Part 6: Saudi Arabia

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For Part 5 click here
After Jason went back to work at the Cardiac Cath Lab at the hospital and I went back to work at the SNF, I think Jason started to worry about money.  I mean, we had enough.  We were making it OK, but it wasn't like when he was in sales.

He met a guy at work who had worked overseas and had made a lot of money that way.  So Jason looked online and applied for a job with ARAMCO (that's the Arabian-American Oil Co).  A month later they called and he went to Houston, TX to interview for the job and long story short, he got it.

That was in the summer, but with all the paperwork, the passport, the work visa... Jason finally left for Saudi in
October.  At first we were all going to go, but we learned that the schools on the ARAMCO compound only go to the 9th grade.  Paul was a sophomore and Stephi was a junior.  We looked at boarding schools and we found a nice Christian one in Oregon.  The kids were excited about it.  It was only 3 hours from my dad in Northern California and 1 hour from my friend Michelle in Oregon.  So we went to visit it.  It was great!  The kids applied and they were accepted.

The months went by and our visas were not approved... because I was taking Zoloft.  Of all things!

Jason said that the first few months over there were the hardest for him.  We talked on the phone every few days and after the New Year he was able to come home for a few weeks.  It was so hard to put him back on the plane, but he told me that if I stopped taking the Zoloft that he knew he could get me cleared to join him finally.  So I weaned myself off (painful, and really deserves another post altogether) and I filled out the visa forms again.

In April, Jason told me that he finally got me approved to join him.  Only now Steph and Paul didn't want to go to boarding school.  Argh!  Steph was starring in the spring musical - she was popular here.  She had a boyfriend and would be starting her senior year in August.  And Paul didn't want to go without her.

So I made plans for Steph and Paul to stay.  My family and most of my friends didn't understand why I thought that I needed to go to Saudi to be with Jason.  Before I became a Christian I probably wouldn't have, but I knew that God wanted me to be with my husband.

The kids were supportive of my choice amazingly. I found a nice, young, Christian woman who was in college and working at the church nearby to stay at the house with Stephanie (who would be 18 in a few months).  My brother who lives in town said that Paul could stay with him, but he would have to change schools.  

On July 11th, 2005  Henry and I got on a plane and flew to Saudi Arabia.  

Part 5: A Wise Woman Builds Her House

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For Part 2 click here
For Part 3 click here
For Part 4 click here

"A wise woman builds her house." This is what Hannah told me I was doing by staying home. I really did focus on my family that year when I was home with them. Jason had been worried that Stephi was growing up too quickly. She was 15 and had been hanging out with a boy that Jason really didn't like, and I was finally starting to see things that way my hubby did.

I started making Steph and Paul go to youth group at the church. At first they weren't very keen on it, but after a while they enjoyed it. They became invoved in the teen small groups at our church and Stephi even sang for the teen worship service. That year Steph and Paul really blossomed into a couple of nice, clean cut kids. And I felt good that I was finally giving them the kind of parental guidance that they deserved.

I really felt God working in our lives. Jason and I found a great small group also. There was even a gal in our group that used to practice Wicca like I did. I really connected with her and we felt that God had put us together for a reason. He showed us that we didn't have to be ashamed of who we used to be because now we were His.

So, we grew together as a family that year and we were all baptized as well (except Henry because he was too young.) I started volunteering with the kids youth group and even read through the Bible for the first time.

But my time at home with my family didn't last forever. Eventually Jason stopped selling Xray equipment because the market dried up and he was forced to return to hospital work. This meant that I had to return to work too. I was surprised to see the Christian nurses that I used to work with at the skilled nursing facility(SNF) at my church one Sunday. I didn't know that they went to my church! They were so happy to learn that I had changed my ways and told me that they had been praying for me. I told them that I had been off work for about a year, but that I was looking to return and they said there was a night position open at the SNF.

So the next day I applied and 2 weeks later I was working there. Just 2 nights a week. It was perfect. I'd probably still be there if Jason hadn't have been offered the job with ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia.