June 30, 2022 He's home!

 Today is the day!

Ethan spent this morning in the temple with the other missionaries who were going home.  They did a temple session and then were able to do sealings with President and Sister Palmer.  Ethan thought that was pretty cool.  They took pictures and Sister Palmer posted about it on Facebook.

They went to lunch and then it was off to the airport.  Ethan sent us a pic once he got to his gate.  It was getting real!

  

When we got to the airport we knew which baggage carousel he would go to but we weren't sure which escalator he would go down.  We waited by baggage claim for a long time while we waited for his plane to land.  When it finally did land, we weren't sure what to do.  Bryan went to one escalator, I stayed at baggage claim, and Courtney was in the middle. 

While we were watching, I saw Courtney suddenly take off running. He had come down the far escalator by where Bryan was waiting.  Bryan motioned for me to come. Yup, she had seen Ethan and was so excited that she couldn't stand it!  She got the first hug (which is just fine with me).

As you can see from her video, she didn't get much footage of Ethan but you can tell that he was her primary focus!  I love it!!

I came up behind and got this short video of the two of them walking towards me.

I will tell you, it was the best hug!  Ethan was home! 

Courtney had told Ethan on our last call with him, that he should bring her a lemonade from Auntie Anne's because she loves it.  He had taken the time to stop and get her a lemonade.  She was very surprised he had done that, but that is the kind of guy he is.  Courtney worked hard on her sign and was so happy with the joke!

My parents were at the airport with us so Ethan got to see them.  We took a bunch of pictures.

We collected Ethan's luggage, loaded in the car, and started for home.  We were all hungry but wanted to get home.  We finally stopped at Chick-Fil-A drive-through and then we were headed home.  Ethan told us all about his day and the last few days of his mission.  We had an appointment with the Stake President at 9:30 pm for Ethan to be released but the traffic was horrible.  I texted the Stake President to tell him that we would be late and he was fine with that.  As we got closer to Ivins, it was getting pretty late.  Courtney drove my parents home while Ethan, Bryan, and I went to the Stake Center for Ethan to be released.  It was about 10:45 when we finally got to the office.

The Stake President talked to Ethan, asked questions about his mission, his future plans, and about speaking in the Stake with the high council, and then it was time for Ethan to take his badge off.  It was hard for him.  He had served well so he shed a few tears.

On the wall of the Stake President's office are pictures of all the missionaries serving from our Stake. They are in order of when they will come home.  The top three on the left came home the same week. After a little more chatting and a prayer, we went home and Ethan was able to rest after his long day!

Ethan served for exactly 2 years (and a few hours).  He began his mission on July 1, 2020, and finished on June 30, 2022.  It was fun to put the last sticker on his chart.