10 years after the invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War, how we survived it.....

On the 2nd of August 1990, my husband, Abdul Mohsen, came home and told me that Iraq had invaded Kuwait, for some reason it did not sink into my brain. But after listening to the radio (VOA and BBC), and getting news coverage via the Egyptian television, we learned how serious the situation was. It was so weird that we heard so much on the Egyptian television about the situation and within Saudi there was no mention at all of this. After four days the Saudi television decided to put on a speech and talk by the Egyptian president, but no Saudi government official made any statement!

Abdul Mohsen's sister, was married to a Kuwaiti and had four children living in Kuwait. The Khodairs were all afraid for her and her family.

We had moved into our newly built home only two months ago and didn't have a phone yet so Sahel (my oldest son) went to our video store and phoned my Sis to ask what was going on over there, he came home with the news that the U.S. was planning on sending 500,000 troops to Saudi for protection. Abdul Mohsen said he did not think that would happen, of course it slowly.

I guess too many people were changing their money into U.S. Dollars in fear of the uncertain circumstances because we heard that the Dollar was being banned from sale in Saudi. The government refuted this statement and said there were plenty of Dollars in the market and would stay available. Going for groceries we saw that most people were stocking up on staples and it was strange. Eventually Abdul Mohsen also began to buy a stock of groceries, but he got too much of certain things. We had enough tea to stock an army!!!

The US had begun to send troops almost immediately to Dahran and the British and French were also sending troops into Saudi as well as to other Gulf states. We were constantly listening to the radio and Suzan (my first daughter) was getting fed up with all the news constantly around her. The only topic of the day where ever she went in Saudi, was about the invasion of Kuwait.

Sahel and Mishal (my second son) were out driving one day and saw a very large number of U.S. troops at the Sheraton Hotel, there were many Saudi army soldiers as well. Sahel was saying how puny the Saudi's were compared to the U.S. troops, that most of the Saudi officers were overweight from eating too much rice! We later learned that the Sheraton had been declared off limits to all, then we found out that the family of Kuwait's ruler were staying there, the ruler himself was staying in Tiaf, near to the Saudi King.
Via air reconnaissance the US announced that Sadam Husain's Army had placed Scud missile launchers on the border of Kuwait aiming into Saudi Arabia.

When we moved into this new home we brought only the matrices and better furniture and planned to furnish the house slowly. But with that announcement I told Abdul Mohsen that we should suspend any furniture buying, just in case our house suffered any bomb blasts! It would be crazy to continue furnishing our house with such a threat hanging. Actually it wasn't the missiles from Kuwait that we were worried about, Jeddah was too far for those. It was the ones that could be launched from Sudan. The Sudanese government was backing Sadam Husain and it was suspected that he had planes and missile launchers stationed there.

At the end of August Sadam allowed the first hostages, foreign women and children, to leave Iraq. We continued to fear for my sister-in-law and her family, many Kuwaities were taking the journey through the desert to leave Kuwait and enter into Saudi. Sahel flew to Dahran where his uncle lives and together they went to the Saudi border asking the Kuwaities for any information about my sister-in-law. They had no luck but had quite an adventure while in Khafji.

Back home, Sahel gave us the entire trip details and we were eager to listen. He was very impressed with all the U.S. troops especially the women who were in Dahran and Khafji and couldn't say enough about them.

While driving out to the border they came upon rows and rows of coalition tents. Each tent was long and low in a sand color and placed about 100 yards apart. Then as they got closer to the front, the Saudi tents appeared, smaller tents, close together in long rows, they were tall and a brown color and every tent had its bathroom tent at the back in white! They joked at how the Iraqis would easily find targets as they came upon the border.

They kept driving and the road then became just desert, they wondered if they should turn back when all of a sudden they came upon a large group of Apache Helicopters just sitting in the desert. They turned the car around FAST and made a retreat, Sahel looked around and saw two huge US Apache helicopters flying towards them. He told his uncle that he had to see what was coming when they felt the vibrations of the helicopters right over them and very low! One helicopter came around to Sahels side of the car, 9 feet off the ground and flying sideways, the two soldiers were looking straight into his window at both of them! The soldiers didn't say or do or motion to them, Sahel said they must have had every piece of x-ray and radar equipment searching their car. The Uncle didn't stop nor did the soldiers try to make them, Sahel then told his uncle with all that equipment shooting through them and the car they were going to get cancer!

