Abu Dhabi Update ~ Golden Tickets

I can't believe it! It is really happening! Oh my, where do I start with packing! and Man, am I tired! are all thoughts that have been going through my head since yesterday.

Around 10:30 am on Tuesday, January 28, hubby got his itinerary. At that point I responded to the email and asked the travel agent to add the rest of our family and I attached copies of our passports. Then we waited...and waited...and waited. Then at 3:30 am on Wednesday, January 29, we got an email. A reminder to confirm hubby's info. WHAT?!? They hadn't gotten my reply! PANIC sets in as I quickly forward my original reply to them (and BCC myself). Ten minutes later they reply and ask for all the passport info in a different format (not sure what happened) so I spend 20 minutes fixing it and send if off again. More waiting, and waiting and waiting. Finally, at 10:30am (almost exactly 24 hours after the original email from them) we get our Golden (e)Tickets!!

We leave Saturday, February 1 from Phoenix, Arizona. Then after a 6 hour lay-over in Chicago we will arrive in Abu Dhabi around 7:30pm on Sunday, February 2!

After we got our tickets I emailed family and friends with the info and then took a 4 hour nap! It is exhausting to check your email every 30 minutes or so every night for a week! ;)


Posts might be spotty here for a couple weeks but I hope you hang in there with us because we are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime!

Abu Dhabi Update ~ More Waiting

Yep, we are still waiting for our "Golden Tickets"! While we knew this would probably happen we are starting to go a little stir-crazy. We are plugging away with our homeschooling and wearing out our phone batteries checking our e-mails constantly! The latest e-mail update said that visas are being processed as quickly as possible and that once the visas are processed they will issue tickets.

 Tuesday the 14th, hubby's high school was in lock-down for a few hours while the police chased a man in a car through town!

I have also been working on getting caught up on my scrapbooking. Last year was pretty rough and around April I stopped scrapbooking. Last Friday (the 17th), I finished my 2013 family scrapbook. Yippee! I am also up to date with 2014. :)

Saturday (the 18th) we had an amazing opportunity to tour the new Gilbert Temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was so neat to be able to take the kids and see their faces as they enjoyed the beauty of this temple that they had been watching be built over the past 3 years!

What to do while we WAIT for our Golden Tickets

One of the first things we were told when we applied to teach in Abu Dhabi is that we will need to be patient as things won't go the way we think they should. We were also told to eliminate the word "should" from our vocabulary and be prepared to both leave tomorrow and have a plan in case it is a couple months before we leave. It is funny because, while we are fine with the way things are going, family and friends seem to have issues with it. We keep telling them that everything is going the way it is supposed to and that we get there when we are supposed to get there.

In the meantime, we are living in my parents 400 sq. ft. casita and going on with work and school while we wait. Unicorn has finished 2 of her semester courses which is awesome because now we don't have to pack those materials! We have switched Monkey and Ladybug to Time4Learning.com to make schooling while we are in limbo easier. We have been checking out parks near my parents home and even went to FlipSide (kind of like an indoor mini amusement park). There has been some baking with Grandma and my mom and I got to meet Ann Romney and have her sign copies of her cookbook yesterday!

At the "Barn" Park

Monkey at FlipSide

The kids playing at FlipSide

Ladybug checking out the HUGE trunk in our rental car.

Monkey and Ladybug doing their school work.

Unicorn doing her Latin.

Another park

Monkey being brave

Unicorn on the monkey bars

Ladybug on the monkey bars

Unicorn making banana bread with Grandma

Monkey made zucchinni bread with Grandma

Ladybug making chocolate chip cookies with Grandma

1st in line for Ann Romney!

Mom waiting for Ann Romney

ANN ROMNEY!

Mom meeting Ann

Me meeting Ann!