On Saturday, prior to her farewell, we got family pictures taken. Becky is such a gem! I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures. They make my heart swell!
We had Jill's farewell this past Sunday. She spoke in the YSA ward in our stake and we had lots of family there. All of Allen's siblings who live in the province were there with their kids as well as my siblings. It has been a long time since we have had everyone together!
All the Ackroyd cousins that were there! What a crowd! Jill said she looks forward to being one of the shorter ones when she gets home. No doubt that is how it will be.
After church we had a lunch at our house with family and then that evening we also had an open house. A few of my friends made cakes...but not just cakes. Amazing cakes!! It was beautiful.
I wish I had taken more pictures of friends and family at her open house. *sigh* I got a little busy with food and visiting though.
Good thing Grandma remembers to take pictures!
One of my students, Abigail H, made the Eiffel Tower for her structure project. I asked her if we could borrow it and use it as a decoration. Abigail was thrilled. It was so fun to have her come to the Open House!
Peirce skipped school Monday morning off to hang out with Jill. In the afternoon Jill spent some time with her cousin, Taylor and with Grandma Jensen.
Jill got set apart Monday evening. It was a beautiful spirit-filled experience. It was great to have Grandma there.
That's Sam on the phone. She thought it was happening at our house so we speaker phoned her in.
The stake president suggested that we go celebrate with ice cream. I suppose he doesn't know about Seniore's Pizza, or he would have suggested that. At Seniore's Jill is a favorite. They were surprised to hear she is leaving. They showered us with pop and pizza and even a t-shirt that Jill will take pictures in all over France. We are thinking that Peirce should approach them to be the social media organizer. We do love Seniore's!
Tuesday morning Jill was ready bright and early. On Monday she was nervous, but after she was set apart she was calm and ready to go.
She had to do a little shuffling of stuff, but it didn't take too long before everything weighed what it should.
Jill and Sam are soul-mates. So nice to have Sam come with us to the airport!
Erienne is one of Jill's good friends from high school. She is in engineering at U of C and comforted Peirce with it really only being 5 months that it will seem like Jill is gone since when school is in session life is just too busy. Good perspective, Erienne!
Peirce may miss Jill more than anyone will. He sure loves his sister. He was rather despondent the first day. It has been rough to say good bye!
We may look like we're putting on a brave face - but we really are excited. There were really no hitches in her getting going except that her flight was delayed so she ended up with a different connection in San Francisco - but she's a pro, so that really wasn't a big deal. Her grandparents were visiting in Utah so they picked her up in SLC. I was fine at the airport. Then I went to school. The first thing on the docket was math and we're learning about time....time just made me cry. LOL After a good night's sleep though I was doing better. All of the business of getting her ready got me worn down I guess.
This was the display on the countdown app on my phone that day:
Another cousin, Maren, came home from her mission on Wednesday and they were able to see each other for a few minutes before Jill went into the MTC. It was fortuitous that it worked out that they could see each other. Mission serendipity!
A great adventure begins!!
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