When they finally arrived at the paved road again, two US jeeps were waiting for them, each had a soldier manning the machine guns, aimed at them. Again they didn't motion to them to stop and the uncle kept driving, the jeeps drove with them, one racing and getting into position in front of them and the other stayed right behind the. Sahel asked his uncle if he thought they should stop and he said they weren't asking him to so he was not! The jeeps stayed with them for a good five minutes then just moved over and turned around, I guess they had the license number checked out and when they found nothing wrong, let them go. Sahel had loved the entire experience!

Also Sahel told us about many young Saudi men, 14 thru 17, driving small pick up trucks loaded with donated food supplies. The boys were making a desert run into Kuwait city and distributing their goods to those in need. They didn't return empty, any Kuwaities wanting to leave were loaded on and brought back to Saudi.

On October 3rd the U.S. announced that they had now 170,000 troops in the Gulf region. Our home seemed to be pretty well protected, the area had police jeeps constantly patrolling. Why, because we lived just across from the palace of Prince Niaf, the Minister of Interior.

Mishal decided that he would join the National Guard Army Reserves after the government made television advertising for the citizens to come forward and join in protecting their country. He began training and would come home all tired out wearing the Army camouflage uniform and cap. He would tell us of each days drills and gun firing scores.

Mishal did make one thing clear, he would defend Jeddah but would not go if they told him that he would be stationed in some desert part of the country! With each passing day things were getting hotter in the Gulf. Mishal finished his training and attended the graduation ceremony, war seemed to be possible at any day now.

On Nov. 10th, the women in Riyadh decided to protest and 150 girls and women drove their family cars through the city. The story made the foreign press headlines but we only found out about it when my sister-in-laws mother (she is Italian) phoned her from Italy to ask about it! We then heard it on the radio from the foreign media. The women drivers had made sure that they had someone from the foreign press before they began that protest drive!

What the foreign media did not report was what happened to those women afterwards, because they did not know about it. Each husband or father of the women (their legal guardian) involved was first fired from their jobs, then banned from any type of public or government work. The women themselves were banned from any type of work forever and their passports revoked. Then a letter was openly circulated in all mosques listing each girls name and the name of her husband or father, and a statement was written about each girl and her father or husband. The men were said to be  non-believers (against Islamic beliefs) and that they should be banished from the Kingdom. The women were said to be of very bad upbringings and were all whores.

A week later there were two more protest drives by women in Jeddah but the government managed to keep these quite from the foreign media. Again a damaging list was distributed with the girls names and of their fathers or husbands.

As things grew hotter in the Gulf the troop number grew to 230,000 U.S. and foreign troops in the area. I had written to my family that I would not leave the country unless we all left together as one family. I could not leave here with only my girls, I would be too worried for the men! So I decided to get my yearly Christmas letter to family and friends out and mailed before any war broke out in Saudi, a typical woman's thoughts.....

With the situation getting so hot I went to the U.S. Consulate and registered each of my family under my name, just in case we wanted an evacuation. For a change Abdul Mohsen was listed under my protection, ha ha.....

On November 21st George Bush was to arrive in Jeddah, before his arrival the city took on a different look, the CIA had arrived and protection was taken over by them for his arrival. Everywhere you went you would see those black GMCs with all the radar and other antennas on top with completely blackened windows. On the day, as Air Force Ones landing grew near, two helicopters were flying over the route that the motorcade would travel, inspecting and checking. Every home with anything strange on their roofs had the helicopters hovering over them to get a good look at what ever it was. We were along that rout.

The motorcade going to the airport with the King passed doing at least 180 KPH, he was definitely in a hurry, that or he had something to be afraid of. Makes you wonder.... Here when the King passes in the streets, no cars are allowed on the same street! Civilians are told to move on and cars are stopped many meters from all intersections that access Kings Road. Yes the road is named as such because it stretches as one long highway from the Kings palace until directly in front of the airports Royal arrival/ departure hall.

When the motorcade again passed, with Bush, they were driving at a civil speed of about 100 KPH, for the benefit of Bush I am sure! Along with them now were all the U.S. presidential CIA cars and vans, and those satellite antennas. So I wonder what the reaction of Bush and his entourage was when they saw that the entire length of the street was empty of people to greet them or curiosity seekers.

As Christmas approached and due to all the foreign people in the Kingdom, the local newspapers actually carried stories and articles mentioning Christmas and trees for the first time, before, anything concerning Christmas was taboo.

