Kanigan Family: Flag Day!

I am very, very, very behind on my blog posts. My goal tonight is to get caught up on them and then post at last once a week...with or without pictures! I really miss blogging and am excited to get going again!
So much has happened since last post! The most exciting thing was that we found out where our first post will be! Our 'Flag Day' was February 15th. I checked the kids out of school early so we could be there with us at the foreign service institute when they gave out our assignments. We all met together in a big room. Flags from all over the world lined the front of the room and all of the students from the 170th A100 class were there with their families. The feeling in the room was so exciting. No one knew where they'd be headed, but everyone had guesses and hopes. They started things quickly, calling officer after officer up to accept flags for their chosen countries. We had our hearts set on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but weren't expecting anything. Dan spent a few years in Brazil for a mission when he was 19, so he already spoke the language, but nothing was certain. Lincoln had his heart set on mangos, I really wanted to be close to a beach, and Logan and Owen wanted to see cool animals. Ellie just wanted to play the iPad!
After watching about half of the people get their assignments, the first Brazilian flag posted. My heart started beating really fast and then, just like that, they called Dan's name. The boys erupted in the aisles and Dan smiled all the way up to receive his flag. It was so exciting!
They finished up the rest of the names, and then the meeting was over. Everyone chatted and congratulated each other afterward and the rest of the evening was spent calling and texting family and friends with the exciting news! We are now about five weeks away from heading out and we are just as excited as flag day...just a little bit more stressed about everything we have to do!
Here are the pictures from flag day! More posts to come!