Our arrival home Monday night was FANTASTIC!!! We were greeted by all the Maryland family.....balloons, signs, smiles, hugs....happiness to be home!!! We surely love our family. They have ALL been so supportive of our serving our missions. We simply could not, and would not, have served without their blessing!!
It was SO GOOD to see grandkids sitting at the kitchen bar eating again!!! With US home to see it.
And a full of family dining room table too!!! Of course, we brought GROUND STEAK AND COLESLAW home with us from Mt. Airy, N.C. as we drove through there!!!
Wayne and I went to the Weis Grocery Store in Frederick (closest one until our new one in Brunswick gets completed!!) and how fun to see these MARYLAND things by the front door!!! LOVE BEING HOME!!! Yes, I bought a Maryland hat and crab knocker.
Tuesday night was THE night!!! Wayne and I met with President Cook for our 'official' release interview. That meant we had to take our name badges off...and we hung them on our family missionary wall map downstairs.
To drown our sorrows of being released, we decided to go by Rita's and have a GELATO! We surely love Rita's and have missed it! It was soooooo good!!
Wednesday, we both needed this trip to Diane's....our hairdresser! I got my much needed PERM and Wayne got his much needed HAIRCUT!!! It surely felt good to have both....and to see Diane again!! :-)
Thursday, we were off to the Washington D.C. Temple. We had an appointment with President Colton to be set apart as Ordinance Temple Workers once again. And, President Colton had a signed letter from President Thomas S. Monson on his desk waiting to give to Wayne authorizing him to be an 'active' sealer in the D.C. Temple again! What a blessing that was.
We feel like we are HOME again!!
Friday, we headed over to ANNAPOLIS to watch Steven, Elinn, Audrey, Emma and Kristyn participate in a half marathon.....Audrey, Emma and Kristyn's first one ever!!! How exciting that we could be home just in time to attend this great event.
All of them did amazingly well and seemed to have fun....even though it was hard for them.
We were not always able to 'see' them because of the particular course they ran. SO, we found ourselves walking around Annapolis including the Naval Academy Stadium. That's my Navy guy.....first time EVER being in the Navy Stadium. Some day we will definitely have to go to a Navy Game!!! We hope!!
Tina captured this perfect shot!!! Coming back to the hotel after the race and ALL of them carrying their shoes!!! Their feet must have hurt really bad. Mine did, and all we did was walk around....not run a half marathon!!
As if we had not done enough walking around, AFTER the race and everyone was freshened up, we decided to walk from our hotel down to the river. After all, ONE MUST DO THAT because we are so close.
Sunday, it was good to be back in our home Brunswick Ward!! Wayne and I were recognized as having completed our mission and given a very nice letter from President Foote, Georgia Atlanta Mission and our Mission Certificates. President Brustad read the letter from the pulpit. Bishop Magee presented us our mission plaque. AND, Sam was ordained a Priest during the 2nd hour. Tina and the kids came to be with us for our meetings. What a special day. AND, we decided to have an impromptu family dinner which turned out great!!
Kristyn and Garrett rode home with us after church. We told them that we had planned to stop and visit Jonathan's grave and were they ok to go with us. They were very happy to do that. It was a very special time being with them and making this visit. Tina and the kids had put some very nice flowers on the grave. This was our first visit to the grave since we had been home.
And, I guess this will conclude my last official entry for this, our 3rd, mission. What a blessing this has been for us. We will miss being missionaries and being able to wear our badges. There is something very special about being able to do that. We will see if there is another mission in our future. We are so grateful for our children and grandchildren supporting and loving us with each of our missions. We are surely grateful for each of them. We are grateful that the Lord trusted us enough to serve this mission.
