One Week In Doha...

Hi Hi Hi! and Yup! You read that right. We're all now in Doha. Jayson, me and Yllac, and Jollibee (the dancing doll), and ten of my shoes and a little of my clothes.  A lot has happened apparently. Quick but careful decisions has been made for our family for 2014. Actually it seem simple the way I said it, but the whole planning of moving to a new place that involved a lot of courage, gutsy move, patience and of course a lot of prayers had been a dream of ours. Took us a year to prepare for this. Year 2013 was our year of transition and to say the least, a very tough year for us. I will remember it as a year of a few trials and sweet triumps. It was last year that my husband moved here to Doha to start his new job. We decided, we'll brave the months of temporary separation because we'll eventually join him here. 

So, that "eventually" happened last week. We are finally here.

Doha is our home now, altogether as a family. And as you can see it's hard to deny how happy I am, the three of us together in one roof.  It makes me smile too, thinking that every time Jayson goes to work, I know we're still near each other. No more skyping, no more expensive long distance calls, but instead we're here just arms length away from each other. We can kiss and hug each other anytime we want. I mean, life is good. Kiss in the morning, Kisses at night...And yes, I am one happy wife and mama here. 

We arrived here on February 6, last week. And today marks our "one week anniversary" here in Doha - my new city I call home.  So we've been busy celebrating our week together as a family. Seriously though i love this month. February is my fave month so far. It means new beginning and adventure for this little family of mine.

anyway, the photos...the photos... (warning, this is a photo heavy post)

we arrived safe in Doha late afternoon of February 6. Traveling with a toddler is OH MY GOD SO CHALLENGING! It was a nine-hour flight from Clark to Doha. Thank God it's just a nine hour flight compared to some international flights. I salute every parent who had an experience to travel more than 9 hours on a plane with their kiddos. Wow! You see, Yllac refused to take a nap for as long as he can. This kid! But I managed to tire him down and finally took an almost 3 hour nap. It was a very hallelujah!-moment for me. So, what I'm trying to tell you, is that.. the first thing we did as a family in this new city was look for a playground for this toddler of mine. Also, i wanted to tell you that I was surprised and shocked how it gets really really cold in here. Like 12 degrees cold. Yllac and I were both dressed inappropriately. He was on shorts and I was on a breezy blouse with an armhole the size of the moon's crater. Good thing my husband brought the coats he shopped for us from a recent Zara sale here. I mean, I married a good man. This husband of mine, my Zara sale shopper extraordinaire. 

These are the kind of mornings I missed and used to dream about when Jayson and I were away from each other for almost 6 months. I will never ever take for granted every family breakfast and meals together as one family. My heart beats for these stuff.

I don't know anything much about Qatar. But according to what I've seen and gathered so far, I can say that it's a pretty neat place to live. In the morning it looks grey and silent. When I say grey, I mean pastel grey and other colours resembling to that. And at night, Qatar looks absolutely gorgeous. Most vehicles are white and drivers here are mad fast on road. I'm okay with that because most of them stay on their lanes and uses signals. When it comes to food you can find anything here. On our second day we tried Shake Shack and I'm instantly the president of the Shake club. 

One of the many favorite things I enjoy really well is grocery shopping. But this time, now that Im with Jayson, for the first time in six months, it was stress free. I'm like, am doing yoga, am I grocery shopping???...no need to decide because It feels like Im doing both. Oh boy it was so peaceful. I am in charge of all the buying and Jayson was in charge of all the chasing and putting back all the stuff Yllac "think" we need. Like a bag of Jelly Bean. Our little committee is in full force here.

Jayson took us to a seaside fish market. I kid you not, true to his words, it was a literal seaside fish market. Fresh seafood, freshly harvested from their homes. Everything is fresh and we got ourselves frozen from the winter breeze that night.

Every family needs an outdoor life. And that's been my mantra for my family. Life is beautiful, there's a huge world out there and I want my little corner of the world anywhere, as long as we're all together. Having fun, for us means spending hours outside in parks and playground is an essential part of falling in love with each other more and more, to rekindle that spark and bond, which keeps the foundation of my little family strong. Hearing Yllac laugh, seeing my boys being boys is a treat for my soul. For me, home is where you make it yours. Doha is our home now, our home sweet home.

Happy Valentines everyone!

love,

Denise, Jayson and Yllac