Mission Prep

My sweet brother, Adam, has been living with us for about a year now, while he worked for Cory. We've loved, loved, loved having him here. In early November, he received his mission call and had nine days to get ready before entering the MTC.

The kids, clearly, are going to miss having a human jungle gym to play on and we're going to miss the company. But we're thrilled for him, all the same. :)

We tried to squeeze in as many things as we could during those nine days, starting with a family bowling night. My other brother, Ethan, and his wife, Lois live about 40 minutes away, so they came and bowled with us.

Everyone had a good time bowling. We put the bumpers up, which undoubtedly helped our scores. Even Merry Grace had a great time and was pretty good for a three year old.

As is evidenced by the fact that she got a spare!!!

Cory beat us all, but just barely. Adam and I only lost to him by two points. We'll get him next time. :)

The next night we went out as couples to the melting pot, for salads and chocolate fondue. There's Ethan & Lois, Adam & his sweetie, Meredith, and Cory. I'm (obviously) taking the picture. We had such fun and great laughs. Ethan keeps us entertained. :)

Over the weekend, a couple of family friends threw a going away party for Adam. They had a cookout and then a bonfire to roast marshmallows. Here are Adam with Meredith. She had already submitted her mission papers as well, and although she lives out west received her call while she was home for all the farewell festivities. She was able to open her call with her family around and we used the cookout as a chance to celebrate two missionaries. She'll be a mission medical specialist in Paraguay. Have I mentioned how much I love this girl? She's cute and adorable, as good as gold, and so much fun to be around. We couldn't be happier about these two getting together and can't wait to see what the future holds. My fingers are crossed. (Okay, so my toes are crossed too. :))

And here are Ethan & Lois at the cookout. They are so much fun! My brothers must be pretty smart, because they sure have chosen wonderful gals. :)

This is about the only way you can keep tabs on this little imp. She is into everything. Thank goodness Cory has strong shoulders. :)

The girls loved playing on the swing and riding toys and just being together with family.

For Ian, undoubtedly, the highlight was the large box of papers he got to burn in the fire. Oh, he was in heaven. We're just glad he didn't burn the place down.

Then, just a couple days later, we all met at the stake center for Adam to be set apart as a missionary. Here are the three brothers. What a handsome, funny group.

By the time the setting apart was over, a brief stop at McDonald's for ice cream, and the drive back to my parents house, it was already getting late. With some final packing left to do, we ended up not getting to bed until after midnight. That sure made 3am come awfully early. We decided that our little family would get up, tell him "good-bye" and then head for our house without stopping at the airport. We had family prayer, lots of hugs and then he was off. Of course, we didn't let him go off without some whooping and hollering. As they drove off in the van we yelled, "Hurrah for Israel!", a handful of top-of-the-lung "Wahoos!!!" and a good amount of laying on the horn. Yes, we sent him off in style.

So now he's been out for a couple of weeks and is really starting to catch the vision of missionary work. Hurrah!