FSA Conference!

This is going to be VERY long!

This weekend was the National FSA Conference. I am sure that the conference in Utah was amazing, I read the itinerary, and it looked like there were some amazing classes. I had been tentatively planning to attend, but hadn't really been too excited because I really wanted to be somewhere else! I really wanted to be at Roman's birthmoms presentation. For months I have been checking airfare, rental cars, etc, I just couldn't find any travel inexpensive enough to make it possible for us to go. Let alone I knew that it was such a crazy idea I would never do it!

Fast forward to last Tuesday. I check my e-mail in the morning and there is an e-mail from DeltaDeals that would you believe the exact flight that I would need to be on is one of the Deals of the week. When is that deal effective for? Why Saturday through Monday or Tuesday. PERFECT! It made a round trip ticket the same price as one way had been. So I started toying with the idea that maybe just maybe I could go. I started looking for rental cars, and I found a rental car for $11.80/day. I felt like everything was falling into place. Tuesday night I mentioned it to Spencer and he said if I wanted to go it was fine, it was a good deal, and he agreed it would be nice for us to be there (Us meaning me and Roman he had to stay behind and work). So I started making things happen. I called the person in charge of the conference there because registration was technically closed. She was so excited for us to come that she said for us to just come and not to worry about registering. She was so sweet, so helpful! Next I called Spencer's step-sister to see if we could stay at her house for the weekend. She was happy to let us stay, so I took a huge leap and booked airfare and the rental car!

We decided to surprise Mommy Katie, Spencer was a little nervous about us doing that so I sent her a text message to make sure she was free the rest of the weekend, but other than that we didn't give her any indication.

Friday night I was so nervous about the trip that I barely slept. I had been really second guessing myself and didn't know if I could handle Roman alone on the plane and through the airport with all the luggage.

Saturday morning we got up super early, got to the airport around 7:00 and Spencer waited until we were to security to make sure we were doing okay before he left. I was feeling pretty good, we got through security, got to our gate, went and found some breakfast, and on our way to get breakfast, we ran into one of our friends who was on his way to Korea. We talked to him for a few minutes then found food and went down to our gate. It was pretty busy and most of the seats were taken but I found one on an end and sat down to eat my breakfast (Cinnabun). Before I even got all the way sitting I realized that I knew the people right in front of me! It was our Relief Society President and her family. We talked for a few minutes and I found out that they were going to a baby blessing in North Carolina, but somehow they were on our flight. They helped me get onto the plane and all settled and I felt so much better. We had made it to the plane, we were on our way!

The first half of the flight was totally uneventful. Roman refused to take a nap, but it was okay. About half way through the flight Roman started crying, not just crying, screaming, yelling, tears, didn't want to be on the plane anymore, didn't want me, didn't want anything. Nothing could calm him down. By the time we landed I was crying right along with him. I was starting to regret my decision and wonder if I had just wanted to come so I had imagined that everything had fallen into place.

It was so nice to have the Relief Society President there to give me a hug, tell me we were okay (Even though Roman was STILL screaming) and help me get through the airport. We got down to the luggage carousel and there was a lady who recognized us from the flight (screaming child was a dead giveaway) and she offered to help get our luggage so after she had her luggage she waited for mine and she got it off the carousel and onto a cart for us to get over to the rental car center. I was so thankful for this strangers help I thought Okay, rental car and I am done we can make it. We got to the shuttle and Roman would not let me set him down so another stranger helped me get our luggage onto the shuttle and we were on our way. On the shuttle a husband and wife and their 2 children started talking to us. The husband was sitting right next to us and he asked how old Roman was, if he was okay (still crying) I told him just tired, hungry, teething, and really upset. His wife started talking to us at that point and they were just so sweet. As we got to the rental car center the wife asked her husband if he would take their luggage and their kids and she would take mine and help us get to the rental car counter. Again I was so thankful! She got us there and went to find her family. We got the rental car got ready and there was a man standing behind us in line he told me that he had mistakenly gone down to the rental car pickup area first and they sent him back up so his wife was waiting down with their luggage if I could wait a minute he would take my luggage down for us. He was just a few minutes longer than we were and so nice, he and his wife helped me get everything loaded into the rental car and made sure we were on our way before they left.

Once we were in the car Roman finally calmed down and went to sleep and I realized how amazing it was that all these strangers who didn't know us reached out and helped us. I wish I knew their names. Angels were definitely watching out for us!

We got to the conference about 45 minutes before lunch so we waited in the foyer. Most of the people had already come down and were getting their lunch and we were still waiting for Katie. Finally she came down the stairs talking to someone. She started to walk down the hall and I finally had to say "Hey, don't just walk past us." She stopped and was so surprised. We sat out in the foyer and talked for a few minutes until it was apparent that the lunch was getting underway.

At the lunch they had a presentation by Kirsten Millsap, an adoptive mother who has a CD called Chosen. I have actually really wanted to buy that CD before the conference, but now I want it more than ever! She talked about their adoption and sang the songs she had written all about adoption. She was amazing! The songs express so much emotion and are so perfect! They had the lights turned down so that she could show a slideshow and thankfully Roman went to sleep and took a nice nap then woke up super happy!

We went to the rest of the conference with Katie. She was the last presenter. I know her story. I know our story. I really felt like I needed to be there and I felt the spirit SO strong while I was there. I knew that we were supposed to be there. I still don't know 100% why we needed to be there; but I loved it! I am so thankful for my unknown angels who got me there! I sat there listening just as much in awe of her as I have always been. She is so sweet and you can see the spirit in her countenance and you can hear her testimony in her words!

Afterward we went to dinner at PF Chang (YUM!) and Roman was our entertainment. He was so good!

2 more posts at least to finish telling about the 2 days we were there! (It was a very busy weekend!)

*In all the craziness we forgot to take any pictures at the conference! PF Changs pictures were the only ones we got that day! At least we remembered those!