I was not going to leave my home during this possible war time and I wanted to preserve my few mementos so I packed up a large bag with all the baby books, first baby shoes and my photo albums. I put it inside a center closet near my bedroom in hopes it would stay preserved. A woman and mothers mementos are precious to her!

My brother-in-law told Sahel he had several U.S. soldiers coming into his store (it's very near to our home) and asked if Sahel wanted to meet and talk with them. Sahel went and became friends with two of them, Rory and Chris. They were living at a compound just five house down from us and they passed our house when ever they went to my brother-in-law's store. Sahel brought the two of them into our home and after talking about many things we ushered them upstairs to our Christmas tree. We had each of them put on a shmat (shh-maat), a red head cover, we took pictures for them to send home.

Sahel and Mishal took Rory and Chris out on a fishing trip with my brother-in-law and they made a day out of it which the guys enjoyed very much. Sahel also took them all around Jeddah showing them the sights, the two soldiers had made the right type of contact (my son) while they were here for getting around and information.

They told us how they arrived in Jeddah. You think of soldiers being flown over here and you think it would be just like any passenger of an airplane, ha ha, not so. They themselves had come over in a military transport plane, no seats and as much equipment as possible, each soldier had to make do. They had to find places to fit, under a car or truck, in a car seat or in any empty space. There were no lights, no food, nothing. Each soldier got on a plane and took a sleeping pill and hoped to fall asleep for the entire trip! Poor guys...

Mishal also met two other soldiers and took then out a couple of times for scuba diving afternoons. So two more soldiers found a good contact when they met Mishal.

December 2nd was declared World Yellow Ribbon Day, for all the hostages still inside Kuwait. Also for all the Kuwaitis that were still inside their country. I made several yellow ribbons and put one on each car and carried one on my purse, for my sister-in-law and her family. One brother-in-law said he had gotten a phone call from some person saying he had come out of Kuwait and was calling with a message from my sister-in-law, to let us know that they were all fine and doing good under the circumstances. Then again another brother-in-law said they had a letter mailed from inside Saudi, also from my sister-in-law saying not to worry they were ok. I never got confirmation about this but could only imagine that this could have been for the sake of my mother-in-law, to lessen her worries a little.

We put our Christmas tree up on Dec. 5th, then on Dec. 8th an announcement from Iraq said all the remaining hostages would be released and they slowly began to come out. With Christmas very near I wanted to do something for those soldiers who were living near us, boy did I do something! I made up Carrot Pineapple Fruit Cakes (a really yummy desert cake), I made six large sheet cakes and they cut up into 140 servings. Each slice was topped with a glazed topping and walnut, then wrapped in cling wrap and tied with a curly ribbon and a tag with Christmas wishes.

I had an assembly line set up on the dinning table and when they were finished I needed a way to transport them, my mind clicks.....

I taped the box tops so they opened as one piece, and they lifted for access and on the inside cover was a letter I had typed, greeting the soldiers and thanking them for helping Saudi in it's time of need. At the bottom I had written, "Sorry we couldn't fill each of your stockings with your favorite partner for the season!".

Readers Digest had a joke in one of its issues, the movie star that played Major Dad was in the desert visiting the troops and in front of one tent a blank bullet shell was on a twig in a cup. Major Dad asked the soldier what it was and he replied, "Why this is a cartridge in a bare tree, sir."

I told Sahel to ask Rory and Chris to come by to pick up the boxes of cakes and when they did not come by the next day, I placed both boxes, in the deep freezer (lucky there was space!). The guys came two days later, they were amazed at the size of the boxes! They got the boxes directly from the freezer so their hands must have froze carrying them to their camp. Later Chris told Sahel that he had put one of the boxes out for the soldiers to share, the other he was keeping inside his room. He said they were so good he was going to eat them until he got sick!

After that, Rory asked if there was anything he could get for us from their BX, I quickly said candy canes! We had never found any in Saudi and the tree seemed bare, he said they had a zillion boxes at their camp that were sent from the states by different sources. He gave me six boxes of 24 canes and I asked if it were all right to take so many, he said as soon as a box was empty it was replaced with six more. The canes had all arrived from the states, with all the good will gifts that were sent over to all the soldiers! I distributed most of the canes to family and friends that were celebrating Christmas here. I did wrap two boxes very tight and store them to be used for next year. Even if we didn't eat them they could be on our tree....

