to the Middle East. It's still here, same as ever--hot and hot, tan and brown and dusty, and during Ramadan. I will be happy for Eid to start in a day or two. Thursday, I think.

Our summer was fast and furious, too short and too busy. I am afraid we disappointed a lot of people we wanted/hoped to see. It was just physically impossible for us to get to everyone...living here in little Qatar has made us painfully aware of how vast and large Michigan is! And that's just thinking in terms of the lower peninsula! We wore a path in the roads between Kalkaska, Hougton Lake, Vogel Center and Midland, with a couple on the way side trips to Mt. Pleasant to see Joey and one trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes for our annual beach day, which is usually held on my birthday, but which we pushed back so my sister and niece and great nephew could come. That brought my total visits with her (my sister) to two. :(

My photos from our summer are all on Facebook. I have not taken the time and energy to put them elsewhere on the web because I simply don't have extra of either commodity. I apologize for that to my friends who prefer to remain Facebookless. :) It is what it is.

The grandchildren are growing oh-so-fast. Mykayla especially seems to be growing at an alarming rate....she has so many questions. She could be a life coach!! Her parents were especially generous with the amount of time they allowed us to have her which was wonderful, but also a double-edged sword in that it was doubly hard to leave again. Thank God for Skype where we are able to keep up with each other regularly, to see each other, to talk and laugh. I got to see all her new school clothes the other day and Kenzie's cool new shoes. Today she starts her first day of first grade. I can't believe it. But we'll have lots of time for her to read me stories on Skype. Mykenzie tends to be more interested in visiting with her Papa than with me, which is ok, too. She has a wonderful fascination and love for Nelson and I couldn't be jealous of that if I tried! Justin is proving to be a precocious and strong-willed child! Oh, did he give us a run for our money this summer. His favorite word is NO, of course. We are hoping this is a terrible twos phase and not a true predictor of his childhood to come. Poor Jenny has her work cut out for her!

In any case, I will make an effort to post some of our favorite summer photos here for all to see. It is going to be a fabulous fall semester....I am teaching on the men's campus again, am doing some action research and implementing a reading project for Student Services...lots to keep me busy. I will update as often as possible. Please write and keep in touch. Letters from home, either electronically or by snail mail, are more welcome than you know! As a reminder, here's our address:

Maggie Mieske, Lecturer
Foundation Program, Department of English
P.O. Box 2713
Doha, Qatar