Farewell Elder Southwick!

Today we dropped off Elder Southwick at the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC). I can't believe the day has finally come to say goodbye. It seems like we've been celebrating Danny for months and anticipating this day even longer than that. There have been so many "lasts" and "final goodbyes" that I think he was ready to finally take that step. It seems so weird to be shutting the door on that chapter of our lives. Most likely, he will never live with us again. Over the next two years, we will only see him on video chats. Over the next two years, he'll grow even more independent. Over the next two years, he will gain greater faith and a greater level of maturity that comes from knowing himself better and knowing his Savior. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to this day a little. Danny has been our biggest parenting adventure to this point! He has given us a run for our money for the last nearly 4 years. There were moments that we wanted to shove him through as many walls as we could. There were moments of tears and frustrations on both sides; yet, over the last 6 months, as the reality of this step in his life has settled in, we have seen him increase his humility, patience, and faith. We have also increased our humility and patience with him. There are so many parenting regrets I have. So many times I thought I was doing the right thing only to realize later that I could have handled the situation so much better. I looked back on our relationship and realized there were so many changes that I could have done to promote greater love and understanding. I wished I could have a do-over...but all I have now is a do-better as we move into the future. I'm really grateful for the Lord's grace that allows us to make mistakes and provides the strength to forgive and forge better paths. In any case, Danny was set apart as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, June 25th. The night before that, we hosted an open house/pool party for friends and family. 

Danny with two of his friends, Levi and Luke.

Chance, Levi, Danny, and Luke

Danny officially started his missionary training at home on Monday, June 26th. He had a week and a half of online classes, devotionals, workshops, etc. These took up about 6-7 hours each day...and were a feat of endurance for Danny! Needless to say, he's not the type of kid to sit on the computer in classes all day (now if it were YouTube that would be different! Haha!). Still, he tried to have a positive attitude and was more than willing to help out around the house when he wasn't in front of the computer.

Luckily, Danny was able to participate in all of our 4th of July festivities before finally reporting to the Provo MTC on July 5th. He didn't have to be there until 2:00 p.m. so we decided to do one last picnic lunch at a park in Provo before we said goodbye. Gma, Grumpy, Katie, Stan, Kristi, Bennett, Travis, Maci, Nichole and Kate joined the rest of our little family. We ate, enjoyed each other's company, then gave some final hugs. Laurin, Casey, and the kids said goodbye at the park, but Jacob, Amber, and Dallin jumped in with us to take Danny into the MTC. There were a few more hugs (and yes, I even cried) then off he went. He didn't even look back. He is more than ready for this phase of his life! Over the next couple of days, he sent us a few little messages to say he was doing well and enjoying it. He even sent us a picture of one of the silly toys we sent him in an MTC Survival Package. These next two years are going to be his greatest adventure yet!