The Window Has Arrived: Good Thing We Have Good Friends

It is important to note that yesterday (Monday, Dec 20th) began "the window". The Window is the space in time that the baby COULD come, which is up to 3 weeks before the due date and 2 weeks after. Most women have their first baby AFTER the due date, so we aren't on our way to the hospital just yet, but we ARE ready to bolt when the time comes.



Alison and I have been very appreciative of the community we have here in Bahrain through our church, Saar Fellowship. We have been particularly thankful for that the last few days as some friends have offered their support in very specific ways.

On Saturday, we went to some friends' house for lunch. They have three children of their own, and the wife has observed and/or been a part of quite a few births here in Bahrain. It was great to hear their stories, hear what was useful and what wasn't, things we can expect from the hospital here in Bahrain and just be encouraged. She even offered for us to call her whenever we wanted to, particularly when the baby starts to make its way out! She was very gracious - and we forewarned her that we will probably take her up on that offer, and it will probably be at 3am. While I felt very calm about the whole thing, the fact that we were talking about all these things over some salmon and squash helped. I dare say we will be a little less calm once the baby actually comes!

In general, we have been very blessed with the examples we have around us of good, Godly parents. We have friends who have children in all sorts of stages of life from newborns up to early teens that provide us examples of what we might want our family to look like in 2 years, 5 years or even 13 years. Even though we are far away from family, we are surrounded by people who will be able to help guide us through the maze of parenting.

However, we also were also given a night away by some OTHER friends! We stayed the night at a five star hotel and had a wonderful evening together. Here are some of the highlights.

• Fantastic steak dinner at the island's best kept secret: Jim's Restaurant (secret from us, anyway). If you have a coupon for buy one get one free, it is totally worth it.
• cable TV! We don't get any channels on our tv, so it was nice to watch The John Stewart Show, The Colbert Report, and The Office
• I was able to watch little NFL football, live (the game was REALLY good, too)
• A nice gym on site to do a little pre-dinner exercise. A woman even came in to check out Alison. I think she wasn't convinced Alison should be allowed to exercise while pregnant.