Virginia

As I mentioned in our last post we traveled to Virginia last week to attend a work conference.   I did not blog the whole time we were gone and I barely checked email or even facebook.  We were in class all day, every day.  By the end of the day I was pretty exhausted and usually ended up going to bed early.  While there we got to see some familiar faces and also meet lots of new people who serve all over the world.  It was fun and we had a fantastic time. 

 

I took lots of photos of our travel to Virginia and then barely took any more the whole week.  I took my camera with me everywhere we went but just did not take many pictures.  Here are some that I did take-

 

Our flight left Jackson, MS on Monday morning at 6:00 a.m.  That meant an early morning start for us. 

getting ready to board our first flight of the day

We flew from Jackson to Atlanta and this was the view from my window.  It was beautiful getting to watch the sunrise from our seats.

The expression on Cruz's face just about sums up his excitement for the day.  He loves flying.

 

On the flight from Atlanta to Richmond the stewardess gave both of the boys a pair of wings.   

sweet Ben was proud of his wings

 

After we landed we waited to get off last because the stewardess had arranged for Cruz to visit the cockpit and meet the pilot.   He was over the moon excited!

Cruz behind the wheel of anything is a scary sight, ha

Cruz with the pilot

When we were walking away he looked up at me and proudly said "mama, I didn't touch a single button!".  I think it was miracle. 

Our company has a training center and that is where we spent our week.  We spent some time debriefing our last term and started making preparations toward our next one.   We spent our days in classes.  We had breakout sessions with lots of interesting topics that appealed to everyone.  We began each day with an hour+ of praise and worship and we had Bro. Al Jackson from Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama to lead us in Bible study.  He did a fantastic job and shared with us on having a spirit filled life, marriage, and family.  It was great.   We got caught up on vaccines.  We had a "ladies night" for all the gals and it was soo much fun.  As a special treat they served us gourmet cupcakes.  yum!  I spent a whole day in a homeschooling workshop- yikes!  That's a scary part of my near future.  I could go on and on about our week.  It was jam packed and our brains were pretty tired by the time we left.

Also while there we got to experience cold winter weather again and even had snow one day and night.  If it has to be cold it might as well snow so it will look pretty, right. 

Cruz and I loved it!

We had a lunch banquet one day and I loved how the tables were done.  One thing I also love is all the flags of the world that hang in the dining room.  It's just a beautiful sight that I always enjoy seeing!

our banquet table

David and I had a fun week but our boys had an AWESOME week.  I think it was one of their favorite weeks we have had in the States.  While we were in class they got to go to "school" too.   The children's facilities there are top notch.  Our boys loved their classes, teachers, and new friends.  They would both run right in and barely say goodbye to us.  Cruz would even be mad when we picked him up at the end of the day because he would not be ready to leave.  I am certain that is the most stimulation either of them have ever had. 

They had full schedules each day and had a special event each day as well.   Their favorites were the mobile petting zoo that came and set up on site for the kids and the fireman that visited.  Cruz loved the fireman most of all.  He wore his complete suit and did a presentation for the kids.  After his talk he asked them "what is the first thing you do when you have a fire?"  The teacher said Cruz threw his hand up into the air and yelled out "PRAY!!!".  I am sure that was not the answer the fireman was expecting to get but it blessed my heart to hear that Cruz said it.  My rowdy little boy does love to pray.

The teachers took photos every day of our kids and gave them to us at the end of each day.  You know I was loving that!  Here are some photos of my boys during the week-

 

 

 

Looks like they had fun, huh.

Cruz made a special friend and they had the best time playing together.   He has already cried a few times because he misses his "buddy".  We were appointed with his parents so it was fun for all of us to be together and reconnect.  Here are our kids playing together one afternoon.  What a blessing!

Ben with his teachers

Cruz with his teachers (bless their tired hearts, ha)

 

On our last night there they had a movie night.  They showed three different movies but we chose the kid themed one.  The kids all loved sitting around in their pj's and watching Monsters University.  It was a fun way to end our time together.

movie night in the auditorium

 

We flew back home on Saturday.  It was pretty late by the time we got back to our house.  We were tired, but very thankful for the week we had.   It was good and refreshing for all of us.  We serve an awesome God and He has called a lot of great people to serve with us!  Getting to spend a week with some of them was wonderful.