It's officially been a week since my brother Andrew left on his mission and reported to the MTC in Provo, UT on November 20th. I can't believe it!! The last 24 hours with him were very sweet and tender moments with my family. He's the baby....the last one to go spread his wings. Now my parents are empty Nester's. There has been a lot of adjustments and changes for them. They've raised 6 children and are now moving onto the next chapter in their lives. The night before Andrew left we all gathered at my parents home along with his Bishop and Stake President and former Stake President who is very close with dad. My dad has been the Stake Executive Secretary for the past 20 years and counting. He's serving with the 3rd Stake President now and they just keep him in his calling. He's so good at it and loves serving. Dad has seen hundreds of missionaries leave from his stake and has also seen many come home early. Preparing my brother for his mission has been a lot of hard work for my parents and Andrew. My other brother Matt has been called to be the Mission Prep Teacher in the same Stake. So Matt got to teach and help Andrew prepare also. Pretty cool! There has been so much emotion and anticipation in Andrew leaving. We knew it was coming. Finally we all sat in the living room together and watched as Andrew was set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was given a beautiful blessing from his Stake President. Before we knew it we all needed to get home and get kids into bed for school the next day. All of my siblings had to say goodbye to Andrew that night because they couldn't go to the airport in the morning. It was tough and bitter sweet.
Here's Lindsey's sweetie Trevor, Andrew, Dave and Matt. Dave was just getting out of his first Bishopric meeting before he came here! Yes, that's what I said. He was called to be the 2nd Counselor in our new bishopric. What a week this was for us! My little brother was leaving and I had to keep my mouth sealed until Dave's new calling was announced. Andrews farewell talk in church and Dave's new calling happened on the same Sunday. I left my brothers thing for my ward and literally had been crying all day. That week previous I was having so much anxiety. So much to where I couldn't sleep and was worrying and wondering about all kinds of things. My mind was in constant go mode and couldn't stop. By Sunday I felt like all my bottled up emotions came poring out. It was a great day full of family, love and happy tears. Then a couple days later we were here saying goodbye to Andrew.
Luckily it worked out to where I could go to the airport. I was bound and determined to go and wasn't going to miss it. I woke up pretty early with Parker and showed up at my parents at 6am. We all loaded up and were on our way. Andrew got all his bags checked and we started walking towards security. Pretty soon we started noticing more missionaries......Elders and Sisters. Mom even ran into a couple people that she knew growing up and had herself a little reunion!!
Andrew was ready......more than ready. We got up to the check points and he said...."Alright lets go!!" I was like "wait, we have to hug and take pictures and hug and hug!!!" He was getting tired of all the pictures but that's just how we do things. Grandma was taking some, my mom and so was I. He was ready.
Dad wanted to be the last one to talk to him. My parents and Andrew stood there together and just held onto each other. It was a sweet moment to see. To see how much love is between parents and their child. I can't imagine how that felt to say goodbye for 2 years. To put full trust in your child and The Lord that all with be okay. I love my parents so much. They are wonderful loving parents that raised us well. That's not to say that we didn't all go off on our own path at times to find our way. They've always loved, cared, supported and been there for each of us through all our ups and downs. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with my own kids and think things are hard and exhausting. I'm realizing now that where my kids are now is the easy part. As they get older is when things will be more difficult. I hope that my kids will grow up to know who they are. I hope they grow up to value themselves and want to make good choices that are pleasing to us and their Heavenly Father. There are so many things to look forward to. So much good ahead. I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for my testimony and my knowledge of the gospel. I know it's true. I know I have a Heavenly Father that loves me and that has entrusted me with my life on this earth at this time. I know that my brother deciding to sacrifice 2 years of his life to serve a mission and serve the Lord was the right thing to do. I hope that my sons follow the same example and even my daughter. I want them to know beyond a shadow of a doubt the God lives and that He love them and that His gospel is true. I'm grateful for my brothers example to my children to serve the Lord. I'm grateful for my parents example to me of constant love and service. I'm grateful for my husband in choosing to accept this new calling in our church. I know it's going to be very demanding of his time which in turn means not at home. But I know it's the right thing and I know he was called for a reason. I have faith and trust in that. I know our family will be blessed by him choosing to give of his time and serve the families in our ward. I'm grateful for that.
After we watched Andrew as far as we could see him we walked back to the car. Dad immediately wanted Parker and put him up on his shoulders. Once we got outside Parker went nuts about the planes. So we took a little detour while mom showed him the airplanes. The drive home was pretty quiet. I knew my dad was having a hard time. He was very quiet but I could see his eyes. They were red and filled with tears. My mom just held his hand. We got back to my parents and said quick goodbyes. When I got to my dad I just gave him a big hug and told him I loved him. We just stood there for a bit and hugged and he patted me on the back. It was the sweetest most tender embrace I've gotten from my dad. I could tell his heart was wide open. He couldn't speak. He was so full of emotions that he couldn't speak. But I knew he was telling me he loved me too with that pat on my back. I could feel it. I'll never forget it. It was one of the sweetest moments I've ever had with my dad and I'll remember it forever.
I can't believe this but I'm actually all caught up!!! I've been posting like crazy the past week so if you haven't been here in a while keep scrolling down. I think I've added like 12 new posts. Hopefully I can keep this up!! Thanksgiving is tomorrow......Dave has 4 days home with us and kids have no school!! Sounds pretty good to me!!
