Flag Day

The day we found out where we were heading for the next two years is referred to as Flag Day. Essentially all 100 FS100 students gather in the "oldest women's gym" in Virginia to hear their fate. You are allowed (encouraged) to have your family and any friends there you like. Thankfully my good friend Kerstin doesn't have work on Fridays so she joined us to help out with the boys.

(thank you soooo much... sorry about Liam wetting himself on you... that was not fun!) They say a few words (letting you know which posts will not be filled this time around) then they parade out the flags.

They then hold up a flag, announce its location and say the name of the person going there and everyone cheers. Apparently Christopher's class was one of the loudest in history. They were pounding their feet and hooting, it was great. They also had bingo cards with countries on it and you could mark off a spot when they called out that country. Since Chris and I couldn't sit by each other we could just trade looks every now and then. Luckily we did not have to wait long. Christopher was the 3rd or 4th person announced. When they said Dili apparently both of us looked VERY shocked because afterwards everyone was asking us if we were okay haa! Chris came up and accepted his flag

I couldn't stop Sam from running up to his Daddy and giving him a hug, which of course everyone cheered for:

Then Sam of course had to have the flag of our future home

We got to spend the rest of the hour or so trying to talk to each other through looks :) When It was all over we headed outside to get some air and try and wrap our heads around the fact that we are going to be living on a very tiny. very remote, very beautiful island.
Kerstin )who gracefully took both boys out half way through for me) snapped a pic for us

then we headed home for some pizza and a party! It was a very crazy day. Ultimately Chris and I are extremely excited to be going to Dili. Christopher's boss was in town this weekend and kindly met with us and answered a lot of questions. There are two other 3 year olds and a 2 year old in the expat community. Our house is brand new and ON the beach and in a 3 house guarded compound. We will have Internet at home (PHEW) and there is a great preschool for Sam to attend. So now we get to begin the process of packing and getting shots!