Hello?

Yes?
My kids would like to know if any future Qataris would like to come play.
You mean the former Frenchies would like to play with the future Qataris? Why they'd love to!

Our neighbors are now hosting a mini United Nations pokemon style.

Makes me giddy thinking of this on a larger scale.  I want my kids to rub shoulders with the world.

Things I've learned preparing for an international move:

1. I will never own so much stuff again.

That's about it.  All the rest I already knew (or at least anticipated).
If we were moving to somewhere else in the US, sure we'd be cleaning out and organizing. But being given very firm limits on what can ship via air and sea is a whole other ball game. I am fairly confident the garbage men hate us.  For weeks they've been greeted by an army of black trash bags. We really need to make them cookies or something.  Let me be clear, my house is always clean an tidy.  But really, when was the last time you combed over every craft and sewing item you own? Completely cleared out both of your attics? Inventoried every kitchen utensil? Sorted out all your various ratchet sets?  See?

We will be holding a garage sale, or more appropriately, a pop up super center, this weekend.
TOO. MUCH. STUFF.

Our house sold in record time- 36 hours! WooHoo!

Papers signed, price agreed, awaiting inspection... and then it fell through.

The kids took it a little personally.  They're better now.  Good opportunities for patience and prayer.

We're bummed but clearly that was not meant to be.  Worse comes to worse, we take a buy-out offer from Robert's company.  I'm not going to pretend that we're anything but spoiled when it comes to the relocation package we get.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a gigantic pain in the neck, but we know how good we've got it!

So now, 3 weeks from being on the other side of the world I find myself with the mother of all to-do lists that just got a little more complicated since the house is now back on the market.  I'm pretty sure that 4 out of 5 Ricker children would agree that having the house show ready at any given time is the worst part of this whole thing.  We're pretty good when it comes to crunch time though.  Here's how it works:
*Ring* Hi, so and so would like to go by in about 45 minutes.
Okay, thanks *click*
Jack, you get to watch a little show on daddy's chair! (side note- nervous energy does not contain itself well in the body of a 4 year old.  He has to be quarantined in his own little world while the house turns into a busy beehive)
And then the rest of us all proceed to make our house "show ready".  It's a science.

So Monday it's back to work.  Serenity now.  Serenity now.

Off We Go!

We're moving! To Qatar! At the end of the month!!!
Where you ask?

We'll be in the capital city of Doha.  While this has been a work in progress now for 2 YEARS, back in February we got word it was likely to happen this summer which is why Ty went back into school.  We wanted him to adjust to being back in a classroom in the states and we needed him to have standardized test scores and report card grades.  Just made the international school application SO much less complicated (See Rasco people? I wasn't going crazy.  There was a method to my madness!)

The kids are excited/anxious.  It seems like we've been getting ready for this FOREVER! It was only officially official 3 weeks ago and just announced at work today hence the late notice.  Seeing that a For Sale sign will be in my yard this week, I'm glad to finally start being open about it. 

So, some answers to FAQs:  Yes! There are two congregations of our church that meet in Doha.  One English speaking, one another language.  The kids will go to an AWESOME school which is one of top 5 reasons for wanting to go over. The assignment is indefinite.  We plan to be there at least 4ish years though.  I can drive (well, I mean provided my husband will grant me permission to :)) Mormon modesty standards work just fine, no need for any more or less. We have a house! Well, it's a villa in a compound (with a resort style pool-selling point for the kids) and we already know our neighbors (the Kabells for those of you who know them). There's an LDS family from Kingwood that just went over (yes, the Princes for those of you who know them- small world, huh?). I am feeling particularly spoiled having 2 amazing sources for all of my mom questions. 

We are so very grateful for this opportunity.  We are anxious to expose our children to new places and people and let our little Texans see that there is life outside of Texas (as absolutely FABULOUS as Texas is!)