E-box and packing

When we were in Houston we got to see what an E-box looks like.  Our family will get two of these big boxes to fill with as much stuff as we can.  They will be shipped at the same time our big shipment with all of our furniture is shipped, but they will come by air and get to us about 3 weeks after we arrive in Saudi Arabia.  Each box will hold up to 500 lbs.  It sounds like a lot but for a family of 6 I am sure we will fill it up really fast. 

We used a carry on sized suitcase and a lap top bag to try and get an idea of how big it is.  The actual dimensions are: L 42", W 29", H 27"  

Here is the list of (tentatively) what will be packed into the E-boxes.

Microwave

Vacuum

Pans, utensils, baking pans,

Diapers

Air mattress

Small kitchen appliances

Gaming system and small TVs and wall mount

Board games

Teacher supplies (lesson plans, materials)

Halloween decorations

Briggs potty chair

Surge protectors and extension cords

Racquetball racquet

TV trays 

Outside toys

Kid toys

Lamps

On the airplane we will each have two pieces of luggage that can weigh up to 70 lbs each.  We will also each have a carry on suitcase and a backpack.  Here is the list of what will go on the plane with us.

Most clothes and swim suits

Shoes 

Electronic devices (computer, phones, kindles, DVDs)

Batteries

Toiletries (soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving things)

Blankets, sheets

Pillows

Some toys for each kid

Towels, washcloths, bathroom rugs, front door rugs

Medicines 

Fans

Passports, binders, paperwork, 

Vanilla in with toiletries, spices

Oxyclean

Sunscreen, swim toys, sand toys, 

Bike

Cards, games,

Art supplies.

Anybody wanna volunteer to pack all this for me???

In The Meantime...

What have we been doing while we kill time waiting to move over seas???

Briggy turned 2 on May 7.  He's definitely hit the "terrible two" stage.  He keeps me on my toes but I sure do love him and I think most of the time he loves me too.  

Levi lost his first tooth!  Actually he had the front two teeth on the bottom pulled by the dentist.  You can see how his tooth on the bottom right side was almost fully grown in behind the baby tooth. 

We've spent more time than normal down in Utah spending time with our families. :)

Last weekend I was SO blessed to be able to go to Virginia Beach to spend the weekend with my favorite Andrea. Ah...such a great couple of days. We spent time at the beach, went parasailing, ate such delicious food (they totally spoiled me), I got to go with Andrea to get a tattoo, and we just lounged with her family a lot.  She is amazing and beautiful and has such a fun and adorable family.  I hope I get to go again next year, I miss them (and really regret not getting a picture of all of us together).  

It seems like most of our time from now until we leave for Saudi (our official departure date from North America is August 16) is filled with plans already.  We are looking forward to a lot of time spent with family and friends before we leave.

Less than 3 months to go! (and Houston trip)

The other day it dawned on me that we are only 3 months away from our departure from the US!!!  Aaahhhh!!!!    We have been super busy for the last few weeks, which is good.  When we aren't busy we just get bored and trunky.

On April, 18 we got an email telling us that Aramco had given us BI (background investigation) approval.  We weren't really too worried about getting that but it was still nice to feel like we were one step closer to having all of the contingencies met.   We also have now gotten our medical clearance from Saudi Aramco.  We were a little more concerned about that one so we were really happy to hear about that.  When we were in Houston we had heard we had medical clearance but hadn't gotten an official email stating it until May 12.   We have been doing a lot to get us ready.  The last Saturday in April was really nice and warm so we had a huge garage/yard sale.  We sold a lot more than I thought we would and then gave away a lot of stuff too.  It is so nice to get rid of so much junk.  We have had our house for sale for about 6 weeks now.  It's been a lot of work getting it ready to show and advertising it (as of now we are not using a realtor).  We have also been trying to get things organized.  We have lots of piles and lists made. :)

We went to Houston for our orientation on Friday, May 3.  We left Thursday morning and first dropped Brigham off with my friend Tye and then drove down to Salt Lake to leave the other 3 kids with Josh's parents.  Our flight left early in the afternoon so we only had a few minutes to spend at his parents house before they dropped us off at the airport.

