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!

2013 Highlights/Lowlights and Abu Dhabi Update

2013 proved to be a challenging but ultimately good year for us.

LOWLIGHTS
~Mom to Urgent Care on Jan.1
~Leaky roof
~Frozen/burst pipe
~Failed Surgery for mom
~Monkey fell while hiking and cut his head
~Monkey passed out, ER via ambulance, cardiologist
~Washing Machine died
~A/C went out in the car
~Bad storm blew 70% of our shingles off our roof
~Got egged on Halloween
~A/C went out in the car (again)
~Had to re-home our puppies


HIGHLIGHTS
~Ladybug lost a LOT of teeth
~Ladybug, Unicorn and mom learned how to crochet scarves
~Unicorn turned 13!
~Swimming
~New Air Conditioner
~Campout with Daddy
~Adopted Puppies
~Girls sewing class at Jo-Ann's
~Monkey turned 5!
~Girls were in the local pageant
~Ladybug turned 7!
~Successful surgery for mom.
~Daddy's parents came to visit
~Girl's got their ears pierced
~Road Trip: Four Corners, Mesa Verde Ruins, family reunion in Branson, Missouri (Silver Dollar City)
~Monkey learned to float on his back
~NEW ROOF
~Fixed A/C in car
~Monkey started KG, Ladybug 2nd and Unicorn High School (and seminary)
~Dad applied for and passed the phone interview for a job in Abu Dhabi
~Mom and Dad's 9th Anniversary
~Dad flew to Chicago for an in-person interview and got the job!
~Unicorn earned her Personal Progress award
~Mommy's dad and step-mom came to visit
~Kids went on a mini-vacation to Scottsdale with Nana and Papa
~Great-Gram came to visit for Thanksgiving
~Got all our documents back and submitted for our visas/tickets
~Sold our home
~Road Trip: Grand Canyon with my brother and his family


ABU DHABI update
Last update we were waiting for our documents to come back from Washington D.C. We got them back on the 4th of Dec. and submitted them to Footprints on the 6th. On the 9th we were told that the first group could leave for Abu Dhabi between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1. While we knew it was unlikely that we would be in the first group (or that they would leave on time) we had to be ready! We had a huge yard sale (indoors) on the 21st of Dec. and then donated what was left on the 23rd. The cleaning guy and the final walk-thru were on the 24th and we closed on the 26th! On the 23rd we got another update that it would be unlikely for visas to be issued in time for the original window of the 26th-1st and that we should now plan on a mid-January departure (and to still plan for delays and to have back-up plans).

For now we are enjoying the holidays with family and preparing for daddy to go back to work on the 6th. We will get back into our school routine (as it went out the window the past 2 months) and live life as normally as we can while living in a 400-sq ft casita (at least we can hang in the main house with my parents too)!

Happy New Year!!

Abu Dhabi Update ~ Paperwork & Authentication

In addition to selling everything we own there is a lot of paperwork to get ready to move to Abu Dhabi...especially if you are taking your family!

Documentation Needed (all teachers):
Resume
Passport Photos
Passport
Letters of Reference (2)
Criminal Background Check
Authenticated Teaching License
Authenticated Diploma of Highest Degree

Additional Documentation Needed (for families):
Authenticated Marriage Certificate
Authenticated Birth Certificate (for each child)

Additional Documentation Needed for Children of Divorced/Deceased Parents:
Authenticated Divorce Degree (or Death Certificate)
Notarized and Authenticated Letter from Child's father

Now, since there is a cost involved in the Criminal Background Check and in the Authenticating of documents, it wouldn't be wise to do these 2 steps until AFTER a letter of offer is received. However, getting your passport might not be a bad idea. We already had our passports (yes, even the children) from a few years ago. Click HERE to read about how to get a passport and how much they cost.

Fees
Passport = approx. $135 (for a first time adult - renewals and children are less)
Criminal Background Check = $50 (this could vary depending on the company you use)
Notarizing Documents (step 1) = Free at most banks if you are a member. (Our Secretary of State also notarizes for free).
Authentication (step 2) = Secretary of State (Arizona) $3 per document
Authentication (step 3) = US Department of State $8 per document
Authentication (step 4) = UAE Embassy in the USA $30 per document
ProEx (courier for steps 3 & 4) = $125 + $25 FedEx

If you are a single teacher these fees are not so bad but we are a family with 3 children and 1 of those children is from a previous marriage. This meant that instead of 2 documents to Authenticate  ($232) we had 8 ($478)!

Other than the letter from Unicorn's father and a certified copy of my divorce decree, we had all the documents we needed ready to go at the time of hubby's interview. On the 15th of November we drove up to Phoenix to go to the Secretary of State and have the documents notarized and authenticated. Then we went to Staple's to copy each document (another $2) and ship the documents to ProEx for steps 3 & 4 ($30 shipping).

ProEx will get the documents today (don't you just love tracking packages?!?) and it takes about 10 days for the process to be completed in Washington DC. Then they ship the documents back to us (another 2-3 days) and we submit our final documents to Footprints and they send it to ADEC to begin processing our VISA (which will take at least 2 weeks). At this point we have to be ready to leave at a moments notice!

2013 Gratitude Challenge ~ Day 11

Preparing for Abu Dhabi

Getting everything ready to move across the world is a very daunting, time consuming task! We have gathered all the necessary paperwork and will be getting it notarized and authenticated this week. Then we will be sending it to Proex to finish the authentication process.

In addition to all the paperwork there is the intimidating task of selling almost everything we own! We have sold almost $1500 worth of stuff and have almost $2500 more claimed (and there is so much we still need to sell)! Some claimed items will be picked up this week while others (like our beds) will be picked up closer to Christmas. This money is helping to pay for the fingerprinting and authentication process, hubby's new suits, and some money to live on until the new paychecks start coming in.

We are also in the process of getting our house on the market. Know anyone who wants to buy a charming house in a small town just south of Phoenix, Arizona?!?

One of the more fun items on our VERY long to-do list is to get hubby a couple new suits. He hasn't had a new suit since we were married 9 years ago! This last Friday we went to a local store that sells suits for LDS (Mormon) missionaries. One thing I LOVE about these suits is that they are all 2-pants suits and the cost of alteration is included in the price. He is a photo of hubby getting fitted for his new suit!