All of us do. Some days we are literally heart-sick for them.
So it’s fun to reminisce about how much we love them through pictures. They took such great care of us before we left.
Loved this car conversation:
Claire’s pajama Activity Days at church (thx for the pic Emily!)
And a trip to the temple with these gems:
Late-night dinner talks with these guys:
Elle went out on her first date of her dating career with this cute friend:
It was a huge group date and they came to our house to hang at the very end. Sadly this is the only pic I got as the tail-end kids were taking off:
These two both had a date that night:So fun that they both get to date now and have such fun friends to do it with.
The next weekend Elle got asked on a couple more dates but she and her friend were off on their birthday trip (both turned 16 within the same week) to an amusement park. As you can see, she was pretty sad to leave the dates…
She did really wish she could do both, but boy it sure looks like they survived the non-dating weekend.
Lots of missionary farewells right before we left.
When Elle asked how in the world we could say goodbye to our friends, we somehow got the grand idea of having a crepe night. I told all the kids they could invite any friends they wanted over to our house so we could hang out one last time.
Little did I know that that girl of ours would invite the whole planet on over! But boy it was fun to have people over.
We invited the cousins to come over before the friends. They helped us get the crepe stuff ready.
Oh man we love these guys so much!
Then the friends started coming.
…and coming. And coming!Not sure where Max was for that pic with all his friends…
Some of our friends came too (although I consider all these kids our friends too). I wish I had pictures of the big people too but those pictures are on my other external drive and I’m having photo storage problems, dang it!
I call Lucy’s teacher my “friend” because she is. She’s the best! She was so amazingly helpful getting that girl ready to leave. She sent us off with everything we would need to keep her up on grade-level while we were gone.She made me teary-eyed she took such care and was so supportive. Meant the world to all of us, especially Lu. Now if we can just keep up with all that homework! I swear that girl gets more than all the rest of them!
I call my Mom my friend because she’s practically my best one aside from Dave. She wrote all the kids heartfelt notes and sent them in the mail before we left.
Elle’s friends secretly organized a note-writing epidemic at school. They all wrote out the sweetest notes to her and wrapped them up all nicely in a box.
Meant the world to her.
Friends helping us pack and get ready ‘til the bitter end.
And our neighbors across the street…well, they always take such good care of us.
Makes me want to be a better friend. So grateful for such kind, good ones.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Love all those good people more than ever and can’t wait to see them in the new year!