Flag Day

A-100 came and went before I even had time to comment on my experience. I had a class of 94 incredibly talented, highly educated, individuals with a bevy of diverse experiences abroad. One common theme in our group was lawyers. It seems everyone in my class was a lawyer at one time or another. We also had a lot of really tall people, and about five bald guys. It was a great dynamic.

When we received our list of possible destinations we were in awe. There was everything from Havana, Cuba to Hanoi, Vietnam. We decided we wanted to be in the developing world and that we wanted an adventure. Accordingly, we bid all hardship posts high and all language posts high as we wanted to learn a new language. We were warned up front that it would be unlikely we would be able to serve in Vietnam because Duong's family is all there. As it turns out, we are precluded from serving there for five to ten years. =( Oh well, I guess we'll have to spend the next decade seeing new places.

When flag day came I was surprisingly nervous. I had been so cool throughout A-100 but it wasn't until flag day that the reality of moving to another country to work actually hit me. To make it worse, it was about 100 degrees that day and I was just sweating. Flag day is really intense because they hold up a flag of a country, read the name of the country, and call out the name of the person going there. I was about the third person called, and it took me by surprise. I saw a green and white striped flag and heard ... Abuja, Nigeria. In addition to having the third largest film industry in the world, i.e., Nollywood, I've always wanted to go to Africa. So, WE ARE STOKED! We're a little worried about the crime, violence, heat, and spiders, but other than that, this is going to be an adventure of a lifetime.

We leave in a little over a month, and we have so much to do. We need to buy a car, get diplomatic passports, get visas, finalize Duong's mother's I-130 form so she can come live with us, etc. We'll keep you posted.

new kids - moving to DC

Everything happened so quickly--Asa came 3 weeks early on June 5th and the movers came and moved our stuff on June 8th. Elijah moved to DC 2 weeks before the rest of us. It actually worked out well with the baby coming early because Elijah was able to help me with the kids for 2 weeks before he left. It is a blessing to us that Asa is a really good baby. The three kids and I left Utah on Saturday July 3rd, 2010. My mother-in-law flew with me and the kids and I wouldn't have made it to DC without her help.

The first couples days when we got to DC Nani and Kea kept asking to go back to grandpa and grandma's house. They are used to going outside and swinging with grandma on the front porch and running in the back yard and riding bikes outside. Unfortunately, they can't do that here because we are living on the 10th floor in an apartment in DC. It will take a couple of weeks for them to get used to the new place. At least they have a swimming pool here so the kids can have some activities outside and not be locked up in the apartment all day long. The nice thing here is that we are close to the museums. We can take the kids to the museums in the weekend. The museums here in DC are amazing.

Elijah's mom stayed with us for 2 weeks to help us settle down. It was really nice of her to stay and help us. The day she left to go back to Utah Nani cried for an hour. She was so sad to say goodbye to her grandma. We all cried that night when she left except Kea and Elijah. Now I realize how much I miss my family. I miss those fun nights we got together to eat some Viet food or cooked up some Korean BBQ. I miss all the little kids running around. Kea kept asking for his cousin Zari who he would fight with every single time they played together. I'm excited for our adventure in the foreign service.