At the airport we saw Elder Richard G. Scott (A leader in our church.  He was on the same flight as us so we went over and said hi.  He was so sweet. :)

When we got to Houston we were met by a driver guy waiting to take us to our hotel.  He drove us through Houston in a Lincoln and wanted to chat the whole way about our move to Saudi (it seems to be a hot topic of conversation).

We're pretty cute, huh?  We were super excited to spend a few days without the kids. :)

Thursday night we just kind of hung out at the hotel and the mall that it was connected to. It was fun to people watch and to spend time hanging out without trying to keep track of all the kids. 

The orientation was kind of exciting, kind of boring, kind of informative.  We started with Josh doing his medical testing and both of us had to get blood drawn.  Then we went and got pictures taken for our visas.  The rest of the day was spent in a conference room listening to a presentation about what its like to be employed by Saudi Aramco.  Most of the other people who were doing their orientation that day were there for their initial interview.  They had A LOT more questions that Josh and I did so most of the information was pretty redundant for us.  Still, just being there made this who thing seem a lot more real.  We were able to have lunch with our recruiter (Brenda) and our relocation advisor (Terry).  Another lady joined us because she had some Despains in her genealogy.  Lunch was really fun, they were all really friendly ladies and they let us eat whatever we wanted. :)

Orientation got over about 3:00.  Sharman (Josh's sister) came and picked us up and we spent the next two days with her family. 

We went to a state park where there are alligators just off the path from where you are walking.  It was super cool and a little freaky.  We ate A LOT of super yummy food, enjoyed the time with family, and really enjoyed the super warm weather.

Hurry Up and Wait!

Well... I haven't blogged lately because there isn't really a whole lot going on right now.  It seems like things go in spurts and we will be really busy for a while and then things kind of die down.  I guess that's what they meant when they said this will be a "Hurry Up and Wait" process.

We sent the second packet back almost two weeks ago.  It mostly contained financial information and some info for work visas.  The first week of May Josh and I will be traveling down to Houston to do some more medical testing and we will do an orientation with the company.  We are looking forward to getting away!!!

In the meantime we have been doing a lot of moving preparation type stuff.  We have sold a lot of things that we won't be taking with us.  Two mattresses, the snowmobile, a desk, an armoire, couches... Stuff like that.  It's nice to get rid of things but it's also sad to see things like the snowmobile go. :(  We have also been getting the house ready to sell. We have done a lot of deep cleaning and some painting etc.  Down in the unfinished part of the basement there is a big corner full of "garage sale" stuff.  It's amazing how much junk we have, but hey, one man's junk is another man's treasure!  We also have a lot of things that will be going into storage.

Josh is getting kind of trunky at work and we are all getting so tired of all the SNOW!  It's the end of March and it looks like it could be January out there.  We are getting really excited to move and to experience so many new things!  It seems like it is so far away but also it seems like time just keeps on going so fast!!!   We have a lot to do in such a short amount of time but it is really hard to know what we need to be doing right now. :)

More fun stuff!

 Friday afternoon we got another package from Aramco.  MORE PAPERWORK!  This one has some financial paperwork and some stuff that we need to do to get work visas.  We also got some information about who our relocation advisor is.  We are hoping to hear more from him really soon.  Also included was a book (it was actually smaller than we anticipated) called the relocation guide.  We have both been skimming through that while trying not to get too overwhelmed.  There is A LOT of information about what we can take with us and what things we will need to either get rid of or store here.  It's very detailed and some things are quite confusing.  It's all part of the adventure though (or so I  have been told) so we are trying to enjoy this even though it's a little stressful.

                                                
                                                         This is the relocation guide...our moving bible.

