We learned on Tuesday that Abe would be leaving for Syracuse, New York early Wednesday morning. With about 17 hours notice before Abe needed to be at the airport, Abe started packing. It went surprisingly quickly since he could only take 2 suitcases.
Abe stopped by to say goodbye to Andy and Willie, our dear friends.
We spent the evening playing cards together. Sofi joined in through FaceTime. You can almost see her face on the phone to the left of Brandan.
Wednesday morning came quickly as we got to the airport at 3:30 am.
Here are the 5 of us. It hardly took any time for Abe to check in for his flight.
Many kind friends came to say goodbye. This photo was taken before 4:30 am. We're so thankful for their support! From the left are Justin, Tiffany, Ashton, Malakai, Abe, Brandan, Blake, Andrea, Ed, Rebeka, Brant, Seth, Helen and Gibson.
The friend group still at home is shrinking. Malakai and Ashton still have a few weeks of home MTC before they leave on their missions.
Then it was time to say goodbye!
While we went back to sleep, Abe began his journey across the United States, flying first to Seattle, then New York City and finally Syracuse, New York. President and Sister Gentry met him at the airport. We're so thankful to Sister Gentry for sending us a photo!
She also sent us a photo of Abe with his mission companions. He is starting out in a trio. Abe is currently assigned to Cortland, New York and we are looking forward to hearing more about his adventures.
Here's the rest of the news from our week. Gibson had his first rehearsal with the youth symphony. First he checked in and got his music. The symphony is observing strict corona virus protocols. All musicians must be vaccinated and wear masks at all rehearsals. The musicians are distanced, with no shared stands, and parents are not allowed to watch rehearsal to avoid overcrowding. The rehearsal was fast paced. All the musicians were sight reading music they had only received a few minutes earlier. Gibson is going to grow a lot as a musician.
Gibson stays busy at Craterworks. He brought home one of his prototypes this week: a lap desk. Gibson used the same logo on his lap desk as he used on the speaker he made last year.
Here's a photo of the lap desk in action. It makes a great surface for Brandan's laptop.
Helen went to cheer for her friends at the Crater girls' soccer game and also got to cheer for her friend, Kylie, who played for the other team. Helen and Kylie worked together at Old Navy.
It's time for a new family night wheel! Making a new wheel was a good excuse to pull out all our past wheels and look at how much we have grown and changed.
Gibson went to lunch with his soccer team on Wednesday. Crater has an open campus, but typically the freshmen and sophomores who can't drive eat lunch at school. It was a big deal to walk down the street together to El Poblano. In front: Caleb. Second row: Luis, Gibson, Gib, Talon, Ed, Josh. Third Row: Xiupilli, Hunter, Zach, Christian and Daniel.
Crater celebrated Homecoming Week with dress up days. Helen and Aunika matched every day. This is pajama day.
Neon day.
Formal day.
Black out day.
This is a photo of Aunika and Helen after the game. Crater won which made a happy ending to the week.
Gibson had a game in Klamath Falls on Saturday. Brandan, Becky and Helen drove out to enjoy the game on a beautiful fall afternoon. There were no refs at the game so the game ended at halftime. We're not sure why it's ok to play half a game without refs and not a full game, but the odd ending to the game matched this very odd soccer season. Both teams played a very clean game and did a great job making their own calls without a ref. Here are 4 of the 5 boys in our soccer carpool. From the left: Daniel, Ed, Gib and Gibson.
We've been celebrating general conference all weekend and are basking in the messages of love.
Gibson's favorite part of conference was using Procreate software on his iPad to take notes.
Helen liked Elder Kopischke's talk about mental health. We noticed how many times the speakers referred to the 1st and 2nd commandments, to love God and love His children. And several speakers quoted President Nelson by saying, "the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." Brandan appreciated the focus on compassion and unity. The weekend was a refreshing and sustaining shower of hope, goodness and testimonies of Jesus Christ.
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