Goodbye my boy

We had so much family and friend support last weekend. 

Elijah absolutely hated giving a farewell talk but did a really nice job. 

One of ElIjah's biggest trials in life is that he doesn't have a brother. 

But, he has cousins:

These are the kinds of poses cousins strike in front of the temple. 

Because they are holy.

Dumplings for lunch

Ok, I gotta say that MTC at home was not my favorite. I found this quote by Marlin K Jensen on the first page of my missionary journal: "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, Heavenly Father will endow us with great power." The beginning of home MTC made me feel like an irritant. But towards the end, we all relaxed a little. Maybe a lot.

 Business on top and party on the bottom:

I'm pretty sure this class was a metaphorical comparison of soccer to the plan of salvation.

The last few days were filled with running errands. We had to buy a bigger suitcase because there were 2 special (and very big) blankets he insisted on taking. One was made by Grace and I'm pretty sure she gave him the other one also because it had already traveled around the world with us this summer. Running errands with him was a lot of fun. He kept calling me the "worst driver ever." My most heinous infractions were going the speed limit and not running yellow lights which inspired me to stop at as many yellows as possible and then cackle as I watched his reaction of horror. On the way home, I pulled out in front of a car and he was so proud of me.

We also got in a lot of ping pong. I was on a roll and beat him for several games 2 days in a row. Elijah: "What happened? You used to suck, now you're decent." The stakes are always back massage for him and if I win, cleaning his room.

Claire: I'll be able to bench more than him by the time he gets home.

David:David: It will be hard for me because if we don’t love worthy of the spirit in our home, the only other male force I have here with me is a castrated dog. 

This could very possibly be the last picture of Elijah posted on this blog for the next 2 years. I have a testimony of his hatred of pictures and fully expect him to send pictures of trees and maybe a stray dog or 2 after we threaten and beg him for pictures. I'm so glad that our last family photo was taken in front of a men's bathroom. There's gotta be some deeper meaning in that.

I slipped a letter into his carry-on. It had 2 songs that Sybil had written that I found on the counter the day before he left:

Song 1  

Elijah is the 

One I love. Elijah. 

That is, he is about to leave 

Which is good but bad. 

I am sooo sad. Just why 

Why why? 

Song 2 

Elijah is someone I love. 

He is my favorite brother 

When he leaves that is a 

Teardrop in my eye. I love 

Him so much that he is going 

To be my favorite sibling

PS She has already told several people that he is her favorite sibling because he is fun and her sisters are sassy.

Today's 2 big events

I'm sitting on my boy's bed. He's gone. You know, I didn't cry much today...at least not yet. Sunday though, that was a different story. I had to be reclusive because I couldn't stop crying; like listen to the sacrament talks in the nursing lounge and then skip church, prepare food at home, but then lie in my dark closet while a whole bunch of people came over and mingled downstairs, coming to support my boy. I'm not sure I've ever hidden like that before. Maybe this is weird, but it wasn't saying goodbye that was hard, probably because my kids are all fiercely independent. It was hard because this is the end of an era. I don't think I'm ready to write about that right now or the waterworks will commence.

Anyway, I need to clean this boy room. Like bad. Sybil has been sleeping UNDER her bed for over a week because she says she needs to "sleep in that direction," whatever that means. So, I gotta get this room ready for her and her old room ready for Zoe who will be moving in next week.  I'm going to post about Elijah's departure, but first, let's get this exciting piece of news out of the way:

Last picture of the metal mouth:

Single and ready to mingle!

Ok, maybe I'll start some cleaning before I get into Elijah's post. I've completed 11 books this month and still have a week before school starts for me to get some good listening in.

And one more picture of good friends. This is after an activity at church. Meeting the Radka's new dog:

Elder Garcia

Getting in the last hugs

Missionary in the HOUSE!

Elijah is already an awesome missionary: strong, social, kind, no fear, loves people and loves God.

At the end of the first day of home MTC:

When Elder Garcia emerged from his room after his last class that ended after 8pm, David ran to him and said, "Let me just touch the holy man!" 

Elijah: "This has been the longest day of my life. I can speak Spanish, but I have to think harder in Spanish." He's in a district with native speakers.

It's after 10 and he's still watching training videos. Claire just invited us to go outside and see the super blue moon. It was the first time Elijah has been outside of the house today. I don't think I've ever seen him run that fast. He was proud he beat Porfirio.

 

Nola: Part 3

Per usualy, we visited abuelo at Macu and Daniel's house daily.

Tia Macu

August birthday celebration

Goodbye to Sis Ortiz

One last run on the levee. I saw an alligator most days I ran there.

