Mission Hump Day!

It's unbelievable, but today marks one year since we took Zach to the MTC. This past year has gone by sooooo quickly! It has been a wonderful year -- and we've certainly been blessed as a family while having a missionary serving the Lord. It's strange to think that now with every passing day we're getting closer to Zach coming home. I guess it's been that way since day 1, but being on the "downhill side" seems to make his coming home seem that much closer.

Since I wasn't blogging when we took Zach to the MTC, here are some pictures from that day - a day full of very mixed emotions:

By the MTC sign

All missionary moms get to pin their son's or daughter's missionary tag on them.

He's so very ready to go! He's been preparing for and looking forward to this day for as long as we can remember, since at least the age of 2.

And since I wasn't blogging at this time last year, and for family history's sake, here's a couple of things that happened on this day one year ago that I'd like to remember:

Being a first-time missionary mom, the months and weeks leading up to this day at the MTC were very happy, busy, and tearful ones at times. We were so thankful Zach was serving a mission, and wouldn't want him to be anywhere else, but to think of not seeing and talking to him (although we can talk on Christmas Day and Mother's Day) for two years was a bit hard. Since I tend to be a bit emotional, as we arrived at the MTC I was having a really hard time controlling my emotions. As John dropped us off with all Zach's stuff so he could park the car, I noticed lots of other missionary moms who didn't seem to be having the emotional struggle I was having. Of course, this made controlling the emotions even harder! But I was really trying to be strong -- after all, this was the day we'd dreamed of for so many years - since we found out we were going to have a boy! We took all his luggage to the luggage place and went to find John. After we found John we were walking to take some pictures by the MTC sign and passed another family going the other way. (I was still trying to control the old waterworks at this time - who wants pictures with red, teary eyes? So I didn't really notice them.) As we passed this family I heard, "Susan?" I turned around and it was one of my best friends, Lili Holyoak, from when we lived in Kentucky 14 years earlier. She had a son, Jesse, born one week after I had Zach, and we were very close friends. I couldn't believe it! Her son Jesse was entering the MTC the same exact day and time as Zach was. What are the odds of that one, considering there are many orientation times for new missionaries each Wednesday. And, she's the only friend I've ever had who had a son even close to the age of Zach. And to even have found each other among the hundreds of parents and reporting missionaries. Amazing!!!! It was definitely a tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father who knew that I needed that very thing that day. So we met up with them and sat by them in the orientation meeting, and we all shed tears (Zach and Jesse included), and hugged our boys and sent them through the "Missionary Exit" door together. It was such a blessing!

Another thing that happened during the MTC orientation meeting: Sister Booth, the wife of the MTC President, spoke to all of us. She and President Booth had sent all of their 8 children on missions. I figured she would be one person who knew what we were all feeling - from absolute excitement and happiness to sadness. Her talk was wonderful -- at one point she talked about how, since our children were giving the Lord two years of their lives to serve His children every hour of every day, that when they walked through that "Missionary Exit" door, they were literally walking into the arms of the Lord and He would bless them and be with them always during their time on their missions. Quite a nice visual for a mom who's about to leave a son for two years. I know there are no better hands to leave him in, and that was so comforting to me.

And I was amazed that once we left Zach at the MTC, even though there were definitely tears shed on the way back to Pocatello, and a few from time to time in the days that followed, it was much easier having him gone than I thought (considering how emotional I can be). Sure, I've missed him, but I wouldn't want him to be anywhere else. And it's been fun to see him learn and grow on his mission, and have experiences that he wouldn't have anywhere else. It will be exciting to have him come home. And it will be exciting to send Parker in a little over 4 years.