Farewell to arms (and legs and heads and eyes, etc)

And the open house is over, and so is the farewell talk.  I didn't cry. I'm too excited to cry. Besides, EJ still has 16 more days until he leaves. 16 days until we drop him off at the airport and say goodbye for two years. (still not crying)

The open house was last night (Saturday). There are three young men leaving in February and so the party was for those three boys. Lots of people came to show their support for Ethan, Jimmy, and Erik.

Jen of the hawleyfocus posted lots of pictures on her blog and I invite you to check it out to see more pictures than I have here. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked because I was too busy enjoying everyone's company to stop for Kodak moments.

I did take some, and here are the best of that lot.

I'm glad EJ got some food early on. He was busy talking with people for the rest of the evening.

My tres leches cakes. I got pretty good reviews.

Hayley and some friends.

Jim and a friend of his since junior high.

The three young men who are leaving very soon.

We are proud parents.

Matt and his friend

EJ's display

Mike, EJ, and Jen

The mission map and a lot of facts you can't read because the picture is too small.

Grandparents and EJ

The mothers of the missionaries.

EJ gave his farewell talk in church today and made us even prouder. He spoke on the importance and blessings of service. He actually spoke for over 10 minutes. He's come a long way since that first talk he gave in church when he was 12 and he cried all weekend in dreaded fear of standing up in front of 150 people.