It's hard to believe, but my baby brother Stephen will be leaving on his mission to Madrid Spain in just a couple of weeks! We were lucky enough to get him for an afternoon and he spent almost an hour painting with the girls, which was truly a dream come true for them.
Uncle Stephen has always been quite an artist, and these two girls of mine (especially Liliahna) can get lost in a good art project. They are a perfect match for an afternoon art session!
We also decided that we wanted to treat ourselves to one last family dinner with Uncle Stephen before he flew off to Spain. So, I scoured the internet for some good Spanish recipes and created a Mediterranean feast for ourselves! The evening was such a treat and almost all of the food was a hit - the favorites were the sausage, cheese and bread appetizer, the potato/leek "tortilla" and the marinated chicken kabobs. I had a great time preparing the meal for my baby brother and was even blessed to have my 1st trimester nausea held at bay so I could prepare and enjoy all the new flavors.
Our favorite tradition with sending off missionaries is to get one of those huge 18 passenger vans and drive together to the MTC. Since Stephen was flying straight to the Madrid MTC, we got to enjoy the crazy van ride all the way to the SLC airport instead!
Stephen has been excited and ready to leave since the day he put in his mission call. But when it came right down to saying goodbye to these sweet girls, I could tell that the prospect of two years away from them was a little bit harder than he expected! Still, he held it together well and was smiling through shiny eyes when he walked through the gate to his plane.
We'll sure miss Uncle Stephen, but we are so proud of him for wanting to serve and mission and will be forever grateful for his example!
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