 

Nola: Part 2

Sybil created a club and appointed officers including Henry as the treasurer.

Iris: Do you know what a treasurer is?

Sybil: yes

Iris: What?

Sybil: He has some sort of authority or something, I guess.

Henry: No, I hunt for treasure.

We drove through David's childhood neighborhood. He showed us where he played Wipeout, where boys tried to kick each other off bikes. Then we saw a man walking his pig. 

Saturday morning: a group went up early to Baton Rouge to do baptisms.

You might not notice, but Elijah's pants are actually several sizes too big. He forgot to get them from the dry cleaners in Vegas, so Fabio picked them up and sent them to us, and then we found out the cleaners actually gave us a the wrong pants (a costly mistake for us since they lost the pants and we had to buy a new suit).

The endowment session was wonderful. The celestial room was overflowing with people who loved and supported my boy.

Burgers

Iris taking advantage of a sudden storm

Back in Nola: Sal's

After Sal's we hadn't had enough sugar for David, so we went to Brocattos. Jake flew in to be at the temple with us and he had us laughing to the point of bellyaches. Jake and David recounted the story of driving back from Baton Rouge and getting stopped by the police. David told the policeman that his friend was about to explode in the car and asked for an escort to safely get back into traffic and to a bathroom asap. The officer obliged. They were on a bridge that was dozens of miles long and Jake talked about wanting to hang his butt over the rail, but couldn't because Grace was in the car. Jake is not a quiet person, so everyone in that Italian dessert shop knew about Jake's bowel issues. He said, "If Grace and Elijah ever get married, Grace will probably say, 'That guy Jake can't come unless he wears a diaper!" Then Jake turned his focus to finding Claire a boyfriend. He walked around the shop saying in a loud voice, "Are there any attractive teenagers who want to date Claire?" And he'd make several loud commentaries on why certain boys and men would be good or bad for her. "That guy is really old. You'd have to be patient. How long would you have to wait until that age gap would be more normal?" 

The good news is that my teasing has never looked so benign.

Sunday pictures

 

Nola: Part 1

We began the long road trip to Nola on Sunday evening. David flew from AZ and Claire had already flown to Louisiana to be with Hannah, her LSMSA bestie.

When we found out that Grace had never been to Buck-ees, our jaws dropped and we knew what had to be done:

We arrived to Nola at 1am and even though we were sleep deprived, Iris insisted that she needed a quick Red White and Blue trip as soon as we woke up bc she didn't have anything suitable for our dinner that night. I was happy to oblige.

The kids rode the St. Charles streetcar.

Sals Sno-balls

At Abuelo's, Daniel taught us another question to determine if someone is truly from Cuba: 

“A qué hora es el canonazo de Havana?" "A las 9:00"

It's a cuban ceremony that has happened for over 400 years. They shoot a canon at 9pm to notify everyone that the city gates are closing. 

One of David's favorite things to do in Nola is tease his Aunt Macu. She asked where his brother Brian was. David: "He didn't come because he doesn't like Cubans." Macu: "Then show Brian this..." and then she proceeded to give us a Full Moon. Abuelo laughed so hard that he couldn't finish his story about David breaking Jeremy's violin. He also told us: "If we ever lost something in the house, we would just ask David (as a kid) and he always knew where it was." Abuelo told me about his grandmother, Maria Dussac from France who was a wonderful repostera (dessert maker).

Iris' birthday dinner at Commander's Palace

We went around the table telling Iris the things we love about her.

Then Elijah asked for a turn, so Claire said, "I like the size of your head." Me: "I like the size of your ego." Elijah: "My ego is jacked, just like me."

Bananas foster

Elijah and Sybil got drinks with mini rubber duckies in then. Elijah was getting a bit fresh with his duckie to the point that Grace asked him if he and Duckie needed some privacy.

On Thursday night, David, Elijah and Grace went to Dragos to eat alligator, shrimp, and grilled oysters. I was with my mom who had flown to Nola but then tested positive for covid. We both put on masks and I drove her around to revisit memories. She flew home early the next morning.

The few, the faithful stayed until the end of our Red, White and Blue trip.

Our tally was about $150 for a back-to-school haul. Iris has always been an avid thrifter, but it has taken Claire her whole lifetime to come to the dark side.

French Quarter: Jackson Square

Beignets at Cafe du Monde

David wasn't happy that I was getting rambunctious with the powdered sugar since he had to go to a work function after.

Iris got her patriarchal blessing from her favorite patriarch. We called my mom who was in the airport, on the way back home. The blessing made me excited to see what her future holds. It's very bright.

Yard work

Sno-balls was the first stop when everyone came in town

Swan boat in City Park