On Saturday our passports came!   The mail lady saw me pulling out of the driveway and flagged me down so I could sign for them.  She said we have been a hot topic of conversation...LOL.  It seems that most everyone knows now about our move and everyone wants to talk about it.  I can't really go anywhere without getting stopped by several people who have questions about it.  Most people say something like, "I heard a rumor about you, is it true?'  One person that Josh was talking to said, "You're moving there on purpose?"  Josh and I both got a good laugh out of that.  A lot of people have been asking if I am scared to move to the Middle East.  I am not scared at all to LIVE there.  The process of moving overseas is what is more overwhelming to me than the idea of living there.  Maybe once we are there I will feel scared but right now I am more worried about actually being able to get there.  

At church today one of my neighbors (who had just learned about our move today) came up and gave me a hug and told me she was going to miss me.  Another lady told me that her daughter is so sad that her best friend (Levi) is going to move and won't be in her first grade class.  These kind of conversations remind me of how hard it will be to leave Star Valley, where we are so comfortable and have so many great friends.  For the most part though we are just really excited and so happy and grateful that we have this opportunity.

The Contract!

Last Monday (the 18th) we got an email with an attached copy of our contract.  The email came while we were driving home from Utah for a long vacation.  SO EXCITING!  The next day FedEx dropped off the official copy.  Also included was A LOT of paperwork.  The packet needed to returned within 7 days so we got to work really quick.  They needed school records, a copy of our marriage license, passport info (we hadn't even started working on those yet.  We got those taken care of and they should arrive at the beginning of next week), background checks, immunization records, and a few other things.  

We have heard that we should probably be contacted by our relocation advisor this week or maybe the beginning of next week.  We are really excited about that!  We also know that we will soon be getting our relocation manual which is actually a very thick book.   So much still seems to be up in the air but at least we are making progress.

 

The picture I took to send to Josh right after the contract was delivered.

                                                    

Looking it over. :)

This was after we had everything filled out.  He was getting it all put together so we could send it back.

Timeline

Our original conversation about moving to Saudi happened in October of 2011.  At that time Josh emailed the company and we were told that they don't normally hire families with more than 2 or 3 kids. We were disappointed but just kind of put it out of our heads.

In the spring of 2012 we found out that Kelly and Geniel (Kelly was Josh's principal/boss for several years) were moving back over to KSA.  In passing Josh told Kelly that we were still interested in going so if he knew of anyway to get us over there with our large family size to let us know.  I still kind of giggle when people think a family with 4 kids is large.  It seems like a small family to me!  We didn't really think a whole lot more about Saudi Arabia until...

October 10, 2012- Out of the blue Josh got an email from Kelly telling us that the superintendent could make exceptions for a family with 4 kids if we were still interested.  We thought about it for about 2 minutes and decided to email Kelly back for more info.  We talked to Kelly several times over the next couple of weeks trying to get all the info we could.  I also spent a lot of time online researching the company and what it was like living there.

November 3- Josh emailed his resume to the superintendent and principal.  We got a quick reply from the superintendent telling us basically to sit tight and we would hear more soon.

November 15- After hearing that the Abqaiq school had a high demand for early childhood teachers we  emailed them and told them I would be willing to get certified.  This was probably what really got them interested in us.  Josh had a great resume and recommendation but they just didn't need a 5th grade teacher as much as they needed preschool teachers.

November 18- We got an email from David (the principal at Abqaiq school) asking us if we were available for a Skype interview in the next week or so.

November 24- First Skype interview.  We were down in Salt Lake for Thanksgiving so we did that at my inlaws house.

December 5- 2nd interview.  This time over the phone.

December 16- David emailed asking Josh some more interview type questions and asked if I would be willing to get a substitute permit and possibly work as a substitute teacher if needed.

January 4, 2013- Josh and I are getting anxious because we haven't heard from anyone for a while.  We emailed David and he told us he wanted to have all the hiring done by then end of January.

January 14- We FINALLY got an email from the superintendent asking us if we could do a Skype interview.

January 15- Skype with Tim the superintendent

January 20- Skype with Chris the business manager.  This was SO FUN! :)

January 23- We wake up to an email from David asking us for times that we could Skype.  Lucky for us we signed onto Skype right then and David popped on and offered us the job.

Now its been two weeks of waiting for the contract to arrive.  The waiting is a KILLER!!!  Maybe today will be the day!