Josh's Farewell

Our oldest son, Josh, fit in as much as he could during his last week home. Wednesday he went...well, many of you recognize this picture:

That night he played basketball and had a good time slam-dunking the ball. Josh LOVES basketball and would love to someday play in the NBA. He is hoping to grow more over the next 2 years while he's gone, something I can't understand because I'm only 5'10" and am often uncomfortable because there's nowhere for my legs. I know he can reach over the top of the rim, this picture was either taken a little late or a little early...

Thursday Josh got up early and went to work for the last day. He's been working for a friend of ours who owns an insulation company. It's hot work here in the summer and Josh worked for something like 12 hours.
Friday he has his last campout with his friends and had a really good time. He made a spear and tried to catch fish. Here's one that didn't get away:

The guys had a great time. They joked about how there were other boats on the lake whizzing by with their big motors...and these boys were rowing their canoes, pretty funny! I have no doubt who had the better time...





Sunday morning was Josh's farewell talk at church. Jeremy spoke first, then Josh. They both wrote their talks and everyone was moved and impressed with their maturity and ability to convey their thoughts and feelings. They are both such leaders and great young men, as are their younger brothers. We're lucky parents! Josh asked me to play the piano and I was happy to play a solo in his behalf. I play at home quite often and sometimes it's irritating because he wants to watch a movie and the piano makes it hard for him to hear his movie, but I know he'll miss it! :)
Tarik Williams is a new young men's leader at our church but what an incredible guy. He spoke after the solo, then our ward leader, Bishop Butler, also spoke. Lots of friends and neighbors came to show their support for Josh. That evening we had an open house and people were streaming in and out for hours. (We served over 600 meatballs in addition to all the other food!)

Monday, we finished shopping for odds and ends, Josh finished packing up his bedroom, and packed his suitcases, too. That evening, our stake president came over and officially made Josh a missionary. Tuesday morning, we had a family breakfast and then took him to the airport. We were doing ok for the most part...until it was time to say goodbye. We had lots of hugs and tears before he went through security and disappeared in the crowds of people. Ok, so we could see him towering over all the other people, he's not hard to spot! We went up to the roof of the airport and could see his gate and plane and watched it for almost an hour. We watched as his plane pulled away from the gate and took off.
We miss him so much already but are so excited and happy for him. What an adventure he's going on! He's going to make us proud, no doubt about it, just like he always has. He'll be at a training center for about 9 weeks, then finally head to Budapest, Hungary.