We had given Rory and Chris some T-shirts with slogans in English and Arabic about the invasion which they had not seen while here. Sahel went with them to their BX and he had them buy for him (Sahel couldn't buy in the BX) a couple of American made T-shirts with slogans about the Gulf War. While in the BX Sahel saw and wanted a large gas working Bar Be Que grill, a week later Rory bought it with Sahel's money for him. It cost only $70. or so while the same grill in the local market ran for $266.

Sahel took me one day to the BX and I was amazed! On a normal street among other two floor villas he stopped at the door of one of the houses, nothing different. But the house was set up as a grocery store for the soldiers, all the magazines and candy that you normally see in the states but not available here. There was even a post office that I wished I could send some letters through, but I would need a U.S. government ID to do anything there, dad drat it!

One morning after I had just sent Mothi (my second daughter) off to school, the doorbell rang. A man was asking for Abdul Mohsen, at 6:30 AM? He said he was a police officer and had to talk to Abdul Mohsen urgently. I went upstairs and woke him with the message, Abdul Mohsen ran into the bathroom then downstairs. A few moments later he came in the front door opening it wide and ushered several police in.

Abdul Mohsen came to me and told me Mishal had been shot and was in the hospital and that the police said he was okay. Mishal had told the police that he shot himself in his bedroom and they had come to verify his story. They went up to look around Mishals room, my army reserves son had shot himself, why not!

Mishal had been sleeping over at a friend in his apartment and helping to move him to a new apartment, so of course he didn't shoot himself here! When the police didn't find anything to back up Mishals story they left and went back to the hospital, Abdul Mohsen followed.

I went to Suzan's bedroom and woke her up and told her forget about going to college today, then told her what I knew so far. after two very anxious hours Abdul Mohsen  phoned and told us Mishal was indeed ok and that we could come see him. Suzan and I got to the hospital and to Mishals room to find him sitting in bed with a very embarrassed grin on his foolish face. His legs were bandaged and we got the story.

Most of his friends things were packed in boxes and on top of one was a gun and Mishal picked it up to look at it. It was a starters gun, used in races, my dopey son played cowboy with it and it went off as he pulled it out of the pretend holster. The gun didn't have blanks in it, of course not, it had a buck shot bullet (or what ever its called) the type that had dozens of tiny lead pellets. The bullet shot dozens of the pellets into the back of his legs. He did not think to check the gun, he just played around with it. He only spent one night in the hospital and would be treated as an out patient. The police had been notified by the hospital because it was a gun shot wound and the police now had to ok his released from the hospital which they finally did.

On Christmas day Sahel went to the video store to wish my mother a merry one, and to tell her that we were all doing well, so far. The 31st was spent at home quietly, with lots of confetti thrown by Mothi. It was also the 151st day of Kuwait's capture with Sadam refusing to get out of Kuwait even under the threat of a war against Iraq.

The first day of this new year began with rain, a nice touch even though there was a war looming over the Gulf region. George Bush had spent the New Years Eve with soldiers in the desert. Suzan made me promise that I would not take our Christmas tree down until the situation was resolved. She said it helped her to forget, if only for a little while each day.

One of those days we had a dust storm and it always amazed me that the temperature could dip as low as 18 degrees, (low 60's) and yet we would be having a full blown dust storm. That was Jeddahs weather....

January 10th was the day of the James Baker and Tarik Abdul Aziz confrontation, to see if Iraq would leave Kuwait, the press conference was broadcast live on Saudi television. After Iraqs refusal to leave Kuwait war would be soon...

The Saudi government decided it was time to give first aid instructions on television and show the citizens how to prepare a room in case of chemical bombs being dropped. There was quite a lot of instructions between the television and newspapers and I followed all instructions with planning a room and emergency supplies. The city had to fix up their air raid siren system and make sure it worked, we were warned about drills on several occasions. Some sirens worked and some did not but would they work when they were needed?

"The Room", I decided was going to be upstairs, because I wanted to be able to watch outside, I picked the guest bedroom as it also had a small dressing room with a connecting bathroom. I taped all the windows shut, then sealed three of the five windows with a double cover of clear plastic, remember, I wanted to see outside! I added three high seats and three low seats from the Arabic style seating from our family room, a bunch of pillows, some blankets and gobs of books. I made Abdul Mohsen buy a fan to circulate the air, idiot me forgot that if there were an emergency, most probably the electricity would go!

