Dear Family and Friends,

Paul has landed the dream job of a lifetime!! The job is with Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world, and it means we will be moving to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

We have spent a lot of time planning, and thinking, and praying, and to be completely honest, I have had nothing but good feelings about this change in our lives. So I hope that you can contemplate this decision we have made and be happy for us. Also, please realize we have not lost our minds. On the contrary – our minds are expanding and opening up for new knowledge and adventure!

This change in our lives will make a huge difference. Some of the major benefits for us (and there are MANY) are that Paul will have normal working hours and we will be able to spend more time together as a family. I will have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom and do some of the things I have always wanted to do but haven’t been able to like painting, ceramics, exercising, service projects etc. Paul starts out with a significantly larger amount of vacation time, which means we will actually be able to visit our families and friends more than we get to now. The company offers free medical care in Saudi and the choice of health insurance when we are in the states. Madeline will get the best education at some of the finest schools in the world and the company even offers to pay for private school after 9th grade anywhere in the world if we so choose. We will get to travel all over the world!! I never imagined I would leave Utah, let alone the U.S. but now Asia, Europe, Egypt, Africa… these places are all possibilities within our reach!

A little background on the past several months:
October, Paul’s friend mentioned the job opening to him on a business trip. Paul came home, told me about it, I had my initial reaction, we talked some more, did some research and it sounded amazing, so Paul applied for the job. We heard back rather quickly from Aramco and in November, Paul had an interview over the phone with a group of engineers he will be working with. A month went by and we were told that the job might be put on hold, so we gave up on it and moved on. Then all of the sudden we heard from a man who works there. He and his wife wanted to speak with us on the phone to answer any questions we might have about life working and living in the Dhahran compound.

Paul got a phone call for a second interview and flew down to Houston for a face-to-face interview on January 23rd. Five days later an offer was extended. Paul accepted the offer. Lots of paperwork and phone calls... On March 8th, Paul and I flew down to Houston for an orientation and Visa medical testing. While there, a woman who had lived in Dhahran for past 25 years (her husband is now retired and they are living in Houston, TX) told us more about the community, the company, the history of Saudi Arabia and the people there, and she answered any questions we had about the whole thing. It was a nice, quick and informative trip.

We will be living in Dhahran, SA in a compound where about 11,000 + people (employees of Aramco and their families) from all over the world are currently living. Inside the compound are a hospital, schools, a grocery store, parks, a lake, a golf course, a gym, salons, and restaurants - pretty much everything you need to live a comfortable and happy life. But you can also leave the compound and venture into the local towns where they have everything from local markets with meats, herbs, fruits and vegetables to massive malls with department stores, an IKEA, and more. Also, the company owns a bunch of beaches along the Persian Gulf that we can go to anytime we want.

Life in and around the compound is more like life here in the states, somewhat safer because everyone in the compound works for the company or is a spouse or child of a company employee. Women are able to drive and wear their normal clothes in the compound and in a lot of the Easter province areas- with conservative style of course – which is no problem for me because I am not one to walk around in a bikini or show my goods to anyone. Many of the women wear baggy, conservative pants and ¾ “ sleeve shirts outside the compound and have been fine. It was recommended by the woman in Houston that I wear an abaya if I go into the capital city because it is the law. Most women just throw on the abaya (a long black gown-like thing) because it is easier. I don’t mind respecting the culture.

Saudi Arabia has some different laws and strict rules and is a very conservative country, but the people of Saudi Arabia are very kind and it is actually a very beautiful and modern place… not what the media portrays it as. We have done a lot of research and talked with several people over there these past few months. Paul and Madeline and I are in more danger living here in Memphis than we will be in Dhahran.

As we learn more about it we will share more information with you if you are interested in knowing. We will still have access to the internet and hopefully facebook. I plan to blog as much as I can once we get settled. I am sure I will have tons to write about, which makes me even MORE excited.

Why didn’t we say anything before now???

Paul and I were assigned a relocation advisor after he accepted the offer and she has been helping us along the way with getting all the needed paperwork completed and getting our visas. It was strongly stated in all of our letters and conversations with the company that they did not want us to change ANYTHING about our current lives until all of the contingencies (background checks, health certificates, visas, etc.) had cleared. This makes perfect sense. We apologize for not telling some of you sooner, but that is our reason for not saying anything until now. Paul didn’t want to cause any problems with his current job if something didn’t work out.

Up until Monday morning (the 15th), we had planned on leaving at the end of April, but they apparently need Paul desperately and want him over there as soon as possible, and since all of the paperwork has now cleared, they moved the date up to April 8th (Happy Birthday to me a 15 hour plane ride woo hoo!) I am taking the date selection as a good sign – a gift to me: a new and wonderful exciting life experience.

So, we are currently in a state of hopeful positivism and are speedily completing everything we need to complete before April 8th. We have to put our home on the market, give notice at our current jobs, get all of kitty’s paperwork done and arrange for her to fly over with us, get rid of a lot of stuff, buy a lot of stuff, sort all of our things into shipment piles (what we will take with us on the plane, what will go in our air shipment, and what will go in the land/ocean shipment) and inventory all of it. Thankfully the company covers the cost for a packing/shipping company to come to our home and pack all of our things and they are paying for our flight to Saudi Arabia.

We realize this is a huge change and a bit of a shock, but it doesn’t change the fact that we love you and you are our friends and family. We hope, once all is settled, to be able to hug you and see many of you MORE. Once we arrive in Saudi Arabia it will take several weeks to get settled and get everything hooked up so we may be out of pocket for a while (hopefully only a few days). If you have any questions or just want to talk please email us, as we are trying to get everything in the house sorted and ready for packing. Our Comcast email addresses will soon be cancelled, so please begin emailing us at our Gmail addresses.

We love you!
Paul, Edith, Madeline, and Kitty