Cross Country

On Thursday, October 8 Paul and I took off in our Saturn to begin the cross country adventure of moving to Virginia. Our belongings were packed up into a box the week before and had a head start moving via truck (we were praying it would arrive in a timely manner without being destroyed).

Thursday I attended my classes and then we headed off about 2 pm. We were fortunate to make it just across the border of Nebraska that evening and stayed in a rather dingy motel. Let's just say a fury cat greeted us at the counter/breakfast bar and it closely resembled the "Bates Motel".

Friday, my birthday, we drove through boring Nebraska (after stopping in Sydney at Cabela's) and made it half way across Missouri. By the time we checked into our hotel, almost everything to eat was closed except for the casino down the road. So being half starved, and since it was my birthday, we went to the casino's all you could eat seafood buffet. Missouri Casino+Middle of Nowhere+All you can eat seafood Buffet at 11 pm = make you wanna vomit. The people in there, the smell, and of course the atmosphere was let's just say less than ideal.

Saturday we made it all the way into West Virginia after hitting a Hawk in Illinois. Kentucky is so beautiful and we had fun gazing at all the sights through there and West Virginia. We got three different books on CD so we kept entertained for most of the drive!

Sunday we stopped in at the James Madison Museum in Virginia and oohed and awed over the beautiful country side. The museum was so very interesting and we learned some new information as well. Did you know that James Madison's cousin was also one of our Presidents? Also, did you know that Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were cornerstones of what is now Virginia Tech? And Lastly, that Dolly Madison is accredited with saving most of the White House Memrobilia when it was burnt. Pretty cool huh?

We finally made it to Fredericksburg, where Paul's Aunt and Uncle live, that evening and had dinner with them after checking into a hotel near their home. Thank you Aunt Lori and Uncle Hart for feeding us extensively during those couple days and being so hospitable!

That next morning I found myself in the high school that I will be student teaching in from January to April. It is a thirty minute drive from our apartment and I don't have a lot of traffic to go through - which is a blessing! It is very different than schools I am used to in Idaho/Utah and will be a challenge. It is a low socioeconomic school and is very culturally diverse (not to Virginia's standards but compared to what I am used to it is).

Our apartment is in Stafford, VA and is right off the highway which will make traveling easier. The complex is only a couple years old and is a step up from where we were at before; it has a pool and free breakfast in the lobby on Saturdays! I was struggling with getting the place set up in less than a week and only in the evenings as I was at school until about four thirty every day. We went to Ikea and up to Alexandria to get some furniture, which was such a steal and looks very nice.

I traveled that next Sunday to Indiana where I had the National FFA Convention for the next week. This year I had the opportunity to be the Assistant Talent Director and it was a blast! There are so many talented individuals and they blew me away! Most of these young people get scouted for the "big leagues" during convention by recording artists. Although the talent wasn't just vocals; we had a trick roper, pianists, violinists, and a dancer. It is kind of like America's got Talent but with WAY more talent. These people are screened before they even come to Nationals so they are on top of it. It was fun to be at Nationals again and see familiar faces. With over 52,000 students in attendance it was a wonder I ran into so many people I have known for awhile. Congrats to Meridian as they received 3rd place in Parliamentary Procedure and Kuna for their 3rd place Meats Team!

I am now back in Logan to finish out my semester...only seven more weeks until I move to Virginia to be with Paul for good! Paul started the Officer Course and is enjoying it immensely, although, he is waking up at 3:30 every morning and going to bed at about 11 pm. It is probably for the better that I am not there distracting him at this very crucial part of his training. His grade will determine how fast he will be promoted for the rest of his career and will also place him in his individual occupation. He definitely has a leg up as he is a prior enlisted and has been in for almost four years now.

Paul found a church, he thinks, in Virginia. It is Heritage Baptist Church and is doctrinally sound. It is a New Testament Church and has a heart for missions. They even have a military ministry for the guys around the area. He has made some "quick friends" and has the feeling that this is where we will be at for the next nine months. Please pray that if this is not the church for us that we would move to the one we need to be in. There are Baptist churches on every corner in Virginia so it makes it hard to weed them out as there are so many. We don't want to settle when we know there are good ones out there!

That's about it for now! I will update later...hopefully soon!