MTC Bound

Oct 11 & 12 2011 Well The night was to short and I did not sleep much at all. I guess I wanted it to last forever. Besides taking picturs of Joshua sleeping with Tausha. I was up most of the night going through all the suit cases. I was making sure it was all in there for him. I think I checked the list at least 3 times or more and repacked everything each time. On top of that I put Joshua’s name on his stuff. J Floisand was written I don’t know how many times.

I then prepared his journal with pictures uplifting sayings and notes for him to read. I had each of his friends, family members & of course Grandma writes something. I wanted him to have a journal and something to read for the first few days until he got his first letter. I thought it turned out pretty good. I put it in his suitcase for him to find when he got to his room at the MTC. We all prepared to go and had the bags packed and loaded in the suburban. Watching Joshua say goodbye to his dog Tausha was hard. I of course took pictures and they are pretty cute pictures. When we went to walk out the door Joshua gave Tausha a dog treat. Tears… for me  everything made me tear up today.

The hardest part...saying goodbye to Grandma

We then went over to My Mom’s and this is where I had a hard time all went well until it was time to go. As we went to go and Joshua said goodbye My Mom asked if we could have a family prayer.

My Mom knows Joshua’s concerns of her being here when he returns. She is 88 yrs old and so leaving was pretty hard. As we went to walk out the door Joshua said I don’t know what to do I don’t want to leave her. We walked out onto my Mom’s grass and he stood there and said WOW this is hard. I gave him a huge hug and waited for him to be ready to go.

Next the drive down….

Joshua had invited his friends to go down with us and eat at Sizzler and drop him off at MTC. They wanted him to ride with them and of course I wanted Joshua to ride with me. I let him ride with his friends. I ‘m still not sure why… I did that. It was very hard on me to let him do that. But I felt it was important. Joshua was not to emotional he said he felt bad because he was excited to go and wasnt as emotional as he thought he would be. He will miss everyone but he was not to sad. The only thing that was hard was leaving Grandma. I think it just hadn’t sunk in yet. He is a pretty tough kid.
 Sizzler was fun and having his friends with was a blog page all on its own. His friend David had I think 24 slices of watermelon on one plate at one time. We had a blast and what a great memory.

After eating we went outside and took a family picture and a friend’s picture. Family picture is above at the top of this page. I like this spot because if you take it right the only back ground is the mountains.

Where did the sign go?    

We then drove over to take the pictures in front of the MTC sign that is NO LONGER there. NO WAY it is gone? So we had to find a tree and to do the picture taking. Of course I wanted to take 1000 pictures. Joshua & my next son Zach if they both serve a mission will not see each other for 4 years. I had to get pictures it was a must! Everyone else was done with camera time.

We all jumped into our suburban, All 11 of us plus all of Joshua’s suit cases! The Floisand 6 and all of Joshua’s friends & Scotts girl friend Jessica. They will only allow one car through to drop Joshua off so we all fit in one car and drove across the street. When we opened the door and I had 8 boys get out. I think they were pretty shocked and the one missionary said ok what one of you is the Elder? I said if you can pick the right boy you can have him. If not I get to take him home is that a deal? He just looked at me and smiled.

 

Saying goodbye A Mom’s nightmare! I of course tried to hold it in but no go.. I lost it, cried and cried. I let everyone hug and say goodbye first and took pictures. Josh an his friends did a group hug. That was kind of fun. Then it was my turn I wanted that moment to last forever. As I watched him walk away I had a very proud, happy but teary eyed feeling. What a neat feeling to know he has chosen to serve the Lord even as hard as it is. I am very proud of you Joshua.

The LONG drive home with lots of tears.

When we arrived home there was a package at the door. When Joshua said goodbye to his Dad he had handed him a letter and said when you get home read this together as a family. We all got home and read the letter. First it said to open the package and Joshua had purchased a gift for everyone in the family as a goodbye see you in two years. It was about the neatest moment ever erading the words he left to each of us and a gift to go along. He purchased A Hat for Scotty, a shirt for Andy, a white watch for Zach and a backpack for Austin and a sweater for me. Each of these items mean a lot to each of us and at that time they where something he new each of us needed. Joshua had worked hard and saved money and paid for everything he needed for his mission including doctors and dentist visits plus purchased a few gifts like this to surprise all of us. 

Joshua is pretty amazing I might add!!!

The rest of the photos from today