Then I scrubbed the bathtub clean to be filled with water if it became necessary.

Next I began a stock of canned food stuffs, water, and the first aid kit. We were told that a solution of water with 5% chlorine was a good cleanser for chemical burns so I very carefully measured one jug and marked the 5% line on it and put a 1/2 gallon of chlorine in The Room along with gobs of towels and rags. I also made up a bag, per car, of the same thing in case any of us were caught on the streets during an attack. The Room was pretty much ready for our use if the need arose. All during the time of the invasion until it was all over I never had any mental problems, I was very calm and just accepted that what ever will be, Will Be, we went about our daily lives as normal.

George Bush gave a deadline to Sadam, Wednesday, Jan. 16th at 8 AM local time, or the Coalition forces would begin their attack on his Army. I guess Bush came up with this date after discussing it with his General in the field, all the schools here had begun their mid-year break.

The medical college is independent and Suzan was supposed to have exams on Jan. 15 and 16th. The college is a good 40 minute drive from our home and, just in case, we told her that she wouldn't go to her exams, even if she had wanted to go (she DID NOT even want to be in this city right now) we would not have let her attempt it. What parent in their right mind would have allowed this? On the day before the deadline an announcement was read over the television, any remaining exams would be postponed until further notice, the government too, had decided to keep the kids at home...

When the deadline approached, Sadam continued to refuse, I told everyone that the attacks would begin within hours after the deadline, that I thought, George Bush was not going to allow Sadam to say that the Coalition forces were hesitating.

Sahel had managed to get a hold of a radio scanner and he and Mishal were on the roof at 2 AM on the 17th when they watched in amazement as dozens of airplanes approached our air port. They were coming in from all directions and causing havoc, there could have easily been many accidents. Then on the radio, Sahel heard a Saudi man in Riyadh calling his family in Jeddah, telling them that the war had begun. He was talking loudly and very nervously, his mother was crying in worry for him. The man was telling them how a great many U.S. jets were leaving from Riyadh's military airport, heading for Iraq no doubt.

Sahel then woke us up, I went up to the roof to watch, the planes were very low and coming directly over our house which is a good distance from the runway approach. The majority were civilian aircraft, most likely they had left Riyadh and Dahran's airports and had come to Jeddah for protection. I then went to 'The Room' and filled all the water containers and the bathtub and sealed the last two windows. I went back to our bedroom and wondered if I should wake Suzan but decided against it, but stupid Sahel woke her! Dad was still in bed but awake, he had turned on the television and lo and behold, the government had decided to put CNN on LIVE. I guess it was the easiest way to let everyone know just what was going on.

I went down to the family room and from 3 AM until 9 AM laid there watching the events, as they occurred. The TV station would break in with patriotic songs whenever CNN switched to Israel for an update then return to CNN when they were back in Saudi or the U.S.. Poor Suzan was going through a very bad time at this point, but she was holding up.

    The poor Iraqi people had to sustain 400 strikes in a three hour period. Suzan wished she could be lost some place else and kept her ear to her walkman with rock and roll music, hoping to avoid the news.

   There were16 more scud's shot at Riyadh, Dahran and Jubail during the next 36 days, then the Iraqi invasion of Khafji. Life in Jeddah was pretty calm, and even the chief of Police's daughter was to be married on the 24th of January, they decided to go ahead with the wedding! I can say one thing, there was plenty of security around the building for the partying guests. Suzan and I went only because Abdul Mohsen said we should for the benefit of his friend, who was afraid that there would not be enough ladies the wedding. We were told that the party would be over early due to the current circumstances, but of course it wasn't. So we stayed only until the bride came down at 12:30, we both wanted to be securely back in our home.

On the 25th of January one of the Scuds hit the ground in Riyadh, the Patriot had missed, and it caused some good damage. We heard later from my sister-in-law who lives there, that a family living in the building the scud hit, had left Riyadh for Tiaf by car to be out of range. But the family did not escape death, their car had been involved in a bad crash and the entire family perished. If your time has come there is no way of stopping it....

We heard stories of some young Saudi men running out to get pieces of the exploded scud as a souvenir. There was TV and newspaper stories with pictures of the boys/men holding their found pieces, this prompted many more to watch from their roof tops for any scuds hitting so they would know where to go for their treasured pieces. Then it got to where the TV was running information for the citizens to stay indoors during an alert and not to venture out thinking its safe after the alert was over. Crazy....

