We were up early as we had lots to fit in. Once the girls were off to school, Garrin, Devin and myself went to the Mt Timpanogas temple one last time together. I have to admit, I had a REALLY hard time not crying the whole entire time we were at the temple. The tears were pretty darn close to the surface. Not because I was sad, but because I would really miss Devin! I tried hard to make it a great day for HIM. He loved going to the temple!
As soon as we were done at the temple, we went to One Man Band in Lehi for a quick breakfast. Even though we all had quivery stomachs, we were starving...and it was going to be a long day. We called from the restaurant and had Shawnee and Kaylee checked out of school and told them to meet us at home. There wasn't much time before he had to be in Provo. Garrin ran and picked up Jaycee at school so we could all take Devin down to the MTC together. We pretty much just threw his bags in the car and started on our way. Because of the construction, it took us longer than we expected. We pulled up with about 15 minutes to spare is all. We decided to drive across the street to the temple and take a few pictures, as we knew our time at the MTC would be short. Really short. We had just enough time to take a picture with the girls, one with us, and then we went back to the car. Everyone was pretty quiet. Garrin had wanted to give Devin a Father's Blessing before he left...so it was the only place/time we had to do it. In the car in the parking lot of the Provo temple, Garrin was able to give him a blessing. It was such an emotional blessing, that we all had to "get ourselves together" for just a minute and then we drove across the street. Shortest drive EVER.
Devin and the girls piled out of the car and he started hugging them goodbye. Garrin and the Elder at the curb grabbed his luggage out of the back. Garrin hugged Devin, then Devin hugged me. The Elder helping us then looked at Devin and said..".are you ready?" to which he replied "yes" and off they went. I don't think we got more than 1 minute total. Looking back, that's the way Devin wanted it. He wanted to get away from all our emotions that were so close to the surface :) He was prepared and ready to go. It was Devin's wish that we not take ANY pictures at the MTC...but I couldn't stand NOT to. I guess we wanted to remember every last second. We watched him walk away into the MTC and then were back in the car.
Well...without going into details...let's just say that the rest of the car ride home was silent. Not much of anyone said a word. The rest of the day---not so good either. I waited almost a week before downloading the pictures off my camera. I LOVE the last one. Even though he doesn't know I took it----it warms my heart. He is smiling. He is walking into his mission and he looks really happy. We love him so much and are so proud of him and his decisions! He will be an AWESOME missionary!
Right before we left for the MTC with Koda
Provo Temple: Jaycee, Devin, Shawnee, Kaylee
In front of the Provo Temple with Dad, Devin, and Mom
The Elders helping Garrin get Devin's bags out of the car
Saying Goodbye to Dad
Here we Go!
And he's off....on the adventure of a lifetime! See how happy he looks??!
3 comments:
This makes me SO happy! I am so proud of Devin. He is so blessed to have such wonderful parents! It will be hard while he is gone, but so many amazing blessings will come from it. I wish you and your family the best!!! :)
Thank you for sharing this story. I miss being close enough to see all the family, and really missing moments like this. He looks like a missionary, ready for the adventure.
OK that pretty much made me cry! Devin will be a great missionary and I'm so glad that he is on a mission. Before long I'll be going through that with Nick and your story helped me to know just what I'm in for. I'm sure it's the happiest yet saddest day ever to say goodbye. But thankfully they are serving the Lord so they'll have Him to take care of them.
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