Crazy, but good...

12/1/2009

I can't believe it's almost been a month since I've written in here! It seems like yesterday. We have gone through so much in the past month. We survived "contingency training" where they train us how to respond in a hostage situation, a car-jacking, etc. It was QUITE a stressful week for us. We were grateful for the training, but we were also thankful when it was finished. :)

We are now in our last full week of training, and we are meeting specifically with our affinity group... European Peoples. We've really enjoyed the practical teaching, specific to our area. It's very different going to Europe than many other places; many of the techniques they have taught us as a large group won't necessarily apply to the highly educated people we will be encountering in Europe. It was wonderful to get a clear grasp of how to make a strategy for our people.










We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family in Williamsburg, and SO enjoyed our time with family. We really didn't want to leave once the evening was through. :) But, we had to get the kids to bed at a decent hour, b/c we were scheduled to go to D.C. on Friday. It was a group assignment, and the goal was to interact with internationals in D.C.


We formed a group with 2 amazing journey girls who are also headed to Spain. Unfortunately, they were in a car accident just before Thanksgiving, and neither of them could go with us. (Please do keep them both in your prayers. They are recovering, but one of the girls will have 3-4 months of rehab before she will even be able to walk again. They have amazing testimonies to share about how they were able to witness to nurses and dr.s... even in the midst of their pain and suffering.) So, we ventured an entire day in D.C. (well, it wasn't really an option. :) ) on our own. We had to ride the Metro as part of our assignment; and that was interesting, herding all the kids on before the door closed. :) I think the most challenging thing was navigating the escalators. They do have elevators, but often it was MUCH MUCH more walking to get to them, so Wes figured out a system on the escalators. Carolina was scared out of her mind every time Daddy tipped the stroller high into the air so we could ride the escalator. It rained (actually it was sleet!), but thankfully we were having lunch in a Spanish restaurant at the time. :) We tried some authentic Spanish food... even Nathan ventured out to try some "Spanish meatballs." He loved them. :) After 10 trips up and down a tiny spiral staircase for the restrooms, we headed on our way to meet internationals! Before we left, Wes was able to witness a little bit to our waiter, who came from Barcelona.


All in all, our day was pretty good. We hung out at some of the museums, so we could interact with internationals. We realized pretty quickly that we needed to have a strategy, b/c it pretty much took the two of us just to keep an eye on the kids, let alone try to start a conversation with people! :) So, Wes took the boys to look at some of the exhibits, and I just sat on an empty bench... in the middle... with Carolina sleeping in the stroller. She gave me a great excuse to be sitting. :) People would come and sit beside me to rest, and it gave me an opportunity to begin conversations. They were never very long, but I was able to speak to people from 4 different countries. It was great! It was actually my first time in D.C., so I was amazed at all the sites! It is a beautiful place.

It was a BLUSTERY day, and fairly cold; so we stopped in for a cultural experience at Dunkin Donuts. Wes said it qualified as a cultural experience, because the sign was in Chinese... since we were in Chinatown. :) We all got something warm to drink, and some doughnut-holes, of course. Carolina tried her first doughnut that day! Amazingly, we made it back to the buses in time to get all the kids settled and ready for the trip home. It was a good day... crazy, but good.