Majed, my step son, lives in Riyadh and was at the time working with a television station and decided he wanted to get pictures of scuds as they streaked into Riyadhs air space and either being destroyed by the Patriots or hitting the ground. He and most of his cousins were on the roof of their house and waiting with camera ready. When the sirens sounded in the city the women and girls began to run downstairs and yelled for them to come with them. They wanted to be brave and get the event on film and stayed. BUT when two Patriot missiles shot up into the sky all three of the MEN ran for the door and down the stairs to shelter!

In Israel the government distributed free to its citizens, the gas masks that were supposed to protect them from chemical bombs. The Palestinian people were complaining that they had to buy their gas masks and at $14. each. The government told them they were selling them at cost price. My brother-in-law, who lives in Riyadh with his 7 children, went to buy the masks, the newspapers had advertised them at $54, but every store he went to was selling them for $214 and he had to buy 9!!!

One family in Riyadh had bought the masks and during an air raid they put the masks on, in the confusion they forgot to remove the seal cover on the mask of their 18 month old, the child died of suffocation.

This was the spring break so my brother-in-law and his family were out at their beach cabin, Mothi and I would go there for something to do. The airport was situated so that the runways have the airplanes taking off directly over the beach cabins. During the war there was so much activity, almost every 20 minutes three bomber planes would leave and just behind them was a fuel plane. Those gasoline filled planes were so heavy that they accented so very slowly, as they passed over our heads. A few miles away were some low mountains and we wondered if each plane could make it over them. To be at the beach was nice for a change but we were in constant reminder of a war going on.

The road out to the beach was being patrolled and there were stops to check each car and the passengers. Each of us would carry some sort of identification for those checks. The first time we were stopped the policeman saw my passport and without opening it handed it back and said, "Welcome"! A second time I handed Mothi her school ID and told her to hand it to the policeman, she did but when he began to joke with her at having an ID she refused to carry it afterwards.

Two Military men arrived in Riyadh, Powell and Cheiny, to discuss the coming land war no doubt! The Haj was approaching and I am sure that King Fahad wanted the war in the area to be over before the Haji's began to arrive! Just before Powells arrival a scud had hit again in Riyadh and 30 civilians were injured.

We would hear things that were happening with the troops stationed in the desert, the Saudis were joking about how the foreigners would not be able to withstand the hot sun of the desert. But the local papers carried pictures of the troops, bare chests and heads wrapped in scarves playing football or volley ball during the afternoons hot sun, a time that Saudis use to sleep! The foreign soldiers told of how many Saudi troops were being treated for heat stroke or how they had to sleep after lunch due to the huge meals they were use to eating! We also saw pictures of the foreign soldiers amusing themselves by betting on scorpion fights! One British group calling themselves the Desert Rats actually caught a Jerba, the local desert rat that they adopted and even took home with them.

All the newspapers and television news broadcasted that the second term of school would be delayed until further notice. All the students were quite happy to say the least. That was Jan. 16th, on the 23rd the land war had begun. The newspapers had carried a strange advertisement a month prior, 500 drivers were wanted for heavy trucks. Later we learned that those drivers were used to drive military trucks as a diversion during the start of the land war! Talk about an experience to tell if you had been one of those drivers...

VG Day had finally arrived, Victory in the Gulf, as the local newspapers had named it. On January 27th, Saudi and Kuwaiti troops drove through the streets of Kuwait. Watching the event live on television we scanned the people for any signs of my sister-in-law's family and other friends of Kuwait, none were seen.

During the air war, I recorded 17 scud attacks against Saudi, including the one that hit inside Jubail. That was the one that hit a U.S. barracks and killed the U.S. troops as they slept in their beds.

One of the first things the U.S. forces did when they entered Kuwait was to set up telephone lines to the outside. About a week after VG day my mother-in-law finally got a call from my sister-in-law saying they all came through the ordeal fine and had not had any problems with any Iraqi soldiers the entire time.

Even though the war was over on Feb. 27th the government decided to postpone school until after the Ramadan Eid on April 16th! We never found out why but the kids were ecstatic! School finally began on April 20th, it was the longest mid-year break in history, 94 days! When would the school year finish now? Not too late it turned out, by July 5th all exams were over.

Suzan went to college and I pulled down our Christmas tree, it had been up for six months!