Because we will not be home to celebrate our 14 year anniversary I wanted to do something special for Jon and give him a very cool and unexpected gift before we left for our vacation. I surprised him with an Arabic Bedouin tent. I knew he really wanted one. We had talked about getting one before moving back to the States, but I knew he wasn't thinking now. After many phone calls, and conversations with several people, one of Jon's co-workers said he knew someone who could get one for me. It was kind of a circus finding one and acquiring it because it is not something you can just pick up at the store. You have to find someone with a farm who knows a vendor. Those vendors are usually far out in the desert. Being on lockdown at the time did not help the situation because I could not go to the location to look at the tents. So Jon's co-worker Shadi had the tent brought directly to the compound. I was so grateful.
Turns out the guy who found the tent knew Jon and did not want me to pay him for the tent. He explained that Jon was a good friend and was happy to get it for him. I felt pretty bad because it was a pretty costly gift!
Setting up the tent was a challenge all on its own. Those tents are very big, and heavy, and don't come with manuals telling us how to set them up. So Julien, Logan, my good friend and next door neighbor Mary (who is actually Jon's boss' wife) and I went to work putting this "3D puzzle" together. After 1 to 2 hrs we had the tent up. It looked a little crooked and wobbly but it was up and stood on it own so we called it good. lol!
I loved Jon's reaction when he saw it. His eyes got so big and started giggling in disbelief!
I sent him right back out to pick us up some dinner. Arabic! Yum!
He had also picked up a pizza for the kids and Julien offered to babysit.
Kiki and Eden however had no desire to be babysat so...
...our romantic candlelight dinner turned out to be a family affair!
It was a fun evening none the less!
I am so grateful for Jon! I love to him so much. He is my best friend.
He is such a hard worker, sacrifices a lot, and does so much for our family!
Hand in hand, 14 years down, eternity to go!
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